Faced with Gong Yuankui's inquiry, Qin Xiao only wanted to roll his eyes.
"Brother Kui, you've already equipped a full set. This isn't a matter of fighting anymore; it's a matter of me getting beaten up one-sidedly. I can't fight this-not one bit."
If they were in private, Qin Xiao wouldn't mind treating it as Body Refinement. But with so many people watching, that wouldn't do. Now he was someone who cared about his face, and he still had three disciples waiting to be recruited.
"Then what do you think?"
Gong Yuankui felt he had rarely encountered someone like Qin Xiao. If they didn't spar, this trip would truly have been just going through the motions.
"If you really want to fight, fine. Put away that sword, leave me those two defensive Dharma Treasures, and let's just trade blows."
Qin Xiao saw the eagerness in Gong Yuankui's eyes. You wanted to fight, but you couldn't bully people too outrageously.
"No, Kui'er. This Qin Xiao is cunning and treacherous with countless tricks up his sleeve. Don't listen to his nonsense. Win this match and it's over; there's no need to waste time."
Hearing that Qin Xiao wanted Gong Yuankui to discard the Pure Yang Sword, Han Mingyuan stood up and objected immediately.
"What do you mean I'm cunning and treacherous? And who's out there spreading bad rumors about me everywhere?"
Hearing Han Mingyuan slag him off like that, Qin Xiao wanted nothing more than to curse aloud, but since he couldn't beat the old man, he could only mutter grievances in his heart.
"Second Elder, I want to try. Within the Sect, below the Soul Formation stage, I have no opponents left. It's rare to meet such an interesting opponent. If I don't have this match, I'll regret it."
Gong Yuankui addressed Second Elder Han Mingyuan directly.
He spoke the truth. Even without this three-piece set, he could already defeat cultivators at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. The Soul Formation stage was an entirely different realm and didn't count. He was trapped in that hollow state of invincibility, and now that he had finally crossed paths with Qin Xiao, he wanted to test himself.
"If Brother Kui won't use his sword, I wouldn't mind seeing the true strength of a Pure Yang Sect genius myself."
Seeing a glimmer of hope, Qin Xiao pressed on.
"Fight! Let them fight!"
"I agree too. Let's see a match!"
"They have to fight, otherwise this trip was a complete waste."
The spectators began stirring up a commotion-not because they favored Qin Xiao, but because they had all placed heavy bets on the Tianyuan Sect. If it ended like this, they would lose everything.
"Second Elder, whether we take first or second place, it's only a difference of five slots. If this disciple happens to lose, I will bear the Sect's losses myself."
Seeing that the Second Elder was still hesitating, Gong Yuankui added his own weight to the scale.
"Fine. Since you're itching for a fight, go ahead."
After a moment's thought, Han Mingyuan relented. It was rare for Gong Yuankui to show such enthusiasm today, and victory wasn't guaranteed to slip away anyway, so he decided not to play the villain.
"Gong Yuankui, you're a real man!"
"I respect you. Well done!"
"Qin Xiao, I love you! You have to win! If you win, I'll carve a memorial tablet for you and worship you every single day!"
Once the Pure Yang Sect's Second Elder gave his consent, the desperate gamblers started showering them with frantic praise, likely driven mad by their previous losses.
"What nonsense are you spouting about memorial tablets? I'm so damn young and you want to enshrine me? Go make a tablet for your own grand-uncle!"
Spreading his Divine Sense outward, Qin Xiao caught wind of the spectator's desperate pledge and immediately fired back with a curse.
"Fine! As long as you win, I'll enshrine my grand-uncle instead! Just make sure you win!"
The man sounded on the verge of tears. He had staked his entire livelihood on this gamble; if he lost, he was completely wiped out. As long as Qin Xiao secured the victory, he didn't care whose tablet he had to carve.
"Brother Qin, how would you like to spar?"
With permission granted, Gong Yuankui put away his sword, leaving himself similarly bare-handed.
Since Qin Xiao hadn't drawn a weapon, he refused to take an unfair advantage.
"Anything works. How does Brother Kui want to play it?"
Seeing Gong Yuankui stash the Pure Yang Sword back into his Storage Bag, Qin Xiao let out an internal sigh of relief. His Fourth Layer Body Refinement couldn't handle the punishment of a Top Grade Dharma Treasure.
"I gather Brother Qin focuses primarily on Body Refinement. Coincidentally, I've dabbled in it myself. How about we engage in pure hand-to-hand combat?"
Gong Yuankui mulled it over before making his proposal. Since Qin Xiao had no weapon, a bare-handed brawl would let him gauge the exact gap between their physical refinement levels.
"Oh? Are you sure about that?"
Qin Xiao never imagined the fellow would actually suggest hand-to-hand combat. Wasn't that just handing him the answer key to the exam? How could he possibly mess that up?
"Positive. It's precisely because I noticed your formidable physical cultivation that I want this bout."
Though Gong Yuankui knew Qin Xiao's defense was terrifying, he still had two defensive Dharma Treasures backing him up. In a fist fight, he wouldn't suffer and might even hold a slight edge.
"Wonderful, wonderful! You really are a good brother to me. It's just a pity I can't take you on as a disciple. No matter-after the fight, if you happen to change your mind, I'll be waiting for you in the Heaven Number One Private Room at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion."
Qin Xiao couldn't resist trying to poach talent right out from under the Pure Yang Sect's nose. Who knew? Miracles might happen.
"Let's drop the jokes. I would never take another master. I am a man of the Pure Yang Sect for life. Brother Qin, make your move."
Gong Yuankui hadn't expected Qin Xiao to still be plotting to recruit him as a disciple, so he hurriedly urged him to begin.
"Alright then. Let's begin."
Knowing full well that someone of this caliber would never readily submit to discipleship, Qin Xiao had only been testing the waters. Since that path was blocked, it was time to throw hands.
Instantly, the two figures closed the distance, tangling together in a flurry of unreserved, flesh-shattering blows.
Every time Qin Xiao landed a punch on Gong Yuankui, a burst of brilliant golden light erupted from the latter's body-the automatic defense of the Pure Yang Armor.
Conversely, whenever Gong Yuankui struck Qin Xiao, it produced a dull ringing sound akin to hammering against solid metal. Neither man was willing to yield, trading blow for heavy blow in a frenzied exchange.
Though a proper arena match had devolved into a raw brawl lacking flashy visual arts, the visceral sound of fists meeting flesh set the onlookers' blood boiling. Every strike felt as though they were throwing it themselves, and every hit absorbed made them involuntarily clench their teeth in vicarious pain.
The longer they fought, the more exhilarated Gong Yuankui became. He hadn't felt the sheer thrill of uninhibited punching in ages; with every single blow landed, his cultivation seemed to edge forward-a genuine breakthrough in his state of mind.
Qin Xiao, however, felt like crying without tears. He took a beating, managed to hit back, and ended up with his own knuckles jarred by the counter-shock. Heads he suffered, tails he lost.
As Gong Yuankui's aura continued its fierce ascent, dawn finally broke in Qin Xiao's mind: was this kid treating him as a glorified punching bag for target practice?
"We can't keep going like this. Even if my body recovers quickly and benefits from the tempering, I have zero chance of winning this way. Every ounce of my striking force is being neutralized by that damn armor."
Growing increasingly anxious, Qin Xiao knew he couldn't afford to stay in close quarters. He needed to create some distance, marshal his body's entire momentum, and deliver a strike with enough penetrating force to actually pierce through that defense, otherwise he was nothing more than an expensive spar-partner.
Lashing out with a sudden punch to force Gong Yuankui back, Qin Xiao took a sharp step backward, snapping his torso around with his right arm completely limp. In the blink of an eye, he whipped his body back into alignment, swinging his entire right arm like a heavy iron lash straight into Gong Yuankui's chest, driving him back several paces.
Without missing a beat, Qin Xiao pressed the assault. He lunged forward, planted his palm firmly against Gong Yuankui's abdomen, straightened his hand, clenched his fist, and unleashed a lightning-fast follow-up strike that forced the young prodigy back another few steps.
"Brother Qin, what kind of fist technique is this? It packs such astonishing penetration!"
Gong Yuankui asked with genuine curiosity, surprised that Qin Xiao had managed to push him back twice in a row.
"The first move is called the Fist Whip, derived from the Tongbei style, and the second is the Inch Punch."
Luckily, Qin Xiao had skimmed through enough martial arts lore in the past; coupled with his sloppy system-assisted simulation, it had actually worked. He puffed out his chest with feigned pride.
"A fine fist technique! A wonderful fist technique! Again!"
Delighted by the challenge, Gong Yuankui didn't mind that the force of those two blows had actually pierced the protection of the Pure Yang Armor and inflicted genuine pain. That was precisely what he was looking for; otherwise, what possible meaning would this spar have?
Moments later, Gong Yuankui began imitating Qin Xiao's movements, experimenting with various methods of channeling physical force rather than relying on brute, unrefined collisions. Qin Xiao matched him blow for blow with defensive blocks.
The bruising brawl had effortlessly transformed into a high-level martial arts exchange.
After trading dozens of additional passes, Qin Xiao had completely exhausted his meager repertoire of techniques, yet he still couldn't crack Gong Yuankui's defense. Worse still, Gong Yuankui's adaptive learning was monstrous; after taking a few hits, he was already hurling those very same moves right back at him.
Before anyone could track the passage of time, the relentlessly attacking Gong Yuankui suddenly froze in place. A look of sudden enlightenment washed over him as his entire body's spiritual aura began climbing vertically, surging upward until it hit a hard ceiling-and then violently shattered through it, propelling his cultivation straight to the peak of the Nascent Soul stage.