Mo Jingfeng and Sun Xing hadn't anticipated that Qin Xuan would actually have the nerve to agree. They traded knowing smirks.
'Just like a greenhorn fearless of tigers!'
Both of them sighed inwardly in unison. Sun Xing cracked a slight smile and fixed his gaze on Qin Xuan.
"I've caught wind that Master Qin wields the arcane art of summoning thunder and morphing it into a dragon. I'm rather eager to witness it for myself!"
A glimmer of conceit flashed across his eyes. Never mind that it was merely hearsay; even if Qin Xuan truly possessed the knack of summoning thunder and transforming it into a dragon, it would amount to naught in the eyes of him, a martial artist who had attained great internal strength.
Once one has achieved great internal strength, with one more stride forward, one can condense that internal strength into sheer power and transmute the internal force into gang qi.
When the gang qi is unleashed outward, even in the thick of thousands of troops, claiming an enemy's head would be as effortless as plucking an item from one's pocket.
Even the elite special forces in the military region would balk at facing an internal force grandmaster.
The existence of internal force grandmasters is as scarce as hen's teeth in the entire expanse of China. Once attaining that echelon, they are virtually beyond the reach of common folk.
Although Sun Xing hadn't yet crossed the threshold into that rarefied realm, he had already achieved great internal strength and was a half-step shy of entering the grandmaster domain. Even bona fide thunder might not be able to lay a scratch on him.
That's precisely why he had muttered the words "picking on the weak".
He was well past fifty and boasted the cultivation of great internal strength. Now, he was on the verge of making a move against a lad in his late teens. If word got out, who knew how many would deride him for preying on the feeble.
Qin Xuan offered a faint smile. Just as he was about to utter a word, a fetching figure suddenly made her way over from a distance.
Mo Qinglian approached. Upon spotting Sun Xing and Mo Jingfeng, she called out, "Dad, Master!"
She skipped merrily over, trailed by a sweet-scented breeze. When her eyes alighted on Qin Xuan, her expression underwent a subtle shift. She promptly reined in her demeanor and said deferentially, "Mr. Qin, you're here too?"
"Qinglian?"
Mo Jingfeng also managed a smile. This daughter of his was the apple of his eye, and he doted on her to no end.
However, seeing Mo Qinglian display such deference to Qin Xuan, Mo Jingfeng's eyes clouded over slightly, and his dislike for Qin Xuan deepened.
Mo Qinglian was his precious jewel, yet here she was, showing such obeisance to a youngster.
Qin Xuan inclined his head slightly and replied, "Yes."
Only then did Mo Qinglian lift her gaze. She hastily tugged Mo Jingfeng aside and whispered, "Dad, this is Mr. Qin who cured Grandpa and, what's more, mended the tattered Lingshui Technique."
Mo Jingfeng regarded Mo Qinglian affectionately and grinned, "Of course I'm aware of that!"
If it weren't for this, why would he give two hoots about the fate of this teenager?
Gazing at the adoration in Mo Qinglian's eyes, Mo Jingfeng's heart sank further.
His daughter had always been aloof and haughty, yet now she was sporting this attitude towards a youth. This didn't bode well for him as a father.
"Qinglian, by a stroke of luck, Elder Sun wishes to engage in a bout with Master Qin. Care to watch?"
Mo Jingfeng said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, while inwardly he snorted disdainfully.
Once Sun Xing had squared off against this youngster, he'd surely unmask this overconfident Master Qin's true colors. By then, when Mo Qinglian got a good look at this Master Qin's capabilities, her infatuation would surely dissipate like morning mist.
All of a sudden, Mo Jingfeng felt that his decision was spot-on.
Sun Xing nodded knowingly. He ambled slowly to the center, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, cutting a rather masterful figure.
"Master Qin, the floor is yours! Make your move!" Sun Xing intoned slowly.
Qin Xuan shook his head with a chuckle, and his voice unfurled languidly, "Were I to strike, you'd stand nary a chance."
These words caused Sun Xing's smile to freeze mid-air, and even Mo Jingfeng shook his head and heaved a sigh.
They'd pegged this Master Qin as arrogant before, but little did they expect that, at this juncture, he'd still be so full of bravado.
"Preposterous! I was all set to offer you a sporting chance." Sun Xing snorted indignantly, a flicker of ire kindling in his chest.
As a martial artist who had achieved great internal strength, he was being looked down upon by a callow youth.
"Master Qin, brace yourself!"
He bellowed in a hushed tone, stamped his foot forcefully on the ground, and his figure streaked through the air, leaving a series of afterimages in its wake. In the blink of an eye, he materialized in front of Qin Xuan.
Sun Xing's eyes blazed with a fierce light. His ten fingers curled like the talons of a raptor, razor-sharp.
Under his ten fingers, the air seemed to splinter, rent asunder by several fissures. The intense wind pressure was akin to a flurry of daggers, and the surrounding air currents coalesced into a tempest, hurtling outward in all directions.
Such a fearsome assault caused Mo Yunyi and the others to blanch.
Under Sun Xing's frigid stare, Qin Xuan sprang into action. He nonchalantly extended his right hand. Upon his slender, fair, and delicate palm, a hazy jade-like sheen seemed to materialize. At the precise moment when Sun Xing's attack was about to land, his palm flickered with two afterimages in the air.
Two palm strikes in the blink of an eye!
Sun Xing's pupils constricted abruptly, and a jolt of shock coursed through him.
His claws, at that instant, seemed to slam into impregnable titanium alloy, sending a searing pain shooting through his ten fingers. The prodigious force catapulted his body backward, out of his control.
Bang! Bang! Bang...
Sun Xing's body hit the ground. He staggered back a full ten paces before finally regaining his footing. When he looked up, his wizened face was etched with horror.
Even a three-inch-thick steel plate would have been shredded to ribbons under his claws. Yet this Master Qin had managed to repel him with a single hand, nearly snapping his ten fingers in the process.
Mo Jingfeng, standing beside him, also had his pupils contract sharply. He gaped at Qin Xuan in astonishment.
Wasn't this Master Qin a maestro of the mystic arts?
How had he managed to fend off Sun Xing, a martial artist of great internal strength, with just one hand?
Sun Xing drew a deep breath to quell the tremors in his heart. His expression grew dead serious.
"Master Qin truly lives up to his reputation." His voice rang out solemnly as he said slowly, "However, I only mustered thirty percent of my strength just now. This time, I'm going all in!"
Qin Xuan let out a derisive laugh and shook his head slightly.
He hadn't even tapped one percent of the power of the Purple Thunder Palm in that last exchange. But since Sun Xing and Mo Jingfeng had been so dismissive, he might as well let them behold his true mettle.
Sun Xing let out a thunderous roar that rivaled a clap of real thunder. His hands took on a purplish-black hue, and his ten fingers resembled swords, with an inch of incisive energy protruding from the fingertips.
"Is that gang qi?" Mo Qinglian exclaimed, her face a mask of disbelief.
Mo Jingfeng shook his head and said, "Elder Sun hasn't yet fully condensed his internal force, so how could he wield true gang qi? Nevertheless, his internal strength has been refined to the nth degree. Although it's not as formidable as the full-blown release of gang qi, it still bears some resemblance."
He knit his brows tightly. Elder Sun had truly gone to the wall. Could it be that this Master Qin really was a force to be reckoned with?
Sun Xing stamped his foot on the ground. At this moment, the steel floor actually dented slightly, and the whole room reverberated with a deafening din, like the clamor of giant bells.
His figure hurtled towards Qin Xuan like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Wherever he passed, the air was shredded like a flimsy cloth, torn asunder by Sun Xing's ten fingers. The incisive energy on his ten fingers could probably rip through the steel walls of the cruise ship with ease.
Mo Qinglian couldn't help but let out an involuntary exclamation. This was her master's all-out attack. Could Qin Xuan withstand it?
At the moment when Sun Xing was closing in, Qin Xuan's palm was like polished jade, and strands of cyan thunder light spilled out from his palm and fingers. Gradually, his palm was blanketed with cyan thunder. A faint rumble of thunder sounded, and every strand of thunder light seemed to rend the surrounding air as it danced.
Qin Xuan stood with one hand tucked in his pocket, looking imperious and aloof. At this moment, his eyes grew ethereal and domineering, like an emperor surveying his domain from on high.
I have a palm strike that can shatter the myriad ways of heaven!
With a palm strike, in the air, the cyan thunder coalesced into a palm print, a good five inches in size. Amid the peal of thunder, it barreled towards Sun Xing.
Boom!
Sun Xing's face drained of color. In his eyes, an emotion called fear welled up and gradually flooded his entire visual field. In the end, it engulfed his aged face.
When the thunder palm fell, the incisive energy on his ten fingers vanished without a trace.
Under this palm print, Sun Xing felt like a puny mayfly trying to topple a giant oak. He couldn't even control his own life and death.
The terrifying palm print landed on Sun Xing's body. Sun Xing spat out a mouthful of blood. A five-inch charred palm print marred his chest and abdomen. His body was covered with strands of thunder light, and his whole body was paralyzed by the cyan thunder, unable to move a muscle.
If Qin Xuan hadn't held back and only used the power of the one-zhang spiritual sea, this palm strike would have incinerated Sun Xing to a crisp.
Qin Xuan's palm gradually reverted to normal and slipped back into his pocket. He stood there, looking every bit the conqueror, his eyes sweeping over Mo Jingfeng and the others, flashing a faint smile.