"Damn it, how is she this strong?"
"Aren't you only a first-level Half-God?" Bai Yunqing's face changed drastically as he re-examined the Queen. He hadn't expected Chu Feng's Spirit World creature to be this powerful.
"Submit to me now, and I'll spare your life," Chu Feng said.
"Submit to me? Do you think you're worthy?"
Crack—
At that moment, lightning patterns and thunder armor materialized on Bai Yunqing's body, and his cultivation soared from second-level Half-God to fourth-level Half-God.
"Do you think I, Bai Yunqing, am a pushover?"
"No matter how powerful your Spirit World creature is, she's only a first-level Half-God. She can't protect you. Even if someone submits, it should be you submitting to me!" Bai Yunqing roared.
Boom—
The Queen raised her hand and struck palm-forward. The torrent of black qi coalesced into a massive hand and slammed toward Bai Yunqing.
Everything happened too fast. Before Bai Yunqing could dodge, the palm struck him squarely, blasting him out of his own formation and sending him crashing into the underground palace's wall. The tremendous force made the entire structure shudder.
All the juniors from the Ancient Realm had been worried about Chu Feng, but when they saw Bai Yunqing suddenly sent flying and slamming violently into the wall, they were stunned.
"Wow, she's so beautiful." Every single one of them—men and women alike—dropped their jaws, because the Queen had just stepped through the shattered barrier.
Never had they seen such a beautiful woman.
"S-Stop, stop fighting! I give up, okay?"
"I swear in front of all my Ancient Realm brothers and sisters—I'll acknowledge Chu Feng as my big brother starting now. I'll follow him during this examination. Please stop hitting me."
Bai Yunqing clutched his stomach, spitting blood with every word. He'd even lost several teeth. In truth, nearly every bone in his body was on the verge of shattering. A single strike from the Queen had nearly taken half his life.
"Is begging going to help?" The Queen had no intention of stopping. She wanted to continue punishing Bai Yunqing—she'd already grown sick of him.
"Eggy, let it go." Chu Feng quickly spoke up, fearing that if he waited even a moment longer, Bai Yunqing would lose his life entirely.
Though he had a grudge against Bai Yunqing, Chu Feng felt that now was not the time to kill him.
"Remember what you said. Try anything funny, and I'll take your life." The Queen left those cold words behind before stepping through the Spirit World gateway.
Despite how she usually joked around with Chu Feng, in front of Bai Yunqing, she was like a god of death made manifest.
"Are you alright?" Chu Feng asked with a grin.
"Can't you see for yourself? Does this look like I'm alright? That was way too harsh. We're on the same team, for crying out loud—was that really necessary?"
Bai Yunqing's earlier arrogance and bravado had completely vanished, replaced by a face full of grievance. He first pressed his knocked-out teeth back into place, then swallowed a healing pill to tend to his wounds.
"If you're fine, get up. Don't waste time—we're in the middle of an examination, and there's a time limit," Chu Feng said.
"Where on earth did you find this Spirit World creature? How is she so fierce?" Bai Yunqing struggled to his feet, fighting through the pain.
"Personal charm," Chu Feng replied.
"Tch." Bai Yunqing didn't quite believe that, but he admitted, "Still, I underestimated you."
Chu Feng ignored him and walked forward a few steps, pointing at the wall. "Enough talk. There's a formation here. Break it."
When Chu Feng said this, the other Ancient Realm juniors looked confused.
They were all Spirit World Masters too. Having entered this place, they didn't want to rely solely on Chu Feng and Bai Yunqing. They wanted to contribute, to prove themselves.
So they had all carefully observed their surroundings, but in the direction Chu Feng was pointing, none of them had detected any barrier formation whatsoever.
Yet Bai Yunqing actually walked over to the wall Chu Feng had indicated. "Piece of cake. Leave it to me."
"My Spirit World creature may not be as powerful as yours, but when it comes to barrier techniques, I'm still above you."
As he spoke, Bai Yunqing began setting up a formation to crack the barrier. The formation descended upon the wall.
Rumble—
The wall shuddered violently, and then light began to emerge from it.
"There really was a formation?"
"That's incredible!"
The Ancient Realm juniors were thoroughly impressed—not just toward Chu Feng, but toward Bai Yunqing as well.
For when they had all believed there was nothing there, Bai Yunqing had effortlessly broken through—meaning he had detected the formation too.
After the light faded, three stones protruded from the wall.
Each stone bore a single character: Easy, Medium, Hard.
"This must be the examination's difficulty selection."
"Good thing I'm skilled enough to break this formation. It gave us a choice. If I couldn't have broken it, we'd have been stuck with whatever the place decided for us." Bai Yunqing said smugly.
But right at that moment, Chu Feng kicked—squarely striking the stone marked "Hard."
With that kick, the stone shattered into pieces, then transformed into streams of qi that shot toward everyone present before flying back and re-forming into stone.
Rumble—
With a series of rumbling sounds, the three stones sank back into the wall, merging with it once more.
But immediately after, a wave of barrier energy spread outward from the wall, enveloping the entire underground palace.
Everyone could feel it—the underground palace had undergone some change, different from before.
"Are you insane? Why did you pick Hard?" Bai Yunqing's eyes went wide as he berated Chu Feng.
"What, scared?" Chu Feng asked.