My Clones Can Cultivate

Chapter 124

Li Xie and Li Jie didn’t know why, but they suddenly felt chills run down their spines as they heard Li Yu speak, his tone growing darker toward the end.

His aura, albeit restrained, was still sending blaring warnings to their instincts; they couldn’t make sense of why Li Yu possessed such a presence, and what was more, they were more than certain that he was angry... and he wasn’t even trying to hide it. Not because of them... but because of Yuexin.

Yeah, they probably shouldn’t be surprised about that; after all, Li Yu and Li Yuexin had basically grown up together. Still, it stung slightly that he didn’t seem to care about them at all.

Li Jie, not sharing the same emotions his younger brother was feeling, stepped forward, his gaze darkening: "Tell me... where the hell did you go? You weren’t here when my brother was getting his ass kicked and wiped across the stage.

You weren’t here when I was beaten into a stupor. You weren’t even here when Brother Feng was dismantled and beaten shitless as well. You weren’t here when Sister Yuexin was brutally beaten and knocked unconscious from the pain... and now you come here speaking as if you’re our mentor."

Li Jie paused, his expression making it crystal clear that he was furious; honestly, he had every reason to be... or maybe not.

Even if Li Yu had been with them from the very beginning, there was little to nothing he could have done to influence the tournament, for among all of them, he was the weakest.

But still, he could have bought them some time and perhaps taken one person down, as unrealistic as that sounded; if he somehow managed that, maybe they would still have hope of obtaining one of the five Golden Tokens. But now that Yuexin had also lost, they had no hope of winning anymore.

Seeing Li Jie’s expression, Li Yu rubbed the side of his head before asking, "Should I tell you the long version of the story... or the short version?" Li Jie and Li Xie’s eyes twitched.

That particular statement sounded painfully familiar, and they knew exactly why; Li Yu’s stories usually made their brains go dormant. There was no way in hell they were listening to them, as he could casually claim that he fought gods and slew immortals with a single finger.

The things he said were always so nonsensical and mythical that listening to him was an exhausting experience. "No, no, no. Hold your story. We are not in need of it,"

Li Jie said before scoffing and walking away. Li Yu raised an eyebrow. Wasn’t this guy the one who wanted to know why he was late? He shrugged; he had actually been about to tell him that he fought three versions of himself, nearly died, somehow came back alive with his body perfectly intact, and then rushed all the way here.

Of course, if Li Jie heard those words, he would have certainly written him off as completely mentally ill; after all, why the hell would someone claim they nearly killed themselves while fighting three versions of themselves? It made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Seeing that Li Jie was probably too furious to speak anymore, Li Yu turned his gaze toward Li Xie, who was looking at him with a somber expression: "Brother Yu... I’ll tell you everything you need to know."

Li Xie didn’t waste time on any preamble and quickly summarized everything that had happened throughout the tournament so far.

"So the two clans ganged up on our Li Clan..." Li Yu’s expression didn’t change much after learning this.

After the incident where his uncle had nearly beaten the other two clan lords to death because of their corruption, the enmity between both sides had only grown deeper; the two clans had shown their hostility ever since, although only subtly so as not to infuriate his uncle and suffer another beating.

So, with how bad the relationship between the Li Clan and the other two great clans had become, he would have been more surprised if they hadn’t teamed up against them.

What mostly caught the Li Clan candidates off guard, however, was the simple fact that their opponents were far stronger than they had anticipated. The overwhelming gap in strength had made their defeat both deep and painful.

For one, Li Xie had faced off against the guy wearing the gauntlets, and his beating had been nothing short of brutal; then his brother, Li Jie, had fought Guan Xiu and had been sliced up pretty badly before eventually running out of energy and fainting.

Then there was Li Feng, who had been taken down in just two strikes by the number one genius of the Shi Clan; and as for Yuexin, she had been poisoned by Guan Xueyi before being brutally and mercilessly struck down by the same Shi Lan who had defeated Li Xie.

Li Yu slowly turned his gaze toward Shi Lan, who happened to meet his eyes at that exact moment; a small, wicked smile curled at the corner of Li Yu’s lips: "I guess I have my first victim then." Li Yu smiled at Shi Lan.

Shi Lan didn’t know why, but despite how normal that smile looked, it didn’t feel normal at all; instead, it made him feel slightly wary. "I understand now," Li Yu said calmly. "So there are only seven candidates left in this tournament. Me... the three from the Shi Clan... and another three from the Guan Clan."

Li Xie nodded: "Based on the rules, the last five remaining candidates will be rewarded with the five Golden Tokens. So in order for you to win, Brother Yu, all you need to do is defeat two candidates from either of the two great clans. If you do that, your victory is certain."

"But..." Li Xie couldn’t help but sigh; defeating two experts who were still competing would be nothing short of a monumental task... maybe "impossible" was the better word.

After all, Li Yu was only at the very first stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, while the weakest remaining candidates, Guan Feng and Guan Jian, were both at the seventh stage of the Qi Refining Realm; they were only slightly... if at all... weaker than Shi Lan.

Li Yu’s chances of defeating them were practically nonexistent. Li Yu rubbed his cheek thoughtfully as an idea suddenly surfaced in his mind. "Could I do that...? Would they accept it?"

He wondered for a moment, then his eyes shone with dark brilliance, like a villain who had just come up with yet another world-ending scheme. Li Xie couldn’t help but be surprised; Li Yu didn’t seem even remotely fazed by the fact that he was about to face strong and truly terrifying opponents.

If anything, he seemed excited, which made no sense to him. How could fighting someone several levels above you be exciting instead of terrifying?

Li Jie, who had been standing at the side, finally spoke after seeing that Li Yu wasn’t afraid of the upcoming battles. If anything, he seemed eager to fight; he didn’t know why he was feeling this way, but deep down, he felt that Li Yu might actually have a chance at winning.

After all, Li Yu was indeed a monster in his own right; if everything somehow worked out well enough, perhaps... just perhaps... he could perform a miracle. Still, the chances were doubtful.

Even so, Li Yu was their clan’s last hope of winning this tournament: "Brother Yu... I believe you’re confident in winning, and although I don’t know what gives you that confidence, I have a piece of advice for you.

Among the Shi Clan... don’t you ever dare challenge the Devil of the Shi Clan. You can’t beat him. Then there’s Guan Haoran. He’s also at the peak of the Qi Refining Realm and is said to be even stronger than the Beast Slayer.

Don’t challenge him either. In fact... you should only challenge two people: Guan Jian and Guan Feng.

They’re the weakest among those who remain, and your chances of beating those two are the highest." He paused before shaking his head: "Actually... they’re still extremely low. But compared to everyone else, those are the highest chances you’ll ever get."

Li Yu listened with keen interest; after Li Jie had finally finished speaking, he smiled faintly: "Actually... you’re both right and wrong about something." Li Jie raised an eyebrow. "You’re right in saying they’re strong. But you’re wrong in believing they’re a match for me."

A small grin appeared on Li Yu’s face: "I’ll wipe their asses the same way they did to you." Li Jie and Li Xie stared at him with blank expressions that perfectly reflected everything they were feeling; this wasn’t the time for bragging... this was serious.

"If you can defeat just two people," Li Jie said, "we’ll be able to secure victory in this tournament." Li Yu chuckled softly before speaking again: "And the thing you’re most wrong about... is believing I’m going to stop after defeating just two candidates."

Confusion immediately appeared on both brothers’ faces: "What do you mean?" Li Yu beamed at them. "Tell me I’m just overthinking this..." Li Jie thought in shock. "Tell me I’m just imagining things... there’s no way..." Li Xie thought.

Unfortunately, the very next moment, Li Yu shattered all their hopes: "That’s because I’ll be challenging and taking down every remaining candidate. This tournament will have only one winner in the end... and it’ll be me."

Li Jie and Li Xie could only stare at him in complete shock; they were too stunned by the absurdity of what they had just heard to even process it. What did he mean he was going to defeat every remaining participant?

Just who did he think he was fighting... children? Neither of the two brothers realized when their eyes had started twitching uncontrollably as they looked at Li Yu.

They didn’t even know what kind of expression they were supposed to wear anymore; they were simply too stunned to speak.

"You may come onto the stage now," the referee called toward Li Yu. Li Yu casually patted both brothers on the shoulders: "You guys should sit back... and enjoy the show."

With that, he calmly walked toward the battle stage. Li Yu stood firmly at the center before glancing around at the crowd: "You may challenge your opponent now," the referee said plainly.

Truthfully, he didn’t have much hope for this battle; in his opinion, Li Yu was simply too weak to even be standing here. Li Yu slowly shook his head; then, enhancing his voice with Qi, he spoke so that every single person in the Ray Arena could hear him clearly:

"No. I won’t be challenging and defeating just two opponents." The two brothers, who were still trying to recover from their shock, stiffened; their eyes widened in horror. "He isn’t going to say that... Is he?"

Before either of them could rush over to cover his mouth, Li Yu continued: "As I’ve already said, I’ll be deciding who wins and who loses in this Selection Tournament. And I’ve already made my decision. The Shi Clan and the Guan Clan candidates... will lose."

A small, crazy smile slowly curled onto his lips: "Because I’ll win... and take all five Golden Tokens for myself." His sharp gaze slowly swept across every remaining participant from both clans:

"Anyone... and everyone... from the Shi Clan and Guan Clan... is welcome to fight me. After I defeat every single one of you... the five Golden Tokens... will belong to me."

The entire arena fell silent at once; every gaze turned toward Li Yu, staring at him dazedly as if he had just declared that the sun was actually one gigantic cake and could be eaten if someone managed to reach it.

Because, simply put, what he had just said made absolutely no sense at all. "He... he’s not saying he’s going to face all six remaining candidates by himself... is he?" someone from the crowd asked, still frozen in shock.

"I think he is... Wait... is he mad? Can’t he tell that he’s far too weak to be boasting like that? I don’t know, but he surely must have a few screws loose. How else was he supposed to say something this ridiculous?"

Murmurs and words of disbelief quickly spread throughout the arena; surprisingly, they didn’t curse or insult Li Yu the way they had when he first appeared... instead, they were simply too stunned.

Some were shocked by the sheer audacity of his declaration; others were left speechless by what they believed to be complete madness. At the leaders’ platform, even the clan leaders were taken aback by what they had just heard:

"Wait... did that kid just say he’s challenging all six remaining candidates?" Guan Ju asked, his tone filled with disbelief.

He had already considered the boy either overly brave or unbelievably foolish when he thought Li Yu intended to defeat just two opponents to qualify, but now the kid was declaring that he would fight all six remaining candidates, including Shi Tian and Guan Haoran.

If what was happening before him wasn’t madness, then what else could it possibly be? It was absolute madness. Shi Gubing merely looked at Li Yu as if he were staring at some strange creature:

"Clan Lord Li... I must say, your clan heir seems to be even more foolish than the rumors claimed. I’ve never met someone so gullible that he believes he can win even one match, let alone six consecutive battles."

He shook his head before adding: "Tell me... did he perhaps hit his head when he was little? That would at least explain... whatever it is we’re witnessing right now."

Li San himself was equally confused. *What exactly is Li Yu saying?* He looked toward the young man; Li Yu was looking right back at him, his gaze brimming with confidence.

Li San carefully searched for even the slightest hint of weakness, hesitation, or uncertainty in the boy’s posture and expression; he found nothing. The kid was truly that confident in his ability to win. "But... trust me."

Li San somehow read those very words from Li Yu’s calm expression. He slowly closed his eyes; when he opened them again, he sighed inwardly. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to support this.

When a kid has fire burning inside him, it isn’t the elder’s place to extinguish it; sometimes, they should simply allow him to prove himself. Who knew? Maybe... just maybe... he actually stood a decent chance.

One could never truly know unless the boy was allowed to try: "We’ll never know unless we let him have a go," Li San said with a casual shrug. The two clan lords looked at him as if he had also lost his mind alongside his crazy nephew; their eyes twitched uncontrollably as they stared at him.

Did what he had just said actually make sense to him? Elder Ting, seated at the center, couldn’t help but become intrigued. The kid didn’t look like a fool; if anything, he looked like someone who had already prepared something... something capable of turning the impossible into reality.

If that was truly the case, then Elder Ting wanted to see it; he wanted to know what exactly gave Li Yu the confidence to challenge six opponents, every single one of whom was far stronger than him.

Even thinking about it sounded insane; still, he found himself becoming excited. After all, Li Feng had already displayed the legendary State of Flow, something that should have been impossible for someone of his age, and then there was Yuexin, whose battle prowess had completely ignored all sane logic.

And if he wasn’t mistaken, this boy should be her son... Lady Shiyuen’s son. If he had inherited even a fraction of his mother’s talent, then, without a doubt, he should be capable of displaying something astonishing today.

"Who knows... Perhaps I’ll witness yet another miracle." Elder Ting chuckled softly at his own ridiculous thoughts before finally speaking: "Very well. I accept the kid’s proposal."