"Surely, there's no need for that, is there?" Ma Yuan said with a wry smile. When he had his cultivation base, twenty of him were worth less than Yang Qing's pinky, let alone now. His body was regaining its vigor, but he still was weaker than he had been with his core intact.
"Don't worry, I will restrict my strength to the peak stage of the foundation establishment realm and I will use nothing but the moves of the mortal's path of transcendence for the spar, while you're free to use whatever means you have at your disposal. Which is your weapon of choice, i would be more than happy to provide you with a suitable weapon.."
"Peak of the foundation establishment realm?" Ma Yuan asked with a questioning look. Surely he was not that weak? After he was crippled he had defeated a bunch of early-stage core formation experts just fine.
He may not match Yang Qing in terms of ability or foundation but wasn't Yang Qing looking down on him?
As if reading his thoughts, Yang Qing couldn't help but dryly laugh as he said,
"It's not that I am looking down on you. Even as a peak foundation cultivator, I could still defeat those in the early stage and sometimes middle stages of the core formation realm, and that was then. Right now even with my realm suppressed, I still have the natural insights of a palace realm expert.
If you think of it that way, you're the one at a disadvantage.."
Yang Qing was confident of beating him with a fourth-stage foundation establishment cultivation base, but to not shame him, Yang Qing opted to restrain it to the peak. At least if he lost, it wouldn't be as embarrassing.
Ma Yuan stood silent for a short moment before he grimly answered,
"Fine, I accept the challenge. I use a spear.."
Yang Qing nodded and took out a finely crafted orange spear from his storage ring. Its quality was at the top tier of the sky grade.
He casually tossed it to Ma Yuan whose eyes widened when he came in contact with the spear. He didn't know what materials it was made of, but the moment he made contact with it, he felt his senses heighten and full of vigor.
"Let's begin.." Yang Qing said, pulling Ma Yaun from his reverie.
"He's like a different person.." Ma Yuan muttered as he sensed a formless pressure being released by Yang Qing. He still looked carefree, but Ma Yuan felt like he was facing a drowning ocean wave as he faced him even if Yang Qing had suppressed his realm to the peak stage of the foundation establishment realm.
Just as he was debating whether to be the one to attack first and what technique to go with, Yang Qing had already charged in, his weapon, a branch he had picked from the green flame tree.
Ma Yuan instantly thrust his spear forward with quick precision. He may not have achieved spear intent, but his foundations with the weapon were firm and solid nonetheless and he had achieved spear sense and spear qi. The spear in his hand was no different than his limbs.
With the thrust, even if it was done in haste, he was sure was sufficient to halt the movements of an early-stage core formation expert.
However, things didn't go as planned, Yang Qing used the green flame branch like a sword and veered the spear's trajectory to the right, borrowing its momentum to nimbly roll over the spear, quickly approaching Ma Yuan on his unguarded side. He quickly swung his branch, aiming for Ma Yaun's ribs, but Ma Yuan reacted quickly and drew his spear in just in time to block the branch's trajectory.
Clang!
The sound like that of metal hitting metal was produced when the branch and the spear collided, greatly shocking Ma Yuan. However, he didn't have the time to linger in it as the shock from the clash flowed into his body almost shifting his organs.
"Is this the strength of someone at the foundation establishment realm?" he wondered in shock as he was quickly put on the defense.
Half a minute in, he was already sweating buckets as he was constantly bombarded in a flurry of attacks. Yang Qing sometimes attacked with the branch adopting the stance of a sword or a spear, other times he launched a fist, another a palm attack, and another he kicked.
There was no sophistication in his moves, they were simple and direct, but even so, Ma Yuan could hardly retaliate and was forced into the defense which seemed to be crumbling with every second, and it wasn't long before he couldn't even keep track of Yang Qing's attacks and was forced to defend with his body.
Seventeen minutes! Seventeen minutes was all it took for him to be left in the wretched state he was in. Ma Yuan was already on his hands and knees, wheezing as he tried to gasp for air.His robes were in tatters and drenched in sweat. His entire body was shaking from extreme fatigue and pain. He felt like millions of fire ants were gnawing at his bones and flesh. Somehow even if his bones were intact, he felt like they had been smashed several times over by a mountain-sized club. His vision was blurry as he struggled to maintain his consciousness.
But despite how broken he felt, his body had no visible wounds, courtesy of the monster that subjected him to that state who would inflict damage and restore it in the same motion.
Yang Qing not even a hair out place, stood a few inches away from the trembling Ma Yuan.
"I told you the mortal's path to ascension is something. You can meditate beneath the green flame tree, and when some strength returns, use the hot spring that's about half a kilometer that way, to soak your body. It will help.." Yang Qing said as he pointed a short distance away to his right.
Ma Yuan mumbled something to say he had heard, before finally passing out. Yang Qing picked him up and placed him underneath the green flame tree before finally leaving for Dai Chen's place where they had promised to sample a few wines and seafood dishes.
As his last vacation day, with how eventful that month had been, Yang Qing decided he might as well take the last day easy. Eat some fish, and enjoy some good wine.
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