Chapter 65: Seriousness

Li Er was well aware that pitting an egg against a rock was unwise. In a battle like this, leveraging softness to overcome rigidity was the optimal choice.

At this thought, Su Ling’s unstoppable, pitch-black fist came hurtling forward. Li Er’s scalp tingled. With a nimble footwork technique, his body became as light as a dancing butterfly, allowing him to easily glide past Su Ling.

A piercing whistle ripped through the air by Li Er’s ear. Although he had successfully evaded Su Ling’s attack, blindly avoiding combat was by no means a superior strategy.

Therefore, immediately after dodging the fist, Li Er channeled deep azure true qi onto his own fist.

Seizing the fleeting opportunity while Su Ling’s fist was extended in a vacant opening, Li Er’s glowing blue fist shattered a layer of shockwaves and slammed with a loud bang directly into the side of Su Ling’s waist, which was covered in dark battle armor.

With a muffled thud, Su Ling suddenly felt a tremendous force erupt from his waist. Following that, his body stumbled forward uncontrollably, his footing disrupted by the sudden assault.

“……”

Yes, he was merely thrown off balance by Li Er’s punch; no substantial damage was dealt. In fact, even the armor covering his waist showed no prominent marks, save for a minor scratch…

Even though Li Er possessed rich combat experience that completely overshadowed Su Ling, a novice in combat, it was simply tragic that he could not overcome Su Ling’s terrifyingly formidable physical body.

“……”

Witnessing this scene, Li Er was once again rendered speechless. However, there was no time to silently curse the freak before him. The moment before Su Ling could counterattack, Li Er rapidly lowered his head and bent his body.

A spine-chilling whistling sound passed right over the top of Li Er’s head—a visible ripple generated solely when the air was struck by a tremendous force.

Li Er’s eyelids twitched violently. He had lost count of how many times he had wanted to give up on this spar. Yet, as a disciple, he knew his master’s temper all too well; if he were to forfeit at this juncture, while he might not face severe punishment from his master, the invisible costs afterward were simply more than he could bear.

On the other side, seeing that his backhand sweep had yielded no results, Su Ling raised an eyebrow. At this point, he had to admit that Li Er’s combat experience was indeed far superior to his own, making standard comparisons impossible.

This was only natural, of course. After all, he lacked Li Er’s extensive life experiences. In his past, all-out battles seemed to have never existed; all he had ever known was defeating enemies with a single, instantaneous blow.

Falling into a grueling battle was nothing short of a fairy tale, let alone engaging in a evenly matched duel.

Yet the battle before him truly exceeded his expectations. At the very least, he had never imagined beforehand that mere combat experience could allow someone to trade blows with him evenly.

Li Er did not grow arrogant nor did he seize the opportunity to launch a sneak attack. Instead, he retreated directly, his figure flashing as he reappeared ten meters behind Su Ling, his cautious gaze carefully sizing up his opponent in an attempt to find a flaw.

Unfortunately, the dark armor on Su Ling’s body was as hard as the shell of a millennium-old mystic tortoise. After examining him for a long time, Li Er failed to spot a single obvious opening, which left him feeling somewhat depressed.

“You…”

“Do you only know how to throw punches with brute force?”

In a rare move during combat, Li Er critiqued Su Ling’s shortcomings, even finding the leisure to point out the glaring flaws in his fighting style—though he still couldn't manage to crack Su Ling’s turtle shell, of course…

“Absolute force breaks all techniques.” A concise and clear voice replied. Clearly, Su Ling disdained explanation and merely stated his own philosophy.

“That simply won’t do, even if it is indeed a decent choice.”

After all, Li Er had been briefed in advance on the theme of this sparring match: to make Su Ling understand that relying solely on brute force in combat was undesirable, and that a moment of carelessness could allow someone with rich combat experience to exploit an opening.

“……”

Hearing this, Su Ling casually glanced at Li Er not far away and did not argue. He simply lowered his sweeping arm and strode toward Li Er, this time refraining from a reckless charge.

After all, the distance between them was too close. If he initiated a savage charge, while catching Li Er would undoubtedly yield notable results, that assumed he could actually hit him—otherwise, it was merely wishful thinking.

While the impact of a charge was immense, one could not ignore the fact that his armor was extremely heavy.

Though the armor sat on his shoulders feeling no heavier than a drifting goose feather, the ground beneath his feet certainly did not feel that way. With every deceleration, he had to be careful not to exert too much force and cause the earth beneath him to collapse…

Su Ling’s strength was undeniably formidable to the extreme, but it also came with a clear flaw. Although enemies might not necessarily be able to pierce his defense even if they seized the opportunity, it remained a flaw that could not be ignored.

Therefore, to avoid drawing unnecessary trouble upon himself, Su Ling had no choice but to abandon his favorite option: the savage charge.

Savage charging was exhilarating for a moment, and continuously savage charging felt exhilarating to the skies, but the price attached was likewise impossible to ignore.

……

The sky was gradually brightening. Beneath the blue sky, near the edge of a giant canyon close to the Immortal Burial Ruins, a hearty and uninhibited battle was unfolding.

Su Ling stomped heavily onto the ground, producing an explosive, muffled roar. He surged forward instantly, then threw out a clenched fist, fiercely striking toward the waiting Li Er.

His pitch-black fist shattered a layer of air, and the tactile sensation of striking empty air reverberated through his arm. Following the extension of his arm, Li Er’s figure had already vanished completely.

Just as Su Ling withdrew his punch and scanned his surroundings for Li Er, an extreme, piercing sound suddenly erupted behind him—it was Li Er, who had abruptly flashed into position.

With his sharp instincts, Su Ling spun around instantly, but before he had time to block, a violent impact struck the armor on his chest with a loud bang.

Under this tremendous force, Su Ling stumbled backward uncontrollably, leaving several deeply etched footprints along the ground until he finally negated the massive residual force acting upon him.

At that exact moment, the relentless Li Er pressed his attack without giving any breathing room. His azure fist, radiating dense true qi, slammed with a booming crash into Su Ling’s completely unguarded abdomen.

With a crisp crack, the armor covering his lower body fractured into several startling spiderweb-like fissures, exposing the clothing beneath that had been torn apart by the immense force.

Su Ling let out a muffled grunt—not because he had been truly injured by Li Er’s exquisite force that felt as though it struck through obstacles, but rather because he suddenly felt that if he acted completely unfazed, it would deeply let down the painstaking efforts of his veteran master, Li Er.

“……”

The slightly choked, muffled grunt reached his ears. Witnessing this scene, Li Er lowered his head in silence, his forehead covered in dark lines, though he was also secretly astonished that Su Ling would actually cooperate so thoroughly with his combat choreography.

In truth, ever since he learned he would be fighting this freak Su Ling, Li Er’s heart had already turned to ashes, devoid of any wishful thinking about winning.

He even suspected that the reason the battle had dragged on this long—and had even shown signs of being evenly matched—was likely because this childish freak was playing along with him, putting on a dazzling theatrical display of combat.