Yang Qianqian's posture made Zou Feng even more puzzled.
'Didn't she call me here for a lecture? Why is she still practicing her skills?'
The next moment, Yang Qianqian seemed to have finished her preparations. Her Inner Qi circulated, and the Qi Force around her body billowed, sending her sleeves and long hair flying. She cut a heroic figure.
"Hah!"
Her body remained still, but the palm pressed against the large stone unleashed force over a mere inch.
"BANG—"
With a deafening thud, the massive boulder, taller than a person, exploded into fragments.
The move Yang Qianqian had just executed was precisely the ultimate skill of the Heart Meeting Martial Arts Hall's Inner Qi Realm—Inch Kill!
If struck by this move, even a hard boulder would end up like this, to say nothing of a human body.
They would be, quite literally, blown to pieces.
Exhaling and retracting her skill, Yang Qianqian then turned around leisurely.
She looked at Zou Feng, her gaze sweeping and disdainful, filled with an air of absolute superiority.
She didn't say a word, but the meaning conveyed by her expression was clear.
She wanted to tell Zou Feng: 'Open your eyes and see just how ignorant and laughable your so-called talent is before a true prodigy.'
As for Zou Feng, he was completely... cringing!
Okay, he had to admit that Emitting Force with Inner Qi was visually impressive. It deserved to be called "badass."
If this had been him before he started practicing martial arts, he would most likely be filled with all sorts of envy, jealousy, and hate.
But the problem was, he had a cheat system!
Yang Qianqian's self-righteous display of strength and talent, in front of the person he was today, left him feeling absolutely nothing. In fact, he kind of wanted to laugh.
'An Entering Grade Martial Artist in the Inner Qi Realm who can blow people up by Emitting Force is impressive, sure.'
'But I can hit them with a Five Poison Heart-Pushing Palm, make them bleed from all seven orifices, follow up with a Chaos Finger, and turn them into a human fountain. Isn't that impressive too?'
To put it bluntly, Yang Qianqian saw Zou Feng as a frog in a well.
But in reality, the horizons of a cheater were far beyond what Yang Qianqian could possibly imagine.
Moreover, in the month or so since he first started cultivating the Five Poison Palm, Zou Feng was already on the verge of attempting to Enter Grade.
At this speed, forget Yang Qianqian; even the prodigies from the Celestial Essence Sword Sect would be no match.
"Greetings, Young Miss!"
Zou Feng bowed his head, trying hard to stifle his laughter as he stepped forward to bow.
As for Xiaocui, who had led him there, she was so intimidated by Yang Qianqian's display of martial might that she was still trembling in place.
In Xiaocui's eyes, besides fear, there was also an irrepressible look of reverence.
Her reaction was the normal one for an ordinary servant witnessing such a scene, and it was exactly the effect Yang Qianqian had wanted to have on Zou Feng.
"Zou Feng, what did you think of my palm strike just now?"
Yang Qianqian still hadn't realized her display had fallen completely flat. She was, after all, too young and lacked the ability to read people's expressions.
So she couldn't see how hard Zou Feng was struggling to hold back his laughter.
"So amazing! So strong!" Zou Feng praised effusively. "This servant has truly had his eyes opened. It's the first time I've ever seen such incredible martial arts."
"The Young Miss's Martial Arts must be top-class, even when compared to other Ninth Grade Martial Artists…"
Yang Qianqian smiled proudly. "It seems you have some discernment after all."
"They may all be Entering Grade, but most Martial Artists can only ever reach the Ninth or Eighth Grade in their entire lives…"
"But a select few can break through the bottleneck of the Inner Qi Realm after reaching Seventh Grade, Refining Qi into Gang!"
"And my ambition isn't just the Gang Qi Realm, but to make the Yang Family one of the great Noble Families!"
Yang Qianqian said all this, thinking she sounded incredibly impressive, little knowing that Zou Feng was cringing so hard he could have carved a courtyard house out of the floor with his toes.
Of course Zou Feng understood what she meant.
She was just trying to say that she was one of the few higher-quality Martial Artists, with a great hope of advancing to the Gang Qi Realm in the future.
She might even go further, allowing the entire Yang Family to ascend with her—rising from a wealthy county household to one of the great Noble Families.
In the eyes of an ordinary person, if a Martial Artist in the Inner Qi Realm after Entering Grade was someone they had to look up to...
...then a Gang Qi Realm Martial Artist was someone so far above them they couldn't even see the soles of their feet.
Unfortunately for her, Yang Qianqian had no idea that the cheater standing before her would, barring any accidents, almost certainly advance to the Gang Qi Realm before she did.
Having finished her showboating, Yang Qianqian's smile vanished, and she changed the subject. "Are you aware of the recent rumors in the mansion?"
'Here it comes,' Zou Feng thought. Helpless, he could only feign terror and say, "Young Miss, please see clearly. Those are indeed baseless rumors."
"This servant has absolutely no improper thoughts!"
"In the future, if this servant truly succeeds in martial arts, I would be perfectly content just to be a mansion guard in the Yang Mansion."
To prevent this increasingly neurotic woman from going completely crazy, Zou Feng decided to play along for now.
Sure enough, his response finally seemed to satisfy Yang Qianqian.
"Alright. Since I've already said they are rumors, I naturally won't take them seriously."
"But it's good that you recognize certain things. Don't harbor any unrealistic fantasies!"
"Otherwise… Hmph!"
'What a lunatic...'
'There's a limit to how self-important one should be!'
'However, Yang Qianqian probably didn't put on this whole show just to quash some rumors.'
He recalled when he was practicing the Five Beasts Pile Skill, and Yang Qianqian had noticed the "talent" he displayed—talent that might have been even greater than her own back then, sparking her jealousy...
This made Zou Feng almost certain that the main reason this woman was pulling this crap was to crush his confidence and dignity as a Martial Artist.
The cultivation of a Martial Artist relies on a kind of Heart Qi, a will to strive against the current.
Once that is crushed, the resulting negative impact is no joke.
In fact, geniuses in any domain might fail to realize their potential due to insufficient Heart Qi.
So, Yang Qianqian wasn't just simple and naive; she was quite petty and calculating.
And so, in the little black book in his mind, Zou Feng made a heavy mark next to Yang Qianqian's name.
Just now, when he told Xiaocui he was going to teach Yang Qianqian a lesson, he was only speaking casually.
Now, it wasn't just a casual remark anymore...
Her objective achieved, Yang Qianqian waved her hand, dismissing Zou Feng.
It was finally over. Zou Feng quickly made his escape.
However, just as he was about to leave the rear garden, Zou Feng suddenly felt something.
He turned his head to the right and saw a long-legged woman leaning against the wall, studying him.
'Those legs... what a waste not to have them pedaling a tricycle.'
Zou Feng didn't give her a chance to meet his gaze and quickened his pace to leave.
'Then again, it's not strange that she was looking at me. After all, handsome Household Servants like me are rare in the whole of Yuan Guang County.'
「That night.」
Zou Feng finished another round of cultivation, and his Chaos Finger, as expected, broke through to the "Entering the Hall and the Room" stage.
At that moment, he clearly felt that the middle finger of his left hand had transformed into a weapon containing a wondrous energy.
It was like how venomous creatures, such as scorpions, instinctively know which part of their body is poisonous and how to inject their venom.
"Now, all that's left is for the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step to break through, and then I can attempt to Enter Grade!"
"However…"
Theoretically, having three Cultivation Skills at the "Entering the Hall and the Room" stage was more than enough for a high-quality advancement into Entering Grade.
Once successful, the quality of his Inner Qi would be very impressive.
But Zou Feng still wasn't satisfied.
'Three Evil Skills at "Entering the Hall and the Room" is good, but wouldn't it be even better to wait until my Five Poison Palm reaches the realm of "Integration and Mastery"?'