Chapter 83: Not a Single Flame Stirs

What’s going on?

At the same time, Li Yuanling stared at the candle before her, glancing left and right, her face filled with growing astonishment.

She didn’t understand why the candle, which had clearly been about to go out, had suddenly reignited.

But before she could ponder further, the next palm strike arrived.

Li Yuanling had no choice but to urgently channel her true qi to shield the candle again.

Yet this time, the old man’s palm strike was noticeably stronger than before, effortlessly scattering the true qi she had released.

Seeing the fierce palm strike hurtling toward the candle, Li Yuanling simply let go of her hands and chose to give up.

For her, lasting twenty-five breaths was already lucky; failing this time was expected.

But in the next instant, she suddenly widened her eyes and froze in place.

Her gaze locked onto the candle before her, her face filled with disbelief.

“This… this…”

Li Yuanling pointed at the candle—what had she just seen?

She had been certain the fierce palm strike would extinguish the candle, yet the strike had passed right through the flame without changing a thing.

The candle on the table continued to burn steadily, its flame not even trembling.

Li Yuanling hurried closer to the candle, scrutinizing it intensely, yet her suspicion only deepened.

She even tried blowing gently on the flame with her lips—only to find the flame shuddered violently, on the verge of going out.

Startled, she immediately released true qi to stabilize it.

At that moment, Li Muxian across from her spoke with a teasing tone:

“Sister, if you didn’t want the candle to stay lit, you could’ve said so earlier.”

Hearing this, Li Yuanling looked up at him and blurted out:

“Who said I didn’t want—”

Then she suddenly realized, her eyes snapping wide as she stared at Li Muxian:

“Was that you?”

Just then, the next palm strike arrived, as expected, scattering Li Yuanling’s true qi before passing over the candle.

Yet the result was the same as before—the candle remained untouched, its flame burning brightly as ever.

Seeing this, even if Li Yuanling had been slow-witted, she now guessed Li Muxian was behind it.

She stared at him, stunned and puzzled:

“How did you do that?”

Li Muxian spread his hands and raised an eyebrow:

“How did I do what? Isn’t it just using your hands?”

Then he glanced at Li Yuanling and chuckled:

“My dear sister, if you’re weak, practice more!”

Li Yuanling: …

Meanwhile, the black-robed old man seated on the wheel also noticed the anomaly in Li Muxian’s boat, his brow tightening further.

Why is my palm strike growing stronger, yet the candle won’t budge?

He remembered clearly that his earlier strike had nearly extinguished their candle, but the two stronger strikes after that had failed to affect it at all.

“Three more strikes—I don’t believe you can withstand them.”

The black-robed old man narrowed his eyes, his true qi surging as he raised his palm and struck the candle from afar.

Yet the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth strikes produced the same result.

The old man’s palm wind swept over the candle on Li Muxian’s boat as if passing through air—the flame remained utterly undisturbed.

Even Li Muxian and Li Yuanling sat calmly across from each other, staring blankly.

Li Yuanling, who had previously shielded the candle with her hands, now sat with her arms crossed, doing nothing at all.

Seeing this, the old man’s eyes flashed with determination, his competitive spirit ignited.

Normally, to gradually increase difficulty, each of his palm strikes was precisely calibrated.

But this time, he decided to secretly amplify the force of his thirtieth strike.

He had worked in Floating Boat City for years, yet he had never encountered anything so bizarre.

And for some reason, the candle on that boat made him feel inexplicably powerless—truly absurd.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The old man rapidly struck the air, three roaring palm strikes hurtling forth, sharp winds slicing through the air toward the remaining three boats.

“What’s going on? Why is this final strike so strong?”

The martial arts giant cried out, urgently calling on the sword-wielding middle-aged man for help.

The middle-aged man’s expression shifted uncertainly—he aided the giant while keeping his peripheral vision fixed on Li Muxian’s boat.

He had originally believed the pair wouldn’t survive the next strike, yet to his shock, their candle had not only endured four strikes but appeared effortless.

Puff!

One of the remaining three boats had its candle extinguished by the old man’s final strike.

The martial arts giant’s boat, with both his and the middle-aged man’s combined efforts, barely stabilized the violently flickering flame and barely held on.

On Li Muxian’s boat, the powerful palm wind roared over the candle—yet the flame on the table remained utterly still, burning calmly as if nothing had happened.

“If you have such a miraculous skill, why didn’t you say so earlier?”

Li Yuanling’s dark eyes fixed intently on Li Muxian.

But before Li Muxian could answer, her eyes curved into crescents as she beamed, exclaiming joyfully:

“If this trick holds, we might break Floating Boat City’s record today.”

At this moment, Li Yuanling was so delighted she had completely forgotten Li Muxian’s earlier mockery.

Li Muxian glanced at her and said nothing.

At the same time, the iron wheel halted abruptly.

Then, a series of fixed mechanisms unlocked, chains shot out of their grooves, and began rapidly writhing again.

The thirty boats slowly descended deeper into the cliff.

The old man, who had been seated on the wheel, stood up, his expression grim as he stared at Li Muxian’s boat.

“Clearly, today’s Floating Boat City has attracted a master. This must be reported.”

Instantly, his figure vanished from the spot.

Meanwhile, among the descending boats, the sword-wielding middle-aged man kept glancing sideways at Li Muxian’s boat, his eyes filled with shock and deep wariness.

Nothing else—next, in the second trial, they would be rivals.

(End of Chapter)