Chapter 7 - Fight I

As everything was ready, Feng Qian jumped inside the human circle formed by everyone present in the mess hall. He was calm and uncaring as if winning this fight was as easy as a breeze in his eyes.

Huo Zhong also slowly made his entrance. He had never felt so humiliated, especially by someone whom he viewed below him. Whether it was in status or cultivation, Huo Zhong had far surpassed him. But Yan Xiuying had placed her bet on Feng Qian's win, which became a thorn in his heart.

Even though he knew that he might not have any future with someone like Yan Xiuying, he still had a little hope. But Yan Xiuying's blatant favouritism in the betting made him realise how little she thought of him that he couldn't even take care of tiny first level qi accumulation brat.

Huo Zhong decided that first, he will show this peasant his place and then make Yan Xiuying feel regretful about her decision by winning this fight.

Feng Qian was relaxed as he stretched his muscles and cracked a few joints in his body, unbothered about the fight.

His carefree smug attitude made others filled with rage. Some onlookers just wanted to rush inside and smack his face a few times to vent their anger. Feng Qian had made himself a public enemy when he called Nobles Clan and Major families "poor", while others were 'simply' fanning the flames for their own amusement.

Feng Qian looked around, searching for Yan Xiuying and then winked at her, making Yan Xiuying feel irked. This little interaction caught everyone's attention as they started hurling abuses at Feng Qian even more. To them, Yan Xiuying was a goddess out of reach from any mortal's clutches, and his action was the same as profaning her.

Yan Xiuying felt her cheek burning with shame and anger. She didn't know why this nasty man's actions always made her lose composure. No one has ever dared to tease her, and this man was doing it so outrightly.

Even those heavens chosen from the Supreme Clans talked courteously with her and didn't dare to be impolite towards her, let alone someone from Noble clans. And this person seemed to be not from either of those clans.

She wasn't someone who looked down on others on the basis of their family background, but she was a proud phoenix among the general populace. She had already marked Feng Qian as a frivolous person.

Huo Zhong noticed this little drama between the two and his face turned dark. In his eyes, it looked like a loving couple's banter. He punched at Feng Qian's face with great force to release his anger.

Among the various paths of cultivation, Qi cultivation was the most popular and chosen method to walk on the martial way. Unlike body cultivation which required precious materials that were really hard to come by and almost impossible to succeed with the present knowledge, or the soul cultivation which was lost in the strands of time with only a few heavens chosen that were talented in this aspect, Qi cultivation was the only way people in the Emerald City could take in this arduous journey of martial dao.

The first step in Qi cultivation was the Qi accumulation realm where one accumulated Qi in their meridians, filling them with the strength that mortals could only ever hope to achieve.

The Qi accumulation realm was further divided into nine levels. Every breakthrough in cultivation would lead to a massive increase in strength.

The first level in qi accumulation provided one with a strength of 100 jins and every rise in cultivation level would lead to an increase of almost 100 jins of strength, thus someone at the 9th realm could have the power of 900 jins.

Depending on cultivation methods, the quality of qi also boosted this strength. Therefore those from Supreme clans had the power of 1000 jins and even more due to their special cultivation manuals.

This was how the Three Supreme Clans had secured their position as overlords for hundreds of years in the city, the only irregularity being the present City Lord who had some fortuitous encounter or those that have inborn divine strength.

Therefore, it was almost impossible for Feng Qian to win. Huo Zhong was in the middle of the third level of the Qi accumulation realm and had more than 250 jins of strength. Whereas, Feng Qian had just entered the first level so he had less than 100 jin of strength. The disparity between them was as clear as day.

If Feng Qian got hit by this punch then he would definitely lose a few teeth and get knocked out.

Since Feng Qian was busy flirting with Yan Xiuying, he was distracted and almost got hit by the punch. Just as Huo Zhong's fist was going to hit him, he suddenly pulled himself towards his left to dodge.

Huo Zhong's fist passed just a few inches away from Feng Qian's ear. His sudden movement made his feet a little unstable as he tried to maintain balance. Not willing to give up this opportunity, Huo Zhong bent his knees and threw a punch upwards towards Feng Qian's stomach with an uppercut.

Guo Pang closed his eyes as he didn't want to see his best friend get beaten up, while others cheered loudly. A single punch would be enough to knock down Feng Qian and show him his place, but unfortunately, it didn't go quite as others had imagined.

Feng Qian somehow slid backwards at an impossible angle, as if he was pushed by the wind and managed to create distance between them.

In his past life, Feng Qian had gone through countless life and death fights among the most talented people in his generation and even those old fogies above his generation.

He had accumulated a vast amount of experience when it came to fighting, which was ingrained in his very soul. The only problem was the present weak body of his thirteen-year-old self. He was unable to acclimate to his own body and thus unable to bring out his full potential.

Huo Zhong wanted to finish him in few punches to show the gap that existed between them but was infuriated to see Feng Qian dodge every single one of his moves.

Feng Qian wasn't some rash person, he knew that with his weak body he didn't have the energy for a frontal attack. He has limited energy and strength while his opponent was far stronger. The only way to win this fight was to waste Huo Zhong's energy. Therefore, Feng Qian was trying his best to anger him and dodge his punches while maintaining some distance between them.

Although it seemed as if Feng Qian was easily dodging the punches, it was quite taxing for his body to barely dodge with his feeble cultivation. He was also running out of stamina, and it was getting harder and harder for him to avoid Huo Zhong's moves.

The only good thing was Huo Zhong wasn't in his right state of mind and was using more force with each move in his anger and eagerness to beat him. Now it was a battle of stamina, the one who manages his strength well would win.

Feng Qian was jumping around, avoiding direct confrontation with Huo Zhong. He was utilizing each and every move with great care, saving as much energy as he could.

He knew that in front of Huo Zhong's crushing power, the only way he could win was to use his fighting experiences and a clever utilization of energy.

It was already an incense stick of time, and nobody had landed a punch. Huo Zhong's offense slowed down as he was running out of energy. This made the crowd of nobles and major families panic. They had bet a huge amount on Feng Qian's loss, some even had loaned money from others.

As soon as Huo Zhong runs out of strength, it would be as easy as flipping a hand for him to win. Nobody wanted to see that, so they started jeering and mocking Feng Qian to provoke him to be in the offensive.

"Can you only run like a coward?"

"Do you not dare to fight?"

"Where is the courage that you showed before?"

People started yelling at Feng Qian. Trying to provoke him to take action. A sarcastic smile hung on Feng Qian's face. He knew what these people were up to. It was laughable that they were trying to play this childish trick on Chaos Monarch who had played even thousand year old ghosts in the palm of his hand.

Feng Qian seemed to turn red with anger and instead of running around, he raised his fist high in the air and ran towards Huo Zhong while yelling. It was as if those mocking words had hurt his pride and now he wanted to aggressively confront Huo Zhong face to face.

Huo Zhong rejoiced as he saw Feng Qian foolishly running towards him. He prepared himself and started accumulating strength in his fist to punch Feng Qian.

Other onlookers also celebrated as they imagined Feng Qian finally getting beaten up, with his face swollen black & blue, even some teeth falling.

Even Jiang Wuji and Yan Xiuying thought that fight was finally going to be over and Feng Qian would show his cards, if he had any.

But it was all for nought as Feng Qian ran past him to the other end and quietly sat down on the bench, drinking water from the table and wiping his sweat.

"I'm so tired!" Feng Qian said with a flushed face, wiped his sweat off, and started fanning himself with his hands.

Huo Zhong and others nearly spat out blood when they saw Feng Qian's theatrics. Even Guo Pang was fooled by Feng Qian's acting.

"You! YOU." Huo Zhong was so angry that he didn't know what to say.

"What YOU, you? Can't you see I'm tired? You can't even keep up with me with your cultivation and still want to defeat me?" Feng Qian mocked.

"Shameless!"

"Keep Up? You're just running around, scared away from head on fight." Some people shouted from the crowd.

"Yeah, if you just want to run around the whole time then admit your loss." Most onlookers voiced their opinions in the same tone.

Feng Qian smiled in reply. He wasn't just running away for the sake of saving his energy this whole time instead, he was trying to adapt his body with the qi flow. Now his preparation was almost ready and it was time to end this play.

He stood up and walked towards Huo Zhong slowly. He assumed a fighting stance in front of Huo Zhong and beckoned him with his fingers.

"Is he out of his mind?"

"Fighting head on with Huo Zhong with his cultivation could cripple him!" The crowd was confused by Feng Qian's actions. Previously he was running around like a coward and now suddenly he decided to confront Huo Zhong face to face, even provoking him with his gestures.

"Maybe he realised that he had no chance of winning so he deliberately went to Huo Zhong to get beaten up." Someone commented with schadenfreude.

"If he knows he will be beaten badly then why would he anger Huo Zhong with his gestures?" Another person commented.

"Who knows? He has already offended Huo Zhong, he knew that no words could help him escape this tragedy, so he might as well put on a brave face to save himself some dignity," Someone suggested.

Guo Pang clenched his fist as he worried for his brother. He didn't care about losing. What he worried about most was Huo Zhong's fist could possibly break Feng Qian's bones, and after losing, he would have to be Huo Zhong's slave. This could make Feng Qian's life miserable.

Jiang Wuji on the other hand seemed interested in how this would play out, whether his judgement was right or wrong will soon be revealed.