Chapter 68: Fierce Battle at the Qi Refining Stage

Because he had just felt the thrill of his vanity, seeing Xu Ziyan ignore him now felt like an insult. He stood up from his seat with a jolt, glaring at Xu Ziyan angrily, and yelled sharply,

“Little girl, you’re asking for death!”

“Just with you?” Xu Ziyan turned her head and stared coldly at Xu Tianci.

Xu Huniu, who had been standing behind Xu Ziyan all along, never thought Xu Ziyan would dare to clash head-on with an Inner Hall disciple. She knew that her Gang Leader, while alive, had not been on good terms with Xu Ziyan and had even set a trap for her in Tongyou Valley. Now, Xu Ziyan completely disregarded those past events and stepped forward when the Plum Blossom Gang faced dismemberment, even though the opponent was an Inner Hall disciple. This deeply moved Xu Huniu and the other Plum Blossom Gang disciples, making them admire Xu Ziyan wholeheartedly.

Xu Ziyan did not know what Xu Huniu and the others were thinking at that time. She thought, now that Xu Dongxue was dead, the Plum Blossom Gang had lost its leader. If she could bring the Plum Blossom Gang over, and later, when Xu Qingxue’s cultivation level improved, place them under Xu Qingxue’s command, they would become her own force. Moreover, taking this opportunity to fight these people had always been Xu Ziyan’s wish. Especially today, there was an extra surprise: it allowed her to witness the strength of the Qi Refining Stage even before entering the Inner Hall.

So when Xu Ziyan saw Xu Tianci stand up in humiliated anger, she felt not the slightest fear, but rather excitement. However, in Xu Tianci’s eyes, this excitement was overconfidence. To him, Xu Ziyan now was like an ant waving its antennae at an elephant—simply ignorant of her own doom.

He took big steps forward until he stood in front of Xu Ziyan, then lifted his hand to slap her hard across the face. Xu Ziyan’s gaze sharpened, and she raised her foot to kick Xu Tianci in the abdomen. One, thinking of himself as the elephant, struck carelessly; the other, having already adjusted her cultivation to the peak of the Eleventh Layer of Houtian, was ready for a fight at any moment. The difference in speed became obvious.

Before Xu Tianci’s hand could reach Xu Ziyan’s face, Xu Ziyan’s right foot left a blur of afterimages as it slammed fiercely into Xu Tianci’s abdomen.

Xu Tianci let out a pained howl as his body was sent flying backward by Xu Ziyan’s kick. He crashed into the chair behind him, then slammed into the wall, before bouncing back and landing flat on the ground.

Everyone in the Spirit Hall wore a stunned expression. They had only heard of or seen Xu Ziyan defeating a Ninth Layer of Houtian disciple when she was at the Sixth Level of Houtian; Xu Hualing, present here, was one of those Xu Ziyan had defeated back then. But the gap between the Qi Refining Stage and Houtian was huge—how could someone at the Eleventh Layer of Houtian kick a First Level of Qi Refining Stage disciple flying with one foot? This… was just too unbelievable!

Xu Tianci originally thought he was just going through the motions, believing that with his Qi Refining Stage cultivation, simply standing there would solve everything. He never expected to be kicked into such a messy and humiliated state by Xu Ziyan. But he did not feel the least bit afraid of Xu Ziyan. He believed it was entirely due to his own carelessness that gave her a chance to sneak attack. As long as he used his full First Level of Qi Refining Stage strength, capturing Xu Ziyan would be effortless.

So, to save face, Xu Tianci suppressed his anger and slowly got up from the ground. He tried his best to make his expression look relaxed, even reaching out to lightly flick the dust off his front, appearing extremely cool. The reason he acted this way was to tell everyone: So what if I let Xu Ziyan kick me? With her cultivation level, could she really hurt me?

Xu Ziyan paid no attention to Xu Tianci’s pretentious act. Instead, she fixed her eyes tightly on him, keeping her cultivation at the peak of the Eleventh Layer of Houtian, ready to respond to Xu Tianci’s attack at any moment.

Sure enough, after Xu Tianci finished his show, he forcefully stomped his right foot and shot toward her like an arrow. A fist rapidly grew larger in Xu Ziyan’s view. Without dodging or avoiding, Xu Ziyan swung her own fist to meet his directly.

A loud “boom” sounded, stirring up a gust of strong wind that made the clothes of the onlookers flap noisily. Xu Gan, Xu Wen, and Xu Tianxiao were horrified and their faces changed color. Earlier, after the initial shock of seeing Xu Ziyan kick Xu Tianci flying, they too thought that Xu Ziyan had succeeded because Xu Tianci underestimated her. If they really fought, Xu Ziyan could not possibly be Xu Tianci’s match.

But now, witnessing Xu Ziyan withstand Xu Tianci’s blow without being at a disadvantage, they looked at Xu Ziyan with some fear. They secretly felt relieved that they had not been overconfident and had invited Xu Tianci from the Qi Refining Stage. Otherwise, if they had rashly fought Xu Ziyan themselves, they would have been severely humiliated.

Over there, seeing his full-force punch actually blocked by Xu Ziyan, Xu Tianci’s face instantly turned purple. At this point, he could no longer keep up his act—he was truly furious. But at the same time, he began to view Xu Ziyan more highly and decided to use his true Qi Refining Stage strength.

Where exactly lay the difference between the Qi Refining Stage and Houtian? It was that those at the Qi Refining Stage could cast spells, while those at Houtian could only use martial techniques.

Taking advantage of the force from their exchanged punches, Xu Tianci moved back instead of advancing, quickly putting distance between himself and Xu Ziyan. His hands continuously formed hand seals in the air, and he suddenly shouted:

“Ground Sink Technique!”

Xu Ziyan suddenly felt her body sinking downward. Looking down, she saw that the ground beneath her feet had turned into a swamp. She quickly raised her arms like a great bird spreading its wings. Her body soared up from the ground like a giant roc and pounced toward Xu Tianci not far away.

“Earth Sphere Technique!”

Xu Tianci flipped his palms, and two earthen spheres suddenly appeared in front of Xu Ziyan, whistling as they shot straight at her. By then, Xu Ziyan had already flown out of the swamp created by the spell. Seeing the two earth spheres coming at her fiercely, she performed a heavy drop, her body abruptly sinking downward to land on the ground. The two earth spheres whizzed over her head.

As soon as Xu Ziyan’s feet touched the ground, she pushed off with her toes and shot toward Xu Tianci like an arrow again. Since Xu Tianci could cast spells, he naturally did not want to fight Xu Ziyan up close. He retreated again, increasing the distance between them once more, and with another flip of his hands, sent two more earth spheres shooting toward Xu Ziyan’s eyes.

The two chased each other like this: Xu Tianci, relying on his ability to cast spells, avoided close combat with Xu Ziyan. He continuously created distance and released Earth Sphere Techniques. Meanwhile, Xu Ziyan dodged his spell attacks while chasing closely, trying hard to shorten the distance between them.

With a “bang,” Xu Tianci crashed through the door and rushed outside, with Xu Ziyan closely following. The two began battling fiercely on the training ground outside.