“Just one more thing.” Shen Jian held up a finger. “I need to test your strength to see how far you’ve progressed.”

Shen Jian stepped around the table in order to approach Yang Shao. Once he had gotten close, he held his hand up with his palm toward Shao. “Just punch my palm as hard as you can.”

“As hard as I can?” Yang Shao asked. “Are you sure?”

“That’s the only way I’ll get a good sense of your strength. I can take it, trust me.”

As Yang Shao pulled his fist back, a strange sensation pulsed through his body. It was as if he was floating in his family’s fishing boat and something heavy had splashed into the water nearby. The rippling sensation seemed to emanate from Shen Jian the moment before Yang Shao threw the punch.

Yang Shao rotated his body and punched Shen Jian’s palm as hard as he could. The sound of flesh slapping against flesh filled the second floor of the Patriarch’s home, and Shen Jian’s palm moved backwards. One of Shen Jian’s feet moved back slightly as he had to brace himself more than he expected. Though Shao’s punch was stopped, he was shocked to find that Shen Jian had to exert himself somewhat to halt the punch’s momentum. Based on the punch, Shao could tell that Shen Jian was stronger than him, but not by much.

When Yang Shao stepped back and saw Shen Jian’s expression, he did not like what he saw. For the second time, shock colored Shen Jian’s face. A moment later, this shock transformed into excitement. Shen Jian turned to Yang Shao with a smile and a calculating look in his eye. Shao could see as the man’s priorities shifted.

“Who trained you?” Shen Jian asked, staring Yang Shao directly in the eye.

“I already told you. No one trained me,” Yang Shao responded harshly.

“If that’s true, then you reached the sixth step without a mentor, training, or pills,” Shen Jian said, smiling.

“Sixth step? Does that mean something?”

“Each realm has nine steps. Moving up a step almost always takes months of grueling training and immense danger. More than half of all cultivators never reach six-star status, even with training. Yet you reached it accidentally.”

“That has nothing to do with me.” Yang Shao shrugged and turned away from Shen Jian.

“You’re free to go back to the docks,” Shen Jian said, though it was clear he didn’t mean a word of it. Something in his demeanor had changed. A new emotion had appeared on the man’s face. It was one Yang Shao had only seen a few times before: avarice. “But when I go back to Shigong Temple, I have no choice but to tell the elders that there’s a six-star LianQi in Bluecrest who’s never trained a day in his life. One of them will probably assume that you’ll become a problem later and send an inner disciple here to kill you and massacre everyone else in the village.”

Shocked, Yang Shao turned back to Shen Jian. The man in the long green coat had a predatory smile on his face.

“Are you threatening to…” Yang Shao began to say.

“I’m not threatening to do anything. I’m just informing you of the reality of your situation. Either you come with me, or everything you have ever known will be destroyed, probably.”

The casual tone in Shen Jian’s tone was what unsettled Yang Shao the most. Shen Jian spoke of violence and death with the bored familiarity of someone who had witnessed so much of it that it had become boring.

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“Why? Why threaten me?” Yang Shao demanded. “I thought you said I was free to stay here.”

“That was before I realized the extent of your natural talent,” Shen Jian said with a shrug. “You must have eighty, or even ninety, spiritual roots for you to reach the sixth step with no training. Allowing you to stay here would be a far greater crime than anything I could do here.”

Shao grit his teeth, and he remembered the feeling he felt when his fist struck Shen Jian’s hand. Based on that feeling, Shen Jian couldn’t be that much stronger than Yang Shao. Through clenched teeth, Shao said, “There’s a third possibility.”

Without warning, Yang Shao rotated his hips and launched a powerful kick at Shen Jian’s chin. Shen Jian moved his head back slightly, causing the kick to miss by a hair. After regaining his balance, Yang Shao threw several quick jabs at Shen Jian, who dodged the attacks with minimal effort.

Yang Shao chased Shen Jian across the room, attacking with furious strikes that would have killed any normal person. Every attack was dodged easily, and Shen Jian seemed completely unbothered by the withering assault. Shen Jian’s martial skill far outpaced Yang Shao’s meager ability.

Shen Jian’s retreat eventually stalled at the door to his room. Seeing an opportunity to at least make contact with the man, Yang Shao charged forward, attempting to trap Shen Jian between him and the door. Just as effortlessly as before, Shen Jian sidestepped Yang Shao’s charge, causing the young man to crash through the thin wooden door and fly into the second-floor hallway of the Patriarch’s home.

Just as Yang Shao managed to arrest his own momentum and turn back toward Shen Jian, the man casually stepped through the shattered door to his own room. “This is pointless, you know,” Shen Jian said. “I have reached the third realm. You couldn’t possibly harm me.”

“You’re bluffing!” Yang Shao shouted. “When I struck your palm, I felt it. You’re not much stronger than I am!”

“I had to weaken myself to test you. It would take a while to explain, so how about this? I’ll let you hit me as hard as you can.” Shen Jian pointed at his own chin. “That should be sufficient to get the power difference through your thick skull.”

Shen Jian stepped forward and placed his hands behind his back. Carefully, Yang Shao sidled forward while keeping his body in a fighting stance. As Yang Shao approached Shen Jian, he felt that same strange rippling sensation emanate from the man.

Remembering how Shen Jian had pointed at his own chin, Yang Shao suspected that his opponent had set a trap. Shen Jian probably expected Yang Shao to attack his chin.

Yang Shao feinted a jab at Shen Jian’s chin only to modify his stance and throw a powerful straight at Shen Jian’s stomach. The strike connected, and it felt like Yang Shao had punched a metal plate. Pain shot through his fist as a sickening crunch reverberated through his body.

As Yang Shao pulled his hand back, blood began to spill from his fist. Still not giving up, Yang Shao took a step back and launched a roundhouse kick at Shen Jian’s chin. The kick connected at the perfect angle to snap Shen Jian’s head to the side, but the man’s head did not move at all. Instead, pain shot through Yang Shao’s foot and ankle as half a dozen of the small bones in his foot were broken by the impact.

Yang Shao tried to reset his stance, but his foot was too damaged for him to put any weight on it. He fell to one knee, far more damaged by his attack than his target. Despite the damage, Yang Shao lifted himself painfully to his feet.

His teeth grit in pain, Yang Shao said, “I won’t… let you hurt them.”

Shen Jian sighed heavily and said, “Calm down already. You’ll just hurt yourself more.”

Yang Shao limped a step forward, and Shen Jian grabbed him firmly by the robes. Without missing a beat, Yang Shao turned his head downward and started trying to bite Shen Jian’s hand.

“We’ll talk again once you wake up,” Shen Jian said as he pulled his fist back.

Yang Shao’s eyes widened with fear as Shen Jian’s fist flew toward his opponent’s face. The fist never connected. Instead, it stopped a hair in front of Yang Shao’s nose.

Confusion filled Shao for a moment, but then he was struck with some powerful, unseen force. It felt like a tidal wave suddenly crashed into him, flowing through his body before it continued into the air behind. The sensation was overwhelming, and Shao immediately felt his consciousness floating away.

He tried to stay awake, but his body would not listen to him. His senses dulled, and his eyelids drooped closed.