Yang Jing turned toward Li Tai, who stood silently beside him, and asked, "Brother Li, you fought Ma Biao head-on. In your judgment, how strong is he really?"
At that, Li Tai raised his eyes toward the distant No. 1 Demon Cultivator Stronghold. A trace of gravity flashed in his gaze as he answered, "He's extremely strong. He should have reached the threshold of the core realm. His true qi is condensed, and his palm strikes are domineering. He's a genuine half-step core realm cultivator. Frankly, I'm no match for him. In a fight to the death, my defeat would only be a matter of time."
Li Tai paused briefly. Proud as ever, he was unwilling to surrender all his imposing air, and added coolly, with a heavenly prodigy's pride, "But if he wanted to stop me from escaping and kill me, that would be no easy task either."
Yang Jing slowly nodded, understanding.
He knew Li Tai's temperament: proud and self-assured, resilient in spirit, but not one to belittle himself or deliberately exaggerate an opponent's strength and inflate someone else's prestige.
For Li Tai to openly admit he was outmatched was proof enough that Ma Biao's half-step core realm strength lived up to its reputation and truly surpassed the true qi realm.
Yet Li Tai had intercepted Ma Biao while the latter pursued them with all his strength, protected his two companions, and ultimately escaped completely unscathed. That was enough to prove his own strength was extraordinary as well.
Clearly, the gap between Li Tai's actual combat prowess and Ma Biao's was no unbridgeable chasm. He merely lacked the final accumulation needed to break through the barrier of that realm.
Having figured this out, some of the gravity in Yang Jing's heart quietly faded, and confidence gradually took root.