120 He Ji

"Youngster, don't be rash," Elder Zhang said to Xue Wei through voice compression. Xue Wei turned around and answered in the same way, "Senior, do not worry about me, I know my own limits."

When Xue Wei replied through voice compression, Elder Zhang's eyes widened in surprise. Never had he expected that this youngster would know how to compress his voice like himself.

The Elder stroked his beard, a smile on his face. He looked at the Little Tribe Chief and noticed how she was anxiously looking at Xue Wei. Her small hands were clenched in front of her chest, and her lips were pressed tightly together. It was clear that she was very nervous about Xue Wei sealing his trump card.

"Little Tribe Chief, you like this youngster?" Elder Zhang asked gently. Only he, the Little Tribe Chief, and the other elders heard the question. They turned to look at young woman, whose face had turned beet red.

"Elder Zhang, what are you talking about?" she asked, feigning ignorance, but she dared not look at him.

Seeing this, the elders laughed heartily. All of them were close to the Little Tribe Chief and knew her tics, so they easily figured her out.

"He is not bad," one of the other elders said with a nod of the head. "He has courage. Going up against an eight layer Earth Warrior without using his specialty, that immense spiritual power of his, is something that requires guts. Guts like those are definitely needed by our Chaos Vulture Tribe."

"He has at least one friend in the center of the continent, so he cannot be a simple person," another agreed.

"Since he has a strong soul, it's likely he focuses more on soul attacks and mental strength rather than raw capacity for Qi. That could explain why he is only at the sixth layer of the Earth Warrior rank."

All the elders were excited about Xue Wei's performance, their impression of him becoming favorable. Especially because Elder Zhang looked at him with such a positive eye.

The more they praised Xue Wei, the happier the Little Tribe Chief became, but the more embarrassed she became too.

The elders had not lowered their voices when praising Xue Wei, all of which had been heard by the tribe's youngsters. Their faces were twisted with jealousy and dislike.

They had been born in the Chaos Vulture Tribe, but this was the first time they had seen the elders praise someone ever since the rise of their Little Tribe Chief. No one from their tribe had had that privilege ever since.

Even the faces of the Sky Warriors had turned slightly ugly.

Xue Wei, the person in question, stood casually and observed the eight layer Earth Warrior in front of him.

The opponent wielded a saber, and a menacing expression could be seen on his face.

"No one will do anything for a dead genius," the youngster from the tribe said to himself in his heart before rushing at Xue Wei with a firm grip on his saber.

He did not have any movement technique, simply dashing at the other. Xue Wei snorted.

Forbidden Rush!

As if his body had merged with the wind, Xue Wei fluttered in the air and easily avoided the saber that came crashing down.

Xue Wei shook his head, calmly watching his opponent as he turned around. He had decent speed, but Xue Wei had previously used the Forbidden Rush movement technique to escape a Heavenly Warrior for some time, so evading an eight layer Earth Warrior's attack was almost child's play.

Xue Wei was playing around. He kept merging with the wind and fluttering like a leaf in the air. To many of the experts present, it looked as if he was teleporting from one place to another, leaving only an afterimage behind.

This continued for a few minutes before Xue Wei evaded the umpteenth attack and appeared far away from his opponent. "You've lost," he said with a flat voice devoid of emotions.

"I have not lost!" the opponent said through gritted teeth while panting heavily.

"You lost," Elder Zhang said from a distance. "It is impossible for you to even touch the hem of his clothes, let alone defeat him."

"I have more energy than him!" the opponent argued back. "I will be able to hold out until he runs low on energy, which means it will be his loss!"

"Do you think so?" Elder Zhang looked at him as if he was looking at a small child. "Look at you now, already out of breath, and then look at your opponent. He has not even used his Qi yet."

"His ability is supported passively by the wind around us, and his affinity grows stronger alongside the wind. Furthermore, he uses a minimal amount of Qi to use that movement skill of his."

Xue Wei's opponent was now quiet, but his face still displayed unwillingness.

"Take a slash of mine, and I will acknowledge that you are stronger than me!" the young man continued. Before Xue Wei had the time to respond, however, the Little Tribe Chief had taken a step forward and slapped him, the loud slap resounded on the sparring field like a thunderclap through quiet weather. The Little Tribe Chief was clearly unhappy.

"You have already lost enough face!" she exclaimed angrily. "First off, you are an eight layer Earth Warrior, whereas he is sixth-layer."

"Two, you asked him not to use his forte, spiritual power, to which he obliged."

"Three, you cannot accept that you cannot defeat him because his speed exceeds your own to a point where you can't even touch him."

"Finally, four, you still have the guts to ask him to take one of your blows head on? What will you do if he receives it? Will you ask him to bind his hands behind his back and allow you to ruthlessly stomp on him without fighting back?"

"This young man has already shown enough consideration to you by not using his spiritual power; now you want him to not use his movement technique as well? He is two layers beneath you, yet you are the one who asks your opponent to lower his strength?!"

The more she spoke, the redder the youngster's face became.

Everything that the Little Tribe Chief had said was correct and hit him in the sorest spots. This guy was thoroughly humiliated, but he dared not vent his anger on the Little Tribe Chief. Which is why resorted to instead sending Xue Wei a glare filled with anger, embarrassment, and hatred.

Xue Wei noticed it easily, but he did not care. Even if he had to exchange blows with this eight layer Earth Warrior, he would not back down.

His body had a strength superior to others at the same layer from the moment he started cultivating. Furthermore, the further he got down the road of cultivation, the bigger this advantage became.

He could feel that his body possessed the sturdiness of a dragon's scales - most likely because he was cultivating the Azure Dragon Scripture.

Xue Wei had not been in direct confrontation with anyone for a long time. While it is true that he had carved a path of blood on their way out of Heping Kingdom, all of those experts had been weaker than him or Hei Gou so he had never had a chance to fully bring to bear his power against an enemy he could consider his equal.

"So an eight layered Earth Warrior is only so-so. Anyone else at the eight layer want to give it a go? Or perhaps someone at the ninth layer? I am not going to be unfair, I welcome any challengers in the Earth Warrior rank." Xue Wei asked with a loud voice, causing the faces of the tribe's younger generation members to sink.

Someone had to step up since he was calling out everyone from the Chaos Vulture Tribe. If they didn't, they would never be able to lift their heads in front of Xue Wei in the future.

"If me using my movement technique is too troublesome, I can promise to not use either that or my spiritual energy," he continued with a grin on his face. What he said stunned them all.

Not running away? Not making them go mad? Was this just a bluff, or did he have more tricks up his sleeve?

None of them really knew, but where others had been eager to challenge him in the past, the rest chose not to be rash anymore. They were not so stupid as to think that this young man was willing to throw away his face for nothing.

Silence permeated the atmosphere in the training ground before a sigh could be heard. A young man had stepped forward.

Xue Wei narrowed his eyes when he saw that this person was a ninth layer Earth Warrior, a whole three layers above him. His pulse quickened as adrenaline rushed into his body.

"Wei, are you sure you can win?" Hei Gou asked with a low voice next to him. Xue Wei smirked in response. "I don't know," he said honestly, "but I will do my very best!"

Up until now, Xue Wei had had the strength to defeat experts two layers above him, but his opponent this time was three layers above him, and he had promised not to rely on Forbidden Rush.

This made things much more complicated, yet Xue Wei had no regret. He had come to the sparring field for the purpose of testing his strength. To test his strength, he could not always use his spiritual energy, neither could he rely on his speed every time. He wished to test his martial techniques and bodily strength. He also wished to test how much power he gained from the extremely pure azure Qi that was running through his body.

Everyone gathered around Xue Wei and the youngster. This young man seemed to be a year older than Xue Wei.

Based on appearance alone, Xue Wei saw a youth that he could not afford to take lightly. This young man had sword-shaped eyebrows, eyes like a phoenix, and, albeit not as handsome as Hei Gou, he would hold his own in the looks department.

His eyes were as clear as a still lake. Once he stood opposite of Xue Wei, he cupped his fists and bowed. Xue Wei returned the gesture, as it was clear that this man felt respect towards Xue Wei.

"My name is He Ji. I am the cousin of the late He Lao, whom your brother resembles."

"It has brought my family great joy but also sadness to see someone so similar to our beloved Lao, so it is with mixed emotions that I look at him today."

"I originally thought that this Hei Gou was the only talented figure out of the two of you, but it seems that I was mistaken."

"I will challenge you to a spar. I am very curious as to what it is you rely on when you say that both eight and ninth layer Earth Warriors can challenge you, and you will not use your movement technique nor spiritual power attack."

This person was extremely polite and explained his thoughts clearly. Everyone could sense that there was no hostility in his words, and that this was indeed just a spar that depended on one's capabilities and where neither would injure the other intentionally.

Xue Wei had a favorable opinion of this He Ji in front of him. He was straightforward and honest. It was clear that he had great talent when it came to cultivation and that he would go a long way. In fact, Xue Wei would not be surprised if this young man one day grew up and became a Prairie Monarch like Elder Zhang.

"Come at me!" Xue Wei took a stance in front of He Ji. Qi roiled around him and suddenly a sword had manifested in his hand.

While He Ji also fought with a sword, his was weaker due to its composition of metal as opposed to Xue Wei's sword of Qi

When Elder Zhang saw the Qi sword, his eyes glistened with excitement. Although he thought Xue Wei was biting off more than he could chew, he could now not help but feel that maybe he was wrong.