"Come. This prince will let you make a few moves. I will not be dodging," Dastan declared, his luminous arms spread wide in a gesture of welcome.
Leyvi did not reply with words. Instead, he immediately burst forward, aiming to close the hundred-meter gap in an instant. But to his surprise, his momentum was quickly stifled, as if he were suddenly trying to sprint through deep water. The very air around Dastan seemed to resist him. He still launched a powerful punch, but by the time it neared its target, the attack had lost much of its force.
"Qi Barrier."
Just before Leyvi's huge, fiery fist could connect, a thick, spherical barrier of silvery Qi shimmered into existence around Dastan. It was a perfect, seamless dome of energy.
Bang!
The massive red fist collided with the unwavering silver barrier. The fiery impact sent a shockwave outward, blowing dust and debris away in a circle around them, yet the barrier itself did not so much as flicker. Dastan stood perfectly untouched and unmoving within his protective shell.
This truly surprised Leyvi. A Qi Barrier was a normal defensive technique, one of the first any cultivator learned. Yet, in actual combat, it was rarely a reliable defense against a determined assault, which was why most cultivators sought out more advanced protective methods. Who would have thought this most basic of techniques could be so formidable when empowered by the might of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator?
Dastan smiled, pleased to see the look of astonishment on Leyvi's face. Since Leyvi was the type to learn through experience, he would not mind letting him experience the full breadth of a Nascent Soul's power. And, of course, the most important part was that he could show off in the process. It was a pity there were not more people present to witness his grandeur.
Refocusing, Leyvi ceased his single attack and began launching a barrage of blows. Huge, fiery fists from his spiritual hands hammered the barrier in a relentless storm, interspersed with his own physical punches thrown with all his might. He was determined to find the limit of the Qi Barrier's strength. Flashes of red light erupted one after another against the silvery dome, a continuous drumbeat of impacts, yet the barrier remained utterly unshaken.
All the while, the strange sensation of moving through resistant water persisted, dampening the power behind every single one of his strikes. What an annoying feeling, Leyvi thought, gritting his teeth in frustration.
After hundreds of such punches, the recoil and strain became too much. Leyvi's spiritual touch hands, unable to endure the constant punishment any longer, flickered and finally dispersed into motes of fading energy.
Leyvi did not stop. Deciding to escalate his assault, he began charging his real fist with a dense, swirling vortex of fiery Qi. The air around his knuckles shimmered with intense heat as power accumulated to its peak. Then, he unleashed it.
"Big Bang Punch!"
Boom!
The detonation was far more powerful than any of his previous attacks. A concussive wave of force erupted outwards, carving a significant impact crater into the ground in the direction of his blow.
"So Brother Leyvi could use a much stronger attack," Bodo murmured, his eyes wide. "I wonder why he didn't use it against me. Was he worried that I might get injured? Dohoo... Brother Leyvi is so nice to me..." He felt genuinely touched, his eyes welling up with emotion.
Ava, Valenia, and Slashy could only shake their heads in unison. That is definitely not the reason, they thought, exasperated. And why are you getting so emotional about it?
As the dust and smoke began to clear, Leyvi saw that his attack had finally yielded a result. Dastan had been pushed back several meters, and the front section of his silvery Qi barrier was shattered, leaving a gaping hole. However, Dastan himself remained completely unharmed, standing poised within the remnants of his defense.
"My Big Bang attack can only break his barrier, huh?" Leyvi muttered to himself.
In the next moment, the missing portion of the Qi barrier shimmered and flowed, the silvery energy knitting itself back together until it once again formed a perfect, unbroken sphere around the crown prince.
Seeing this, Leyvi pondered his options. To actually land a hit on Dastan, he would need one of two strategies: either a single, overwhelmingly powerful attack that could shatter the barrier and continue onward without losing momentum, or a rapid, consecutive assault that struck the same point before the barrier could regenerate.
But this was merely a spar where Dastan was standing still, voluntarily receiving his attacks. In a real battle against a mobile and aggressive Nascent Soul Realm expert, he would likely not have a chance to land such a blow at all.
So this is a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, huh? Leyvi thought, a wave of sober realization washing over him. Such a monumental gap. No wonder this guy is so confident. He could not help but acknowledge the vast chasm that lay between them.
"Are you done, Leyvi? This prince will give you more chances to try. Daa hahaha!" Dastan laughed, his voice echoing with unrestrained good humor. This moment was the very embodiment of his core belief. When faced with someone stronger, the solution was simple: cultivate to a higher realm. Problem solved.
In his view, the phenomenon of a genius fighter capable of challenging those above their level only existed when facing opponents with mediocre or flawed cultivation foundations. With Leyvi's current strength, he could likely defeat a below-average Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, someone who had barely managed to form their Nascent Soul and had no hope for further advancement. And once Leyvi reached the peak of the Core Formation Realm, he might even stand a chance against an average Nascent Soul expert.
But who was he, Dastan? He was the Crown Prince of the Howling Kingdom, a man who had never lacked resources, and a genuine cultivation genius on top of that. The Nascent Soul he had formed was flawless, allowing him to utilize all its innate abilities to their absolute fullest potential.
Therefore, the tactic of a genius fighter overcoming a realm gap simply did not work on him. And if such a rival ever managed to reach the same realm as him, he would simply advance to the next realm. Perfectly, of course, not in some half-hearted manner, until they could no longer keep pace. He was a cultivation genius, after all.
It was also a simple truth that the higher the realm, the greater the power gap between each stage. The advantage held by a combat genius inevitably diminished. In the end, whoever could reach the highest realm would be the absolute winner. This was the unshakable lens through which he viewed the world.
What he truly appreciated about Leyvi was not his current fighting capability, but his terrifying potential as a Spiritual Cultivator. In other words, similar to himself, Leyvi was also a cultivation genius. Dastan was a genius of Qi Cultivation, while Leyvi was a genius of Spiritual Cultivation.
He knew that if Leyvi could learn to properly utilize his abilities as a Spiritual Cultivator and focus on mastering the other, deeper abilities unique to his path, he would be able to fight a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator on equal footing. But of course, he would not simply tell Leyvi that. He would offer that guidance freely if Leyvi agreed to join his kingdom. If not, then his friend could figure it out on his own.
"Oi Dastan, what is this weird feeling that makes my movement so sluggish when I get near you? It is like I am moving through water or something," Leyvi asked, his curiosity cutting through the tension of the spar.
"Daa hahaha! Why are you asking me? This is a spar. You are supposed to figure that part out yourself," Dastan retorted, his luminous form radiating amusement.
"But if you join my kingdom, this prince will tell you everything. This prince will even have the strongest Spiritual Cultivator in our kingdom guide you personally. How about it?" The crown prince extended the invitation once more, his tone dripping with tempting grandeur.
"Hahaha! No thanks. I don't mind figuring it out myself," Leyvi declined, as was his habit. Dastan's various promises and offers might have swayed others, but they held no power over him.
"Hmph! That's why you are a country bumpkin, Leyvi. You don't know what's good for yourself. Come then. After this, it is time for this prince to bully you. Daa hahaha!"
Leyvi did not advance immediately. Instead, he retreated, putting a much larger distance between himself and Dastan. He was planning to build up greater momentum to overcome the strange dampening effect.
He rocketed forward with a significantly more powerful burst of speed, charging both his real fists with swirling Fiery Qi as he flew. As he entered the zone of resistance, the dampening effect once again began to slow him, but the greater initial speed allowed him to carry more force into his strike.
"Big Bang Punch!"
Boom!
The silvery barrier shattered under the impact, and Dastan was forced back several paces by the concussive blast.
But Leyvi was already moving, bursting forward through the dissipating energy to launch a second Big Bang Punch with his other hand before Dastan's barrier could fully repair itself.
Just as Leyvi thought his attack would finally connect with Dastan's physical body, his charged fist was stopped cold. Dastan's Nascent Soul Body had intercepted the blow with its own luminous palm, and the Fiery Qi around Leyvi's fist sputtered and dissipated into nothingness upon contact.
Reacting instantly, Leyvi detonated the remnants of his charged Qi. The resulting explosion was loud, but it barely scuffed the surface of the Nascent Soul Body, leaving the real Dastan completely untouched and unharmed within.
It was in that moment that Leyvi fully grasped the immense difficulty of facing a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. The Nascent Soul Body could not only block his attacks but could actively disrupt and nullify his Qi itself!
"Daa hahaha! I think that is enough free trial. Time for you to experience this prince's attacks next," Dastan announced, his voice booming with finality. "The real spar begins now!"
That day, Leyvi was beaten up by Dastan for the first time.