On the other side, among the ranks of Dragon Head Peak, Qi Hao watched Li Xiaoyu's "weak" appearance, and the corners of his mouth lifted into a confident, contemptuous smile.
He wore a resplendent silver Daoist robe, looking dashing and full of vigor.
"Senior Brother, it looks like you're sure to win today!"
A Dragon Head Peak disciple beside him spoke ingratiatingly.
Qi Hao smiled arrogantly. "Naturally. How could someone who made it to the finals through nothing but luck and unorthodox tricks possibly compare to me?"
His voice brimmed with superiority.
In his eyes, though Li Xiaoyu had performed astonishingly in the semifinals, it was no more than a dying flame flaring up for a moment.
Li Xiaoyu, gravely wounded, was nothing but meat on the chopping block before a Jade Purity Realm eighth-layer expert like him, ready to be carved up at will.
Today, Qi Hao would not only win, but win beautifully and decisively!
In front of everyone under heaven, he would trample the man who had stolen all the attention from him beneath his feet, and show him who was truly the Green Cloud Sect's number one!
He would make Tian Ling'er, and everyone else, see just how enormous the gap between them was!
Qi Hao's gaze casually swept toward Big Bamboo Peak.
Tian Ling'er was looking at him with a worried expression, her eyes full of admiration and adoration.
This greatly satisfied Qi Hao's vanity.
He gave Tian Ling'er a confident smile, as if to say: Watch closely. I'll utterly crush that man for you!
Soon, the auspicious hour arrived.
Amid the announcement of the steward disciple, Li Xiaoyu and Qi Hao ascended one after the other to the largest central ring, which had been repaired and reinforced for the finals.
The two stood facing each other from afar, and in that moment, everyone's gaze focused on them.
The atmosphere froze instantly.
"Junior Brother Li, we've finally ended up standing here."
Qi Hao spoke first, wearing a smile like a cat toying with a mouse. His tone was full of feigned concern.
"To be honest, I really admire your courage. You're so badly injured, yet you still dare to stand here."
"But I won't go easy on you just because you're hurt. After all, this concerns the honor of our Green Cloud Sect."
Below the ring, the disciples of Morning Sun Peak were livid, their fists clenched tight.
A blazing fury burned in Shang Zhengliang's eyes.
Li Xiaoyu's expression did not change in the slightest.
He merely watched Qi Hao in silence, his gaze like that of someone watching a monkey hopping about.
He slowly shook his head, the corners of his mouth lifting into an amused smile.
"Are you done talking nonsense?"
He spoke.
"If so, let's begin."
"You!"
Qi Hao's face instantly turned purple with rage. He felt all his sense of superiority and momentum shatter beneath his opponent's easygoing attitude.
"Fine! Very well! Since Junior Brother is in such a hurry to lose, I'll just have to be quick about it."
Qi Hao laughed in anger.
"Watch as I knock you off the ring with a single move!"
Qi Hao roared and stopped wasting words.
The spiritual energy within him erupted!
The powerful aura of the Jade Purity Realm's eighth layer bore down on Li Xiaoyu like a mountain.
At the same time, he summoned his magic treasure.
"Clang!"
A crisp sword ring sounded, and a silvery-white immortal sword radiating a bone-chilling cold appeared in his hand.
It was none other than his life-bound magic treasure, the Ice Sword!
With the Ice Sword in hand, Qi Hao's aura surged once more.
He held nothing back, preparing to unleash his strongest technique from the very start.
He gripped the sword with both hands and raised it high, murmuring an incantation.
The air around them plunged in temperature, and countless ice crystals formed around the blade.
A terrifying aura that could freeze heaven and earth began to spread across the ring.
However, just as Qi Hao gathered his power, preparing to unleash a world-shattering strike—
Li Xiaoyu moved.
His motion was as fast as lightning!
Before anyone could react, he had already taken the ashen Wine Gourd from his waist.
A strange, pitying smile appeared on Li Xiaoyu's face.
His target was not Qi Hao himself.
It was the patch of ring beneath Qi Hao's feet!
He murmured a few words.
Then Li Xiaoyu aimed the gourd's mouth at the ground and focused his mind.
"Boom!"
An indescribably terrifying force erupted from the mouth of the Immortal-Slaying Gourd!
It was a beam of destructive energy, formed from Thunder Power refined to its utmost and the indestructible Geng Metal Sword Qi!
The beam had no dazzling light, nor did it make an earth-shaking sound.
It simply appeared without warning and slammed into the ring beneath Qi Hao's feet!
The smug, savage expression on Qi Hao's face froze instantly.
His pupils contracted sharply.
He did not even have time to form a thought.
Time seemed to stand still in that moment.
Everyone's movements and expressions froze in place.
Then, a muffled explosion of unimaginable force burst open!
Rumble!
The central ring, laid with the hardest Blue Steel Rock the Green Cloud Sect could obtain at the cost of countless people and resources, then reinforced with countless magical wards, shattered into pieces beneath Li Xiaoyu's earth-shattering strike, like a biscuit smashed by tremendous force!
The moment the sturdy rock touched that destructive energy, it was annihilated outright!
A colossal crater expanded wildly at the center of the Martial Arts Arena, growing before everyone's eyes!
The violent shock wave, mixed with countless rocks and clouds of dust, transformed into a black mushroom cloud visible to the naked eye and shot into the sky!
All of Heaven-Reaching Peak shook violently beneath that power!
It was as if a cataclysmic earthquake had struck!
"Ah!"
Qi Hao let out a shriek so anguished it warped his voice.
He had never expected Li Xiaoyu's attack to come from beneath his feet!
The instant that destructive force erupted from underground, his protective spiritual energy shield failed to last even a breath before shattering.
He felt as if he had been hurled skyward by an erupting volcano.
Like a kite with its string cut, he was flung high into the air by the violent blast.
The Ice Sword flew from his hand.
The powerful Daoist art he had prepared was interrupted in an instant.
Everything he had been so proud of seemed laughable and utterly powerless before this strike.
"No!"
He let out a desperate roar in midair.
Then he crashed heavily onto the plaza ground a hundred zhang away, rolling more than a dozen times before coming to a wretched stop. Blood poured from his mouth; he was barely breathing, with little breath left in him.
He was not dead.
That was because Li Xiaoyu's attack had never been aimed at him in the first place.
Qi Hao had merely been flung away by the attack's residual force.
Li Xiaoyu had attacked the ground because he feared the gourd's sword energy would be too powerful.
Qi Hao was despicable, but there was no need to kill a fellow sect member.
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