The weather was clear, the blue sky washed clean, and clouds as white as cotton drifted lazily overhead. All around, it was quiet and windless.
Halfway up the mountain, however, voices roared like those at a mountain pass on the eve of battle, the tension stretched to its limit.
"You're trying to stop me?"
Like a phantom, Xiao Qian came to an abrupt halt before the foremost disciples of the Misty Cloud Sect. He stood straight as a pine, his gaze flashing like lightning as he looked directly at the youths radiating extraordinary auras in the center ahead.
"We're conducting a battle formation drill. We have no intention of blocking you." Mocking smiles curled the lips of those leading the group, the malice hidden within almost spilling over.
Then one of them raised his voice and shouted, "Begin the drill!"
"Yes!" the disciples shouted in unison, their voices brimming with ill-intentioned excitement.
Immediately, all the Misty Cloud Sect disciples paired off and began to "fight."
But rather than engage in genuine combat, they deliberately unleashed their Dou Qi without restraint. In an instant, the crisscrossing streams of Dou Qi formed an invisible net that shrouded the entire space, the violent energy fluctuations making the air scorching and restless.
"You have a little brains. Not much, though."
The corners of Xiao Qian's mouth lifted into a contemptuous smile.
He rolled his neck, then cracked his knuckles, the series of sharp pops sounding as though he were warming up for what came next.
"No one can stop me from breaking the record."
His voice was low and resolute, echoing through the mountains like the tolling of a great bell.
"Arrogant bastard!"
One disciple shouted in fury. Unable to contain his anger any longer, he hurled a Dou Technique at Xiao Qian with