Chapter 10: The Duel

  The next morning, Fang Li hurried to the Gong Fa Pavilion after breakfast.

  Fang Li wanted to quickly improve his cultivation, and without a good set of exercises, it would not be possible. Moreover, Fang Li also planned to choose a set of swordsmanship for cultivation.

  "Who dares to trespass into the Gong Fa Pavilion again and take another step forward? Kill without pardon!"

  Fang Li had just arrived at the entrance of Gong Fa Hall when a cold, gloomy voice suddenly came from behind. He looked up to see an extremely thin old man standing there. If it wasn't Fang Lie, the Guardian Elder of the hall, then who could it be?

  "Gong Fa Ge was originally a place for family children to visit, when did it become a place where even entry is not allowed?" Fang Li coldly said to the Guardian Elder.

  The Guardian Elder had clearly discovered Fang Li early on, his whole body's aura surging forth, blocking the entrance of the Gong Fa Hall and not allowing Fang Li to take a single step forward. He was obviously trying to make things difficult for him. If it weren't for the warning from the Supreme Elder, perhaps the Guardian Elder would have already lost control and killed Fang Li on the spot. In his heart, he had already hated Fang Li to the core.

  "The Gongfa Pavilion can only be entered by the direct descendants of the family, and even then, only to the first floor. As for you, a collateral descendant, haha, even if you kneel down and beg me, I won't let you in." The Guardian Elder didn't know that Fang Li had already become an Honorary Elder, so seeing him daring to come to the Gongfa Pavilion with such a foolish expression, he naturally wanted to humiliate him thoroughly.

  "What if I have to go in?" Fang Li looked at the Guardian Elder, and a playful glint suddenly flashed in his eyes. If he didn't provoke himself, it would be fine, but now that he wanted to humiliate himself, he should be prepared to be counter-humiliated.

  "Hahaha, I've been the Guardian Elder for decades and have never let any branch family member in. If you're not afraid of death, come on over! If you can enter the Gong Fa Hall safely, Fang Lie will kneel down and bark like a dog." The Guardian Elder sneered at Fang Li, trying to provoke him into coming in. If Fang Li were to intrude upon the family's sacred ground and get killed by himself, even the Supreme Elder wouldn't have any reason to blame him.

  Then you can kneel down and learn to bark like a dog. Fang Li smiled slightly, unhurriedly took out an iron plaque from his bosom, which was the proof of being an Honorary Elder.

  The Shouge Elder also saw the object in Fang Li's hand, and his face suddenly turned iron-green. Thinking of the big talk he had just made, his face was burning with pain, and a sense of humiliation surged up in his heart. Fang Li held the Honorary Elder Token, and the Shouge Elder really couldn't stop him. Just now, he said he wouldn't let Fang Li enter the Gongfa Pavilion safely, but now he was slapping himself in the face.

  "This is impossible, this must be fake!" The elder of the Guardian Pavilion was furious and humiliated, having been repeatedly defeated by Fang Li, which made him almost go crazy. As a master who had cultivated to the eighth level of Qi refinement, he was repeatedly humiliated by a younger generation, how could he not be angry?

  Looking at Shoukong Lao's frantic appearance, Fang Li calmly said: "Don't get angry, anger hurts the body."

  This sentence completely ignited the Guardian Elder, who was so angry that he shouted loudly, his eyes were red, and he was about to lose his sanity.

  "How dare you, a junior, not respect your elders! You're going to die!" The elder of the Guardian Pavilion was so angry that he danced with rage, suddenly let out a loud shout, drew out the knife on his body, and actually wanted to behead Fang Li.

  Jian Shou Ge's elder attacked, Fang Li sneered and said coldly: "Have you forgotten the Supreme Elder? Or do you want to perish together with me?"

  Fang Li's words were no less effective than a basin of cold water, immediately extinguishing the anger of the Guardian Elder. The more ruthless and unscrupulous a person is, the more they cherish their own life. Would the Guardian Elder be willing to use his noble life in exchange for someone else's lowly life? Fang Li was able to see through this point, which is why he didn't even bother to look at him.

  "You despicable rat, you only know how to hide behind the Taishang Elder and seek protection. Do you have the guts to sign a contract with me and engage in a life-and-death duel?" The Guardian Elder bellowed loudly, his deeply sunken eyes wide open, looking quite intimidating.

  Fang Li burst out laughing, "The face of the Guardian Elder is not ordinary thick, a high-ranking cultivator who has reached the eighth level of Qi Refining actually challenges me, a junior, to a duel. Isn't he ashamed?"

  The elder's face turned red, but he still glared at Fang Li, if he didn't kill Fang Li, he would never be comfortable for the rest of his life.

  "You are already an honorary elder, with a status equal to mine. What's wrong with me challenging you to a duel?" The Guardian Elder didn't care about his face anymore and used every method to try to provoke Fang Li into agreeing, so that he could then kill him with justification.

  "Do you think I'm a fool?" Fang Li stared at Guardian Long, continuing: "However, someone has been shouting in front of me, and I won't hold back. If you want to compete with me, I agree, but the date of the competition must be chosen by me."

  The elder of the Guardian Pavilion was taken aback, clearly not expecting Fang Li to agree to a duel. He was overjoyed for a moment, but after carefully considering Fang Li's words, he furrowed his brow and said: "You're quite bold, saying that you won't back down, but what if you're just pretending to be brave? What if you plan to delay the duel for ten or a hundred years? Wouldn't I have to wait for you for ten or a hundred years? If you're afraid of me, just refuse directly. As a high-ranking cultivator with eight layers of Qi refinement, I won't mock you."

  Fang Li's expression remained unchanged, and he lightly laughed: "You won't have to wait ten years, two years will do. What if you've cultivated the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining? Two years later, I'll definitely defeat you."

  "Alright, I'll wait for two years. This afternoon, I will spread the news out. When the Grand Elder asks about it, don't be a turtle and deny it." The Guardian Elder suddenly became excited, laughing loudly as if Fang Li had already been killed by him, avenging his grandson's miserable death and his own humiliation.

  "What I'm afraid of is that two years later, you won't dare to duel with me." Fang Li smiled lightly and stopped entangling with him, heading straight into the Gongfa Pavilion. Now, working hard to improve his strength was the most important thing.

  The elder Shou Kong looked at all this with a cold eye, without stopping him. In his heart, Fang Li was already a dying man, and he didn't think that this humble branch child could surpass him within two years. Even if he had the privileges of an honorable elder, even if he used all the resources of the entire family on him, it would be impossible.

  "In two years, it will be your death date!" Looking at Fang Li's back, Shou Ge's elder gave a cold smile.

  Fang Li didn't mind all this and stepped into the Gong Fa Pavilion.

  The Gongfa Pavilion is divided into three layers, with the higher levels having better Gongfa scriptures. Only those who have the privilege of being an Honorary Elder can go up to the top floor. However, even so, they still cannot find the best cultivation methods in the family, because those methods are secretly kept by the Patriarch and the Supreme Elder, as they are the treasures that protect the clan and will not be easily revealed to everyone.

  Gongfa is also known as the gate of cultivation, it is something that a cultivator uses to step onto the path of immortality. Its importance can be imagined. Moreover, because gongfa directly determines the trajectory of true qi in the cultivator's body, at the same time, a cultivator should only cultivate one gongfa. If two or more are cultivated simultaneously, it is easy to cause the true qi to become chaotic and lead to demonic possession.

  "Wu Huo Gong, with a cultivation speed that is inferior, after reaching great completion, the blood and energy are full, like a fierce tiger." Fang Li turned around in circles on the first floor of the Gong Fa Tang, casually flipping open a secret book on the bookshelf, but upon seeing the inferior cultivation speed, he couldn't help but slightly shake his head.

  "Swallow Skill, cultivation speed is lower than average, when practiced to perfection, the body becomes light and agile like a swallow, flexible and changeable."

  The lower the level, the worse it is than the lying tiger skill. Fang Li shook his head and looked through several books again, only to find that the cultivation speed of this layer's gong method was either lower or even lower than the lower level, which was not much different from the basic guidance technique he had cultivated himself. Without hesitation, he went straight upstairs.

  The second floor has noticeably fewer books, with only three large bookshelves compared to ten on the first floor.

  Fang Li walked forward again, and flipped through it once more. The skills here were much better than before, with cultivation speeds reaching intermediate levels, but none of them reached the higher or highest levels.

  "Never mind, I'll just go to the third floor directly." Fang Li muttered to himself, not wanting to waste any more time. The reason he had flipped through the first and second floors' secret manuals earlier was simply due to his curiosity when entering the Gong Fa Pavilion for the first time.

  At the entrance to the stairs leading to the third floor, a stone monument stood at the side, with a line of strong and powerful large characters engraved on it: Only those with elder or higher authority may enter, violators will be killed without pardon!

  "These words are also unknown who left, good and thick momentum, must be a high-level foundation-building expert." Fang Li was attracted by the font on the stone tablet, couldn't help but take another two glances, then didn't stay, took big strides forward.

  Arriving at the third floor, Fang Li couldn't help but be stunned, looking around to see a vast emptiness, with only a bookshelf placed in the innermost part, and on the bookshelf, there were only six sparse ancient tomes.

  "The first floor had over a thousand books, the second floor also had several hundred, but unexpectedly on the third floor there were only six left, indeed the higher the grade of the skill, the rarer it is."

  Fang Li stepped forward with a light pace, his eyes flashing with anticipation. The fewer the number, the more precious it proved to be, making Fang Li somewhat impatient to take a look.

  Fang Li opened the first book, and the yellowed paper had a different texture in his hands.

  "The Dragon Elephant Prajna Technique is a superior cultivation method, divided into thirteen levels. When practiced to perfection, it can gather the power of dragons and elephants within the body, allowing one to split mountains and crack the earth with a mere flip of the hand."

  Just looking at the introduction to the technique, Fang Li was attracted and with a flip of his hand, he could open mountains and split the earth. This kind of power, it's likely that he had already reached the later stage of foundation building! However, seeing that top-notch cultivation speed, Fang Li still put it down and continued to browse through the remaining secret manuals.

  "The horizontal exercise of the body, cultivation speed is superior; The starry sky and heavenly origin formula, cultivation speed is also superior..."

  One after another, I read five books, and they all just reached the upper limit of cultivation speed!

  "Could it be that the cultivation methods of superior speed have all been hidden away by the Clan Leader and the Supreme Elder?" Fang Li's heart suddenly surged with a burst of impulse, wanting to make a trip to the forbidden area of the clan, directly asking the Supreme Elder for them. Nor did he know what the Supreme Elder meant by letting him come to find cultivation methods.

  Thinking of this, Fang Li couldn't help but feel puzzled. Logically speaking, if the elder had a more suitable technique for himself, he wouldn't hide it and let him waste his time in the Technique Pavilion.

  With such doubts, Fang Li opened the last book of the third layer of Gongfa.

  "Without peer, the speed of cultivation is superior. This method was created by an unknown person and is divided into three layers: The first layer, the twelve regular meridians are unblocked, and true qi can condense and flow freely within the twelve regular meridians; The second layer, the eight extraordinary meridians are unblocked, and true qi can condense and flow freely within the eight extraordinary meridians; The third layer, the four limbs and hundred joints are unblocked, and true qi can condense and flow freely throughout the body."

  "Freely condense and flow!" Fang Li exclaimed, unexpectedly there was such a strange technique! To think that almost all techniques have fixed operating methods, how could it be like this, freely condensing and flowing?! If one were to master this technique, wouldn't that mean being able to let the true energy within their body operate according to their own thoughts?

  Thinking of this, Fang Li suddenly became excited. If the true energy in his body was circulated according to the trajectory of the formation's operation, wouldn't it be possible to build a large true energy formation inside his body?