Arrival and Bewilderment
Li Yan glanced at the sky outside and sneered. "It'll be time for the match soon, and Liu Yi still hasn't shown his face. He probably doesn't dare come."
Lin Jing chimed in, "Looks like Fellow Daoist Zheng won't need to lift a finger. He's subdued the enemy without a fight."
Zheng Siqi smiled smugly, his voice tinged with disdain.
"I was looking forward to meeting this Liu Yi, the so-called number one system host. I didn't expect him to be such a coward that he wouldn't even dare step onto the field."
Li Yan said calmly, "It's only natural. No matter how capable he is, he's still just a martial artist.
"Even if he cultivates that so-called Dao Seed Martial Dao System, it's nowhere near the same level as the Immortal Cultivation System."
Zheng Siqi and Lin Jing both nodded, their faces full of agreement.
Time ticked by, second by second. The match was about to begin, yet Liu Yi was still nowhere to be seen.
Even those who had been confident in him couldn't help growing anxious.
Xu Wang frowned, his voice full of worry. "Liu Yi couldn't really be too afraid to come, could he?"
Xu Cheng'an quickly shook his head. "Surely not. We've all dealt with him before. He's not the sort of coward who runs away on the eve of battle."
"That's right!" Su Wantang said with certainty. "Something must have happened on the way! Did something hold him up?"
"Last time, at the immortal cultivators' tomb, that golden humanoid puppet and those zombies were so powerful, but he dealt with them in just a few moves. How could he be afraid to face an immortal cultivator who's only at the Golden Core Realm?"
Ruan Xingye looked worried. "This match is too important. If Liu Yi doesn't make it because of an accident, people who cultivate the Dao Seed Martial Dao System won't be able to hold their heads up in front of the Immortal Cultivation System from now on."
Meng Zhixu sighed helplessly. "Sigh, how could Liu Yi be late for such an important match?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a booming voice rang out. "Sorry to have kept you all waiting! Something held me up on the way, but luckily I'm not late."
With those words, Liu Yi came speeding over from afar and appeared above the Fallen Leaf Plain in the blink of an eye.
He hovered upright in the air, his gaze sweeping over the densely packed crowd below.
Just two days earlier, he had passed a small village and heard that a ghost was haunting its river.
It was the first time he had heard anything about a vengeful ghost since coming to this world.
His interest was immediately piqued. He thought he might as well catch a water ghost and study it, to see what exactly it was made of.
Catching the water ghost hadn't taken much time.
He had arrived at the riverbank and struck with his palm, splitting the water with a thunderous roar. Then he reached out and grabbed the water ghost before it could even react.
Who would have thought he'd become so absorbed in his research that he lost track of time? Luckily, Little Yellow had reminded him, or he really would have missed the match.
Liu Yi had been so engrossed because he had caught a spark of inspiration while studying the water ghost.
It seemed that only the last thin layer of window paper stood between him and comprehending the Soul Principle.
The rare opportunity for a breakthrough had drawn him in so completely that he forgot everything else.
Fortunately, hard work paid off. Liu Yi had ultimately succeeded in comprehending a trace of the Soul Principle, though the water ghost's soul had scattered as a result.
Throughout his three months of travel, he had not stopped for a moment.
With the help of the Subsystem Computing Power Matrix, he had not only comprehended a trace of the Principle of Fate and the Soul Principle,
but also comprehended another 56 Great Dao Principles, gaining far more than he had expected.
Compared with his time at the World-Saving Medical Hall, he had comprehended Principles far more efficiently while traveling.
By now, he had comprehended a total of 1,271 Great Dao Principles, bringing him close to the halfway mark toward all three thousand.
Although he had comprehended so many Great Dao Principles, the actual improvement to his current combat strength was very limited.
His realm was too low for him to bring out the power of the Great Dao Principles at all.
Now, with Liu Yi's appearance, the entire Fallen Leaf Plain erupted in noise, discussions rising and falling all around.
"See? I told you Liu Yi would come, but you wouldn't believe me!"
"It's good that he's here. Though he has practically no chance of beating an immortal master, as long as he doesn't lose his nerve, he'll have won some face for martial artists."
Xu Wang laughed excitedly. "Liu Yi's finally here! Now this match will be worth watching. I really want to know if he can beat Zheng Siqi!"
Su Wantang's eyes lit up. "I said Liu Yi would definitely come. Something just held him up on the way!"
Zheng Siqi stepped into the air from the Jin State court's encampment, light shining with every step, and laughed.
"Haha! I thought you didn't dare show your face. Since you're here, I'll show you what I can do today."
"Your incomplete Dao Seed Martial Dao Cultivation System is no match for the strength of an immortal cultivator!"
"I hope your skills are as sharp as your tongue." Liu Yi remained calm, his gaze burning like a torch as he looked at Zheng Siqi before him.
His opponent was an inner disciple of the Heavenly Revelation Sect, a favored son of heaven.
He, on the other hand, was an outer disciple who had been expelled from the Heavenly Revelation Sect because he couldn't reach Foundation Establishment.
Who could have expected that the two of them, once as different as clouds and mud, would now stand together to compete?
Thirty years the river flows east, thirty years it flows west. Don't look down on an old man for being poor.
Then he sensed the spiritual power surging around Zheng Siqi, and his heart jolted.
He hadn't expected his opponent to be at the Late Stage of the Golden Core, far beyond the Middle Stage of the Golden Core he had anticipated.
His expression grew solemn at once. This was his first time facing a Golden Core Realm immortal cultivator head-on, and his opponent's true strength remained unknown.
But he had always been cautious, so he immediately decided to go all out, holding back only his Divine Ability for now.
Zheng Siqi warned coldly, "Admit defeat now, and you can still keep your life. Once we really start fighting, I won't show any mercy."
"Life and death are a matter of fate; wealth and honor lie with heaven." Liu Yi's gaze was resolute, and he didn't back down.
"Since I've come, I was prepared long ago. No need for more words. Let's fight."
Hearing this, Zheng Siqi sent the spiritual power around him surging wildly. His ten fingers flew, forming an abstruse Method Formula, and a flying sword appeared out of thin air.
He raised his sword fingers, and the flying sword shot toward Liu Yi like lightning.
Liu Yi's expression turned grave. He circulated all the True Power in his body and unleashed the Five Elements Palm Technique.
In an instant, the power of the five elements gathered between heaven and earth. A hundred-meter giant palm, vast enough to support the sky, took shape and slammed toward the flying sword.
The five-element giant palm descended, its pressure blotting out the sky and covering the earth. The air compressed beneath it with a sonic boom.
With a boom, the flying sword was sent flying.
Without pausing in the slightest, the sky-supporting giant palm pressed down toward Zheng Siqi, whose face was full of terror.
Zheng Siqi's eyes went wide. Before he could recover from his shock, the giant palm, imbued with the power of the five elements, bore down on him like Mount Tai.
He hastily raised a shield of spiritual power, and his treasured armor glimmered with precious light, but both seemed unable to withstand a single blow beneath the giant palm's pressure.
The next second, the giant palm slapped him from the air into the ground, sending dust billowing across the sky.
The hundred-meter giant palm came crashing down, shaking the earth violently. A huge, deep palm-shaped crater appeared, with Zheng Siqi pinned firmly at the bottom.
Liu Yi stood there in a daze, repeatedly probing Zheng Siqi beneath the five-element giant palm with his Divine Sense.
He carefully confirmed that it really was Zheng Siqi himself, that he had used no Substitution Technique, and that there was no sign of him escaping.
Once he was certain that Zheng Siqi really had been completely suppressed, he felt dazed.
Was it that simple?
He'd defeated an immortal cultivator at the Late Stage of the Golden Core Realm with one palm strike?
Was Zheng Siqi too weak, or was he too strong?