THUD!

The flat-headed brute once again made intimate, negative-distance contact with the ground—face-first.

Dirt and stone flew as the earth cracked.

A massive crater dozens of feet deep had been violently smashed into existence.

When Niu Kexin hauled the flat-headed brute up again, his nose was caved in, half his teeth were gone, and his face was smeared with blood.

He was a wretched a sight as one could imagine.

Witnessing this, the crowd’s expressions collectively twisted. They recoiled, unable to look directly at the scene.

Even Mo Qi wiped his face, which was covered in a cold sweat.

’Sister Kexin is still Sister Kexin, after all. Her violent streak hasn’t faded with age.’

’Maybe it was because she hadn’t yet adapted to the transition from mortal to Cultivator, or maybe Uncle Niu’s death made her more cautious, so she never showed her true self.’

’But now, Niu Kexin was like a noblewoman who had cast off her fine robes for a soldier’s uniform, transforming into a female warrior.’

Mo Qi gave a wry smile, unsure whether to be happy or sad.

As for the group of people who had just been pitying Niu Kexin, thinking she would die, all their sympathy now shifted to the flat-headed brute.

’Godspeed, buddy!’

"Hey, big guy. Are you satisfied with the confidence my small frame carries?" Niu Kexin asked with a smile.

Hers was a peerless beauty, but in the eyes of the flat-headed brute, she was as terrifying as a demon.

’Resist?’

’Out of the question!’

’Asceticism? Tenacity?’

’They’re useless in the face of absolute, crushing power.’

He knew he had met his match. In terms of physical strength, even two or three of him combined would be no match for Niu Kexin.

He just couldn’t understand how such a delicate-looking girl could have tempered her body to such a degree.

His utter confusion prevented the flat-headed brute from answering Niu Kexin’s question in time.

"Oh? Looks like you’re not satisfied, then?"

Niu Kexin grinned, raised her arms, and the "human windmill" began anew.

The flat-headed brute: "Don’t—"

Tears welled in his eyes as he inwardly screamed: ’The outside world is too dangerous! I want to go home!’

He swore that if he was lucky enough to survive this, he would never practice asceticism again!

Life is short, so you have to enjoy it while you can!

If he couldn’t even beat a single girl, why make things so hard on himself?

A dignified Ascetic, beaten by Niu Kexin to the point that his entire philosophy had changed—it was clear just how shattered his mentality had become!

The experts from the Suffering Cultivation Sub-Palace had wanted to step in and plead for mercy, but a single sentence from Niu Kexin shut them up.

"I want to join the Suffering Cultivation Sub-Palace. Are you accepting new members?"

"Yes, yes, yes! Of course! We’d be honored!" The experts from the Suffering Cultivation Sub-Palace were overjoyed, instantly forgetting all about the flat-headed brute.

Lying in the pit like a pile of mud, completely ignored, the flat-headed brute struggled to lift his head toward the sky. ’Is anyone out there? Give me a hand!’

Once the fight was over, Mo Qi immediately gave Qian Duoduo and the others a meaningful look.

Qian Duoduo understood. He leaped into the combat area and cupped his hands at the surrounding crowd.

"I am Qian Duoduo, and I challenge the Business Alliance Sub-Palace!"

Li Xuemiao, Wu Bainian, and Li Yuanhao followed right after.

"I am Li Xuemiao, and I challenge the Ting Lake Sub-Palace!"

"I am Wu Bainian, and I challenge the Cold Ice Sub-Palace!"

"I am Li Yuanhao, and I challenge..." Li Yuanhao froze. The Suffering Cultivation Sub-Palace had already been taken by Niu Kexin, and Mo Qi hadn’t given him a new target. Who was he supposed to challenge?

"Forget it! Every Sub-Palace here, I’m calling you all out! Who dares to fight me?"

With that one sentence, Li Yuanhao managed to include all the Sub-Palaces that had been maintaining a neutral stance.

The smiles on the faces of the experts from the other Sub-Palaces—those who had been enjoying the show and hoping to stir up more trouble—froze solid.

A *dianzhan* challenge, as the name implied, was to call someone out by name for a fight. It was similar to a "challenge" but far more insulting and carried a heavy note of provocation.

Typically, when someone was issued a *dianzhan* challenge, they would almost never refuse.

This time, however, from the Immortal experts of the Sub-Palaces down to their younger, talented disciples, everyone just stared at each other blankly, offering no response.

How could they possibly fight this?

Three people had taken the stage: one with Dragon Blood, one with a Poison Body, and another whose physical strength was simply off the charts.

Heaven knew what kind of monsters the rest of them were!

The atmosphere instantly turned awkward.

There were a hundred Sub-Palaces in the West District, and what should have been a lively exchange meet had been brought to a screeching halt by Mo Qi’s small group.

This was an absolute first in tens of thousands of years!

"How about... we let the young ones go for their Spirit Pool baptism first, and continue the exchange meet later?" one of the experts tentatively suggested.

The Spirit Pool was a large-scale Cultivation site jointly funded and built by all the Sub-Palaces.

The Spiritual Energy inside existed in liquid form. It was incredibly dense and perfectly suited for Cultivators with lower Cultivation levels, possessing the miraculous ability to strengthen their foundations, fortify their cores, and patch up flaws and gaps in their Cultivation.

However, the Spirit Pool baptism was normally given as a reward to those who performed exceptionally well at the exchange meet.

In the past, fewer than a hundred people qualified for it each time.

This time, however, the number would likely exceed a thousand!

"Good! Let’s do it!"

"Great idea!"

"I agree!"

What was expected to be a controversial proposal ended up being the exact opposite.

The suggestion passed almost unanimously!

"Let’s go, let’s go! Open the Spirit Pool first!"

"Come on, let’s delegate tasks. Brother, your Sub-Palaces will handle the Array Formation. We’ll be in charge of gathering the materials, and they’ll activate the Spirit Pool."

"Alright!"

And just like that, the experts from the various Sub-Palaces methodically began the preparations to open the Spirit Pool, leaving Qian Duoduo and his group standing to the side as if they hadn’t seen or heard a thing.

Mo Qi: "..."

Qian Duoduo and the others: "..."

’Hey, hey, hey! This is too much!’

’Is it really okay to just ignore us like this?’

’You can run, but you can’t hide!’

’We might not know what this Spirit Pool baptism is, but you don’t really think a little dip will change anything, do you?’

’Wait!’

’Could it be...?’

A very frustrating possibility suddenly occurred to Mo Qi—’What if we don’t get to go to the Spirit Pool baptism?!’

’They wouldn’t be that treacherous, would they?’

As it turned out, Mo Qi was overthinking it, but the actual situation wasn’t much better.

Because of the "performance" by Mo Qi’s group, the exchange meet had to be paused, which meant there were no so-called "outstanding performers."

Therefore, the spots for the Spirit Pool baptism could only be allocated according to the number of factions present.

After a final discussion, it was decided that each faction would receive one spot.

For example, the Feng Family would get one spot, as would the Xiao Family, and the Liu Family as well.

"Hold on!" Mo Qi was extremely dissatisfied with this allocation.

"I don’t care how you allocate the spots for everyone else, but Liu Hui, Jin Sanpang, and my Sister Kexin... not giving those three a spot is a bit unreasonable, don’t you think?"