Chapter 23

Shen Ku has already merged with his demon spirit, and currently, he was looking at Ye Qi, while having two wings of flames extend from his back. It was a surprise for him to see Ye Qi using such a weird Demon Spirit. After all, it is the first that someone has a dark fog extends from his body.

Shen Ku assumed that it may be a Nightmare type Demon spirit and that he should be careful of it.

Ye Qi, on the other hand, was thinking of how long should he stall this before going back to Shen Fei.

"Prepare to feel the real difference between us and you, the one who looks down on those with better cultivation than him." Shen Ku growled as he pointed with his index toward Ye Qi. Ye Qi sneered at him. When Shen Ku's finger shook, the fire from his wings danced around his body and gathered in front of his finger, joining in one point in front of his fingertip, before busting and turning into a beam that headed toward Ye Qi, who kicked on the ground and turned into a blur that dodged the beam in the last second.

"I think misjudged me. I'm looking down at you, but not for the reason you think it is."

Ye Qi mocked as his body turned into a fast blur that headed toward Shen Ku.

The audience was amazed by the speed that Ye Qi has shown.

"Humph. Your spirit seems to increase your speed, but that's all."

Shen Ku mocked as he shot more fire beams toward Ye Qi, who barely could dodge them at the last moment, leaving large explosions of fire behind him.

"Who knows?" Ye Qi approached the Sacred Family person, standing five meters away from him, and clenched his fist. Shen Ku smirked at that moment as he opened his palm toward Ye Qi, and the flames gathered there.

Ye Qi pretended to open his eyes widely.

From Shen Ku's palm, a huge fireball was unleashed, intending to swallow Ye Qi.

Ye Qi just has slowed the time, and he saw the fire approaching him at a very slow rate.

Since he has merged with the demon spirit, he has a physical strength on par with it, meaning he is a golden rank while merging with his demon spirit, even if it were not a fighting type.

It would not be too hard to take the fire face to face, even though it would feel too hot.

'Mm… sounds like a good excuse to pretend to get hit.'

Ye Qi activated his void form all of the sudden and entered the fireball. In this form, he can't be harmed by something physical. When he was about to get out from the fireball, he got out of his void form and he appeared with fire covering him from head to toe.

The audience, only those who have good eyes to keep up, showed a surprised expression. Not everyone can keep up with the speed of those who have very high ranks.

(AN: Someone calculated a Nie Lie's speed as a Silver rank spiritualist in Vs Battles Wiki, which is like average Golden rank's, and the speed is hypersonic/ Mach 19.)

Shen Ku, seeing that Ye Qi appeared from the flame and that the young brat took it head-on, showed a surprise on his face. Noticing that Ye Qi is clenching his fist and going to punch him, Shen Ku wrapped his palm with fire and extending it, intending to block the fist.

However, when Ye Qi's fist approached his palm, a long blade was extended from Ye Qi's hand. It was pitch black, looks like it came from his bones, and thick as a sword.

Shen Ku's hand was pierced by the blade.

The bone blade didn't stop extending from Ye Qi's arm and continued stretching more. Shen Ku reacted quickly and jumped back.

It was a real surprise for the audience now.

Ye Qi has just taken an attack on himself, just to deliver a strong blow. The audience was in awe after seeing that. That is how a true martial artist should be. Even in the face of a stronger opponent, one should always focus on delivering the right blow, just like Ye Qi had just done.

Shen Ku held his bleeding hand and looked forward, to Ye Qi, while clenching his teeth. Shen Ku's hand just became useless, as he felt that he had been tricked by Qi to take the blow.

"Damn you!" Shen Ku had fire extending around his whole body as he flipped his fire wings. With a flap, he ascended in the air. "I will burn you!" he threatened while looking toward Ye Qi, who seemed to be barely able to stand up.

Ye Qi, on the other hand, was just as fine as possible. He looked up, 10 meters high in the air, to the person who is in the sky, and Ye Qi thought of a way to take him down. Ye Qi can't just win an air battle without showing that he is Golden Rank.

'That's it!' Ye Qi's eyes lit up as he looked at the fire wings of his foe.

Those wings are made of fire, and fire is a pure element

"Come down then." Ye Qi coughed few times on his palm, before pointing the bone blade toward Shen Ku.

Shen Ku sneered. He looked to the side, making eye contact with his young master, Shen Fei. Shen Fei waved his hand in front of his neck, and Shen Ku understood it as a sign that he can destroy him. Since his family permitted him, Shen Ku decided that he wouldn't face any trouble while taking Ye Qi down.

His wings started flapping. When their edges pointed in Ye Qi's direction, many hot red fireballs headed toward Ye Qi, who was on the ground.

Ye Qi jumped to the sides very quickly. His Demon Spirit seemed to give him speed, yet it seemed not to be very strong.

Ye Qi still dodged the attacks. When the smoke started covering the area, Ye Qi pretended to leave some groans of pains, while nothing has hit him.

"Ouch, Argh. iii."

Ye Qi was standing, looking at the fireballs that were missing him, and making sounds with his mouth while depending on the smoke and dust clouds to cover him.

"Ouch..." Ye Qi was sitting in a squat position? Nothing was really hitting him. 'Would they buy it.' he wasn't sincerely making these sounds

---

"Ha… ha…" Shen Ku panted as he had been done by sending many fireballs, consuming a lot of his soul force, but still, he has a lot left.

All he needs to worry about is that Ye Qi is not in the afterlife yet. As, according to Shen Fee's orders, he needed to make Ye Qi reach a state that is between the dead the living, but not kills him. Depending on the yells he had heard from the smoke, Shen Ku thought that he has done a good job.

Shen Ku suddenly felt that his wings froze.

He tried to flap them, but he could not do anything.

He opened his eyes widely, wondering what is happening. Soon, in the middle of his wonder, the gravity started pulling his body down.

In the arena, Ye Qi was using <<Elemental Freezing>>. With such skill, one can even walk on the fire, since it would freeze in time itself.

The fire that made Shen Ku's wings is frozen, and no one knows why. If anyone touches his wings, they would be solid. Even if Shen Ku wanted to take them back, he will not be able to do so.

The dust cloud started getting clear. Ye Qi clenched his fist. As a Golden rank demon spiritualist, he can prospect his surroundings, so the dust cloud did not bother his eyes. When he saw Shen Ku's body falling, he turned into a dark blur and headed forward, before stabbing.

The dust cloud soon was cleared and Ye Qi appeared, with his blade stabbing Ku's chest and getting out from his back. Ye Qi's breathing rate was fast, and he was smiling, looking at Shen Ku, whose mouth had trails of blood that ended up on his chin.

"You…" Shen Ku tried to punch. However, Ye Qi twisted his wrist, and thus the blade, making more blood gash out of Shen Ku's mouth.

Ye Qi pulled the blade back.

Shen Ku fell to the ground, and, soon, someone came to take him away to cure him.

Ye Qi, despite looking so tired, looked at the audience directly and smiled.

Ye Xiu was just stroking his chin.

Ning'er was shaking Ye Ziyun from her collar while pointing at Ye Qi. From reading her lips, Ye Qi could tell that Ning'er was saying 'why did you say he is going to be fine, his skin may be burned.' Moreover, Ye Ziyun was looking with a confused facial expression at Ye Qi.

Ye Qi looked back to Shen Xiu. Shen Xiu was having her hand on her mouth, biting her finger.

'Don't worry, just one fight, and I will go back home.' Ye Qi just smiled slightly and transmitted his voice toward her, saying,

Shen Xiu transmitted her voice back. 'What, are you crazy? You need to apply for medicine first. Come back to the waiting room, I will take care of you.'

'Mmm… sounds tempting.' Ye Qi transmitted his voice. 'I'll get more damage then since I want the treat to be longer.' Ye Qi smirked at her.

Shen Xiu took her hand from her mouth and covered her face.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Shen Fei was standing with the main affairs elders.

"Shall we change the orders of the fights, just like it was originally planned?" The main affair elders said to Shen Fei.

The original plan was that in case Ye Qi has defeated Shen Ku, they would send a Golden rank spiritualist to fight him.

Although Ye Qi won, he looks to have taken great damage for his own. Just by looking at him, Ye Qi may be defeated by a first start Silver Rank.

Shen Fei extended his arm. "No, I can just bully him. He can't just back up from our fight." Shen Fei smirked. Finally, it is time to beat the bastard and humiliate him. "I will fight."

"As you wish." The main affairs elder said with a nod.

The second round of the tournament started. Ye Qi and Shen Fei's fight started the first. Ye Qi snorted. The bastards are not planning to give him a chance to rest, and they want to start the second round with his fight.

The audience roared while thinking that this is going to be a very predictable fight. All of them knew that they should bet on Shen Fei.

-x-X-x-

Ye Qi stood up in the arena while looking at Shen Fei, who had a cocky smile and was standing 7 meters away from him.

"Are you sure you don't want to give up?" Shen Fei asked, mockingly, toward Ye Qi.

Ye Qi gave him a cold glare. He was standing straight as if he was not tired from his previous fight.

"I'll have you to know." Shen Fei unleashed his aura. Everyone around opened their eyes widely.

Shen Fei continued. "In one week, I have broken through to the 3rd star Silver Rank and I'm near the fourth." And then, Shen Fei unleashed his aura. A demon spirit shadow overwhelmed him. It looked like a red tiger, made of flames, and had furious eyes. Soon, it started merging with his body.

Shen Fei had some tiger ears replacing his original ear. His height extended a bit. His nails turned into claws, and his nose became more like a tiger's.

"My Demon Spirit is one of the strongest Sacred Flames type Demon Beasts." He said mockingly as he finished merging. He then sneered at Ye Qi, betting that Ye Qi would be barely able to move. To Shen Fei, it would be the best chance to cripple Ye Qi and assure that he has a mental trauma that Ye Qi won't be able to cultivate and advance anymore, that, of course, without mentioning the physical burns.

Ye Qi looked calmly at him, his breaths were stable.

Shen Fie clicked his tongue. "Pretending to be tough. Fine, how about I give you an offer to get out of here without much damage." Shen Fei had a cocky smile. "If you kneel three times and say that you're less of a man, I would be willing to let you go without many burns." Shen Fei said, mockingly

"I don't know. Your offer sounds lame." The dark fog started unleashing around Ye Qi at a higher rate.

Shen Fie flinched when Ye Qi looked at the side and laughed a bit.

Ye Qi looked into his eyes and continued.

"I will give you a better offer. You have three seconds to pray. Some deity may hear you. You will need those prayers once I'm done with you."

"Hehehe…" Shen Fei lowered his head and chuckled softly. He then couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Hahahaha! —"

In no time, Ye Qi turned into a blur and appeared in front of the laughing Shen Fei, whose facial expression froze as he hadn't expected to see Ye Qi in front of him.

"The three seconds are over." Ye Qi calmly said.

Before Shen Fei could even make the slightest reaction, Ye Qi lifted his hand that had a bone blade. He then, with amazing speed, started waving the blade tens of time around Shen Fei.

Before Shen Fei could even feel the pain, he saw the dark blur of the blade was cutting him repeatedly, red blood following the blade's trail.

Ye Qi stopped after a second and gave his back to Shen Fei.

"The only reason you are not dead yet." Ye Qi looked over his shoulder and whispered to Shen Fei who has a frozen expression. "Is that I need your family to hand your aunt first."

Ye Qi then started walking.

Tens and tens of cuts appeared across Shen Fei's body. The blood splashed out of all of those deep wounds. Ye Qi had made sure not to cut him to pieces publicly. However, he had made sure to cut the necessary meridians for the cultivation with his sword intent. Ye Qi, later, will say that he was in rush and could not control himself after the first fight that had tired him.

Shen Fei fell to the ground, unconscious, in the middle of the silent people who were observing with shock.

Someone near came and took Shen Fei's falling body away, to heal him before he bleeds out and die.

Meanwhile, from the seats of the watcher, one of Shen Fei's direct followers clenched his fist and punched a near chair that was placed next to him. He stood up to his feet, a red aura covered him. "How dare he do that to the young master." The red-haired man approached Ye Qi with sturdy steps, unleashing his Golden Rank aura.

For the noble families, even if they aren't in the succussing lines, they are still proud of their family name. He just wanted to avenge his young master.

Ye Qi turned and looked at the red eyes red-haired man, who showed his golden rank aura as a spiritualist.

"Oy, what's wrong with your eyes." Ye Qi said.

"Do you think that you can bully our family members and go away? You will pay for what have you done to Shen Fei."

"For real. You know who I am." Ye Qi said, pointing to himself.

"I know, Mister Qi. Someone who may not make it to the finals to fight me."

"You're pretty cocky, aren't you?" Ye Qi crossed his arms. It is still needless to show his power. He looked up, to the man who looked in his twentyish and stood up in front of him.

"So what. You're in my family's prosperity."

Ye Qi put his fist next to his mouth and faked a cough, before ignoring the golden rank man. The golden rank Spiritualist took Ye Qi ignorance toward him as a sign of cockiness.

"Tell me." Ye Qi looked at him. "What do you want."

"One slap, that's all." He said as he lifted his hand.

Ye Qi looked back at him, smirking.

In no time, the man who intended to slap froze in his place. A figure flashed in front of them. Ye Qi looked at the bulky man with snow-white hair.

"Yes, it's only one slap." Ye Xiu said, unleashing his peak Black Gold Aura.

The man froze in his place, and, before he could mutter a word, Ye Xiu lifted his hand before he waved it down, hitting his cheek with unimaginable force.

The slap alone made the man fly several meters in the air, before he crushes on the wall, sinking deep in them. Everyone knew that he must have taken a lot of damage. It already was known that a Black Gold spiritualist could cause the Glory City to shake, which is already big as a small country.

Ye Xiu put his hands behind his back. "Does anyone has objection to my son's fair winning?" Said him while looking at everyone from the seats and the Sacred Family.

Suddenly, a man from the corners came. He was short, skinny, and had grey-white hair. However, his cultivation level was not strong, as it was only silver rank.

He put a weak smile on his face as he approached with a friendly look.

"Master Ye Xiu. Please, do not take this to the heart. It's just something that happens between the hot-blooded youths."

"Shen Ming, you think twenty years old Golden Rank Spiritualist is a hot-blooded. If he were that hot-blooded to try to bully my son, he won't have been a Golden Rank Spiritualist in the first place."

Shen Ming, the main affairs elder, had no choice but to rub the back of his head. "You're right. I'll make sure to discipline him personally."

"You better do." Ye Xiu said.

'Wow, so, that's how young masters dads act.' Ye Qi was looking at Ye Xiu defending his back. 'I wonder why I never loved it as much as I am doing now.'

"Humph." With a harrumph, Ye Qi's father gave them his back and vanished from his original spot.

Ye Qi looked at the seats. Shen Xiu was looking at Ye Qi, her hand covering her face, while her eyes observing him.

On the other hand, Xiao Ning'er was crying on Ziyun's shoulder -- tears of joys, it seems, since she has been freed of Shen Fei's curse. With the contract that Ye Qi and Shen Fei had made, Shen Fei can't get close to her again, and Ning'er is no longer his fiancée.

"Ye Qi, although your father is right. We all had seen the battle. You cut him mercilessly while you could end this fight from the first blow? What do you have to say about that."

Ye Qi turned to Shen Ming, who started talking. Shen Ming pointed to Shen Fei's original spot, which was soaked in blood.

"Ah, about that, it's your fault." Ye Qi said. "The first fight with Shen Ku, a 5th Star Silver Rank, had made me so tired and damaged. I thought I were so tired and not so strong that I need to hold back anything, so I dashed and waved the blade randomly. I didn't think I was powerful to do much damage anyway. It's Shen Fei's fault for not trying to dodge. I only realised that I cut him so much after I stopped waving. Would you believe that I was closing my eyes as I was waving the blade?"

Ye Qi shrugged his shoulders. His tone was so robotic that he didn't seem to have the slightest hint of regret about what he had done.

"Hmm… so, are you ready to go in the next round?" Shen Ming asked. Although Ye Qi is tired, it would be a good way to have him fight in the next round. He would make more money since the bets went on the Sacred Family's benefits. As for the second benefit. If Ye Qi fought, he would get his ass beaten, which may make Shen Fei less angry later when he wakes up. Shen Ming will make sure to make Ye Qi fight a Golden Rank Spiritualist.

"No. I am pretty much tired. Consider that I gave up." Ye Qi shrugged his shoulders. " I won't participate in the third round, now that I won over Shen Fei."

Ye Qi is here for two purposes. One of them is to beat Shen Fei, so why would he ask for more. Xiao Ning'er is already free now.

On the other hand, the other reason, he is going to reveal it.

"Ho. Aren't a martial artist. As a Demon Spiritualist, you should fight until the collapse. Otherwise, why did you come here?"

Shen Ming made sure to make his voice loud enough for the people to hear.

It's his way to provoke Ye Qi for the next fight.

"You're right. I didn't come here for martial arts." Ye Qi said, aloud as well.

"Why did you then?"

Ye Qi turned his face and looked at Shen Xiu, who opened her crimson eyes at him, widely.

Ye Qi smiled.

"I'm here to ask for the patriarch's sister's hand, young mistress Shen Xiu. I want to bind our families."

Ye Qi opened his arms for Shen Xiu. Everyone in the audience turned and looked at her. Ning'er and Ziyun had their mouths opened widely.

Even Ye Xiu, Ye Qi's father who was standing on the top of the building, looked at her. She was pretty but quite old for him to be his second fiancée.

The main affair elder doubted his ears; he didn't believe that Ye Qi wants to end up with 19 years old woman as his wife.

"Young master Qi; I believe that isn't a good reason to refuse the next round…"

"Hey, didn't you hear me well? I came to say that I want to engage with Shen Xiu." Ye Qi said, pointing to Shen Xiu, who had her hand on her mouth while suppressing tears.