5 Three slaps. (1/2)
Li Jueyong had woken up again after his loss and was mixed in with the spectators, his expression twisting slightly when Li Yang stepped onto the stage. He originally intended to arrange for a person or two to challenge Li Yang during this year's sparring matches, but he was only planning on having them give Li Yang a beating so that he would become a bit more serious, he wasn't going to have them beat him down like this Ping Shisui was going to.
He might disdain Li Yang's carefree and lazy nature but they were still half-brothers and members of the same sect, he didn't want to see Li Yang brutally beaten and wounded by someone much stronger than him. His twisted expression twitched slightly when Li Yang opened his mouth and spoke, calling him Lil Yongi in public for a second time. Did he not care about the worry some of the people present had for him?
Ping Shisui was equally shocked by Li Yang's sudden challenge, standing up from her seat while narrowing her brown eyes. The sect informed them of the various people in the Deepsea King sect they had to watch out for before each of the annual sparring matches, but Li Yang's name had never come up. He was the son of the exalted Third Elder but had a lazy and carefree attitude, he didn't even seem to care about cultivating or increasing his own strength.
There were more than just a few that considered him foolish, was he trying to prove exactly that by challenging her now? She made her way down to the stage and stopped a few steps away from Li Yang, brushing away a few strands of her shoulder-length black hair while questioning him suspiciously.
”What exactly are you planning? Are you really just trying to prove other people right about your foolishness, or are you praying for some miracle to protect your younger brother's pride?”
Ping Shisui brought out her weapon as she spoke, assembling the three parts of her spear that she carried on her back. A lion had to use all its power even when hunting a rabbit, she wouldn't underestimate Li Yang to the point of not even using her weapon. Faced with her questions, Li Yang simply raised an eyebrow and looked at her as if she was an idiot.
”No? Are you hard of hearing, got a bit of dust in the ears? I said I was gonna spank you since I'm the only one who gets to bully Lil Yongi. Well, that and this serves as a good chance to show off to my future wifey. When you're gonna marry a woman as beautiful as her you have to work your ass off for every single date. You probably already know her, look, she's watching us right now.”
Li Yang used his chin to gesture towards the section of the seating area where Mei Kongxu was sitting, Ping Shisui and those close enough to hear his words also turning to look at her. Mei Kongxu looked somewhat sullen now that she was suddenly the centre of attention, but the gazes swiftly left her and landed back on Li Yang, now in the form of vicious glares.
Li Yang had expected things to go like this, there was no way Mei Kongxu wasn't extremely popular in her sect with how beautiful she was. She probably had countless pursuers hoping to be joined with her, yet now they all learned that she was already promised to someone else, someone who hadn't shown anything that made him worthy of her. Li Yang simply smiled cockily in the face of all the glares, relishing in their annoyance as Qi slowly started to seep out of his body. Ping Shisui immediately noticed the Qi, instantly discerning what cultivation realm Li Yang was at.
”So you've carved your fourth rune and reached the middle-stage of the Human Rune realm, that's your trump card? You can't be so dumb that you've already forgotten that I beat someone who had six runes earlier, right, you can't be that disappointing?”
If this was Li Yang's trump card and what he planned on using to win this battle, then Ping Shisui could only consider him a true disappointment. If that was the only thing he had to back up his cockiness, then he truly wasn't worthy of marrying their sect's goddess. Li Yang wasn't bothered by her and simply stretched out his right arm while gesturing for her to come at him, he didn't even bother to pull out a weapon.
”Won't you figure all that out when you attack? Well, if you're too scared to move then I can also understand that, it must be hard for a fairy like you to attack a beautiful adonis like me.”
Li Yang wore an insufferably smug expression as he praised himself, his actions and his newfound status as Mei Kongxu's fiance resulting in the people from the World-rending Behemoth sect booing him as loudly as they could. Ping Shisui's expression also twisted slightly, her feet kicking off the stage as she dashed forward while stabbing out with her spear.
The two were extremely close to each other, only a few steps, so Ping Shisui managed to cross the distance in no more than the blink of an eye. But the moment she approached him, she noticed that Li Yang's eyes turned as sharp and ferocious as those of a wild beast, a stark contrast to his earlier carefree charm.
And then, as the tip of the spear was practically right on him, he gave a casual twist of his torso so that the spear only grazed him and slid past him. His right arm shot out, his fist embedding itself in Ping Shisui's abdomen and knocking all the air out of her lungs while forcing her to hunch over. He had moved far faster than she had expected, not leaving her with any room to dodge or react. And then, just as she managed to suck in a painful breath of air, his teasing voice reached her ears.
”Fairy Sister has to be careful, agitation in a fight means defeat. And oh, your stomach feels rather soft, have you not been careful with your diet?”
Ping Shisui felt like spewing blood due to Li Yang's comments, furiously straightening her hunched over body to face him. But his other fist reached her face the moment she straightened her body, his foot sneaking its way to the back of her own foot before pulling back. Her body suddenly felt strangely light, her legs vanishing out from underneath her as his fist smashed into her face and dyed it red with blood.
The lack of footing, strangely light body, as well as the fist to the face, resulted in her body spinning, the back of her head smashing into the stage while her feet pointed nearly straight into the air. She then felt a sharp slap hit her buttocks, the by-now insufferable to her voice of Li Yang reaching her ears.
”Alright, that's one slap. I think two or so more should be enough to punish this naughty fairy.”
The slap caused her body to spin further, the back of her head sliding along the stage for a bit before she spun so much that her feet touch the stage again. She regained her footing and stumbled backwards, the light feeling in her body having vanished when her feet touched the ground again. Her breathing was somewhat erratic as she kept her gaze locked on Li Yang, who remained standing in his previous spot.
Her mind was racing to figure out what had just happened, his dodging speed, attacking speed, as well as the light feeling in her body, none of them were normal. But while she was inspecting him to figure out his secrets, Li Yang raised his right arm and held it up to his face, clenching it a few times before smiling at Ping Shisui.
”Your stomach felt a bit soft, but your buttocks was nice and firm. I thought you skimped on your diet, but it seems you've just been focusing your training on something else, please forgive my earlier erroneous statement.”
Ping Shisui nearly blew a fuse when she saw Li Yang admire his hand as if he was still relishing in the sensation he had just felt, she couldn't help but kick off the ground and charge forward once more. She stabbed out with her spear again, crimson flames sparking around the tip and wreathing the entire weapon in a gleaming flame that lit the air around it on fire.
Li Yang twist his torso once more just as the spear was about to touch him, waiting for it to get so close that part of his robe actually caught on fire. But Ping Shisui was prepared for it this time, sliding her left hand further down the handle of the spear and giving it a push to force the speartip into a sideways slash.
But even this lightning-quick response of her's wasn't enough, Li Yang ducked down faster than she swept out her weapon. The spear cut through the air above him and his own foot swept out, hooking onto Ping Shisui's own foot and once again causing her body to feel strangely light. Her footing once again vanished as Li Yang swept her feet out from underneath her, his body almost instantly completing a full circle as he spun around.
Her body had just ended up horizontal in the air when Li Yang finished his spin hopped up, the leg that had swept her feet out from underneath her shooting up and smashing into her waist. Her body bent slightly around the leg, Li Yang lowering it as quickly as he raised it. His arm shot out once he lowered his leg, another sharp slap sounding out as his hand met Ping Shisui's buttocks, his voice quickly following it.