Chapter 149: Chapter 146: Surpassing Oneself_1
"Let's hurry and leave, don't get entangled with them."
Liu Qianqian said this and reached to grab Fang Ren's arm, trying to lead him away through a side path.
Fang Ren didn't follow her and said, "If he wants to entangle, taking a different path won't help."
"But if we go straight through, the chance of conflict breaking out will be even greater," Liu Qianqian said.
"It's fine."
While the two were talking, Su Sen and a group of people had already approached within ten meters.
"What's the matter, thinking of taking a detour?" Su Sen folded his arms across his chest, glaring at Fang Ren fiercely, "Kid, you ambushed me last time – I haven't forgotten that debt."
Looking at Su Sen's angry face, Fang Ren couldn't muster any anger; instead, he felt the urge to laugh.
After experiencing the battlefield, he always found such situations resembled children playing make-believe.
"A group fight or one-on-one?" Fang Ren said.
"What's this group fight or one-on-one nonsense," Su Sen said impatiently, "I, Su Sen, am fair and square. I brought people today only to ensure fairness and prevent some sneaky tactics from affecting the outcome of our contest."
"Exactly, you pipsqueak from Mediocre University, do you think my brother Sen needs our help to beat you?" A student from the Cultivation System at Baili sneered.
"Last time outside the school gate, my brother Sen went easy on you because you were so weak he didn't even bother to use his killer move. Otherwise, do you think you could still stand here?" Another Baili student said arrogantly.
"Really? Gave me a break?" Fang Ren looked at Su Sen.
There was a twitch in the corner of Su Sen's eye as he said seriously, "My strongest cultivation technique is the high-ranked Xuan level 'Nine Abyss Snow'. Once released, it can slice everything within a hundred meters with snow blades. With your speed, you can't dodge it at all. I was afraid you would die.
But after the ambush last time, I think you deserve to have me use my strongest technique on you."
In the Great Cultivation Era on Earth, cultivation techniques are classed as Heaven, Earth, Xuan, and Huang, with Heaven being the highest.
And a high-ranked Xuan level technique was indeed a rarity in such a university.
But Fang Ren always felt that Su Sen's technique wasn't as useful as his own punch... just all flash and no substance.
Fang Ren nodded, "Sounds mighty impressive. So can we start now?"
Su Sen gave a signal to the group of students behind him, "You all back off a bit. If this kid gets seriously injured by me, don't forget to call an ambulance for him."
"Don't worry, brother Sen, I've already contacted the school infirmary, they'll be here in three minutes," a Baili student shouted.
"Can we start now?" Fang Ren said, "Don't accuse me of ambushing you again later if you're not convinced."
Su Sen glanced at Liu Qianqian standing beside Fang Ren and frowned, "Is your girlfriend not leaving? What if she gets hurt by accident?"
"She's not my girlfriend," Fang Ren said.
Su Sen said impatiently, "Go on, go on, no matter whose girlfriend she is, it's not a woman's place to meddle in a man's fight. Quickly step aside."
Liu Qianqian stood still and blinked, this guy named Su Sen, she felt, was a bit foolish, bringing so many people over just for fairness's sake, preventing an ambush?
Such a reason could be taken seriously—Liu Qianqian couldn't understand his way of thinking.
As Liu Qianqian also retreated some distance, Su Sen started to emit a cluster of sky-blue True Qi, twisting incessantly around his body.
"Ming Snow Qi!"
All of a sudden, Su Sen let out a loud shout, and his hands continued to gesture in the air, intensifying all over. But those gestures... they looked somewhat like an old lady wiping windows, and judging from his movements, one at least ninety years old.
Watching this so-called high-ranked Xuan level technique, Fang Ren couldn't help feeling embarrassed for him, thinking it was even more cringeworthy than pretending to be a Daoist at Jian Qi'er's house earlier that day.
Suddenly, Su Sen stopped moving, and clumps of black snowflakes swirled around his body. He looked at Fang Ren confidently and said, "Once you give me enough time to channel the Ming Snow Qi, I'm practically unbeatable among my peers. The black snowflakes around me can block any attack, and with a wave of my hand, they can turn into blades sharper than knives and slash through everything.
Your mode of attack is mere punches and kicks, using your body to clash with my technique. I can only tell you, your flesh will definitely be ripped apart."
"And then?" Fang Ren watched intently.
"Then, I came here today to tell you that without resorting to sneak attacks, you have no chance of beating me!" Su Sen declared.
"Shall we give it a try?"
"Heh, give up already," Su Sen said with a cold laugh, "Today, I, Su Sen, must wash away the humiliation I've suffered before. Fang Ren, you don't stand a..."
Vroom—
Just as Su Sen continued to speak, Fang Ren transformed into a gray streak of light and appeared right in front of him, landing a punch, neither too fast nor too slow, onto the snowflakes around his body.
Thump—
The body of Su Sen flew backward like a kite with a snapped string, rolling over a dozen times on the ground before finally coming to a complete stop.
The face that had been wrapped in gauze was now marked with several more scars.
He lay on the ground, eyes rolling back with his tongue sticking out, limbs splayed in a pose akin to that of an elderly person dancing disco — a sight far more graceful than his previous impression of an old lady wiping windows.
A group of students who had followed Su Sen saw a black shadow flash by their side. Upon taking a closer look at the shadow, they all turned to stone in an instant.
The shadow that flew over was Brother Sen? Impossible!
Just now, Brother Sen was monopolizing the aura with absolute confidence, so how did he suddenly deflate?
"Ah! Brother Sen, what happened to you? Why did you let this kid have his way?"
"Brother Sen lost on purpose! That punch from Fang Ren was weak as could be, struggling to swat a fly. How could it send Brother Sen flying? It must have been Brother Sen hitting himself!"
"What? You're saying Brother Sen was play-acting?"
"At least my call to 120 wasn't in vain."
…
At a distance, Liu Qianqian ran up to Fang Ren with a shocked expression and asked, "What realm are you in now?"
Fang Ren was taken aback. He hadn't used the "Nine Techniques of Lethal Combat", and even his True Qi had only burst forth in an instant. People of the Yuanxin Realm like Su Sen's group would not capture his True Qi.
"What realm do you think I'm in?" Fang Ren asked.
"I don't know exactly, but based on divine sense, it seems you have improved by two major realms," Liu Qianqian said.
Fang Ren was startled by her words. He had indeed leapt from Yuanxin Realm to Chongshan Realm, crossing two major realms.
But just now, he had merely used an instant of True Qi, which even those in the Yuanxin Realm like Su Sen's group hadn't detected. Yet Liu Qianqian, who was only at the peak of the Gathering Qi Realm, seemed to roughly sense the range of his power.
And she claimed to have done so through divine sense. It was known that divine sense was something most practitioners began to develop and strengthen only upon reaching the Yuanxin Realm. She was still only a Gathering Qi Realm practitioner.
This Sacred Body... what kind of overpowered constitution was it?
Seeing the astonishment on his face, Liu Qianqian knew her divine sense had grown stronger and immediately grabbed Fang Ren's arm, urging, "Okay, let's hurry up and go. They got what they deserved."
Fang Ren allowed her to pull him away. Nearby, Su Sen, whose eyes were rolling back, suddenly twitched and managed to raise his head, "Can... can't you let someone finish their sentence!"
With that said, he fainted again.
…
On a certain path.
"By the way, how many days until the pill competition starts?" Fang Ren asked.
"Two days," Liu Qianqian glanced at him and said, "Are you still planning to participate?"
"Of course."
"Just to slap your uncle in the face?"
"Not just that," Fang Ren said, "I want the Mu Family to acknowledge me and to irk certain members of the Fang Family. Additionally, I want to create some momentum for myself."
"Momentum?"
"Yes, people like Song Mobei are well-known and universally acknowledged as geniuses. I, on the other hand, am a nobody. It never feels right, and by announcing my intention to marry the Xuan Nv as 'a common man', I feel like I would lose face for Qing'er," Fang Ren explained.
"You sure have considered a lot," Liu Qianqian said with a smile.
"Of course, because currently, everyone in the Mu Family, including some from Battlefield One, like to compare me with Song Mobei," Fang Ren said. "Honestly, I'm not too fond of comparisons, but there is no helping it. I just want to see those who have looked down on me pull unhappy faces."
"What's this about wanting to see others unhappy?" Liu Qianqian gave him a look and said, "With your stubborn nature, do I not understand you? You don't care about others belittling you. You just want Mu Hui to be proud. Stop making up excuses."
"It's all the same, all the same," Fang Ren said with a laugh.
Liu Qianqian fell silent for a while, her gaze shifting from his face to the ground nearby, her demeanor turned serious.
"It's not the same," she said.
Fang Ren looked back at her and asked, "Is this small talk really worth such seriousness?"
"Yes, it proves that you love her more than you love yourself," Liu Qianqian said.
Fang Ren frowned and pondered for a moment before saying, "I think that everyone who loves deeply should feel that way. I value Qing'er more than myself, and she values me more than herself in her heart."
He spoke these words with confidence.
The true heart of a person is unfathomable, and no one can assert what lies in another's heart beyond their own.
But Fang Ren was certain that Mu Hui held him in higher regard than herself because of the words she once said.
——If I can't be with Ah Ran, I will cripple my cultivation and sever my own legs.
Her resolute and angry demeanor back then had etched itself strongly in his memory, impossible to forget.