With the Scarlet Fire Technique at the eighth rank, it boosted Li Fuchen's cultivation speed.

A sixth rank Scarlet Fire Technique was equivalent to a seventh rank Red Jade Technique.

"I am at the peak of the seventh level of the Qi Realm, in another month I should be able to break through to the eighth level."

With the sun warming up his body during the winter, Li Fuchen who sat on a rockery gradually opened his eyes.

Even though each level following was harder to break past during the Qi Realm, it couldn't deal with Li Fuchen's monstrous perceptive sense as Li Fuchen broke through to the eighth rank of the Scarlet Fire Technique.

In fact, it felt easier for him to progress to the next level, as Li Fuchen knew he would lift his cultivation technique to an even higher rank.

***

Splut! Splat!

In the first grade outer sect disciples' region was a medium sized lake. It was situated right in the middle of this region, splitting into four smaller regions.

On top of the crystal clear lake, a shadow sprinted across the lake as if running on land.

The runner had a pair of long and strong legs. At the bottom of his feet was a layer of pale blue qi, and everytime the foot met the surface of the lake, the qi acted like a marshmallow, compressing and rebounding.

Shoop!

Nearing the edge of the land, the runner slung upwards and landed lightly on the ground.

"It should be at this region!"

This arrogant looking youth had such long legs, that it made up for sixty percent of his height. He had a long eyes and slim pupils.

Without any trouble, the youth found Li Fuchen's courtyard.

Thud!

In a flash, the young man stood on top of the courtyard wall.

Li Fuchen was in the midst of sword arts practice when he noticed a movement at the back. He raised his head in a vigorous swipe.

When the both of them exchanged eye contact, it was as though sparks were flashing.

"What an intense look." The arrogant youth narrowed his eyes.

"Quite a remarkable qi presence."

Li Fuchen didn't like trouble, but if there was a formidable opponent, he was interested in a spar.

This youth's qi presence is about twice as strong as Wang Hu's. He should be among the top 400 or even top 300 in the rankings.

"So… You are Li Fuchen?" Asked the youth.

"That's right." Li Fuchen sheathed his sword.

"I am Nie Ming, let's go for a round!"

"What for?"

"Why? Just because you offended senior Fang.

"I see…"

Seems like this Nie Ming is one of senior Fang's subordinates. Not just any regular follower, but one of the experts.

"This isn't a place suited for battle. Follow me outside."

Pushing on the entrance of the courtyard, Li Fuchen came to an empty space outside.

On the spacious plot of land, the two of them stood tall, 10 meters apart.

"Where are you ranked among the top 500 disciples?"

Li Fuchen tried to find out more about Nie Ming. He had longer legs than average disciples and his thighs look tremendously sturdy; they felt athletic as the wind and violent as thunder.

"Unfortunately, I'm ranked 272." Nie Ming spoke rather proudly with sarcasm.

The outer sect's top 500 disciples were true monsters. Most of them were stuck at the ninth level of the Qi Realm for one or two years.

These people had acquired a robust amount of experiences. Their technique ranks were generally at eighth or ninth rank, coupling with other advantages. To them, crushing another disciple at the ninth level of the Qi Realm was as simple as the flip of the hand.

"272, huh?

This ranking was much higher than Guan Xue.

But this was considering the possibility that Guan Xue didn't reveal her true ability.

"Make your move!"

Li Fuchen didn't draw his sword. Had he done so, even if he didn't use his true strength, his opponent would fall within a few strikes. At the same time, he wished to know the combat ability of a top 300 disciple.

"Interesting… Beware now."

Nie Ming's figure flashed, with both legs like a violent gale, he kicked at Li Fuchen.

High-tier, yellow class kick style: Cloud Shifting Kick Style.

Li Fuchen let out a grin, as he then kicked at to Nie Ming using the similar storm like kicks.

Mid-tier, yellow class kick style: Cyclone Kick Style

Peng, Bang, Pang!

In just a few breaths, one could only wonder how many kicks these two individuals executed. Within the perimeter of a few meters, qi force explosions was endlessly heard.

Nie Ming's Qi Realm was at the ninth level, his entry technique, the White Wave Technique was at the eighth rank. Seeing that he was using a high-tier, yellow class kick arts, he theoretically should have overwhelmed Li Fuchen in all aspects.

Who knew that Li Fuchen's entry technique, the Scarlet Fire Technique was also at the eighth rank.

Even though his mid-tier, yellow class, Cyclone Kick Style wasn't a higher grade than the Cloud Shifting Kick Style. It was due to Li Fuchen's high quality soul spirit, that he had long advanced the Cyclone Kick Style to the highest trance stage.

Apart from that, Li Fuchen's physical strength was at a terrifying 5000 kg, not only did that compensate for the difference in cultivation, he had exceeded in overall combat ability as well.

"As expected, there were rumors that his strength was fearsome. Meeting kicks with kicks, that solid and sturdy force almost scattered my qi.

Nie Ming's expression turned grave. Before coming here, he didn't take Li Fuchen seriously and felt with his ability, he could easily defeat Li Fuchen.

But he didn't think like that anymore.

"What body refinement technique did you cultivate?" Nie Ming queried.

He too cultivated a body refinement technique, but it was just the common Golden Bell Canopy, which was only slightly better than Steel Clothed Shirt. Stronger body refinement techniques had an extremely high difficulty, and he didn't intend to spend too much time and resources on the cultivation of body refinement techniques.

"The Crimson Battle Form." Li Fuchen didn't want to conceal that.

"What? You actually cultivated the Crimson Battle Form? What a fellow." The answer startled Nie Ming.

The Crimson Battle Form was notorious for its difficulty. Among the outer sect disciples, only a few had reached an unknown rank in the Crimson Battle Form, the rest either gave up or are still in the midst of trial and error.

In the written records, there would only be one outer sect disciple who could successfully cultivate the Crimson Battle Form every five years.

"Li Fuchen, let us fight on the water." Nie Ming stomped violently on the ground and soared like a giant bird, as he skimmed to the middle of the lake.

On land, he wasn't certain he could beat Li Fuchen. But on water, he knew he had a higher probability.

He didn't think he would need to resort to this before meeting Li Fuchen.

"Game on."

With a layer of pale red qi wrapping his foot, Li Fuchen leaped and skimmed over to the lake as well.

Gurgle gurgle…

The two were like water spiders, moving on the lake effortlessly.

"This guy's perception is too much! He can actually manifest qi." The edge of Nie Ming's mouth twitched.

Manifesting qi on the hands and feet was the easiest. But looking at the thick density of the qi on the sole of Li Fuchen's feet, his entry technique was at least at the eighth rank. This wasn't something that was achievable with just an exceptional perception.

Insane… It was the first thought that came to Nie Ming's mind.

"Look, there is a battle going on on the lake."

There were a few hundred first grade disciples residing at the first grade outer sect disciples region, and because the lake was sizable, many disciples could see the battle on the lake. Many of them couldn't keep their curiosity in check as they jumped onto the lake, using qi manifestation to stand atop the surface of the water.

"It's Nie Ming, he is one of Fang Liehai's seven experts."

"That's right, Nie Ming is ranked fifth among the seven experts, he has quite a high combat ability."

"Who is his opponent? I have never seen him before."

"I know who he is, he is Li Fuchen, the one who is responsible for all the recent commotions."

"So that is him. I heard that he could easily obtain contribution points. I wonder if that is true."

Those that could become a first grade outer sect disciple were definitely not any feeble individual. Among the top 500 outer sect disciples, half of them were first grade outer sect disciples. And for them to know of him, Li Fuchen was truly famous now.