If it were just Chu Tian, then so be it. He had always been called a genius anyway. However, Li Qingshan was a disciple of the school of Novels that they had mocked all this time, a clown for fulfilling their sense of superiority. Perhaps no one treated him as a genius due to the trio from the entrance examination.
However, at this moment, reality told them that Li Qingshan was a true genius, a genius that could rival Chu Tian. Meanwhile, their mockery was simply so foolish. Their sense of superiority immediately collapsed.
On the platform occupied by the mohist disciples, Hao Pingyang slapped Zhang Lanqing’s shoulder. “I told you he has got some moves.”
Zhang Lanqing smiled easily too. In the past three days, he had worried a lot. He Yishi stood in the corner of the platform and raised his head to look at Li Qingshan on the Cloud Ridge Giant. All he felt was fear.
Yu Zijian praised, “So powerful!” Hua Chenglu said, “He really is something else. What did I say? With my insight, how could I go wrong?”
Wu Gen posed a question to himself. As an eighth layer Qi Practitioner, could he stand a chance against either one of them? He glanced at Qian Rongzhi. She maintained her smile the entire time, neither worried or surprised, as if everything was developing according to her expectations. It only added to her wondrous charm.
He had once thought of himself as a conqueror. Only at this moment did he suddenly realise he was drawn to her due to her strength, her unconfused, unwavering, unhesitant “strength”.
Perhaps it was time for him to cast everything aside and cultivate properly. Perhaps he should copy Li Qingshan and enter secluded cultivation for a while.
“Old Wang, how’s that?” Hua Chengzan looked back and smiled.
“Interesting, but it’s still nowhere near enough!”
“Then let’s just see how everything unfolds!”
Chu Tian and Li Qingshan’s gazes clashed in the air above the arena.
“Turns out I’ve always been underestimating you,” Chu Tian said in some disbelief.
“Same here. I really am quite surprised by how you’ve managed to say something like that,” Li Qingshan said with composure.
“But if you think you can defeat me like this, you’re far too naive. What Cloud Ridge Giant? That’s just a facade, a bravado. Watch as my Earthen Strongman smashes it to pieces!”
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! The Earthen Strongman’s steps were like blaring drums as it rushed towards the Cloud Ridge Giant with whistling wind.
The Main Martial Arts stadium was massive, but that was with respect to human size. Compared to these two colossal figures, it was like a tiny stage, nowhere to dodge, nowhere to hide.
The huge punch was like a mountainside landslide as it smashed towards the Cloud Ridge Giant’s head, or more accurately, Li Qingshan beside the head. It moved with stoppable, terrifying power.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Li Qingshan smiled. He could tell from a long time ago that Chu Tian had no idea about battle tactics at all. If Li Qingshan were in control of the Earthen Strongman instead, he would have caught the cloud in the situation before. And, he would not throw punches right now either. Punching right now was completely pointless. All Chu Tian knew was how to brawl like a regular person.
Chu Tian could use techniques to annihilate most Qi Practitioners, so there was no need for him to try and learn these battle tactics or whatever they were. With the size of the Earthen Strongman, just being able to brawl would be sufficient.
However, it was not enough today.
The clouds surged, and the Cloud Ridge Giant tilted its head. The Earthen Strongman’s punch missed. A pillar of clouds rushed up as a vicious hook shattered the Earthen Strongman’s chin.
Because the Cloud Ridge Giant was just too large, it only resembled a blurry humanoid shape. Even its eyes and mouth were just three depressions in the cloud, and it did not have legs either, just a long tail of clouds.
Li Qingshan would never use it to unleash his martial arts either. However, as long as he paid attention to the situation and used his judgement, he could abuse someone inexperienced like Chu Tian.
The Earthen Strongman lost its balance, and the Cloud Ridge Giant drifted forwards. A straight, left punch landed on the Earthen Strongman’s face, and with a boom, it crushed its nose.
If it were a human, then it would have suffered heavily from that, but the Earthen Strongman was not made out of flesh and blood after all. It did not know what pain or dizziness was. As Chu Tian roared out, it threw a punch back at the Cloud Ridge Giant’s chest.
With how big the Cloud Ridge Giant was, it was impossible for it to dodge. Li Qingshan had no intentions of dodging either. The Cloud Ridge Giant received the punch and continued to advance forwards, beating up the Earthen Strongman to the point where rock and soil flew off its body.
The Earthen Strongman’s punch pierced the Cloud Ridge Giant, directly creating a hole. Chu Tian laughed aloud. “Die!”
What answered him was a combination. A left jab, a right straight, and a left hook was completed in a single stroke, causing the Earthen Giant to stagger backwards. Its face had been reduced to a mess.
Li Qingshan smiled. “Idiot.”
Just like how water element techniques were not suited for battle, the Cloud Ridge Giant was not made for fighting. It was nowhere near as destructive as the Earthen Strongman. As a matter of fact, it paled in comparison to the impenetrable defenses of earth element techniques too. However, it was accustomed to absorbing and nullifying damage.
The clouds surged and gathered once again, filling in the hole within the blink of an eye. The pliable Cloud Ridge Giant was perfect for overwhelming the Earthen Strongman that triumphed through brute force.
Everyone on the spectating platforms were dumbfounded. They never thought Li Qingshan would gain the upper hand the moment he struck. He was not conceited for giving Chu Tian a handicap of three moves. Was he really a disciple of the school of Novels?
“Beat him up! Beat him up!” Hua Chenglu called out.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Among the thunderous rumbles, the Cloud Ridge Giant forced the Earthen Strongman to the edge of the arena, unleashing its fists as it wished.
The Earthen Strongman fought back desperately, but it was unable to break out of this awkward situation. Instead, it appeared feeble before the Cloud Ridge Giant.
The slovenly daoist priest laughed aloud as he watched on. “Juechenzi, this is called eroding rock with water, conquering the unyielding with yielding. Interesting, interesting. What a pity, what a pity.”
“Li Qingshan, you’ve really infuriated me now! I’ll make you pay the price!” Chu Tian’s hands flashed about as he formed seals once again.
With a cry, a huge Bird of Flames unfurled its wings and rushed into the sky, lunging towards the Cloud Ridge Giant.
It was even larger than the one from before. Chu Tian road on the bird’s back as the flames around him turned him scarlet red. The tongues of fire licked around him. At this moment, no one noticed his unhandsome appearance anymore. He seemed like a legendary god that could wield fire.
Liu Zhangqing smiled as he stroked his beard. This move alone was enough to evaporate away the Cloud Ridge Giant.
At this moment, there was a dragon’s roar that drowned out the bird’s cry. A water dragon surged over diagonally, biting down on the bird’s neck.
It was complete with horns, scales, claws, and teeth. All of it was conjured from water.
The Blaststream Water Dragon.
This was the technique with the greatest destructive power out of everything that Li Qingshan had grasped so far.
The water dragon bit the fire bird, and it rushed into the sky, smashing it heavily against the screen of light at the top. The barrier seemed to shake.
Chu Tian lowered his head in surprise. He saw Li Qingshan standing between the horns of the dragon as the azure blue ripples of water swept his clothes about without wetting him. He continued to smile faintly like before, as if he was mocking his helplessness.
Chu Tian gritted his teeth as he roared inside, How dare you mock me! How dare a mere mortal like you mock me! I am a celestial!
The flames on the fire bird surged, and it pecked down on the dragon’s head, snapping its horns. Its pairs of talons ripped away the dragon’s scales. The water that contained the vitality of the water dragon leaked out, but before it had even reached the ground, it turned to steam due to the high heat.
The Blaststream Water Dragon coiled around the fire bird and dug in deeply with its four dragon talons. Feathers dropped out of the sky, turning into ashes.
Among the hisses, huge swathes of steam permeated the surroundings. On the ground, the Cloud Ridge Giant and the Earthen Strongman continued to throw punches at one another.
The mouths of many spectating Qi Practitioners had dropped, having forgotten to close them again. They seemed to be stupefied, as if they had been taken back to a primeval battlefield, where gods wielded divine beasts and clashed with surging fire and water, while giants took arms on the ground, fighting to no end.
Many people had even clenched their fists, making up their minds to cultivate diligently.
Very few Qi Practitioners of this day and age could witness battles between cultivators at Foundation Establishment and above. This battle had a huge impact on them.
Liu Zhangqing looked around the platforms and took note of everyone’s expressions. Regardless of the outcome, the entire academy would benefit from this battle. These disciples who had grown accustomed to peace could truly witness what fighting was.
As it seemed, he needed to organise battles like these more frequently in the future. From the news he had received recently, he could already vaguely smell the scent of war.
However, he had no doubts of the outcome of this battle right from the beginning. He was just waiting to see when Chu Tian would set aside his pointless arrogance.
The dragon and bird entangled with one another. Li Qingshan and Chu Tian had never been so close to each other throughout the entire battle. They could clearly see the fury and smile on each other’s faces.
“Li Qingshan!” Chu Tian roared. Pushing off the back of the bird, he rushed towards Li Qingshan. Five-coloured true qi appeared from his body, suddenly condensing into a five-coloured palm that smacked right towards Li Qingshan.
“Great Palm of the Five Elements!”
Li Qingshan pushed off the dragon’s head and rushed into the air. His true qi surged within his sea of qi, all pouring into his fist. Like a roaring tsunami, he threw the punch.
Liu Zhangqing said, “The outcome has already been determined.”
The palm strike and punch collided. The water dispersed.
It was at this exact moment that the water dragon, locked in battle with the fire bird, dispersed too. It was vaporised to surging mist.
The Cloud Ridge Giant engaged in close combat with the Earthen Strongman. Although it had gained the upper hand and destroyed most of the Earthen Strongman, most of its body had been exhausted away too. Both of them only stood at a few meters tall, so they were unable to attract anymore attention, nor were they able to determine the outcome of the battle.
The only thing that everyone saw was Li Qingshan rapidly falling down into the mist and vanishing.
Li Qingshan had lost. His full-powered punch was unable to fend off Chu Tian’s cultivation method, the Palm of the Five Elements.
Hua Chenglu suddenly felt pained. It was true. No matter how hard a regular person worked, they could not defeat a genius, much less a Reincarnated Celestial like Chu Tian.
On the other platforms, many Qi Practitioners felt dejected too. They had originally come to see Li Qingshan make a fool of himself, but when Li Qingshan actually demonstrated strength that could contend with Chu Tian, they began to support him before they even knew it.
This was because Li Qingshan was the “weakling”. Compared to Chu Tian, he was a “mortal”, just like them. They wanted to see a mortal defeat a celestial, just like how regular people always looked forward to miracles.
Chu Tian descended from the ground, and the Palm of the Five Elements destroyed the Cloud Ridge Giant along the way. He looked around as he sneered inside. What an idiot. To think you even cursed me earlier, actually thinking you could take on my Palm of the Five Elements. You’re probably half-dead now! How dare you make me so dishevelled. Watch as I smack you to death with my palm strike.
Hua Chenglu stood up and arrived on the platform where Han Anjun stood. “Uncle Han, please announce the outcome of the battle!”
However, Han Anjun, who was always serious and as cold as a rock, curled the corner of his lips slightly as he said, “The outcome has already been determined.”
