Chapter 80: There’s Something to Say

Faced with the threat from a true disciple like Zhen Zhen, how should Su Che make his choice?
Standing on the high platform, Su Che made up his mind in just a few moments. His gaze finally settled on Song Pangzi’s face. “Senior Song, please come up and fight me.”
Song Pangzi still maintained his smiley demeanor. No matter what he was thinking, his face always showed a cheerful expression. He nodded and walked up the stairs toward the fighting platform.
Below, Zhen Zhen, who appeared elegant and calm on the surface, was actually stunned. He never expected Su Che to have the audacity to defy his wishes.
By challenging Song Pangzi first, Su Che was clearly making it clear: he intended to win both matches and wouldn’t hold back at all!
The others didn’t know what had happened between Zhen Zhen and Su Che. They simply thought that Su Che’s decision to challenge Song Pangzi first showed his great confidence—meaning he would tackle the harder opponent first before dealing with the easier ones…
In the Immortal Prison, Lao He sat quietly on the ground. Since his master had made a decision, he saw no need to say more.
Su Che took the initiative to explain to him, “Lao He, I made this decision not only to prove myself but also because I don’t want to be a fence-sitter who tries to please both sides. Once I’ve sided with Senior Yu Qing, I won’t care about the threats or temptations from Zhen Zhen or anyone else. That’s my basic principle as a person. Otherwise, I’d despise myself.”
“I understand, master. You’re right!” Lao He replied in full agreement.
Their mental communication was lightning-fast. Just as they finished talking, Song Pangzi stepped onto the fighting platform, facing Su Che from afar.
Song Pangzi laughed and said, “Junior Su, I haven’t congratulated you yet. You’ve advanced to the third level of Qi Cultivation so quickly. Your cultivation talent is truly remarkable!”
“Thank you,” Su Che replied, unwilling to waste time in chatter. He bowed and said, “Let’s begin.”
“Ahaha!” Song Pangzi shook his head with a smile, hiding the fierce glint in his eyes. After bowing back, he added, “Alright, we can start. But I still have one thing to say…”
As soon as he said “something,” he waved his hand and threw a black sphere, which landed with a thud between the two of them.
With a hiss!
The black sphere exploded as soon as it hit the ground, releasing a burst of electric light that formed a dense network of electricity, covering most of the fighting platform. Su Che and Song Pangzi were right in the area with the thickest electric field.
“Thunder Spirit Seed!”
Below, Lei Xiao exclaimed in shock, “That’s so damn sneaky!”

“No need to use swear words!” Lei Qingxue gently pushed him aside.
Just now, Song Pangzi clearly wanted to say something, but suddenly threw out a Thunder Spirit Seed, clearly using words as a trick while launching a sneak attack—truly fitting the description of “cunning.”
Amidst the lightning, Song Pangzi himself remained unharmed because he wore a special talisman around his waist. Only a few people present could recognize it as a valuable “Thunder Avoidance Talisman” that could keep lower-level lightning at bay.
There were also levels within the art of lightning magic. Some well-known techniques included Purple Sky Divine Lightning, Pure Clear Divine Lightning, Vast Heaven Divine Lightning, Chaos Divine Lightning, and so on. However, these high-level techniques were far beyond the reach of cultivators at the Qi Cultivation stage. Thus, the Thunder Spirit Seed thrown by Song Pangzi only produced ordinary lightning, which could only cause minor damage and paralysis to cultivators, hardly capable of killing them.
That was precisely why Song Pangzi’s Thunder Avoidance Talisman could ward off lightning.
Amidst the flashing lightning, Song Pangzi, having succeeded in his surprise attack, grew somewhat confident and then finished his unfinished sentence: “What I wanted to say is, please be careful, junior brother!”
So, was Su Che hit?
With a dense network of lightning covering a wide area, and the attack coming out of nowhere, no matter how fast Su Che was, he couldn’t outpace lightning. With no way to avoid it, he was bound to be hit. But Su Che was already at the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation, and his own vital energy could largely neutralize the electric current that penetrated his body. Coupled with the life force promptly supplied by Lao Hei, Su Che only felt slight numbness and was basically unaffected.
Song Pangzi, on the other hand, was unaware of these circumstances and thought Su Che had been paralyzed by the lightning’s force, too weak to move. So he wanted to strike while the iron was hot and defeat Su Che once and for all.
Unexpectedly, just as he took out a mid-grade magic sword, he saw a giant fire dragon roaring and charging at him.
Ignoring the still-flashing lightning net, Su Che didn’t defend himself at all and immediately used a mid-grade Fire Dragon Spirit Talisman, catching Song Pangzi off guard once again.
“Ah!”
Song Pangzi cried out. Despite his obesity, he was nimble enough to leap to the left, avoiding the fire dragon’s direct attack, and conjured a mid-grade water attribute magic shield in mid-air.
Boom!
The fire dragon struck empty air but still released tremendous energy. Amidst the explosion, it turned into a massive blaze that covered most of the competition arena as well.

Under the onslaught of the heat wave, the power grid from earlier vanished entirely, replaced by raging flames that dominated everything.
Hiss…
Protected by the water-based magic shield, Song Pangzi appeared somewhat disheveled but unharmed; only the light blue shield had evaporated due to the intense heat of the flames, releasing thick water vapor.
Su Che was also within the range of the flames, but having prepared in advance, he now had a mid-tier magic weapon, the Five Elements Ring, floating above his head, which emitted an earth-based shield to keep the flames and heat at bay. Moreover, as Su Che specialized in fire energy, he naturally had some resistance to flames, allowing him to handle the situation with calmness.
It seemed that Su Che held a slight advantage in the first round.
Below in the stands, lower-ranked outer disciples like Lei Xiao cheered, while the inner disciples, who were at least in the later stages of Qi training, didn’t show excessive reactions to such a minor battle. Yet they still nodded in approval of Song Pangzi’s sneaky attack and Su Che’s counterattack.
Zhen Lan and Yu Qing remained indifferent—this first round meant nothing; any temporary advantage was just that.
On the competition stage, the flames continued to burn. Without waiting for them to die down, Su Che planned to launch his second attack. But then he heard Zhen Zhen’s message in his mind: “Su Che, do you really intend to be my enemy, ignoring all consequences?”
“Ugh, this woman is so annoying!” Lao He, who also heard Zhen Zhen’s message, immediately shouted, “Master, don’t fall for it! She’s deliberately trying to harass you!”
Su Che remained silent. He clearly understood Zhen Zhen’s intentions—both to warn him again and to disrupt his focus. Clearly, this woman was the kind of troublemaker who cared only about results, regardless of the means.
Normally, in a truly fair competition, a barrier would be set up in advance to block such disruptions, allowing both competitors to focus solely on their skills. But today, it was just a private duel among a few outer disciples, with no competition elders present to create such a barrier, giving Zhen Zhen an opportunity.
Fortunately, Su Che had a strong mind. Once he made up his mind, nothing else could disturb him.
In the blink of an eye, Zhen Zhen’s threatening words had no effect on Su Che, and his actions continued without pause… Just as Song Pangzi adjusted his stance, Su Che launched his second attack.
Whoosh!

This time, he simply activated a top-grade fire-type attack spirit talisman. A fire phoenix over five feet long appeared in mid-air, letting out a loud phoenix cry. Its wings, shimmering with hues of gold and orange-red, rushed toward Fat Song.

In terms of size and power, this fire phoenix was clearly inferior to the fire dragon from earlier. Yet, it was considered a top-grade spirit talisman because the flames that composed it were many times hotter and more powerful. Moreover, it could target its prey specifically, delivering more concentrated damage without wasting energy due to scattered attacks.

Not only that, but Su Che also activated a mid-grade magic weapon, the “Flaming Cone,” which was sent after the fire phoenix. Both the spirit talisman and the magic weapon were of the fire attribute, so they did not conflict with each other, amplifying their combined power even further.

“A top-grade spirit talisman?!”

Fat Song was shocked. He hadn’t expected Su Che to use a top-grade spirit talisman already in the second round. The power of a top-grade spirit talisman was equivalent to the full-force attack of a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage. Relying solely on his own abilities, Fat Song dared not confront it. While frantically dodging the fire phoenix’s attacks, he also took out a top-grade defensive spirit talisman and activated it with a whoosh.

Water and fire clashed—immediately, a pale green water-type giant dragon took shape. Its thick body surrounded Fat Song for protection, while its huge head could spew cold currents to counterattack the fire phoenix.

Undoubtedly, Fat Song’s top-grade spirit talisman must have been provided by Zhen Lan. Otherwise, as just an outer disciple at the third level of Qi Cultivation, even if he sold all his possessions, he couldn’t afford several top-grade spirit talismans.

“Great!”

Some of the inner disciples in the audience also began to cheer in unison. This was much more interesting now. A competition of top-grade spirit talismans was truly exciting and thrilling!

For them, two outer disciples at the early stage of Qi Cultivation fighting each other was like two children brawling—it was unlikely to be very exciting. The spells they could use were the lowest level, and the magic weapons they could control were also the most basic. Even if it turned into a life-or-death struggle, it would still be as uneventful as a child’s fight.

But a competition of top-grade spirit talismans was different. For these inner disciples, top-grade spirit talismans worth over a hundred spirit stones were usually too precious to use. They would only resort to using one or two of them in critical moments, reluctantly sacrificing something valuable.

Who would have thought that these two youngsters would start competing with top-grade spirit talismans already in the second round? Things were bound to get even more interesting from here on!