On the stage, the 17th cage free-for-all battle ended just one minuteter.


    Li Yuan killed thest opponent, survived until the end, and scored 31 points.


    It wasn''t that he didn''t try hard to fight in thest phase, but the time spent fighting Kimura Tatsuo was too consuming, and there weren''t enough people left... to support Li Yuan in scoring many more points.


    But even so.


    The points from the two roundsbined brought Li Yuan''s second-round total score to an impressive 105 points.


    This was already an exaggerated score.


    On the stage, only Li Yuan was left.


    "Temporarily in first ce overall?" Li Yuan nced at the total points ranking.


    The sizable point advantage from the first round, coupled with a good performance in the second, kept Li Yuan''s total score in the lead.


    Although there were still three cage free-for-all battles left.


    However, top contenders like Yu Ming, Guan Ying, and Garava had already finishedpeting in the previous rounds, and none of their two-round total scores had surpassed one hundred.


    So, in a sense, Li Yuan had almost secured the first ce in the total score for the second round.


    "Let''s go."


    With a thought, Li Yuan disappeared from the stage; he didn''t return to the spectator tform but directly exited the virtualwork.


    ...


    "Li Yuan!"


    "Li Yuan." The spectator tform once again erupted with the intense cheering of numerous onlookers.


    However, the freshmen from Kunlun Martial University were searching all over the spectator tform.


    "Where''s Li Yuan?"


    "Where''s our senior brother?" They were all puzzled.


    Logically, after exiting the stage, one should return directly to their seat on the spectator tform.


    ...


    At Kunlun Martial Arts University, inside Li Yuan''s vi, in the underground martial arts room.


    Li Yuan had walked out of the resting room and took a weapon off the rack beside him.


    "Entangle, Continuous." In Li Yuan''s mind, the battle with Kimura Tatsuo was still fresh.


    Suddenly, the smart ring on his wrist vibrated continuously.


    At this time, a vibration meant an important person had sent a message; Li Yuan looked down.


    One was from Li Yang: "Well done."


    Another was from Lin Lanyue: "You''re in first ce, keep it up."


    A smile unconsciously appeared on Li Yuan''s face as he replied to both messages.


    He turned off the smart ring and put it aside.


    Holding the spear, Li Yuan came to the center of the martial arts room, closed his eyes slightly, and held the long spear tightly with both arms, adopting the ''spear holding stance'' of the Ster Spear Technique.


    "Stars like spheres, rolling powerfully." Li Yuan murmured to himself.


    During the recent battle, through the exchange with Kimura Tatsuo,


    That sh of insight enabled Li Yuan to re-examine his spear technique from a different angle.


    Kimura Tatsuo''s ''Continuous Spear'' seemed simr to Li Yuan''s ''Twelve Continuous Strikes.''


    But there was a fundamental difference.


    ''Twelve Continuous Strikes'' was about one spear surpassing another, where the momentum of the next spear would always be stronger than the previous one, focusing on ''umtion.'' At its peak, it was like the gathering force of a great river, bound to burst out powerfully.


    If it didn''t explode and overflow, even at its peak, it wouldn''tst long.


    It was not durable.


    ''Continuous Spear,'' however, emphasized ''entanglement,'' a continuous, never-ending flow, where from the first spear to thest, the power often didn''t differ much.


    The downside was that it wasn''t domineering enough, but the upside was stability, not causing one''s spear momentum to suddenly copse.


    "Simr techniques, like ''Cloud Commanding Spear Technique'' which Teacher Li Yang had me practice actually contains a simr concept," Li Yuan realized he had encountered such moves before.


    In the Starry Skies Fighting Network, when exchanging blows with others, he had faced it as well.


    When practicing in realbat with Teacher Jiang Lun and the two Prime Warriors, they had also used simr moves.


    But they had never deliberately developed a systematic approach.


    "Most importantly, previously, I was solely focused onprehending the five forms of the Ster Spear Technique. Where would I have paid attention to this?" Li Yuan couldn''t help but smile and shake his head.


    It was like the moral of many stories in textbooks. Learnt in the ssroom as a child, you thought you understood them... only to realize a decade or twoter that you never trulyprehended them.


    The same was true for spear techniques.


    Beforepletelyprehending the five forms of the Ster Spear Technique.


    Even though Li Yuan knew that the core of ''Ster Spear Technique''y in the first form ''Ster Illumination,'' and that he was aware of the core concept ''Stars are like spheres.''


    Even having seen other masters use simr concept techniques.


    Without the corresponding level, it seemed like understanding the principle, but in reality, never having trulyprehended it.


    And the exchange with Kimura Tatsuo, in a way, came after Li Yuan hadprehended the five forms of the Ster Technique, and had reached a new level of understanding of the Ster Spear Technique.


    It was upon re-examining it that he gained a new understanding.


    It wasn''t that Kimura Tatsuo''s spear technique was particrly strong, it was just that he appeared at the right ce and time.


    Timing.


    Is often very important.


    "From the second form ''Ster Waterfall'' to the fifth form ''Ster Battle in the Wild,'' all are offensive moves," Li Yuan contemted: "Out of the five major moves, four are offensive, yet the ''Ster Spear Technique'' is recognized as ''an extremely strong defensive spear technique.''"


    "Why is that?"


    "At the core, it is the first form ''Ster Illumination.''" Li Yuan''s long spear moved slowly, as he began to practice the first form ''Ster Illumination'' anew.


    Although it seemed the same, once he executed it again, Li Yuan held a different understanding in his heart.


    In the past.


    Whenever he used it, he pursued the ultimate burst and speed, as spectacr as an exploding star.


    But now, revisiting the technique, his moves were slower, and his power more restrained.


    It was like a zing star that, after billions of years of evolution, transitioned from its initial ''moltenva'' period to stability.


    Not because the star no longer contained the potential for explosive power,


    But because it had condensed this surging force within, seldom unleashing it arbitrarily.