Chapter Ninety-Three: Conversation

Looking at the scattered rubble all over the courtyard, Lie Yun could only glance helplessly at Lie Chen. It seemed that after venting his anger, Lie Chen’s mood had improved somewhat, which was understandable. After all, as the head of the Lie Clan, being suppressed in full view of everyone until he could not move a muscle was indeed a humiliation few could bear.

At Lie Chen’s question, Lie Yun frowned and pondered for a moment before slowly saying, “This point is indeed worth discussing. Although Su Yi claims that he reached this level through body refinement, no one knows exactly how he trained…”

“I am not very familiar with cultivation, but I do know that it is a long and arduous path, one that advances slowly and cannot be achieved overnight. Even if Su Yi’s body had once been strengthened and tempered by battle energy, once that energy disappeared, his muscles should have gradually relaxed and weakened. So there is no reason for him to have gained such strength in such a short time now, unless…”

“Unless he used certain medicinal materials, or a combination of them, to strengthen his body. That is also one of the methods of body cultivation.”

After hearing Lie Yun’s analysis, Lie Chen fell into thought and said, “But before this, Su Yi had once tried to break through and become a Battle Practitioner. Although he ultimately failed, that only proves that he still had battle energy within him at the time!”

“It is even possible that not long ago Su Yi still had battle energy in his body, but today… no, come to think of it, didn’t we discover that Su Yi had no battle energy fluctuation at the auction house that day? We didn’t pay much attention then, but thinking carefully now, it seems he did not even have battle energy…”

“What does this mean?”

Lie Chen asked himself, then went on, “It means that even if our intelligence and guesses are wrong, we can still tell that within only a few months, or a month, or perhaps even less, Su Yi has risen with astonishing speed, achieving at least physical combat strength comparable to a ninth-level, perhaps even tenth-level, Battle Practitioner! And to reach such speed, the medicinal materials he used were naturally no ordinary things. The key question is, how could Su Yi, with neither money nor influence, have obtained such materials?”

“Of course, if those medicinal materials were secretly procured by Mei Ya, that would be one thing. But if not, then it becomes rather suspicious. You must know that among the medicinal materials stolen from our Lie Clan, there were quite a few good things as well…” Lie Chen let out a sigh, speaking with a touch of pain at the loss.

“Alas, Clan Head, whatever the truth may be, with Mei Ya’s current strength, we are simply in no position to oppose her. Just like that day when we faced that mysterious man who flew through the air…”

Lie Yun wore a bitter smile as he said helplessly, “To be honest, when Mei Ya first came, I had already tested her. Later I met her many times, yet I could not detect the slightest trace of battle energy in her. I never imagined… sigh, to think she fooled the entire city for a full three years…”

“A Dragon Battle Power expert?”

Lie Yun’s tone was filled with bitterness, along with a touch of yearning. As a peak sixth-grade Battle Master, with just one more step he could enter the Dragon Battle realm he had long hoped for. Yet this step, so close it seemed within reach, had bound him for many years.

He had only barely touched the threshold of Dragon Battle Power, and even within his inner spiral there were already traces of purple dragon energy among the Pillar Violet Qi, but he was still far from truly becoming a Dragon Battle expert. And precisely because of this, he understood even more deeply how formidable such experts were!

Lie Chen did not say much about Lie Yun’s sigh. Among the Lie Clan, the one most likely to advance to Dragon Battle level was this Elder Lie Yun. Lie Chen also hoped that the Lie Clan could produce a Dragon Battle expert, especially after witnessing Mei Ya’s frightening power today. After all, even if all the strong experts of the entire Lie Clan joined forces to release their battle energy and pressure against him, the feeling they gave him was still far inferior to Mei Ya’s suppression…

“Since it is difficult to resolve, let us set this matter aside for now. After all, the ones who should be worried most are not us.” A rare hint of schadenfreude appeared on Lie Chen’s face as he said, “Mount Oben offended Mei Ya this time; it will not end so easily… Let us simply watch and wait for developments.”

…

Inside the auction house.

Mei Ya was lazily seated on a sandalwood couch in her elegant boudoir hall. The rise and fall of her body only made her supple, graceful figure seem all the more alluring. The fair skin exposed from beneath her cheongsam gave off waves of enticing fragrance, as though tempting one toward sin.

Yet by now everyone knew that the full, ample curves of her chest, her rounded hips, and all those places that were already “dangerous” by nature had now become even more perilous…

Mo Ben, as always, stood quietly off to the side, calm and composed. His attitude toward Mei Ya remained the same as before, which suggested he had long known her true background. Thinking of this, Su Yi, who stood before Mei Ya, could not help wondering whether the higher-ups of the auction house, people like Captain Yuan, also knew that Mei Ya was actually a powerful expert.

Mei Ya shifted her body slightly, moving one leg over the other and adjusting to a more comfortable position. Looking at Su Yi, who seemed as though he had something to say but hesitated, she smiled and said, “Su Yi, do you seem to have something to say?”

“Uh…” Su Yi nodded slightly, but then realized he had so many questions at once that he did not know which to ask first. After a moment’s hesitation, he could only say, “Sister Mei Ya, I’m afraid no one at this martial competition has been more shocking than you.”

Mei Ya smiled, but did not offer any modest words. She also understood that if she had not taken action, the person who would have drawn the most attention today would likely have been Su Yi. She gave a light laugh. “What is it, Su Yi? Are you unhappy that I stole your thunder?”

Watching Mei Ya’s subtly trembling figure, and doing his best not to think about the inadvertent glimpse of skin revealed when she changed legs just now, Su Yi coughed dryly and said with a soft laugh, “How could that be? Honestly, whether or not I get that kind of attention doesn’t really matter to me… I’m just shocked by Sister Mei Ya’s strength and talent…”

Su Yi sighed, his face showing a trace of shame. “I used to think my talent was pretty good, and when others praised me, I couldn’t help feeling a little pleased with myself. But compared with you, Sister Mei Ya… sigh, it’s heaven and earth apart. All those words of praise I heard before now sound almost sarcastic…”

Sensing Su Yi’s low spirits, Mei Ya shook her head and said, “In just two years, you went from a fourth-level Battle Practitioner to a peak tenth-level Battle Practitioner. That was entirely the result of your own cultivation, with no support from a backing power, no outside financial aid, no assistance from rare treasures of heaven and earth or precious medicinal materials, no guidance from a master, and no cultivation of any profound battle techniques or secret methods. To achieve such speed on your own is already very impressive…”

“That’s right.” Mo Ben also spoke up from the side. “As for talent, Miss Mei Ya can be considered a rare genius in our clan, one who appears only once in a hundred years. Yet she only became a Battle Practitioner at the age of fifteen. By comparison, Su Yi, you were already a fourth-level Battle Practitioner at fifteen. Whose talent is stronger is obvious at a glance… It’s just that you do not have the support of a powerful family like Miss Mei Ya does, so naturally you appear somewhat slower in comparison…”

Mei Ya elegantly nodded her delicate chin and smiled. “Uncle Mo Ben is right. Aside from talent, the devoted cultivation of a family or sect is also very important. If it were you, Su Yi, you might have achieved even greater accomplishments than I have… Mm, perhaps even that genius girl An Xiang would be overshadowed by you.”

“An… Xiang?” Su Yi said, slightly startled.

“I’ve met her a few times. Her talent is no less than mine,” Mei Ya said with a faint smile. “In terms of age, she is only a year older than you, yet she is already a peak sixth-grade Battle Soul expert…”

A peak sixth-grade Battle Soul? Only one year older? Nineteen?

Su Yi was shocked, and for a moment he did not know what to say. If Mei Ya had the advantage of several extra years of cultivation, then An Xiang was about the same age as he was, yet she had already cultivated to the level of a sixth-grade Battle Soul! If the people in the city knew of this, who knew whether they would still have faces left to show?

Still, because he had already learned of the examples of Dragon Dream and Mei Ya, the shock in Su Yi’s heart was not as deep as it might otherwise have been. In fact, even his shock at Mei Ya’s strength had been largely due to the suddenness of the revelation.

After all, the incident from a year ago, when Dragon Dream—one year younger than him—was already a peak tenth-level Dragon Battle expert, had left Su Yi so stunned that he had almost become numb to such things. If he told Mei Ya about it, she would probably be stunned beyond belief as well.

A year had passed. Su Yi could not help wondering inwardly whether Dragon Dream had broken through to Battle King yet. With such terrifying talent and strength, the power behind her must also be extraordinarily frightening.

Thinking of this, Su Yi’s heart stirred and he could not help asking, “Sister Mei Ya, is it really impossible to reach great heights through one’s own cultivation, apart from being nurtured by a power?”

“Of course it is possible, though it is more difficult and slower. However, people with special constitutions are an exception…” Mei Ya thought for a moment and replied.

“Special constitutions?” Su Yi said in surprise.