Chapter 71: Limit Of Strength
However, the enemies were not wooden dummies; they wouldn’t stand still waiting for Ning Qi to come and kill them.
In fact, as an assassin organization, Blood Rain Tower acted far more covertly than ordinary forces. The difficulty in revenge lay not in destroying Blood Rain Tower, but in finding Blood Rain Tower’s base.
Therefore, Ning Qi had entertained this thought, but he had no intention of acting recklessly. If he accidentally startled them and the enemies went into hiding, it would be even more troublesome to find them later.
“Master, rest assured. I remember this matter, but I won’t let it disrupt my state of mind. Revenge is one of my goals, but it is not my entire reason for living.”
Ning Qi said earnestly.
Dragon Mountain Daoist felt relieved in his heart. What he feared most was that Ning Qi would remain obsessed with it. But after this candid chat with Ning Qi today, he realized he had underestimated his young disciple’s state of mind. That level of calm resilience even made him feel somewhat inferior.
“Blood Rain Tower’s whereabouts are secretive. After the Heavenly Human Ceremony ends, your master will begin handling this matter. It won’t take too long; there should be results soon. At that time, your master will assist you.”
Dragon Mountain Daoist spoke with confidence.
Blood Rain Tower was, after all, just a first-rate force. Even with some tricks up its sleeve, it couldn’t match Dragon Mountain Daoist, who was already in the Heavenly Human Realm. Plenty of people would be willing to give Dragon Mountain Daoist face.
Ning Qi nodded and said:
“Master, when the time comes, leave the ‘Wind’ from ‘Wind Rain Thunder Lightning’ to me. I want to take revenge personally.”
Dragon Mountain Daoist was stunned.
The four gold medal killers of Wind Rain Thunder Lightning were all Gang Yuan Realm experts, especially that ‘Wind’, who had a record of assassinating a Core Elixir Realm cultivator. That battle had thoroughly established Blood Rain Tower’s reputation, making countless first-rate forces in Qingzhou extremely fearful of Blood Rain Tower.
At this moment, hearing Ning Qi say this, he couldn’t help but feel a tightness in his heart.
“Qi’er, you…”
Ning Qi chuckled softly:
“Master, I have confidence.”
Dragon Mountain Daoist gazed at Ning Qi, waves rising in his heart. If these words came from someone else’s mouth, he wouldn’t believe them no matter what—a child of merely eight years claiming he could defeat a Core Elixir Realm expert?
It was simply absurd.
Previously, Ning Qi killing the Flying Eagle was already heaven-defying enough, but the gap between White Mist Realm and Core Elixir Realm was not just a little. Even Dragon Mountain Daoist himself had spent decades crossing from White Mist Realm to Core Elixir Realm.
But he knew Ning Qi never exaggerated.
“Really?”
“Really.”
Ning Qi and Dragon Mountain Daoist locked eyes, his expression calm and brimming with confidence.
A moment later.
Dragon Mountain Daoist exhaled lightly. He decided to test it personally.
No matter how much he trusted Ning Qi, he couldn’t be careless. Wanting to take revenge personally was good, but he needed sufficient strength.
Excitement gradually rose in Ning Qi’s eyes as well. He was truly curious about the strength of a Heavenly Human Realm expert, but had never had the chance.
“If you can’t hold on, tell me anytime.”
“Okay.”
Master and disciple stood facing each other, ten zhang apart.
As the words fell.
Dragon Mountain Daoist’s expression turned solemn, his Daoist robe billowing slightly as strands of heaven and earth power gradually gathered, then pressed down on Ning Qi like a massive mountain.
Ning Qi’s body shook, immediately sensing that invisible sense of oppression.
Unlike the unconscious fluctuations of heaven and earth power when Dragon Mountain Daoist broke through before, this heaven and earth power was targeted suppression. Ning Qi instantly felt like he had fallen into a quagmire.
He slightly raised his hand, feeling it took several times the usual effort.
His flesh trembled, his muscles and bones vibrated, his spine creaked.
The gang qi in his body had already begun circulating on its own uncontrollably, resisting that omnipresent and growing sense of oppression.
“No wonder Gang Yuan Realm cultivators have no power to resist against Heavenly Human Realm experts. This isn’t power on the same level at all.” Ning Qi thought to himself.
Just the suppression from heaven and earth was already so terrifying. If they actually fought, it was imaginable— no wonder Ning Qi had heard that the Core Elixir Realm Purple River Sword Venerable hadn’t lasted more than a few moves before being instantly killed by his master.
Imagine two adults wrestling, one bound with ropes— wouldn’t he be at the mercy of the other?
Making an ordinary Gang Yuan Realm cultivator wrestle a Heavenly Human Realm expert was too much to ask.
But Ning Qi was clearly not an ordinary Gang Yuan Realm cultivator.
The vast gang qi in his body suddenly surged, forcibly pushing back the oppression of heaven and earth power. Dragon Mountain Daoist’s eyes widened slightly, then he immediately intensified it, like an invisible cage enveloping Ning Qi.
Ning Qi’s gang qi shifted, like clouds and mist, ethereal and unpredictable, or like water and streams, winding endlessly.
Dragon Mountain Daoist’s eyes widened even more.
“What kind of gang qi is this?”
When his heaven and earth power pressed down, it felt like suppressing an eel— less than a third of the force took effect, either shaken back, diverted, or absorbed. That gang qi was miraculously inconceivable, but definitely not any of the cultivation methods already in True Martial Sect.
Dragon Mountain Daoist was astounded in his heart. He roughly understood that Ning Qi had already forged his own path.
Unknowingly, his Daoist robe billowed even more fiercely.
He intended to test the limit of Ning Qi’s gang qi.
Heaven and earth power grew more surging, fierce winds howling on the cliff. Except for not striking personally, Dragon Mountain Daoist held nothing back in heaven and earth power.
Ning Qi was gradually struggling to hold on. Resisting this astonishing heaven and earth oppression consumed massive amounts of gang qi every moment. Even with his vast gang qi, he couldn’t sustain such expenditure.
He had a rough sense of his own limit.
“Heavenly Human Realm experts are indeed extraordinary. My gang qi is abundant now, but its quality is still somewhat lacking. Being able to hold out for a while is already quite impressive.”
“Unless I use Ape King True Body or Unity of Heaven and Man—these two secret techniques—to forcibly tear through this heaven and earth power oppression. Or advance to Jade Liquid Realm, letting gang qi undergo a qualitative change.”
“In other words, if I go all out, I might barely fight a Heavenly Human Realm expert like Master, who has just entered the realm. Whether I win is uncertain, but I definitely won’t die. Escaping wouldn’t be hard.”
Ning Qi smiled inwardly. He now had a clearer cognition of his own strength.
In that case, even without Dragon Mountain Daoist’s help, he could easily destroy Blood Rain Tower.
As the thought turned, Ning Qi spoke:
“Master, I can’t hold on much longer.”
It wasn’t a life-or-death fight, so no need to use his trump cards.
Dragon Mountain Daoist slowly withdrew the heaven and earth power. He also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. Ning Qi’s performance was too heaven-defying; if he didn’t show weakness soon, he might have had to step in personally.
Dragon Mountain Daoist was endlessly astonished in his heart.
Ning Qi was only eight years old!
Such a performance—even compared to himself before entering the Heavenly Human Realm, he wouldn’t have done better. And back then, he was already over eighty!
In comparison, he felt like he had lived in vain.
Ning Qi smiled and asked:
“Master, how was it?”
Facing that expectant gaze, Dragon Mountain Daoist coughed lightly twice, trying to keep his expression calm:
“Not bad.”
He turned his back, hands behind him.
Such a performance was far more than “not bad”— it was prodigious, with no problem against Core Elixir Realm.
“After this, Blood Rain Tower’s gold medal killer ‘Wind’ will be yours to handle.”
Dragon Mountain Daoist’s words were flat, but the arc at his mouth betrayed his current mood completely.
