Lin Ke had no idea what Rain Spider True Person and Hua Wujiang were discussing.
He had no attention to spare for anything else.
What fierce footwork!
Only after entering the fray and dropping his defenses did Lin Ke realize how formidable Lin Quan-meng was when fighting alongside her Stick Insect.
From outside the arena, Lin Quan-meng's footwork had looked beautiful, brimming with wildness and vitality.
But as her opponent, Lin Ke felt only that her onslaught was as fierce as fire.
And every so often, an arrow that could pierce anything shot out from that fire-the Stick Insect-making it impossible to guard against every attack.
For Fang Du to have suppressed Lin Quan-meng earlier with his chained mace and Ground Spider, he truly had to possess considerable combat experience.
Little did he know that Lin Quan-meng was having much the same thoughts about Lin Ke.
What incredible control over his Spell Arts... Lin Quan-meng marveled inwardly.
She did not know that Lin Ke was a transmigrator who had yet to fully assimilate his original body's combat experience.
But she could tell that Lin Ke's fighting skills were poor. Often, he was downright clumsy, as though he had fought only a handful of times and possessed virtually no combat experience.
Yet Lin Ke's understanding of Spell Arts and his inventive ideas amazed her.
Take the simple Mountain-Moving Art, for example. Ordinarily, Lin Quan-meng used it to create earthen walls and shields for defense.
But what did Lin Ke do?
Unable to track the dance steps of her Moon-Jumping Intent, he used the Mountain-Moving Art to stir up clouds of dust, letting the sand around Lin Quan-meng betray her position with every movement.
When her body moved, the wind moved; when the wind moved, the dust moved.
Thus, even when Lin Ke could not see her, he could pinpoint Lin Quan-meng's location.
That was not all. He used the Water Arrow Art and Sweet Rain Art to wet the earth, making mud cling to Lin Quan-meng's feet and slowing her down somewhat.
Or he combined the Water Arrow Art and Fireball Technique to create scalding steam, forcing both of them to raise barriers against the heat.
A spiritual power barrier consumed Spirit Power, too.
Although Lin Ke had to raise a barrier against the heat just as Lin Quan-meng did, he clearly had more Spirit Power than she did.
Once Lin Quan-meng exhausted her Spirit Power, victory would belong to Lin Ke.
He really is using me as a whetstone... Lin Quan-meng no longer dared underestimate Lin Ke.
Originally, she had thought Lin Ke was merely a fortunate genius who had reached Dao Foundation ahead of time through good luck, with nothing more than a cultivation level one tier above hers.
After all, the difference between the Qi Refining Stage and the Dao Foundation Stage was not actually that great. At most, it was like the difference between a fetus in the womb and a newborn brought into the world.
Establishing a Dao Foundation meant truly setting foot on the path of immortal cultivation.
It was akin to the distinction between an infant and a fetus. Both were equally frail, but the infant had officially become one of the world's living beings.
In practical terms, however, the gap between fetus and infant was not particularly large-certainly not as large as the gap between an infant and a child or adolescent.
Even before comprehending the Moon-Jumping Dance Intent, Lin Quan-meng had defeated senior brothers and sisters at the Dao Foundation Initial Stage.
Now that she had comprehended the Moon-Jumping Dance Intent, an ordinary cultivator at the Dao Foundation Initial Stage should not have been able to beat her.
From the looks of it, Lin Ke was clearly no ordinary Dao Foundation Initial Stage cultivator.
At that thought, Lin Quan-meng decided to stake everything on a single throw.
She would lose anyway if this continued. Better to go all out and settle everything in one decisive clash!
"Watch out!"
She gave a sharp cry, and her figure abruptly accelerated by at least thirty percent. The dust, steam, and mud in the arena could no longer hinder her in the slightest.
She was like a flame suspended in the wind, appearing and vanishing without a trace, as elusive as a phantom.
"Just what I wanted!" Lin Ke growled, his eyes filled with excitement.
Fighting...
It was not nearly as bad as he had imagined!
He was even beginning to enjoy the feeling.
It was like exercise-distance running, for instance.
At first, someone might have neither the desire nor the inclination to run long distances. Their first attempt might leave them tired and sore, but once they truly immersed themselves in it?
Then it became exhilarating.
Running until utterly exhausted, running until drenched in sweat, then running until their breathing steadied and their expression relaxed.
Then running until their entire body brimmed with freedom, abandon, and satisfaction.
Ever since transmigrating, he had only experimented with using spells. Never had he fought anyone the way he was fighting today.
The Spirit Power boiling inside him, the tension and exhilaration of hovering between life and death, the pleasure of spells becoming as natural to command as his own limbs—all of it made Lin Ke increasingly excited.
Suddenly, he could not help throwing back his head and releasing a clear, ringing cry.
"Aaaah-"
That ringing cry swept away all the pressure and worry he had felt during the month since his transmigration.
Only freedom and exhilaration remained in his heart.
"Watch out, junior sister!"
Lin Ke laughed aloud. Spirit Power churned like raging rivers and overturning seas inside him, and nearly forty percent of it surged out at once.
That was forty percent of his Spirit Power!
Lin Ke's Dao Foundation was already exceptionally robust. Forty percent of his Spirit Power was far more than a simple matter of adding one and one.
In sheer quantity, he felt that his Spirit Power could probably rival the entire reserves of someone with a fifty-percent Dao Foundation!
With so much Spirit Power pouring out of his body, fierce winds immediately howled, and the spiritual energy for several li around descended into turmoil.
At the same time, Lin Ke's voice rang out from within the Spirit Power storm:
"Mountain-Moving and Sea-Overturning!"
As his words fell, the earth quaked and the mountains shook.
Boom! Boom! Boom! ...
Huge masses of hardened earth burst out of the ground, forming spikes more than ten meters tall.
In Lin Ke's previous life, a two-story building had only been five or six meters tall.
Those densely packed earthen spikes erupted from the ground in an instant. Rather than remaining rooted there, they shot into the sky like rockets.
Lin Ke stood where he was, his vast mental power pouring out of his Niwan Palace as he controlled thousands of conical earthen spikes, making them dance across the arena like bees guarding their queen.
Normally, his mental power could not have lifted so many. Even lifting one spike that large would probably have been a struggle.
But now, he had poured forty percent of his Spirit Power into the Mountain-Moving and Sea-Overturning technique. His mental power needed only to provide a little guidance; most of the control came from his Spirit Power.
As a result, the arena was now almost completely filled with enormous, flying earthen spikes. It was a spectacular sight.
The plaza he stood in was immense. After all, those watching the Sect Grand Tournament were no mortals. Even the weakest were Qi Refining Stage disciples with exceptionally keen eyesight.
Yet the sight of so many earthen spikes sweeping through the air like buildings still stunned many spectators.
"This... this is the Dao Foundation Stage? If he's at the Dao Foundation Initial Stage, then what am I?"
"What terrifying Spirit Power. Why do I feel like Lin Ke isn't an ordinary Dao Foundation Initial Stage cultivator? Could he have some kind of special physique?"
"Heavens... I can use Mountain-Moving and Sea-Overturning too! Wasn't it just a matter of lifting a rock and smashing it into someone? You can use it like this?"
"Ah, Lin Ke must be a genius! It's only Mountain-Moving and Sea-Overturning. If I were a genius, I could do it too. I'd manage. I'd pull it off."
"That's terrifying. If I were fighting him, those earthen spikes would probably have skewered me already!"
"You? You'd have been shot clean through by that Green Bamboo Insect in the first round, all right?"
Countless spectators clamored with discussion, while many Dao Foundation disciples were utterly stunned.
Some Dao Foundation disciples even cried out loudly:
"There's absolutely no way a Dao Foundation cultivator could use Mountain-Moving and Sea-Overturning like that!"
"I've only seen Spirit Power like this from the Golden Core senior brothers and sisters who are direct disciples!"
"It's immense! Absolutely immense!"
"That has to be a hundred percent of his Spirit Power!!!"
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