CHAPTER 15: SPARRING WITH JUN LAOYE (2)

There was no fiery dragon coiled around Jun Laoye's spear. There were only the most basic thrusts, parries, and deflections. But with his unique footwork, each strike came faster than the last.

"Thrust! Parry!"

Lu Chen kept summoning the vines of the Green Sovereign Divine Tree, shaping them into shields in front of him to block the attacks.

Amid this intense battle, his combat instincts were improving rapidly. His cultivation realm was showing signs of advancing again.

Lu Chen had long accumulated enough spirit qi to reach perfect mastery of the Qi Absorption Realm. What he lacked was the combat experience. As long as his understanding of cultivation caught up, breaking through would come as naturally as water flowing downstream.

Feeling the surge of spirit qi within, Lu Chen knew he had to quickly bring an end to the fight. My cultivation's about to break through again. I can't drag it on any longer. I have to end this now.

"Silver Snake Emerges From Its Lair! Flood Dragon's Dive! Green Sovereign Divine Tree!"

Lu Chen quickly circulated his spirit qi. He unleashed Silver Snake Emerges From Its Lair, launching a sudden strike at Jun Laoye's legs from underground, and once again disrupting his attack rhythm. He immediately followed up with Flood Dragon's Dive, attacking from three directions at once. At the same time, the tree's vines continued to distract Jun Laoye from behind.

"Star-Serpent Cloud Concealment!"

Lu Chen's true body flashed above Jun Laoye's head. He brought his palm down in a powerful strike, aiming to end the fight in one blow.

Seeing attacks coming from all directions, Jun Laoye flicked up the Eight-Treasure Rolling Cloud Spear beside him, catching it smoothly in his left hand. Now wielding two spears, he crossed them before himself and spun them in circular arcs, forming layers of spear blossoms that blocked each of Lu Chen's incoming strikes.

Lu Chen moved back a few steps. He gathered all his spirit qi into both hands, then drew fire-attribute spirit qi from the Yang Ocean Pearl and ignited flames in his palms. He was preparing his final move, the Heaven-Splitting Six Yang Palms, to end the fight.

Meanwhile, Jun Laoye continued spinning his spears, creating blooming layers of defense. As the last spear blossom formed, he suddenly raised both spears skyward and chanted an ancient, cryptic incantation.

Thunder roared from outside the camp.

Many of the Jun Clan disciples, now inner sect members, trembled upon hearing it and stammered, "That's the Jun Clan's Heavenly Dao Command! It summons indiscriminate lightning! Run! Run now!"

Lu Chen and Jun Laoye charged straight at each other and unleashed their strongest techniques.

"Heaven-Splitting Six Yang Palms, Blazing Sun Cleaves The Heaven!"

"Heavenly Dao Command: Heavenly Lightning Sutra!"

The camp erupted in chaos. Onlookers who heard the name of the technique ran outside in a panic.

The only ones left inside were Jun Laoye, Jun Wudi, Lu Chen, and the drunken Nantian Yijian.

Jun Wudi leapt between the two just in time and gently pushed them apart with his palm.

Lu Chen's strike landed on the camp floor, smashing through the reinforced ground and blasting a crater more than five meters deep.

Meanwhile, bolts of heavenly lightning rained down around Jun Laoye, tearing straight through the camp canopy.

After the clash, both men collapsed to the ground. There was no clear victor, but strictly speaking, Lu Chen was still at the seventh level of the Qi Absorption Realm, while Jun Laoye had already attained perfect mastery of the stage. In that sense, Lu Chen had won.

Cultivators nearby who were unaware of what had happened turned toward the Heavenly Mandate Hall's camp and began murmuring among themselves.

"Look! What's going on over there? Why is their camp in ruins?"

"Something serious must've happened..."

"Watch your mouth! Be careful who hears you. Major sects aren't something you can talk about casually."

"What? We can't even talk now?"

Over at the Herb King Manor's camp, a mysterious figure watched the lightning crashing down from the sky. He muttered to himself, "The Heavenly Dao Command... someone from the main branch of the Jun Clan must've arrived. Things are about to get interesting."

Once the lightning stopped, people rushed back into the camp and gasped at the scene before them. If they hadn't witnessed it themselves, they wouldn't have believed it.

"Wait... this destruction was caused by two people at the Qi Absorption Realm? With that power, they can already hold their own against someone in the Qi Regulation Realm!"

"Looks like we've underestimated Lu Chen."

"Lu Chen is worthy of being one of us in the Heavenly Mandate Hall. I, Wang Laosan, consider him a brother now."

"Same here. I acknowledge him, too."

"..."

Most sect disciples were proud by nature. While they had nothing against Lu Chen, none of them had been taken in as Jun Wudi's disciple despite years of cultivation. When Lu Chen had been accepted the moment he arrived, it was only natural for some of them to be unhappy with it. Intentional or not, that was likely why someone had suggested a match between Lu Chen and Jun Laoye.

But this battle had stunned them. Lu Chen had proven himself fully worthy of becoming Jun Wudi's disciple. This fight had cemented his status.

While everyone was still marveling at the battle, a pair of hands suddenly poked out from a pile of rubble in the corner.

"Damn it! Who buried me here? Hurry up and get me out!"

Everyone burst into laughter at the sight of Nantian Yijian's ridiculous appearance.

"Stop laughing and help me up! I'm going to die! Ahhh!"

They quickly rushed over to drag him out. Nantian Yijian was quite the character, being bold, carefree, and naturally sociable. He had only just arrived but was already acting like sworn brothers with the Jun Clan disciples. It was hard not to like someone like him.

Jun Wudi looked at Lu Chen lying on the ground, feeling reassured that his gamble had paid off.

He announced, "That's enough for today's sparring. Clean up the area and return to rest."

"Yes, my lord!"

The crowd carried Lu Chen and Jun Laoye to their beds and began tidying up the camp.

As they cleaned, they chatted about the battle. Everyone agreed that Lu Chen was a genius, whereas Nantian Yijian was more like a noise demon. Nantian Yijian, however, looked completely confused. He had no clue what had just happened, but still followed their lead and helped tidy up. None of them knew that they would one day become the witnesses to the rise of a killer whose music would strike fear into the hearts of all.

Bang!

A crisp sound echoed from within Lu Chen's body. He checked his cultivation level and found that he had finally stepped into the eighth level of Qi Absorption Realm. He was now only two steps away from perfect mastery and one step closer to becoming strong enough to save his grandfather.

While on the bed, Lu Chen replayed the recent battle in his mind. Fighting humans was far more intense than fighting beasts. Beasts lacked intelligence and relied on a limited set of attacks. Humans, on the other hand, could think, adapt, and employ various techniques and strategies.

His fight with Jun Laoye had taught him far more than battling hundreds of beasts ever did. He began to wonder if, once he completed his goal of slaying a thousand demonic beasts, he could start challenging human cultivators to accelerate his progress.

With that thought in mind, he turned to Jun Laoye and asked, "Hey, Little Jun, how long have you been cultivating?"

"Five years."

Shocked, Lu Chen blurted out, "What? Five years?!"

In truth, Lu Chen had only been cultivating for about half a year. If he excluded the time spent on martial technique training, his actual cultivation time was barely even a month. He suddenly realized just how abnormal his cultivation speed really was.

"What's the matter? They say it takes ten years to absorb qi and a hundred more to regulate it. I've only spent five years, and I'm already close to reaching the Qi Regulation Realm. Surprised at how fast I've progressed? What about you? How long have you been cultivating?"

Lu Chen didn't dare tell the truth, so he casually replied, "About the same."

"I knew it! Anyone who can fight me to a draw must be insanely talented. Haha!"

"Oh, right. What was that technique you used earlier? You made a huge crater in the ground, and you're only at the Qi Absorption Realm. That was seriously impressive," Jun Laoye said curiously, eyes fixed on Lu Chen. He could already tell there was more to Lu Chen than he let on.

Lu Chen laughed, brushing it off. "That? Just something an elder passed down to me. Pretty awesome, huh?"

He wasn't ready to let anyone know that he possessed an Earth-tier martial technique. So he quickly changed the subject. "Your Heavenly Lightning Sutra was pretty powerful too. We should have a proper match sometime."

"Sure! I was thinking the same. Next time, I'll go all out!"

Lu Chen then asked, "Hey, Little Jun, that move you did earlier, where you infused your weapon with the Heavenly Spirit-Gathering Disk, what was that? I've never learned anything like it."

Jun Laoye explained, "That's normal. You haven't joined a sect, so it makes sense you've never learned this. It's a way of utilizing the Heavenly Spirit-Gathering Disk. It links your weapon to you, allowing you to quickly activate the spells stored within the net, and it also boosts your weapon's offensive power."

He demonstrated the technique in front of Lu Chen. "Look, you just place it on the weapon, curl your middle and index fingers, recite the incantation, and channel your spirit qi. Then the Heavenly Spirit-Gathering Disk will merge with the weapon. Here, give it a try."

Lu Chen took the Heavenly Spirit-Gathering Disk and the spear. He succeeded on his first attempt. Additionally, he felt an unusual connection between himself and the weapon.

He returned the two treasures to Jun Laoye. "This is incredible. Looks like I've still got a lot to learn."

"Don't worry. Once you return to the Heavenly Mandate Hall, you'll be able to study cultivation systematically."

Lu Chen nodded. While some of the knowledge Feng Tiancheng had passed on matched what was known in the outside world, the differences were far greater. With so many secrets to keep, he knew it would be easy to make a mistake if he didn't understand the outside world properly.

He reminded himself inwardly. I need to be more cautious.

Feng Tiancheng's voice echoed in Lu Chen's mind. "You really do need to hurry to the Heavenly Mandate Hall and start learning proper cultivation. The world has changed a lot since my time. I can guide you through the process with my experience, but it is up to you to adapt to the current cultivation system."

Feng Tiancheng had overheard the conversation between Lu Chen and Jun Laoye. He had spent far too long inside his secret realm, and in that time, much about cultivation in the outside world had changed. This caused him to be unfamiliar with even some of the most basic knowledge. Take the technique Jun Laoye had used for example; neither he nor Lu Chen had seen it before.[1]

In the days that followed, the light from the secret realm never faded. Bored, Lu Chen resumed hunting beasts around the area.

Though demonic beasts at the Qi Absorption Realm no longer posed much of a threat to him, Lu Chen still wanted to complete his target of killing a thousand of them within a month. He needed to build up real combat experience as soon as possible.

When Jun Laoye overheard Lu Chen's goal, he got fired up. Since their last match had ended without a clear winner, he came over once again, this time eager to compete over who could kill more demonic beasts in a day.

Jun Laoye kept pestering Lu Chen while watching him hunt. "Little Lu, let's pick up where we left off. Let's see who can kill more demonic beasts!"

Lu Chen knew that Jun Laoye wasn't going to give up unless he agreed. "I still have a hundred left to go. Let's use that as our target. Whoever kills one hundred first wins."

"Hah! Bring it on! I didn't even go all out last time!"

With that, Jun Laoye dashed ahead and began competing with Lu Chen for kills.

Lu Chen chuckled at his enthusiasm. "Better watch out. I'm about to speed up."

The number of slain demonic beasts kept rising as the two competed fiercely with one another, from one, two, and three... to ninety-seven, ninety-eight, and ninety-nine.

1. The secret realm here refers to the one where Lu Chen had met Feng Tiancheng. ☜