Chapter 20: Ferocity

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

The human eye was one of the most important organs in the human body. The nerves in the eyes were abnormally concentrated. Once the eyes were injured, any martial artist would definitely experience a great reduction in his or her combat ability, or even completely lose his or her fighting strength.

The blood was boiling hot and normally alkaline in nature. Once blood entered the eyes, it would corrode the nerves within the eyes, leaving the opposing party temporarily blind and even causing damage to the eye itself.

Jiang Yi had borne the raw brunt of a single punch from that martial artist whose power level was in the third stage of the Cast Tripod Realm—only to quickly get closer to Jiang Ruhu and spit blood into his face at that precise moment. That one action was a big gamble for him. After all, that martial artist, whose power level was in the third stage of the Cast Tripod Realm, had three horsepower worth of strength. If he had not chosen to increase the speed of his single punch by a notch and neutralized some of the power in his fist in the process, Jiang Yi’s spine bone would have been completely broken right now. Additionally, with Jiang Yi in mid-air, if Jiang Ruhu had not rashly rushed forward and chose to continue avoiding any incoming attacks instead, Jiang Yi would have wasted all his efforts.

That was such a good opportunity!

Jiang Yi spat out a thread of clotted blood from his mouth and forcefully controlled his body figure whilst in mid-air. Circulating essence force on one of his fists, he smashed that fist towards the direction of the top of Jiang Ruhu’s head. Having established such a good opportunity to strike, he would be an idiot if he did not fathom to grasp it.

“Phantom Punch!”

He shouted deeply and loudly as his fists transformed into three fist-like silhouette images, with each hitting in the direction of Jiang Ruhu’s head, left shoulder, and lower abdomen.

Jiang Ruhu became temporarily blind in both his eyes; additionally, he felt a scorching sensation of agony, burning like a raging inferno in his eyes. Upon hearing the incoming Phantom Punch attack, his heart sank completely. Initially, he had thought of withstanding the attack; yet, at that moment, all he could do was to recklessly brandish both his arms and hit the air above him at random, in an effort to protect his own head.

A black flash circulated within Jiang Yi’s eyes, allowing him to clearly and distinctly see Jiang Ruhu’s every action. As such, he could easily determine Jiang Ruhu’s attack trajectory. His fist, which had merged with a wisp of black essence force, drove straight and smashed heavily into Jiang Ruhu’s left shoulder.

“Boom!”

Jiang Ruhu’s obese body responded by flying backward. He crashed heavily into a small tree some thirty or forty feet away before ricocheting off into the ground, leaving him rolling on the ground for several rounds.

“Swish!”

Jiang Yi had also tumbled onto the ground, and yet he managed to immediately leap off the ground like a cheetah. Once again, he rushed towards Jiang Ruhu.

He was well aware that if he wanted to come out of the Western Hills completely unscathed this day, he had no other option but to take down Jiang Ruhu, thereby deterring the rest from attacking. He had already used up three wisps of his black essence forces. Once he completely consumed all of his black essence forces, he would have no other ending but be resigned to being beaten to death.

“Swish!”

The surrounding crowd of people had also started responding—every single person frantically raced towards that side, their eyes filled with an ominous glint. Their boss had been ambushed in a sneak attack; how could they dare to gawk and remain indifferent? Should Jiang Ruhu find out after the incident that happened this day, they would have to suffer some severe consequences.

“Snake Whip Leg!”

Both of Jiang Yi’s legs attached themselves to Jiang Ruhu’s body like a poisonous snake and continuously kicked downwards like a torrential downpour. On top of that, his kicks landed on all four of Jiang Ruhu’s limbs. Even though he did not circulate any black essence force into each foot, each kick was nonetheless done with ample strength. The kicks were swiftly followed by the sound of bones cracking, as two of Jiang Ruhu’s hands and one of his legs were broken instantly. This left Jiang Ruhu rolling on the ground as he started howled miserably due to his acute pain.

“Jiang Yi, how dare you!”

“Jiang Yi, how could you dare to break Brother Hu’s hands and legs? You’re done for!”

“Little bastard, take this…”

Upon seeing Jiang Yi act so brazenly and ferociously, the group of opponents who had rushed over was infuriated and enraged. They all sped up and raced frantically as they circulated their bodily essence force into their hands, rushing to attack Jiang Yi from three sides.

“Hmph!”

Jiang Yi gave a burst of cold laughter. Not only did he not retreat to avoid the incoming assault, but he also used his hand to grab Jiang Ruhu’s remaining unbroken leg. He swung Jiang Ruhu’s obese body around in a sweeping motion, directed to the incoming group of opponents.

“Oh no!”

“Retreat… don’t you dare hurt Brother Hu!”

“You little bastard, you—how you dare use Brother Hu as a weapon?”

The entire group of opponents was so frightened by the sight of Jiang Yi brazenly swinging Jiang Ruhu around in a frenzied sweeping move that their faces turned deathly pale. They promptly withdrew their attacks and retreated backward in a flurry. They were scared that with their single attack, Jiang Ruhu would be beaten into a pulp even before Jiang Yi experienced any injury.

“Jiang Yi, you’re finished! You’re done for! If you have the guts, just kill me here and now! Otherwise, I swear I will rip you to shreds!”

Jiang Ruhu was blind in both eyes, had both his hands and legs broken by kicking. Worst of all, at that moment, he could feel his entire body flying around as Jiang Yi swung him around in a random sweeping motion like a wooden stick, with his head even brushing past the ground twice. He immediately flew into a wild rage—how could he continue being a boss to all these familial subordinates if he continued being in such a sorry state in front of so many of them?

“BANG!”

Jiang Yi’s facial expressions remained ice-cold without a shred of change as he heard Jiang Ruhu’s cries of warning. Both his hands ruthlessly swung Jiang Ruhu around in a circle before heavily smashing him onto the ground.

“If you don’t want your Brother Hu to die, back away from me immediately!”

Disregarding Jiang Ruhu who had started screaming in agony once again, Jiang Yi’s gaze was locked onto the crowd of opponents surrounding him. There was still some clotted blood on the corner of his mouth at that moment. Coupled with his stone-cold facial expression, he looked as though he had some sort of special power to enchant others.

“Jiang Yi, let Brother Hu go, and we’ll all spare you from death!”

“Right! Jiang Yi, let Brother Hu go immediately! Otherwise, should something bad happen to Brother Hu, you would definitely only have one end-result—death!”

“Jiang Yi, quickly release Brother Hu! Or else, you’ll have a big problem in your own hands…”

How could that group of opponents even consider retreating? Should Jiang Ruhu find out the identities of those individuals who tried to escape, would they not suffer a severe and deadly punishment as a consequence? On top of that, everyone in that group was all experiencing some fright in seeing Jiang Ruhu’s appalling and agonizing state. Each of them was discouraging one another from taking action; all of them fearful of making a big mistake.

“BANG!”

What responded the group’s threats was the scene of Jiang Ruhu’s body being once again swung a high distance upwards before subsequently being smashed downwards into the ground. A cruel smile formed on the corner of Jiang Yi’s mouth as though he were pressing his luck. He shouted coldly, “Are you going to retreat or not?”

The group of opponents hesitated to respond as if they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Jiang Yi’s hands moved again, sending Jiang Ruhu’s body flying in mid-air in a splendid upwards arc before smashing it heavily on the ground once again.

“Retreat or not?”

“Retreat or not?”

“Retreat or not?”

He continuously questioned without stopping, each question being followed by him swinging Jiang Ruhu’s body and smashing it onto the ground. As a result of these few rounds of random ground-smashing, Jiang Ruhu immediately started bleeding from the wounds on his head. He had also fainted from the multiple crashes onto the ground—the cries of agony had stopped. There were only acts of breathing in through his mouth and nose, without any act of breathing out at all…

“Retreat, fall back! We retreat!”

Everyone had been shocked and frightened by Jiang Yi’s severe viciousness and ferocity. They were also scared that Jiang Yi would really smash Jiang Ruhu on the ground to his death in a fit of mad rage. That would make Jiang Yi’s death penalty unavoidable, but they would also have to suffer the consequences of being punished by the Family clan.

As one person started to retreat, the rest followed suit in hurry. All of them stared in horror at the malevolent expression on Jiang Yi’s face as a single thought appeared in their minds—was this person still that docile good-for-nothing Jiang Yi? How could he become so scary when he showed his ferocity?

“Huh….”

It was only when everyone had retreated backward that Jiang Yi breathed a sigh of relief. Having shocked and intimidated every single opponent that day, he would finally be safe. Otherwise, he would find difficulty escaping from ending up being attacked from all sides and beaten up by all his opponents.

Observing Jiang Ruhu who was lying limply on the ground like a crawling insect, a sense of elation flashed in Jiang Yi’s eyes. After being bullied by this bunch of people from the Jiang Clan for so many years, he could finally claim to have earned some interest back from that day.

He muttered deeply to himself for a moment before letting go of Jiang Ruhu’s leg. He raised his own leg and stepped down onto Jiang Ruhu’s badly mutilated head. Moving his body close to Jiang Ruhu, he lowered his voice and quietly said, “Jiang Ruhu, do you know what power level in the Cast Tripod Realm I am at right now? Do you know how I was able to send Jiang Ruying flying with just a single punch? Do you know why I dare to do this to you? To tell you the truth, I want to make things big and let the entire Jiang Clan know that… I, Jiang Yi, am not a useless good-for-nothing! You guys are the good-for-nothing wastrels!”

Finishing what he had to say, Jiang Yi raised his leg once again before viciously stepping down on Jiang Yi’s remaining good leg. With one of his legs, he suddenly sent Jiang Ruhu’s body heavily flying off with another kick. It was only then that he swept a gaze across the bodies of all his remaining opponents before deeply shouting, “Heal Jiang Ruhu within the next hour; otherwise, he… would definitely die—no doubt about that! All of you better remember: if you ever see me, your Young Master, in the future, you must make a detour around me. Otherwise, should you dare to provoke me, your Young Master, you would meet the same fate as Jiang Ruhu today.”

Finishing his statement, Jiang Yi rushed off in a burst of quick speed in the direction of the foot of the Western Hills. Having taken in the supreme might of Jiang Yi’s power, none of the Jiang Clan descendants, who surrounded him, actually dared to stop him in his tracks. Conversely, many of them looked at the figure of Jiang Yi’s back as he raced away, revealing a look of pure horror on their faces.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and carry Brother Hu and me off the mountain for medical treatment! If Brother Hu dies, we would all have to die with him! Ouch… Jiang Yi, I am going to rip you to shreds…”

The group of people was still sending Jiang Yi off with their stares of horror when a bellow filled with incomparably violent rage rang out. The shout actually came from Jiang Ruying, whose leg had been broken by Jiang Yi right from the start.

“Quick, quick! Carry Brother Hu!”

“Quickly go and report it to the family clan Disciplinary Courts! Report this situation to the Chief Supervisor!”

“Right… report this to the Chief Supervisor, report to the Disciplinary Courts, and punish Jiang Yi by giving him the death penalty…”

In a flurry, the large group of people carried Jiang Ruhu and Jiang Ruying as they left the Western Hills. All of them clamored incessantly as they felt indignant with the injustice just inflicted on them, each of them itching to make mincemeat out of that viciously evil and violent criminal Jiang Yi just so they could be relieved of their bitter hatred.

“No… do not… do not tell my dad… do not tell the Family!”

Jiang Ruhu was finally revived and took in a breath of air as they were halfway down the mountain. With much difficulty, he opened his mouth and said, “Jiang Yi’s… power has improved so quickly… cannot… wait for my brother to return… I want him dead… everyone better remember whatever happened today… just say that we had to fight with the Ma Family…”

Jiang Yi’s voice stammered out in dribs and drabs. All had a perplexed look on their faces—could it be that Jiang Ruhu’s brain was injured as well? He himself had already been beaten to such a pathetic state; how could it be that he still wanted to help hide Jiang Yi’s secrets?

“Right! That’s right! We can’t tell the family clan!”

Yet Jiang Ruying very quickly connected the dots. In a stern voice, he shouted aloud, “Jiang Yi’s power has improved so greatly—if the Family found out, not only would they not scold him, but they might even see him as someone valuable! On top of that, they might even offer him the position as a core descendant of the Family! By that time, we would have no other option but be pushed around and be bullied by him forever. We would never be able to get revenge for this.

“What Brother Hu said is right—we would have to keep this whole event a secret and say that we have a fight with the sons of the Ma Family. It’s not the first time that has happened after all. We will wait for Brother Long to return from the Martial Arts Hall, and then we will let Brother Long take action… and punish Jiang Yi for this!”

“Brother Long?”

The hearts of all the people around turned coldly stern as they silently nodded their heads. That “Brother Long” was none other than Jiang Ruhu’s older brother Jiang Rulong. Positioned second in the list of most powerful persons within the young generation of the Family, his power level had reached the seventh stage of the Cast Tripod Realm. Recently, he had left for seclusion and training with the Great Young Master Jiang Henshui at the Martial Arts Hall. Should he return and find out that Jiang Ruhu had been beaten to this terrible state, he would definitely intervene in a fit of rage and kill Jiang Yi.

Jiang Ruying shifted his pupils as he quickly instructed all the people around him to corroborate the same matching testimony, to avoid making any mistakes or gaps in the story after they return home. While the group of men discussed in a low voice, they hastily left the Western Hills and ran towards the Jiang Residence Central Courtyard.

“Huh…”

It was only after everyone had disappeared from the Western Hills that a frail figure walked out from the mid-way point on the mountain. He had vaguely heard Jiang Ruying’s words, and this made his face give off an expression of relief.

The last statement he made at the side of Jiang Ruhu’s ear had indeed been effective!

Jiang Yi originally had no desire to make a big fuss out of the entire event and thereby have everyone in the Family find out about the circumstance of his power improving by leaps and bounds. He had deliberately ‘reminded’ Jiang Ruhu not to widely spread this specific circumstance.

That a nameless martial arts technique mysteriously appeared in his mind, a technique which could refine the obscenely powerful black essence force—such a bizarre circumstance was something he had absolutely no desire of letting everyone find out. Most importantly, Elder Liu’s death had left him with a tinge of anxious concern. He was scared that the Family clan would implicate and severely punish him. After all, an alchemist was vitally important to a small family clan.

“Jiang Rulong? Hmph! What I’m lacking the most is time. If Jiang Rulong stays in seclusion at the Martial Arts Hall for one to two months more, by the time he fights against this Young Master, no one can say for certain who would win and who would lose!”

Thinking about how his black essence force could remove the runic patterns and rapidly break his seal while, at the same time, increasing his power cultivation speed, Jiang Yi’s eyes lit up. He rested for a short moment before leaving the mountain at a quick speed.

Chapter 20: The Mysteriously Endowed Natural Talent

After returning to report to Chief Rong, Jiang Yi returned to the small courtyard of his own home and sent Jiang Xiaonu out to find Chunya and gather some news. An hour later, Jiang Xiaonu returned home, having gathered information about Jiang Ruhu and his gang of cronies.

The physically mutilated state that Jiang Ruhu was left in after the fight—and which he had been carried home in—triggered an uproar from the rest of the Jiang Clan. However, upon hearing that the injuries were the handiwork of Ma Family members, all the Jiang Clan members stopped minding about the injuries. Instead, they secretly scolded Jiang Ruhu and his gang of Jiang Clan descendants for being useless good-for-nothings and losing face for the Jiang Clan.

In Skyplume City, the Ji Family was positioned at the top; below them were the four great family clans: the Liu Family, the Ma Family, the Jiang Clan, and the Leng Family. The remaining were smaller family clans such as the Yi Family, from which Yi Lingxue hailed from, and the Yang Family; however, none of these smaller family clans could compare with the five great family clans at all.

The culture and society of Divine Martial Kingdom were built on martial arts. The administrators who run the cities were all-powerful martial artists, with military generals wielding significant military prowess even being directly bestowed with entire small cities as vassal territories. The City Lord of Tianyu City, Ji Tian, had beaten Biao Bing in the Six-Nation War some fourteen years ago and as such was bestowed the title of Yulin Deputy General as well as Skyplume City as his own fiefdom.

Within Skyplume City, the Ji Family was akin to a royal family. No other family clan dared to provoke the Ji Family. For their part, Ji Family descendants were themselves very disciplined and rarely bullied or oppressed the descendants of other family clans. The other remaining family clans acted differently. The clans regularly fought with each other openly and maneuvered against one another covertly to attain advantages in their own interest. The four great families had deep grudges on one another, developed over centuries of conflict, and fights between descendants of each family clan were truly commonplace and not out of the ordinary.

Martial arts were popular in Stellarsky Continent. Few cared about their familial descendants fighting amongst one another within their clans, not to mention inter-clan fighting. So as long as no one was killed, all fights were disregarded—and better yet, if one won an inter-clan fight outside, he might even be granted a commendation or award.

As such, upon hearing that members of the Ma Family had beaten up Jiang Ruhu, the Jiang Clan paid little heed to that piece of information. Contrary to the rest, the Chief Supervisor Jiang Yunshe was filled with rage. Even though Jiang Ruhu had been so brutally injured and mutilated from the fight that his face seemed unrecognizable, Jiang Yunshe still adamantly scolded Jiang Ruhu with much ferocity and even ordered all the collateral descendants to go into seclusion at home. He even set a penalty—should anyone head out of the Residence again and be a disgrace to the Family, there would be a severe punishment.

Upon hearing the news, Jiang Yi felt more relaxed and less tense throughout his body. He knew that, at the very least, he would be safe before Jiang Rulong returned from the Martial Arts Hall. He could unhurriedly cultivate his power and continuously break his seal, and in turn, achieve the largest increase in his power-level stages in the Cast Tripod Realm in the shortest amount of time.

Black essence force could increase his power by two times. At the moment, with the boundary of his power-level at the second stage of the Cast Tripod Realm, after merging with some black essence force, his power-level could hit the fourth stage of the Cast Tripod Realm, equivalent to four horsepower worth of strength. Besides being compatible with and increasing his ability of sight, his mixed martial arts techniques and strategies certainly allowed him to be on par with any typical martial artists with a power level at the fourth stage of the Cast Tripod Realm.

Jiang Rulong had a power level at the seventh stage of the Cast Tripod Realm. If he could increase his power-level up to the third or even fourth stage of the Cast Tripod Realm before Jiang Rulong left the Martial Arts Hall, it was not unlikely that he could fight with Jiang Rulong on a relatively equal footing.

“I have to continue cultivation practice and continue breaking my seal! Tomorrow, after I take stock in the medicinal plantations, I will stroll around the city and see if there are any more ways to make money to pay off my debts.”

Jiang Yi muttered to himself for a moment before deciding not to overthink and started to quickly refine more black essence force to break his seal instead. At the present moment, he could remove approximately ten of the runic patterns on the seal daily. The remaining time was spent on power cultivation. His cultivation speed was also gradually increasing, presently reaching up to seven or eight times of his original speed. Even though comparatively speaking this speed was still very slow, Jiang Yi was already very satisfied with such results.

Before dawn broke the next day, Jiang Yi was already awake and had to head to the Western Hills to take stock. Jiang Xiaonu, however, once again disturbed him and demanded to head out to work. It was only after he had viciously reprimanded her that she no longer dared to speak another word.

Returning from the Western Hills and having reported to Chief Rong, Jiang Yi secretly slipped away from the Jiang Residence Central Courtyard and started wandering around the city in the search for ways to make more money.

After wandering around for an entire morning, Jiang Yi sat down dejectedly on a stone block in the middle of the City Plaza. He had no idea how to make money at all unless he got employment as a coolie—which was a job with a meager income of a few bronze coins, an utterly inadequate amount of earnings.

There were only eighteen days left to go before the one-month deadline on the agreement of repayment made with the Fengyue Brothel was up, and yet at the moment, Jiang Yi only had ten taels of silver on his person. He tried to come up with many ideas but eventually realized that besides coming clean with the Jiang Clan and letting the Family come up with the money, he had no other viable option but to seek Ji Tingyu and borrow money from her.

All these years, the Jiang Clan did not see him in a positive light. Jiang Yi himself had a sense of haughty pride within his bones and refused to depend on the Jiang Clan. Additionally, due to the situation with Elder Liu, he truly had no desire of letting the Jiang Clan know of the case that he possessed black essence force until the very last moment.

Search for Ji Tingyu?

That breathtakingly beautiful young girl in a yellow dress emerged in his mind again. However, he quickly shook his head, remembering that with that college imminently about to recruit new students and since Ji Tingyu would have gone into seclusion at the Martial Arts Hall like his relative, Jiang Henshui, she would certainly not be out and about in the near future.

“Right… the Martial Arts Hall! I should go to the Martial Arts Hall and be a sparring partner! Like that, not only can I make some money, but I might even be able to meet Young Mistress Ji!”

Jiang Yi felt a rush of excitement and suddenly stood up to look in the direction of the Martial Arts Hall. He thought of one thing—he would have enough or possibly even spare black essence forces to last an entire day. His power level had reached the second stage of the Cast Tripod Realm, and his black essence forces were more condensed. If the ten strands of black essence force that he usually circulated into his eye could last for two hours, he might make it last longer. That could be true given that while he was being a sparring partner, he needed not to head out for combat all the time and if he only had a few sparring matches per day.

Additionally, of the Jiang Clan members, only Jiang Henshui and Jiang Rulong had entered the Martial Arts Hall for power cultivation training. Since he was wearing a mask during sparring practice, the two were unlikely to recognize him. Furthermore… considering how the two individuals had such great power, if they wanted to find sparring partners, they would definitely find gold token-grade ones. Why would they ever consider finding a martial artist with a power level at the second stage of the Cast Tripod Realm like himself?

If one thought of doing something, one would definitely do it!

Without caring to eat his lunch, Jiang Yi put on his robes and walked in the direction of the Martial Arts Hall.

The personnel at the Martial Arts Hall were still publicizing their call for more sparring partners outside the building, but the surrounding spectators had become fewer. Jiang Yi had just walked close to the side door when that big tall guard clad in black armor immediately called out to him and said warmly, “Hey, little man, you’re finally here! Manager Yang had asked for you several times.”

Jiang Yi smiled, embarrassed. Not needing this guard clad in black armor to lead the way, he directly walked into the Martial Arts Hall and went straight towards the Technique Practicing Room.

“Swish! Swish! Swish!”

Just as Jiang Yi walked into the large hall of the Technique Practicing Room, the glances of a big group of people immediately swept over to look at him. Manager Yang, his old face filled with wrinkles, smiled brightly and called Jiang Yi from afar, saying, “Lone Wolf, you’re finally here! How about it? Are you staying to be a sparring partner for a whole afternoon? I’ll pay you a whole day’s work worth of wages—so how do ten taels of silver sound?”

Jiang Yi scratched his nose and nodded, replying, “Sure!”

Manager Yang hurriedly passed to Jiang Yi the wolf mask he was originally wearing before giving a visual signal to a servant standing next to him. That servant immediately left in a hurry.

Shh-shh-shh!

Jiang Yi had just started sitting cross-legged in the large hall when the sound of urgent footsteps came ringing from the corridor. A fiery red figure appeared. Her pair of large eyes locking onto Jiang Yi with just one look, the figure excitedly said, “Manager Yang, I want that Lone Wolf to join me in sparring practice.”

Jiang Yi scratched his head while muttering to himself in wonderment if this girl with a hot body enjoyed being abused like that. That day, she had attacked him for so long, and yet she did not even manage to touch the corner of his clothes—was being a sparring partner like that meaningful?

“Lone Wolf, head out for combat!” Manager Yang grinned widely and waved his hand towards Jiang Yi. He was the one who informed this Yi Lingxue, after all; otherwise, how could she arrive so soon?

Since there was someone who deliberately ordered him, Jiang Yi could only smile bitterly and head out for combat. Following Yi Lingxue, he walked into one of the technique practicing rooms. It was not long before the door to the room sealed shut and the walls of the room shone brightly as both persons’ essence forces were sealed off from use.

What astonished Jiang Yi was that Young Mistress Yi, who had a hot figure, did not immediately launch an attack upon entry but rather smiled at him with a look of gratitude. She cupped her fists and bowed, saying, “Is your name ‘Lone Wolf’? Thank you very much for your combat practice with me the other time! I hope that like before, you will give it your all today.”

To receive respect and gratitude was a very delightful thing, especially since it came from a pretty young lady. Jiang Yi had never experienced such good treatment at the Jiang Clan; on the other hand, to receive such high-standard treatment outside from the young mistress of the Ji Family and this Young Mistress Yi, his emotions naturally improved greatly. He waved his hands and replied, “Young Mistress, you are too courteous. I will definitely give it my all.”

The power level of Young Mistress Yi was only at the fourth stage of the Cast Tripod Realm. The day before, his power level was only at the first stage of the Cast Tripod Realm. When he relied on the power of black essence forces, she was already unable to even touch the corner of his robes. Today, with his power having greatly expanded, naturally she would be unable to hit him.

Sure enough…!

After Yi Lingxue carried out her attacks, Jiang Yi’s body figure started gracefully moving about in circles around the Technique Practicing Room. No matter how much this Young Mistress Yi tried to strike at him, she could not even touch the corner of Jiang Yi’s clothes. Every time she launched an attacked, it seemed as though Jiang Yi had premonitory abilities, being able to avoid and hide before Yi Lingxue released her combat techniques. With both persons’ essence forces being sealed off from use, their combat speeds were more or less the same. Dare one ask: how could it be possible for Yi Lingxue to ever manage to hit Jiang Yi?

“Hoo! Take my Phenomenal-Stage Thunderstorm Fist! Lone Wolf, you watch out!”

After fighting for five minutes, Yi Lingxue’s entire body was covered in sweat, allowing her perfect bodily figure to come to light. However, she remained totally unaware of this. Instead, with a delicate shout, she sent both her fists flying like a thunderstorm, leaving the air filled with the silhouettes of fists, numbering ten of such figures, within a split-second.

Eh? This girl has improved greatly. Her Thunderstorm Fist is obviously more powerful than that day.

Jiang Yi quietly sighed to himself sorrowfully. However, the fist silhouettes were completely ineffective against him, as he could see clearly his opponent’s real fists—it would be the same result even if his opponent produced the images of one hundred fist silhouettes.

The Jiang Clan had a martial arts technique called Phantom Punch, which in essence was not much different from this Thunderstorm Fist. Jiang Yi could feel that his mastery of Phantom Punch had hit Phenomenal Stage, with his fist silhouettes being more concrete and realistic that what Yi Lingxue could produce. How could Yi Lingxue possibly harm him at that moment?

He used his Psychedelic Step technique. Instead of retreating, he ran in a forward direction for a meter before suddenly bending his knees and bending his back backward. This allowed his whole body to slide in the direction of his forward left-hand side, easily avoiding Yi Lingxue’s incoming attacks.

“Huh, huh, I’m not fighting any longer. You’re too obscenely powerful…”

Without any essence force as support, a lot of energy was consumed when one put in all his or her might to do combat in martial arts. After Yi Lingxue used a round of her Thunderstorm Fist techniques and smashed forward in her attacks, her entire person became immediately tired, leaving her panting profusely. If Jiang Yi was not there, she would immediately sit her buttocks down on the ground.

Jiang Yi stood up and patted his robes, before giving a faint smile. He said, “Young Mistress, you are so powerful. Your power level is already at the fourth stage of the Cast Tripod Realm even though you’re so young. If not for your essence forces being sealed off from use, I would probably have been beaten down by you and lost the match before I could even use a single technique.”

Yi Lingxue’s robes were completely wet. At the moment, she was panting and taking in big mouthfuls of air. With her slightly perky breasts moving up and down as she panted, she appeared incomparably alluring. Upon listening to what Jiang Yi said, a faint reddish blush appeared on her delicate face. Looking at Jiang Yi, she smiled and replied, “You sure know how to speak. Very well! Today, I’ve sparred to my heart’s content. I’ll come and find you tomorrow, but… can you at least fight back during our match tomorrow? Don’t always simply avoid and try to escape. Those tactics don’t make the match fun at all.”

“Hic…”

Embarrassed, Jiang Yi scratched his head. If he retaliated against her moves, with her essence forces sealed off, he was afraid that with a single move, he would knock her down. However, what else could he say at that moment? He had no choice but to nod and reply, “Alright!”

Young Mistress Yi straightened out and tidied up her robes before leaving the room at a wide-stepped pace. Jiang Yi followed behind her out of the room as well. Sitting amongst the crowd of sparring partners, he gave a sweeping glance of the room but could not spot Manager Yang at all. Simply deciding not to concern himself any further, he decided to sit in silence and meditate to restore the black essence forces he had just consumed.

Manager Yang was indeed not in the Technique Practicing Room but rather in a small room nearby. He was not alone—there was an elderly man with white hair and elegant robes in the small room as well. The two men were attentively observing a painting on the wall.

The images on the painting could move. If Jiang Yi and Yi Lingxue saw the painting images, they would certainly be incomparably shocked. This was because… the images being broadcasted on the wall were the scenes of the two of them fighting. However, the images were somewhat blurry. It appeared that the ‘painting’ used some sort of mysterious magical spell, allowing the processes of the two people’s combat to be preserved in this image-based format.

“This does not make sense. Seeing the speed of this boy, his power level is indeed at the second stage of the Cast Tripod Realm. How could he have such obscenely powerful ability to react?”

Manager Yang’s elderly face revealed a look of non-comprehension and confusion. He stared at the images for a very long time but remained completely bewildered. Finally, he raised his hands in surrender towards the elderly man with white hair and said, “Elder Fei, what do you make of this?”

The elderly man with white hair stroked his beard as he opened his mouth to speak, saying, “There is no need to look any further. This kid does indeed have a power level in the second stage of the Cast Tripod Realm, but he has a mysterious heaven-endowed natural talent which allows him to have obscenely powerful abilities to react to attacks. Manager Yang, ensure that he is well-groomed, well-trained, and well-invested in and help increase his power level up to the third or even fourth stage of the Cast Tripod Realm. He definitely has the potential of becoming an excellent gold token-grade sparring partner which would no doubt become an endless source of profit for the Martial Arts Hall!”

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