"Are you here to challenge me?" Chu Feng asked.
"Not exactly a challenge — more of a friendly spar. To be precise, I wish to spar with the young lady in your world spirit space. But since she is your friend, in truth… the one I would be sparring with is you."
Chu Qing said this with a smile. Even though he had come to issue a challenge, he was remarkably courteous, even modest.
"I need to ask her first," Chu Feng said.
"Of course." Chu Qing nodded.
"No need to ask. This Queen will play along." Before Chu Feng could even pose the question, the Queen had already spoken up.
"Dandan, this Chu Qing is no ordinary character. I can't even be certain whether he's truly still at the True Immortal realm," Chu Feng cautioned. He did not want the Queen to fight Chu Qing.
The crux of the problem was that they could not gauge the other party's strength, and Chu Feng worried the Queen might be in danger.
"It doesn't matter. Even if I lose, so what? It's not like I'll lose a piece of meat."
"But if I win, then the title of the Upper Realm's greatest young genius will be yours," the Queen said.
"But…"
Chu Feng knew that the Queen was taking this fight for his sake. But the more that was the case, the more reluctant he was to let her — reluctant to let Dandan go into battle because of him.
"But you what? Stop your worrying and let me out already. Stop dithering. This Queen hasn't had a proper stretch in ages, and today I'm going to show off what I can really do," the Queen declared.
Left with no choice in the matter, Chu Feng opened the gate to the world spirit space.
The moment the gate swung open, the Queen stepped out immediately, sizing up Chu Qing. She spoke in a provocative tone: "The Upper Realm's greatest young genius? Doesn't look like much to me."
Yet in the face of the Queen's provocation, Chu Qing merely offered a genial smile. "I am Chu Qing. A pleasure to meet you, my lady."
"Tch. Don't think that playing nice is going to make me go easy on you. If you want to spar with this Queen, you'd better be prepared to come out half dead," the Queen retorted, completely unmoved by Chu Qing's courtesy.
"Sparring inevitably leads to injuries. If you hurt me, I won't hold it against you. But I… will absolutely not harm you. Otherwise…" At this, Chu Qing glanced at Chu Feng and smiled. "I'm afraid my little brother Chu Feng here would fight me to the death."
There was more behind those words than met the eye.
It seemed Chu Qing had done his homework — he even knew about the nature of the relationship between Chu Feng and the Queen. No wonder he had addressed her as "my lady" from the very beginning rather than calling her a world spirit.
It was a sign of respect toward the Queen, and toward Chu Feng as well.
Of course, this also spoke volumes about Chu Qing's character.
He was genuinely humble, and he cared about Chu Feng's feelings. As the strongest young cultivator in the entire Upper Realm, for him to behave this way was truly remarkable.
But naturally, the Queen could not have cared less about Chu Qing's politeness.
Then again, that was hardly surprising. Apart from Chu Feng and a handful of women she was fond of, the Queen had almost never shown her gentle side to anyone.
"Enough talk. If you want to spar, then let's get on with it." With that, the Queen moved toward the exit.
She knew full well that given her and Chu Qing's strength, if they were to fight, the space inside this room would be far too small. Forget this room — even the surrounding palace halls would likely be completely destroyed by the force of their clash.
"No need to go outside. Right here will do."
As Chu Qing spoke, he raised one arm, and a brilliant sphere of light burst forth from his palm.
When that light erupted, it shrouded everything around them.
And when the light faded, Chu Feng was stunned to discover that the three of them were no longer in that room. Instead, they stood amid the vast expanse of a starry sky.
It was a supreme treasure — a treasure containing its own independent space.
They had not actually left the room at all. They had merely been drawn inside that treasure.
Snap— Right then, Chu Qing lightly rubbed two fingers together. At the crisp sound that followed, a sphere of light materialized around Chu Feng.