To Prove Herself

Gasps arose from the crowd as they also realized what Long Meiling was attempting to do, excitedly chattering amongst themselves.

"Wow, is she really going for it...?"

"No way, she'll damage her foundation..."

Meiling, who was still in the midst of forcing her breakthrough, tuned out their whispering, focusing solely on circulating her qi.

She remembered what Mini C and Bestie had told her about Ryker's breakthrough process, and how he'd substituted some of the qi constituting his foundation for mana, instead. They'd discussed such a technique at length, and she had even gotten some ideas about how she could, in theory, supplement her own cultivation with mana.

Well, she had planned on utilizing such a technique when she was closer to breaking through, naturally, but now seemed like a good time to try, as any.

Even with this knowledge, and the extra energy from using mana in the process, forcing the breakthrough was still risky, and she didn't even know if it would work, or not. But it was a risk she was willing to take if it meant she could best her sister!

'Where is this stubbornness coming from?' she thought to herself, ruefully.

The issue with her engagement was essentially resolved; she trusted Ryker when he said he and Luo Shuchang would handle it, so her previous motivations for winning were moot, at this point.

But she'd already decided. She would leave the city after this event, leaving her family behind. This would be her last chance to compete against her sister... And to settle her grievances!

Long Jingfei watched with narrowed eyes as Meiling broke through, frowning slightly. She gripped her daggers tightly, looking as if she was about to strike, but ultimately let her arms fall to her sides, waiting patiently for her sister to finish.

Long Meiling exhaled laboriously, feeling her meridians and dantian expanding as her qi flowed through them.

Then there was the foreign sensation of mana that felt like it was invading her body, but using her mana control technique, she slowly coaxed it into its own flow through her meridians, the qi and mana expanding and swirling around each other like a whirlpool.

Sweat dripped from her forehead, the concentration required to circulate both qi and mana in this delicate process taxing her body greatly. Eventually, however, the turbulent qi and mana flowing through her body stabilized, and a powerful burst of aura erupted from her as her eyes shot open.

Standing up, she clenched her free hand, feeling the power now surging within her. She'd done it!

"Impossible... She really did it..."

"Foundation Establishment realm at the age of 18!"

The crowd broke into wild shouts of excitement, Long Meiling's risky move igniting the passion in their hearts. Long Jingfei, on the other hand, stood unmoved and unimpressed.

"Are you quite done?" she asked, inspecting her nails as if she was bored.

"Thank you for letting me finish," Meiling said in response, readying her sword, once more. It would have been easy for her sister to attack her and interrupt the breakthrough process, leaving her crippled, or worse.

"Hmph. I just didn't want to give you an excuse, when you lost."

The two sisters glared at each other, before leaping forwards to engage, once more.

--

"Argh, you brat!"

Elder Shi cried out in pain as the Sturdy Iron Cudgel slammed into his side, rolling along the ground before jumping back up to his feet, breathing heavily.

"Phew... This old dude won't go down!" Ryker said, wiping some blood and sweat from his face. Although he hadn't taken any critical injuries, the tricky nature of Elder Shi's sword-whip left him with numerous gashes and flesh wounds all over his body.

"Indeed... we're not quite powerful enough to close things out," Luo Shuchang agreed.

He was less disheveled than Ryker was, but his breathing and qi flow was erratic, his exhaustion showing in his eyes. The backlash from prematurely activating the Eight Trigrams Seal had drained most of his qi, and the subsequent rush here didn't help.

[3 minutes left,] Mini C's voice rang out in Ryker's head, and he clicked his tongue annoyance. Three minutes was hardly enough!

Although the system's borrowing function did give him a large boost in qi and knowledge of many techniques, Ryker still only had the power of an early stage Soul Wandering cultivator. It was enough to hold his own, but he was still quite far from being able to strike a decisive blow on Elder Shi.

Luo Shuchang was in much the same predicament. Seeing as they didn't want to kill the elder, many of his trump cards would have to be held on standby, leaving him at a bit of a loss. Although he wasn't worried about losing, the matter of Meiling's engagement may be in jeopardy if they couldn't capture Elder Shi, here.

"What's the matter? You brats don't have much energy left, do you?" Elder Shi taunted them with a sneer. All during the fight, he had been inching closer to where the sect's secret base was hidden. One more push, and he would make a break for it!

"Says you!"

Ryker rushed in, leading with a wild swing from his staff, but before he could make contact, Elder Shi's sword-whip snaked around and went straight for his neck, forcing him to divert his attack to parry.

The sword-whip continued along its path to snap out behind him, also thwarting Luo Shuchang's attempt to close in, from behind.

"Hmph, it's one hundred years to early for you brats to be facing me!" the old man cried out. His hands shook as he did, however, hinting at his own exhaustion. The partial sealing of his meridians and the qi he consumed to make it this far was starting to take its toll.

He took a few more steps towards his goal, taking care to keep it inconspicuous. Once he made an opening, he would go straight for it.

"Here! Have a taste of this!"

Concentrating all of his remaining qi into his sword, he swung it about in a circle above him, creating a small whirlwind of sword qi that shot out like flying blades, tearing up the surrounding buildings.

The cutting wind forced Ryker and Luo Shuchang to shield their faces with their arms, struggling to stand their ground as the sword qi lacerated their skin.

"Shit!" Ryker yelled through gritted teeth. The two of them jumped back to get away from the whirlwind's epicenter, covering their eyes.

Elder Shi grinned maniacally, running into the storefront right behind him and breaking through the floorboards in the corner to reveal a hidden stairway.

"I made it!" he cried out in triumph, flying down the stairs and making for the center of the basement, below. There was a large stone pillar in the center, the activation stone for the teleportation array.

He quickly rushed up and put a hand to the pillar, activating it with his qi as he waited for the telltale blue glow... but nothing happened.

"What...?"

Elder Shi slammed a fist on the activation stone in frustration, utterly confused as to why he wasn't being transported back to the sect. He was on his last legs, here, why wasn't it working?!

At this point in time, Luo Shuchang and Ryker descended into the hidden basement, themselves, looking quite worse for wear.

"Sorry, I've already disabled the teleportation array you had, down here," Luo Shuchang said, panting as he held his side. Ryker just wiped the sweat from his forehead, smearing blood all over it in the process.

"Phew, guess all that work last night was worth it!"

"But... But how... How did you..." Elder Shi stuttered as the reality of what was happening started to sink in. He desperately banged his fists against the stone pillar, but it was decidedly inert.

Not only would he have revealed the sect's plan to the Zhou, he wouldn't even be able to get away?

How did they know?!

He fell to his hands and knees, crushed by the weight of his failures. The plan the sect leader had been working towards for decades... If she came to find out he was responsible for letting this happen...

Elder Shi slowly rose to his feet, a look of madness in his eyes. Hia aura fluctuated wildly as the pressure surrounding him skyrocketed.

Sensing this, Luo Shuchang was in disbelief. Was this guy really going to detonate his Golden Core, as well? He squeezed out his remaining qi and rushed forward in an attempt to stop Elder Shi.

However, Ryker had already started to move. Using his Profound Wind Walking Technique in conjunction with the Void Crossing Steps, he leapt forward with an explosive burst of energy, instantly appearing before Elder Shi and aiming straight for his dantian with a thrust tipped in concentrated qi and mana.

Caught while in the process of detonating his Golden Core, Elder Shi couldn't even react as the Sturdy Iron Cudgel bore into his abdomen, crushing his organs and dispersing the energy that was being built up to trigger the detonation.

The backlash from this made him faint, straight away, crumpling to the ground in a heap. The only indication that he was still alive was the faint, rasping breaths escaping his lips.

"Dude, what happened to not having to fight this guy to the death?" Ryker said, panting as he turned back to look at Luo Shuchang. Shuchang just laughed, scratching his cheek awkwardly.

"Haha... Well, we didn't almost die, this time?"

Ryker just scoffed with a good natured grin on his face, though that suddenly turned into a grimace as he tightly clutched his stomach.

"Ryker? Are you alri--"

"Sorry, gotta take care of some other business!"

And with that, he was gone, having rushed off with the Void Crossing Steps in search of the nearest toilet. Luo Shuchang just stood there with a confused look on his face before shrugging it off, moving to restrain the unconscious Elder Shi.

However, he realized something that made him pause, looking back at where Ryker had swiftly vacated the premises.

"When did he learn the Void Crossing Steps...?"