Chapter 83: Unmoved

"What's going on?"

At the same time, Li Yuanling stared at the candle flame before her, glancing left and right without pause, a look of repeated surprise and doubt crossing her face.

She could not understand why a candle flame that had been on the verge of going out had suddenly reignited.

However, before she could think further, the next palm gust arrived in close pursuit.

Li Yuanling had no choice but to hastily circulate her true Qi at once, shielding the candle flame before her once again.

Yet this time the palm gust the old man struck out was clearly a degree stronger than before, and once again it effortlessly scattered the true Qi Li Yuanling had released.

Seeing the fierce palm gust rushing toward the candle flame at extreme speed, Li Yuanling simply let go with both hands and chose to give up outright.

For her, having lasted twenty-five breaths was already lucky; failing to last this time was actually within expectations.

But the next instant, she suddenly widened her eyes, the whole person abruptly frozen in place.

Her gaze fixed tightly on the candle flame before her, an expression of disbelief on her face.

"This... this..."

Li Yuanling stretched out her hand and pointed at the candle flame — what had she just seen?

She had originally assumed that fierce palm gust would surely blow out the candle flame, but she had not expected that when the fierce palm gust blew past the burning candle flame, nothing was changed at all.

The candle flame on the table still burned quietly, the flame not even swaying or flickering in the slightest.

Li Yuanling hurriedly leaned close to the candle flame, once again observing it intently without pause, yet the look of doubt on her face only grew thicker.

She even tried opening her small mouth and gently blew at the candle flame, only to discover the flame swayed violently, actually showing signs of flickering out.

Seeing this, she was so startled that she immediately released true Qi to shield the candle flame, only then stabilizing it.

At this moment, Li Musheng, who sat opposite her, spoke up with a face full of mockery:

"Sister, if you don't want this candle flame to stay lit, you could have said so earlier."

Hearing this, Li Yuanling raised her head and glanced at him, blurting out instinctively:

"Who says I don't want to..."

Mid-sentence, she suddenly caught herself, and immediately stared at Li Musheng with a face full of surprise and doubt, saying:

"Was that your doing just now?"

And just then, the next palm gust arrived leisurely, and without surprise it scattered the true Qi Li Yuanling had released in her hands before once again blowing past the candle flame.

Yet the result was still just as before — the candle flame was completely unaffected, still burning, the flame just as bright.

Seeing this scene, even if Li Yuanling were slow to react, she guessed this was probably Li Musheng's doing.

For a moment, she was both astonished and puzzled, staring at Li Musheng without pause, saying:

"How did you do this?"

Hearing this, Li Musheng spread his hands and raised an eyebrow, saying:

"What do you mean how? Isn't this just something anyone with hands can do?"

Then he glanced at Li Yuanling, chuckled, and said:

"My dear sister, if you're bad at it, just practice more!"

Li Yuanling:...

Meanwhile, the black-robed old man seated atop the turntable also noticed the anomaly on the wooden boat where Li Musheng and the other were, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter.

Why is it that the stronger my palm gusts grow, the less they can blow out their candle flame?

He still remembered that earlier he had nearly blown out the candle flame on their wooden boat, yet the two even stronger palms he struck afterward unexpectedly could no longer affect that candle flame in the slightest.

"Three palms left — I don't believe you two can block them?"

The black-robed old man's gaze narrowed slightly, true Qi surging around his body, his palm lifting in the air to strike at the candle flame on the wooden boat from afar.

Yet the next two palms, at the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth breaths, were still the same.

The old man's palm gust blew past the candle flame on the wooden boat where Li Musheng and the other were, as if it were merely blowing through air — the candle flame was completely unaffected.

Even Li Musheng and the other on the wooden boat sat facing each other with composed expressions, staring at each other wide-eyed.

The Li Yuanling who had previously been shielding the candle flame with her hands was now sitting with her hands on her hips, simply doing nothing at all.

Seeing this scene, a sharp glint flashed through the old man's eyes, instantly stirring up his competitive spirit.

Logically speaking, in order to gradually raise the difficulty at just the right pace, every palm he struck had a limit on its force.

But this time, he decided to secretly increase the force of his palm gust at the thirtieth breath.

He had been working in this Floating Boat City for some years now, but a strange situation like today's was still a first for him.

Moreover, for some unknown reason, the candle flame burning on that wooden boat actually made him instinctively feel a sense of helplessness — truly rather bizarre.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The old man struck his palms rapidly through the air, three whistling palm gusts tearing through the sky, wrapped in sharp gusts of wind, slapping toward the remaining three wooden boats.

"What's going on? Why is this last palm gust so strong?"

The martial-world giant cried out in alarm, hurriedly calling the middle-aged man with the sword at his waist to help.

And the middle-aged man at this moment had an uncertain expression, lending a hand while also casting sidelong glances at the wooden boat where Li Musheng and the other were.

Earlier, he had originally assumed the other side absolutely could not last through the next palm gust, but what astonished him was that not only had their candle flame lasted through four palm gusts, it looked as if it had cost them no effort at all.

Pfft!

Among the remaining three wooden boats, the candle flame on one of them was extinguished by the palm gust of the old man's final strike.

On the wooden boat where the martial-world giant was, through the joint efforts of him and the middle-aged man, they barely managed to keep the violently swaying candle flame stable and ultimately pulled through.

But on the wooden boat where Li Musheng and the other were, the powerful palm gust whistled past above the candle flame, yet the candle flame on the table was utterly undisturbed, still burning quietly without the slightest movement, as if nothing had happened at all.

"If you have such a miraculous method, why didn't you say so earlier?"

Li Yuanling's pair of jet-black eyes stared fixedly at Li Musheng.

But before Li Musheng could answer, her eyes curved into crescents, she broke into a crescent-moon smile, and said excitedly:

"If this method can be sustained, we may very well break the record of Floating Boat City this time."

At this moment, Li Yuanling was so overjoyed that she even cast the mockery Li Musheng had directed at her earlier completely out of her mind.

Li Musheng, meanwhile, merely glanced at her, not wanting to say a single word.

At the same time, the iron rack wheel suddenly stopped.

Then, one by one, the locked mechanisms sprang open, and iron chains shot out from their grooves, writhing rapidly once more.

The thirty wooden boats slowly continued their descent toward the depths of the cliff.

The old man who had been sitting on the wheel stand rose to his feet, his expression ugly as he looked toward the wooden boat where Li Musheng and his companion were.

"It seems Floating Boat City has been visited by an expert today — this matter must be reported upward."

Then, the old man's figure swiftly vanished from where he stood.

Meanwhile, among the descending wooden boats, the sword-bearing middle-aged man kept stealing glances at Li Musheng and his companion on the adjacent boat, his eyes filled with both shock and wariness.

No need to say why — in the second trial that followed, they would be competitors.

(End of chapter)