My Clones Can Cultivate

Chapter 153

While Liyu’s reflections had encountered a bit of a problem, one that had found its way to them due to Liyu, and were now engaged in a three-versus-thousands war against the beasts, the original Liyu was far away from them and was having his own first-ever real trouble as well.

Back in the Ray Arena... Liyu couldn’t help the twitching in his eyes as he looked at Guan Haoran’s face, which hadn’t changed even by an inch. The large guy still looked just as calm and relaxed as ever, as if nothing had happened.

How...? This time, it wasn’t a question ringing through the mind of Liyu’s opponent. Instead, the question of how? was now ringing inside Liyu’s own mind. How...? The Heart-Quaking Slap wasn’t something that was supposed to be shrugged off so easily.

It sent waves of explosive force that detonated right within the opponent’s chest and caused waves of pain to spread violently through their nerves. It bypassed outer physical defenses and struck only the insides.

It brought forth a rather large amount of pain, enough to make whoever was inflicted with it groan, cry out in pain, fall to their knees, and, in most cases, even faint from the sudden agony overwhelming them.

Yet, that same attack, which was deadly enough to make even veteran warriors lose their senses due to the overwhelming pain, was the same attack Liyu had struck Guan Haoran with.

And yet, the latter didn’t even seem the least bit impressed. If anything, his disappointment was now showing even more clearly as he looked at Liyu with an annoyed gaze. "Tell me this isn’t all you have left. You can’t tell me I can’t feel that either."

Liyu slowly took his palm away from Guan Haoran’s chest and looked at it confusedly before turning his gaze back toward Haoran. Then, he asked the question that had suddenly popped into his mind. "Come on, tell me.

Are your insides also made out of metal?" He asked because, sincerely, he thought that might have been the reason. Haoran gave him a strange look before shaking his head. "Of course not." "Really?"

Liyu asked as he stared at Guan Haoran’s honest expression. He could tell that the large guy wasn’t lying, meaning his insides weren’t made out of the same metallic substance as his skin right now. Liyu thought about it for a while before shaking the thought away.

It must mean that the guy’s defense was so strong that it had somehow canceled out the shockwaves that were supposed to slam into his insides before they could reach their target.

That only made him even more of an interesting guy in Liyu’s eyes. Liyu looked at the large guy and spoke. "How many tries do I have left?" He asked curiously, wanting to see just how cocky the guy could be. Haoran thought about it for a while before speaking. "You only have three more tries left.

After that, I will attack." Liyu nodded. "Okay then." He thought before creating some distance between them. He looked at his open palm with a slightly forlorn expression before shaking his head.

It seemed he wouldn’t be able to use his slaps to win this current match now. His slaps had served him so well in punishing, dealing with, and humiliating his opponents, but it seemed he had finally found an opponent his slaps couldn’t get through. Liyu slowly closed his open palm.

Well then... If slaps weren’t going to work, then he was going to try something else. He closed his palm completely and then formed a fist. He was going to get a bit serious now. After all, one could say that Liyu hadn’t been getting serious all this while.

The slaps were for having fun. But his punches... Now, he was starting to get serious and take his opponent seriously. The guy was far from weak, after all. Liyu himself was able to testify to that.

Liyu bent slightly this time, and then, with a whoosh sound, he was gone in an instant. The next instant, he was right in front of Guan Haoran, who still had both of his arms crossed over his chest.

His face remained calm and composed as if all of this was nothing more than play... As if, if he didn’t allow it, nothing Liyu did would dare to affect him. Liyu looked at the guy, his eyes twitching slightly.

Cocky bastard... Liyu thought as he brought his fist forward with his full momentum behind it. His fist slammed hard into Haoran’s face with full force.

A massive shockwave exploded outward in every direction, followed by a loud BANG! For a while, no one could tell what was happening. All they could see was that Liyu’s fist had struck Guan Haoran directly in the face.

They waited for a reaction from Guan Haoran. Some expected him to be blown away. Others expected him to take a few steps back due to the force of the attack. Some believed that he was strong enough that his head would only be shifted to the side from the force of the punch.

And yet, when they all saw what happened next, their expressions changed completely. That was because every single one of their speculations had been proven totally wrong. Guan Haoran stood there as sturdy as ever.

His posture remained the same. His figure remained unmoved. Liyu’s punch was still connected directly to his face... And yet, he hadn’t shifted even a single inch away from his original position.

That wasn’t even the only troubling thing. There was something even more ridiculous. Guan Haoran’s head itself hadn’t tilted. Not even by a single inch. It remained directly where it had been ever since the beginning.

The eyes of the crowd twitched as their mouths slowly opened in astonishment. They stared at Guan Haoran in pure, absolute shock. Their minds rang with one loud question. How...?

If there was someone even more shocked than the crowd, though, it was Liyu. He slowly pulled his fist away before glancing down at it with a confused expression, wondering what had happened. He had struck without holding anything back.

He had expected to at least break a few of Guan Haoran’s teeth. Or, even better, shatter his nose. And yet, none of that had happened. Heck, he hadn’t even been able to scratch him. Looking at the large guy, he didn’t even seem to have felt the attack.

Liyu couldn’t help the small twitch in his eyes as he looked at the metallic figure standing before him. Just how ridiculous is this guy’s defense...? He wondered. Truly wondered.

If there was something he was certain about, though, it was the fact that this guy’s defense had to be ridiculous. Totally and utterly ridiculous. For him to take Liyu’s attack like that and still not look as if he had been hit at all... Guan Haoran looked down at Liyu, making Liyu feel slightly annoyed.

Well, he was just being petty. He was around a head and a half shorter than the large guy, after all. Haoran couldn’t exactly look up at him. He could only look down at him. Still, it made Liyu feel annoyed.

And Guan Haoran’s next calm words caused that anger to bubble even more. "Is that all you’ve got?" He asked. Liyu’s mouth twitched. He forced himself to calm down before shaking his head. "Actually, no. I was still testing the waters."

Haoran’s face seemed to brighten up. Or at least, that was how it seemed. With metal covering every part of his body, it was difficult to tell what kind of expression he was making. Still, he seemed to be excited after hearing Liyu’s words.

"Okay then. Come at me with all you’ve got." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Haven’t I told you before? If you don’t use your best attacks on me, you will lose." "That is no joke. I meant it." Liyu didn’t speak.

Instead, he simply cracked his knuckles, ready to give Haoran the beating of his entire life. Guan Haoran still hadn’t made any move. He didn’t even look as if he was going to move away from where he was standing. He simply remained there, waiting for Liyu to make his move. Liyu bent slightly. Then...

WHOOSH! BAM! BANG! Another terrifying punch slammed into the back of Guan Haoran’s head, delivered with all the force Liyu could bring forth. If that punch had struck any other mid-stage or even late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, they would have been knocked unconscious almost instantly.

As for an early-stage Qi Refining cultivator... And those below the Qi Gathering Realm... They would be lucky to remain alive. At best, they would suffer a devastating and potentially fatal injury, one with an extremely high probability of ending their lives.

And yet... That same mind-numbingly powerful punch struck the back of Guan Haoran’s head. And yet, the latter didn’t even twitch.

He only turned his metallic gaze toward Liyu, a flicker of amusement appearing within his eyes. His expression seemed to be asking only one question. Is this all you’ve got now?

Liyu didn’t falter, though. Instead, he started attacking faster and faster.

The sounds of BANG! BANG! BANG! echoed outward repeatedly, shaking the very air itself. Yet, it was clear to everyone watching that Liyu’s attacks, judging from the destructive sounds they produced, were powerful enough to make anyone understand just how terrifying they were.

And yet, Guan Haoran was taking every

single one of those attacks without even lifting a finger. His face remained calm and composed. His gaze was cool, as if he wasn’t being struck by earth-shattering attacks but was instead being hit by a child throwing a tantrum.

It almost looked as if the punches that were supposed to crush him were nothing more than soft feathers to Guan Haoran. The Iron Behemoth still looked as cool and composed as ever. The crowd’s composure finally broke.

They gasped before voices began erupting throughout the arena in complete disbelief. "Someone, please wake me up if this is another nightmare!"

"Is this the same Honored One who humbled Shi Lan, defeated the two Guan brothers, and then showed Shi Mo what true superiority looked like?"

"Yes! He sure is the same one!"

"But why the fuck does it look like he is the one being humbled now?"

"Can’t you see? Maybe he is still holding back!"

"Holding back my ass! Don’t you see that he is throwing punches with his full might over and over again? Yet they don’t even seem to be affecting the Iron Behemoth!"

"Didn’t I tell you all that the Iron Behemoth is just so cool? With his unbreakable defense, there is no way the Honored One will be winning this round!"

"It seems he has finally reached his dead end at last..."

At the seats of the leaders, Guan Ju’s gaze was filled with joyful glee as he looked at the scene before him. A calm and knowing smile rested at the corner of his lips. Haoran using Iron Skin from the very start had somehow shocked him.

He knew well enough that the kid liked to battle for a while before judging whether his opponent was even worthy enough to make him serious and use Iron Skin.

As it seemed, he had found Liyu worthy enough to face with Iron Skin from the very beginning. The thing was, now that he had used Iron Skin, there was no way. No possible way for Liyu to win this battle.

After all, he was about to face the same despair every other opponent who had fought Guan Haoran had experienced. How could anyone win a battle against someone they couldn’t even scratch?

That feeling of helplessness... Liyu was about to experience it very soon. Guan Ju thought with a satisfied smile.

Meanwhile, back on the stage, Liyu was still throwing punch after punch against Guan Haoran’s metallic skin. The only thing he received in return was the repeated BANG! BANG! BANG! that echoed outward due to the immense force behind his attacks.

The very air seemed to collapse inward, bearing witness to just how much destructive power Liyu’s punches carried. And yet, the target of all those punches remained standing exactly where he had been standing all this while.

His hands were still crossed over his chest. His gaze remained calm and steady, as if nothing in this world would ever be capable of making him move even a single inch. But Liyu refused to agree with that. So, he attacked more. Faster and faster. Stronger and stronger.

With every passing strike, the speed and force behind his attacks seemed to increase. The loud bangs continued to ring out, spreading miniature shockwaves throughout the stage. And yet... Nothing changed.

Then, after a while, something finally did. Liyu struck forward once more. This time, Guan Haoran caught his punch before it could make contact with his face.

His metallic hand closed tightly around Liyu’s fist. He looked down at the captured punch before raising his gaze toward Liyu’s face. Then, he spoke. His tone sounded almost bored. "If this is truly your best now... then I guess I hoped for too much."

His gaze became even more indifferent. "This is too weak and pathetic to hurt me." "You are too weak." With that, he pulled Liyu forward. Liyu tried to resist, but his eyes widened in shock when he realized something.

This dude didn’t just possess an unreasonable defense. He also possessed stupidly high strength. Liyu was forcefully pulled forward and directly into Guan Haoran’s punch.

BAM! The fist slammed directly into his cheek. Liyu was lifted off the ground by the terrifying and bestial force behind the attack. He rolled across the stage for several seconds before finally coming to a stop.

For a moment, Liyu remained on the ground. Then, he slowly pushed himself up. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth before a grin appeared on his face.

"This dude sure is freakishly strong..." And now... He was getting cocky. Liyu’s gaze sharpened. A wicked glint appeared within his dark eyes. "Okay then..." "Time to stop holding myself back." With that, Liyu finally decided to get serious.

DING!

[Primal Qi has been activated.]

[All physical stats have been amplified fourfold.]