Just a Spar

As the eldest grandson, Qu Kan's strength was inferior to Qu Huai's; he had only barely reached the Six Soul Realm.

Qu Kan had originally been studying arrays in his room. When he suddenly heard commotion in the estate, he asked around and learned that someone had broken in. Hearing from the servants that the intruder was an expert in the art of arrays, his desire to compete flared up.

Lu Feng had seen through the illusion array at the entrance at a glance. In the servants' eyes, he was naturally a first-rate expert.

Qu Qianli straightened himself and said dotingly to Qu Kan, "Kan'er, this young brother Lu Feng is an Honored Guest I invited. You must not be rude."

Qu Kan sized Lu Feng up and asked skeptically, "Grandfather, is he the array expert Xiao Jie and the others spoke of?"

Xiao Jie was a maid of the Qu Estate.

Qu Qianli nodded.

"I want to compete with him." Qu Kan rubbed his fists together, eager to try.

Qu Qianli looked at Lu Feng somewhat awkwardly. There was a trace of expectation in his eyes; he too wanted to take this chance to test Lu Feng's true abilities.

Feigning embarrassment, Qu Qianli said, "Could you teach Kan'er a lesson and let him know that there are always people beyond people, so he does not grow complacent and arrogant?"

Lu Feng glanced at the sky. It was still early, and he also wanted to see the standard of other array masters.

Just as Lu Feng was about to agree, Jiang Ruoyun spoke up. "This isn't fair. Lu Feng is only at the Three Soul Realm, while Qu Kan has reached the Six Soul Realm."

Qu Kan hurriedly said, "It's fine. We can compete in the Star Angle Array, comparing the speed, accuracy, and continuity of our inscriptions."

The Star Angle Array was one of the most basic arrays. There were one-star arrays, two-star arrays, all the way to seven-star arrays, corresponding to the Seven Souls Realm.

Lu Feng understood what Qu Kan meant. Competing in Star Angle Arrays meant that someone with Six Soul Realm strength would inscribe a six-angle array, while someone with Three Soul Realm strength would inscribe a three-angle array. That was indeed exceedingly fair.

Lu Feng suddenly felt playful and said, "Since we're competing, how about adding a wager?"

Qu Kan replied, "What wager?"

Seeing that the other party agreed, Lu Feng said, "Three beast cores, each at least Tier Four."

A Tier Four beast core was worth more than ten thousand gold. Three of them amounted to thirty thousand Copper Soul Coins. As the eldest grandson, Qu Kan had accumulated quite a bit over the years, but he could only barely scrape together enough for three beast cores.

As Qu Kan hesitated, he glanced at the unconcerned Lu Feng and thought, Could a Three Soul Realm cultivator really defeat me?

After steadying himself, he agreed.

Once Qu Kan accepted, he instructed the servants to bring an incense stick, six jade stones, and two carving knives, placing them on the long table between the two.

"We each get three jade stones and one carving knife. We each have three chances to fail, and we must stop when the incense burns out."

"Any objections?" Qu Kan looked at Lu Feng with a hint of fighting spirit.

Lu Feng smiled faintly. "No problem. You choose first?"

"You are the guest. You go first," Qu Kan said politely.

"Me first?" Lu Feng gave a meaningful smile, looked over the jade stones on the table, casually selected three, picked up a carving knife, and nodded to Qu Kan.

Qu Qianli stepped forward to serve as the judge and lit the incense between them.

The array patterns inscribed in a Star Angle Array were all Star Activation Patterns. They could gather spiritual energy, though the effect was not obvious, so they were often used for beginner practice.

The moment the incense was lit, Qu Kan began inscribing with complete concentration.

Lu Feng watched for a moment and found that Qu Kan was not particularly fast—merely average. He assumed the latter was pursuing precision.

But when he looked more carefully, Qu Kan's carving trajectory was laid bare before his eyes, and Lu Feng could not help revising his earlier assessment of him.

This inscription technique... was truly... too ugly to behold.

When one-third of the incense had burned away, the jade stone in Qu Kan's hand suddenly shattered, perhaps because he was somewhat nervous.

Yet Qu Kan quickly recovered. He casually picked up the second piece and, without even glancing at Lu Feng, threw himself back into the inscription.

Lu Feng withdrew his gaze, and the carving knife in his hand finally moved.

Qu Qianli only felt his vision blur. Before his thoughts could catch up, he saw that Lu Feng had set down the jade stone he had just picked up after fewer than four or five breaths.

He then picked up the second stone and began inscribing it.

"What's going on?" Qu Qianli rubbed his eyes, thinking he had seen wrong.

Qu Kan successfully finished inscribing his second jade stone. He raised his head happily and looked at Lu Feng, only to discover that Lu Feng had already picked up the third stone.

Startled, he did not dare rest and hurriedly grabbed the final jade stone.

The incense burned out.

Qu Kan set down the final jade stone, which still had a small portion left unfinished, and sighed regretfully.

When he looked up at Lu Feng, however, he found that Lu Feng had long since put down all his jade stones and was watching him with casual indifference.

Alarm surged through his heart, and a sense of defeat rose within him. Qu Kan said, "I lost. I only completed one and a half stones."

His performance today had been somewhat off. Under normal circumstances, he would certainly have completed the inscriptions on all three jade stones.

Qu Qianli walked over, patted Qu Kan on the shoulder, and said with a somewhat helpless sigh, "You lost far more than one and a half stones. Go see for yourself."

The inscription skill Lu Feng had displayed gave not only Qu Kan, but even Qu Qianli—a man nearly a hundred years old—a profound sense of defeat. He knew that if it had been him, he would definitely have been unable to achieve what Lu Feng had.

Qu Kan did not understand what Qu Qianli meant. He had been so immersed in his inscription just now that he had paid no attention to Lu Feng's side. Suspiciously, he walked over to Lu Feng and picked up the first jade stone from the table.

"This... what a perfect triangular array pattern!"

Qu Kan cried out. Even with his Six Soul Realm strength, he could not inscribe such a flawless triangular pattern.

Jiang Ruoyun had been watching quietly from the side. She was not deeply versed in arrays.

Earlier, she had seen Lu Feng raise his hand and bring down the knife, his movements clean and decisive. Then she looked at Qu Kan, who was cautious and painstakingly meticulous. The contrast between them was simply too great.

For a moment, she had thought Lu Feng was merely fooling around. She had even worried about the enormous cost of the beast cores if he lost.

Only when she saw Qu Kan's astonished gaze and shocked expression did she realize that Lu Feng had not been playing around at all!

His methods were clearly far, far superior to the other man's.

A trace of secret delight flashed between Jiang Ruoyun's brows as she laughed inwardly. This time, I really struck gold.

Qu Kan picked up the second jade stone, and the surprise in his eyes instantly magnified. He froze where he stood, his hand holding the jade stone becoming unsteady.

"A six-angle Star Activation Pattern?"

"How is this possible!"

"With only Three Soul Realm strength, you actually inscribed a six-angle Star Activation Pattern so quickly?"

Qu Kan stared at it in disbelief. The array pattern on it was simply beyond comparison with the one he had inscribed.

If they were graded, his own piece could only be considered a crude object, while Lu Feng's was undoubtedly a rare masterpiece.

Watching this, Jiang Ruoyun knew that Lu Feng had won again. If she had not been concerned for Qu Kan's feelings, she would have been unable to stop herself from laughing aloud in delight.

Qu Qianli let out a deep sigh. Qu Kan's temperament was truly too immature. The second jade stone alone had dealt him such a blow; if he saw the last jade stone, he might never recover.

Qu Qianli's intended warning had already been achieved. After this, Qu Kan would surely be able to settle down and focus.

After hesitating for a moment, Qu Qianli stepped forward and pulled Qu Kan back, not wanting him to see the final jade stone.

The blow dealt by that final jade stone was simply too great. Even he himself had been deeply struck by a sense of defeat.

"Grandfather?" Qu Kan looked doubtfully at Qu Qianli standing in front of him. He reached out to push him aside, preparing to take the final jade stone.

"That's enough. Let it end here. There is no need to look at that final jade stone. You have already lost," Qu Qianli said.

A trace of surprise flashed through Qu Kan's eyes. Somewhat stubbornly, he replied, "I want to see... just how great the gap between him and me truly is."

Unable to overcome Qu Kan's persistence, Qu Qianli stepped aside. He stood guard nearby, worried about Qu Kan's reaction and afraid that this promising sapling would be broken.

Qu Kan calmed the shock brought by the first two jade stones and consoled himself. In such a short time, completing the first two jade stones was already terrifying enough. This third one could at most...

"This is impossible!!!"

Qu Kan's heart jolted violently. The hand gripping the jade stone trembled uncontrollably. As though he had seen a ghost, his legs went weak and he collapsed onto the ground.

He looked once more at the jade stone in his hand, then at Qu Qianli beside him, and saw the latter nod in confirmation.

Only then did Qu Kan understand just how vast the gap between him and Lu Feng was. The tiny bit of defeat he had felt before now involuntarily turned into inferiority.

At that moment, he felt that he would never be able to surpass Lu Feng in the art of arrays. He was not even worthy of being Lu Feng's opponent.

Qu Kan looked up at Lu Feng, his voice trembling slightly. "Doesn't the Star Angle Array only allow up to seven-star Star Activation Patterns?"

"Then why does your array pattern contain nine stars?"

Lu Feng replied calmly, "Practice makes perfect. If you inscribe it several hundred times a day for a year and a half, you can do it too."

Qu Kan was shocked once more upon hearing this. Usually, after inscribing three or four times in a day, he already found it dull and unbearably irritating. Yet Lu Feng had spoken so calmly of several hundred times a day?

What kind of perseverance was that!

Only then did Qu Kan realize that the gap between him and Lu Feng was not merely in the art of arrays.

Though Qu Qianli was also shocked by Lu Feng's persistence and resolve, his thoughts went further.

Inscribing several hundred times a day for a year and a half revealed not only perseverance, but also incomparably abundant resources.

With such a massive consumption of jade stones, just who was Lu Feng?

"These are three beast cores. Take them."

Qu Kan accepted his loss with good grace. He took out three ordinary Tier Four beast cores and handed them to Lu Feng.

Lu Feng accepted them. The purpose of his trip had been fulfilled beyond expectations, and he had gained a general understanding of the Qu Estate's situation.

After saying farewell, he returned with Jiang Ruoyun to where Xiao Rou was staying: an inn called the Gathering Guests Inn, said to have the same owner as the Gathering Fragrance Garden.

There were only two beds in the room. To save money, Xiao Rou had chosen the cheapest room. Looking at the somewhat awkward Lu Feng, Xiao Rou said apologetically, "Because we don't have much money left with us, it was only enough to rent this one room..."

"It's fine. I have somewhere to go tonight," Lu Feng replied.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ruoyun instinctively wanted to ask where Lu Feng was going, then could not help feeling startled. Why do I care so much about his whereabouts?