Volume 1 Chapter 24

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Volume 1 Chapter 24: Tough Battle

Even though Nangong Qingshan also advanced, which made Xu Qingfan a little unhappy, seeing Yue Qingru and Jin Qinghan advance easily still made Xu Qingfan quite happy overall.

Since there was a large difference in strength between the two sides in the first round, there were no exciting performances. After watching some of the other students’ matches, Xu Qingfan slightly nodded at Jin Qinghan, who had returned to the main stage, and then ignored Nangong Qingshan, who was still following him with a resentful gaze, and walked toward the back mountain with Yue Qingru.

At this time, the sun was setting, and the old trees by the road looked even more ancient under the blood-red sunset. The world around was a blend of green and red, as if it was foreshadowing something.

Xu Qingfan admired the scenery along the road while chatting with Yue Qingru about their experiences that day, but he seemed a bit distracted.

"Junior Brother, do you have something on your mind?" Yue Qingru asked after noticing that Xu Qingfan seemed a bit absent-minded.

When Xu Qingfan heard Yue Qingru say this, he stopped hiding his feelings and worriedly said, "Brother, I didn’t expect you to end up in the same arena as that guy Nangong Qingshan. According to your and his numbers, you will face each other in the next match."

"Yes, once we were brothers, but now we are opponents," Yue Qingru sighed.

"Brother, I mean when you face Nangong Qingshan, you must not hold back. Otherwise, he will take advantage of it. People like him do not care about the past," Xu Qingfan turned to look into Yue Qingru’s eyes and said seriously.

Hearing Xu Qingfan say this, Yue Qingru paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "I know this, brother."

"That’s good." Xu Qingfan felt a bit more at ease with Yue Qingru’s promise.

As the sunset shone, their shadows grew long.

There was no conversation that night.

The next day, on the twenty-third of the lunar month, it was the Frost’s Descent festival. The wind was gentle and the clouds were clear, a good day for weddings, but a bad day for traveling.

This day was also the second day of the great competition inside Jiuhua Gate.

Xu Qingfan stood under the fifth stone platform, watching the magical duel between two masters of the Inedia Stage on top of the platform. Since a guardian from the Jiuhua Gate was watching, the two did not need to worry about their powerful spells hurting anyone nearby. They fought with all their might, raising dust and rocks, and fire blazed into the sky—beautiful to see, but incredibly dangerous.

In the end, because of the mutual influence of the five elements, using wood magic to defend against fire magic only made the fire magic stronger. So, the person using wood magic could not compete with the disciple using fire magic and was struck by a "Fire Snake Technique," falling unconscious.

This was already the third match on the fifth platform. Xu Qingfan was scheduled to go up for the fourth match.

"Senior Brother Xu." Just as Xu Qingfan was about to enter the arena, he suddenly heard Jin Qinghan’s voice behind him.

"What are you doing here? I remember you are in the fourth match too," Xu Qingfan said with a smile.

"I heard you were the last one to finish in the first match yesterday?" Jin Qinghan asked.

"Yes, what about it?"

"Today, don’t hold back. The fighting power of an Inedia Stage cultivator is completely different from that of a Qi Refining Stage cultivator," Jin Qinghan said seriously.

"Okay, I definitely won’t hold back today." Xu Qingfan couldn’t help but smile when he heard Jin Qinghan’s words; they sounded so similar to what he had said to Yue Qingru yesterday!

"That’s good. Let’s have a match today."

"A match about what?" Xu Qingfan asked, puzzled.

"Let’s see who finishes the battle first." Saying this, Jin Qinghan turned and walked towards his arena, not waiting for Xu Qingfan to object. The crowd around the arena naturally parted to make way for him. It was clear that the title of "Jiuhua Twin Talents" was not just for show. Many people also secretly looked at Xu Qingfan, wondering how he could be so close to the proud Jin Qinghan.

Feeling the strange looks from the crowd, Xu Qingfan couldn’t help but smile wryly. It seemed he really had to work hard this time; even if he couldn’t win against Jin Qinghan, he at least couldn’t lose too badly.

When Xu Qingfan got to the arena, he noticed that this opponent was clearly much stronger than last time, both in ability and spirit. This person stepped into the arena with steady steps, calm eyes, and even had a gentle smile on his lips. His skill had reached the late stage of the Inedia Stage, which was on par with Xu Qingfan’s current strength.

"This is a big problem. I’m supposed to compete with Jin Qinghan to see who wins first, but this guy’s strength is equal to mine. Even with ‘The Formula of Wither and Flourish’, it’s hard to say who will win. Not to mention finishing the battle quickly," Xu Qingfan thought to himself, feeling troubled.

The strange thing for Xu Qingfan was that he felt this opponent looked familiar, as if he had met him somewhere before. However, he had not made many friends at Jiuhua Gate, so why did he have this feeling?

After both of them bowed to the elder acting as the referee, the man smiled at Xu Qingfan and said, "Junior Li Yuhan greets Martial Uncle Xu."

Hearing Li Yuhan recognize him, Xu Qingfan was even more puzzled and curiously asked, "You know me?"

"I had the fortune to meet Martial Uncle over twenty years ago," Li Yuhan said with a faint smile.

"Twenty years ago?" Xu Qingfan asked, puzzled. "I think I had just joined Jiuhua Gate back then, so I shouldn’t have known anyone."

"Martial Uncle, you really forget things easily. That year, when Master Lu brought you into the sect, I was the one who took care of you," Li Yuhan explained softly.

"Oh, so it was you," Xu Qingfan said with an awkward smile, remembering the middle-aged man who traveled with a small white boat. Even twenty years ago, he already had his own flying tool and managed important matters within the gate, clearly valued by Jiuhua Gate. With these twenty years gone by, he must have grown even stronger.

"Martial Uncle remembers now," Li Yuhan said, smiling. Although his expression was calm, inside he felt like a storm was raging. Li Yuhan remembered Xu Qingfan because, despite being of average talent, he managed to have a powerful expert, Lu Huayan, take him as a disciple. So, he was quite impressed. He never expected that this Martial Uncle, whom he thought was of low talent, had become his equal in strength in just twenty years, which left him astonished.

"You can just call me by my name. Since we’ve met again after twenty years, we have a connection. Calling me Martial Uncle feels strange," Xu Qingfan said, waving his hand.

Now, Xu Qingfan indeed felt quite awkward. Li Yuhan, who was older than him, had more seniority and was as strong as he was, kept calling him Martial Uncle. Xu Qingfan felt undeserving of such respect.

"Rules shouldn’t be broken. You are a generation above me, so I should call you Martial Uncle," Li Yuhan insisted.

Just as Xu Qingfan was about to say something else, an elder nearby suddenly said, "Stop reminiscing and hurry up with the match." At that moment, the spectators below the stage, eager for an exciting duel, let out faint murmurs.

"Forget it, this is a competition platform, let’s start the contest," Xu Qingfan said with a bitter smile, suddenly feeling a bit like a monkey being watched.

"Alright, please show mercy, Martial Uncle," Li Yuhan also said with a smile.

After this friendly chat, the atmosphere seemed very peaceful, but could it really be so?

After being polite, Li Yuhan knew that Xu Qingfan wouldn’t strike first, so he made a hand gesture, and a golden light shone brightly around him. Then, several spots on the rocky platform suddenly rose, and the ground began to crack open, revealing a soft yellow glow from within. At the same time, Xu Qingfan felt the earth’s energy gathering towards these spots. Then, four stone puppets, nearly ten feet tall, climbed out from the cracks, surrounding Xu Qingfan in the middle.

"Stone Puppet Art?" Xu Qingfan’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Li Yuhan and softly spoke.

To reclaim his master’s "Three Meters Green Silk," Xu Qingfan had once studied various Taoist spells of Jiuhua Gate carefully, so he easily recognized the spell Li Yuhan was using.

"Martial Uncle has great insight," Li Yuhan softly praised. While he spoke, the four stone puppets strode towards Xu Qingfan. In a moment of earth-shaking force, they reached him, raising their feet or fists to strike together at Xu Qingfan.

Seeing these four powerful puppets, Xu Qingfan chuckled lightly but did not take it to heart. While the Stone Puppets were indeed strong, their movements were not very agile because of the large amount of earth Spirit Qi they gathered. For the very fast Xu Qingfan, they posed little threat.

"Boom…" The earth rumbled, and the rocky platform seemed about to collapse. The fists and feet of the four Stone Puppets heavily struck the platform where the two were competing, but they did not touch a single corner of Xu Qingfan’s clothing.

But then, Xu Qingfan was suddenly found standing three yards away from his original position. Although he had not suffered any frostbite, his face was pale. Staring at Li Yuhan’s seemingly harmless smile, he slowly said, "The Binding Spell."

It turned out that Xu Qingfan had dodged the Stone Puppet’s attack using "Turtle, Elephant, Leopard" and "Art of Divine Action," but was horrified to find his body felt as heavy as if it were filled with lead, and his speed had dropped by at least half. His speed was even slightly less than that of an ordinary Inedia Stage cultivator using "Art of Divine Action." So, Xu Qingfan guessed that Li Yuhan must have used the mid-level advanced Earth Taoist spell "Earth Binding Speed."

"I have seen the duel between Martial Uncle and Senior Brother Sheng, and I deeply admire Martial Uncle’s speed. But when I think about how I would have no way to face Martial Uncle, I had to use a small trick, please do not blame me, Martial Uncle." Li Yuhan seemed to say this with great shame, his voice still polite. But it made Xu Qingfan involuntarily think of Master of Jiuhua Zhang Hualing.

While Li Yuhan spoke, the ground continued to tremble. The four Stone Puppets charged at Xu Qingfan again.

Having lost the advantage of speed, facing the mysterious Li Yuhan, Xu Qingfan found himself in a desperate battle.

Although he was still slightly faster than the Stone Puppets, with four puppets surrounding him, Xu Qingfan still appeared somewhat awkward. Li Yuhan, however, merely watched with a smile, showing no intention of taking advantage of the situation. Of course, it might also be because he had to focus on controlling the Stone Puppets, which prevented him from attacking himself.

Each time Xu Qingfan barely managed to break through the Stone Puppets’ attacks with his speed, when he thought about directly attacking Li Yuhan, a large, thick stone wall would suddenly appear in front of him, blocking his path. And when Xu Qingfan went around the wall, he would find the Stone Puppets had already caught up, forcing him to start dodging their attacks again.

"It seems I can only use the powers of ‘The Formula of Wither and Flourish’ against my enemies," Xu Qingfan sighed. He originally planned to keep ‘The Formula of Wither and Flourish’ as his secret technique, but did not expect to encounter a strong foe so soon.

Thinking of this, Xu Qingfan let out a soft sigh, and two spiritual lights, one blue and one gray, flashed in his eyes. At the same time, dozens or even hundreds of dazzling and colorful flowers suddenly appeared between his fingers like a magic trick, bright and dangerous, giving a bewitching feeling.

When Li Yuhan saw Xu Qingfan suddenly use a strange Taoist spell, he was slightly surprised, and the Stone Puppet he controlled also paused a little.

At that moment, Xu Qingfan rubbed his hands together, and the beautiful yet dangerous flowers flew towards the four stone puppets, like petals stirred by the wind, creating a shower of blossoms.