In the Hundred Flowers Valley, below the waterfall.
Wearing a blue combat suit, Ji Ye stood in the wind. Opposite him, Bao the panda was warming up, doing stretches and moving its wrists around.
Several meters away from them stood a black, porous “Sound Stone”.
“Are you sure you’re going to have it compete against me at the cost of this Rare, Extraordinary Rank-5 Sound Stone?”
Ji Ye asked Han Meimei, aka Miss Panda, who stood at the edge of the arena with Zhou Zhiruo.
“Aye…”
Han Meimei nodded her big, round head.
Earlier, when Ji Ye brought up his second condition that she would be allowed to enter the Hundred Flowers Valley if she would withstand three strikes from him, she didn’t say yes right away.
She was a beta tester who had passed the trial, so she was definitely clever enough. She knew that since Ji Ye had said that, it obviously meant that the difficulty of withstanding his three strikes was beyond an Extraordinary Rank-5 object.
However, she was still a seed of providence who had been on the live broadcast.
Moreover, this was the first settlement of Guan City, and since the Twin Dragon Mount had shone its muscle, Miss Panda had to do something.
Hence, the current situation.
“Watch out!”
The Sound Stone would be very useful, so Ji Ye was greatly interested.
After all, he might not be able to find a replacement of a Rare object if he missed one.
Hence, he agreed to the competition.
“Strike one!” said Ji Ye when the combat started.
He was still there when he opened his mouth, but yellow light flashed when he spoke the first word, and at the second word, he was behind Bao the panda.
Pa!
Before the food-loving panda had time to react, a palm had landed on its back.
Whoosh!
The next second, the enormous foodie that weighed over a ton flew out.
Ji Ye used neither the skills from the Nine Yin Sutra nor any of the moves that he had learned in the past few days.
He hadn’t even changed his True Qi to extreme Yang or Yin. Rather, he only depended on his great physical strength, activated his inner strength, and hit the panda directly.
But Ji Ye had great physical strength.
Even Golden Wheel Guardian King, who had mastered “Dragon and Elephant Prajna”, might not be Ji Ye’s match.
Even without the help of the activated Flood Dragon Bloodline, Bao was still sent flying for over 15 m and hit the wall of a cliff.
Boom!
The black-and-white body rolled around along the wall before it fell to the ground. Its great weight making loud crunching noises in the blooming trees, which had already suffered from the friendly exchange of blows between Ji Ye and Yang Guo.
There was no hope left for the trees.
“Wa, wa…”
However, immediately after the panda hit the stone wall and crushed the trees, it jumped to its feet, so nimbly that it didn’t fit its overweight state. It crawled out from under the twigs and petals and yelled angrily at Ji Ye.
“Huh?”
“It’s not even hurt?!”
The onlooking Twin Dragon Mount players were surprised.
They all knew how powerful Ji Ye was. Even Lu Zhishen, who could pull a willow tree out of the ground, might not be his match.
It was safe to say that if his pure physical strength wasn’t counted as Extraordinary, he could have been beyond Extraordinary Rank-7 already.
“So, it’s exceptionally resilient.”
Ji Ye didn’t look very surprised.
Because as soon as his palm landed on the panda, he felt a peculiar buffering ability in its fur and fat.
Without releasing his True Qi, Ji Ye’s strike was offset by the panda’s body fat by over 70%. The remaining strength wasn’t enough to inflict any injury.
That actually fitted the characteristics of pandas.
After all, back on Earth, the creature was known for liking to push their limits. While almost making themselves extinct, they were also very resilient against falling and punching.
“Wa, wa…”
Running back to the arena, Bao yelled at Ji Ye again, and it sounded displeased.
It seemed to want to express an emotion.
“It says that you shouldn’t ambush it. It wants to fight fair and square!”
Han Meimei was a little embarrassed when she spoke to Ji Ye, and there was a brooding look in her eyes.
This panda was the most resilient animal, so naturally, it could withstand Ji Ye’s strike. Had it been another player, they would have been defeated in the first round.
She didn’t even see how Ji Ye showed up behind her summoned creature.
“Alright. No ambush.”
Ji Ye wasn’t going to argue with a stubborn panda about how to define an ambush.
“Strike two!”
He only smiled and realized that a plain physical attack probably wouldn’t work on this animal.
This time, when he moved, he didn’t “ambush” it. Instead, he used the Water Walking alacrity skill he learned from Qiu Qianren and swiftly jumped to Bao’s side.
Whoosh!
He then made a fist and struck down at the panda’s chest.
As his fist moved, the temperature surged, and the heat that could set the air on fire charged at the panda.
Pa!
A fluffy black paw stopped Ji Ye’s fist. The panda’s eyes widened, and it looked excited.
Its black and white fur swayed, as if the wind was blowing on it.
“Huh?”
Ji Ye could sense the strange power of Bao’s black and white fur.
He had adjusted his True Qi to Extreme Yang of Nine Yang Divine Art when he made the second strike, but its paw and fur had completely absorbed it.
In the part where black met white, True Qi swirls that resembled the Tai Chi diagram was formed.
Whoosh!
The energy swam around in the swirls before it ran into its other paw through its fur.
Immediately after that, the slow-looking panda smacked down at Ji Ye’s chest with its paw. However, the property of the energy had transformed into Yin, which could make the temperature plummet.
“Is that Tai Chi?”
“That panda knows Tai Chi!”
“A Kung Fu panda?”
The onlooking Twin Dragon Mount players whispered among themselves.
The movement Bao used was obviously some sort of Tai Chi boxing.
And the strange power of its fur worked the same way as Tai Chi did, and it could even transform the property of the energy and make it backfire.
“Interesting!”
Ji Ye’s eyes lit up.
He raised his other arm, which was also covered in the Yin energy. His hand clashed with the panda’s paw, offsetting the True Qi that came back at him.
Although they had only exchanged a blow, Ji Ye could already conclude that this panda that didn’t look very quick-witted should be an Extraordinary Rank-6 creature, making it not much weaker than some Superior and Perfect heroes!
Because the players couldn’t comprehend their cultivation as well as the heroes, some very talented ones would barely make it to Extraordinary Rank-5.
After that, making breakthroughs became a lot more difficult, and only a handful of beta testers in major settlements had become Extraordinary Rank-6.
With its capability and natural talent, this panda was a powerful being even among those that had reached Extraordinary Rank-6.
No wonder Miss Panda had proposed the competition by using the Sound Stone as the stake.
If she could win, the first settlement of Guan City would have an advantage over the Twin Dragon Mount.
If she lost, she wouldn’t humiliate the other members of the settlement by having them challenge Ji Ye.
Because no other player would be able to win!
“It has withstood it!”
The other Twin Dragon Mount players cried out in surprise when Ji Ye moved away from Bao, the panda who knew Tai Chi.
It had the combat capability of a hero, and its black-and-white fur could block the attack from the True Qi.
Ji Ye’s second strike was futile.
However, this creature was summoned by Miss Panda’s talent, so it was only natural that it had such abilities.
After all, Miss Panda was theoretically a seed of providence, and her talent should be above the Perfect stage. Moreover, her settlement had also completed the Ten-Species Competition task.
“I’ll slow down my strength in my next strike.
“If you feel you can’t bear it, say it before it’s too late.”
Before Ji Ye made the third strike, the look on his face turned serious for the first time.
He then slowly struck out toward the panda with his right hand.
“Roar!”
There was the faint sound of a dragon.
A white dragon emerged from Ji Ye. It then coiled and formed an authoritative, indistinct dragon’s head above his arm.
The white dragon head then flew away from his palm and charged at the panda!
Although he moved very slowly, the moment he struck out, a suppressing energy filled the entire arena.
“Well…”
Zhou Zhiruo had been watching on the outside. Because of her amnesia, she had looked unattached, but even she seemed surprised now.
“Dragon-Subduing Strike?”
Han Meimei blurted out.
Of course it wasn’t, because Ji Ye hadn’t gone to Xiangyang yet.
It was a technique he created himself by fusing his Perfect Dragon Aura with the Superior Iron Fist Art.