Chen Shi went all out, charging at Li Tianqing. It was only then that Li Tianqing realized Chen Shi wasn't joking when he said he was faster than any magic within fifteen feet!
Chen Shi's speed was indeed quicker than Li Tianqing's spells. In just one step, Chen Shi was right in front of him, his presence like a wild beast from ancient times, making it hard for anyone to breathe.
But even faster were Chen Shi's hands.
With a punch that sounded like thunder, the force hit Li Tianqing's head, and the wind from the punch made his face wrinkle, making him feel as if his brain was lacking blood.
Cultivators feared thunder the most because heavenly tribulations were thunderous, and thunder sounds could shatter souls.
Even those who had formed a Golden Core, Nascent Soul, or Primordial Spirit had to be cautious of thunder from the heavens. The Li family had a rule: during thunderstorms, one must never refine a Golden Core or let the Nascent Soul or Primordial Spirit leave the body.
There was a story in the Li family about someone who let their Primordial Spirit leave during a thunderstorm and was struck by lightning, their Primordial Spirit turning to dust.
Every year in Western New Bull Continent, many people refining their Golden Core suddenly encounter rolling thunder from a clear sky, with the sound moving from one side of the sky to the other.
Faced with such strange thunder, cultivators could only consider themselves unlucky, as their Golden Core shattered amidst the thunder, leading to their demise.
Chen Shi's punch didn't reach the level of heavenly thunder, but the sound of it was enough to shake Li Tianqing's spirit and will. If he had a weaker spirit or unstable will, he might have lost the courage to resist, let alone counterattack.
Li Tianqing was able to fight back.
His Divine Altar and Divine Fetus were ready when he demonstrated the Six Yin Jade Wheels, skipping the step of activating them. The Six Yin Jade Wheels technique was both offensive and defensive, with True Qi forming jade wheels that moved around his limbs, creating a defensive stance.
If an enemy attacked and hit the jade wheel, they would be cut by its sharpness!
The key was that the jade wheel was invisible, almost impossible to see with the naked eye, making it hard to defend against.
A jade wheel was already spinning on his shoulder, with True Qi from the Greater Yin Spleen Meridian flowing. His left hand formed the Greater Yin Earth Seal, meeting Chen Shi's punch!
At the same time, True Qi from the Greater Yin Lung Meridian flowed, and his right hand's Greater Yin Metal Seal slashed at Chen Shi's neck.
The two wheels of True Qi, one on his arm and one flying in the air, were so intricate that Chen Shi had never seen anything like it.
However, as the two jade wheels burst forth, Chen Shi seemed to sense their direction and movement.
The jade wheels were made of True Qi, invisible to the naked eye. Even if Chen Shi opened his eyes wide, he couldn't see the path of the sword energy, but he didn't need to look. His body could sense the two foreign objects approaching him.
He could even clearly sense where the jade wheels came from and how fast they were moving.
This sense was very mysterious, like the True Qi forming the jade wheels pressing on the air, causing his hair to move slightly, or like his spirit extending to feel the incoming True Qi.
It was beyond understanding.
When he cultivated True Blood, every slight movement of his hair could be reflected in his mind. Now, with the Sacred Fetus Body, this sense became even stronger, extending beyond his body, sensing things two or three feet away!
But Chen Shi didn't have time to think about this. His body was faster than his mind. As soon as he sensed the jade wheels' direction, he changed his move, turning his punch into a palm strike, slamming down heavily!
As his palm met the edge of the jade wheel, his body flipped upward, his right foot stepping out as if walking on air, head down, feet up, avoiding the jade wheel that was about to cut him in half.
Under his foot, the Power Star Talisman exploded, star light flowing through his body.
The jade wheel missed its target, spinning quickly to return, moving with Li Tianqing's arm, aiming at Chen Shi in mid-air, fast as lightning.
At the same time, Chen Shi's palm collided with the jade wheel, creating a metallic sound. The invisible jade wheel shattered, unable to withstand Chen Shi's strength.
Chen Shi had intended to smash the jade wheel and, while upside down, strike Li Tianqing's head with his other palm, ending his life in one blow.
Unexpectedly, Li Tianqing reacted too quickly. If Chen Shi had struck, he would have been cut in half!
Before Chen Shi's mind could come up with a solution, his body reacted, using the force of breaking the jade wheel to flip backward, landing fifteen feet away.
As soon as he landed, he sensed five jade wheels made of True Qi flying toward him. Each had a different speed, some fast, some slow, moving in mysterious ways.
Then the missed jade wheel also came, making six in total.
Li Tianqing stepped with the Jade Ring Step, quickly attacking, his hands and feet moving, his steps peculiar, and his six hand seals changing rapidly!
He seemed to step on various circles, each circle connecting, making his movements unpredictable, and controlling six jade wheels made his attacks extremely dangerous!
Chen Shi stepped with the Big Dipper Seven Stars, switching between the Gem Star Step, Steady Star Step, Balance Star Step, and other footwork, moving like a ghost, dodging the jade wheels like lightning.
Each step he took, the Star Talisman exploded, star light surrounding him, refining his body, keeping him at his peak!
The ground was occasionally sliced by sharp objects, hissing as rocks silently split open, the cuts smooth as can be!
The power of the spells was evident!
But even though the Six Yin Jade Wheels were so intricate, they couldn't harm Chen Shi at all.
In just a moment, Chen Shi was forced sixteen feet away!
At sixteen feet, the Six Yin Jade Wheels moved like the wind, unstoppable, everything in their path, trees, rocks, were either blasted apart or sliced in two by the jade wheels!
Chen Shi's steps were unpredictable, rushing forward quickly, but suddenly saw Li Tianqing's figure becoming blurry. This was because the Six Yin Jade Wheels wrapped around him, vibrating at high speed, creating an illusion.
Chen Shi attacked Li Tianqing, but couldn't break through the jade wheel defense in a short time. If he was careless, he would be cut by the jade wheels, making him feel restricted.
Suddenly, he sensed three jade wheels coming at him from above, middle, and below, quickly dodging. He heard three sounds, and a tree as thick as a barrel behind him was almost cut into four pieces by the jade wheels.
The Six Yin Jade Wheels were the most intricate spell he had ever seen, but in terms of power, they were not as strong as the Midnight Demon Slaying Sword.
If it were the Midnight Demon Slaying Sword, one sword energy would have cut the tree in half, without needing three strikes.
Chen Shi swept his leg, the tree fell with a crash, and he picked it up, charging at Li Tianqing!
The tree, weighing over a thousand pounds, was like nothing in his hands, rushing forward with undiminished speed!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The invisible jade rings flew up and down, splintering the wood. Chen Shi threw the tree crown, and in an instant, the tree was shredded by the six jade wheels, filling the air with flying wood chips and leaves.
In the midst of the flying wood chips, Chen Shi saw the path of the six jade wheels.
Previously, he could only "sense" them, a mysterious sense, but not as real and clear as seeing with his eyes.
Eyes could react faster.
When he saw the path of the six jade wheels, his feet exploded with force, rushing at Li Tianqing!
His movements were varied, dodging the jade wheels with a few quick steps, and he threw a punch, the wind from it stirring the wood chips in the air, shooting them like arrows at Li Tianqing.
Li Tianqing couldn't dodge in time, his body and face, hands and legs, were scratched and pierced by the flying wood chips.
The wood chips weren't dangerous, unable to harm his life, but the real danger was Chen Shi's incoming punch!
This punch would surely smash his head!
As Chen Shi's punch was about to hit him, he suddenly saw Li Tianqing's figure become blurry, a sign of the Six Yin Jade Wheels spinning around him!
At the same time, Chen Shi sensed something approaching rapidly from the left.
Without thinking, he stepped to the right, and as he did, he saw the footprints left by Li Jindou on the ground.
Li Jindou had marked the Spirit Realm, leaving some footprints, with the outside of the footprints being the safe zone and the inside being the Spirit Realm.
"He's smart!"
Chen Shi immediately understood Li Tianqing's intention. If he could force Chen Shi into the Spirit Realm, Li Tianqing would win the fight.
In Li Tianqing's mind, entering the Spirit Realm meant certain death.
So if he could push Chen Shi into the Spirit Realm, Chen Shi would die.
He didn't know that Chen Shi had wandered through this Spirit Realm countless times, more familiar with it than his own home, and the Spirit Realm couldn't take Chen Shi's life.
However, if Chen Shi turned into a porcelain doll less than a foot tall, losing all his strength, Li Tianqing could easily kill him.
But before that, Chen Shi's punch could definitely smash his skull!
Chen Shi's punch was already at his face, but suddenly stopped, the force not released.
At the same time, a hand grabbed his left hand, pulling Chen Shi back from the brink of entering the Spirit Realm.
The Six Yin Jade Wheels stopped, hovering at Chen Shi's waist.
Chen Shi steadied himself, pulling back his fist.
Li Tianqing also dispelled the jade wheels.
After a moment, the two sat on the ground, Chen Shi leaning back on his hands, while Li Tianqing idly tossed grass stems.
"I can't kill a friend I just met."
"Me neither. I have no friends, just you."
"I don't have any friends either."
They exchanged a smile.
"I killed Li Xiaoding because someone cut out my Divine Fetus. I heard Li Xiaoding transplanted someone else's Divine Fetus to pass the provincial exam, so I thought it was mine."
Chen Shi explained why he killed Li Xiaoding, saying, "Later, I found out I killed the wrong person."
"My cousin was a scoundrel, committing heinous crimes in Water Buffalo County. Killing him was no loss. The county office had a stack of charges against him this high, but they were all suppressed, never dealt with. The charges were written by Zhuge Jian, and since he couldn't bring my cousin to justice, he must have been quite frustrated."
Li Tianqing empathized with Chen Shi's experience, having almost had his own Divine Fetus taken by his family. He said, "If you committed the case with Li Xiaoding, then the case with my seventh uncle, Li Kefa, must have been your grandfather's doing. But don't worry, I won't say a word. I won't betray a friend for a scoundrel."
Chen Shi perked up, smiling, "If we have time tomorrow, I'll take you to catch macaques. They're really interesting. Though their name has 'horse' in it, they're not horses, but creatures that look like a mix of a horse and a big monkey. They live in trees and jump around like they're flying. When we spot them, we have to act quietly, sneak under the tree, and then use a sword energy to cut the branch they're on. The macaque falls down, dazed, and we quickly use a rope loop to catch it. Then we're done."
Li Tianqing blinked, "And after we catch them?"
"Then we take them to the market to sell. Once caught, macaques are very obedient. During the busy farming season, villagers from miles around will buy them. These creatures, with a bit of training, can help harvest crops. Just give them some food to keep them from starving."
Chen Shi said, "Well-trained macaques will even find their own food, and after eating, they'll come back to work for the villagers. Even when it's not the busy season, they can do heavy work. They eat little and work a lot, so they're very popular at the market."
Li Tianqing's eyes sparkled with excitement.
Chen Shi laughed, "I used to try catching macaques to sell for school fees, to study at a private school. But I didn't know the Midnight Demon Slaying Sword, so the macaques jumped from tree to tree, disappearing in a blink. But your Six Yin Jade Wheels are amazing. Together, we can definitely catch a lot of macaques!"
Li Tianqing nodded eagerly.
Their fight had deepened their friendship.
Suddenly, they saw a brilliant light shining from the kiln factory.
Li Jindou, turned into a porcelain doll, rushed out of the kiln factory, looking quite disheveled, with three kiln workers over ten feet tall chasing after him.
The porcelain doll ran while saying something to Chen Shi and Li Tianqing outside, but his voice was like bird chirping, incomprehensible.
As the porcelain doll left the kiln factory and landed, Li Jindou's Primordial Spirit gathered immense power, enveloping the porcelain doll. Under the light of his Primordial Spirit, his porcelain body began to revert, and his Divine Altar and Divine Fetus gradually returned to normal.
Chen Shi watched, impressed.
For Li Jindou to survive a fight with the kiln workers after turning into a porcelain doll showed he was indeed skilled.
"His cultivation is so profound that he can recover from being porcelainized. Admirable," Chen Shi thought.
"Not good!"
Li Jindou exclaimed. Just as his body was reverting from porcelain, it began to turn back again!
The porcelain doll's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he shouted, "This Spirit Realm is too terrifying. I'm hurt, and my Primordial Spirit alone can't resist the realm's transformation! Tianqing, Chen Shi, quickly take me back to the village!"
But neither of them understood his words.