My Clones Can Cultivate

Chapter 143

Shi Mo looked at Liyu, who was grinning as if all of this... as if this entire battle... as if all of his opponents, including Shi Mo himself, were nothing but toys that he was messing around with, and it was as if the entire Selection Tournament had been created for no other reason than for him to have fun.

Shi Mo wanted to curse him out for his unbridled arrogance, but he did not, after all, because Liyu’s arrogance was not unwarranted. The fact that he had been able to match him and had even struck him twice while Shi Mo had made himself several times lighter was already enough to prove that.

At the same time, the Gravity Rise was still restricting Liyu, yet, despite being suppressed by the increased gravity, Liyu had still been able to keep up with Shi Mo and match his speed.

He had even managed to deliver several attacks of his own, and as shameful as it was... those attacks had all been slaps. Shi Mo’s face darkened, but still, he was no fool. He could not continue fighting for much longer anyway.

The only way he could probably keep up with Liyu now was to cancel the Gravity Rise, because maintaining it was draining his massive Qi reserves as if it were some kind of energy-sucking monster, and the amount of Qi it consumed was becoming ridiculous.

Shi Mo raised his hand.

"Break..."

The moment he said those words, the pressure that had become thick and overwhelming throughout the environment suddenly began to drop, and the suffocating pressure rapidly weakened before it disappeared.

The world returned to how it had originally been, and the stage was no longer covered by the terrifying pressure created by the twenty-five-fold increase in gravity. Everything had returned to normal.

Shi Mo slowly turned and looked toward Liyu. Liyu appeared to be taken aback, and a clear look of surprise appeared on his face, however, the expression lasted for only a few seconds.

Then... his smile returned, but this time, there was something else written across his face... mocking pity. Liyu looked at Shi Mo as if he had just watched someone make the dumbest decision imaginable, and then he spoke.

"I have no idea why you did that, my friend..." Liyu slowly smiled. "But I can tell you one thing..." His smile widened. "That is the worst decision you have ever made in your life."

Shi Mo’s eyes twitched, however, before he could even think about what Liyu meant... his eyes suddenly trembled.

Liyu vanished.

The distance between them was several meters, yet, Liyu crossed it in what seemed like less than a second... no... it was even faster than that. At almost the exact same moment Liyu disappeared... a sharp and nearly unbearable pain shot directly through Shi Mo’s chest.

"Guh!"

Shi Mo’s entire body shook violently. Pain unlike anything he had ever experienced spread through his nerves, and it was deep, terrifying, and unbearably painful. It felt as if something deadly... something extremely deadly... had struck directly into his inner organs.

Shi Mo’s breathing stopped, his eyes widened, and then, slowly and painfully, he lowered his gaze. And there... Liyu stood directly before him, his hand pressed against Shi Mo’s chest. Liyu looked calm, almost too calm, and then he spoke.

"Art of Face Slapping..." His voice echoed through the silent arena. "Third Form..." Liyu’s eyes gleamed. "Heart-Quaking Slap."

The pain spread through Shi Mo’s chest like wildfire, and his nerves burned.

"Ahhh..." A trembling groan spilled from his lips, and then his legs gave way. Shi Mo collapsed onto his knees.

"Cough!" Blood burst from his mouth. "Cough! Cough!" More blood poured from his lips in large bursts as his body trembled violently, because the pain ravaging his body was simply too intense.

Meanwhile, Liyu slowly turned around and began to walk away, giving Shi Mo some space. He would allow him to come to terms with the pain first before delivering even more pain, which was a good thing to do.

He should treat his friend better, after all. Liyu grinned as he turned around and looked toward Shi Mo. The large man was still kneeling on the ground, blood continued to spill from his mouth as his body trembled from the pain ravaging his insides, and Liyu knew exactly how painful Shi Mo must be feeling.

After all, what he had just used was none other than the third legendary form of the Art of Face Slapping, the Heart-Quaking Slap. It was an attack created to target the inner organs and shake the very heart itself, and although it was not meant to shatter the heart... either way, Liyu did not care much about that.

What he knew was that the shockwave released from his hand would spread through Shi Mo’s body like wildfire, striking his inner organs and throwing him directly into the world of true pain. If it had been many other people... they would have already fainted from that attack, but not Shi Mo, because the guy was tough, after all.

Liyu’s grin could not help but widen when he noticed that the big guy had finally stopped coughing. Shi Mo was now simply kneeling on the ground with his head lowered, and Liyu casually waved a hand.

"Hey, dude. There is no need to bow to me like that." He smiled. "You really don’t need to thank me." Liyu paused before continuing with an innocent expression. "I will happily help you rearrange your inner organs any time I wish."

Shi Mo’s eyes twitched, and despite the pain... despite the cries he was forcefully holding back... he could not help but stare at Liyu with disbelief and cold rage. He wanted to kill that bastard, really kill him.

Liyu was speaking as if he had not just thrown him into a world of unbearable pain, and he was talking as if he had been doing Shi Mo a favor of some sort. Shi Mo’s gaze darkened, and slowly... forcefully... he began to rise to his feet.

His body trembled as he pushed himself upward while the pain was still ravaging his inner organs, but he ignored it. His gaze remained dark as he slowly turned to look toward Liyu, thinking, *That bastard... I will kill him for sure.*

Liyu watched Shi Mo stand up, and then his smile became even brighter, almost as if he were looking at a long-lost child. He looked happy... no... he was happy.

After all, Shi Mo standing up had only confirmed his thoughts, because this Shi Mo... he had the body to take many more hits. Now Liyu could finally unleash himself, and he could finally break Shi Mo’s bones as thoroughly as he wanted.

Truly... a worthy opponent, an opponent with many more bones worth breaking. Liyu wiped away a small, happy tear that had appeared at the corner of his eye, then he looked toward Shi Mo as if the big guy had just done him a massive favor.

Shi Mo did not even bother thinking about Liyu’s strange behavior, because ever since he had seen the guy today, Liyu had been acting strangely anyway... no... he was far more bothered by something else, as Shi Mo had also come to a realization, a terrifying realization.

Maybe... maybe he had made a mistake by taking down the Gravity Rise, because if Liyu had truly and completely adapted to the increased gravity... then now... now that the Gravity Rise was gone... now that the world had returned to its normal gravity... just how strong would Liyu be?

And more importantly... how fast would he be now that he was no longer being suppressed by the twenty-five-fold increase in gravity?

The thought clawed at Shi Mo’s chest, cold and unwelcome, as he looked at Liyu, who was still smiling at him as if Shi Mo had just brought him food to devour. *Still... I can’t risk raising it a second time,*

Shi Mo came to that conclusion almost immediately as he continued looking at Liyu. Even under the effects of the Gravity Rise, Liyu’s speed had been immense, and yeah, sure... now that the gravity had returned to normal, Liyu would be even faster, but raising the gravity again would push Shi Mo’s Qi reserves close to exhaustion.

If that happened... then he had already lost, and he didn’t... he really didn’t want to lose. Because of that, Shi Mo pressed a hand against his chest and spoke.

"Gravity Fall... Thirtyfold."

His already extremely light body suddenly became vastly lighter, and Shi Mo felt as if he were floating.

The gravity surrounding his body had been reduced to such an extent that he barely felt his own weight anymore, and his movements became lighter, faster, sharper.

Now... now that the gravity around his body had been reduced to such an extreme level, Shi Mo was certain that if he pressured Liyu fast enough... he would win. *I might win...* he was no longer certain, but he needed to push forward, because he had no other choice. With that, Shi Mo abandoned all the pain he was feeling and pushed it to the back of his mind, then he rushed forward and attacked.

Liyu met him in the middle, and the two immediately began exchanging moves once more.

BOOM! The ground quaked.

CRACK! The stage broke apart beneath the force of their attacks.

Shi Mo moved like a blur... no... he was moving so fast that anyone below the Foundation Realm would only be able to see a vague blur and nothing else.

He was fast, too fast, and those below the Qi Refining Realm would not even be able to see the blur; they would see nothing. Every person inside the Ray Arena had their gaze locked onto the battle taking place below.

BANG! A loud impact echoed through the arena.

BOOM! Another explosion followed.

CRACK! The white marble making up the battle stage shattered apart and was sent flying in every direction.

BANG! Another heavy impact echoed.

PAH! A lighter but much sharper sound followed.

CRASH! Something slammed into the stage.

The sounds did not stop, echoing repeatedly throughout the arena over and over again, and the audience could barely understand what was happening, after all, because most of them were mortals.

All they could see was the battle stage continuously breaking apart while white marble shattered in every direction and thick clouds of dust rose into the air. They could not see the two fighters, and they could only hear the terrifying sounds of their battle.

However... those with high cultivation were able to see everything, as the extremely few members of the audience who had reached the Foundation Realm were able to follow the battle, and every single one of them was astonished beyond words by what they were witnessing.

Unlike what many people believed... the two fighters were not fighting on equal ground, not at all.

The loud BANG! sounds were Shi Mo launching one powerful attack after another, the explosive BOOM! sounds that followed were caused by Liyu either dodging or blocking those attacks, and the quaking and cracking sounds came from the white marble being shattered and destroyed by the terrifying force behind Shi Mo’s punches.

Then... there were the PAH! sounds, which were caused by Liyu’s slaps connecting with Shi Mo, not only against his cheeks... but across the rest of his body as well... his shoulders, his arms, his chest, anywhere Liyu could reach.

Then came the crashing sounds, caused by Shi Mo being sent flying before crashing heavily into the battle stage, however, the very next second... Shi Mo would disappear from the crater and attack Liyu again.

The cycle repeated itself over... and over... and over again. It was simply too fast for most people to see, but for those who could see the battle clearly... they came to only one conclusion: Shi Mo could not win.

Not because he was weak... no... Shi Mo was more than strong.

He was incredibly powerful, his speed was terrifying, and his attacks were strong enough to crush most Qi Refining Realm cultivators, but the person he was facing... was simply on another monstrous level entirely.

At the seats of the leaders, Shi Gubing’s face had become darker than darkness, and deep lines formed around his brows as he watched the battle unfolding below.

He could see everything as clearly as day, and now... he knew for certain that Liyu was far more of a monster than he had initially believed. He was an anomaly.

The fact that he could move that fast... the fact that he could react to Shi Mo’s speed... and the fact that he could casually deliver attacks capable of crushing even an exceptional Qi Refining Realm warrior with nothing more than a slap... it shattered every piece of foundational knowledge Shi Gubing possessed about cultivation.

Shi Gubing turned his gaze toward Shi Mo. The large young man’s face had already become swollen from Liyu’s repeated slaps, his expression dimmed, and Shi Gubing could no longer find it within himself to blame Shi Mo if he lost.

The person Shi Mo was facing was simply... unreasonable. Unreasonably strong. Unreasonably fast. Unreasonably skilled. And monstrously powerful. Everything about that Liyu kid was unreasonable, totally unreasonable.

Shi Gubing took in a deep breath, and then he came to one absolute conclusion: this match was over, and as much as he hated it... Liyu had won, and Shi Mo... had lost.

Not only had Shi Gubing come to that conclusion, but the same could be said about the other leaders as well, after all, because they had been able to see everything clearly... every movement, every attack, every counter.

The battle taking place on the stage was moving far too quickly for most people in the arena to see or properly perceive, however, to the leaders, it was almost as if the entire battle were moving in slow motion.

They could see everything. Shi Mo was actually faster than Liyu, and that much was clear, as his body had become incredibly light after he used the thirtyfold Gravity Fall, and his speed had reached a terrifying level.

Yet... it was almost as if Liyu already knew when Shi Mo was going to strike. Every time Shi Mo attacked, Liyu would move at exactly the right moment, dodging before the attack could reach him, and then, before Shi Mo could recover... Liyu would counter.

And that was not the only terrifying thing, because Liyu’s reaction speed was monstrous. Even though Shi Mo was faster, Liyu was able to react to every attack, able to guide Shi Mo’s attacks away, counter them, and launch his own attacks at the same smooth and effortless pace.

It was almost as if he were watching everything while the entire world had been paused. Every movement Shi Mo made... every shift in his body... every slight change in the direction of his attacks... Liyu appeared to see all of it.

And then... there was the terrifying power behind his attacks. Liyu’s attacks had become even more monstrous than before, although, in this context, those attacks were nothing more than his slaps.

Yet... those slaps were powerful enough to instantly kill anyone below the Qi Refining Realm, and that was enough to say everything.

Liyu was unreasonably powerful, and the fact that he was supposedly still at the First Stage of the Qi Gathering Realm made everything even more absurd, totally unreasonable, for his very existence was unreasonable.