The two women showed no sign of stopping. They had even started taking Spirit Liquid. Qin Xiao was panicking and had no idea what to do.
“So you want to see who has more Spirit Liquid? Fine, let’s find out.”
Seeing Lin Shimeng swallow Spirit Liquid too, Yun Man was even less willing to concede. A contest of Spirit Liquid? Why should she be afraid?
With that, Yun Man took out another drop of Spirit Liquid and put it into her mouth.
Seeing Yun Man’s actions, Lin Shimeng gritted her teeth in anger. Naturally, she still had more Spirit Liquid, but how could anyone waste it like this?
Although very angry, she was even more astonished. Yun Man was only in the late stage of Golden Core, while she herself was in the early stage of Nascent Soul—a whole major realm higher. Why was Yun Man’s spiritual power so close to hers? How could she just manage to hold her own against her?
Lin Shimeng had become the Sect’s Holy Maiden not merely because she was the Sect Leader’s daughter, but because she similarly possessed a Heavenly Spirit Root. She also received the Sect’s full support in her cultivation. Yet, despite all this, she still couldn’t secure an overwhelming victory.
A proper sparring match had turned into a tug-of-war. In actual combat, Lin Shimeng could have used her full abilities. But here they were competing only in spiritual power, leaving her other advantages useless.
After all, Yun Man cultivated using Spirit Liquid all the time. Her Spiritual Qi was somewhat superior to Lin Shimeng’s in both purity and quantity. That offset the difference in their realms enough for them to reach a draw.
It seemed she would have to pay a price to end this.
After a moment’s hesitation, Lin Shimeng took out another drop of Spirit Liquid.
Those two drops were the stipend she had saved over two months. Tianyuan Sect gave her one drop of Spirit Liquid a month, a privilege exclusive to the Holy Maiden. She had used all her earlier savings to break through to Nascent Soul; these were all she had saved since.
She would win first. Once the Spirit Liquid was gone, it was gone. She could always save up more later.
Without hesitating much longer, Lin Shimeng swallowed her second drop of Spirit Liquid.
Upon swallowing the second drop of Spirit Liquid, Lin Shimeng’s Spiritual Qi surged once more, and Yun Man found herself struggling to hold on.
As expected of the Holy Maiden, she could produce Spirit Liquid whenever she needed it. But using up so much like this… Yun Man felt she was letting her master down.
Yun Man hesitated. She had thought two drops would be enough to wear down Lin Shimeng’s spiritual power, but hadn’t expected her to have more than one drop too.
Yun Man had no shortage of Spirit Liquid. Qin Xiao had rewarded her with fifty drops, so even after using two, she still had forty-eight. But it was precious. Wasting more of it wasn’t worth it.
“Alright, alright, Senior Sister Lin, please stop. My disciple concedes.”
Seeing this, Qin Xiao quickly stepped forward to yield. If they continued this competition, a major disaster was going to happen.
The sphere of Spiritual Qi was now a zhang across. Qin Xiao was sure that if it exploded, both he and his courtyard would be destroyed.
“Master, I can still hold on.”
Seeing Qin Xiao yield, Yun Man quickly spoke up.
Yun Man was now struggling to hold on, because she really didn’t want to waste any more of Qin Xiao’s Spirit Liquid.
“Hold on, my ass! Won’t you even listen to your master now?”
Seeing Yun Man still stubbornly enduring, Qin Xiao immediately shouted.
The sphere, over a zhang across, was like a ticking time bomb suspended between them. The slightest accident could make it explode at any moment.
If the chaotic Spiritual Qi within exploded, its destructive power would be immense.
Qin Xiao couldn’t cultivate, but he had seen Yun Man’s and Li Cheng’s sword qi collide. Two early-stage Golden Core cultivators had caused such a commotion. Now a late-stage Golden Core cultivator and a Nascent Soul cultivator were going all out. If this exploded, he feared it would shave a layer off Seven Stars Peak.
“Master, I know I was wrong.”
Seeing Qin Xiao’s firm attitude, Yun Man obediently admitted her mistake.
“Since you’ve asked, Junior Brother Qin, I’ll stop for your sake.”
Lin Shimeng also knew that if they continued this stalemate, the ball of Spiritual Qi could lose control at any moment, so she took the opportunity to agree.
“Then hurry up and retract the Spiritual Qi from this ball.”
Seeing that both had agreed, Qin Xiao hurriedly urged them.
“Retract it?”
Lin Shimeng asked with a baffled expression.
“Yeah, just draw back the Spiritual Qi you released.”
Qin Xiao replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“I almost forgot—you’re a mortal who can’t cultivate. If we had simply released Spiritual Qi, we could take it back freely. But this sphere contains both her Qi and mine, tangled together. We can’t draw it back. It’s like the Qi in an attack you’ve already launched. How could you take that back?”
Lin Shimeng explained, a little at a loss for words.
“What? You can’t take it back? Then what do we do with this sphere of Qi? My little courtyard can’t take any more!”
Hearing that it couldn’t be taken back, Qin Xiao looked even grimmer. So his courtyard was going to be destroyed after all.
“There’s no need to panic. As long as she and I push this ball of Spiritual Qi high up into the sky and let it detonate in the air, there will be no harm done. As long as the distance is great enough, it won’t cause any damage to your courtyard.”
Lin Shimeng explained once again.
“Then what are we waiting for? Hurry up and push this ball into the sky.”
After Lin Shimeng had swallowed the second drop of Spirit Liquid, the ball of Spiritual Qi had grown somewhat unstable. Since the balance of Spiritual Qi from the two sides had shifted, there was a risk of explosion at any second. Qin Xiao had no choice but to rush them.
“We will circulate our qi together and send this ball of spiritual power into the sky.”
Ignoring Qin Xiao, Lin Shimeng addressed Yun Man.
“Alright.”
Yun Man was already barely holding on, so she didn’t waste words. With that, she began to adjust her Spiritual Qi.
As the two women synchronized their efforts, the massive ball of Spiritual Qi slowly began to ascend into the sky.
“That was close. The crisis is finally resolved.”
Everyone was watching the sphere. No one noticed how bad Yun Man looked. She had already been forcing herself to hold on, and had not replenished her spiritual power because she didn’t want to waste Spirit Liquid.
But she had overestimated how much spiritual power she had left. As the sphere rose, the drain on her power kept increasing.
Before it had risen even three hundred meters, the sphere began to churn, as if it might burst at any moment.
“What’s wrong?”
Lin Shimeng felt the instability and quickly asked Yun Man.
“I’m fine, I can still hold on.”
Yun Man didn’t offer any explanations, merely continuing to channel her Spiritual Qi.
To ensure their safety, the ball of spiritual power needed to be pushed past five hundred meters. Right now, it was barely past three hundred meters; they were not out of danger yet.
“Disciple, take another drop of Spirit Liquid immediately. Now is not the time to be frugal!”
Only then did Qin Xiao notice Yun Man’s terrible complexion. Realizing that this was likely a sign of Spiritual Qi exhaustion, he hurriedly called out to her.
“Yes, Master.”
Yun Man also knew that a disaster might occur if she kept forcing herself, so she retrieved another drop of Spirit Liquid.
But before she could swallow it, the ball of spiritual power high above suddenly lost control and began to spin furiously.
“Oh no, it’s out of control!”
Lin Shimeng sensed it first. Shouting loudly, she immediately flew toward Qin Xiao.
Yun Man sensed it as well and hastily activated the Protective Dharma Treasure on her body.
The sphere spun for a moment in the air, then exploded.
The powerful shockwave spread rapidly in all directions, with Seven Stars Peak the first to bear its impact.
Like divine punishment, the powerful shockwave swept down toward Seven Stars Peak’s summit.
Lin Shimeng hurriedly activated her Body-Protecting Dharma Treasure to shield herself and Qin Xiao.
Just before the shockwave struck the summit, a shield appeared above the courtyard and enveloped all of Seven Stars Peak.
When the shockwave slammed into the shield, it failed to stir up even the slightest ripple and was completely absorbed.
“Huh? What’s happening?”
Lin Shimeng reacted first. Could it be that Grandpa Qin’s Peak-Protecting Grand Formation had been activated?
As a child, she had often visited Seven Stars Peak. The Seventh Elder had told her that, dilapidated as the courtyard looked, ordinary people could never destroy it: he had laid powerful formations there. She had never seen those formations in all the years since, and had always thought he was teasing her. She hadn’t expected it to be true.
Seven Stars Peak escaped destruction, but the powerful explosion made all of Tianyuan Sect tremble.
Everyone turned to look in the direction of the blast.