Chapter 250

Chapter 250: Battling Li Hong

The arena was buzzing with activity.

There were only a few matches happening in the arena today. Everyone who went on stage was strong. Besides Yi Yun and Li Hong’s battle, there was also a battle between Chu Xiaoran and a veteran cultivator ranked within the top 2000.

“Oh? Yi Yun and Li Hong have not arrived yet?”

When the spectators arrived, they looked for traces of Yi Yun and Li Hong, but no matter how much they searched, they could not see them.

“Their battle is going to start just before noon, so there is no need for it to be the opening match. I guess they are still cultivating or meditating right now…”

The spectators were secretly alarmed when they heard this.

Every minute counted. Even Li Hong, who was ranked in the top 1000, took this battle with a rookie so seriously.

When the matches began, it started with a few rookies ranked around 5000-6000 challenging each other. Even Gu Mu, who was ranked fourth amongst the rookies, went on stage. However, there was a lack of interest in all these battles.

It was only when Chu Xiaoran went on stage that the audience roused themselves up.

Chu Xiaoran’s opponent was a veteran cultivator who had spent four years in the Tai Ah Divine City. Chu Xiaoran did not hold anything back. She immediately summoned her Aspect Totem at the beginning of the battle and she used her frost ice concepts.

The battle was very intense, there were ice particles flying everywhere!

Finally, Chu Xiaoran managed to use the move ‘Azure Blue Frost Sea, Ephemeral Beauty’ to defeat her opponent.

But after Chu Xiaoran defeated her opponent, she was extremely drained of her strength. It could be said that it was a tough victory.

Chu Xiaoran entered the top 2000 of the Earth roll!

People could see that it would be tough for Chu Xiaoran to win her next match.

She still had another match she could fight, but she would at best reach the 1900 mark. It was impossible for her to go any further.

Chu Xiaoran, who was considered to be similar to Yi Yun, had found her bottleneck at 1900, but Yi Yun had challenged Li Hong who was ranked around 1000. He was mad enough!

“Oh? Yi Yun! Yi Yun is here!” Someone in the crowd shouted.

People glanced over and they saw a teenager dressed in linen clothes entering the arena. He strolled directly to his seat and sat down. Then, he closed his eyes and started to regulate his breathing!

Many people were impressed that Yi Yun was still as calm and at complete leisure even when he had a big battle with a large stake coming up.

“Yi Yun…”

Seeing Yi Yun’s calm appearance, Chu Xiaoran’s brows moved slightly, “Could it be…that he was still holding back during his battle against me?”

Chu Xiaoran also paid a lot of attention on this match. She wanted to see what sort of strength Yi Yun, the number one rookie, had.

Time began to pass and Li Hong still did not appear. Only at noon, as the time for the match to begin approached, did Li Hong finally appear at the entrance of the arena with a long staff behind his back.

He strode into the arena with precise strides. His aura grew larger as he walked towards the stage.

After seeing Li Hong, many felt that Li Hong was different in some way.

Although many in the audience had not opened their Heaven’s Eye, they could feel Li Hong’s aura. He was like a towering mountain. Not only was it pressuring, it was also oppressive!

Li Hong walked straight up onto the Divine Wilderness Stage without a word. He did not even wait for the referee to call out his name.

“Yi Yun! Get up here!” Li Hong shouted loudly. His voice echoed like thunder throughout the entire arena.

The cultivators in the arena held their breaths. His aura was too strong! Just to face someone like this needed a lot of courage.

People could guess that because Li Hong appeared so late, he must have had some kind of breakthrough.

Many people started to worry for Yi Yun. Li Hong was originally very strong, but if he had taken Yi Yun lightly, Yi Yun might still have a small chance for victory.

But Li Hong had been cultivating through the night and he was apparently going to go all out.

If he really had another breakthrough, then everything would be different. This battle involved extremely high stakes. If they were in Yi Yun’s position, they would be absolutely nervous.

Everyone’s gaze landed on Yi Yun. At this moment, there was no need for the referee to announce it. Yi Yun and Li Hong’s match was about to begin!

Yi Yun walked up onto the Divine Wilderness Stage. He unsheathed his Thousand Army Saber and then, he pointed the saber tip at the ground.

There were thirty meters between the two of them.

Li Hong pulled out his long staff and held it parallel to the ground. The staff was six feet long and there were golden loops on the ends of the staff that were made of metal forged from Tai Cang essence. And on the golden loops, there were half-inch long spikes!

Do not assume that a metal staff’s attack power was weaker than any other weapon. It depended on who was using the metal staff. In Li Hong’s hands, he could cause serious injuries with a casual swing of the staff. If he were to forcefully smash it down, he could cause all the bones in a person to fracture!

“Yi Yun, I know you are very strong, and you even have hidden strength! But today, no matter what hidden cards you have, it will be useless against me!” As Li Hong said this, his fighting spirit flared up. A golden sheen covered Li Hong’s body!

“I have experienced endless slaughters in the Divine wilderness’ desolate lands for an entire year. I have killed countless numbers of desolate beasts! A herb-picking kid like you has only picked a few herbs and you have never gone through big battles. You still think you can be my match? Today, I will let you know why I am ranked around the top 1000 of the Earth roll!”

With a shout, the golden sheen around Li Hong’s body formed patches of small scales, which covered his entire body.

‘Heaven Opening Technique’ Someone in the audience cried out.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, besides the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, which was no doubt the best cultivation technique, there were other top-grade cultivation techniques. Even though they were not quite as good as the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, they were still very powerful.

This ‘Heaven Opening Technique’ was one of the top three cultivation techniques in the Tai Ah Divine City. By cultivating the ‘Heaven Opening Technique’, one would gain the ‘Heaven Opening Real Qi’.

Many geniuses could not afford the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, and they tried to cultivate the ‘Heaven Opening Technique’ instead but they could not condense the ‘Heaven Opening Real Qi’.

This cultivation technique was also very difficult to cultivate.

“By using the ‘Heaven Opening Real Qi’ to protect his body, Li Hong’s ‘Heaven Opening Technique’ has already reached the second stage.”

The small scales on Li Hong’s body surface were formed from the ‘Heaven Opening Real Qi’. This was similar to Qiuniu’s armor defense, but it had no weight and it allowed Li Hong to move freely.

With the long staff in hand, Li Hong suddenly constricted his pupils and burst forward!

“Phew–”

Li Hong moved like a gust of wind and appeared in front of Yi Yun nearly instantly. He swung the staff downwards heavily!

Due to his extreme speed, Li Hong’s staff had turned into a line, it was as if it was a whip that swung at Yi Yun!

Minute Subtlety!

Yi Yun retreated backwards and with a blur of his figure, a dozen after-images appeared. Li Hong smashed his staff towards Yi Yun’s chest.

“Dang!”

One of Yi Yun’s after-images was torn apart and the staff landed heavily on the stage. The purple tungsten tiles sunk in deeply from Li Hong’s attack. At this moment, Yi Yun appeared behind Li Hong and sent the Thousand Army Saber slashing down!

With a change of expression, Li Hong did not dodge. The yellow scales on his back suddenly expanded and they formed a giant shield!

“Cha!”

Yi Yun’s saber collided with Li Hong’s shield. The blade quickly found itself unable to move an inch further when it struck the shield!

“Oh? This is!?”

Yi Yun was alarmed. There was nothing behind Li Hong, but in a hundredth of a blink of an eye, a huge shield had condensed out of thin air, blocking his attack.

Not only that, the shield was extremely dense and it had a strong squeezing force. It had even trapped the Thousand Army Saber. It made Yi Yun feel like he could not pull it out. It was similar to the feeling back when Qiuniu grabbed his saber!

“Die!”

Li Hong suddenly turned around and smashed his staff towards Yi Yun’s waist. At this moment, the Thousand Army Saber was still lodged in the shield!

This staff attack was so powerful that a typical Purple Blood warrior would have been split in two!

“Saber Truth – Pressing Forward With Indomitable Will!”

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed as he injected Yuan Qi into the Thousand Army Saber. With a whistling sound, the Thousand Army Saber dislodged itself from the shield as Yi Yun retreated hastily. At the same time, he bent his body backwards and formed a bridge with his arced body. Li Hong’s staff swung past Yi Yun’s nose tip!

Yi Yun could still feel the pain of the staff breaking through his protective Yuan Qi.

“Sou!”

With a leap, Yi Yun’s body flew upwards and retreated thirty meters, pulling away from Li Hong.

Li Hong’s back shield also slowly closed in on itself, turning into a small scale once again, covering Li Hong’s body.

Li Hong grinned at Yi Yun, “You dodged pretty quickly!”

“This cultivation technique…” Yi Yun was very startled. There was actually Yuan Qi that could be used so freely. It could form a shield above any part of one’s body to block an enemy’s attack.

This is the “Heaven Opening Real Qi”?

Of course, as a cultivation technique that ranked among the top in the Tai Ah Divine City, it would not be weak. The ‘Heaven Opening Technique’ also had other miraculous uses. The top cultivation techniques in the Tai Ah Divine City were much stronger than family secret techniques like the ‘Star Picking Hand’!

“Yi Yun…The attack just now could not even break through a fifth of my defense! Your saber may have pierced Qiuniu’s armor, but my defense is on a completely different level from Qiuniu’s. If you think you can break my defenses, that would be absurd thinking! I know you have even more powerful saber moves. Use it, or you will not have the chance.”

Li Hong had an oppressive momentum.

The earth yellow real Qi on his body became more turbulent.

“This defense sure is ridiculous.”

In the audience stands, the rookies held their breaths. Qiuniu’s battle strategy was already very impressive to them. But compared to Li Hong, he was still far from him.

Qiuniu relied on his armor for defense, while Li Hong relied on a top cultivation technique. This defense method revealed the disparity in the levels.

Not only that, Li Hong was just a shy of breaking through to the Yuan foundation realm. His Yuan Qi quantity was something Qiuniu could not compete with.

Without any question, Qiuniu would lose to Li Hong in an instant!