My Clones Can Cultivate

Chapter 157

Using Momentum, Liyu was able to deliver several rounds of brutal beating to Guan Haoran, as each of his attacks carried immense power and force behind them. Due to the fact that Liyu was still using Momentum, the increase in speed also increased the overall force behind every strike through sheer momentum.

Every single punch carried far more lethality and destructive power than before, and each blow was enough to launch the massive Guan Haoran around as though he were nothing more than a baby.

Haoran, still suspended in midair, was grabbed by Liyu, who held him firmly by the face.

"And overall, you are wrong for comparing my qi reserves to that of others..."

"After all..."

"I’m different."

"And also..."

"Your beating is only starting."

After saying those words, Liyu unleashed his full bestial strength. With Momentum still working in his favor, he drove Guan Haoran straight toward the ground. The very next second... BOOM!!

A massive explosion echoed throughout the arena as Guan Haoran’s head was buried deep into the sturdy white marble. The arena went silent. Or rather... It had already been silent before. But now, that silence seemed to double... Perhaps even triple...

Everything became eerily quiet after Liyu drove Guan Haoran’s head into the ground. That made it twice in a row. Twice that Liyu had completely dominated Guan Haoran.

And it had all happened one attack after another without giving the latter any chance to recover. It was truly a mouthful... An eyeful... And even an earful... For everyone watching and following the battle.

Liyu stood over Guan Haoran’s body, of which only the lower half could now be seen while the upper half remained buried beneath the cracked marble. His body had gone completely limp, no longer showing the slightest movement.

A small smile flickered across Liyu’s face. *That is done.* He thought inwardly with a faint grin. This battle hadn’t lasted as long as he had expected. Then again... Perhaps that wasn’t surprising.

After all, he had decided to use Momentum. And no matter how strong Guan Haoran was said to be, once Liyu boosted his speed with Momentum and continuously chained attack after attack without giving him room to breathe, every strike naturally accumulated into terrifying damage.

There was simply no way the guy was standing back up again.

Liyu thought calmly. Sincerely... Guan Haoran had perhaps contributed to his own defeat. After all, if he hadn’t made those assumptions and believed so firmly in them, then he wouldn’t have ended up in such a miserable state. A wise fool.

His speculations would have been correct in almost every other situation. But when the person in question was Liyu... Those "correct" speculations no longer held any meaning.

First, Guan Haoran believed that Momentum relied on qi. And since he had mistaken it for a Sky Grade technique, he naturally concluded that Liyu would consume an enormous amount of qi every second he kept it active. That assumption would indeed have been true... If Momentum were an ordinary cultivation technique that relied on qi. But it wasn’t. Not even close.

The simple truth was that every skill Liyu received from his clones didn’t rely on qi at all. Instead, they functioned more like the skills from the video games Liyu used to play back on Earth.

They had a duration that determined how long they could remain active... And once the duration ended, they entered a cooldown period before they could be used again. Momentum happened to have a rather long duration.

Meaning... Liyu could continue using it over and over again until that duration finally expired.

The second... And perhaps even bigger mistake Guan Haoran had made... Was comparing Liyu to an ordinary Qi Gathering cultivator. That was something Liyu genuinely felt disappointed about. After everything they had gone through...

How could the guy still think that? Was he blind? Couldn’t he see that Liyu was completely different from every other Qi Gathering cultivator? So yes... He deserved the brutal beating Liyu had just given him.

However... Looking down at him now, Liyu found himself having conflicting thoughts. It seemed the guy had finally passed out. Which was more than understandable.

In fact, the very fact that he was still breathing after receiving all of those attacks was probably only because of his ridiculously high defense.

But now that the guy had lost consciousness... Liyu couldn’t continue trying to break his bones anymore, could he? If he did that... He would undoubtedly be rebuked. He might even be disqualified from the tournament altogether.

So he restrained himself. Instead, he raised a hand and signaled toward the referee to announce the result of the match. After all... Wasn’t it already obvious? That guy wasn’t getting back up anymore. *This match is over.* Liyu thought calmly.

The referee stepped onto the stage, ready to declare Liyu the winner. Then... He suddenly paused. His eyes, which had been locked onto Liyu... Started to twitch.

Liyu wanted to ask what was wrong when he realized that the eyes weren’t looking at him exactly, but rather at something behind him. He turned his head to look, and his own eyes immediately started to twitch as well.

Guan Haoran, whom everyone believed had passed out, hadn’t passed out at all. How did the referee know? Well... The answer was right in front of him. Guan Haoran’s right hand slowly rose into the air.

That hand formed a well-done gesture, as though he were praising Liyu for a job well done. From that gesture alone, it became clear to everyone watching that Guan Haoran was far from unconscious. The very next second... Bang!

A small sound rang out as Guan Haoran pulled his head free from the ground. He dusted the dirt and tiny pieces of shattered white marble from his face and hair before slowly rising to his feet.

Standing to his full height once again, he brushed himself off before looking toward Liyu, whose eyes were still twitching. Then... He gave a warm and genuinely happy smile while raising both hands in another well-done gesture.

"Sincerely... I didn’t expect that much."

"Now I’m even more intrigued."

"From what you have shown me, you either possess such an enormous amount of qi that using that technique isn’t exhausting for you..."

"Or..."

"The technique itself doesn’t consume much qi with each use."

Of course... There was a third possibility. One Guan Haoran refused to even say aloud. Because even he couldn’t bring himself to believe such a thing could possibly exist.

That third possibility was... The technique Liyu was using didn’t require qi at all. But he quickly shook that insane thought out of his mind. After all... There wasn’t a single record. Not a single book.

Nothing had ever documented a combat skill or cultivation technique functioning without being fueled by qi. That was simply impossible. Or at least... That was what everyone believed.

So Guan Haoran dismissed the third possibility entirely. He leaned far more toward the second explanation. And if the second explanation was indeed the truth... Meaning the technique consumed far less qi than an ordinary Sky Grade technique...

Then it only made Guan Haoran respect the creator of that technique even more. It made him realize... The one who created it wasn’t just an ordinary architect. No... That person had to be a master architect.

"Why don’t you just stay down?"

"Do you really enjoy getting thrashed or what?"

Liyu asked, his eyes narrowing. This guy was becoming more and more ridiculous. If it had been Liyu receiving as many attacks as he had landed on Guan Haoran... He seriously doubted he would have survived with nothing more than a few bruises and a little blood like the guy standing before him.

This guy... Liyu’s gaze toward Guan Haoran changed slightly. If he ever got the chance... He should definitely learn this Iron Skin as well. It would come in handy during difficult situations.

But... That could wait until later. For now... Right now... He needed to crush this guy called Guan Haoran who seemed almost impossible to break.

Liyu took a deep breath before slowly exhaling. "Let’s go another round then."

The moment those words left his mouth... He charged.

Guan Haoran’s expression changed. *I’m not ready yet...* He thought. But it was already too late.

A massive force slammed into his cheek the very next instant, launching him high into the air. Midair... The sound of rapid, terrifying bangs echoed over and over again like an endless symphony of destruction.

The battle cries of impact grew louder and louder. It almost sounded as though the very air itself was breaking apart and shattering under the force of each strike. Every gaze in the arena became locked onto the battle unfolding high in the sky.

And something strange... No... Something far stranger than that... Was happening up there. Only Guan Haoran could be seen. His metallic body looked as though it was dancing uncontrollably in midair while loud metallic shink sounds rang from his body over and over again.

Those metallic sounds, however, were completely drowned out by the deafening explosions caused by Liyu’s attacks. Only those blessed with exceptionally sharp hearing... Mostly high-level cultivators... Were even able to hear the metallic ringing.

Even then... Among those high-level cultivators... None of them could actually see the person responsible for keeping Guan Haoran suspended in midair through that endless barrage of attacks.

Only experts at the Foundation Realm were barely able to perceive a vague outline. And even they couldn’t obtain a clear view. All they knew... Was one terrifying fact. He was too fast. Far too fast. His speed had reached an unbelievable level.

Midair, Guan Haoran was assaulted endlessly by Liyu’s relentless attacks. Strike after strike landed upon him without giving him even the slightest moment to recover. His bones began to creak. Then... They started to crack.

Tiny lines of injury slowly spread throughout his body as more and more attacks slammed into him without mercy. Again... And again... And again... The people watching finally gasped in pure astonishment and shock.

A frightening realization surfaced in every single one of their minds. If this continued... There was a very high chance... That Liyu was actually going to kill Guan Haoran. And that... Would become something truly messy.

Something no one wanted to see happen. They were here for a cool battle, not a one-sided brutal beating that seemed like it was about to turn into a murder if it wasn’t stopped.

"Someone stop the Honored One!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

Another person spoke up. "Just announce him as the winner already! Or are you only going to do that after he kills him?"

More and more voices rose from the crowd as everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing. And that was the fact that if this madness was allowed to continue, then Guan Haoran might really die. It didn’t look as if Liyu was holding back on his punches.

Not one bit. The blood raining down like a crimson drizzle was enough to tell everyone just how critical Guan Haoran’s situation must be right now. At the seat of the leaders...

Guan Ju’s expression darkened as he looked at the scene high above. His hand gripped his robe tightly while his eyes burned with primal fury. *I will surely kill this Liyu brat... Even if it is the last thing I do.*

He swore inwardly. His clan had been totally and utterly humiliated today. And the one responsible for most of that humiliation was none other than Liyu.

Not only had he tarnished much of the Guan Clan’s dignity by beating and disgracing the Guan brothers in such an abrupt and ruthless manner... Now he was doing the very same thing to Guan Haoran. Haoran was the ace of the Guan Clan. Their pride. Their face.

Yet here was Liyu, humiliating him before everyone and beating him into such a miserable state. He had completely and utterly humiliated the Guan Clan. *I will surely kill that bastard.* Guan Ju promised himself once more.

Meanwhile... After a long while of relentlessly beating Guan Haoran and making sure he had delivered well over a thousand punches onto his body, Liyu was finally satisfied.

Or at least... Very close to being satisfied. He wanted to break him even more. But he couldn’t allow himself to go that far. After all... If he continued, he might really go overboard and accidentally kill him.

So he stopped attacking and let Guan Haoran’s broken body fall from the sky. Bang! His battered and bloodied figure slammed heavily onto the white arena floor. Liyu landed calmly beside him.

Guan Haoran looked terrible. No... He looked far worse than terrible. If Liyu had to describe it... The man looked as though he was only a single step away from the afterlife. Liyu looked down at him with a calm expression before speaking in a composed voice.

"You have lost." He declared calmly.

Guan Haoran remained silent for a few moments. Then... A few seconds later... He smiled warmly at Liyu before speaking.

"If this is all you are capable of, my friend..."

"I hate to say this..."

"But you will still lose."

Guan Haoran said calmly. Liyu’s gaze twitched.

"Damn bastard..."

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Author’s Note

Before you all continue reading, I have a special announcement!

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Quest: First Obsidian Reader

Status: ✅ Completed!

Congratulations to Lykana for becoming the very first reader to reach the legendary Obsidian Tier!

As promised, hidden achievements deserve hidden rewards.

Reward Unlocked:

🎁 4 bonus Chapters every Sunday for the rest of this month!

Thank you so much for the incredible support. Readers like you are the reason I keep pushing myself to write more and improve with every Chapter.

Quest Reward Notice: The reward can be cancelled if the recipient doesn’t want it... although I highly doubt anyone would willingly reject free Chapters. 😂

Once again, congratulations, Lykana!

.... Your gentle author, Ultra