Chapter 46: Struggle

  Li Xing'an saw his fellow disciples cowering behind him, not daring to come forward. He cursed inwardly and shouted, "Brothers, let's go together! I don't believe this kid has three heads and six arms!" Suddenly, a weak voice whispered in his ear, "Li, Li Shixiong, he's an inner sect disciple, we can't mess with him. If we provoke the elder of the inner sect..." Gan Ping looked over and saw that it was the guy who had jumped out to insult him earlier. This guy was indeed a coward. Li Xing'an's face turned red with anger as he grabbed the guy's collar, pulled him in front of himself, and scolded, "Xuanxin you good-for-nothing! He has someone backing him up, don't I? If something happens, I'll take responsibility. You guys just go." After finishing speaking, he pushed Xuanxin towards Zeng Qi in the distance.

  Li Xingan's words came out, and those outer door disciples only then realized, ah, what kind of person is this Li Shixiong? His family background is not inferior to that of the inner door disciples. If he wasn't, how could they have followed him? Since they've all spoken up, if something happens, he'll take responsibility. What are they afraid of? Each and every one of them charged towards Zeng Qi with renewed spirit. Gan Ping watched clearly, these outer door disciples were all at the middle stage of refining their energy, only Li Xingan was at the high stage of refining his energy. But that Zeng Qi had already reached the peak of refining her energy, with half a foot into the realm of condensed consciousness. For a time, it was difficult to discern who would win or lose.

  Li Xingan also saw Zeng Qi's cultivation realm and thought to himself that he was no match, so he called out to his men to charge forward together. If it were just the two of them facing each other alone, Li would probably lose in a few rounds. When Zeng Qi saw the crowd rushing towards him with great momentum, he gave a slight cold smile, and his body suddenly shrunk as he pressed both hands on the ground and shouted loudly: "Wu Tu's spirit, open!" His originally pale hands instantly turned yellowish-brown, emitting a faint glow, and the ground he touched began to shake violently. The people rushing towards him stumbled and fell to the ground, while the others hastily jumped back, fearing they had been affected by some kind of magic spell.

  Li Xingan's face turned iron-green as he gazed at his subordinate, who had been knocked to the ground by the Earth Splitting Technique. He sneered and said, "You think you can deceive me, Zeng Qi? I won't hold back! Wind Spirit Blade, go!" As he made a decisive hand seal, a pale blue wind blade whirred towards Zeng Qi. It seemed that Li Xingan had unleashed his true power, and the might of this technique was evident - if it hit its mark, it would be fatal or at least cause severe injury. Just as Zeng Qi looked up, he saw a pale blue light hurtling towards him and instinctively dodged to avoid it. A few strands of hair on his forehead were sliced off by the sharp wind blade, leaving his face deathly pale. He hadn't expected Li Xingan to be so ruthless and merciless, actually resorting to such a vicious attack - if he had been hit, he would have definitely suffered severe injuries.

  Recalling the past grievances, Zeng Qi's anger surged to his head, and he no longer held back. He muttered a curse under his breath, and his index finger turned golden yellow as he fiercely pressed it onto the ground. Just then, Li Xing An released a Wind Spirit Blade while recovering, but suddenly felt an unusual fluctuation in the spiritual energy around him. A golden light shot out from about ten feet away from his face, heading straight for his chest. He hastily rolled to the side and fell to the ground, barely avoiding the attack. Because he dodged awkwardly, Li Xing An got up again with a disheveled appearance, even his head was covered in grass leaves. Infuriated, he loudly shouted at the others who were standing by, looking foolish: "What are you waiting for?"

  Two people used magic to attack each other, and it was only a matter of time before the outer door disciples didn't understand what was going on. The two had already launched an attack, and in their daze, they heard Li Xingan's loud shout, and then they woke up like a dream, throwing various spells at Zeng Qi. Whistling fireballs, icy water arrows, and some miscellaneous spells whizzed through the air, making the colors in the forest extremely vibrant. Huo Er watched from the trees, clapping his hands with joy, thinking that he was watching a monkey show below the mountain, but unexpectedly, people were showing off their magic on this mountain, and Huo Er was watching the show from the side.

  Gan Ping watched as the two sides clashed, their spells flying back and forth through the air. He couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise - he had never seen a battle between cultivators before. Unfortunately, he didn't know any of these powerful spells himself, so all he could do was watch with envy. As he concentrated on watching, he suddenly felt like someone was staring at him. Gan Ping turned his head to see Fang Ting looking curiously in his direction, and couldn't help but ask: "Aren't you going to go help?" This woman's cultivation seemed to be at the high level of Qi Refining, so if she were to intervene, Zeng Qi would definitely be in trouble. But for some reason, she was just standing there watching.

  Fang Wanting saw Gan Ping ask herself, glanced at her and said: "It has nothing to do with me again, why should I help them?" Gan Ping was speechless for a moment. It was obvious that Li Xingan was trying to please the woman in front of him, which is why he would find trouble with himself, and it was also because she was present that he would fight with Zeng Qi. But now this girl actually said it had nothing to do with her, which was really strange.

  Gan Ping's curious and surprised gaze fell upon her, Fang Yuanting couldn't help but blush. It was only then that Gan Ping realized the girl in front of him was truly beautiful, no wonder Li Xing'an had gone to such great lengths to curry favor with her. Fang Yuanting saw Gan Ping's skeptical expression and couldn't bear it anymore, so she scolded him repeatedly: "It's not what you think! That... that Li Xing'an just wouldn't leave me alone, I didn't pay attention to him, he insisted on doing that, what could I do?" Gan Ping saw her blush and her childlike appearance, and his heart ached as he thought of Ma Ling'er in the same situation, shyly saying "my little husband". As he thought about this, Gan Ping's mood darkened, and he quickly looked away at the two people fighting, afraid that Fang Yuanting would see the tears in his eyes.

  Fang Wanting saw that he was no longer looking at her with a suspicious gaze, and finally let out a sigh of relief. However, she immediately felt a bit resentful and said: "Why did I tell you this? It's really... but it seems like you're quite curious." Gan Ping heard this and looked at the curious baby, saying: "You say you're just an outer door registered disciple, yet you dare to defy Li Xingan. Luckily, Zeng Qi Shixiong appeared, or else you would have been in trouble." Gan Ping narrowed his eyes, carefully watching the people who were fighting with spells, and upon hearing this, his gaze contracted, staring tightly at Li Xingan's back, saying: "Is that so? I really didn't know what kind of person this Li Shixiong was."

  That Fang Wan Ting said to Gan Ping, and hurriedly chattered like a little sparrow. "You actually don't know Li Xing An's name? Oh my god, you can't be a new student today, right? No, it seems there hasn't been any new students these past few days either." As she spoke, the red-clothed girl looked around, and Gan Ping saw her cautious and curious expression, couldn't help but slightly smile. Just now he had seen her with Li Xing An together, thought she was also arrogant and domineering, didn't expect that she was actually just a little girl too.

  Fang Wanting didn't notice the ambiguous smile on Gan Ping's face, and excitedly said: "You don't even know Li Xingan? The Li family is a major force in the Miao Cheng Sect! His grandfather is an elder of the inner sect, and his father has great power too. Oh no~" Gan Ping took a step back, tilted her head and looked at Fang Wanting with a slanted gaze. "You've offended Li Xingan, he's busy now and doesn't have time to deal with you. If he finds out, you'll be in trouble. You should leave quickly, don't come back to this place again." As she spoke, she tried to push Gan Ping away, but Gan Ping dodged her hand without leaving a trace and said: "Can people within the sect get married?"

  Gan Ping didn't understand the good intentions of Fang Yuanting, and she couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. This person was so ignorant. When he asked her, her curious mood came back, and she stared at him with wide eyes: "Don't you know that even in the sect, one can form a dao companion? Oh my god, hasn't anyone told you?" Gan Ping saw her staring at him with a surprised expression, and was speechless. He had been studying alchemy in the Earth Fire Temple for a month, where did he have time to ask about this?

  Fang Wanting saw his bewildered expression and couldn't help but chuckle, saying: "It seems you really don't understand anything. Within the sect, as long as both parties' elders agree, they can announce their union within the sect and become dao companions on the path of cultivation. However, generally only those who have reached the Golden Dan realm will be allowed to form a dao companion." Gan Ping listened to her finish speaking, but didn't respond, just pursed his lips, thinking that with his current level of cultivation, it was still too early for him to know about such things, and it was also difficult for Fang Wanting to have inquired about this so clearly.

  Just as the two were discussing this matter, a loud explosion came from not far away. Gan Ping turned around and was shocked. The battle in the field had reached its climax. Zeng Qisheng's cultivation was the highest in the field, while Li Xingan's side had more people. These two sides fought each other to a stalemate, neither able to gain the upper hand.

  Li Xingan was casting spells to attack Zeng Qi, while shouting at others to add more strength, but unfortunately, Zeng Qi was a cultivator with both gold and earth attributes, with extremely high self-defense and powerful golden spell attacks. With the support of thick and mysterious earth spells, he seriously injured several people in a row. The angry Li Xingan jumped up like thunder, but was helpless, unable to even get close to Zeng Qi's side.

  Zeng Qi knew that he was in a difficult situation, although on the surface it seemed like he had the upper hand. His true yuan energy was being consumed at an alarming rate, and there were still several people firing spells at him from across the way. If his true yuan really did run out, even a small fireball would be enough to heavily injure him, not to mention that Li Xing An, who was at the mid-stage of the Foundation Building realm, was watching him with an eagle eye. Zeng Qi believed that if he revealed any weakness, Li Xing An would definitely take advantage of it and wouldn't hold back.

  Li Xing's heart was also extremely anxious, this place wasn't some remote area, if someone saw him leading people to beat up the inner door disciples, they would definitely go and report it to the Law Enforcement Hall, that way he would be in trouble. At the mention of the Law Enforcement Hall's black whip, Li Xing couldn't help but shiver, a fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and he pulled out an object from his pocket.

  Gan Ping took a closer look and saw that in Li Xing An's hand was a talisman, on which a cyan light flashed with a faint needle-like pattern. The spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from it were definitely not ordinary. At this time, Fang Yueting standing beside him exclaimed: "Talisman treasure!" Gan Ping furrowed his brow upon hearing this, never expecting that Li Xing An had such a killer move up his sleeve. He had also heard of this talisman treasure, which was said to be a life-bound artifact created through one's heart and blood. Even if the owner died, the artifact could not be possessed by others unless the person who obtained it had a higher level of cultivation than the original owner, allowing them to forcibly erase the spiritual imprint on it. If their cultivation was insufficient, they could only watch helplessly as the treasure slipped through their fingers, unable to control it.

  This talisman is a treasure that surpasses the Golden Elixir. A master who has cultivated their own original magic treasure can separate a thread of its original power and cultivate it into a talisman. The person holding the talisman can use the power within, which is about one-tenth of the power of the original magic treasure. Although it may seem insignificant among low-ranking cultivators, it should not be underestimated. Unfortunately, there are not many people in the Cultivation Realm who are willing to use their own magic treasures to refine talismans. Each refinement will greatly injure the magic treasure's vitality. The talisman Li Xingan has now is certainly a gift from his elders.

  Gan Ping's eyes were fixed greedily on the talisman in Li Xing An's hand. He also had several magical artifacts in his own storage ring, but unfortunately, his cultivation was too low, and he couldn't even complete the most basic rituals, so he could only watch with envy. Others might not have any magical artifacts to use, but he had them yet couldn't use them - it was hard to say whether this was good or bad fortune. At present, Gan Ping's cultivation level made him most suitable for using a single magical artifact or talisman, which explained why his eyes were fixed longingly on the talisman. The other outer sect disciples who were attacking Zeng Qi also revealed fiery gazes when they saw the talisman in Li Xing An's hand. Only Zeng Qi's face turned ugly when she saw what was in Li Xing An's hand.