Le Yu glanced at him and retorted, "I can too."
Jing Lei paused, unsure how to respond.
He had originally expected Le Yu to say, "I don't believe you."
Then he would say, "I'll show you."
And then he would plunge down, a surge of spiritual energy shooting down the giant eagle, earning him a round of cheers, and then Lu Xiaoyue, Xue Nu, and Ming Yueye would all look at him with infatuated eyes.
But this damned Le Yu, he never played by the rules. Seeing that posture, he also wanted to steal the spotlight. Was he trying to kill me? Da Feng Novel Network.
"Fine, show me then. It's so far, let's see how you shoot it down," Jing Lei said, exasperated.
At this moment, everyone's eyes were fixed on the two of them.
Le Yu formed a hand seal, and a ball of mist appeared before him. The mist swirled rapidly, and Le Yu pointed his hand. Ten thousand fine black needles shot out from the mist like raindrops, striking the distant giant eagle.
The giant eagle and the flying boat were traveling in the same direction, with the flying boat moving faster. They were now getting further and further away from the giant eagle.
The fine needles, initially like a surging torrent, rushed towards the eagle. But the torrent, fierce at first, slowed down and weakened as it advanced. It started as a dense black mass, becoming lighter as it moved forward, eventually dissipating like a wisp of smoke.
Yet, the eagle continued to soar freely.
Jing Lei burst into laughter, "Hahaha, is that all? You're overestimating yourself. If you don't have the ability, don't brag. Watch me."
Le Yu's face turned red. "Don't laugh at me, you won't hit it either."
Jing Lei pushed his hand forward, and a bolt of lightning struck the eagle. Everyone held their breath, their eyes following the electric light as it shot forward.
The lightning was swift and radiant at first, but after a moment, its speed also slowed, and its radiance dimmed.
Finally, the faint lightning still struck the eagle. The eagle, flying forward, suddenly felt danger and instinctively slowed down a bit. The lightning bolt grazed its side horizontally, but did not harm it in the slightest.
A burst of laughter erupted around them. Le Yu laughed particularly loudly, "You didn't hit it either!"
Jing Lei was furious and unleashed several more bolts of lightning. At first, they could barely touch the eagle, but they were all dodged. Later, they couldn't even reach the eagle.
Jing Lei was so angry that he wanted to fly out of the flying boat. "I'll go catch it."
A figure flashed, and someone grabbed Jing Lei. "Brother Jing Lei, why bother with a beast? It didn't provoke you."
Jing Lei turned around and saw Mo Qi looking at him with a smiling face.
"Are you going to interfere? Let go!" Jing Lei said with a hint of disgust.
Mo Qi immediately released him and said, "You just wanted to prove whether you could hit it from this distance, right? How about this: if I can hit it, you won't go after it anymore, okay?"
Jing Lei sneered, "You just want to prove you're stronger than me, don't you? Fine, I'll give you a chance to prove it. You try too, let's see if you're stronger than me. You won by luck in the competition between the two academies, and now you're getting arrogant? Have you forgotten who you are? I tell you, all you new students are noobs, that's a fact. Winning the competition doesn't change anything. Because if I had participated in the competition, I would have won even more cleanly than you."
Fen Tian and Le Yu also chimed in, "That's right, if you can hit that giant eagle, we'll admit you're stronger than us."
Tong Wuqi looked at the giant eagle, which was getting further and further away from the flying boat, and said, "This is completely unfair. When you made your moves, the eagle was close to the flying boat. Now that it's startled, it's flying further and further away. Not only me, but probably no one can hit it anymore."
Wang Lu also nodded, "Yes, there's no comparability at all."
Mo Qi looked up at the giant eagle, which was becoming smaller and smaller in his sight, and said, "It doesn't matter, I can try. But I'll say this first, I won't take its life, I'll just knock off a few feathers. You'll probably have to unleash your full spiritual power and strain your eyes to see it."
Jing Lei said, "Fine, even if you knock off a single strand of its down, we'll see it."
Everyone channeled their spiritual power and focused their vision.
Mo Qi flicked his finger, and a stream of qi shot out through the air, silently passing by the giant eagle and grazing its body. A feather floated in the air, drifting lazily. The eagle flapped its wings in alarm and changed direction, flying away into the distance.
"It knocked off a feather, it knocked off a feather!" Tong Wuqi shouted excitedly.
Jing Lei and Le Yu's faces turned ashen.
The disparity in their abilities was immediately apparent.
Le Yu and Jing Lei's divine abilities had weakened before they even reached the giant eagle, while Mo Qi's qi showed no signs of weakening. This was also one of the reasons the eagle couldn't dodge it.
They were certain that no matter how far away the giant eagle was, as long as Mo Qi could see it, he could harm it.
Tong Wuqi, Wang Lu, Du Gu Jun, and the others also cheered loudly.
Ming Yueye watched with wide eyes, a strange look in her eyes.
Lu Xiaoyue immediately looked at her and said, "He just got lucky, like a blind cat catching a mouse. He's still just an ordinary person."
Half an hour later, the flying boat arrived outside the Tong Tian Secret Realm. As everyone disembarked, disciples from the four sects had already opened the barrier.
Manager Yue gave them a few more instructions and then left in his flying boat.
There was a cave among the mountains, and the entrance shimmered with ripples, like surging water. The group walked in slowly, as if sinking into mud, and disappeared.
The Tong Tian Secret Realm was rumored to be the tail of the Ancestral Dragon, leading directly to the Heavenly Realm.
Strangely, although they had entered a cave dwelling, when they looked up, they saw a vast, misty sky, as if clouds and mist were drifting, a hazy expanse, with no solid, cold ceiling.
The light was not as dim as in a cave, but clear and bright.
There was a forest ahead, and as they entered it, everyone became tense.
The smell of blood quietly permeated the air, and a cold wind blew intermittently, making people shiver involuntarily. Looking around, every gust of wind seemed to hide a killing intent, and every leaf seemed to exude a bloodthirsty aura.
"Ah!" Mo Qi exclaimed softly.
Everyone's hearts tightened, and they all looked at him.
Mo Qi stretched out his hands, "Ah, just stretching, so comfortable!"
Jing Lei, Fen Tian, and Murong Jing glared at him with murderous intent, their fists clenched so tightly that they crackled, wishing they could devour him alive.
Xue Nu and Lu Xiaoyue both gave him sidelong glances.
The group continued forward. With Mo Qi's interruption, everyone's mood had relaxed considerably.
After a while, they emerged from the forest to an open area, where two paths diverged. One was a grand avenue that slanted upwards into the sky, reaching straight for the clouds; the other descended to an unknown destination.
At this point, they could see many people coming and going, disciples from the Shendu Sect, Tiandu Sect, Hongdu Sect...
Without hesitation, the group followed the grand avenue upwards. In the distance, the end appeared to be a white wall, but upon reaching it, they found no white wall. Looking further ahead, the end was still a white wall.
Du Gu Jun suddenly pointed to the mountainside. It was rugged, with countless cobblestone-shaped rocks scattered across the mountains.
"This mountainside is scattered with spirit stones, which cultivators can directly absorb."
Mo Qi's heart stirred. He had once heard from Apothecary Lai that there were spirit stones in the Qiong Lu Realm that could be directly absorbed for spiritual energy. He hadn't expected to encounter them here.
Unexpectedly, Du Gu Jun continued, "But this place is connected to the Heavenly Court, and the Heavenly Court does not allow mining, so most spirit stones are still hidden underground. There are basically no spirit stones on the surface, and even if there are a few scattered among them, they are hard to find."
"Yes, I know about that. No one has ever dug for those spirit stones," Murong Jing said. "It might take a day to find just one. With that much time, it's better to go into seclusion and practice."
"Is it really that difficult?" Mo Qi said with a sly smile.
Murong Jing found him extremely displeasing to the eye. Upon hearing this, he said, "It's difficult for us, but you are different. You can go down and look."
"You shouldn't be too modest. Actually, compared to me, you're not much different," Mo Qi said with a look of honesty.
However, Murong Jing was provoked. "You're really getting full of yourself. I'm telling you, if you can find two today, I, I will kneel down and kowtow to you on the spot."
"This is going to be interesting," the others, who were about to continue walking, stopped upon hearing this.
"I didn't intend to try, but since you've said so, I'm very willing to try," Mo Qi said calmly.
"If you can't find three, you'll kowtow to me," Murong Jing said with great authority.
"Hmm? Why did it become three?" Mo Qi smiled and said very elegantly, "Alright, three it is."
As he spoke, Mo Qi released Xiao Bu Dian, a clumsy, furry little creature that stared with its eyes wide open on the ground.
"So cute!" Lu Xiaoyue and Xue Nu exclaimed in unison and ran towards Xiao Bu Dian, trying to grab it and play with it.
However, Mo Qi pointed to the mountainside and flicked his hand. Xiao Bu Dian hopped into the pile of rocks.
It sometimes squeezed into the crevices between the rocks, sometimes poked its head out, and sometimes stumbled, looking extremely foolish and adorable.
Everyone watched Xiao Bu Dian quietly. By this time, they had all realized that Mo Qi intended to have this little fellow search for spirit stones.
Murong Jing's eyes widened, and his breathing became somewhat erratic.
A moment later, Xiao Bu Dian emerged from a crevice, holding a stone in its mouth, and ran back.
Mo Qi took the stone from its mouth and patted its head. It then hopped away again.
Mo Qi felt the stone and sensed its abundant spiritual energy. He beckoned Murong Jing over to inspect it. Murong Jing's face turned ashen. He quickly touched it and said dejectedly, "It's a spirit stone!" Then he turned and walked away.
Mo Qi then guided his own spiritual energy, and endless spiritual energy continuously surged into his body, causing a great surge within him.
The people around him gritted their teeth, filled with envy.
After Mo Qi finished absorbing the spiritual energy and tossed the spirit stone aside, Xiao Bu Dian returned again, carrying another stone.
When Mo Qi turned to look for Murong Jing, he was nowhere to be seen.
Mo Qi gave a wry smile. "Did he retreat from the battle?"
Mo Qi gave the spirit stone to Xue Nu, who then gave it to Lu Xiaoyue, and Lu Xiaoyue gave it back to Mo Qi.
Mo Qi gave it to Xue Nu again and smiled, "Don't be shy, you all deserve some."
As he spoke, Xiao Bu Dian returned with another stone, which Mo Qi gave to Lu Xiaoyue.
The two of them then unhesitatingly began to absorb the spiritual energy from the spirit stones.
Later, he gave a few more to Du Gu Jun, Tong Wuqi, Wang Lu, and Chang Yuhuan. They were too embarrassed to take more and left with those few stones.
Others also wanted them, but because they had been too indifferent before, they were now too embarrassed to ask. They all sighed and turned to continue walking forward.
Disciples from various sects watched Mo Qi and the others absorb spiritual energy with great envy.