Pushing rankings at midnight — there'll be another chapter then.
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Having already decided to help him, Xia Ningshang naturally couldn't afford to let any flaws show. Only by pushing Yang Kai to fight at full power could she help him break through.
So for this first palm strike, Xia Ningshang went straight for the kill.
Yang Kai's strength was at the ninth level of the Body Tempering Realm, and Xia Ningshang used only the power of the second or third level of the Kaiyuan Realm.
Yang Kai, who had been focused on his breakthrough, suddenly felt a sharp warning instinct. A bone-deep chill spread through him without reason, and a primal sense of crisis — the feeling of life and death hanging in the balance — surged through his mind.
Before he could figure out what was happening, a whistling gust of palm wind came roaring from his side.
Someone was ambushing him! Yang Kai's mind snapped to clarity. Instead of panicking, he was thrilled. He immediately leapt from his spot, spun around, and threw a punch behind him without hesitation.
The battle spirit inside him was roaring, and he'd been itching for an outlet — he never expected someone would just walk right into it! Who it was trying to ambush him no longer mattered to Yang Kai. All he wanted now was a fight — a good, satisfying brawl!
With a booming crack, Yuan Qi erupted in a shockwave. Yang Kai stumbled back several steps, while Xia Ningshang used the force to flip through the air and land gracefully, a flicker of surprise flashing through her beautiful eyes.
She'd only used about the power of the third level of the Kaiyuan Realm, but that shouldn't have been enough for him to fight her to a standstill. She should've been suppressing him outright.
After that first exchange, Yang Kai made out the figure of his opponent in the moonlight. It was a woman, though her face was hidden behind a black cloth mask.
"A chick?!" Yang Kai furrowed his brow and muttered in dissatisfaction.
Hearing this, Xia Ningshang was so furious her whole body trembled! Gritting her teeth, she darted toward him with light, agile movements, Yuan Qi surging through her palms and splitting into a sky full of palm shadows that crashed down over Yang Kai's head.
That single comment had absolutely enraged her!
Yang Kai let out a low roar and unleashed his full strength. Scorching Yuan Qi spiraled along his fists, and in the blink of an eye he was locked in combat with Xia Ningshang. Even though his opponent was a woman, Yang Kai held nothing back — her strength was clearly a tier above his, and every move she made was a killing technique. He couldn't afford the slightest carelessness.
In a blur of lightning-fast exchanges, Yang Kai and Xia Ningshang fought to a furious stalemate — though the balance of the fight clearly favored her. His moves were powerful and heavy, devastating in impact, but they couldn't compare to her agility and versatility. For every two strikes he threw, she answered with three. And with her nimble, weightless body, she twisted and pivoted around him, treating him like a monkey to toy with.
Yang Kai was getting beaten at every turn, and his frustration was boiling over! He could tell his opponent was just slightly stronger than him, but there was no way he could have guessed that she was deliberately suppressing her true strength to fight on his level. Against an enemy like this, landing a single hit was practically a miracle.
Behind her black mask, Xia Ningshang's pouty lips slowly curved into a smile. Think before you speak next time — you deserve every bruise!
After just a short while, Yang Kai's entire body ached. But as the familiar pain spread, the blood in his veins once again grew excited, surging and rolling like a mighty river — if one listened closely enough, one could almost hear the crash of waves against the shore. A warm heat radiated outward from within him, and his power began climbing steadily.
A grave expression appeared in Xia Ningshang's eyes. She realized that the Yuan Qi turbulence inside this junior brother of hers was growing more and more intense. His strength had gradually broken past the Body Tempering Realm and reached the level of the Kaiyuan Realm — and it still hadn't stopped, continuing to rise slowly but with unwavering determination.
Those fists wreathed in searing Yuan Qi struck faster and heavier with each exchange. Xia Ningshang was starting to feel the strain. She considered raising her own power further, but some part of her refused — so she gritted her teeth and held on.