Exchange

Gusu Fu asked, "Brother Baili, are you going up, or am I?"

Baili Tu chuckled. "I'll do it. But after this, none of you are allowed to fight me for that little Black Martial Realm servant."

Gusu Fu laughed loudly. "You really know how to spin the abacus in your favor. Killing one junior is only a matter of two or three moves—not even enough to warm up—and you already want to monopolize a Black Martial Realm servant. I don't have any objections, but you'd better ask Mister Ouyang what he thinks."

Baili Tu turned to look at Ouyang Ke and smiled. "Mister wouldn't go so far as to fight me over one little servant, would you?"

Ouyang Ke glanced at Baili Tu. "Fine. That little brat is yours."

Below the Flying Boat, Jiang Feng and Xiang Pang stood side by side.

"What are they talking about?" Xiang Pang asked. "Why haven't they made a move yet?"

Jiang Feng had naturally heard everything Ouyang Ke and the other two said. He smiled faintly. "They're arguing over who gets you."

"Gets me?" Xiang Pang looked utterly baffled. "What does that mean?"

Jiang Feng smiled. "After they kill me, they'll capture you and make you a servant. They all value your Black Martial Realm cultivation and want you as their servant."

When Xiang Pang heard that, he instantly flew into a towering rage. "Damn it, they really don't put anyone in their eyes."

"Ah Feng, are you confident?" Xiang Pang still asked cautiously, because these three did not look weak.

He had absolute faith in Jiang Feng, and that faith came from the shocks Jiang Feng had given him before. However, if he knew the cultivation levels and identities of the three above them, he probably would not be so calm.

"I'm somewhat confident against that big fellow and that handsome one. As for the other one, I don't know."

Xiang Pang froze. Even Jiang Feng himself admitted he was not confident?

Jiang Feng raised his head and called out, "You three, stop arguing and hurry up. I'm in a rush to go back and enter seclusion."

At those words, Ouyang Ke and the other two frowned.

"What an arrogant brat. Does he think the three of us are no match for him?"

"Hahaha, Mister Ouyang, I never expected that even with you descending in person, this boy would still dare to spout such wild words."

"He's just a yellow-mouthed child. Not recognizing Mister Ouyang is naturally within reason."

"That's right. In a moment, he'll have his chance to regret it."

Baili Tu shouted, "Brat still stinking of mother's milk, wait while I take your head!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Baili Tu leapt down from the Flying Boat, borrowing the force of his descent from above as he chopped his palm toward Jiang Feng.

Around that palm, qi force swirled. It directly swelled three sizes, like a steel cattail fan, smashing down over Jiang Feng's head at extreme speed!

This palm strike was bound to blast Jiang Feng's head into a blooming mess of red and white!

"So strong!"

The instant Baili Tu struck, Xiang Pang beside them felt that overwhelming, sky-blanketing aura. He truly, vividly sensed the power contained in this palm.

He had only been brushed by the aura and had not directly endured it, yet he already felt as if he could not breathe beneath it.

So the gap between the Earth Martial Realm and the Black Martial Realm really was this enormous. No wonder Black Martial Realm martial artists, no matter how much power they could strike with, could not pose a threat to Earth Martial Realm martial artists.

Battles at the Earth Martial Realm level still used force as the source of injury, but what mattered more was the control of qi force and the profundity of one's moves.

Baili Tu's palm strike looked simple and direct, yet it contained profound mysteries of qi force. Faced with this palm, a Black Martial Realm martial artist probably would not even be able to dodge aside.

Yet faced with Baili Tu's supreme palm strike, Jiang Feng remained completely composed, his expression unchanged.

Seeing the palm force descend, Jiang Feng suddenly moved. His fist lifted and met it head-on.

As his fist moved, qi force followed, its momentum like the sun and moon hanging in the sky!

"Hm?" Baili Tu was the first to feel a tremor. "Such powerful qi force!"

The strength of Jiang Feng's qi force absolutely could not be measured simply by his cultivation. His mental cultivation method and physical body were perfectly combined, and the qi force born from them was abnormally robust. This was also the reason Jiang Feng could remain so calm and unruffled even when facing three supreme experts.

The power of this punch was enough to shock Baili Tu!

Wrapped in qi force, Jiang Feng's fist shook the air until ripples spread through it.

In an instant, fist force and palm force collided. A mighty aura surged and billowed outward. Xiang Pang, standing nearby, was the first to be affected. He was sent flying backward, crashing through three load-bearing pillars before his body finally stopped. The moment he opened his mouth, a mouthful of bloody water sprayed out.

Just the aura leaking out from the clash between the two had instantly left him severely injured!

This was the might of an Earth Martial Realm expert!

Here, the two currents of qi force tangled and ground against each other, and Baili Tu's expression changed drastically!

"Damn it!" Baili Tu instantly sensed it—his qi force was actually no match for Jiang Feng's!

In only half a breath, Baili Tu was sent flying backward. After tumbling through the air in a wretched spin, he landed awkwardly. The stone-paved ground even collapsed beneath the stamp of his feet!

In their first exchange, Baili Tu suffered a crushing defeat!

Jiang Feng stood firmly where he was. He was very satisfied with this effect, and this result was also within his expectations.

Baili Tu had never expected he would actually suffer a loss. Although he had not used his full strength in that palm strike just now, he had still used eighty percent of his power. He was an expert at the seventh level of the Earth Martial Realm, with an exceedingly tyrannical physical body, yet he had actually been unable to match Jiang Feng's punch!

On the Flying Boat, Ouyang Ke and Gusu Fu were also full of surprise.

"Looks like this child really does have some ability," Gusu Fu said. "Baili Tu may suffer some losses."

"Mm. I can tell Upper Guest Minister Baili was of a mind to toy with him and didn't use his full strength just now. If he had gone all out, it would certainly be a different scene." The aide beside him also spoke.

"Baili Tu, end this quickly!" Ouyang Ke called out.

Below, Baili Tu's face could hardly hold up either. After all, he had sworn so confidently before, only to suffer a hidden loss at first contact; in terms of face, there was no explaining that away. At the same time, however, he could also see that Jiang Feng's strength was no ordinary matter and could not be looked down on.

"Brat, not bad!" Baili Tu snorted. "You're qualified to make me use my full strength."

With that, Baili Tu took the giant ruler from his back.

The moment the giant ruler appeared, his aura became an entirely different sight.

Baili Tu gripped the giant ruler and attacked fiercely. His ruler technique was unstoppable. The heavy ruler's body shook the air, giving rise to sheet after sheet of ripples. Energy clung to the ruler's body, and the might it stirred outward actually destroyed all the artificial hills, grasses, and trees before the hall.

On the Flying Boat, Gusu Fu nodded again and again. "Baili Tu's ruler technique has improved quite a bit. It already has some true intent."

"Mm, what a unique ruler technique."

Below, Jiang Feng's brows drew in. As the direct target, he could naturally feel clearly the domineering force within Baili Tu's ruler technique.

"I can't look down on it!"

Jiang Feng sighed inwardly.

If the three of Baili Tu and the others knew what Jiang Feng was thinking right now, they would likely be so furious they spat blood.

Jiang Feng, whom they looked down on, was actually still faintly looking down on Baili Tu's attack.

Baili Tu pressed in with his ruler technique, but Jiang Feng did not draw his spear. He merely relied on his movement technique to weave among the giant ruler's strikes, using his protective energy to dissolve the true intent contained within that ruler technique.

"He... he actually isn't using a weapon!" On the Flying Boat, Gusu Fu could not suppress the shock in his heart.

Ouyang Ke also looked astonished. "Let's watch a little longer. Perhaps he isn't skilled in using weapons."

Baili Tu was vexed inwardly: This brat actually isn't using a weapon. Damn it, I'm actually being looked down on by a yellow-mouthed child.

"Damn it, his protective energy is so strong!" Baili Tu was shaken inwardly.

"With my protective energy, being able to block the force displayed by a martial artist of the same realm is already quite good. I never expected this brat's protective energy could even easily dissolve the true intent of my ruler technique that has only just taken shape!"

"How terrifying, how terrifying!"

"Damn it, Gusu Fu must be laughing at me!"

"No, I have to go all out and take this brat down. I'll look for a chance to use a martial skill in a moment; I absolutely have to kill him in one strike!"

Jiang Feng, meanwhile, was completely immersed in sensing the true intent of Baili Tu's ruler technique.

"So this is true intent? How mysterious and wondrous!"

"If not for my protective energy being extraordinary, there's no way I could rely on my movement technique alone to easily dissolve the true intent of his ruler technique."

"True intent, so this is what it is!"

Above on the Flying Boat, Ouyang Ke's expression also turned grave. "His protective energy is actually this powerful. No wonder he could shatter Baili Tu's palm energy with one punch just now."

"No, with such powerful protective energy, his dantian energy must be profoundly unusual. That punch just now—he didn't use his full strength."

"This boy... truly makes one see him in a new light!"

Thinking of this, Ouyang Ke spoke. "Gusu Fu, you go down too. The two of you join forces."