My Clones Can Cultivate

Chapter 155

The referee, after seeing that Guan Haoran had not moved after being slammed into the massive pillar, decided to check up on him. Sincerely, there was a chance that the guy had passed out, but the referee thought that was highly unlikely.

After all, the fact that the guy had been praised by everyone meant that he must have more than one trick up his sleeve. So, if he lost just like that before he was even able to put up any meaningful fight, the referee would be more than disappointed.

He reached Guan Haoran, ready to check up on him, when the young man suddenly moved. The referee blinked as he watched Guan Haoran rise to his full height, making him a few inches taller than the referee himself.

But that was not what caught the referee’s attention. Neither was the fact that, even after suffering that mighty punch from Liyu, apart from the few scratches on his face, which barely even counted as scratches, he seemed rather fine. No.

That was not what caught the referee’s attention either. What truly caught the referee’s attention was the expression on Haoran’s face. He looked at the young man before turning his gaze toward Liyu.

Thinking back to the large grin that had spread across Haoran’s face, the referee slowly shook his head. He could probably guess everything from that expression alone.

That kid was probably a battle junkie, someone who was more than willing to fight a stronger warrior. And it seemed that the fact that Liyu was stronger than he had expected, instead of irritating him, had actually brightened his mood.

The referee shook his head before stepping back to watch how the match would end. It had already started on a rather refreshing and gripping note.

Guan Haoran stepped back onto the stage, a small smile resting on his face as he looked at Liyu, reevaluating the young man. He was not this strong before. It was almost as if his strength had tripled or something.

Guan Haoran stared at Liyu for a while before finally asking the question that had been on his mind. "How did you do that?" His tone sounded curious.

If anything, he was not wary of the fact that Liyu had somehow increased his power. Instead, he seemed more intrigued by it, as if he had found the entire thing fun and interesting. Liyu gave a casual shrug before speaking.

"Nothing special. I just quit holding back." He looked at Guan Haoran before continuing. "You are truly the tough one, aren’t you?" Liyu then nodded toward the massive pillar. "Even that attack didn’t seem to scratch you, did it?"

He asked with a slightly taunting tone. Guan Haoran quickly shook his head. "No. You are wrong." Liyu raised an eyebrow. "That attack of yours is more than strong. It is insanely powerful."

Guan Haoran held his jaw where Liyu’s punch had landed and rubbed it slightly. "It really hurt. Your attack is the only thing that has managed to make me feel this much pain in a very long time."

He paused for a moment, his eyes looking as if he were reminiscing about something. "And trust me, it has been a really, really long time." Liyu did not speak. Instead, he raised his hand and slowly clenched it into a fist.

"So, want to go for another round?" Guan Haoran turned his gaze toward him and smiled. "You have more than proven yourself to be a worthy opponent. So, I will stop holding back as well."

His smile widened slightly. "Now, I will fight you instead of just standing there and waiting to be hit."

The moment he finished speaking, he moved. Liyu was able to react fast enough due to the fact that all his senses had been heightened far beyond normal. He raised his left arm to guard against the kick.

BAM! The kick struck his arm with tremendous force, almost causing him to stumble backward. But Liyu managed to hold his ground. He did not allow the opening to go to waste.

The moment Guan Haoran’s kick landed, Liyu launched a punch toward him. The air whistled and compressed as his fist traveled through the air at an insane speed, heading directly for Guan Haoran’s face.

Surprisingly, Guan Haoran was able to react in time. His hand opened wide before moving forward to halt the attack before it could strike his face. BANG! A loud impact echoed throughout the arena.

Then another loud bang followed almost immediately after. Liyu raised an eyebrow. He truly had not expected to be matched by Guan Haoran. Not after he had already amplified his physical abilities fourfold.

Four times his original strength. Four times his original speed. Four times his original reflexes. Four times everything. That was supposed to be overkill. And yet, this man standing before him seemed capable of matching him.

Liyu did not want to believe it. He found it difficult to accept. After breaking away from the initial clash, he launched a roundhouse kick aimed directly at Guan Haoran’s side.

Guan Haoran blocked it with his arm just in time. Then, without wasting even a second, Guan Haoran used his elbow to launch a brutal thrust directly toward Liyu’s throat. Liyu’s hand shot forward and knocked the attack away before he quickly leaped backward.

Guan Haoran did the same. The two stood several meters away from each other, staring silently. For a while, neither of them moved. Their gazes remained locked as both warriors came to the same realization.

They seemed to be evenly matched. Liyu slowly clenched his fists, his dark eyes narrowing slightly. Guan Haoran’s smile did not disappear. Instead, it grew even wider. Finally. He had found someone capable of matching him. And this battle had only just begun.

I have to say, I’re intrigued now," Haoran said as he looked at Liyu, whose gaze had changed from his usual mischievous smile into a serious expression.

Liyu studied the man before him for a long while as he tried to understand just how the guy was so strong. Liyu’s strength right now had been amplified fourfold. That already made his physical abilities brutally high.

Haoran was supposed to be struggling against him right now. A fourfold increase to his physicality was something Liyu had believed would be overkill. His base strength was already insanely high.

A fourfold increase to that strength should have made him almost unstoppable. He had not thought that anyone here would possess a level of strength capable of rivaling his own.

And yet, he had been proven wrong, hadn’t he? What he was seeing right now was making him question his previous thoughts and beliefs. It didn’t take long for Liyu to come to terms with it, though.

Not everyone would be weak, and there would be more freaks out there. The more he interacted with the world and explored it, the more freakish geniuses he was bound to encounter. Still, he didn’t think Guan Haoran was more freakish than him.

Nah. Liyu believed that title still belonged to him. After all, he was still only at the very first stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, while Haoran stood at the peak of the Qi Refining Realm.

If Liyu had stepped into the very early first stage of the Qi Refining Realm instead of the Qi Gathering Realm he was currently at, then he was more than certain that he would be able to take the win.

By the time he became a Qi Refining Realm cultivator, he doubted that he would even need to use his Primal Qi to take down Guan Haoran. Of course, all those thoughts depended on him being at the Qi Refining Realm and not the Qi Gathering Realm.

Which was not reality. So, he should stick with reality. Liyu turned his gaze back toward Guan Haoran, who was looking at him with clear interest.

"It seems our strength and speed are the same. I wonder who is more skilled in combat between the two of us. Wanna test it out?" Haoran asked with a small, playful smile. Liyu didn’t get the chance to choose.

The moment Haoran finished speaking, a metallic fist was already heading straight toward his face. Liyu’s expression changed slightly as he reacted with his heightened reflexes.

A loud BANG! echoed as the two fists collided at point-blank range. Violent waves of force traveled through Liyu’s arm, causing him to feel a wave of phantom pain.

As for Haoran, his metallic body absorbed a large portion of the impact before he immediately struck again and again. The two quickly became engaged in a fierce battle of fists. Just like how Liyu and Shi Mo had fought during the previous match.

But only a few seconds into the battle, Liyu realized that something was strange. Guan Haoran’s hand-to-hand combat skills were not higher than Shi Mo’s.

At best, the two of them were on the same level. And yet, Haoran was landing far more hits on Liyu than Shi Mo had managed to during their battle. Some of it was because Haoran was stronger and faster than Shi Mo in comparison.

But that was not the full reason. No, far from it. Instead, the real reason was... Liyu’s gaze changed as he blocked another punch aimed directly at one of his vital points.

The force behind the attack knocked his hand away and pushed it into his other arm, making it impossible for him to block against Guan Haoran’s follow-up attack. The next punch struck Liyu cleanly across the face and sent him flying through the air. While still midair, Liyu quickly formed a guard across his chest.

At almost the same time, Haoran’s next punch landed with a thunderous BAM! The force behind the attack sent Liyu crashing downward. BANG! His back slammed against the sturdy white stage with brutal force.

However, Liyu was able to kick himself away the very next second. Because at that exact moment, Guan Haoran’s knee came crashing down toward the exact spot where Liyu’s legs had been.

Liyu’s gaze twitched as he realized something. He had finally realized the real reason why Haoran was a better fighter than Shi Mo. It was not because he was more skillful than Shi Mo.

Rather, it was because he was far more experienced. He knew all the vital points of the human body and struck at them without a second thought.

With the way the guy had been fighting, Liyu would have almost been convinced that Haoran wanted to kill him if not for the fact that he still couldn’t sense any killing intent coming from the guy. If anything, Haoran seemed even friendlier than before.

It was almost as if he was not trying to cripple and hurt Liyu but was instead playing some kind of fun game with him. Liyu shook his head. This guy was crazy. And super skilled as well.

Haoran was able to combine his natural combat talent with his years of experience, and therefore, his fighting techniques and movements, as much as Liyu hated to admit it, were superior to his own.

Although they seemed to be equal in terms of overall combat ability and physical strength, when it came to a real battle, Haoran was far more lethal. And he was using that lethality to push Liyu into a disadvantage throughout their battle.

That much, Liyu could see clearly. Liyu perhaps had his own ways of being lethal as well. The claws and fangs hidden within him were not merely for show. But he didn’t want to shift right now.

After all, doing that might double the consumption rate of his Primal Qi, which would not be good at all. He also wanted to save that ability for his final match. That was his ace, after all. And he aimed to keep it that way.

As for Guan Haoran, he needed to think of another way to deal with him. Liyu’s train of thought was cut short as he was forced into another round of battle.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

More and more violent force could be felt as the very wind and air pressure seemed to rattle again and again beneath the power of the duo’s attacks.

The crowd’s murmurs gradually faded as everyone watched in silence, waiting to see the result of the two fighters battling it out with everything they had. A few minutes later, Liyu disengaged once more.

Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth as he wiped it away with the back of his hand. A deep frown appeared on his face. If things continued this way, then without a doubt, he would lose.

Liyu turned his gaze toward the metallic guy standing several meters away. Haoran had a playful grin on his face. The bastard didn’t even seem to be hurt.

And even if he was hurt, there was no way to find out because of that ridiculous metallic body of his. Guan Haoran looked at Liyu before beckoning him to come forward. "Come on. Let’s go another round."

He tilted his head slightly to the right in a taunting manner. "Or are you starting to get scared that you might lose?" he asked with a small smile on his face. Liyu smiled as well while looking at the bastard.

This guy deserved a serious beating. And although, up to this point, Liyu had been the one getting thrashed around by him, that would soon change. After all, his Bestial Shift was not the only ace Liyu had left. In truth, he still had many aces of all kinds.

There were many of them, even. And any one of those abilities could shift the battle entirely in his favor. Liyu had not expected to be pushed this far or to be forced to use one of them. But now that he had been pushed this far... He should reward the guy.

Liyu’s eyes snapped open.

DING!

[Momentum has been activated.]

[Your overall speed has been tripled.]

Liyu took one step. Then another. The next thing everyone heard was a loud... BANG! What followed was a rather familiar scene.

Guan Haoran’s back slammed hard into the side of the massive pillar once more. But this time... The force behind the impact was even greater than before.