King Qi’s heir frowned. “Who are you trying to scare with that shoddy stick?”

The Tai’e Sword did not look like much. It didn’t shine the way other divine weapons did, but looked rusted and useless instead. It was no surprise that others called it shoddy.

“Then do you want to have a taste of this shoddy stick?” Zu An said with a chuckle. He wanted to see if this fellow would be stupid enough to agree. If he did, then he would learn a really harsh lesson.

“Do you think I’m an idiot?” King Qi’s heir wasn’t about to let him have his way. Even though he didn’t think the shoddy weapon could break through his elemental barrier, there was no way he would just stand there like an idiot and let Zu An attack him.

“If you don’t want to do it willingly, then I’ll just have to force you.” Right after the words left his mouth, he reappeared by Zhao Zhi’s side like a ghost. He thrust his sword at his opponent from an unexpected angle.

Zhao Zhi’s expression grew grim. His opponent’s movement technique was just way too bizarre. He couldn’t afford to be careless. Fortunately, his lightning element granted him an advantage when it came to speed. With a flicker, he dodged the blow, then retaliated.

The two individuals darted back and forth. It was an absolutely dazzling sight for the spectators.

Murong Qinghe was completely stupefied. “How is your brother-in-law so strong?”

This scene before her already went beyond her understanding. She was obsessed with martial arts, and even though her cultivation wasn’t considered that great in the capital, she was still one of the best amongst her peers, and she had great vision. There were many powerful cultivators in her clan, and being immersed in such an environment from a young age had helped develop her sight to a far greater degree than others who had trained on their own.

In her eyes, regardless of how she assessed the situation, Zu And should never have been a match for his opponent. King Qi’s heir had eight ranks of cultivation!

How was this such an even contest?

Wait, no… It even seemed to her that King Qi’s heir was gradually losing the advantage.

Zu An’s movement technique was just too bizarre, and it made his swordplay seem completely unpredictable. Even from this distance, she was bewildered by it.

When Chu First Miss used this same technique, she seemed like an untouchable goddess, but this fellow seemed to take it to a whole other level.

Chu Youzhao stuck out her chest proudly. “But of course! Have you forgotten whose brother-in-law he is?”

Murong Qinghe wrinkled her nose in disdain. Who had been the one cursing his own brother-in-law a few months ago, and even wondered aloud if his big sister had gone blind? How could your attitude change so quickly?

King Qi’s heir was both shocked and furious. “Very good, you’ve successfully gained my full attention. You have the right to see my sword.”

With his eight ranks of cultivation, he didn’t think defeating Zu An would take much effort at all. He’d refrained from using a weapon thus far, since it would have made him look less suave.

Now, though, he was beyond caring. His original plan was to wait until his opponent exhausted all of his stamina and left an opening in his movement technique that he could exploit, but for some reason, he seemed to possess an improbably vast reservoir of ki. Not even a battle of this intensity had been able to diminish it.

If this continued, the young noble himself might end up suffering an injury before he managed to exhaust his opponent.

He was a mighty eighty-ranked cultivator, yet he still had yet to take down this rat from the streets. If he was the one injured instead, he would never be able to survive the ridicule hurled at him from his social circles.

“Look at you, still acting tough,” Zu An spat with a disdainful snort. “You’re finally drawing your sword, huh? Good. I would have cut off all three legs of yours if you didn’t.”

The young noble’s face turned completely red. This fellow’s sword had almost struck him several times. He was confident that his elemental barrier would hold, but his opponent had kept aiming for his little one down there, and he wasn’t about to let the sword connect head-on with such an important piece of equipment.

He thrusted out his sword silently, inwardly furious. I have to chop off this bastard’s arms and legs even if I don’t kill him today! I have to get rid of that irritating tongue as well!

You have successfully trolled Zhao Zhi for 444… 444… 444…

Murong Qinghe blinked when she saw them tangle with each other again. She looked at Chu Youzhao. “Big brother Chu, what’s a third leg?”

An obsessed martial artist like her was only sharp when it came to matters of cultivation. This phase was slightly outside the scope of her knowledge. 

“A kid shouldn’t ask so much about these things,” replied Chu Youzhao, blushing. She hadn’t known what it was before, either. However, when she saw Zu An pressing himself down on her eldest sister, she’d fully grasped the concept of a third leg without anyone having to teach her.

“You’re not even that much older than me,” mumbled Murong Qinghe, clearly unhappy that the other party was looking down on her because of her age. She was just about to say something, but her eyes drifted to Chu Youzhao’s reddened face, and she fell into a daze again. Big brother Chu really is handsome! 

...

While Murong Qinghe was feeling starstruck, King Qi’s heir wasn’t in that great of a mood. Given who he was, he naturally wielded a first-rate divine weapon. He’d assumed that it would easily slice through that chunk of metal in Zu An’s hands, yet that stupid stick just wouldn’t break, even after several blows.

Did I wake up on the wrong side of the bed today?

King Qi’s heir began to question his own life. Not only was he as yet unable to defeat a low-level cultivator despite his own eight ranks of cultivation, but even his divine weapon wasn’t able to overcome his opponent’s trashy weapon. What the heck is going on?

Despite this, he remained fully concentrated. Seizing upon a split-second of opportunity, he stabbed his blade towards Zu An’s thigh.

Hmph! Let’s see what you’ll do now! However, his smile froze as soon as it appeared on his face. The sensation from his blade did not seem right.

Sure enough, the Zu An he had stabbed gradually disappeared.

It’s another afterimage!

Without turning around, he stabbed his sword directly behind him.

Chu Youzhao cried out in alarm. Out of the corner of her eyes, she’d seen Zu An dodge behind King Qi’s heir. However, his opponent’s reaction was too fast, and it now looked as if Zu An was the one proactively bringing his chest up to that sword.

Even further away, the driver with the missing tooth sensed his Madam in the carriage leaning forward, and knew that she was getting worried. “Madam, do not worry,” he said. “This kid has a rather surprising movement technique. He wasn’t injured.”

The woman inside the carriage sighed in relief.

…

On the battlefield, King Qi’s heir was equally stunned. He sensed that he’d missed this time as well.

He instantly tried to dodge to the side, but he was just a moment too late. A sharp pain flared across the back of his thigh, accompanied by a fountain of blood.

With a roar, King Qi’s heir brandished the sword in his hands, sending a tyrannical blast of lightning outwards. This attack would be enough to batter Zu An half-dead.

Unfortunately, Zu An hadn’t greedily followed up his own attack. After gaining the advantage, he had quickly withdrawn, causing this attack to miss.

“How did you break through my defenses?!” King Qi’s heir looked down at the bloody wound on his leg with a mixture of shock and fury.

You have successfully trolled Zhao Zhi for 588… 588… 588…

If his instincts as a cultivator hadn’t caused him to move away at the last second, he might have lost his little bro.

Zu An sighed with regret. An eighth-ranked cultivator had their fair share of skills after all! If not, he would have finished his opponent with that one blow.

“Who was the one bragging that I wouldn’t be able to break through their defenses? If you still can’t believe it, perhaps you require another demonstration?”

Zhao Zhi’s expression was cold. He gave the Tai’e Sword an apprehensive look. This weapon was the issue. “I admit that I’ve underestimated you. However, do you really think that you can defeat me because of that strange sword?”

“Were you born in the year of the duck or something? Why is your mouth so hard and stubborn?” mocked Zu An.[1]

Nearby, Chu Youzhao and Murong Qinghe both nodded subconsciously. King Qi’s heir was indeed embarrassing himself. If you lose, you lose. Even if you only lose the first bout, you’ve still lost.

He was a glorious eighth-ranked cultivator, yet he had been pressured relentlessly by a lower-level cultivator, and had even been injured. Nothing he said mattered anymore.

It was the driver with the missing tooth who leaned forward intently. “The kid is in danger.”

He hoped that the woman inside the carriage would say something, so that he could explain what he meant. However, he didn’t hear anything from her, and so he had to swallow his words back down. It wasn’t a great feeling.

Zhao Zhi’s headband had unraveled of its own accord, and his previously orderly hair was fluttering about in midair. His eyes were suffused with a purple color. “Do you know what’s the difference between an eighth-ranked cultivator and someone at a lower rank?”

Zu An was startled by the sudden change in his opponent’s aura. He recalled his lessons in the academy.

At the sixth rank, cultivators could form an elemental barrier. This made it so that lower-level cultivators had practically no chance of winning. This was the first major transformation on the path of cultivation.

The eighth rank was considered the second major point of transformation. Before the eighth rank, cultivation relied purely on the natural ki stored within them. In other words, they relied on their own power. When one reached the eighth rank, one could begin to borrow the power of the external world!

Even in his previous world, which was full of scientific and technological wonders, and humans could wander the cosmos and explore the seas, a single natural disaster carried far more destructive power than a man-made atomic bomb.

Compared to the power of the natural world, humans were insignificant.

Right now, he could keenly sense that the ki within the natural world was frantically surging towards King Qi’s heir.