Despite Qin Yun's injury from the dissipating vortex, his fist never stopped rushing forward, ripping through space as it barrelled toward its target. Yet, a peculiar object barred its path. An orb, not larger than an egg, laid nestled between Liao Cheng's fingers.

On its surface, countless white clouds rotated, hiding whatever was concealed beneath. Strong waves of energy pulsed from its depths, making Qin Yun reconsider his actions. Still, it was already too late, as the strike had already been unleashed.

The two collided.

Qin Yun expected some sort of reaction from this treasure, but even then, he was stunned. The surface was much harder than he first thought, as not even his full-powered strike could dent it. Furthermore, the orb remained in place as if the collision didn't even register on it.

Liao Cheng, however, was propelled backward by the residual air pressure of Qin Yun's strike, just as Qin Yun, too, was stopped dead by the rebound.

A brief moment later, a transparent film emerged from the orb as it hovered midair. The film was thin, yet it shimmered with energy. Qin Yun's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the thin light layer propagate outward. He braced himself for a collision, yet he was surprised to see it pass through him as if it was intangible.

Still, Qin Yun could feel space fluctuations after the barrier had traversed through him. These fluctuations lingered in the air, making a slight sense of uneasiness rise in his heart. The layer reached further until it arrived at the edge of the room. It was then that Qin Yun finally realized why he had that feeling. This room had been isolated from the outside world, all thanks to that hovering bead with clouds on its surface.

Qin Yun's expression grew grim. While the most important factor limiting his strength was gone, namely the fear of being exposed as a trespasser on this foreign land, the same held true for his opponent. After all, Liao Cheng had only demonstrated a fraction of his true strength.

“Must you really do this?” Qin Yun asked as he stopped and eyed his surroundings.

While the room remained largely the same, there was a single change, yet it made all the difference. The space had expanded severalfold. If anything, the small bedroom was now as large as the Qin clan's main hall. Furthermore, the strange barrier of light still existed, isolating them from the outside world. Qin Yun held no doubt that piercing through this barrier would be difficult—not that Liao Cheng would let him try.

“While impressive for a mortal, this is far from sufficient to make me acknowledge you,” Liao Cheng replied.

However, this time, his usual adversarial attitude was gone, replaced by some sort of recognition, probably due to the strength Qin Yun had displayed. On the other hand, Qin Yun was not interested in this rivalry. He could never understand how people communicated with their fists.

With this limiter gone, Liao Cheng exposed all of his strength. A massive white lotus emerged above his head, bathing his surroundings in a radiant light. Liao Cheng didn't bother to mask it as they were isolated from the world, and only Qin Yun and Sun Yu could witness it.

The lotus rotated on its axis, flinging energy waves outwards as ten lush leaves floated up and down. Above its core, instead of the ball of light most would have expected Liao Cheng to possess, a small newborn being hovered over it. This was proof that Liao Cheng had already transcended the Golden Core Realm and formed his Nascent Soul.

Qin Yun felt those waves of pressure crash onto him, pinning him in place. He felt his lungs threaten to collapse in his chest as his body could barely suppress the waves of Qi assaulting him. Unlike Ma Yongzheng, who had been exhausted from his fight with Lian Qian, Liao Cheng was still fresh and would offer much more of a challenge. After all, Qin Yun was still much too far from that realm.

Qin Yun's mind spun rapidly, seeking the best available path to survive this confrontation. After all, Qin Yun knew that Liao Cheng wouldn't hesitate to resort to lethal means to test him. Qin Yun would have to uncover all his means simply to match a cultivator of his level. Still, he would rather it not come to that.

“How about we put limitations in place?” Qin Yun asked, yet he knew he didn’t possess much bargaining power. He could only try to reason with the man. Surprisingly, Liao Cheng seemed receptive to the idea.

“What do you have in mind?” he replied much too calmly for Qin Yun’s taste; something seemed wrong.

"Let's say it's my victory if I leave this place. After all, I have no chance of winning if I were to fight you."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“What’s in it for me?” Liao Cheng asked, sneering slightly.

“This," Qin Yun replied, reaching for the black crystal sword hidden within his black box.

Once it emerged, Liao Cheng’s gaze brightened, yet he frowned soon after. After all, something had to be wrong for his opponent to be so forthcoming at this juncture. Still, his greed for that sword was apparent. Seeing as much, Qin Yun chose the most appropriate course of action.

He lightly threw the sword to the side, only for Sun Yu to catch it easily. This was no mistake; Qin Yun had intended for her to hold on to it.

“What’s the meaning of this?” she asked.

“I figured you would do as a referee for our contest,” Qin Yun replied.

“How can you be sure she won’t simply give it to me?” Liao Cheng said.

To this, Qin Yun shrugged before replying, "There's no guarantee any of you will keep your word, so why sweat the small stuff? I can only gamble."

After all, Qin Yun's goal was never to bring Sun Yu to his side or for her to be impartial. The only reason for his actions was to buy time. After all, his arm had been injured in their last clash, and he needed just a little more time to become good enough to be used.

Qin Yun couldn't help but lament the loss of his Innate Qi. It made things much more complicated than they once were. After all, back then, with his means, he could have healed such a wound in a matter of seconds. Yet now, he could only rely on his natural fortitude to do it. Fortunately, his flesh was nearing perfection. Even his missing limb could regenerate in time. Still, time was something he didn't have at the moment.

Unfortunately, Liao Cheng seemed to have noticed Qin Yun's wounds slowly recovering, and he wouldn't let him. The white lotus above his head spun faster, pulsing with strength. Then, Qin Yun felt a sense of impending doom in his heart. Thankfully, Qin Yun was attuned to intent and Liao Cheng wasn't adept at concealing his murderous intent. Otherwise, Qin Yun might have perished at this moment.

He felt danger aimed at his head, so he jerked it out of the way, mostly instinctually, only for a white vortex to materialize right where it used to be. Qin Yun had no doubt his brain matter would have been splattered all around if he hadn't noticed in time.

He ducked and tried to rush Liao Cheng down, yet multiple other vortexes appeared one after another, barring his path. To reach him, Qin Yun would have to rush through this minefield. His only solace was that he could feel where Liao Cheng intended for these vortexes to appear. If Liao Cheng had been more adept at concealing his intent, Qin Yun would have had no way to resist. After all, he could only rely on his flesh at the moment.

Qin Yun took a step back, avoiding the most recent deadly vortex. He took a moment to observe them, trying to find a way to retaliate against them. Unfortunately, their existence was much too fleeting. As soon as they materialized, they faded almost immediately.

Qin Yun could only conclude that it was linked to Liao Cheng's white lotus and the bead artifact hovering in midair. After all, the same space fluctuations emanating from the bead could also be felt in the vortexes. As for their functions, they seemed to resemble black holes, ripping everything apart before engulfing them.

With little time to think, Qin Yun could only formulate a crude plan. Still, it was better than nothing. His only advantage against Liao Cheng was endurance. After all, he could see sweat pool on Liao Cheng's skin each time a new vortex materialized. Using that much Qi, even with the help of that treasure, wasn't something he could sustain for long, even if he was a Nascent Soul Cultivator.

All the while dodging, Qin Yun raised his mechanical hand, pointing his index finger toward Liao Cheng. Then, with a jerk of his middle finger, a small bead of metal was ejected for a small opening at the tip of his index finger. A small explosion of sounds filled the space, yet not loud enough to deafen anyone.

If anything, Liao Cheng frowned as it seemed much too quiet. It wasn’t until he noticed the small metal bead collide with his skin that he felt something was wrong. The metal fragment dug into his flesh despite the film of Qi Liao Cheng usually maintained to protect himself. It pierced through it as if it didn’t even exist.

More pressing was the fact that Liao Cheng could feel his Qi flow being hindered by this piece of metal. Near Qin Yun, the white vortexes faltered slightly following this incident.

Qin Yun smiled slightly before pressing his middle finger down toward his palm. The explosion sound reoccurred in quick succession as multiple metal balls barrelled toward Liao Cheng. Some missed their target as he dodged, yet more than a few lodged themselves into his flesh. While they weren’t enough to cause lethal injuries, it was more than enough to impede his use of Qi.

Now seeing his chance, Qin Yun rushed forward, only to wrap his left hand against the small orb hovering in the middle of the room. He tugged with all his might, yet the sphere didn’t budge a millimetre. Still, Qin Yun wouldn’t be deterred by this failure.

He dug his feet into the ground, lighting more runes in the process as they worked to protect the floor against his might. Veins bulged on Qin Yun’s skin as his hand attempted to crush the bead within. Unfortunately, it seemed nothing could be done to contend against this artifact. Qin Yun couldn’t affect it in any way, at least not with his current strength.

Seeing his treasure being assaulted, Liao Cheng's expression grew dim. He circulated his Qi as he gritted his teeth, fighting against the pain he felt as the metal fragments were slowly extracted from his flesh. He heaved up and down as sweat pooled on his skin as they were all removed one by one. While the process was excruciating, Liao Cheng prioritized speed over anything else. As such, extracting them all took him a couple of seconds.

Once he did so, most of his Qi had been used in the process as those metal fragments seemed to eat away at his Qi. In fact, Liao Cheng recognized the material they were made of. It was the same metal they had used in the making of Qin Yun’s shackles, namely Sunken Dark Iron.

Now free from their restrictions, Liao Cheng charged toward Qin Yun as a fire burned in his heart. The sight of his late clan's treasure being assaulted by Qin Yun was too much for him to take, and he couldn't let him go easily after all that.

Liao Cheng arrived next to Qin Yun in less than the blink of an eye and simply punched him. Yet, this punch held the might of a Nascent Soul Cultivator. In fact, this punch wouldn’t be considered inferior next to Qin Yun’s.

As he was in the midst of a battle against the hovering bead, Qin Yun only had time to let go of the bead and block using his left arm, just as he did against Ma Yongzheng. Fortunately, Liao Cheng was still much weaker than the Ma clan elder.

Qin Yun was propelled backward to the edge of the barrier, only to ram into it. Surprisingly, it couldn’t stop Qin Yun’s body as he crashed right through it, shattering it in the process. The expanded space quickly folded in on itself until only the previous room remained and the bead fell to the floor.

Qin Yun crashed into the wall as runes of light flashed, stopping the wall from collapsing due to the impact. Qin Yun slumped to the floor as blood flowed from the wounds on his arm, yet he had a smile on his face.

“I win,” Qin Yun said, breaking the silence permeating the room.