The attacks collided as fragmented spear and sword Qi fell through the air. Lei Ran slid back five steps from the collision.
As Xian Ling slid four and a half steps back, she questioned, "Why is he so strong? He's way stronger than I thought."
"I estimate that it would take several more moves to take him down," she acknowledged.
"You're quite strong for your age," Lei Ran said as he stared at Xian Ling, feeling bitterness in his mouth. "But it seems that you don't have a lot of combat experience."
"My name is Lei Ran, but they call me Spear Master Ran. What might be your name?" he asked inquisitively.
"My name? I'll tell you if you can defeat me," she replied in frustration.
"We are but in the same level—why must we fight?" he asked.
"Simply that I need to. After that, we're but done," she replied as she held her sword, pointing straight at the sky.
She leaned forward with her whole body, one leg taking the lead to step forward. As her foot touched the ground, she pushed off with focus and dashed straight forth.
"Pale Needle" – a lightning-fast forward thrust, aimed at pressure points or spiritual nodes.
SWISH
The blade cut through the air with a whistling sound as sword Qi shot out with speed.
Lei Ran saw this as he twirled his spear in Step Parry – using footwork as part of the parry, sidestepping while deflecting.
He twisted around in a 360° spin as he swung his spear in Ascension Spear Slash – swung the spear upward from bottom to high.
Xian was taken off guard as her eyes widened, but she quickly regained focus as she shifted her body weight.
With a sidestep, the attack missed as it cleaved through the trees behind with force that could smash boulders.
She pulled the sword back as she said through a soft whisper, "Enlightened Sword Art, Third Form – Piercing Sky," a quick thrust aimed at the vital point.
Sword Qi shot out of the blade's edge with sharp intensity as it cleaved through the air.
Lei Ran narrowed his eyes. The attack was too fast for a proper dodge or block.
He twirled his spear, took a step in as he smashed his foot into the ground, rooting it firmly.
Spear Gale Art, Seventh Form – Tempest Spiral – a spiraling jab that drills inward.
Lei Ran thrust his spear as spear Qi shot forth with equal intensity. As the attacks were about to hit, suddenly—
STOMP
Li Hao stepped amid the two attacks, his very footstep smashing into the ground.
CLASH
His palm hit the blade Qi's edge with overwhelming power. His very action carried 25.6 MN of force as the sword Qi broke apart into little fragments.
"That's enough," he said in a sharp yet calm tone.
"Brother Hao, did I win?" she asked cheerfully.
"You almost did, but your skills in the sword path are somewhat lacking," Li Hao said.
Lei Ran stared at Li Hao, his heartbeat fast. Who is this person? How could he just…
Is he… one of those upper-rank inner disciples?
Even though the inner disciples had the same rank in name, there was a clear difference.
The upper-rank disciples were those at the Transcendent Martial Realm, with the weakest ten times stronger than the strongest of the master level.
And the top three upper-rank disciples were even stronger than that.
But what he didn't know was that Li Hao was equal to the dean—the strongest person in the academy.
Lei Ran quickly bowed down as he said in a polite manner, "Inner disciple Lei Ran greets senior."
"Mm." Li Hao stared at him, surprised as he saw that they were both inner disciples.
"Maybe he's scared because of your strength, Brother Hao," Xian Ling said.
"Why are you bowing?" Li Hao questioned.
"Well… it's because you're an upper-rank disciple," Lei Ran said, not daring to raise his head.
"Mm," Li Hao mused, surprised that this kid thought of him as a top-tier disciple.
"Little Brother Lei Ran, what are top-tier inner disciples?" she asked.
Lei Ran was surprised, as he hadn't thought that both didn't know this much basic information.
"Top-tier inner disciples are those at the Transcendent Realm. With their strength, they made a stronger group called the Top-Tier Disciples with only 300 members."
"We ordinary inner disciples can only hide and defend," Lei Ran thought.
"Brother Hao, how do you match against the top-tier inner disciples?" Xian Ling asked, curious.
Li Hao stared at her, his gaze sharp, full of mysteries.
"You can leave," Li Hao said.
"Thank you, Senior Brother," Lei Ran said as he left without looking back.
"Brother, why couldn't you let him stay? He would be a good sparring partner," Xian Ling questioned.
"…"
Li Hao gave her no reply as he took out his sword and articulated, "Since you wanted to spar, let's go."
With his serene gesture, Xian Ling had no choice but to agree.
And from then on, time paused.
SEVERAL HOURS LATER
Truth is the silence between words, where the Dao gently breathes.
"Hah… hah… hah… hah… Brother Hao, why is it that you're so strong?" she asked, laying on the ground from exhaustion.
Li Hao sat beside her, staring at the stars above as he replied with a whisper, "I'm simply too talented."
"But Brother Hao… even though we are far apart in strength, I as well have heaven spirit roots," she questioned.
"Why is it that I can't catch up to you in strength?" Xian asked, curious.
Li Hao turned to gaze at her as he replied, "I simply have more talent."
"…"
Xian Ling stared at him silently. His reply was blunt and gave no way for her to refute.
Because he was the stronger one here, with even more talent.
She stopped looking at him as she looked into the stars and asked,
"Brother, do you think one day we'll be able to reach the stars and grab them with our hands?"
Li Hao tilted his head. The world is but small, yet one's ambitions are high above. If we continue on this path, even the stars are but a small portion of the infinite heavens.
Li Hao said this through his past experiences. On his home planet, they had discovered space-time and temporal zones.
With supermassive stars and black holes, with even stronger event horizons—the stars are but small.