"Cheng Santong, luckily, all you lost was a pill recipe and some seeds for immortal plants. Fellow Daoist Dongfang was even showing you some consideration. If you'd really had to pay up fifty thousand immortal crystals, you'd have been kicking yourself all the way home," Xiao Yu said with a laugh after learning what had happened.
"The fight hasn't even started. How have I already lost?" Cheng Santong protested.
"Come on, you're pretty confident in yourself, aren't you? I know what you're capable of. You won't believe it until you see the coffin, so let's have a match. We might as well go watch." Xiao Yu and the Lotus Avatar joined the crowd of spectators.
"I can't just admit defeat without even fighting," Cheng Santong snorted.
The group headed for the training grounds. Among the immortal armies, people of the same rank often sparred and tested their skills. At that moment, two other pairs were fighting on the grounds. Lu Xiaotian and his companions didn't attract much attention.
"Fellow Daoist Dongfang, please!" The two rose into the air above the training grounds, and Cheng Santong gestured for Lu Xiaotian to make the first move.
"After you, Fellow Daoist Cheng." Lu Xiaotian stood calmly across from him, hands folded behind his back, and spoke without hurry.
"Very well. Then I won't hold back." Cheng Santong's aura surged, and each of his whiskers stood up like a steel needle.
Without any visible movement, his immortal essence spread outward. Waves of hazy yellow light rose from the ground, as if Cheng Santong were drawing the very essence of the earth into himself.
The entire ground trembled without pause. The hazy yellow waves gathered around Cheng Santong, wrapping him in layer upon layer until they formed thick stone armor. In the blink of an