"Why?" Qiao Ting"s eyes narrowed. What did he mean by that? Is he doubting my capabilities?

Ling Lan"s cold glare was like sharp blade, "I"m worried when it comes to you." As expected, Qiao Ting had impure thoughts about the two girls in her team.

"Are you worried or are you looking down on me?" Qiao Ting"s eyes had a hint of anger. Is he not worthy enough to be his rival?

"Since you understand, why would you even ask?" Ling Lan"s smirk was somewhat cold. She didn"t have any qualms with Qiao Ting, but now she marked him down as a possible threat in her mind.

It should be known that Luo Chao and Han Xuya were two girls they had protected from when they were young. He wants to take them away? Does he treat me as air? Is he looking for a death wish?

The conversation between the two of them had already diverted into a weird direction. Everyone had stunned expressions on their faces as they watched the two of them quarrelling. Didn"t Qiao Ting say they were rivals? Then, what is with this current situation?

Qiao Ting considered Ling Lan as his life-long rival. However, Ling Lan didn"t care about him at all… Ling Lan"s behavior had completely angered Qiao Ting, causing his force of presence to explode out. Some of Qiao Ting"s team members could not defend against the force and was sent a few steps back. At the same time, the countertop of the shop was toppled by the force. Everything was in disarray.

Qiao Ting"s force of presence was the overwhelming type. It wasn"t like Ling Lan"s, which was targeted. Other than the targeted person, no one would be able to feel it. As Qiao Ting"s force of presence exploded out, the attendants in the shop screamed in horror as they held their heads and went into a fetal position.

"Sh*t." Ling Lan reacted and a pressure immediately came down from the sky. Qiao Ting could feel a literal mountain on his shoulders. The immense pressure made his legs tremble at an incredible rate. It was as though he was going to be forced onto his knees by the pressure…

The force of presence that had originally erupted in the shop seemed to have been quelled and vanished instantly. The attendants no longer felt the overwhelming pressure and lifted their heads in confusion. They saw the young major, who released the terrifying pressure, now had sweat dripping down his forehead. His entire body was shaking furiously as though he was sick.

"Miss, is that major sick? Do we need to call emergency services?" One of the attendants saw the situation and quickly realized something was wrong. She wanted to help so she asked the owner.

"Dumba.s.s. Those are experts fighting with each other. You"re asking for a death wish if you run in there now." The owner wasn"t as inexperienced as the attendant. She knew what was happening just from the looks of things. It seemed that the young major"s opponent was even stronger, otherwise how could he have easily quelled the young major"s explosive and wild force of presence? It was because of his actions that her shop still existed.

The owner thought about it and couldn"t help but give a grateful look towards the person facing against the young major. That person seemed to have felt her look and glared coldly at her direction. The owner then felt herself falling into an icy dungeon. She tucked her head down in terror and didn"t dare to look again.

That person is so cold. She didn"t think that the rival of that young major could be such a terrifying person. The owner was in shock, but was happy that although the person seemed to be cold-hearted, he was actually not. Otherwise, her entire store would have been destroyed.

After enduring the extreme pressure for some time, Qiao Ting felt he had already reached his limit. He seemed to hear his knees cracking. He might have to kneel down in front of Ling Lan in the next second…

Could it be that he would have to kneel down to Ling Lan and give up all of his dignity? Or perhaps, the idea of them being life-time rivals was only just in his own head, while Ling Lan didn"t not seem to care about it? Qiao Ting"s eyes glimmered with uncertainty as his heart trembled.

So, Ling Lan looked down on him? Why wouldn"t he? Back then, he lost by the difference of one move. And now, in a battle of aura, he didn"t even have the power to counterattack… What did he have to let Ling Lan view as a rival?

Qiao Ting started to give up. He couldn"t compare to the monsters in this world and Ling Lan is that type of monster! Under the pressure of Ling Lan"s domain, Qiao Ting began to doubt himself while on the verge of fainting. His knees began to slowly fall towards the ground…

Ling Lan"s expression was filled with regret. Is Qiao Ting only capable of this much?

No! Others could make him lower his dignity and honor, but not this person in front of him! The fighting spirit in Qiao Ting"s heart was ignited. His knees, that were originally buckling, straightened up once again. This made Ling Lan"s eyes glimmer. The force of presence she was retracting, exploded out once again, forcing Qiao Ting to be under an even stronger pressure.

"Qiao Ting, you said you will be my rival in this lifetime. Then, let me take a look and see if you"re qualified!" Ling Lan"s eyes looked at Qiao Ting with determination, hoping he would surprise her.

Ling Lan clearly knew she needed an opponent who was on the same level as her. There would definitely be countless hard battles in the future. If she didn"t have an opponent of a similar level pressuring her, her growth would definitely be stagnant. She was afraid that if her current situation continued on, that in a situation where she was to fight against a stronger opponent, she would be defeated and be unable to do anything about it.

Ling Lan liked the feeling of being pressured into a crisis-like situation. This filled her with motivation. She clearly knew after her father had returned to the division and solving everyone of her problems, she was more dependent on him. Compared to her speed back in the day, her advancement speed was clearly much slower now. Although part of the reason was because the higher the level, the harder it was to advance, the actual reason was because she no longer felt pressured and lowered her own standards. Without pressuring herself to the limit with a h.e.l.lish training program, she wouldn"t be able to continue the speed of her advancement from back in the day.

Initially, Ling Lan didn"t know about this issue regarding her growth. However, Li Shiyu"s discovery on Planet Juhao woke Ling Lan up from her relaxed state, giving her a sense of crisis. However, that wasn"t enough, after all, the problems arising from Li Shiyu"s discovery would be in the future. It wouldn"t give Ling Lan an instantaneous feeling of danger. Thus, Ling Lan must find an existence that could constantly remind her and pressure her. When she knew Qiao Ting"s Qi-Jin stage was at the stage of optimal peak Great Perfection, she hatched an idea.

If there was no existence like that, then she must create it. Thus, Ling Lan decided to create an opponent that could match up to her. Shadowing her and pressuring her constantly forcing her to be in a heightened state. This would make her train harder to grow.

Of course, whether her idea could come to fruition would depend on whether Qiao Ting could advance by himself.

It should be mentioned that she was already satisfied with Qiao Ting"s current performance.

At that moment, the uniform Qiao Ting wore was soaked with sweat. His comrades saw this and tried to go over to help him. Ling Lan shot a cold glare at them and everyone felt they had been frozen in place, unable to move a muscle.

"So this is Qiao Ting"s rival! So strong!" These captain rank officers lowered their heads uncontrollably under Ling Lan"s gaze. They couldn"t put any strength into resisting. This made them admire Qiao Ting, who was resisting the pressure from Ling Lan completely, even more. Qiao Ting was probably the only one qualified enough to be considered a rival for someone this strong.

Ling Lan didn"t think that her actions of forcing Qiao Ting to advance, accidentally helped Qiao Ting take in a group of loyal brothers-in-arms in the future. However, even if she knew about it, she wouldn"t be afraid. After all her subordinates also needed opponents, just like her.

Qiao Ting"s eyes were now blackened with blood because the blood vessels in his eyes burst. Ling Lan was no longer in front of his eyes, only his memory from the past 20 years was there. He saw himself handsome and dignified at the age of 20, but took a fall after losing to Ling Lan at the age of 21. He saw himself trying his hardest in the division for three years, but in the end couldn"t even defend himself against one attack from Ling Lan.

Could it be that he, Qiao Ting, was a stepping stone for Ling Lan prepared by G.o.d? If that was the case then he wasn"t willing to give in! He wasn"t willing to give in! Every level he obtained was acquired from his own efforts and, wasn"t given to him by G.o.d. The blood, sweat and tears Qiao Ting had put into every step on his path could dye the his whole path red. Why should he be the stepping stone? Why?

Qiao Ting felt that G.o.d wasn"t just. He didn"t lack talent, he worked hard, but why did G.o.d give up on him to instead aid his rival? Qiao Ting"s anger ignited and the bottleneck of his body suddenly loosened.

"If he can become a domain user, then I, Qiao Ting, can do it as well!"

Qiao Ting didn"t want to submit to Ling Lan. He immediately put forth his entire body"s Qi-Jin. He forcefully pushed towards the bottleneck that couldn"t be broken easily… He was sure that to fight against a domain expert, he must become one. He knew about the fact that those who were below domain stage were considered ants to those domain experts.

"Still lacking a bit?" Ling Lan knew advancing in Qi-Jin was between the line of life-or-death. If it was possible, an individual should choose a safe place to advance. Currently, they were in a place that wasn"t a good place to advance. Luckily, she was a domain expert and could expand her domain outwards to create a safe s.p.a.ce to make sure he wasn"t disturbed during his advancement.

Qiao Ting"s advancement towards the domain stage wasn"t something that happened naturally. It was Ling Lan"s domain pressure that ignited Qiao Ting"s unwillingness to give in. In the end, with his own Qin-Jin resisting from the inside, he created a catalyst for breaking through his bottleneck.

This type of condition was an opportunity that could arise only by chance and was considered to be Qiao Ting"s catalyst. Of course, Ling Lan had a hand in this as well.

Originally, Ling Lan was experimenting whether she could use her domain to force the bottleneck of Qi-Jin to loosen up. Now, it seemed that it was indeed effective. It was too bad Qiao Ting was the first person Ling Lan experimented on. It couldn"t be helped since Ling Lan"s subordinates with the strongest physical skills, Qi Long and Zhao Jun, had only reached the peak stage of Qi-Jin. They hadn"t actually reached the level of optimal peak Great Perfection. Even if Ling Lan wanted to force the matter, she wouldn"t be able to acquire this type of results.

"Bam!" The pressure from the outside along with the pressure from the Qi-Jin inside Qiao Ting clashed. His body could not endure the pressure from both sides and began to crack open, causing blood to gush out from the wounds. Not long after, Qiao Ting became coated in blood. This terrified the attendants in the shop, causing them to scream once again.