"Could everything Qin Yun said actually be true? No, no, this graduate must have been too careless.
I didn't even use an Earth Tier Dou Technique! How could I have taken him out in one move?" Feng Qing'er quickly shook her head.
To be honest, that Wind and Lightning Palm she had just used had only been a probing attack.
She had at least two or three seamless follow-up moves ready, but now she had never even gotten to use them.
"Holy shit, when did Feng Qing'er get this strong? She's way more formidable than when she first joined the Wind and Lightning Pavilion!"
Even Fei Tian was a little surprised. Just a few days ago, Feng Qing'er had sparred with Qin Yun, only to suffer a crushing, instant defeat.
With that simple comparison, just how high was the ceiling of Qin Yun's strength, if he could take Feng Qing'er out with a single slap?
Unlike Fei Tian's mild surprise, those from Jia Nan Academy felt they were losing face.
After all, this was a student taught by what was hailed as the number-one academy on the Dou Qi Continent.
Yet someone at the same cultivation level had defeated him in one move, and so cleanly and decisively at that. Anyone would have felt embarrassed.
"Elder Lin, you're next." Unable to bear the loss of face, Su Qian directly picked someone this time.
Unlike before, however, the one taking the stage this time was an academy elder, a six-star Dou Wang. In both raw strength and combat experience, he was a full notch above the graduate who had fought earlier.
Soon, a rugged-faced middle-aged man stepped onto the platform and stood opposite Feng Qing'er.
More precisely, Elder Lin was a body cultivator of sorts. He possessed powerful earth-element Dou Qi and excelled at close combat.
He was also the academy's head instructor for hand-to-hand combat.
"Miss Feng Qing'er, forgive me." Elder Lin gave Feng Qing'er a slight nod.
Then he attacked first, bending his right leg slightly before pushing off with tremendous force.
Deep cracks appeared even in the specially reinforced ground beneath his feet as he shot toward her like a cannonball.
Faced with this type of opponent, Feng Qing'er likewise chose to meet force with force.
The boost from her bloodline power, which she had activated when defeating her first opponent, was still in effect.
Soon, two fists of noticeably different sizes collided. The powerful shock wave sent a ripple across the entire protective barrier.
Then two afterimages, moving too fast for the naked eye to follow, raced around the arena.
Every collision between the two afterimages unleashed waves of residual force.
"So this is a genius from the Central Plains? She can actually fight Old Lin to a standstill in the close-quarters combat he specializes in, even while challenging someone above her level."
Seeing the two evenly matched for the moment, the academy teachers watching from the sidelines began whispering among themselves.
The weaker academy students were likewise left gaping in astonishment.
Converted into human years, Feng Qing'er was actually a little younger than they were, yet despite her lower cultivation level, she could fight Elder Lin-the very pinnacle of hand-to-hand combat-to this extent.
Feng Qing'er, however, saw the fight differently. Close combat was not her specialty; fighting like a mage suited her far better.
It was only because she had stubbornly insisted on breaking through Qin Yun's Threefold Reversal head-on that she had put considerable effort into close combat as well.
Yet against Elder Lin, who also excelled in physical combat, Feng Qing'er felt little pressure. She could even counter most of his attacks with room to spare.
This academy elder doesn't seem all that overwhelming either. I can keep up with his speed perfectly. That was Feng Qing'er's first thought during the fight.
She could not help recalling the times she had sparred with Qin Yun.
The pressure back then had been far greater. As soon as Qin Yun entered that so-called Nisheng state, his defense went through the roof.
Even after unleashing an entire combo, she could not break his skin. The only time she had managed to hurt him-
Had been when she temporarily boosted herself with her bloodline power and struck with everything she had, only to leave a scrape.
"I never imagined magical beasts could produce a genius like you. You must rank first in strength at the Wind and Lightning Pavilion, right?"
The longer Elder Lin fought, the more alarmed he became. Not only could she keep up with his rhythm perfectly, she was gradually turning the tables and suppressing him.
"I'm hardly the strongest. I can only settle for second place." Feng Qing'er gave a self-mocking smile, involuntarily recalling the fight when she had first met Qin Yun.
With his Nisheng state active, he had knocked her flat within thirty moves and given her such a brutal thrashing that she had been unable to get out of bed for ten days.
At that thought, the corners of Feng Qing'er's lips lifted slightly. She answered him, "You certainly aren't weak, but compared to that person, you're still far behind."
The next second, Feng Qing'er finally began fighting in earnest.
Her left hand blocked his attack, while countless flashes of lightning and fierce winds gathered in her right palm at her side.
In the span of a single breath, the lightning and gale spun together at high speed, forming a lightning drill that revolved at a blistering rate.
"Try this. It's my own creation, the Lightning Drill." Seizing the instant his body stiffened, Feng Qing'er unleashed the Lightning Drill.
The Lightning Drill was a quasi-Earth Tier Dou Technique Feng Qing'er had developed six months earlier specifically to break through Qin Yun's Nisheng state.
Although obvious flaws such as its relatively slow release and poor accuracy had kept it from reaching Earth Tier,
Its advantage was extremely appealing: once it landed, it delivered an exceptionally powerful armor-piercing effect.
The armor-piercing destructive power it released in an instant surpassed even some Low Earth Tier Dou Techniques.
Still, Feng Qing'er held back. Rather than aiming for a vital point, she pierced Elder Lin's left shoulder in an instant, punching clean through from one side to the other.
That move brought the match to a definitive end. With his shoulder pierced, Elder Lin no longer had the stamina to continue fighting.
Looking at the academy elder she had defeated despite being three minor cultivation levels below him, Feng Qing'er nodded slightly.
After these two battles, she had finally gained some clarity. It truly was not that she was too weak, but that the opponent she had chosen was too strong.
Take that Lightning Drill just now: against a body cultivator like Elder Lin, it could easily have shredded his entire upper body.
Yet when she had used it on Qin Yun in their earlier fight, it had left nothing more than a scrape-like mark.
He had even shed only three token drops of blood. It did not qualify as even an ordinary minor injury.
As another victim was carried away, no one from Jia Nan Academy dared to accept the challenge anymore.
After all, if they went up and lost, their humiliation would reach all the way to the Central Plains Continent.
Seeing the academy graduates and elders under him collectively fall silent, Su Qian also found it hard to save face.
In his view, losing a fight was not frightening. What was frightening was lacking even the courage to fight.
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