Liu Canzhi was loitering nearby.
Li Qi had always been curious about what a genuine Martial Artist looked like in direct combat, so during the visit, he proposed to have a match with the Martial Artist he had just spoken to.
Up until now, he had engaged in physical confrontations with others only a handful of times, which made him particularly interested in Martial Artists who were rumored to be exceptionally formidable in head-on battles.
Obviously, such an invitation was irresistible for a Martial Artist.
Thus, the two swiftly headed towards a clearing in this small world.
However, for some reason, this news suddenly spread around.
A non-Martial Dao cultivator wanted to challenge a Martial Artist of the same rank.
This piqued the interest of other Martial Artists who were training in the vicinity.
It was common to see people being forced into fights, but it was rare to see someone willingly come forward to get beaten up.
Therefore, Li Qi soon noticed four or five pairs of eyes watching from the surroundings, seemingly there to watch the spectacle.
But since there were only four or five onlookers and not too many, Li Qi didn't pay much attention. Martial Artists naturally had sharp senses; it wasn't strange that they could hear his conversation.
"Please don't hold back. I want to personally witness the power of Martial Dao," Li Qi said after finding a spot to stand and cupping his hands towards the other party.
"Don't worry, you can choose your own spot. Just say when to start, and we'll begin," the Martial Artist replied to Li Qi.
"Alright, let's have three rounds? I'd like one round each at close range, mid-range, and long range," Li Qi suggested to the Martial Artist opposite him.
Upon hearing this, the Martial Artist chuckled, "If you can handle it, we can have as many rounds as you like."
"Sure," Li Qi nodded, "Let's start with the close range, thirty zhang should be close enough."
"Agreed." The Martial Artist nodded.
The two stood thirty zhang apart, roughly a hundred meters.
While it seemed quite far, for Eighth Rank battles, this distance was practically face-to-face.
Li Qi thought for a moment and set up a series of reactive defenses around himself, akin to forming a formation, though not the kind requiring prolonged preparation, but rather small traps, the best defense he could muster within five seconds before the battle.
This already gave him an advantage, as normally no one would give you five seconds to prepare before a fight.
Sensing the gazes of others from afar, Li Qi shook his head and activated True Dao Resonance, saying, "I'm ready—"
Before he could finish the word 'ready,' the Martial Artist vanished from thirty zhang away.
Suddenly, a shadow appeared in front of Li Qi.
This shadow generated shockwaves due to the wind resistance, visible vortexes began to gather, and the resulting explosion stirred up fierce winds!
Li Qi had set up illusions that could mislead vision, gravity fields formed by the Five Great Mountains inside him, and water vapor bands to hinder the opponent's advance.
However, all these preparations were instantly crushed by sheer force!
Without seeing anything, Li Qi couldn't react at all. True Dao Resonance conveyed the information to him, but before his brain could process it, a sharp pain shot through his chest!
With just one punch, Li Qi's body was sent flying backward rapidly!
Within ten seconds, he flew nearly half a kilometer and slammed into a cliffside, getting embedded into it.
"Puwa!" When he regained consciousness, the intense impact had caused him to vomit bile.
Then, he was grabbed by the arm and pulled out from the cliffside.
The Martial Artist effortlessly dragged Li Qi out of the mountain, helped him up, and said in surprise, "Eh, your body is quite resilient. Is it because you used to practice martial arts? Taking my punch resulted in only external injuries, without even breaking any bones, just vomiting bile. I thought you'd cough up blood."
Li Qi didn't respond, as his mind was still somewhat dazed.
He had heard countless times that Martial Artists were invincible in close combat. He himself had once used this tactic against Jin Buhuan when he was at Ninth Rank.
But... facing an Eighth Rank Martial Artist in close quarters, he truly understood what 'invincible' meant.
It was genuinely, undeniably invincible...
"Ah... friend, let me catch my breath, I need to sit for a bit..." Li Qi didn't reply to the other party but held his stomach and found a rock to sit on.
After resting for a while, using the vitality of the Great Forest Wood Qi to accelerate his recovery, he gradually recovered over several minutes.
Recovered, he stood up, shook his head, and said to the Martial Artist, "In close combat... Martial Dao is invincible among peers, I understand. Let's try a longer distance, five li, how about it?"
"Are you alright?" The Martial Artist curiously examined Li Qi and then asked.
Although he had held back his strength in that punch, the fact that the other party could withstand it was indeed surprising.
Li Qi nodded and said with determination, "Don't worry, my cultivation path also refines the body, I can still endure."
The qi of the Five Great Mountains makes one's personal universe more resilient, which is also a form of refinement.
"If you're sure, then let's continue. Standing further apart will also serve as good practice for me," the Martial Artist agreed.
The two again distanced themselves.
This time, it was five li.
At this distance, Li Qi should have ample reaction time to respond.
Having made his preparations again, Li Qi waved towards the distance.
Through True Dao Resonance, he clearly sensed the other party's charge!
But by the time he detected it, the other party had already advanced nearly one li.
That meant that within one li, the Martial Artist could launch a surprise attack on Li Qi without giving him any chance to react.
However, this time, there were five li.
Li Qi swung his hands, and behind him, the Mountain God spirit within his divine body stretched to a height of ten zhang, appearing majestic and imposing.
When the Mountain God spirit stomped on the ground, earth qi surged.
There was a river on the ground, whose waters quaked, causing storms to rise instantly amidst the mountains, sending stones flying!
Earth qi burst forth from the ground, forming giant snakes made of rocks to obstruct the Martial Artist's path.
His forward momentum was blocked.
But then, the Martial Artist bent and extended his joints as if drawing a bow fully and releasing it, making the tendons in his body resonate sharply.
The sound traveled across several li, reaching Li Qi's ears.
The resonating hum echoed throughout the area, as if from the heavens above, where celestial beings played the lute!
With this buildup of force, he threw a punch!
Rather than a straight punch, it was more like a whip strike.
Li Qi immediately realized this was utilizing the cracking effect of a whip.
During this phenomenon, the tip moves several times faster than the main body. When a whip swings at high speed, it curls into a wave shape, and when this wave reaches the tip, it multiplies the speed of the whip itself several times over!
Under this peculiar force application method, the punch transformed into something whip-like, simultaneously multiplying its speed several times over!
One punch landed!
All the rock snakes were shattered into pieces.
And his speed did not diminish, continuing his charge towards Li Qi!
Seeing his first line of defense breached, Li Qi's mind raced, quickly waving his hands again, summoning the Mountain God and Water God spirits to appear behind him.
These divine bodies weren't merely for show; they were genuine deities with all the powers of Eighth Rank gods, although not comparable to true divine path cultivators, their status was authentic.
Nine Eighth Rank divine bodies emerged, rushing forward to stand two to three li ahead of Li Qi, buying him time.
But the Martial Artist paid no heed, charging straight through the nine divine bodies.
Then, just like before, another whip-like punch!
The punch struck down, directly dispersing one of the Mountain Gods, turning it into essence energy that returned to Li Qi's body!
Li Qi trembled, sustaining some injuries.
The dispersion of a divine body inflicted backlash on him. If all twelve divine bodies were destroyed, it might severely damage his personal universe and even cause a drop in rank.
Nevertheless, losing just one divine body didn't matter much, barely affecting Li Qi's focus.
Li Qi continued behind the scenes, preparing his next move.
The second punch was thrown.
However, this punch suddenly lost its strength.
The Martial Artist suddenly felt his body become weak and powerless, as if he hadn't eaten for a year.
The weakened punch only created a few cracks on the Mountain God.
The Mountain God immediately restrained him, pinning him down with large rocks.
Then, the Water God quickly extended several water streams, combining their forces.
Mountain and water merged, forming a terrain of peaks and valleys, increasing the resonance of qi. The divine bodies abandoned their forms, transforming into four towering mountains, each a hundred zhang high, firmly suppressing the Martial Artist!
This was Li Qi's most frequently used technique, utilizing the qi of the Five Great Mountains to suppress.
As the mountains rose, red qi emerged between them. It was as if:
"Mountains bridged the sea, and whales spewed waves like flowers."
"Layer upon layer of cliffs, carved and chiseled!"
Although one Mountain God was dispersed, the four towering mountains were still not to be underestimated.
Looking back at Li Qi, no one noticed when he had erected an altar, inside which lay a strand of the Martial Artist's hair.
He repeatedly performed rituals on the strand of hair, but it wasn't an offering—it was a curse!
A curse to weaken the body and disrupt the flow of blood and qi.
Clearly, it was highly effective.
It directly caused the Martial Artist's body to lose strength, suppressing him.
However, Li Qi knew the battle was far from over.
Just as he expected, in the next moment, the mountains suppressing the Martial Artist began to tremble.
An awe-inspiring presence erupted from beneath the mountain!
"I am the king of the mountains—how dare you suppress me with mountains?!" A deep roar emanated from beneath the mountain.
Then, a shadowy figure of a fierce tiger emerged.
Upon seeing this, Li Qi frowned.
Martial Dao Divine Intent?
No—it wasn't just that. Unlike what was written in books, it was a combination of Martial Dao Divine Intent and a demonic true form?
Impressive. No wonder someone like him could make it into the Imperial Academy—this was truly worth recording.
Li Qi's mind was stirred with excitement as he immediately used True Knowledge to observe the opponent's condition.
From the start until now, he had been meticulously documenting the techniques of the Martial Dao.
To learn, to record, and to witness more paths.
That had been Li Qi's wish from the beginning. His decision to come to the Tang Kingdom was also for this purpose.
He wanted to see how the opponent would counter his mountain suppression.
But… as the opponent said, the tiger was the king of the mountains, and mountain qi would naturally be suppressed by him.
So, Li Qi decided to add another layer.
While maintaining the ritual, two golden threads emerged behind him, rapidly piercing toward the suppressed mountain.
If you want to break free from the suppression, you'll have to overcome the interference.
What Li Qi didn't expect, however, was that the opponent didn't emerge from beneath the mountain.
Instead, the shadowy figure of the tiger, combining Martial Dao Divine Intent and demonic true form, solidified and let out a mighty roar!
The fierce tiger roared, shaking the mountains and valleys. Storms gathered, lightning flashed, and thunder crashed!
Countless afterimages rippled outward like wild waves. Thousands of soundwaves crashed like tidal surges against the shore, descending from above. Rivers surged, tides overturned, and the force escalated to extremes, wave after wave in rapid succession!
Reacting swiftly, Li Qi immediately waved his hand, dismissing all the divine bodies, allowing them to return to his body.
The rolling soundwaves caused the ground to ripple like water, layer upon layer rising and falling. Hundreds of meters around were plowed through by the sonic blasts!
Fortunately, Li Qi had withdrawn in time. If he had been caught in that tiger's roar, the battle would've ended right there. All the divine bodies would've been gravely injured, leaving him unable to fight.
With the divine bodies dismissed, the suppression naturally lost its effect.
The Martial Artist broke free, his demonic true form revealed—a massive tiger with dark golden fur streaked with black stripes. The air around him crackled under the pressure, like fireworks exploding.
The tiger charged toward Li Qi.
Li Qi decisively escaped underground, retreating frantically.
Seeing this, the tiger stopped and shouted, "Stop! You're using earth遁 (Dùn, Earth Evasion), I can't catch you!"
Then, the demonic true form dissipated, and he returned to his Martial Artist form.
Li Qi emerged from the ground and calculated his speed.
At full power, his Earth Evasion allowed him to travel roughly half a li per second. Did this already surpass the current speed of the Martial Artist?
After recording the data, Li Qi returned.
This round ended in a draw.
Facing each other again, Li Qi asked curiously, "You can't catch up to that speed? It's so far off from your explosive burst speed."
"My legs went limp because of your spell. I'm only good at explosive bursts, not chasing. Resisting your spell takes time, so by the time I recovered, you were too far away to catch," the Martial Artist replied.
Then, he praised, "Those servants you summoned—they're impressive. What kind of foundation do they have? Their combat ability is formidable, and they can coordinate to form suppression seals. I've never seen anything like it before—I took a big loss."
As he spoke, he seemed somewhat不服气 (unconvinced) and added, "But if we were to fight again, I'd be prepared, and your suppression technique wouldn't work on me."
"Mm." Li Qi nodded, not debating the point.
He was merely observing and recording the techniques of the Martial Dao to learn from them. There was no need to argue about who was stronger head-to-head.
Shamans and Diviners weren't fighters who engaged in direct combat.
When a Shaman truly wants to kill you, you usually don't even see their shadow.
"Let's try long range next—fifty li," Li Qi continued.
"Alright." The Martial Artist didn't waste words.
The two once again prepared for battle.
This time, it ended with a hard-fought victory for Li Qi.
At fifty li, Li Qi had ample time to set traps, maintain distance, and kite his opponent.
With advance detection of the Martial Artist's movements, it was difficult for him to approach a prepared Li Qi.
But Li Qi's victory was a tough one. He couldn't inflict any substantial harm on the opponent—this Martial Artist's physique was too resilient. Li Qi could only barely kite him, wearing him down bit by bit, but he couldn't truly restrain or kill him, nor even critically injure him.
In the end, the Martial Artist conceded defeat after realizing he had no hope of reaching Li Qi.
To deal fatal damage to a Martial Artist of the same rank, extensive preparation well in advance might be necessary to even have a chance.
After the battle, both sides gained something from the experience.
Li Qi thought deeply, then bid farewell first, storing the data in his mind.
He then returned to Liu Canzhi's side.
However, standing beside Liu Canzhi was a young woman.
Her appearance was dignified, her posture upright. She wore a purple ruqun (a traditional layered dress), and her face was delicate and beautiful.
At a glance, it was clear she was an extremely serious person. Though she smiled, her eyes did not.
Li Qi had just approached when the woman stepped forward and directly asked, "Shaman?"