Facing a Martial Artist

Liu Shenzhi loitered nearby.

Li Qi had always been curious about what a real martial artist's head-on combat was like, so during the visit, he asked to fight the martial artist he had just asked.

Having cultivated for so long, he has rarely fought with anyone, so he is very interested in martial artists who have long been rumored to be incredibly powerful in direct combat.

Clearly, such an invitation is impossible for a martial artist to refuse.

So the two of them quickly headed to an open space in this small world.

However, for some reason, this news suddenly spread.

A non-martial arts practitioner wants to challenge a martial artist of the same level.

This surprised the other martial artists who were training nearby.

It's common to be forced to be beaten, but it's rare to see someone voluntarily come forward to be beaten.

So, after a short while, Li Qi noticed that there were four or five pairs of eyes around him, seemingly some people watching the spectacle.

There were only four or five, not too many, so Li Qi didn't pay much attention. Martial artists are naturally sharp-eared and sharp-eyed, so it's not surprising that they could hear him.

"Please don't hold back, sir. I want to witness the power of martial arts firsthand." Li Qi found a place to stand, then cupped his hands and said to the other party.

"No, classmate, just choose a place to stand. When you say 'start,' we'll begin," the martial artist said to Li Qi.

"Okay, let's have three matches, shall we? I'd like to have one match each in close range, mid-range, and long range," Li Qi said to the martial artist opposite him.

Upon hearing this, the other party chuckled and said, "If you can handle it, I'll play as many matches as you like."

"Hmm." Li Qi nodded. "Let's start with short-range targets. Thirty zhang should be close enough."

"Okay." The martial artist nodded.

The two were about 30 zhang apart, which is almost 100 meters.

It's already quite far, but in an eighth-rank battle, this is considered close combat.

After thinking for a moment, Li Qi set up a series of emergency preparations around himself, similar to an array.

Although it wasn't the kind of formation that required a long preparation time, and could only be described as some small traps, it was still the best defense he could set up in the five seconds before the battle.

This is already considered a good deal; in a normal fight, no one will give you five seconds to prepare.

Feeling the gazes of others watching him from afar, Li Qi shook his head, activated his True Knowledge Dao Charm, and said, "I'm ready—".

Before the word 'Le' was uttered, the figure of the warrior disappeared thirty feet away.

A phantom image suddenly appeared in front of Li Qi.

A shockwave, formed by the wind, appeared around the phantom. Visible eddies began to gather, and the bursts generated by the shockwave whipped up a gale!

Li Qi set up an illusion in front of himself that could distort people's vision, a gravity field formed by the five mountains within his body, and a binding band made of water vapor, all of which were methods to prevent people from moving forward.

However, all the arrangements were destroyed by brute force in an instant!

Li Qi didn't even see it, and didn't react at all. True Knowledge Dao Charm had sent him a message, but before his brain could process it, a sharp pain came from his chest!

With just one punch, Li Qi's body was sent flying backward at breakneck speed!

Within ten seconds, he flew nearly a mile away, crashing into a cliff with a bang and sinking into it.

"Pfft!" By the time he realized what was happening, the violent impact had already caused him to spit out a large amount of bile.

Then, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the cliff.

The martial artist easily dragged Li Qi out of the mountain, helped him up, and said with some surprise, "Huh, your body is so resilient. Is it because you used to practice martial arts? You only suffered superficial injuries after taking my punch. Not even your bones were broken. You just vomited bile. I thought you would vomit blood."

Li Qi didn't answer him because he was still a little dazed.

I've heard it many times. Everyone says that martial artists are invincible in close combat. He himself used this move to Jin Buhuan when he was at the ninth rank.

However... when he actually faced an eighth-rank martial artist up close, he realized what the word 'invincible' meant.

It's the real deal, absolutely unbeatable...

"Uh... classmate, let me catch my breath, I'll sit down for a while..." Li Qi didn't answer the other person's question. He clutched his stomach and found a rock to sit on.

He took a while to recover, using the vitality of the Great Forest Wood Qi to speed up his body's recovery. It took him about a few minutes to fully recover.

Having recovered, he stood up, shook his head, and said to the martial artist, "In close combat... I'm invincible among those of the same level. I understand. How about we try a longer distance, five miles?"

"Are you alright?" the martial artist asked, scrutinizing Li Qi with curiosity.

Although he held back his strength in that punch, it was still quite surprising that his opponent was able to withstand it.

Li Qi nodded, and said with a forced sigh, "Don't worry, my Dao Path will also temper my body, I can still hold on."

The Five Peaks Qi can make a person feel smaller than the world and more resilient; this can be considered a kind of tempering.

"That's good. Let's continue then. Staying a bit further away will give me some practice." The martial artist agreed.

The two distanced themselves again.

This time, it's five miles.

At this distance, Li Qi should have enough time to react and respond.

After making the arrangements again, Li Qi waved to the distance.

This time, through the True Knowledge Dao Charm, he clearly sensed the opponent's sudden advance!

But by the time he realized it, the other party had already rushed nearly a mile away.

In other words, if a martial artist launches a surprise attack on Li Qi within a mile, Li Qi will not have any time to react.

However... this time it's five miles.

With a wave of his hands, Li Qi summoned the Five Peaks Mountain God from within Inner Gods, who stretched out their bodies behind him. They were ten zhang tall, with majestic figures and imposing presence.

The Five Peaks Mountain God stepped onto the ground, and the earth's energy surged.

There was a river on the ground, and the river water was turbulent. In an instant, the wind and clouds in the mountains rose up, and sand and stones flew everywhere!

Earth energy surged from the ground, and giant snakes made of rocks emerged from the earth, blocking the martial artist's path.

The momentum of its advance was blocked.

However, one could see that the martial artist's joints were bending and straightening, like a large bow being fully drawn and then released, with the tendons inside his body crackling.

The sound even traveled several miles to reach Li Qi's ears.

The resounding hum echoed all around, as if a celestial king was playing the pipa from the highest heavens!

He gathered his strength, and then threw a punch!

It wasn't a straight punch, but rather a sweeping motion, like a whip.

Li Qi immediately realized that this was taking advantage of the whip tip effect.

When the whip tip effect occurs, the displacement of the protruding part is several times that of the main body. When the whip swings at high speed, the whip will curl into a wave shape. When this wave reaches the tip, it will increase the speed brought by the whip body several times!

This punch, with its bizarre power generation pattern, transformed into a whip-like shape, and at the same time, the speed of his fist increased several times!

A punch was thrown!

The giant rock serpents all collapsed and were smashed into pieces.

But his speed did not decrease at all, and he continued to charge towards Li Qi!

Seeing that his first move had been broken, Li Qi's mind raced, and he immediately waved his hands again, summoning the mountain and water gods behind him.

The Inner Gods is not merely for show; it is a true deity, possessing all the power expected of an eighth-rank deity. Although it cannot compare to a true divine cultivator, its status is genuine.

Nine eighth-grade Inner Gods appeared and rushed forward, blocking Li Qi's path two or three miles in front of him, buying Li Qi time.

But the warrior ignored everything and charged straight into the nine divine Inner Gods.

Then, the same whip punch as before!

With a powerful punch, the mountain god was instantly shattered and returned to Li Qi's body as his essence!

Li Qi's body jolted, and he sustained some injuries.

The disintegration of the Inner Gods him would have a backlash. If all twelve Inner Gods were destroyed, even his personal microcosm would likely suffer great damage, and it wouldn't be impossible for him to be demoted.

However, it's just one statue, it doesn't matter, and it can't even affect Li Qi's attention.

Li Qi continued to do his own thing in the back.

The second punch was thrown.

However, the punch suddenly went awry.

The martial artist suddenly felt weak and powerless, as if he hadn't eaten for a year.

The weak punch landed on the mountain god, only causing a few cracks.

The mountain god immediately immobilized him and pressed him down with a large stone.

Then, the water god immediately pulled out several water ribbons, which worked together to form a barrier.

The mountains and waters merged into one, carving out the contours of the landscape. The energy and spirit greatly increased, directly abandoning the divine body and transforming into the Four Sacred Mountains, each a hundred feet high. The mountains landed on the ground, firmly suppressing the martial artist!

This is Li Qi's most frequently used tactic: using the Five Peaks Qi to suppress.

A high mountain rises, with red mist rising from its slopes; as it rises, one sees:

Shushan drives across Yingjie, and a rushing whale spits out magnificent waves.

The towering cliffs are layered and rugged, as if cleaved and carved!

Although one of the mountain gods was defeated, the four mountains are still not to be underestimated.

Looking at Li Qi again, no one knew when he had erected an altar, and on the altar was a wisp of the warrior's hair.

He repeatedly offered sacrifices to the hair, but not as offerings, but as Curse!

He Curse be physically weak and have poor Qi and Blood circulation.

Clearly, it is very effective.

The martial artist was immediately rendered powerless and suppressed.

However, Li Qi knew that the battle was far from over.

Just as he expected, in the next moment, the mountain that suppressed the martial artist suddenly began to shake.

A terrifying aura surged forth from the mountain!

"I am the king of the mountains, how dare you use mountains to suppress me?!" The martial artist roared from the foot of the mountain!

Then, a phantom image of a fierce tiger appeared.

Li Qi frowned upon seeing this.

Martial Way Divine Intent?

Not only that, but it's different from what's written in the book; it's a combination of Martial Way Divine Intent and the true form of a demon.

Goodness, only someone who can come to the Imperial Academy is worthy of being recorded.

Li Qi was excited and immediately used his true knowledge to observe the other party's situation.

From the beginning until now, he has been trying his best to record martial arts techniques.

Learn, record, and witness more of the Dao Path.

This was Li Qi's wish from the very beginning, and that was why he came to the Tang Kingdom.

He wanted to see how the other party could fight against his mountain.

However... just as the other party said, the tiger is the king of the mountains, and its mountain energy will be restrained by the other party.

Then let's add another bet.

While Li Qi maintained the sacrificial ceremony, two golden lines emerged from behind him and pierced towards the mountain at an extremely fast speed.

If you want to break the suppression, you have to overcome the interference.

However, to Li Qi's surprise, the other party did not come out from the bottom of the mountain at all.

The phantom of the tiger, a fusion of martial Martial Way Divine Intent and demonic true form, solidified instantly and then roared fiercely!

The tiger roared, shaking the mountains and valleys; a sudden storm arrived, accompanied by thunder and lightning!

Countless afterimages rippled outwards like raging waves, and thousands of sound waves crashed down like waves breaking the shore, causing the river to surge and the momentum to become extreme, in a series of interconnected bursts!

Li Qi reacted extremely quickly, immediately waving his hand to remove all the Inner Gods, allowing them to return to his body.

The sound waves rolled on, and the soil on the ground rippled like the surface of water, rolling up and falling layer by layer, and the sound waves plowed through an area of hundreds of meters!

Fortunately, Li Qi retreated quickly; otherwise, if he had been hit by the tiger's roar, the battle would have ended immediately, Inner Gods would have been severely injured, enough to render him unable to fight.

Inner Gods is removed, the suppression naturally becomes ineffective.

The warrior broke free and revealed his true demonic form: a gigantic tiger with dark gold fur and black stripes. The surrounding air crackled under his pressure, like firecrackers.

The tiger charged towards Li Qi.

Li Qi decisively burrowed underground and fled, retreating frantically.

Upon seeing this, the tiger immediately stopped and shouted, "Stop! You're using earth magic, I can't catch you!"

Then, the demon's true form dissipated, and he reverted to his warrior form.

Li Qi crawled out of the ground and measured his speed.

Using Earth Escape at full power, one can travel about one and a half miles in about one second. Does that exceed the speed of a current martial artist?

After taking notes, Li Qi returned.

This game is considered a draw.

Face to face again, Li Qi asked in confusion, "Can't you catch up at this speed? It's so different from your burst speed, isn't it?"

"Your Technique Method made my legs weak. I'm only good at bursting speed, not chasing. It takes me some time to resist Technique Method, so you ran far away and I couldn't catch up," the martial artist said.

Then, he praised, "Those servants you summoned are really something. What are their backgrounds? They are not only powerful in battle, but they can also work together to form a suppressive seal. I've never seen anything like it before, and I suffered a great loss."

Then, somewhat Qi Ingestion, he explained, "However, if I come again next time and I'm on guard, then the suppression method will be useless against me."

"Hmm." Li Qi nodded, not arguing about it.

He was just observing martial arts techniques, taking notes, and learning from them; there was no need to argue about who was stronger or weaker in a direct confrontation.

Shaman don't go out to fight.

When a Shaman really wants to kill you, you usually won't see him.

"Then let's try a longer distance, fifty miles," Li Qi continued.

"Alright." The martial artist didn't waste any more words.

The two men resumed their fighting stances.

This time, it ended with a hard-won victory for Li Qi.

With a distance of fifty miles, Li Qi had ample time to set up traps, maintain the distance, and keep flying kites.

If a martial artist is detected in advance, it is difficult for him to get close to Li Qi, who is prepared.

However, Li Qi's victory was hard-won. He was completely unable to inflict any substantial damage on his opponent. This martial artist's physique was too resilient. Li Qi could only barely kite his opponent and wear him down little by little, but he could not truly hold him back or kill him. He couldn't even inflict serious injury.

In the end, the other party gave up after realizing there was no hope of encountering Li Qi.

To inflict fatal damage on a martial artist of the same level, one would probably need to make extensive preparations well in advance, and only then might there be a chance.

After the battle, both sides gained something.

Li Qi seemed to be deep in thought, then took the lead in saying goodbye and leaving, keeping the data in mind.

Then, he returned to Liu Shenzhi's side.

However, a young girl was standing next to Liu Shenzhi.

She had a dignified appearance, stood upright, wore a purple dress, and had a beautiful face.

You can tell at a glance that she is an extremely serious person; although she has a smile on her face, her eyes do not.

Li Qi had just walked over when the woman stepped forward and asked directly, "Shaman?"