Battle Against Wu Hao

"Iron Sand Palm! Wu Hao had actually cultivated Iron Sand Palm to the major accomplishment realm!"

There were quite a few knowledgeable people in the arena, especially when it came to a genius like Wu Hao, who had entered the top ten of the previous Genius Summit. They paid him particular attention in ordinary times.

Iron Sand Palm was also a High-Grade Yellow-Tier Combat Technique. Although its entry threshold was low, few people cultivated it to the profound depths. The reason was the hardship and pain involved—it required training in scorching iron sand year after year.

Yet once it was successfully cultivated, both palms became as hard as steel. Even some Fine-Grade Weapons could not leave the slightest mark on them.

"Be careful! Your Iron Sand Palm carries a trace of poison!"

Li Yuan Jia, who had suffered a loss once before, immediately spoke up to warn him. He had just suffered because of this. In terms of true strength, even if he was inferior to Wu Hao, the gap would not have been so great. If Wu Hao had not suddenly launched a sneak attack and struck him with one palm, weakening his strength with the poison on it, he could never have been defeated so quickly.

At that moment, Wu Hao wore a savage grin. His palms were pitch-black and gave off a faint stench.

"I can't let myself be hit, or that poison will enter my body!"

Even without Li Yuan Jia's warning, he could see that Wu Hao's palm wind carried a faintly sweet, fishy odor. Merely catching a trace of it made his head spin, leaving him on the verge of collapse.

In an instant, Li Ye's entire body split into four figures, stepping through every possible direction until onlookers were dazzled.

"It's Phantom Step!"

At this sight, several members of the Li Family showed strange expressions. Phantom Step was one of the Li Family's few basic High-Grade Yellow-Tier Movement Techniques. Many Inner Disciples had once tried to cultivate it, only to discover that it was far too difficult and give up one after another.

Now, seeing Li Ye's appearance, it was clear that he had cultivated it successfully and had even reached the minor accomplishment realm in one stroke. How could they not be shocked?

"As a High-Grade Yellow-Tier Movement Technique, Phantom Step cannot even be performed by someone at Spirit Martial Tier Six. Only Martial Masters at the seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm can barely use it. How did Li Ye manage it?!"

Though doubts filled their hearts, they could only suppress them for now and watch Li Ye's clash with Wu Hao from the side.

"Hmph! Do you think a Movement Technique will let you escape?"

Wu Hao was somewhat startled when he saw Li Ye split into four. Though he did not know what Movement Technique Li Ye was using, he could tell it was quite advanced. When his first palm strike missed, he did not panic. He immediately launched four more palm strikes, blasting them at Li Ye's four figures.

"Afterimages are illusions in the end. Let's see where you can run this time!"

It had to be said that Wu Hao, ranked second among the Wu Family's many disciples and inferior only to Wu Batian, who had also entered the top ten of the previous Genius Summit, was no empty name.

With a single glance, he saw where the problem lay and immediately adapted. Four palm strikes came in succession. No matter which was the true body, once it was hit, it would fall under his control.

Unfortunately, he had underestimated Phantom Step, once an Earth-Tier Movement Technique. Even if it was only an incomplete manual, it was far from something that could be broken so easily.

Still, one afterimage was struck and burst into nothingness.

"Gale Legs!"

Li Ye had been waiting for this very moment. The instant one afterimage was smashed apart, he sensed a slight lapse in Wu Hao's focus. Coordinating with his footwork, he instantly unleashed dozens of kicks.

Of the three Combat Techniques Li Ye currently possessed, Gale Legs was the fastest. Its defining trait was victory through quantity and victory through speed!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Even Wu Hao had not expected that a mere Spirit Martial Tier Five cultivator could evade his attacks and even strike back at him.

"You're courting death!"

Who was Wu Hao? He was one of the Wu Family's foremost geniuses, second only to Wu Batian. Even in all of Wuzhou City, there were few who could defeat him. Among his peers, aside from the four great geniuses, no one dared claim a certain victory over him!

Several footprints appeared across his chest. In the end, he had failed to dodge every attack, though strikes of this level could not injure him. Still, his expression turned incomparably ugly!

"I was actually hit by trash at Spirit Martial Tier Five!"

Boom! The aura of a Martial Dao Master erupted completely from his body, making many people nearby feel suffocated. Those below the seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm could not withstand it at all and retreated one after another.

"What a terrifying aura!"

Li Ye bore the brunt of it, with most of that pressure directed at him.

"Brat! Die!"

The blackened palms were like Death's scythes. The foul stench made people retch upon smelling it, their minds reeling in dizziness.

The icy chill directly weakened much of that poison-laced gust of force, but the palm strike still advanced like bamboo splitting, impossible to stop for long.

"Cloud-Turning Palm!"

A sharp gleam flashed through Li Ye's eyes. Though his opponent's Iron Sand Palm was powerful, after being blocked by Frost Fist, its might had dropped by at least twenty to thirty percent. A row of wave-like currents of force surged forth, colliding head-on with the enemy's palm force.

Boom!

The two exchanged a direct palm strike. Li Ye then staggered back more than ten steps before barely steadying himself.

On the other side, Wu Hao had retreated only half a step. The difference between them was obvious.

Yet everyone, including the two who had come with Wu Hao, was utterly astonished.

"There's something strange about this brat! He's clearly only at Spirit Martial Tier Five, yet he possesses strength comparable to the seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm."

"Also, he clearly used three Combat Techniques in succession just now. They all seemed to be at least Yellow Tier Mid-Grade, perhaps even Yellow Tier High-Grade. How could one person cultivate three Combat Techniques, plus that Movement Technique? How did he manage four techniques?"

"Brat, it seems I truly underestimated you! For someone at Spirit Martial Tier Five to fight me to this extent is enough for you to be proud of!"

Li Ye rolled his eyes. He had no interest whatsoever in Wu Hao's grand words, but inwardly he thought, Wu Hao truly deserves to be one of the top ten from the previous Genius Summit. A Martial Dao Master is several times stronger than a Martial Master! Unless I use Sword Control Technique or Blood Eyes, my chance of defeating him is less than ten percent!

However, whether Blood Eyes or Sword Control Technique, both were his greatest trump cards and could not be used lightly.

Suddenly, an idea came to him. I'll use this man as the opportunity for my breakthrough!

The two continued to tangle in battle. Li Ye relied entirely on Phantom Step's advantage to maintain a temporary deadlock. Even so, it was still unbelievable.

"This brat... Father was right. He'll become the greatest dark horse of this Genius Summit!"

Watching Wu Hao, who had easily defeated him, fail to deal with Li Ye in a short time, Li Yuan Jia felt bitter. He too was a genius; otherwise, he could not have cultivated to this point at the age of just twenty, even becoming the Li Family's second-ranked Inner Disciple.

But compared with Li Ye, he found that his own progress was slow as a snail's crawl. At least ten-odd days ago, Li Ye had only been at peak Spirit Martial Tier Four. To rise an entire realm so quickly was unheard of.

At that moment, Li Ye was like a lone boat caught in a Storm of Gale, liable to capsize at any moment.

Yet at the same time, the immense pressure from Wu Hao caused the Blood Soul power within him, which had reached a bottleneck, to show signs of loosening.

"Excellent! As expected, only battle can rapidly improve one's strength and bring a breakthrough!"

So it turned out that he was using Wu Hao as a whetstone, stimulating his own potential to break through to Spirit Martial Tier Six.

As the battle continued, Wu Hao grew more and more alarmed. At first, because he had underestimated Li Ye, he had used only forty or fifty percent of his strength. Now he was nearly going all out, yet he still could not truly threaten the strange youth before him.

"This brat is truly bizarre! I actually can't do anything to him!"

One had to know that he had ranked sixth in the previous Genius Summit. In all of Wuzhou City, among people roughly his age, those who could surpass him could be counted on one hand!

Finally, Li Ye felt the dormant Blood Soul power within him burst forth like floodwaters released from a dam, rushing savagely into every part of his body. At the same time, his aura paused, then surged upward by more than threefold!

"He broke through! Spirit Martial Tier Six!"

An aura even stronger than before erupted from his body.

"This brat actually used me to break through! Damn it!"

Who was Wu Hao? He immediately saw the key to it. Precisely because of that, his fury soared to the heavens! Never had anyone humiliated him like this! Even the four great geniuses of Wuzhou City had to show Wu Hao some measure of respect when they encountered him.

Yet now, he was being treated as a whetstone by trash whose cultivation had not even reached the seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm. How could he not be enraged?

But after breaking through, Li Ye remained fearless!

"Wu Hao! You attacked just now. Now it's my turn!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! In an instant, Li Ye transformed into six figures.

"Monster! His mastery of Phantom Step has grown even deeper!"

If Li Wei had been present and seen this, he would certainly have been shocked, because Li Ye's mastery of Phantom Step had already surpassed that of him, a senior who had immersed himself in its cultivation for years.

"Useless! Even if you break through, you still can't hurt me!"

Wu Hao also roared, then instantly unleashed several palm strikes. Terrifying fierce winds carrying foul poison sought to engulf all six of Li Ye's figures.

"Storm of Gale!"

But Li Ye gave him no chance at all. His six figures moved like six real people as countless leg shadows swept forth in an instant, shattering Wu Hao's Iron Sand Palm in a single moment.

Bang!

Wu Hao only felt a sharp pain in the bridge of his nose before his entire body was kicked flying.

"Wu Hao actually lost!"

Seeing this, the two who had come with Wu Hao looked at one another, unable to believe it.

At the same time, the Li Family group erupted into cheers! Whether they liked Li Ye or not, at this moment, they were cheering from the bottom of their hearts.

"I'll kill you!"

With a roar like that of a wounded beast, Wu Hao stabilized himself in midair. His face twisted viciously as he let out a furious howl. Instantly, everyone felt an overwhelming, violent impact crash over them. The weaker ones even gave muffled groans, a trace of blood hanging from the corners of their mouths.

Li Ye had not expected that Wu Hao would still possess such strength after taking a Gale Legs strike from him. Yet he was not afraid. An icy aura spread from his body as he threw a punch!

"Get down!" The terrifying icy aura instantly coated Wu Hao in a layer of white frost, while Li Ye's fist smashed viciously into the bridge of his nose again!

Crack! Everyone clearly heard the sound of his nose bone breaking. After suffering two heavy blows to the bridge of his nose in succession, unless it was Hundred-Forged Steel, nothing could withstand it!