"Xiao Sheng." Xie Lan called. "Your greatest opponent in the matches are Jing Cheng and Xi Ming. However, their match was already finished. The ones who are left are Qian Lin and Gong Xian." He looked at Cheng Sheng. "We still don't know the strength of the two. Thus, you have to push your limit to prepare for what will happen." He told him, his expression serious.
"Pushing my limit…" Cheng Sheng muttered as he remembered the broken roof of the Training Hall of the Xinfaxian Sect in the east mountain of Xinfaxian.
"Yes. You have to test your power again." Xie Lan said as he created another space. It was the Yunxiao Inn, but it is empty. "Xiao Yin." He called.
"Yes." Fei Yin answered.
"You fight against Xiao Sheng." Xie Lan told him.
Cheng Sheng's pupils shrank. "But, founder - !" he said when he remembered Xie Lan suffered an internal injury from him after he hit him with his qi. If Fei Yin would fight him, Fei Yin will suffer more than what Xie Lan had suffered since Fei Yin is weaker than Xie Lan.
Fei Yin is just a disciple while Xie Lan is a sect leader! Fei Yin is just in Peak Level Golden Core Stage while Xie Lan is already in the Immortalization Stage!
Fei Yin, however, nodded. "Okay." he agreed.
Xie Lan smiled at Fei Yin. "Don't you have faith in your da shixiong?" he asked Cheng Sheng as he turned to him.
Cheng Sheng stared at Xie Lan with a blank gaze. "… I don't have faith on what's inside me." he said and he looked at Fei Yin. "Da shixiong…" he called, his eyes and voice are filled with worry. He's afraid of what will happen to Fei Yin.
Although the situation looked grim, but Fei Yin is happy for the concern Cheng Sheng has towards him. "It'll be fine." he said. "Trust me." he told him.
For some reason, Cheng Sheng immediately felt calm. He stared at Fei Yin before he closed his eyes and raised his hands to his chest, calling out the qi from his body.
Xie Lan's expression became serious. Before, he tried to push Cheng Sheng's limit by beating him up. In the end, he just beat him up and nothing happened. As they rested, he realized something.
"Xiao Sheng." He called. "Have you locked your qi?" he asked.
Cheng Sheng, who was lying on the floor with his face down, nodded. "… yes." he answered.
A vein popped in Xie Lan's head and he hit the back of Cheng Sheng's head. "Then what am I doing this for?!" he asked, his voice filled with anger, and he looked at Cheng Sheng's battered appearance.
Cheng Sheng fell silent. "… founder. I'm afraid." he said.
Xie Lan was about to berate him when he paused. For the past decade, he only saw a strong Cheng Sheng. But now, Cheng Sheng's voice broke. "Xiao Sheng..." He called.
"I'm afraid I might suddenly blow up – " Cheng Sheng said.
"Xiao Sheng… it won't happen – " he told him.
Cheng Sheng continued. " – not the Xinfaxian, but myself – " he told him.
Xie Lan's face darkened and he immediately knocked him out.
When Cheng Sheng woke up, Xie Lan forcefully unlocked his qi. Then, Xie Lan was almost thrown away to the Meditation Hall in west mountain. Fortunately, the drape barriers inside the Training Hall prevented that to happen. Or else, Fan Wen will be worried to death.
"Xiao Yin. Prepare yourself." He told Fei Yin when he saw Cheng Sheng's silver qi with a trace of green came out of his body. The silver qi is because of Cheng Sheng's soul while the green qi is the Xinfaxian Sect's.
"Mn." Fei Yin nodded as he raised his sword. "Xiao Bao." He called his sword spirit. The sword spirit immediately came out.
In the middle of a crisis, Xie Lan's face darkened and he can't help but chastise his disciple. "Have you no shame?!" he told Fei Yin after he saw Xiao Bao who has a lazy and sleepy appearance of Cheng Sheng.
Fei Yin ignored him. "It's coming." He told him.
"Huh - ? Ah – " Xie Lan muttered as his face was covered in dark lines when he saw the giant ball of silver light covering Cheng Sheng. "Crap. He overdid it." He cursed as he raised his hand to stop the silver light from advancing.
Outside –
"Huh?" Lei Ling suddenly muttered. "The plates are shaking…" he said as he looked at the table. "... eh? EH?!" he exclaimed. His eyes are wide in shock. "An earthquake?!" he said and almost fell on his back as the ground violently shook after he abruptly stood up.
"Find cover!" Wu Yuan told them as he immediately pulled Sun Yi under the table.
Lei Ling immediately followed them after he was almost hit by a plate when it fell off the table. Feng Mo, Lei Qing and You Rou carefully slipped under the table.
"Ah Tian, careful!" Chen Han pulled Li Tian when Li Tian almost fell on the pond after he lost his balance when the ground shook.
Righteous Alliance –
Pai Lie frowned when they felt the earthquake. "What's going on?" he asked as he looked at the dust fell from the ceiling.
"Elder Pai should know better." Jing Xian told him. Pai Lie had drawn a large array in the entire capital.
"The spirits are restless." Su Yuan said as he called out the fire, water, wind and earth spirits who were trembling in fear.
"The flow of qi is irregular." Qi Ling said. His brows are knit. "Tell the disciples to stop meditating. Especially the ones doing the closed-door." he told Zheng Yi. "The might suffer a backlash and qi deviation." He explained.
"Yes." Zheng Yi immediately left. He jumped away when a lamp fell. Then, he disappeared in the darkness.
"Do you have a clue as to what happened?" Zheng Fu Gong asked. He's the only sword cultivator while the other four are all mages.
Pai Lie is a master in Array Drawing after he devoted all his time in studying arrays. Jing Xian is a pill refiner and have an immortal body because of experimenting from magic pills. Su Yuan is a spell caster became an elemental master after understanding the essence of spells. And, Qi Ling is a talisman maker and spirit infiltration master.
"No." Pai Lie's brow twitched. He already checked the arrays in the Zhongxin. However, he can't tell where is the earthquake coming from.
"Is it the demonic cultivators?" Su Yuan asked the spirits. However, they shook their head. Su Yuan frowned. "Then, a natural occurrence?" he asked again. The spirits immediately nodded.
Zheng Fu Gong turned after he heard what Pai Lie and Su Yuan said. "We can only wait for this to stop." He told them. "After this, let Zheng Yi check on the contestants of the competition. Then, call Jing Rui." He said.
"Yes." they answered.
Yunxiao Inn, inner space.
"Tch!" Xie Lan can't help but click his tongue as he, Fei Yin and Xiao Bao pushed back the giant silver light slowly advancing. "Wen-er!" he suddenly called.
"Huh?" Fei Yin said as he and Xiao Bao turned to Xie Lan when he1 called his sword spirit. The next second and their2 face was covered in dark lines when they saw a small version of Fan Wen. "… have you no shame?" he3 can't help but ask his foster father.
"At least your shifu and I are official!" Xie Lan told Fei Yin.
"… shifu is unaware you two are1." Fei Yin said as Wen-er joined them three. Finally, the silver light was pushed back. "Are we going to return this to Cheng-shidi?" he asked Xie Lan.
"Then, where are you planning to place this?" Xie Lan asked, can't help being sarcastic. "We can't let this come out of this space… ah." he said and his face darkened when he saw there's a crack in the space. "Hurry!" he told them. "Crap!" he cursed when the crack in the space became bigger. "Xiao Yin! Do something with your shidi!" he told him.
"Huh?" Fei Yin said.
"I, Wen-er and Xiao Bao will hold back the light. You do something with him!" Xie Lan said and gritted his teeth as he looked at Cheng Sheng who was standing motionlessly in the middle with his eyes closed. "Damn this Spiritual Awakening Method… Xiao Sheng is already a monster. It just made him doubly a monster!" he exclaimed. "Xiao Yin, hurry!" he told Fei Yin.
Fei Yin immediately ran towards Cheng Sheng. "Cheng-shidi!" he called as he pulled Cheng Sheng into his arms. "Shidi. Shidi!" he called as he tapped his cheek to wake him up. "Shidi…?" he called when he felt Cheng Sheng's body is cold. His heart can't help but feel dread. "Sheng…" he called, then turned to Xie Lan. "Founder! Don't hurt that light!" he yelled.
"What?!" Xie Lan said. "Why?!" he asked as he poured all his strength just to push back the giant ball of silver light.
"That's Cheng-shidi's soul!" Fei Yin answered.
"... huh?" Xie Lan said and looked at the giant silver ball towering before him and Wen-er.