Chapter 2195: Challenge
Nong Siniang stood up and shouted, "Xia Shenguang, don't disturb an instructor’s class! There’s something wrong with you! Isn't it just a rumor? Besides, it concerns Prof. Hao Yu and Prof. Xiao Wen, so what does any of it have to do with you? I've heard of people picking up money they find on the ground, but I’ve never heard of anyone picking up a rumor and claiming it as their own. If you’re so capable, find yourself some scoldings, too"
Xia Shenguang shot Nong Siniang a cold glare. "For the sake of the Nong family, I can act as though I didn’t hear that. Even if Nong Sanniang were here, she would not dare speak to me in such a tone. Mind your own business."
Nong Siniang stretched her waist and brazenly continued, "What are you talking about? My sister would smash you dead with her hoe."
Qing Feng stood as well. "Xia Shenguang, please don't disturb others when they are in class."
Xia Shenguang’s gaze shot over to Qing Feng. "I don't like being forced to speak to trash. If you can take five of my attacks, I’ll at least address you directly."
Qing Feng clenched his fists. His status qualified him to be highly regarded wherever he went, and he was an amazingly talented cultivator, as there was no other way for him to receive the favor of a Semi-Progenitor like Qing Chen. Still, Qing Feng was greatly inferior to Xia Shenguang in terms of status. Even though Qing Chen was a Semi-Progenitor, he could not come close to comparing to the Xia family.
Qing Feng had been excited and bold when he had first arrived at Virtue Archives, believing himself to be among the best of his entire generation. After all, how many people his age were able to become Enlighters? However, after sparring with Xia Shenguang and Wang Xiaofan, Qing Feng had realized the truth of the matter. Even though the other two were also Enlighters and looked to be on the same level as Qing Feng, their combat strength was incomparable to his own.
This was also why Qing Feng was so desperate to improve his domain, as he did not want to fall too far behind the others.
Xia Shenguang looked back at Lu Yin. "Either apologize or fight me. As an Envoy, do you not even dare to fight against a student who’s an Enlighter? What qualifies you to be an instructor in this academy?"
Bai Nan also started mocking "Hao Yu." Prof. Hao Yu, you didn’t dare to challenge the Eighteen Lines Formation, and now, do you not even have the courage to accept a challenge from a student?"
Nong Siniang spoke up again. "Don’t be absurd! Prof. Hao Yu is an academic, a Lockbreaker, not some battle freak. Why should he fight you?"
Xia Shenguang’s cold eyes never left Lu Yin.
Lu Yin simply clasped his hands behind his back. "I'm not very good at fighting, as I already told you."
Contempt covered Xia Shenguang’s face, and he turned and prepared to leave. "Trash."
Many students felt quite disappointed. Even Nong Siniang, who had been supporting Lu Yin, felt rather disappointed in the instructor at this moment. The situation was not looking good. If Prof. Hao Yu did not even have the courage to fight a student, how could he maintain any authority over the students?
Some of the students had already started asking why Prof. Hao Yu was not deployed to the rear battlefield despite being a Senior Array Master. Many people had started to guess that it was because their new instructor was too afraid of death. In particular, people like Bai Nan made a determined effort to spread such suspicions, and at this moment, the rumors appeared likely to be true.
"However," Lu Yin continued, "While I'm not very good at fighting, I'm quite good at setting up sourcebox arrays."
Xia Shenguang turned back to look at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin was still not finished. "You just said that Qing Feng isn’t able to endure even ten attacks from you? How about this, then? I’ll set up a sourcebox for him—don’t worry, I won’t use one that’s dangerous to you, and it will only be a support array. With that, if he can endure ten attacks from you—no, let’s make it fifty attacks. If he can endure fifty attacks from you, why don’t we call it my win? If he can’t last that long, then it’ll be your win, and I’ll do whatever you request."
Xia Shenguang looked over at Qing Feng in surprise, while Qing Feng stared at Lu Yin in astonishment. Forget fifty attacks; Qing Feng knew perfectly well that he could not even endure ten of Xia Shenguang’s attacks. While Qing Feng’s domain was rather advanced, that was nothing more than an ability, and it did not mean combat ability. There was a massive gap between him and Xie Shenguang. Qing Feng did not even have the ability to break through Xie Shenguang’s Divine Martial Armor, so how was he supposed to last for fifty attacks?
Xia Shenguang laughed. "Are you confident in this other piece of trash, or yourself? I’ll tell you right now—if I treat the fight seriously, he won’t last for three moves, let alone ten. That is the difference between us."
"So, do you accept?" Lu Yin retorted.
Xia Shenguang sneered. "Fine, I accept your condition, but there’s no need for fifty attacks. If he can survive just ten, I’ll accept my defeat."
Lu Yin looked over at Qing Feng. "Student, would you be willing to help me?"
Qing Feng hesitated.
Nong Siniang immediately became nervous. "Qing Feng, are you a man or not? Even without Prof. Hao Yu's sourcebox array, shouldn’t you have the courage to fight against Xia Shenguang? Where did all the boldness that you used to have go?"
Qing Feng looked up at Lu Yin. "I'm not afraid of a fight, but I don't want to harm Prof. Hao Yu’s reputation."
Lu Yin raised a hand, and star energy gathered around Qing Feng to create a modified sourcebox array: Channeling Diagram.
When Lu Yin had been masquerading as Long Qi, he had once used the Channeling Diagram in public, so he was worried that it might be recognized. This was why he had modified it a bit. "Don’t worry about it . You’ll be fine."
Qing Feng took a deep breath and nodded. He then looked back at Xia Shenguang. "Let’s go."
The many nearby students pulled back, excited to see this match. It was a surprise to see such a high level battle during a class. Even though Qing Feng was much, much weaker than Xia Shenguang, that was only because Xia Shenguang was a true monster. With the sole exception of those on the same level as Xia Shenguang, Qing Feng was the absolute strongest of his generation. There was no way this match would not be a good show.
Aside from the students attending Lu Yin’s lecture, there were many other students gathered around the lake, and they had all heard Xia Shenguang's provocation. They were also all excited to see this fight.
It was decided that the battle would take place right above the lake.
Qing Feng felt a bit confused as he observed the Channeling Diagram that surrounded his body. Isn't this too simple? He felt that the sourcebox array would shatter with just a touch. Can this really stop Xia Shenguang's Divine Martial Armor?
Qing Feng was not the only one with such thoughts, as the same thing occurred to Xia Shenguang and all of the other students who had gathered to watch the fun.
Xia Shenguang sneered. This instructor was just putting on a show of being powerful, and Xia Shenguang saw right through his pretense. This instructor intended to allow Qing Feng take the heat. As long as Qing Feng agreed to the challenge, Prof. Hao Yu would be able to blame the loss on Qing Feng and escape the humiliation.
All Xia Shenguang wanted was for Prof. Hao Yu to do as he should and apologize to Wen Zhao. This instructor was quite insidious.
Xia Shenguang had already guessed at Lu Yin’s intentions, but he said nothing. On the other hand, Bai Nan did voice such accusations, and many others were thinking them. Instantly, many students’ opinions of Lu Yin started to plummet, including even the female students’.
"You can only be considered unlucky, so just treat this as a lesson," Xia Shenguang stated indifferently before raising a hand up high. An invisible stream of energy swirled up like a ribbon as his hand pointed at the distant Qing Feng. Xia Shenguang was in a hurry, as the quicker this battle ended, the more humiliating it would be for Hao Yu. Bai Nan had already voiced their suspicions regarding Hao Yu aloud, so there was no way for the instructor to avoid embarrassing himself.
Qing Feng's eyes grew focused, and he quickly dodged Xia Shenguang’s attack. However, Qing Feng’s movements had been predicted, and Xia Shenguang also threw out a palm strike. The power of the Divine Martial Armor cut through the air and crashed into Qing Feng, who raised a hand. "Water Image."
As Qing Feng’s voice echoed, the water in front of him transformed to create the image of a dreamlike world full of mountains and rivers, and it tried to stop the approaching attack.
However, Qing Feng had still underestimated the Divine Martial Armor. This was Shenwu’s Sky’s most precious technique, and it was both powerful and extremely destructive. How could a single technique be enough to block such power?
The Divine Martial Armor instantly shattered Qing Feng's Water Image. Fortunately, the defensive technique was not entirely useless, as it managed to stop a bit of the palm strike, which allowed Qing Feng to evade the attack.
A smile appeared on Xia Shenguang's face, and a long knife appeared in his hand. He stepped forward, and the blade became shrouded with Divine Martial Armor as he slashed the blade at Qing Feng. "Do you remember this trick?"
Qing Feng's pupils instantly constricted. He had challenged Xia Shenguang once before, and this was the attack that had ended the fight. In that first match, this knife slash had been Xia Shenguang’s sixth attack, but this time, he was using it as his second attack. It was clear that he wanted to end things quickly.
Many students felt their heart rates quicken. Most people liked Qing Feng more, as he was a good-natured person who was cheerful and happy to help others.
Qing Feng stared as Xia Shenguang's blade fell. Suddenly, Lu Yin's voice entered the young man’s ear. "Domain."
It was like lightning flashed through Qing Feng’s mind, and at that moment, the feeling he had experienced during Mr. Tang's void god domain returned to him. The knife fell, and Qing Feng watched as the blade sliced through his Water Image and the void. All he could think of were the same words that he had thought of before: fluid space. This was what he had comprehended before.
The Divine Martial Armor that shrouded the knife froze space in the surrounding area, which Xia Shenguang felt ensured his victory. He had easily defeated Qing Feng with this attack before, and there was no way for Qing Feng to have gained the strength necessary to counter this attack in such a short amount of time.
However, that attack failed, as Qing Feng slipped out from under it like a fish.
Xia Shenguang could not believe his eyes. "What?"
After evading the attack, Qing Feng’s hand stretched out, and lightning flashed. It formed a blade that slashed at Xia Shenguang from a difficult angle. Qing Feng’s style of combat had changed.
Xia Shenguang saw the lightning blade slice through the void, and he hurried to dodge, but he was startled by the sudden attack. His surprise caused him to be unable to fully dodge the attack. On top of that, the trajectory of the blade was too strange, as it seemed to pass through the void rather than destroy it. The blade sheared straight through the air.
The attack felt very odd, and Xia Shenguang felt as though he was facing someone other than Qing Feng.
The students at the edge of the lake stared at the two in a daze. What had they just witnessed? Was that Xia Shenguang bleeding? How had he gotten hurt?
Qing Feng held the lightning blade in his hand. This was his innate gift, and his master had helped him understand how to use the Water Image battle technique to enhance the destructive power of his innate gift. Qing Feng had once believed that this combination was powerful enough to allow him to stand on the same level as the top experts of his generation. However, after entering Virtue Archives, Qing Feng had challenged both Xia Shenguang and Wang Xiaofan, and his pride had been crushed.
At this moment, that lost pride returned. Qing Feng felt that, not only was it possible for him to stand on the same level, but also surpass his peers: no matter what, Xia Shenguang had been injured.
Lu Yin was quite impressed. Qing Feng's talent for cultivating his domain was quite good. Everyone had a different understanding of space, so Lu Yin was quite curious as to what Qing Feng’s understanding was. Still, it was no wonder why Mr. Tang had voiced his admiration that night.
Xia Shenguang stared down at his bleeding arm. He no longer felt the contempt and indifference that he had displayed at the beginning of the fight. His expression fell as he looked up at Qing Feng. "You’re very good."
Qing Feng clenched his lightning blade, and it flickered. "Let’s continue."
Xia Shenguang touched his injured arm, causing blood to stain his fingers. "I underestimated you, but it's over now. Be careful to not die."
The knife rose up again, and this time, it slashed sideways. The Divine Martial Armor once again wrapped around the blade, and the slash shattered the void.
Qing Feng was able to see the approaching slash through the shattered void, and he quickly tried to dodge. However, the same attack also appeared behind him, and as Qing Feng reflexively dodged the attack from behind, Xia Shenguang slashed his knife out again.
The faces of many of the people at the edge of the lake grew pale. This was the end.
Qing Feng watched as the knife slash dropped down towards him. This was the most dangerous moment of the fight so far. He could dodge the knife, but not the Divine Martial Armor that enveloped the attack, nor could he dodge Xia Shenguang’s mysterious second attack that was approaching him at the same time. Xia Shenguang was absolutely certain that this attack would end the fight, as he had not held back at all. This was not a simple attack, as Qing Feng had to pay for the wound that he had just inflicted upon Xia Shenguang.
After all, Xia Shenguang was a member of the Xia family, a part of Shenwu's Sky! He had received the most outstanding inheritances in existence. No matter what Qing Feng might have comprehended, it was impossible for him to compare to Xia Shenguang.
Qing Feng was completely unable to dodge the attack, and both the blade and the Divine Martial Armor struck. The lake erupted, and a terrifying force swept out in all directions with such power that it warped the void.
The lakewater shot high into the sky before falling back down like rain.
Everyone stared at the lake, eager to see the results of the attack.
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