I Can Upgrade My Talent Infinitely-Chapter 96: A Lesson

This Deng Qian fellow... wasn’t he the one Senior Brother Yuan Yunfan mentioned back on Battle Peak?

Fang Yun recalled that Senior Brother Yuan Yunfan had told him to watch out for Deng Qian after he broke through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.

He hadn’t paid much mind to the matter.

He figured that once he reached the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, no ordinary Cultivator at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer would be his match.

Senior Brother Yuan Yunfan had seemed to warn him to be careful about a Magical Combat challenge from Deng Qian.

"I’ve heard of you," Fang Yun said, which was more or less the truth.

"That’s more like it."

Deng Qian nodded in satisfaction. It was only normal that Fang Yun had heard of him, even if he hadn’t seen him in person.

Deng Qian felt he was quite famous among the Inner Sect Disciples.

"Junior Brother Fang, when shall we go to Battle Peak for a Magical Combat sparring match?" Deng Qian asked, taking a few steps toward Fang Yun.

This lined up perfectly with what Senior Brother Yuan Yunfan had said.

Deng Qian had sought him out precisely to challenge him to Magical Combat.

Just as Fang Yun was about to refuse, Deng Qian spoke again.

"I noticed you back when you were still an Outer Sect Disciple. Now that you’re an Inner Sect Disciple, it’s the perfect opportunity for me to see if your defensive abilities are as strong as they say."

From Deng Qian’s tone, Fang Yun could hear an overwhelming sense of self-satisfaction.

’A Qi Refining Ninth Layer challenging a Qi Refining Seventh Layer to Magical Combat... even if he wins, it’s hardly a glorious achievement, is it?’

But judging by Deng Qian’s current expression, he truly thought it was a glorious affair.

Fang Yun didn’t want to get too involved with people who thought like that.

"Not interested," Fang Yun refused directly.

With that, he prepared to head toward the Spirit Fields.

"What do you mean by that?"

Deng Qian blocked Fang Yun’s path, his expression turning ugly.

Thankfully, there was no one around. If there had been an audience, his expression would have soured even faster.

"Fang Yun, I, your senior brother, came all this way to invite you to a Magical Combat spar, and this is how you treat me? You won’t even give me this much face?"

"Senior Brother, we barely know each other. Why should I be concerned about giving you face?"

Having thrown out the question, Fang Yun moved to walk around Deng Qian, having no intention of getting tangled up with him any further.

If he really wanted to leave, Deng Qian wouldn’t be able to stop him.

This was the Inner Sect A Zone. Deng Qian wouldn’t dare to actually attack him or use brute force to stop him here.

But the moment Fang Yun had that thought, he had a premonition: Deng Qian was, in fact, going to attack him.

"You! Stop right there!"

In a fit of rage, Deng Qian sent a red spear flying from his hand, stabbing toward Fang Yun.

The Profound Iron Shield was already protecting Fang Yun’s back, effortlessly blocking the blow.

"Senior Brother, shall we continue?"

Fang Yun asked without even turning his head.

By now, Deng Qian had been forced to calm down, cold sweat trickling down his back.

The moment he had attacked Fang Yun, an Upper Grade Magical Artifact, a Long Sword, had appeared behind his head.

If the wielder wished it, the Long Sword could end his life at any moment.

’Who said Fang Yun could only defend?’

The most terrifying part was that he had no idea when Fang Yun had struck. By the time he noticed it, the Upper Grade Magical Artifact, the Long Sword, was already behind his head.

"No more, Junior Brother."

Deng Qian forced a very strained smile.

Fang Yun, at only the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, was far more dangerous than Yuan Yunfan at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

This was Deng Qian’s most immediate and visceral feeling.

Hearing this, Fang Yun recalled the Upper Grade Magical Artifacts, the Profound Iron Shield and the Yellow Iron Sword, into his Storage Pouch. The next moment, he vanished from Deng Qian’s sight at an incredible speed, leaving only his retreating back in view.

Fang Yun had completely disappeared.

And Deng Qian still hadn’t recovered.

’This Fang Yun is too dangerous!’

He had originally thought Fang Yun was just a defensive punching bag for others to practice on, but now he saw that wasn’t the case at all.

Fang Yun’s offensive capabilities were even greater than his defensive ones; he just hadn’t shown them before.

"Junior Brother Deng, was that commotion just now caused by you?"

The brief exchange had created fluctuations of Spiritual Power that a sharp Qi Refining Cultivator would have already sensed.

Deng Qian slowly turned to see Bai Qinying walking toward him.

"S-Senior Sister Bai." The sight of Bai Qinying brought a flood of unpleasant memories to Deng Qian’s mind.

"I asked you a question."

"Yes. I was just practicing here."

"If you want to practice, go to Battle Peak. What are you doing, acting crazy out here?"

"I’ll head to Battle Peak right now."

With that, Deng Qian turned and left without a backward glance.

Bai Qinying didn’t find Deng Qian’s current behavior strange at all. Ever since she had taught him a lesson, he always acted this way whenever he saw her.

Fang Yun hurried to the Spirit Fields.

He had already put the earlier incident out of his mind.

With people like Deng Qian, you had to let them know you weren’t to be trifled with. Then, they would be smart enough not to bother you again.

Of course, Fang Yun’s willingness to strike back came with certain prerequisites.

The first was that Deng Qian had to have actually attacked him.

The second was the need to have a certain amount of backing.

His current residence in the Inner Sect A Zone meant that he was considered someone with backing in the sect, even if his backing was rather tenuous.

But even tenuous backing was far better than no backing at all.

He could leverage Elder Bai Heyan’s influence, but the moral high ground had to be on his side.

The moment Deng Qian attacked him, he had secured that moral high ground.

Judging by how scared Deng Qian looked, the matter would likely have no further repercussions.

After such a humiliating loss of face, a self-important person like him would be even less likely to spread the story around.

Since no one else had witnessed what happened, Deng Qian would be even more certain to take this secret to his grave.

Having received a large number of Talent Points at the beginning-of-the-month settlement, Fang Yun was in a very good mood today.

The minor incident with Deng Qian hadn’t affected his mood in the slightest.

Getting flamed constantly back when he used to write game guides had long since forged his resilient mindset.

...

「Yinchan Mountain.」

This was the territory of the Black Ghost Cave, one of the Evil Sects.

Somewhere in the mountains, a male and a female Cultivator were searching for something.

Both of them were disciples of the Celestial Cloud Sect.

If Fang Yun were here, he would have recognized them immediately.

Senior Brother Lu and Senior Sister Zhang.

"The Yin Qi is getting thicker," Lu Zefeng said, unable to stop a shiver.

The damp chill in a place with such dense Yin Qi would cause any ordinary person who came here to fall gravely ill.

"Once we find the Yinlin Flower, we can leave."

"By the way, Senior Sister, what do ’they’ want the Yinlin Flower for? This stuff is useless to us, right?"

"If there’s a mission for it, it must be useful for something. As for what use a Yinlin Flower is to Cultivators like us who practice with Spiritual Qi, you can ask Junior Brother Fang when we get back. He’s an Alchemy Master." At this, Zhang Cailing added, "It would be a good excuse to get in touch with him, too."

"Mm," Lu Zefeng nodded. He glanced around at their surroundings and said, "I hope this mission goes as smoothly as the last one."