Toying with Him

"Pfft—"

The crowd, who had already closed their eyes, heard the sound of ice spikes piercing through flesh. It was so crisp that they must have pierced bone...

But just then, a startled cry suddenly rang in their ears. "Quick... look, the arena!"

Hearing this, everyone opened their eyes and looked toward the arena... Sure enough, several ice spikes were embedded in the stage, while Xiao Feng was no longer where he had been.

Ximen Sheng stared blankly at the ice spikes that had struck empty air, the crazed grin vanishing from his face...

Then, sensing the wind behind him, he hurriedly turned around. His five fingers curled into claws as he viciously grabbed backward, but... all he caught was a calm, faint afterimage...

"This..." Ximen Sheng was completely thrown into chaos.

At that moment, a figure's voice came from above. "Your grandpa's up here."

Ximen Sheng looked up and saw a white boot stomping toward his head. Instinctively, he crossed his arms above his head.

"This time it has to be real! Once I catch you, I'll tear your leg off!"

Mystic energy coiled around his hands as he steadily grabbed at the "legs" above him. Yet the instant he touched them, it felt as though he had grasped thin air, and his heart sank...

"Damn it, that's another afterimage!"

He hurriedly tried to defend himself, but it was already too late to pull back his power. At that moment, he suddenly felt a fierce gust of wind coming at his face... and with it came a white shoe sole...

Bang!

Amid the violent collision, Xiao Feng's white boot slammed squarely into Ximen Xue's face. His protective mystic energy shattered the instant Xiao Feng's kick landed, and the boot struck his face hard. Immediately afterward, his features were kicked inward and flattened!

Bang!

Another explosive sound rang out. The tremendous force made it impossible for Ximen Sheng to remain standing, and Xiao Feng kicked him straight to the ground...

Even after being kicked down, the immense impact drove his head directly into the arena floor! His legs were flung upward by the force on his head, and his body flipped over... sending his entire body into a grotesquely twisted somersault!

Thud—

He pulled his head out of the arena floor. The burning pain on his face made it impossible for him to dismiss what had just happened as some absurd dream. A huge shoeprint now covered half his face!

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Looks like you really did see through my movement technique. You're just like a dog—biting at anything you see!" Xiao Feng sneered at Ximen Qing.

"But your face is a lot tougher than your little brother's." As he spoke, Xiao Feng shook his right leg. "Tsk, tsk... That really hurt!"

Xiao Feng's words instantly dragged him back into cruel reality...

"How... how is that possible?! What kind of demonic trick did you use?!" Ximen Xue roared in disbelief.

At that moment, it was not just Ximen Xue. The watching crowd was equally stunned, their faces filled with disbelief. After a brief silence, thunderous discussion erupted—

"H-how did he do that? He actually toyed with Ximen Sheng like a dog..."

Anyone could see that Xiao Feng's actions just now had clearly been nothing more than toying with Ximen Sheng!

But no one answered, because they had no idea how to answer. Xiao Feng's unfathomable movement technique was simply too... unpredictable.

How could they possibly know that Xiao Feng had used Moon Severing Shadow Sweep? As the exclusive movement Mystic Skill of the Ice Phoenix, its mysteries were naturally beyond measure...

Listening to the voices around him, Ximen Sheng's face turned red. Not long ago, he had arrogantly declared, "I've already seen through his movement technique."

Yet who could have imagined... how long had it even been? He had actually been viciously toyed with like a dog by that bizarre movement technique!

He felt that Xiao Feng had utterly humiliated him!

Even without seeing what he looked like right now, he knew just how ugly he must appear!

And all of this... the one who had caused all of this... was Xiao Feng!

He abruptly got to his feet. The humiliation, shame, and frustration born from Xiao Feng trampling on his pride had all transformed into extreme fury toward Xiao Feng!

His mystic energy condensed into ice, and thousands of ice spikes instantly appeared around him. Then, without holding anything back, those thousands of ice spikes ruthlessly shot toward Xiao Feng!

Pfft—

But unsurprisingly, they pierced nothing but another afterimage, passing straight through its body...

As he watched Xiao Feng appear at his side once more, Ximen Sheng seemed to think of something. The corners of his mouth split into a grin, which looked especially terrifying against the bright red shoeprint on his face.

"Hahaha... I get it!" he laughed maniacally. "After you teleport, your movement technique leaves behind an image carrying your aura to confuse your opponent. That's the core of your movement technique."

"Heh..." He gave a contemptuous laugh. "Xiao Feng, your movement technique is indeed impressive. But if I'm not wrong, as long as the aura of your first afterimage hasn't dissipated, you can't create a second one. In other words, you can only produce two afterimages at most... am I right?"

Hearing this, Xiao Feng's eyes narrowed slightly, but he gave no response.

Yet his reaction was laid completely bare before Ximen Sheng, who was staring at him intently... He knew he had guessed correctly.

Xiao Feng was clearly afraid—so afraid that he did not even dare speak!

At that thought, his smile vanished completely. His expression instantly darkened as he stared at Xiao Feng with vicious malice. "I'll make you understand the price of arrogant ignorance!"

Boom—

With an explosive roar, the full force of God Spirit Realm mystic energy erupted. Broken stones flew around him, and the ground beneath his feet caved in. Then he teleported at incredible speed. In an instant, he was already before Xiao Feng, an icy spike forming in his hand as he thrust it straight ahead...

Ssh—

Unsurprisingly, he struck empty air again... But then, sensing an aura suddenly appear behind him and rush toward him, he did not attack. Instead, mystic energy wrapped around his body as he waited for that aura to draw near, clearly intending to defend...

But... just as it approached, he suddenly sensed another identical aura emerge on his left.

The corner of his lips immediately curled upward. "Got you now. You... can't run!"

Frost Burst!

In an instant, the icy mystic energy throughout Ximen Sheng's body erupted... In the blink of an eye, the space within a mile around him was completely filled with the ice mystic energy he had released.

The mystic energy was bone-chillingly cold. Then, in another instant, all the energy he had released transformed directly into razor-sharp ice spikes of extreme frost!

The space around him became like a frozen prison, chilling hearts and freezing souls!

And Xiao Feng, who stood not far from Ximen Sheng, was directly pierced through by the ice spikes that had formed in an instant...

Seeing Xiao Feng pierced by the ice spikes, everyone's hearts sank at once, as though they had fallen into an endless frozen hell. They felt nothing but cold...

"It's Frost Burst..." someone muttered in a daze. "That's the Ximen Family's exclusive ice-type Mystic Skill. Its cold might can seize the soul. Divine Doctor Xiao is finished this time..."

"Hahaha!" Seeing Xiao Feng impaled on the ice spikes, Ximen Sheng laughed heartily. It had been a long time since he had felt this good. He had finally caught that clown!

He was just about to step forward and slap Xiao Feng to vent the hatred in his heart, but when he looked closely at Xiao Feng's body, he suddenly noticed something strange. Xiao Feng had been pierced through by his ice spikes, so how could there... be no blood?

"This..." His wild laughter instantly vanished, and his face turned fearful. He turned to look at the other impaled Xiao Feng... It was the same... no blood.

Even the two Xiao Fengs pierced by the ice spikes had, in that brief moment, simply... disappeared!

"H-how is this possible?!" Ximen Sheng shouted blankly.

"Heh... I thought you were a dog. Looks like I overestimated you." Xiao Feng's contemptuous voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Why... why are you... over there?!" Ximen Sheng stared at Xiao Feng, who had appeared a mile away, and cried out in a daze.

How could he know that Xiao Feng had cultivated more than just one movement Mystic Skill? Besides Moon Severing Shadow Sweep, he had also cultivated Star God Shattered Image, inherited from the Heavenly Slaughter Star God!

This Mystic Skill allowed for extremely fast teleportation and explosive bursts of speed, so fast that even afterimages could not "react" in time, creating the illusion that they lingered for a long while...

Then, another familiar aura unexpectedly appeared above him within his Spiritual Sense. It was Xiao Feng again!

Yet when he looked forward, "Xiao Feng" was still standing there!

In another instant... afterimages flashed through his vision from his right and left. As the afterimages drifted away before his eyes, the scene before him made his courage shatter—Xiao Feng's phantoms filled the space ahead!

"Aaaaahhh!" Ximen Sheng groaned madly. "Why... why are there so many afterimages?!"

Xiao Feng had tormented him to the verge of madness. The pain on his face could no longer cover up the chaos in his mind.

Overwhelmed by rage and with his mind thrown into confusion, he no longer hoped to break through Xiao Feng's movement technique. He no longer considered any consequences. Right now, he only wanted to tear Xiao Feng into... pieces!

Thinking of how Du Kongpo had called Xiao Feng onto the stage not long ago... he suddenly got an idea...

He roared at Xiao Feng, "Is dodging around all you know how to do?! When I capture your sister and torture her properly, let's see whether you can still hide with her!"

At that moment, he only remembered how Du Kongpo had "lured" Xiao Feng onto the stage, completely forgetting what had happened to him afterward. Or perhaps he simply did not care.

After all, Du Kongpo was merely at level ten of the God Tribulation Realm. How could he compare to him? How could Xiao Feng casually cross the chasm between the God Spirit Realm and the God Tribulation Realm?

Even now, he believed that Xiao Feng could toy with him only because of that unfathomable movement Mystic Skill. If they fought him head-on, he could beat Xiao Feng so badly... even his mother would not recognize him!

"That idiot!" Seeing Ximen Sheng acting like a madman on the stage, Ximen Qing cursed inwardly. Being played like a monkey by a level ten God Tribulation Realm cultivator and failing to even touch him was humiliating enough. Yet now he was openly insulting his family!

Outside, it might not have mattered, but this was the Mystic Dao Assembly! And nearly every prominent figure in the entire city had come to watch.

Du Kongpo was already notorious, a rat everyone wanted to kill. Nothing he did would be surprising, since his reputation could not get any worse.

But Ximen Sheng represented the Ximen Family—he represented him! How would others see him now?

Not to mention that the person he had insulted was Xiao Ling'er, who had shown countless acts of kindness throughout the city!

Sure enough, the instant Ximen Sheng spoke, Ximen Qing immediately felt countless gazes shoot toward him. Even his father, Ximen Ding, was glaring at him with anger on his face...

Ximen Ding's soul voice came to him. "Look at the mess you've caused! Why are you being so reckless today?!"

Rebuked furiously by Ximen Ding, Ximen Qing's face instantly darkened. As he looked at Xiao Feng on the arena, the hatred in his eyes could no longer be concealed.

At that moment, he did not reflect on his own mistakes at all. Instead, his hatred for Xiao Feng grew even stronger. "It's all because of you... Xiao Feng!" "Today I ran fifty meters like a clown, then flew out and got hurt so badly it nearly killed me!"