Jia Junjie and Xu Lihua stared at each other. Junjie was, evidently, very angry. Lihua, on the other hand, was very laid back; her smirk even hid a hint of mockery. She knew that she would win.
'How arrogant.' Junjie's teeth clenched the more he thought about how powerless he truly was. She could keep toying with him, and there was nothing he could even do. There is nothing more frustrating than being weak. That was what he had come to learn over these weeks.
After a few more moments of tense silence, Junjie finally made a move. If she wouldn't come to him, then he would gladly begin this exchange, irrespective of whether or not he was at a major disadvantage.
Moving with incredible speed, Junjie reached Lihua in less than two seconds. This would be amazing for a regular human, but once they awakened their spiritual veins, this speed was actually a bit lacklustre. Further, after awakening one's mental processes are enhanced, and thereby their reaction time is too.
Following his every movement with her eyes, Lihua easily sidestepped his forward jab and grabbed his arm to counterattack, but her vision suddenly went blurry.
'Huh?'
She hadn't received a blow yet, nor had she had time to execute her counterattack, so... what happened?
She quickly found out as her back met the floor with a violent thud. Junjie had anticipated she would grab him and threw her over his shoulders before slamming her into the ground with all his strength. She hadn't been planted properly, and he had taken advantage of that. Complacency is a sin, and in that moment Lihua had been a sinner.
Junjie went to throw a powerful downward punch, but Lihua had already recovered. Foundation Establishment cultivators were not to be underestimated!
"Impressive, you sly little bastard. I admire your cunning." She went straight back to taunting him.
Although she acted as if she was still complacent, she had mentally acknowledged all her openings and silently prepared for an attack on any of them.
"Watch your mouth, you ogre. I'm not kissing your ass anymore, because today I will win!" That was amusing coming from someone who had yet to beat her a single time.
"You little rat, you've got quite the mouth on you today, huh? I suppose it's my job as your senior to put you back in place!"
"You sound so sure of yourself!" They had gone back to exchanging blows while still talking trash to one another.
"Of course I am sure of myself. What can some weak little boy do anyway?" She spat confidently.
"I'll show you what I can do, you midget!" Junjie had resorted to using unacceptable insults to taunt her. What a hateful guy. Just because she was slightly shorter than him meant nothing on the path of strength.
She had actually ignored him this time and just kept fighting, which had frustrated him further. She was so skilled at irritating people, it seemed like she was the Blessed one.
After five more whole minutes of battle, Junjie was bloodied and bruised. Lihua's hair was dishevelled, and her breath was erratic, but this was the most Junjie could achieve as a mundane person. He couldn't even leave a mark on her skin; all of it was so infuriating. He was not the type to get mad easily, so this was a first for him.
They had once again returned to simply staring at one another. Junjie suddenly spat onto the floor; instead of the typical greyish hue, it was a scarlet red.
"You should stop for your own good; you might not be able to go on tomorrow at this rate." Her cocky smile had enraged Junjie more than any words could. Then he asked himself,
'Why am I so mad over a mere spar?' No. He was not mad at losing a spar, nor was it from Lihua's attitude. Junjie felt humiliated at losing all day, every day. He didn't want to anymore. He absolutely wanted himself to win.
He will win!
Junjie felt invigorated once again, only this time it wasn't from adrenaline or pure pride. This time it was from the awakening of his spiritual veins! Junjie, after all this time, had finally entered the Foundation Establishment realm.
His body felt a cool sensation, as if his awakening was nurturing his flesh.
'How wonderful!'
He shot forward and met Lihua in a near instant. This time, she was the surprised one. Unfortunately, she still managed to deflect his simple punch, but what she didn't anticipate was that the punch was a feint! Junjie had, at the instant she deflected his left hand, thrown a right hook.
The blow landed square on her jaw, sending her reeling. He had finally released all his pent-up anger into that one strike, and Lihua sure felt it. In fact, she had been rendered unconscious mid-air!
'Perhaps I hit her a little too hard?' Now that he wasn't blinded by frustration, he could see how his irrationality had led to Lihua getting injured.
He went over to see if he could do anything to help, but before he reached her, Xingjuan's elegant voice resounded from inside the cabin.
"That's enough now; I can take things from here. Don't feel bad about it either, kid; she got cocky and was put back in place, so for that I must thank you." But then her voice turned sour.
"But you did still hurt my daughter! That wasn't very nice, Junjie." She pretended to pout. The double standards were preposterous, but Junjie was too overwhelmed to care. He was too occupied basking in this new feeling. It was nothing short of glorious. It was as if he had been reborn. His body felt lighter and his muscles felt more packed with power, if that was an apt way to describe it.
He was now exhausted. Not physically; his body was fine, but mentally. Operating at such a high level and reacting so quickly to everything had drained him. He threw one last glance at Lihua's face before retreating to his room, ignoring Xingjuan, who was lying on the couch. Sleep sounded so wonderful right about now.
And sleep he did for the next three days.