On one hand, Su Qingcheng really wanted to tear this guy from limb to limb. On the other hand, crippling him or even killing him now would have some severe repercussions on her and her Su clan. Gritting her teeth, Su Qingcheng decided that in order to escape from the hole she willingly jumped into the only way to win was to beat him so hard he couldn’t move anymore, but without crippling him or killing him. Calming herself down though staying her ferocious gaze towards the other man, Su Qingcheng provoked him with an obscene gesture with her hands. Naturally, she was flipping the bird at him, a rather vulgar gesture from her past life. However, she had no idea if people here knew what it meant.

Evidently, Xiao Tie did not get offended but was successfully provoked, as he smiled. “Want me to make the first move! Just courting death!” Xiao Tie sped forward in a blur towards Su Qingcheng, whose face paled as she realized that Xiao Tie was incredibly fast, even faster than her. This was the difference in power between a Geomancer and a User. However, Su Qingcheng was by no means inferior to him in the battle. She focused her mind and stared straight at Xiao Tie, who was grinning at her maliciously as he channeled his tianqi, causing an energy claw to appear over his right hand.

At that moment, when Xiao Tie was about to claw Su Qingcheng’s face open, his expression changed and darkened. Su Qingcheng’s frown had become a grin much like his own as she lurched forward, causing Xiao Tie’s hand to harmlessly swing above her back, and suddenly Su Qingcheng quickly sent a rush of Nightflower Tianqi through her palms, using both of them to smash towards Xiao Tie. The sudden stop of his momentum caused the young man to get sent flying a few meters away from her, and he bounced on the floor of the platform, crumpling in an embarrassed heap.

The audience gasped as they saw how decisively Su Qingcheng took the attack, and almost predicting his movement, she simply used her own Tianqi to launch a counter attack. It should be said that the girl was a couple years younger than him, so how could she have that kind of battle intuition? Actually, it was due to the power of Black Hole Stance which by merely using it improved Su Qingcheng’s battle sense, spirit and intuition, allowing her to see how the opponent would attack. It was most effective in one on one situations like this, since Su Qingcheng could spend all her energy on just one target.

Su Qingcheng however did not let up. In a breath’s worth of time, she quickly changed to Night Lily Stance and leapt forward, using flame Tianqi to power her leap as she soared ahead. Though she didn’t have much air time, she was able to cover the distance between her and Xiao Tie in the blink of an eye due to being propelled by flames. The stronger fighters in the audience of the Tianqi Prince level or higher were able to see the flames surrounding Su Qingcheng’s feet, causing them to sigh in amazement. How could such a young girl have such intense and precise control over the energy in the air?

Xiao Tie was utterly humiliated in front of a large audience. In order to regain face for himself, he had to strike back. But how could Su Qingcheng simply let him do what he wished? As he got up, the young girl had already besieged him with punches and kicks. He was overwhelmed by the ferocity of the Nightflower Tianqi; each blow caused his insides to rumble furiously as he was forced into a disadvantageous position. Suddenly, Su Qingcheng had to leap back cautiously as she observed a sudden change in the Tianqi around her. Xiao Tie’s eyes suddenly became bloodshot.

“Stupid bitch,” Xiao Tie hissed as his glare intensified. Su Qingcheng immediately noticed something was amiss. She eyed her legs and realized they were involuntarily trembling. “I was saving my hidden ace for the competition, but I may as well give a wonderful show to this audience!” Xiao Tie hissed. He was in a terrible condition compared to Su Qingcheng. His clothes were ripped and tattered and he looked heavily battered. However, his expression became unusually calm as flames erupted from the floor.

With a howl, Xiao Tie punched the floor of the platform. Watch out! He’s going to summon Flame Pillar Rocks! This must be his Geomancer Technique! Su Qingcheng knew this was not the time to question Yao Meiyue’s warning and knowledge as she looked down and realized there were darkened blotches on the ground. Then there was one under her feet. Eyes widening, Su Qingcheng hurriedly leapt back to safety as a giant brown, burning stalagmites suddenly erupted from the ground, including the spot where she once was standing. Staring incredulously at Xiao Tie, Su Qingcheng now recalled that the mark of a Tianqi Geomancer was the ability to inject their energy into the environment, allowing them to attack from afar.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Xiao Tie was laughing despite blood oozing from his mouth. Clearly, he believed he could corner Su Qingcheng and eviscerate her with his Flame Pillar Rocks. Unfortunately for him, Su Qingcheng had the help of Yao Meiyue who could assist her mentally. As long as you can prevent the rocks from hitting you, he will exhaust himself and then you can deal a fatal blow. Just be careful, you can only touch those rocks if you’re protected by the Nightflower Tianqi. I wouldn’t risk shattering them with your fists though!

Su Qingcheng nodded. She knew a thing or two about special Geomancer techniques. The general idea was that it could be considered a form of environmental magic. However, this still required the user to inject their energy back into the air or terrain, which naturally exhausted them if it was too intensive or if it was too frequent. Xiao Tie clearly had only just gotten into the Tianqi Geomancer stratum recently, otherwise he wouldn’t be exhausted right after using it. Just as Su Qingcheng was thinking of this, she was also hurriedly moving around the platform, evading the stalagmites that erupted from the ground as Xiao Tie kept slamming the floor ferociously.

“Give up! Stop running around like a chicken and just submit to me! I promise I will treat you very ‘well’!” Xiao Tie laughed. Su Qingcheng did not reply to such a statement and instead changed her path of evasion. As Xiao Tie kept calling Flame Pillar Rocks to appear near where she was moving, she would deliberately cause him to summon the rocks near himself. Then she would make her move.

Xiao Tie continued on the offensive but then he realized something was wrong as he finally notice that Su Qingcheng was charging at him. He looked down and realized he had been mentally trailing her with his own attacks. “Realized your mistake now, fool?!” Su Qingcheng laughed as she suddenly pounced towards Xiao Tie, who stopped his attacks and rolled to the side. However, Su Qingcheng knew that he would try to get away from her, as he already experienced her Nightflower Tianqi once. “Scram!” Su Qingcheng scowled as halted her momentum, quickly swung her body to the side where Xiao Tie was and performed a vicious axe kick where her legs were roiling with flaming Nightflower Tianqi. Fang Li at a distance gasped as she saw Su Qingcheng’s flaming kick bear down viciously on Xiao Tie’s prone body. She definitely recognized something as she had flames of passion burning in her eyes.

Bones could be heard cracking even through the protection of the platform’s barrier. A deafening silence suddenly dominated the entire Empire Square as Su Qingcheng stood over Xiao Tie’s fallen body. Su Qingcheng’s foot landed right on his back, causing his spine to be damaged. However, Su Qingcheng had controlled it well enough that he had fractures rather than being outright broken. She definitely could not answer to the Xiao clan if she went all the way and broke his spinal cord, which would definitely lead to a painful, agonizing death.

Xiao Tie groaned painfully as he tapped the floor as if submitting to her. He didn’t even have the face to say a word. Su Qingcheng coldly snorted at him as the barrier dissipated and she quietly left the platform. Some of Xiao Tie’s companions quickly rushed towards him and inspected his condition. They sighed inwardly in relief as they realized he could be treated by the doctors of the city, who were very powerful. However, he could no longer participate in the competition anymore and would relinquish his spot to somebody else. The audience now looked at Su Qingcheng whose expression relaxed immediately after the battle. They looked at her as if she was some freak.

How could a fourteen year old girl expertly handle an older man who was also more powerful than her by almost an entire stratum?

It was unspeakable, it was definitely that she was a monster. Otherwise, she definitely would not have won in such a domineering fashion.

That’s right, Su Qingcheng had crushed Xiao Tie in a fair battle and proved to everyone that she could have a good showing in the White Spirit Competition. Fang Li’s smile became somewhat lewd as she disappeared into the crowd. Su Yanran gazed at her with a mixed expression.

Su Qingcheng finally retreated back to her sister and sighed. “Let’s get ready for the competition. We’ve signed up already and I’m sure my name will spread out and become something of a news sensation,” she said. “We need to retreat to our room or we won’t be able to avoid getting harassed.”

Su Yanran nodded as the two of them casually walked back to Golden State Inn under the horrified gazes of hundreds of fighters…