Young Master Jun's spear bore no fiery dragons, only the simplest thrusts, sweeps, and blocks. Combined with his unique Movement Technique, each attack came faster than the last.
"Thrust!"
"Sweep!"
Lu Chen continuously controlled the Azure Emperor Divine Tree Tentacles, forming them into shields before himself to block the attacks.
Amid such an intense battle, Lu Chen's combat awareness rapidly improved. His cultivation, which had only just broken through, showed signs of another breakthrough.
Lu Chen's accumulation of spiritual energy had long since reached the peak of the Qi Gathering Realm. What he lacked now was combat experience. As long as his understanding of cultivation reached the required level, breaking through would be as natural as pushing a boat downstream.
My cultivation is about to break through. I can't drag this out any longer—I have to end the battle quickly.
Feeling the surging spiritual energy within his body, Lu Chen wanted to finish the battle as soon as possible.
"Silver Serpent Emerging from its Lair!"
"Dragon Descends to the Sea!"
"Azure Emperor Divine Tree!"
Lu Chen swiftly circulated the spiritual energy within his body and unleashed Silver Serpent Emerging from its Lair, attacking Young Master Jun's legs from underground and disrupting his rhythm once more. Immediately afterward, Lu Chen used Dragon Descends to the Sea with all his strength, attacking Young Master Jun from three directions while the Divine Tree Tentacles continuously harassed him from behind.
"Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds!"
Lu Chen's true body flashed above Young Master Jun's head and chopped downward, intending to end the battle with a single palm strike.
Seeing Lu Chen's attacks coming from all directions, Young Master Jun flicked his hand and swept up the Eight Treasures Rolling Cloud Spear at his side, catching it with his left hand.
At that moment, Young Master Jun gripped the spear in both hands and spun it in rounded arcs before him, creating blossom after blossom of spear light that continuously blocked Lu Chen's attacks.
Lu Chen flashed backward, continuously gathering all the spiritual energy in his body into his hands. He then drew out the fire energy from the Yang Sea Pearl. Firelight began to gather in his palms—he was about to unleash his final move, the Six Yang Palms that Split the Heavens, and end the battle.
Young Master Jun continued dancing his spear in blossoms of light. Just as the final spear blossom formed, he pointed both spears toward the heavens and recited an obscure, incomprehensible incantation. Unceasing thunder rolled in from beyond the camp. Several Jun family disciples who were already inner disciples heard the incantation and stammered, "That's the Jun family's Heavenly Dao Control Art! Its countless bolts of lightning distinguish neither friend nor foe! Run, run!"
"Six Yang Palms that Split the Heavens: Blazing Sun Splits the Sky!"
"Heavenly Dao Control Art: Heavenly Thunder Art!"
Both of them unleashed their strongest attacks and charged at one another.
Hearing that cry, everyone hurriedly fled outside.
Only Young Master Jun, Jun Wudi, Lu Chen, and the drunken Nantian Yijian remained in the tent.
Jun Wudi leaped between the two and separated them with a palm.
Lu Chen charged forward, and his attack struck the ground beneath the tent, forcibly blasting a hole more than five meters deep into the reinforced earth.
On Young Master Jun's side, bolts of heavenly lightning continuously fell from the sky, directly piercing through the tent.
After completing their attacks, Lu Chen and Young Master Jun both collapsed to the ground. In the end, neither had won. But strictly speaking, Lu Chen was only at the seventh level of the Qi Gathering Realm, while Young Master Jun had already reached the peak of the Qi Gathering Realm. Lu Chen had won this battle.
The surrounding cultivators, unaware of what had happened, all turned their gazes in this direction. Looking at Fengtian Prefecture's camp, they began discussing it among themselves.
"Look! What happened to Fengtian Prefecture? Why has their camp been pierced through?"
"Could something have happened inside?"
"Shut your mouth. Be careful someone hears you. A major sect isn't something you can gossip about."
"What's wrong with talking about it...?"
.
In the direction of Medicine King Villa, a mysterious figure watched the endlessly falling heavenly lightning and muttered, "The Heavenly Dao Control Art... Has someone from the Jun family's main branch arrived? Now this will be entertaining."
The thunder faded away.
Everyone entered from outside the camp and gasped repeatedly at the sight inside the tent. If they had not seen it with their own eyes, they would never have believed it.
"Was this really caused by two people in the Qi Gathering Realm fighting? They probably already have the strength to battle someone in the Breath Regulation Realm."
"Looks like we underestimated Lu Chen's strength."
"Lu Chen can be considered a brother of us at Fengtian Prefecture. I, Wang Laosan, acknowledge this brother!"
"That's right, I acknowledge him too."
"..."
Most sect disciples were proud people. Though they held no dislike for Lu Chen, they had cultivated for so many years without becoming Jun Wudi's disciples. Now that Lu Chen had arrived and was about to be accepted as a disciple, no one could truly accept that. That was why, through deliberate or casual arrangements, someone had proposed that Lu Chen spar with Young Master Jun.
This battle had brought them far too many surprises. Lu Chen and Young Master Jun were fully qualified to become Jun Wudi's disciples. Only after this battle did Lu Chen truly gain a foothold here and remain.
As everyone continued sighing in amazement, a pair of hands stretched out from the rubble in the corner. "Fuck, who buried me in here? Hurry up and pull me out!"
Seeing Nantian Yijian's comical appearance, everyone burst into laughter at his antics.
"Stop laughing! Hurry up and pull me out! I'm going to die! Aaaah!"
Everyone hurriedly pulled Nantian Yijian out. Nantian Yijian was quite an odd fellow—easygoing and carefree. Having only just arrived, he was already calling these Jun family disciples brothers. He truly was likable.
Jun Wudi looked at Lu Chen on the ground and felt that he had made the right bet with this decision.
"That's enough for today's spar. Clean this place up, then go back and rest." Jun Wudi's voice came from behind them.
"Yes, Elder."
Everyone carried Lu Chen and Young Master Jun onto beds and began cleaning up the tent.
As they cleaned, the people in the tent chatted about the battle. They all said Lu Chen was a genius, while Nantian Yijian was a demon of noise. Nantian Yijian, however, wore a baffled expression. Not knowing what had happened, he could only join them in cleaning. Yet no one could have imagined that this group in the tent was witnessing the birth of the piano music of slaughter that would one day make the world tremble in terror.
Bang!
A soft sound came from Lu Chen's body. Sensing his own realm, Lu Chen found that he had finally reached the eighth level of the Qi Gathering Realm. Only two minor realms remained before the peak. He had taken another step toward becoming strong enough to save his grandfather.
Lying on the bed, Lu Chen thought about the battle just now. Fighting people was far more intense than fighting demonic beasts. Demonic beasts lacked intelligence and had only a few methods of attack, but people were different. They could think and wield all kinds of Martial Skills and techniques.
His battle with Young Master Jun had gained him more than fighting hundreds of demonic beasts. He wondered whether, after completing the goal of one thousand, he could challenge human cultivators to speed up his cultivation.
Thinking of this, he asked Young Master Jun, "Little Junzi, how long did it take you to cultivate to your current level?"
"Five years."
"What? Ten years?" Lu Chen cried out in surprise upon hearing Young Master Jun's words.
Strictly speaking, Lu Chen had only cultivated for half a year. Excluding the time spent practicing Martial Skills, his actual cultivation time was less than a month. Lu Chen suddenly felt that his cultivation speed was a little abnormal.
"What's wrong? Ten years for Qi Gathering, a hundred years for Breath Regulation. I've only spent five years and am already about to reach the Breath Regulation Realm. Do you think I cultivate too quickly? By the way, how many years have you cultivated?"
Hearing Young Master Jun's words, Lu Chen did not dare tell the truth and could only casually say, "About the same, about the same."
"I knew it. Anyone who can fight me to a draw must cultivate quickly too! Hahaha!"
"By the way, what technique was that just now? You were only in the Qi Gathering Realm, yet you blasted such a deep crater into the ground. That was incredible." Young Master Jun stared curiously at him. He had discovered that Lu Chen possessed far more secrets than he had seen.
"An elder passed it down to me. Hahaha, impressive, right?"
Lu Chen stared back at Young Master Jun and laughed. He did not want others to know yet that he possessed an Earth Tier Martial Skill, so after casually making up an excuse, he hurriedly changed the subject. "Your heavenly lightning was powerful too. When shall we have a serious match again?"
"Sure. I was thinking the same thing. Next time, I'll definitely use every trick I have."
Lu Chen looked at Young Master Jun again and asked, "Little Junzi, what was that move you used just now, putting the Heavenly Net onto your weapon? Why have I never learned it?"
Young Master Jun explained, "It's normal that you don't understand this since you haven't joined a sect. It's a minor use of the Heavenly Net. It can link a person to a weapon, allowing the techniques stored on the Heavenly Net to be released quickly, and it can also strengthen the weapon's attacks."
"Look, place it directly on the weapon, curl the middle and index fingers of your right hand slightly, then recite the incantation and circulate spiritual energy. That will fuse the Heavenly Net into the weapon." As he spoke, Young Master Jun demonstrated it again before Lu Chen.
"Here, give it a try."
Lu Chen took the Heavenly Net and the spear. He succeeded on his first attempt, feeling a wondrous connection form between himself and the weapon.
"This is truly marvelous. It seems I still have much to learn." Lu Chen returned the two magic treasures to Young Master Jun.
"Once you return to Fengtian Prefecture, you can systematically learn cultivation knowledge. Don't worry about it."
Lu Chen felt that while this overlapped somewhat with what he had learned from Feng Tiancheng, the differences were far too great. Moreover, he had too many secrets now. Without understanding the continent, it would be easy to make a mistake.
It seems I need to be more careful.
"It seems you must hurry to Fengtian Prefecture and learn properly." Feng Tiancheng's voice entered Lu Chen's mind.
"This continent has changed far too much. I can guide you through the cultivation process with my experience, but you need to quickly adapt to modern cultivation knowledge."
Feng Tiancheng had also heard Lu Chen and Young Master Jun's conversation. He had remained in the Secret Realm for too long, and cultivation on the continent had changed greatly. There was much common knowledge they simply did not understand, just like the methods Young Master Jun had used earlier.
Over the following days, the light of the Secret Realm did not fade. Feeling bored, Lu Chen resumed hunting demonic beasts nearby.
Although demonic beasts in the Qi Gathering Realm no longer placed much pressure on Lu Chen, he still hoped to quickly complete his goal of one thousand demonic beasts in a month. He needed to rapidly improve his practical combat experience.
Young Master Jun happened to hear about Lu Chen's goal of one thousand demonic beasts in a month. Since their previous competition had not produced a winner, Young Master Jun came to find Lu Chen and wanted to compete again to see who could kill more demonic beasts in a day.
Watching Lu Chen hunt demonic beasts, Young Master Jun repeatedly said, "Little Lu, let's continue our last competition. Let's see who kills more demonic beasts."
Seeing that Young Master Jun would keep pestering him unless he agreed, Lu Chen had no choice but to accept. "I'm still short of my final hundred. Let's use that as our goal. Whoever kills one hundred first wins."
"Who's afraid of who? I didn't even use my full strength last time." With that, Young Master Jun charged forward and began competing with Lu Chen to kill demonic beasts.
Seeing Young Master Jun's excited expression, Lu Chen smiled. "Be careful. I'm about to speed up."
One, two, three... ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine. Lu Chen and Young Master Jun killed more and more demonic beasts.
Before you continue