The difficulty in breaking through Sima Feibai's protective qi circle and defeating his two henchmen's circles was vastly different.
Sima Feibai's pale green qi was continuously absorbing the surrounding world's vital energy. The vital energy was drawn in as if by an invisible force, coming under Sima Feibai's control and infusing energy into the pale green qi.
*Whoosh...*
The pale green qi controlled by Sima Feibai quickly absorbed the surrounding vital energy, transforming it into power. This caused the pale green qi to deepen in color, shifting from pale green to a dark green.
The dark green qi emanated an even more formidable aura.
Upon seeing Sima Feibai's qi change from pale green to dark green, Fang Ming recognized it as a unique technique for enhancing the power of one's qi. Such secret methods within the Qi Yuan realm existed, allowing practitioners to amplify their qi's might multiple times to defeat stronger opponents.
However, ordinary Qi Yuan realm secret methods, even a mere half-percent increase in power was considered good, let alone several times. But those were common secret methods.
Sima Feibai, with his considerable family background, directly employed a family heirloom Qi Yuan realm secret method, pushing his qi to the peak of its potential. Yet, in Fang Ming's eyes, Sima Feibai's entire stance was riddled with flaws.
"Too weak."
Fang Ming took a step forward, shifting slightly to the right, thus evading the main assault of the dark green qi.
Although the primary attack was dodged, residual shockwaves still lashed out from the dark green qi, slicing at Fang Ming's protective qi circle. However, perhaps in its full power, the dark green qi, amplified by the secret method, could have directly shattered Fang Ming's protective qi circle. But now, with Fang Ming having evaded the main attack's range, the dark green qi could only deliver a secondary blow to Fang Ming's protective qi circle. Consequently, it merely caused ripples on the surface of Fang Ming's circle before its power was exhausted.
Meanwhile, Fang Ming's sideways strike, his fist carrying pale green qi, its sharp radiance directly targeted the weak points in Sima Feibai's protective qi circle.
The two forces collided. Sima Feibai's protective qi circle was already riddled with cracks. Fang Ming pressed his advantage, and with a thunderous roar, Sima Feibai's protective qi circle was forcefully torn apart.
*Bang!*
With Sima Feibai's protective qi circle shattered, Fang Ming, relentless, struck down with his palm, hitting Sima Feibai's arm. As previously stated, ninety percent of a Qi Yuan realm cultivator's defense and resilience lay in their protective qi circle, not in the cultivator's physical body. Therefore, when Fang Ming's qi directly inflicted damage upon Sima Feibai's physical body, Sima Feibai let out a scream of agony far more profound than his two henchmen.
"My arm! My arm!" Sima Feibai wailed in extreme pain. He even writhed on the ground.
The victor was decided.
Not much time had passed, yet many were left stunned. The surrounding students, even after witnessing Fang Ming effortlessly defeat Sima Feibai's two henchmen, which had already overturned their perception of him, could never have imagined that he would now defeat Sima Feibai so easily.
Being able to defeat two Qi Yuan thirteenth-stage henchmen working together, even effortlessly, led them to believe Fang Ming was at least Qi Yuan fifteenth or sixteenth stage. In their imagined scenarios, Fang Ming and Sima Feibai would be evenly matched, engaging in a fierce battle of Qi Yuan realm secret methods and techniques for hundreds of rounds before a victor emerged.
Before this, no one had anticipated that Fang Ming would defeat Sima Feibai so easily, in just two rounds.
With his arm injured, Sima Feibai was effectively rendered incapable of resistance, a clear defeat. This was astonishing! Sima Feibai, despite his arrogant and overbearing nature, which many disliked, was a Qi Yuan sixteenth-stage cultivator. Such a cultivation level among his peers undeniably marked him as a true prodigy. Sima Feibai was also in the most powerful class for his year. Yet, someone like him, possessing such formidable strength, was so easily defeated by Fang Ming? How strong was Fang Ming?
After all, those two henchmen were only Qi Yuan thirteenth-stage, while Sima Feibai was Qi Yuan sixteenth-stage! The difficulty of effortlessly defeating them was worlds apart! Fang Ming... had achieved this! This outcome completely opened the eyes of the surrounding students!
"Is our 'Male God' Fang Ming really this strong?"
"Effortlessly defeating Sima Feibai, how strong is that? Qi Yuan eighteenth stage? Nineteenth stage?"
"No... you have to consider that Sima Feibai mastered several Qi Yuan realm secret techniques, giving him strength beyond a normal Qi Yuan sixteenth-stage. Yet, even he was easily defeated by Fang Ming... Fang Ming's strength is likely Qi Yuan twentieth stage!"
"Hiss! Qi Yuan twentieth stage? Terrifying indeed!"
The contrast in perceived character and actual strength was the most shocking and astounding. Effortlessly defeating Sima Feibai among peers was not unheard of at Purple Cloud Academy. Even limiting it to peers of the same year, Sima Feibai was a true genius, but not among the absolute top tier, not a peerless prodigy. If it were any other established genius of the academy who had easily defeated Sima Feibai, the crowd would have considered Sima Feibai's defeat a foregone conclusion. They would not be so shocked and stunned as they were now.
This wasn't just shock at someone defeating Sima Feibai. It was shock that the one who defeated Sima Feibai wasn't one of the established geniuses, but Fang Ming. It was the seemingly frail and weak Fang Ming who had so easily defeated Sima Feibai, and the shock and awe stemmed from this subversion of his image. Had it been anyone else, they would not have elicited such a reaction.
Fang Ming stood his ground. Sima Feibai lay on the ground. Sima Feibai glared at Fang Ming with hatred. The physical damage he sustained and his defeat at the hands of this country bumpkin had severely wounded his pride. Furthermore, the cheers for Fang Ming and the disdainful glances from the onlookers further damaged his self-esteem. Sima Feibai felt he had never hated anyone so much in his life. Now, he utterly despised Fang Ming, his hatred reaching celestial heights. This also caused Sima Feibai to lose his reason, spewing threats.
"Fang Ming! You dare to hit me? You're dead! You're dead!"
"I will have the辟宫境 cultivators of the Sima family personally eliminate you!"