Chapter 1344: A leaf again

“Me?” said Bolin, pointing to himself.

“Yes,” said Yang Qing. “You’re not maximizing your strengths. Your imbalanced body was proof of it. Your fighting style at the Green Fog Region was probably poison and poison fast, which isn’t wrong, because the faster you defeat your opponent, the better. It lessens the number of variables that might arise from a prolonged battle.

However, control and balance are just as important, if not more,” he softly and somberly added as he grabbed one of the leaves of the green flame tree and balanced it on the fingertip of his index finger.

“Crush with the strength of grounding a mountain to dust,” he said in a soft tone, yet despite the gentleness of his voice, his actions were something else. He flipped the leaf and clenched it with such fierceness that Bolin’s pupils trembled as he saw the air around Yang Qing’s fist vibrate, as though he was about to break through it and reach into the void. Bolin did not doubt that if it were his body there instead of the leaf, it would be crushed into fine dust within seconds.

As his heart raced at that reality, Yang Qing’s voice sounded again, still as soft.

“In the same flip, be as gentle as a still lake,” he said as he opened his hand to reveal the green flame leaf without a single damage on it, with not even a margin out of place.

“Mastery of balance and control allows you versatility,” he slowly said as he put his wine cup away and stood up, holding the green flame leaf between his fingers.

“Your poisons are your strengths, but they’re not your main strength. Your body is,” Yang Qing said as he bent slightly and pointed the leaf at Bolin’s chest. “And your mind,” he added as he moved the leaf to his head.

“Now then,” Yang Qing said with a leisurely smile, one arm behind his back and the other holding the leaf.

Bolin couldn’t help but feel unease stir within him when he saw that smile and the leaf in Yang Qing’s hand. Especially the latter. His scariest memory involved one, and he couldn’t help but fear that this old foe was about to make a reappearance and reassert its dominance over him once more.

“Since you joined, we haven’t yet sparred, have we?” Yang Qing said meaningfully, as he flashed Bolin an innocent smile.

“We haven’t,” said Bolin, smiling in resignation as he realized his fears were about to come true.

“Well then, let’s have one, shall we?” Yang Qing said casually. “But first, throw a full punch so I can gauge the level of force I’ll need to use,” he added as he raised the palm of his hand vertically. The leaf balanced delicately on two of his fingers.

After the humbling poisoning experience from moments before, Bolin didn’t need to be told twice. He quickly threw the most powerful punch he could.

“Figured as much,” he muttered bitterly when he saw his punch didn’t so much as move the leaf. It was as if the entire force of his blow had been swallowed whole by Yang Qing’s palm.

“Great power,” said Yang Qing in praise. “I figured speed to be your forte in sacrifice of brute strength, but in terms of raw strength, surprisingly, it seems you’re not lacking either. An early-stage core formation expert would likely have their body blasted apart by that punch, spirit beast or otherwise. A middle-stage one would have their internal organs destroyed and be left fatally wounded if they were lucky, and a late-stage one…”

Yang Qing hummed softly, raising his chin slightly.

“It would probably threaten even a ninth- or tenth-stage expert. Might not kill them instantly, but it would be enough to give them concern. Not bad, not bad at all,” Yang Qing praised.

“I’ll use force equal to that, and I’ll attack with only this,” he said, gesturing to the leaf now pressed between his thumb and his index and middle fingers. The green flame coating it flared instantly, taking on a hue that was a blend of orange and green.

“For thirty minutes, dodge and fight with everything you have against it. Don’t worry, you won’t die,” he said with an ominous smile. “But you will come dangerously close to it. Luckily, these flames,” he added, gesturing to the green and orange fire surrounding the leaf, “will restore you with every damage they cause.

You’re free to use anything at your disposal, but I’d advise relying on the green and yellow siblings,” said Yang Qing with a kind smile, which only sent more shivers down Bolin’s spine when he saw it.

“Let’s start.”

The moment the words left Yang Qing’s lips, Bolin saw a blinding streak of orange and green shoot toward him. He quickly dodged, rapidly hopping to the side. Speed was his forte, and for a moment, he thought he had avoided it, only to be disproved by the hot and cold flash of pain that tore through one of his legs. When he looked down, his left leg was hanging dangerously close to being completely dismembered, held only in place by a thin strand of muscle.

As panic set in, a warm energy suddenly surrounded his mangled leg, knitting it back together in an instant as though it had never been hurt at all. But before Bolin could even sigh in relief, that same streak came charging at him again, this time targeting the other leg.

Despite seeing it coming and bracing himself for it, the same fate befell him once more. Just like before, his leg was nearly severed and instantly restored a second later as though it had never happened, with the sudden flash of pain being the only proof it had.

Bolin dodged, hid, and countered, but whatever he tried, that orange-green streak—both reaper and healer—met its mark every time. His movements were faster than what an average middle-stage core formation expert could follow with their eyes, yet the leaf Yang Qing had casually thrown kept up with him like a haunting ghost that refused to let him go.

By the time the thirty minutes were up, Bolin had lost count of how many times he’d been slashed and healed. If he had to guess, the number was close to a thousand, not that he had the presence of mind to count, and neither did his body show it. Overwhelmed by exhaustion, he collapsed the moment Yang Qing announced that time was up.

As his consciousness faded, the last thing he saw was the leaf, light and fragile-looking, gently held between Yang Qing’s fingers. One could hardly believe that a small thing like that had sliced through him like a hot knife through butter.

“A leaf again,” he muttered weakly before the blurry world around him faded into darkness.