Chapter 16 6th Phase Dantian Establishment, 8th stage skin tempering

Seeing the man make the first move, the surrounding spectators were astonished at the man's release of power.

Such strength was something only a cultivator would be able to achieve and by the looks of it, his strength was definitely not low.

Tang Ning's gaze grew cold as she saw the approaching club that looked like it wanted to flatten her to pieces.

Despite her recently improved strength, she would undoubtedly be seriously injured if she took such an attack head on.

"That beautiful girl is about to be beaten to death by that man's club. How ruthless".

"The scorpion gang have always been so tyrannical. Just because she couldn't pay the protection fee, they actually wanted to forcefully kidnap her!"

"Who would have thought that she actually turned out to be a high-level cultivator and managed to beat back the scorpion gang members. However, its pointless".

"Yeah, although I admire her strength, it's still not enough to stand up against the scorpion gang".

The surrounding spectators were busy discussing as no one had any hope for Tang Ning. After all, the scorpion gang had always been one of the overlords of the slums.

Furthermore, they had numerous members who were body cultivators. This young girl didn't look like she had reached 18 yet.

What the hell could a teenage female possibly do in front of such a behemoth.

In front of the approaching attack, Tang Ning showed no fear towards her opponent. Except, her eyes shone with coldness as she easily dodged the man's first attack.

Judging by his eruption of power, Tang Ning had easily deciphered this man's level of cultivation.

5th Stage, Skin tempering realm! The last few opponents she had fought were only 1st stage to 4th stage skin tempering realm body cultivators.

Due to this fact, despite her low battle experience and her unwillingness to land a killing strike, she had defeated all her other opponents with ease.

Even the 4th stage skin tempering realm cultivator was no match for her in terms of power.

After returning from taking a bath yesterday, Tang Ning had spent the rest of the night absorbing the medicinal qualities of the tempering pill Ru Chan had given her.

Her strength had increased by leaps and bounds, making her much stronger than she was the previous day.

Today, she had woken up only to be met by the domineering scorpion gang demanding her to pay for the protection fees that they never actually upheld.

On a usual day, Tang Ning would pay up, as she wanted to avoid getting into trouble with the scorpion gang because her physical strength was weak. However, after buying Ru Chan those medicinal pills, Tang Ning was flat broke.

She didn't have any money on hand to pay for such bills. Despite trying to explain, who would have thought that these people would be so unreasonable.

"Haha! Boss, I heard someone says that they don't have the money to pay!" A cross-eyed youth laughed out loud as he called out to the rest of his teammates.

On his back was a black colored scorpion that indicated his position in the gang. Level 1 member! It was considered as below average because his strength was only at the 1st stage skin tempering realm.

Nevertheless, his status as a scorpion gang member was already enough to deter the majority of these simple folks. Although the scorpion gang would not care about low-level members, they would always do anything to protect their pride and ego.

So, the consequences of provoking ordinary members were still rather grave, as these were the kind of people that knew how to shield each other's shortcomings.

"So what! Another one that doesn't want to pay up? Follow the normal procedures!" A slightly fat middle-aged man shouted without turning in his direction.

His tone had a hint of annoyance in it as he greedily counted the remarkable amount of Silver Martial coins in the pouch within his hand.

"Haha! 2000 silvers in just 1 afternoon, looks like this month's quota will be filled". The man laughed.

Although he looked a little fat and one would mistake him for a weak uncle, the red scorpion patterns on the back of his clothing strongly suggested otherwise.

"He-he! Hear that, little beauty, seems like you are coming with us". The youth chuckled as his lecherous gaze ogled her body from head to toe.

His line of sight stopped at her breast area, and he subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Stretching his hand forwards, he reached out to grab her. However, the direction of his hand was going towards a normal direction.

However, his lecherous expression froze as in the end, his hand was stopped by Tang Ning a couple of inches away from her breasts.

If that was all, it wouldn't have been an issue. But he found out that no matter how hard he pushed forward, even going as far as utilizing all his strength, his hand couldn't budge an inch onward or back.

"You!" His eyes widened in disbelief as their eyes made contact. Sure enough, the other person wasn't smiling, but had a deep frown etched on her face.

"You little bitch! Let go". He roared as he curled his hand into a fist. Compressing all his strength into his hand, he punched forward with the basic fist technique that he learned.

The scorpion gang would prioritize the strongest ones within their organization, followed by those who were more talented. However, almost everyone knew basic tier techniques.

This youth had practiced the basic fist technique, but his achievement wasn't too great. He was only at the initial stages after practicing for 3 months.

Some people in the neighborhood closed their eyes, seemingly not wanting to bear witness to such a thing. Although this youth wasn't strong, he still had some strength nonetheless.

One could imagine that if this punch landed, Tang Ning would be seriously injured. However, one should never leave things to their imaginations.

Bang!

A heavy collision was heard.

However, Tang Ning stood still on the same spot, unscathed. On the other hand, the cross-eyed youth was sent flying and slammed violently on the ground.

"Pfft!" He vomited a mouthful of blood as his previously cocky expression disappeared without a trace. He looked at the standing silhouette of the girl with unreserved fear and dread.

If he could look inside his arm, he would be horrified to discover that all the bones within his arm had been broken to the point of condemnation.

He would never be able to lift that arm up again.

Even though his internal organs were hurting badly, he immediately found the strength to crawl away as fast as he could when he met her gaze again.

Meanwhile, Tang Ning was stunned.

When the cross-eyed youth attacked her, she had only acted on instinct and responded with a palm strike. However, because she had recently advanced and hadn't learned proper control of her now boundless strength, she had attacked with more strength than she should have.

Although not much, more than 60% of her strength was unleashed into that palm strike. Not to mention that she also practiced martial arts, her palm technique had reached Mastery level a long time ago.

It would be more surprising if a different scene had occurred after weighing the strength of both parties.

Silence!

The spectators stared dumbfounded. Was this how the script was supposed to go? No one had expected that the usually domineering scorpion gang would suffer a loss at the hands of a teenager.

As if that weren't bad enough.

Even the members of the gang stared at her absentmindedly for a few moments due to the sudden change. However, they soon regained themselves as incomparably fierce expressions appeared on their faces.

Seeing that someone had dared to defy them, they all leaped forwards and surrounded Tang Ning. Each of them looked malevolent, no matter their height or size.

"Bitch. You dare to resist? Looks like you don't out the scorpion gang in your eyes. Finish her".

The middle-aged fat guy yelled as he stood at the side.

To him, this kind of Fights weren't worth him personally acting. After all, he could literally do the same thing that this girl had done with his level of strength.

What was a 1st stage skin tempering goon? Weak, he obviously didn't out someone with such weak strength in his eyes.

So to him, although this girl was strong, she should only be at the 3rd Stage body tempering realm at most.

There were more than five people who had surrounded her, all of which had varying levels of body cultivation.

Him, a 5th stage skin tempering cultivator, didn't need to sully his hands with such matters. If he did, then what was the point of having underlings?

"Attack!" More than 5 different people with cultivation bases from 1st to 4th stage skin tempering unleashed their full attacks on one person.

Some slapped their palms forward, while others punched out with their fists. However, Tang Ning looked at all this with a nonchalant expression on her face.

Inwardly, she was shocked! Cultivators always been this slow?

Tilting her body, she gracefully dodged every single attack that was sent her way without forgetting to retaliate.

The fight lasted for less than 39 seconds. However, the fat man's expression grew ugly. Presently, all the attackers had been beaten badly, as groans of pain rang out.

When they looked at the girl again, similarly to the first one, their vicious expressions were gone without a trace. They hurried to their feet and ran back towards their leader.

Thereby leading to the current scene.

The man's eyes shone fiercely as his slightly fat body turned with impressive dexterity for his size. He quickly repositioned his club and swung again.

Although the club wasn't a graded weapon, it had dozens of sharp spikes at the edges responsible for tearing flesh. The bloodstains on it were proof to this fact.

"Come on! Weren't you so domineering a moment ago? Why are you running now? Face my club head on if you dare!" Qi Feng yelled as he moved his body forward to initiate another swing.

He had poured more than 80% of his strength into this rod swing as he aimed to catch this slippery fish in one swipe.

Tang Ning, however, didn't dodge like he had expected. Placing one foot behind the other, she entered a stance and pounded her legs on the floor.

The ground shook slightly as Tang Ning blasted forwards with extreme vigor and speed. Her speed was incomparable to how it was earlier, when she was simply dodging and retaliating.

Tang Ning's body turned into a fast silhouette, and the sudden increase in speed caught Qi Feng off guard.

A trace of panic flashed through his eyes as he finally discovered that he had deeply underestimated his opponent.

Trying to salvage the situation, he abruptly stopped his swinging motion, which hurt his arm a great deal and pulled back.

Trying to adjust his aim, he drew backwards to form a clumsy sort of attack which at the same time acted as a form of defense.

Tang Ning didn't bother reducing her speed as she slapped her arm forward and caught the club with her bare hands.

Seeing her actions, Qi Feng let off a disdainful smirk as he considered her actions as foolishness.

Without reaching muscle tempering realm or Qi apprentice realm, defending against normal attacks from weapons was almost impossible.

In his opinion, Tang Ning's move of disregarding her safety and grabbing the sharp area of his weapon with her bare hands would lead to her quick defeat.

As expected, the younger generation will always be rash.

Yank!

Tang Ning couldn't tell what he was thinking as she yanked the club out of the way without a wince of pain appearing on her face.

Qi Feng's expression froze. A heavily laced palm strike landed on his slightly bloated stomach, and he flew away like an arrow leaving its bowstring.

His body cultivation did nothing to relieve the pain as he spat out a mouthful of blood and crashed heavily on the floor in a miserable state.

"What the fuck!" The taunting scorpion thugs had frozen expressions as their mouths gaped open. Their boss had lost so easily?

He was a 5th stage skin tempering cultivator, for fuck's sake. How could he lose so easily in no more than 10 breaths of time?

After the initial shock, horror appeared on their faces as their skin turned as white as a sheet. What the hell did they do to deserve such karma?

Meanwhile, Qi Feng wore an ashen expression on his face. Currently he thought he had accidentally provoked some families big shot descendant as he pointed his finger and stuttered.

"You…. How... You are above 5th Stage…"

"Shit! This girl is already above 5th Stage skin tempering realm! Where did she come from?"

"5th stage and barely 18. A genius has been seen with my two eyes".

"I know who she is, her name is Tang Ning and she is a regular person around here. However, even I didn't know that she had such talent in cultivation".

"I heard that the sects' assessment was happening in three days. Do you think she will participate?"

"Definitely. After all, who wants to live in a shabby place like...."

The quiet atmosphere became lively a second later. Those who knew anything about Tang Ning let out any information they knew like a broken dam.

Some youths around her age also. looked at her with jealousy and admiration.

However, only Tang Ning knew that after her cultivation session last night, her strength had increased by leaps and bounds. Her Qi cultivation had broken through to reach 6th Phase Dantian establishment, while her Body cultivation had already reached peak 8th Stage Skin tempering realm.

Presently.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap.