Chapter Forty-Seven: Calculations

  Li Xingan, relying on the protection of his seniors, has been arrogant and domineering within the sect, bullying his fellow disciples. Now, he has brought out a talisman, which has shocked and enraged Zeng Qi. Li Xingan is aware of the power of this talisman, and although he is an inner disciple, he cannot withstand its might. This talisman must have been created by Li Lie Feng, Li Xingan's grandfather and a true person of the sect, using his four-grade treasure, the Wind-Breaking Needle. The Wind-Breaking Needle is well-known within the sect for its incredible power, able to strike silently and swiftly, like lightning. Now that Li Xingan has brought it out, he must intend to use it to attack Zeng Qi. If he were to be hit by it, he would surely die on the spot.

  Li Xing'an pinched the talisman, muttering to himself, and the spiritual light on the treasure grew stronger. Zeng Qi was shocked and hastily cast a spell to attack Li Xing'an. The other disciples saw an opportunity and intercepted Zeng Qi's attack, with some even launching fireballs and ice shards at him. Seeing Zeng Qi flailing about in panic, Li Xing'an couldn't help but let out a sinister laugh, raising his hand as the talisman transformed into a foot-long pale blue flying needle, its light flashing as if it were an illusion.

  Upon witnessing this scene, Zeng Qi's face also turned unsightly. It seemed that Li Xingan had decided to fight to the death with him. With a loud roar, his body surged with yellow light, fully mobilizing his martial arts to defend himself. He didn't even bother about the spells attacking him from all directions, and pointed at Zeng Qi, shouting: "Li Xingan, are you determined to fight to the death today?" Li Xingan's facial muscles twitched, and sweat dripped down his forehead. It seemed that he was struggling to control the talisman, but he still said: "You're wrong, it's I who will live and you who will die!"

  As the conversation reached this point, Zeng Qi knew that today was the day to make a decision, and he no longer spoke. His body slowly turned around, and he began to demonstrate a set of fist techniques. This set of fist techniques was ancient and mysterious, obviously a very profound and advanced technique. What made Gan Ping even more puzzled was that every time Zeng Qi threw a punch, it could intercept the next magical attack. Could this be an extraordinary fist technique beyond the ordinary martial arts of the mortal world? If so, considering his own physical strength, this set of fist techniques should be extremely suitable for him.

  Li Xingan was exerting all his strength to urge on the suspended treasure, but for a mid-stage cultivator like him, the true yuan energy required by this treasure was indeed a bit too much. Although he had already used up all his strength, the cyan flying needle hovering in mid-air could hardly move half a step, while Zeng Qi on the opposite side slowly broke through the other outer sect disciples' spells with that set of fist techniques and slowly approached him. Seeing that set of fist techniques, Li Xingan's face, which had originally turned ugly due to his exhaustion, turned iron-gray, and he squeezed out a few words from between his teeth, "Six Harmony Crumbling Mountain Fist!"

  Li Xingan knew that the opposite Zeng Qi was only at the peak of Lianqi, although he had already stepped into the Condensed Mind realm with one foot, but after all, it was not the cultivation of Condensed Mind. If he really reached that realm, he would not have taken action at all. The gap in rank could be narrowed by relying on the number of magic treasures, but this gap in realm was indeed a real and insurmountable difference. This Liuhe Benganquan was a secret fist technique for cultivating the body within the sect, although it was only an initial fist technique, it also required the Condensed Mind realm to be used, otherwise, the flesh would definitely be severely injured. Zeng Qi had also come with a desperate heart, using his peak Lianqi strength to force out this fist technique, wanting to break through the interception of the law and get close to himself in one move.

  A cold smile played on the corner of Li Xingan's mouth, his face revealing a sarcastic expression. Even if he were to use the Six Harmony Crumbling Mountain Fist at the Condensed Spirit Initial Stage, it would still be quite strenuous for him. As for Zeng Qi, who was at the Refining Qi Peak and forcibly using this move, he must have been under immense pressure. In comparison, Li Xingan's side had it much better off; they only needed to exhaust their True Essence. As long as he could land one hit, Zeng Qi would definitely not be able to escape today. Thinking of this, he exerted himself to stimulate the nearly depleted True Essence within his body and channel it into the talisman. If he could just speed up by a single line, victory or defeat would already be decided.

  What he didn't expect was that Zeng Qi, although struggling, managed to execute the Six Harmony Crashing Mountain Fist move by move, albeit with some delay. Despite this, she continued to approach him step by step, leaving him secretly astonished in his heart. He had no idea that Zeng Qi possessed both gold and earth attributes, which made her physical strength far surpass others. Moreover, being proficient in both attributes, her body's strength was already comparable to that of a Condensed Spirit Initial Stage disciple, otherwise, the inner sect elder wouldn't have rashly taught him this Six Harmony Crashing Mountain Fist.

  Look at Zeng Qi, one move and one style, opening and closing, the feeling of gradual slowness has decreased a lot, and the footsteps have also accelerated. Looking back at those outer door disciples on their side, they are already exhausted, and the number of powerful techniques they can release has also decreased a lot. This is not surprising for these outer door disciples, most of whom are only in the initial stage of refining their energy, and being able to release more than ten small techniques is already their limit. What's more, they don't have Li Xingan's family background or the elixir that washes the marrow and cuts the hair, which is tempered every day, so it's normal for them to be unable to keep up now.

  Li Xing'an saw Zeng Qi pressing in step by step, his heart was anxious and annoyed, and he couldn't help but secretly scold those disciples as useless. After a brief moment of consideration, he gritted his teeth, bit the tip of his tongue, and forced out a stream of true yuan essence blood onto the suspended flying needle. He shouted, "Rise for me!" His eyes turned crimson, and he seemed to have lost his mind due to hatred. The flying needle, aided by the essence blood, immediately surged with green light and hummed in mid-air. Following Li Xing'an's spell, it transformed into a flowing light that shot straight at Zeng Qi's face.

  Gan Ping carefully observed that Li Xing An was already in a state of exhaustion, and this mouthful of essence had also caused his cultivation to retreat. After thinking about it, he felt that it was enough, so he flew out with a swoop. Fang Yuanting saw the two fighting intensely, and when she concentrated her spirit to look closely, she suddenly felt a strong gust of wind sweeping past her side. When she looked again at where Gan Ping had been, there was no one left, and she hastily raised her head to look around.

  As expected, the black figure had already shot into the arena, and such speed made Fang Yuanting frown. This was not a move that an ordinary disciple could have. She became even more curious about Gan Ping in her heart. With one leap, Gan Ping jumped into the arena. Before others could react, he had already pounced to Li Xingan's side, formed his fingers into a knife, and made a ruthless strike at Li Xingan's ear gate.

  Li Xingan was urging the flying needle stained with his own blood to kill Zeng Qi, but he never expected someone to suddenly appear behind him. He thought it would be Fang Yuanting and the servant, Fang Yuanting wouldn't help him, but she also wouldn't stop him, as for the black-clad servant, he didn't even take him seriously. But what he didn't expect was that this small and humble servant ruined his plan, Gan Ping's palm knife struck down, Li Xingan couldn't react in time, was heavily hit on the ear gate, and immediately fainted.

  The flying needles that were shooting towards Zeng Qi lost control, and in an instant, they became crooked and dim. The bright blue light also faded away, and the needles fell to the ground after brushing against Zeng Qi's cheek. Zeng Qi had originally thought that the flying needles would definitely hit her face, but just as she was waiting for death with her eyes closed, she suddenly heard Fang Yuting's scream. She felt a sharp pain on her cheek, and then there was no reaction. When she opened her eyes, she saw Li Xingan lying on the ground not far away, his life or death unknown. Standing next to him was a person in black clothes, who was none other than the outer door disciple who had been bullied earlier.

  Zeng Qi's reaction was extremely quick, taking advantage of the moment when everyone in the field was stunned by this sudden unexpected event. With a flash of light on his hand, several golden lights flew out, knocking down the remaining few outer door disciples to the ground. Gan Ping saw this scene and nodded secretly in his heart, Zeng Qi was also a person with sharp thinking, it was worth saving him once.

  With the threat gone, Zeng Qiang let out a loud laugh and walked over to Li Xingan's unconscious body. He bowed his head slightly towards Gan Ping and said: "Thanks for your help, little brother!" Gan Ping smiled faintly and nodded slightly, saying: "Brother helped first, how could I be so ungrateful? The question is what to do with this guy now, it's quite a headache." As he spoke, he used his toes to nudge Li Xingan, who was lying on the ground.

  Zeng Qi gazed at Li Xingan, whose eyes were tightly closed, and his eyes sparkled with calculation. Gan Ping saw this and secretly became vigilant, preparing to make a move. If Zeng Qi were to use his cunning hands to deal with Li Xingan, he would definitely intervene. Although he had just calculated Li Xingan's abilities and looked down on him, from the attitudes of other disciples, it was clear that Li Xingan's background was extraordinary. If this were an ordinary fight, even if someone were slightly injured, no one would make a fuss about it. Even if Li Xingan's elders were dissatisfied with Gan Ping, they wouldn't take action against him, a lowly servant boy. But if Zeng Qi killed Li Xingan, as his accomplice, Gan Ping would definitely face severe consequences and might even lose his life or be expelled from the sect.

  Zeng Qi glared at Li Xing An with a fierce gaze for a while, before finally saying in a hateful tone: "If I were to defeat him alone, he would be lucky if I didn't kill him. But since my little brother has lent a hand, if I were to hurt him now, it would implicate you as well." As she spoke, Zeng Qi viciously kicked Li Xing An, who was still unconscious. "So for today, I'll let him off. When the day comes that I reach the Condensation Realm, I'll go find him and make his life miserable." Upon hearing this, Gan Ping felt a wave of relief wash over him, and he couldn't help but feel a few pangs of admiration for this straightforward man. It seemed that these two must have had some extremely deep-seated grudges between them, otherwise such a forthright person wouldn't have spoken those cutting words earlier.

  Zeng Qi gave a resentful glance at Li Xingan, who was lying on the ground, and turned to shout at the white-robed disciples who were still crying and rolling around on the ground: "What are you wailing about? Don't pretend to be something you're not! Get over here and take this guy away. Don't make me have to teach you a lesson!" The outer sect disciples, who had been pretending to be something they were not, immediately stopped their act when they were exposed. They quickly got up, each one limping and gnashing their teeth, and carried the unconscious Li Xingan away in a hurry. It seemed that they were deeply afraid that Zeng Qi would change his mind and leave them behind.

  After handling these things, Zeng Qi turned around and said in a low voice: "Fang Niang, the play is over, can't bear to leave?" At this time, Fang Yuting, who was standing by and stunned, suddenly woke up from her dream, looked at Gan Ping with a surprised face, as if she wanted to say something, but under Zeng Qi's scorching gaze, she couldn't say anything, so she stomped her feet and turned around. Gan Ping saw Zeng Qi drive away Fang Yuting, didn't care, just stared tightly at the talisman paper that fell on the ground, which was the treasure symbol used by Li Xing'an just now.