"Ning Beichen, I'll show you what it means to be an..."
"Ant!"
"Too much nonsense."
Ning Beichen punched him in the stomach. It wasn't that Yan Lixing didn't want to defend or dodge, but he couldn't.
It was like seeing a stone flying towards you, but you couldn't dodge it because it had already exceeded your reaction speed.
Ning Beichen hit Yan Lixing in the stomach, then used a knee strike to send him flying. Before Yan Lixing could get up, he saw Ning Beichen appear before him like a blur, grab him by the neck, and slam his head against the wall.
With a boom.
Ning Beichen forcefully pushed Yan Lixing's head into the wall, causing spiderweb-like cracks to appear on the wall behind him.
"No... Impossible, I am a Grandmaster, I am a Grandmaster, how could you possibly defeat me!"
Yan Lixing wasn't dead, but he was in excruciating pain, his bones unknown how many were broken, his face covered in blood.
"Sorry, I am also a Grandmaster."
Ning Beichen stood before him, his eyes cold.
"Impossible, you... you're so young, how could you be a Grandmaster? You must be lying, right?"
Honestly, Yan Lixing was dazed by Ning Beichen's attack. His vision was blurred, and he saw Ning Beichen's figure flitting about before him.
"Can't be a Grandmaster just because I'm young? I'm a genius and I'm proud of it! Idiot!"
Ning Beichen was truly speechless.
"Even if you are a Grandmaster, a monster, a genius, I am also a Grandmaster. I've been cultivating for decades, why can't I even withstand one of your moves?"
Yan Lixing was unwilling, extremely unwilling.
"Because you're stupid. Want to know why?"
Ning Beichen looked at him and asked.
"Yes."
Yan Lixing desperately wanted to know why he, a Grandmaster, couldn't even take one punch from Ning Beichen.
"Because you are a fake Grandmaster, and I am a true Grandmaster."
Ning Beichen wasn't lying; he was telling the truth.
The fake is just the fake. Even if called a Grandmaster, it's still a fake Grandmaster, because Yan Lixing was merely at the Half-step Grandmaster level, having not truly comprehended the essence of a Grandmaster.
"You lost. Can you give me the Jiugong Ce now? It belongs to me."
Ning Beichen said to him.
Yan Lixing, like an idiot, cried and laughed, but he wasn't completely傻, opening the hidden safe and handing the two volumes of Jiugong Ce to Ning Beichen.
"Thank you."
With the two volumes of Jiugong Ce in hand, Ning Beichen's face lit up, and he sincerely thanked Yan Lixing.
"You... you're not going to kill me?"
As Ning Beichen turned to leave, Yan Lixing blurted out a thoughtless question. After saying it, even he felt foolish.
"Why would I kill you? You haven't offended me."
Ning Beichen walked out without looking back. As he passed by Qiao San, he stopped. Qiao San trembled in fear, knowing that Ning Beichen would not let him go.
"Kill yourself."
Ning Beichen said and walked out, completely ignoring Qiao San.
Not long after, a gunshot echoed from the hall.
Qiao San was seen lying in a pool of blood, a handgun still in his hand. He had chosen to shoot himself.
Yan Lixing, still dazed from Ning Beichen's assault, sat motionless on the floor, his hair hanging down, looking ten years older as if instantly aged.
Soon after, Ning Beichen returned to his residence. Including the previous ones, he now had six volumes of Jiugong Ce. If he could obtain three more, he would have collected all of them.
However, the whereabouts of the remaining three volumes of Jiugong Ce were still unknown, with no clues whatsoever. Ning Beichen had no idea where to look.
For the next month, Ning Beichen continued to stay on the island, training Xiao Yi to Xiao Jiu. He had disbanded the King of Darkness, and he now had fewer subordinates, so he had to nurture Xiao Yi to Xiao Jiu.
Besides these nine, there were also You Yu and You Fu. Ning Beichen also helped them improve their strength.
However, their foundations were not strong, and their achievements were limited. Ning Beichen never intended to train them into peerless masters.
In a certain room, Yan Lixing sat in a daze.
Since being defeated by Ning Beichen with a single punch, his entire demeanor had changed significantly. Every day, his mind was filled with the image of himself being defeated by Ning Beichen's punch.
Just then, Ning Beichen suddenly appeared before him.
Yan Lixing looked up at Ning Beichen, his face filled with despair, and asked, "Are you here to kill me?"
"You're crazy. Why would I kill you for no reason?"
Ning Beichen sat down in front of him of his own accord.
"Then why are you here? Are you here to watch me make a fool of myself? If so, you've succeeded."
Yan Lixing said listlessly.
"No, I'm here to make a deal with you."
Ning Beichen said to him.
"A deal? What kind of deal? I have nothing left to give you except the Qinghe Gang."
Yan Lixing said.
"Do you want to know why you couldn't withstand my punch?"
Ning Beichen asked.
"Will you tell me?"
A flicker of light appeared in Yan Lixing's eyes. He truly couldn't understand why he couldn't even withstand one punch from Ning Beichen.
"It's very simple. You haven't understood the true essence of a Grandmaster. Although you used drugs to forcefully raise your realm, you can't comprehend the true essence of a Grandmaster, which is why people like you are called Half-step Grandmasters."
"What does Half-step mean? It means you're still a little short of becoming a true Grandmaster. If you understand the true essence of a Grandmaster, then you can become a true Grandmaster in an instant. If you don't understand it, you will be stuck here for your entire life."
Ning Beichen sat opposite him and said softly.
"The true essence of a Grandmaster?"
Yan Lixing's spirit and energy began to change. Clearly, Ning Beichen's words had piqued his curiosity.
"Yes, the true essence of a Grandmaster."
Ning Beichen nodded affirmatively.
"You mean, you have already comprehended the true essence of a Grandmaster?"
Yan Lixing stared intently at Ning Beichen and asked.
Ning Beichen remained silent. He unleashed his Grandmaster Domain, covering Yan Lixing.
Yan Lixing's expression became increasingly shocked, and his eyes grew brighter, as he felt the power of Ning Beichen's Grandmaster Domain and something unique about it.
At this moment, he felt as if he were in the center of a pond, and Ning Beichen's Grandmaster Domain was like ripples in the pond, spreading outwards in circles around him.
Mysterious!
Powerful!
Unstoppable!
"Do you understand the difference between a true Grandmaster and a Half-step Grandmaster now?"
Ning Beichen retracted his Grandmaster Domain, and the surroundings immediately returned to normal, then he asked him.