BANG—!! A massive sound!
The entire area instantly filled with flying sand and stones, smoke and dust everywhere!
Yanqing's punch slammed into Welt's chest, causing the air itself to ripple!
The surrounding spectators were all startled into retreating several steps.
"Good! That punch was excellent!"
"With that kind of power, that bastard must be heavily injured, right?!"
"Hmph, I bet he's scared senseless by now."
"Hurry up and admit defeat! Hahahahaha!"
"But… he seems completely motionless."
Yanqing maintained his punching posture, staring blankly at the man before him. He felt like something was off.
"What's going on?"
His expression grew solemn as he focused his attention on his own fist.
From an outsider's perspective, it looked like he had indeed hit the target, but that wasn't actually the case.
The instant his fist was about to touch this guy, a massive force blocked it!
After thinking for a few seconds, Yanqing's pupils suddenly widened:
"It's… air?!"
What blocked Yanqing's attack was precisely the air!
More accurately, it was invisible air condensed by terrifying energy.
Besides that, the gravity around Welt was also horrifically strong. Just getting close to him required resisting the enormous pulling force from the ground!
"Are you playing the role of a mosquito? Or is this… your first move?"
Welt kept his arms crossed, looking at Yanqing who was still holding his punching posture, and frowned deeply.
"Damn it… Don't get too cocky."
The next moment, Yanqing retracted his fist and leaped backward. This single leap took him a full thirty steps away.
Only at this distance could he temporarily escape the influence of the gravity around Welt and let his body catch a proper breath.
"Why did Master Yanqing retreat? And so far?!"
"So strange…?"
The onlookers couldn't understand what had happened at all.
Only Yanqing, who was actually fighting Welt, knew how troublesome Welt was!
Just that terrifying gravity alone—if an ordinary person stepped into Welt's domain, they would probably kneel on the spot and wouldn't even be able to stand!
Under such circumstances, forget about making the opponent move.
"What? Scared?"
Welt remained standing in place. He glanced at Yanqing who had retreated far away and sneered coldly:
"If it feels too difficult, we can change the standard. How about if you can even touch a single strand of my hair, you win?"
These words immediately caused an uproar among the surrounding Xianzhou citizens.
"Too much! How dare he be so arrogant?!"
"Touch his hair? Fine! No need for Master Yanqing to act—I'll make him lose right now!"
A Cloud Knight volunteered and stepped forward. It was clearly one of the ones who had been beaten by Welt at the restaurant earlier.
Now that Zeig had healed him, he had been holding a grudge and wanting revenge against Welt.
"Hey… what are you doing? Come back! This is Master Yanqing's fight, how can you…"
The people beside him tried to pull him back, but he shook them off.
"Someone like this doesn't deserve to be Master Yanqing's opponent! Can't you see? Master Yanqing is just afraid of hitting too hard and injuring this guy!"
"What?!"
"Hmph! As an outsider, he dares to be this arrogant. I'm the first to disagree!"
With that, the Cloud Knight charged toward Welt!
Yanqing stared blankly at the scene and quickly reached out while shouting:
"Wait… don't come over!"
"Master Yanqing, just watch! I'll definitely…"
But before he could finish speaking, the moment he stepped within thirty steps of Welt, he suddenly felt something strange!
Immediately after.
Thud! He knelt down!
This sight left the onlookers dumbfounded.
This simple kneel even created a dent in the ground.
"W-what's going on? My body isn't under my control!"
The Cloud Knight screamed loudly, trying to stand up but unable to. The change in movement even caused his center of gravity to tilt forward again.
Smack!
His whole body fell prostrate on the ground, looking as if he had kowtowed to Welt!
His whole body trembled. The more he struggled, the more he felt every cell screaming in pain… completely unaware of what was happening!
"Mr. Welt, please release him immediately!" Yanqing shouted anxiously.
"Oh? But I didn't do anything."
Welt looked at Yanqing in confusion, not even bothering to glance at the Cloud Knight.
"I've just been standing here the whole time. He rushed over himself to give me an early New Year greeting, and now it's my fault?!"
"You…!"
Listening to the Cloud Knight's bones starting to creak with signs of cracking, Yanqing was burning with anxiety. With a swift stride, he charged over!
"Wait."
Welt's voice deepened. A terrifying force pressed down on Yanqing, making his steps slower and slower.
In the end, it stopped Yanqing five steps away from the Cloud Knight, leaving him panting.
If he advanced any further… he himself would probably kneel.
"If you go over to help him, that counts as you surrendering."
"What?" Yanqing gritted his teeth:
"You're being completely unreasonable!"
"Reason? Only the weak talk about reason!" Welt sneered, his eyes revealing endless killing intent:
"Why would a third party get involved in a duel between two people? Little brat, care to explain? Or is this some special Xianzhou duel custom?"
These words left the surrounding Xianzhou citizens silent.
It was indeed the Cloud Knight who had rushed forward himself.
Yanqing frowned deeply. He struggled to raise his head and shouted to the crowd around him:
"Brothers and sisters… could you lend a hand and pull this person out first? My body is restricted and I can't move easily! I can only count on you!"
After his words fell, the surrounding crowd hesitated.
"Master Yanqing… it's not that we don't want to help, but look at him—he's in so much pain. If we get close, won't we also be in danger?"
"Yeah… we're just ordinary people, not even Cloud Knights. How could we endure it?"
For a moment, everyone felt like retreating.
Only some other Cloud Knights in the crowd gritted their teeth and stepped forward one after another.
"Hmph, rookies are just rookies—rash and reckless! Master Yanqing, don't worry. We'll pull him back right now!"
The five Cloud Knights didn't waste words and hurriedly rushed toward the poor guy who was kowtowing.
As expected, things went wrong.
With several successive thuds, those Cloud Knights knelt on the ground one after another when they were still three steps away from the kowtowing contestant.
This scene left Yanqing stunned.
But soon, he reached a conclusion and shouted at Welt:
"How dare you arbitrarily expand the range of the gravity's influence?!"
"Little brat, you called so many people over. Is it wrong for me to exert a little more force?"
"But they weren't charging at you! They just wanted to save someone!"
"Hehe… How do you know they weren't coming for me? Wasn't the first one charging straight at me? You Xianzhou people are so despicable… oh no, so skilled at using ingenious strategies. What's wrong with me being prepared?!"
"You—!!"
The situation instantly fell into a deadlock.
Yanqing silently watched the several Cloud Knights prostrate on the ground, trembling.
In the end… he gritted his teeth and drew his sword.
Clang—!!