Strength of Eighteen Oxen!

Jiang Tian looked toward the source of the sound and saw Hu Hansan looking at him provocatively, his chin tilted slightly upward.

Jiang Tian sneered inwardly and was just about to speak when Mu Sining, standing beside him, spoke up coldly first: "Hu Hansan, there are so many fellow disciples at the middle stage of the Qi Gathering Realm here, and you are also at the middle stage. Why are you asking Jiang Tian, who is only at the early stage, to go first? Why don't you try it yourself?"

"I..." Hu Hansan opened his mouth, his face instantly flushing a deep red.

He didn't dare to meet Mu Sining's eyes, so he could only glare fiercely at Jiang Tian, the resentment in his gaze practically overflowing.

Jiang Tian grinned, his smile playful.

Forget it, this Hu Hansan is nothing but a sycophant.

Hu Hansan rolled up his sleeves, stiffened his neck, and shouted loudly: "Then let me, Hu Hansan, be the first to try!"

"Good!" Xu Buyu clapped his hands and smiled, shouting, "Then let Hu Hansan lead the charge!"

"Hu Hansan is at the middle stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. I wonder how many oxen he can lift with his Qi?"

"Seven or eight at most, right? He cultivates the fire of a pill furnace, so the quality is mediocre at best. Look, the reward is very tempting, but each ox weighs at least two thousand catties. How could the Qi of an ordinary middle-stage Qi Gathering practitioner have such force?"

"Indeed, this [Golden Crow Nirvana True Qi] is nice to hear about, but while it's true that pies can fall from the sky, how could one ever land on the heads of people like us?"

Whispers rose and fell throughout the crowd.

Hu Hansan walked up to the eighteen bronze oxen, took a deep breath, and his face suddenly turned red, the veins on his forehead bulging.

A fiery red flame radiated from his body, like an invisible giant hand, enveloping the row of bronze oxen.

"Rise for me!"

Hu Hansan roared, his voice like a booming bell.

The first bronze ox rose in response, hovering steadily a foot off the ground.

Immediately after, the second! The third!

The first five rose in succession, all in one go, without the slightest pause.

The bronze oxen lined up in the air.

By the sixth, the speed began to slow down.

At the seventh, the bronze ox wobbled on the black stone bricks, teetering on the edge of falling, and it took a long time of struggling before it finally lifted an inch off the ground.

At this moment, Hu Hansan's head was covered in sweat, streaming down his temples. His lips were pale, and the veins on his temples and neck were throbbing violently.

He glanced sideways at Mu Sining, then at Jiang Tian standing beside her. Whether it was for the sake of the reward or to show off in front of Mu Sining, he gritted his teeth and fiercely forced his Qi to envelop the eighth bronze ox.

At this moment, the seven bronze oxen already hovering in the air began to sway, ready to fall at any second.

"Ah--!"

The moment the eighth bronze ox floated up, Hu Hansan's entire body shuddered violently, his legs went weak, and it felt as if he had been struck in the chest by a palm. He stumbled back several steps, sat down on the ground, and gasped for air.

"Good!" Xu Buyu's face showed approval, his voice filled with genuine appreciation. "To be able to lift eight oxen at the middle stage of the Qi Gathering Realm is already the mark of a dragon among men!"

His eyes shone as he looked at the crowd and shouted: "Is there another challenger?"

With someone having broken the ice, the others began to show off their skills one by one.

Some lifted five oxen, some seven, some nine. One disciple at the middle stage of the Qi Gathering Realm lifted thirteen oxen in one breath, drawing a round of applause from the crowd.

Of course, there were also those who couldn't lift a single one and retreated with red faces.

Xu Buyu's eyes flickered as he turned to look at Jiang Tian beside him, a smile on his face: "Junior Brother Jiang, why don't you give it a try? Don't push yourself; since you are at the early stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, lifting one is a pass, and lifting three is excellent."

Jiang Tian stepped forward slowly, his expression as calm as water, but his eyes had become incredibly sharp.

"That is exactly my intention."

He walked up to the eighteen bronze oxen and let out a long breath.

The next moment.

Golden-red Qi suddenly radiated from his body! The moment that Qi appeared, the temperature in the air soared instantly, and a wave of heat rushed toward them, forcing those nearby to take two steps back.

"Boom--!"

The moment this Qi was released, Xu Buyu's expression changed.

Didn't Mu Sining say that Jiang Tian cultivated ordinary golden Qi?

Why did the Qi radiating from Jiang Tian make him, a master at the completion stage of the Qi Gathering Realm who had already incorporated [True Qi] into a cycle, feel... fear?

Xu Buyu's eyes widened, and the composure and indifference on his face vanished completely: "This is... Solar Qi!!!"

"Whoa!"

The crowd was like a powder keg being ignited, instantly erupting into chaos.

"What? Solar Qi? This Junior Brother Jiang actually managed to cultivate Solar Qi?!"

"Hasn't he only been in our Heavenly Fire Sect for two days? How could he have cultivated Solar Qi? Could it be that he fully comprehended that Sun Heaven-Burning Qi Gathering Method that was gathering dust in the Library Pavilion in just two days?"

"Two days?! It took me a whole month just to finish reading that Qi Gathering manual!"

Hu Hansan's face looked as ugly as if he had eaten excrement.

His mouth twitched a few times, and he gritted his teeth, muttering: "It's just blind luck. I bet he can lift seven at most. If he lifts more than seven, I'll eat shit!"

However, the moment his words fell.

Ten bronze bulls suddenly lifted off the ground!

Lifting ten bulls in one go!

And it wasn't the shaky kind; it was steady and balanced, as if they were being held up by someone's hands.

Immediately after, came the eleventh.

The twelfth.

The thirteenth.

The fourteenth.

"My god!!! Is he really at the early stage of the Qi Gathering Realm? He's lifted thirteen bulls?!"

"Hu Hansan! Didn't you just say he'd be lucky to lift seven? Does your face hurt? Do you want me to whip up a poultice for you right now?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone burst into laughter.

Even Mu Sining, who was usually stern and rarely smiled, couldn't help but let out a "pfft" of laughter.

Seeing his crush react this way, Hu Hansan's face turned even redder, flushing a deep purple.

The emotions in his heart shifted from shame and anger to intense resentment.

It was all Jiang Tian's fault... for making him lose so much face in front of Mu Sining!

Jiang Tian was not affected by the noise around him.

His speed was lightning-fast, his movements extremely fluid and coherent, without the slightest pause.

It wasn't until the fifteenth bull that he slowed down just a little.

But he still didn't stop.

The speed merely slackened slightly.

The sixteenth.

The seventeenth.

The eighteenth!

Lifting eighteen bulls!

A full eighteen bronze bulls were all suspended in the air, lined up in a row.

The platform fell into dead silence.

Xu Buyu's eyes were wide open, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down several times, unable to utter a single word.

Eighteen.

A full eighteen.

Even some cultivators who had gathered mortal qi and reached the perfection of their cultivation might not be able to lift eighteen bulls in one breath.

Yet Jiang Tian, an early-stage Qi Gathering cultivator and a new disciple who had been in the sect for less than two days, had done it.

This meant that his control over qi had reached a truly terrifying level!

A monster.

He was simply a complete and utter monster!

"Senior Brother Xu."

A voice reached his ears, pulling him back from his trance.

"Where is the [Golden Crow Nirvana True Qi]?"

Xu Buyu regained his senses and looked over to see Jiang Tian with one hand behind his back, the other raised in the air, supporting the eighteen bronze bulls with his qi, a smile on his face revealing a set of white teeth.

"Golden Crow..." Xu Buyu's Adam's apple bobbed, his throat dry.

He had never imagined that anyone would be able to lift eighteen bronze bulls this time, so he hadn't prepared the [Golden Crow Nirvana True Qi] at all.

However, since the other party had achieved it, the [True Qi] naturally had to be given.

Xu Buyu suppressed the shock in his heart and put a smile back on his face, though this smile held a bit more genuine respect than before: "I will have someone deliver it to Junior Brother Jiang tomorrow."

He felt a wave of emotion in his heart; no wonder the man didn't want to accept the olive branch he had offered.

A genius... having pride, isn't that normal?

"Many thanks, Senior Brother Xu!" Jiang Tian cupped his hands in thanks and withdrew his qi. The eighteen bronze bulls landed steadily back on the ground with a dull "thud."

Xu Buyu returned the salute with a solemn expression.

Although Jiang Tian's cultivation level was still very low, he already viewed Jiang Tian as one of his own kind.

Just as the atmosphere was harmonious, an untimely voice rang out.

"Jiang Tian! Do you dare to have a duel with me?!"

Jiang Tian followed the voice and looked over, only to see Hu Hansan staring at him with a sinister expression.

Hu Hansan assumed that because Jiang Tian had caused him to lose face in front of Mu Sining and everyone else, he wanted to reclaim it from Jiang Tian.

In reality, no one cared at all about the face he had lost.

In his heart.

So what if Jiang Tian had harvested the Solar Qi?

It had been less than two days since he joined the sect.

He simply did not believe it!

That Jiang Tian could have harvested the Solar Qi and still have the energy left to practice techniques!

(Five thousand words delivered today.)

(The data during the verification period was quite good, but I didn't get a front-page feature, I'm truly speechless.)

(Everyone, please send me some free power-up gifts.)