As Qing Shan settled into a battle stance, he noticed something strange. Long Wan was wrapping some sort of substance around his shortsword.
"What is that?"
Long Wan looked at Qing Shan incredulously.
"You have never seen this before…? This an piece of soft, yet relatively durable cloth that is used for covering weapons so that they do not pierce enemies. Because we're are actually testing out a weapon, you may not want to use a lot of the cloth so that the weapon balance is not changed. Here, I have some extra."
'Couldn't we just use wooded body armor or something?'
Even though he would much prefer testing out all of the abilities of his weapon, he understood that this was for both of their safety. While he would not be able to test out the cutting edge of the spear, he would be able to practice attacking mainly with the tip of the spear. This would also be a good chance to grow accustomed to the thicker shaft and lighter weight of the spear.
Qing Shan wrapped the fabric around blade of his spear.
"Now we can begin."
"Indeed."
Long Wan immediately ran forward, his shortsword held in front of him. Unfortunately for him, Qing Shan was much faster, and his spear boasted a much longer reach. He thrusted his spear forward, forcing Long Wan to avoid it.
However, this man quickly gave Qing Shan a surprise. Right before he stepped into the reach of Qing Shan's spear he shifted left and right, before darting in. Qing Shan was thrown off balance and Long Wan grabbed his spear below the blade and tried to wrench it from Qing Shan's grasp.
Qing Shan let himself fall backwards, using gravity against his opponent. Qing Shan slammed the but end of the spear into the stage so that it was standing erect. Long Wan, who was still tightly clenching the spear, was kicked in the stomach by Qing Shan, who had been on the ground.
Qing Shan's powerful, Qi enhanced, kick sent Long Wan a meter away from him, and Qing Shan used the man's lack of balance against him. Qing Shan shot back upright and flowed forward, sending over three spear thrusts at Long Wan in the span of a second. The man coughed and stumbled backwards. Fortunately, he was able to regain his posture quickly by flipping backwards on one hand. Qing Shan could tell that this type of motion was well practiced, as it was executed beautifully.
Qing Shan sprang forward and compressed his body, shifting his direction in the air. The turn was so clean and sharp that Long Wan's eyes bulged. He had never seen anyone make a ninety degree turn in midair while keeping their speed. After Qing Shan made this movement, it was clear that both men highly regarded their opponent.
Once Qing Shan landed on the left side of Long Wan, he swung his spear like a blunt weapon and hit Long Wan in the back of the head. Qing Shan leapt to the side, placed his spear in the ground vertically and swung around it, boosting his maximum speed as he sent a powerful two-legged kick toward Long Wan's back.
Or at least, he thought he was going to hit Long Wan's back. The man had fallen unconscious when Qing Shan struck him on the back of the head, so Qing Shan's flying kick hit nothing but air.
"…"
Qing Shan stared mutely down at the unconscious form before shrugging.
'It seems that the weapon is a success.'
Qing Shan then looked around, thankful that there had been no spectators. At the moment, it was dinner time in the sect, and everyone except for Qing Shan and Long Wan were eating. Qing Shan picked up Long Wan's limp body and threw it over his shoulder. He then ran into Three.
Qing Shan did not think about what he looked like. He did not realize until after a few moments that everyone in his building was staring not at him, but at the body thrown over his shoulder.
Suddenly, everyone stood and ran over to Qing Shan.
"That is Long Wan!"
"What the hell happened?"
"Is he dead?"
"Woah, woah."
Qing Shan lifted his arms and signaled for everyone to back off, before explaining.
"Here's what happened…"
Both of the Shi twins were laughing hysterically when Qing Shan described how his final attack flew over Long Wan's unconscious form. Even Zhong Kang could not help but snort in laughter as he imagined the scenario. Any bystander at this moment would definitely not be able to imagine that the laughing man was actually the Junior Overseer of the 3rd Building.
"Ah, he'll be fine after a night of rest. Just throw him on the couch."
Qing Shan insisted that someone should take Long Wan up to his room, and in the end Qin Yong volunteered, and Qing Shan was amazed by the sight of the tiny boy carrying a large man like Long Wan up the stairs.
'That strength!'
In the end, Qing Shan tried to ask some of the other residents of Three to spar with him, but they all refused, giving miscellaneous excuses. Qing Shan had accidentally knocked the top ranking member of Three unconscious in a fair fight! Of course they did not want to fight him!
Qing Shan went to his room, even though that was now an unnecessary activity for him. For some reason, even though he currently had a desire for strength that was second only to the desire he had sitting in front of his Father's grave, he did not feel like standing in an empty room and stabbing the wall with his spear. After all, actual combat had proven to be much more fruitful to Qing Shan than training on his own.
Before Qing Shan went to sleep, he entered the Primal Pocket Dimension and placed his spear into the Spring of Time. He was unworried about it rusting; this was because the Spring of Life's 'water' was actually made up of energy and did not have the ability to rust an object. Furthermore, Qing Shan had long since learned that the Spring of Time did not effect objects. If her were to place, say, a loaf of bread into the Spring of Time, it would be completely ignored by the energy, and would not even get wet after entering the spring. This was just one more thing that Qing Shan did not understand about the gift that Liu Tiansheng had given him.
Qing Shan exited the Primal Pocket Dimension and went to sleep.
In the morning, Qing Shan left Three only to see an astonishing sight. On the middle of the Outer Ring Stage there was a group of sect members. They were standing behind a man who was shouting. Qing Shan would have usually ignored this, as he was on his way to train, but the man shouting was in the Origin Soul realm. Thus, Qing Shan decided to listen to what he had to say. This could end up being something that helps his growth.
"All newest members of the Outer Ring, please come to the stage. I repeat, All newest members of the Outer Ring, come up here!"
Qing Shan decided to humor the man, and was about to walk up when he heard the door to Three open behind him. Surprisingly, it was Zhong Wang.
"What's with the screaming and yelling so early in the morning…?"
Zhong Wang rubbed his tired eyes, and looked at the situation. Once he saw the man on the stage, his eyes narrowed.
"Qing Shan, don't go up there."
"?"
"That man is the Junior Overseer of the strongest Building, Two. Every month he tries to perform a 'purging' of the new sect members– Hey! Didn't I just tell you not to go up?"
Qing Shan understood what Zhong Wang was trying to convey. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Qing Shan thought that this may prove as a good training opportunity. He may even get to fight seriously.
As he watched Qing Shan ascend onto the stage, Zhong Kang noticed Qing Shan's form flicker for a split second, before reappearing with a spear in his hand.
'Ah, This is what happens when I don't get enough sleep. I'm seeing things again…'
Qing Shan stood on the stage and watched as the other new sect members joined him on the stage.
The 2nd Junior Overseer final stopped yelling once all of the new members appeared on the stage.
"Hmm… This is definitely all of you, but I wonder why there where only twenty this year… Ah, never mind. You see, The members of the 2nd Building doubt the qualifications of your group, and would like to test you, which they can do under the authority of the strongest members of the Outer Ring. Basically, all you have to do is force the members of Two to either yield or leave the ring while keeping yourselves from letting the same happen to you. Begin."
A look of fear appeared in the eyes of all of the new members, and they subconsciously turned to Qing Shan, who they all suspected was the reason that there were only twenty new members, instead of the normal number of fifty or sixty. In situations like this, it was normal for the inexperienced to place their safety in the hands of someone much stronger.
Qing Shan ignored the hopeful gazes of the other new members, before stepping forward.
"Very well, then come at me. This should be a great training opportunity."
Thinking objectively, Qing Shan knew that there was only a small chance that anyone in the Outer Ring was stronger than him. He was one of the strongest Peak Formation Soul cultivators, and it was not as though there were only Origin Soul cultivators in the Inner Ring. In fact, there were very few Origin Soul cultivators in the Inner Ring. Most of the people in the Inner Ring where like Qing Shan. They had surpassed most other members at the same level, and where on the cusp of achieving the Origin Soul realm. Thus, Qing Shan knew that his actual combat strength rated in the upper-middle level of the Inner Ring. Based on this, he should easily be able to beat these people.
Fortunately, Qing Shan realized something after a few exchanges with the ten members of the 2nd Building. Humans, no matter the level, where much stronger than beasts at the same level. Their thinking ability was much higher, and it was not uncommon for people to have strategies that allowed themselves to contend with those of a higher level.
Qing Shan appreciated the skills of the members of the 2nd Building. However, that was all. Qing Shan, who had the power of someone in the Inner Ring, had been placed in the Outer Ring, and was considered weak by those in positions above him. The only sect members that had an idea of Qing Shan's strength were Long Wan, Shen Yi, and the four Origin Soul cultivators that had been involved with his trial. Thus, the 2nd Building members were completely caught off guard by Qing Shan's strength. He was someone who had fought against hundreds of functional clones of himself without break. What were ten people with mediocre mastery of their weapons that completely underestimated him.
Throughout the fight, Qing Shan was not even touched by his opponents. His speed outclassed the members of Two by a large amount, even when he was not using his wind movements. His Spring Motion movement was more than enough for him to easily evade all of the attacks thrown at him. What's more, Qing Shan's spear had not been covered this time, so he was able to use the blade. Surprisingly, Qing Shan was very adept with the spear, and was able to purposely avoid attacking any fatal areas. If his spear thrusted into an enemy, it would be between organs and would only cause blood loss. If he slashed an enemy, it would only be a surface cut that caused discomfort. If he hit the opponents, he would only break one bone that healed somewhat easily.
Even though the last few fights that Qing Shan had fought had all been either physical or mental losses, this fight resulted in a victory for Qing Shan in just under five minutes.