My Clones Can Cultivate

Chapter 134

Li San’s thoughts were different from the other two clan lords though. He was naturally happy about Liyu’s victory. The kid had surely grown beyond the bounds of the Qi Gathering Realm... no, scratch that rubbish.

He had grown beyond the bounds of the Qi Refining Realm as well, standing at the peak of that realm in terms of power and capability while he himself was only at the very first stage of the Qi Gathering Realm.

The gap between his cultivation stage and the amount of power he truly held was as vast as the difference between heaven and earth... it made no sense. Li San thought, his gaze fixed firmly on Liyu’s back.

This must be the perk of being a Sacred Grade cultivator, he thought with a small sigh. Maybe if the hidden expert who was teaching Liyu could also teach Li Yuexin, then she would become even more monstrous than she already was.

To put it simply and in a smaller perspective, Li San was almost certain that Li Yuexin at her full power might not actually be Liyu’s match right now. She was at the first stage of the Qi Refining Realm while Liyu was only at the first stage of the Qi Gathering Realm.

An entire realm separated them, and yet Liyu had displayed power that surpassed hers. Maybe if the two were to battle, the only way Li Yuexin would win would be if she used her Bloody Self power, diving to its absolute depth like she did at the end of her battle against Xueyi.

Without that, Li San was more than certain that she wouldn’t be able to defeat Liyu. And yet she was the one with the higher cultivation level. And yet she would lose to Liyu, who was of a weaker realm. And they were both Sacred Grade cultivators. It made Li San curious.

Just how powerful would Yuexin have become if she had been taught by someone with more resources and knowledge than Li San himself... someone like the expert he suspected was teaching Liyu?

Then, without any shred of doubt, Yuexin would have become an absolute menace in terms of power if she had been properly trained. Li San sighed before shaking his head. All that could wait until after the tournament was over.

For now, there were still three more opponents for Liyu to defeat... two from the Shi Clan and one from the Guan Clan. The moment he managed to do that, he would win the tournament between the three great clans and become the sole victor, just as he had claimed.

Li San almost wanted to believe that the kid would keep winning as easily as he had against Shi Lan and the Twin Fiends, but he was certain it wouldn’t be that simple. In the Shi camp, the ones left were Shi Mo and Shi Tian.

With Shi Mo being at the ninth stage of the Qi Refining Realm, from what Li San could sense from the large youth, he was more than certain that the kid was actually just a step away from reaching the peak of the Qi Refining Realm himself.

So, in simple words... he was strong. Extremely strong.

But compared to Shi Tian, the devil, he almost seemed insignificant in comparison, as Li San was far more concerned for Liyu’s sake because if he truly wanted to win the tournament, and because of the deal he had made with Elder Ting, he would need to defeat Shi Tian as well.

And that Shi Tian kid was totally dangerous and abnormally powerful too. Li San’s gaze shifted to Guan Haoran. And that lad over there as well... he would also prove troublesome for Liyu.

The two, after all, were at the very peak of the Qi Refining Realm. Li San sighed slightly. The tournament was far from over, as the remaining candidates Liyu would be facing would all be opponents capable of testing his limits.

And then only two outcomes would remain. Either the kid managed to shock them all and win against all odds, claiming victory in the tournament and becoming renowned throughout the Night Region... or he would finally be defeated by one of the remaining three and lose the two Golden Tokens that he had won, meaning that the Li Clan would lose the tournament.

Either outcome was possible. So Li San had already begun thinking of another way to send Liyu to the Gold Valley Sect. After all, the kid needed the protection of the Gold Valley Sect to remain safe, and Li San needed to secure that protection for him.

Li San relaxed after a while. The tournament wasn’t the only way to get someone into the Gold Valley Sect. He could find another way... no matter how costly or difficult it might be.

Li San was still in the midst of his thoughts when Elder Ting leaned over and spoke, "Clan Lord Li... I give you my word. If the kid were to ever lose, then him, the Battle Princess, and your son would all be welcome to join the Rising Wave Sect as core disciples."

He said, his tone sounding even slightly desperate now. Why wouldn’t he be? After all, those three could be said to be the greatest set of geniuses he had ever come across in his long years of living.

He had never caught a glimpse of anyone who even came anywhere close to being their equal. Even Lady Shiyuen, a one-in-a-thousand-year genius, was not on the level of those three kids. Just think about it.

Li Feng had achieved the State of Flow, something many Golden Core experts never managed to attain in their entire lifetime, and yet it was accomplished by a kid who was only at the seventh stage of Qi Gathering. That was mind-blowing, to say the least.

Then there was Li Yuexin, who had shattered every known logic of human biological resistance. She was able to keep fighting even as her essence was being eroded and her wounds kept multiplying.

Not only that, but she possessed two mutated Qi at the very first stage of the Qi Refining Realm, while many people remained stuck at the peak of the Foundation Realm for decades because they were unable to trigger even a single Qi mutation. It was simply monstrous.

She was also an anomaly like Li Feng, a once-in-hundreds-of-thousands-of-years genius. And then there was Li Yu.

If Elder Ting had not been here to witness his battles with his own eyes, and someone had merely told him that a cultivator at the very first stage of Qi Gathering could possess such overwhelming power, easily crushing three late-stage Qi Refining experts with nothing but a few moves, without even breaking a sweat, and accomplishing all of that within the span of a single hour, he would never have believed it.

He was simply too talented. Too monstrous. Too unreasonable. If Elder Ting could somehow recruit those three into the Rising Wave Sect, then not only would his own prestige soar tremendously, but the future of the Rising Wave Sect itself would also change completely.

With the help of these unparalleled geniuses, the sect would undoubtedly rise to even greater heights. After all, it was almost a certainty at this point that the three of them would one day step into the Soul Stage and continue advancing even beyond it.

The moment that happened, and they became true Soul Stage experts, the Rising Wave Sect would undoubtedly rise alongside them. Li San looked at the eager and desperate Elder Ting before politely shaking his head, "I have not decided yet.

The tournament, after all, isn’t over yet, and that kid... he still seems to have some fire left in him. He hasn’t even managed to break a sweat. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched if he defeated Shi Mo and ended up facing one of the two greatest remaining geniuses, Shi Tian or Guan Haoran."

Elder Ting nodded before shifting his focus back to the stage and onto Li Yu. Now that he thought about it, the kid didn’t seem even the slightest bit worried about the fact that he would soon be facing even stronger opponents.

Shi Mo. Shi Tian. Guan Haoran. None of those people were weak. They could all be considered the final bosses of this selection tournament, and yet the kid still wore that confident expression, as though everything that was happening... and everything that would happen... was already within his control.

It was as if, with a single thought, he alone could decide who would win and who would lose. Elder Ting shook his head as he remembered the first words the kid had uttered the moment he stepped onto the stage. How did he say it again?

Oh right. "I get to decide who wins and who loses... and I have decided. The Shi Clan and the Guan Clan would lose because I would win." That was exactly how he had said it.

Back then, everyone... including Elder Ting himself... had believed that the kid was simply talking nonsense. But now... Now that he had managed to push this far... Maybe... Just maybe... He had truly been serious from the very beginning about becoming the sole winner of the selection tournament.

Meanwhile, after a while, the crowd finally came to terms with what had happened. As impossible as it sounded, Li Yu had truly defeated the Twin Fiends, and he had done so in such an overwhelming fashion that the Twin Fiends had been completely unable to leave even a single scratch on him.

Just as he had utterly dominated the battle against Shi Lan, he had done exactly the same thing to the Twin Fiends. After a while, once that reality finally settled into everyone’s minds, the crowd became restless once again as they realised something else.

They had lost... Again. Several pained groans and mournful cries echoed throughout the abnormally large crowd as most of them had placed their bets on the Twin Fiends. And now that they had lost... Their money was... Gone.

While some mourned their lost money, those that bet on Liyu were rejoicing at the fact that they would be getting ten times their money since they had placed their bet on Liyu and he had won.

Those that won quickly came to collect their winnings, but soon another problem arose.

After all, for some people whose earnings were too huge and couldn’t be covered by the available money on hand, such as the Li clan lord and Elder Ting, who had bet a large sum of money on Liyu and won an even greater amount, the money from the combined crowd was not enough to pay them.

When this happened, the one responsible for sorting out the shortage of money would be the losing clan. And since Liyu had taken out the twin fiends from the Guan clan, meaning the Guan clan had lost, Clan Lord Guan would be the one to cover it.

This was the normal betting rule during occasions like this. Guan Ju, hearing that, couldn’t help the scowl that appeared on his face. If he were to sort all that out, his lifelong savings would drop significantly. That would be totally detrimental to both him and the clan.

But he couldn’t back out now, or else the Guan clan would lose whatever respect they still held.

With a swollen heart, he reluctantly brought out a large amount of coins from his storage ring to pay up, and his mood completely soured as he felt utterly bankrupt. His urge to tear Liyu apart grew even stronger. That kid was nothing but a walking calamity.

Soon the odds on the board changed. Liyu’s own odds had dropped to three, while those of his mystery opponent had dropped to two. It was clear for anyone watching that Liyu’s evaluation had shot through the roof because of his last battle.

But based on the odds, there was still a slight chance that his next opponent might defeat him. Based on the referee’s analysis, Liyu would probably challenge the large Shi Mo next, and that guy was far stronger than Shi Lan or even the twin fiends.

The betting started and ended quickly, mostly because this time fewer than half the people placed bets. Some were completely out of coins to bet anymore, others were exercising caution so they wouldn’t lose another fortune, and those who still bet were nevertheless numerous.

After all, there were thousands of people in the Ray Arena. More than forty percent of them voted for Liyu this time around, believing that he would win. The rest decided to vote for Shi Mo.

After all, the guy was said to be the closest to the Shi Devil in terms of strength and power, and they had all seen just how insanely powerful the Shi Devil was. So, to them, Shi Mo was the safer bet. Meanwhile, people like Li San and Elder Ting, without a shred of doubt, bet every coin they had earned... which, to be honest, was already an enormous amount... on Liyu once more.

A three-times boost to that already massive fortune would increase it even further. To them, it was a guaranteed win, as they believed that Liyu would not lose to Shi Mo. Shi Gubing, as expected, bet on his own candidate.

After all, Shi Mo was truly the one closest to Shi Tian in terms of potential. Closest... though not really that close, since Shi Tian, in all honesty, was simply too monstrously talented for anyone to truly match him. But that said, Shi Mo was far from being weak. He was strong... extremely strong even.

And his mutated Qi... Shi Gubing’s gaze flashed.

As for Guan Ju... well, he didn’t make any bet at all. He was still reeling from the fortune he had lost trying to pay up and cover the betting deficit. He honestly felt like crying. That money had been his life’s savings.

But a clan lord must not shed tears... No. He couldn’t afford to shed tears.

Shi Mo stood up, his gaze confident, and without saying another word to anyone, he walked straight onto the stage. Soon he stood across from Liyu, looking at the smaller youth with a calm gaze.

Liyu waved at the big guy with a small smile, "Hey, big guy. I hope you’re truly strong and not just another cannon fodder like the ones I’ve faced." Shi Mo smiled faintly before speaking, "You’ll be shocked."

Liyu’s gaze flashed as he smiled. The referee stepped onto the stage and introduced the two, "For our next match... the Honoured One of the Li clan will be facing the Giant of the Shi clan. Let the battle begin!"

The referee vanished as always, and every gaze locked onto the battle that was about to unfold. Liyu’s gaze remained calm, his posture composed as he waited for the big guy to make the first move.

After a while... He did. Shi Mo calmly raised his hand and pointed at Liyu. Liyu raised an eyebrow, "Kneel." The moment that single word left Shi Mo’s mouth, an immense force descended upon Liyu.

Liyu’s expression changed drastically. Before everyone’s eyes... Liyu’s knee slammed into the stage with a thunderous bang.