Chapter 71: Impossible
Chapter 71: Impossible
Chapter 71
At another section of the Li Clan, a lone figure stood calmly in one spot. He was dressed in a simple black training attire, his posture calm and relaxed, and his eyes were covered with a black cloth.
Around him stood seven other disciples; they were all dressed in the usual black and red clothing. Each of them held a wooden training sword firmly in their grasp, their gazes tense as they looked at the lone youth standing at the center.
The scene alone revealed everything one needed to understand: this was a spar, and it was seven against one.
Coupled with the fact that the lone youth was blindfolded... not only that, but he didn’t even have a weapon in his hands... anyone witnessing this scene would naturally think it was unfair for the seven guys.
After all, the lone youth was only at the Third Stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, while among the seven opponents, two of them were at the same cultivation level as him, with the remaining five being at the First Stage of the Qi Gathering Realm.
Normally, such a battle would be considered unfair, and yet... none of the seven men preparing to face the lone youth looked as though they thought that way. If anything... they looked tense.
After all, Li Bao was one of the fastest-rising geniuses of the clan. Not only had he cultivated faster than most disciples, only falling slightly behind the top geniuses such as Li Feng, the Anomaly Brothers, and the Battle Princess, Li Yuexin... he was also known by another name: Li Flash.
The title came from the terrifying mastery he had achieved over one of the Li Clan’s top movement techniques... Phantom Strikes Art. He had already mastered two out of the five forms, something that no one else in the clan had managed to replicate.
Well... that was, of course, if one excluded Li Yuexin, who had already mastered four forms of the Art of Flowing Surge, a technique considered even more difficult to cultivate than the Phantom Strikes Art.
So, removing Li Yuexin from the equation... yes, Li Bao could undoubtedly be considered one of the clan’s greatest geniuses as well.
"Begin!" A loud voice rang across the training grounds, signaling the start of the battle. Immediately, all seven disciples rushed forward at their highest speed, intending to overwhelm Li Bao from every direction.
Yet... Li Bao didn’t even flinch; he calmly assumed his battle stance. The instant the seven attackers reached him, striking from different angles to leave him with no possible escape... he simply executed the very first movement of the Phantom Strikes Art: Flash Step.
His body seemed to vanish; his shadow shifted ever so slightly before his figure reappeared right behind one of the attackers, having effortlessly avoided every incoming strike. He could have knocked the disciple unconscious right then, yet... he didn’t.
Instead, he continued allowing the seven disciples to attack him repeatedly. Time after time... their wooden swords cut through nothing but empty air. He moved so quickly that not a single attack managed to leave even the slightest mark on his body.
Every strike missed; every swing failed. He effortlessly dodged before disappearing once more. Throughout the exchange... he had already seen more than twenty opportunities to end the battle.
Ofcourse... he couldn’t see, but he could feel over twenty different ways to finish the fight instantly. Yet he chose not to; instead, he allowed every warrior trying to defeat him in the spar to slowly exhaust themselves.
Only after they had burned through most of their stamina... did he finally decide to end the match. Qi flowed through his body before gathering into both of his palms; he formed them into chopping motions, then... he unleashed another movement of the Phantom Strikes Art: Phantom Crossing.
His figure shot forward at astonishing speed. The seven disciples, realizing he had finally become serious, immediately joined forces in an attempt to block his attack. And yet... even with all seven banding together... it proved utterly effortless for Li Bao.
His figure flashed across the battlefield like a streak of lightning. One chop. Another. A third. Then a fourth. Within what seemed like barely a minute... all seven disciples had been knocked to the ground, completely defeated.
Soon... Li Bao alone remained standing. He slowly removed the black cloth covering his eyes. His dark eyes revealed nothing... but disdain. He had even held himself back a lot, and yet they were all too slow... he scoffed as he shook his head before leaving the training ground.
"That is my boy." The elder who had spectated the entire match couldn’t help but look at his son with pride. His second child was so talented that he felt extremely happy to be the one who had brought him into this world.
In comparison to his first son... Bao was far more promising. In fact, Elder Jin believed that his son possessed the potential to one day rank second among the Li Clan’s geniuses, surpassing even Li Feng in terms of talent.
He didn’t even think about Li Yuexin; after all, her position as the number one genius of the Li Clan was not something anyone could casually take away.
But... he more than believed his son to be capable of one day surpassing even the Clan Lord’s son, Li Feng. Li Bao, after wiping the sweat from his body, walked over and took a seat beside his father before calmly picking up a cup of freshly brewed tea and taking a slow sip.
"It is only a matter of time, son... only a matter of time before we rise to the pinnacle." Elder Jin’s eyes shone brightly.
"Once you win that tournament and enter the Gold Valley Sect, we shall grow beyond the boundaries of this clan itself. Our names will carry tremendous weight, and no one will dare look down on us again." A proud smile rested upon his face as he spoke.
Li Bao merely nodded faintly. He also understood just how important the upcoming tournament was, especially to his father. He had to make him proud, and so... he would do whatever needed to be done.
"Don’t worry, Father. I will win." Li Bao spoke with absolute confidence. Hearing those words, Elder Jin’s grin widened even further.
"You truly are my worthy son." Then he shook his head slightly. "You are nothing like your foolish older brother." Li Bao raised an eyebrow upon hearing the mention of his less talented elder brother.
"Has Zhu done something stupid again?" There wasn’t the slightest bit of respect in his tone as he spoke about his own brother. Elder Jin merely sighed before shaking his head once more. "He is currently lying in the infirmary."
Li Bao paused. "Wait... did he pick a fight with someone he shouldn’t have offended?" His tone remained calm, although a hint of curiosity appeared in his eyes. He genuinely wanted to know who had managed to send his elder brother to the infirmary.
"No." Elder Jin slowly shook his head. "The one who did that wasn’t a higher realm cultivator. Instead... based on the rumors... he was completely overwhelmed by... Liyu."
"Liyu?" Li Bao repeated the name, trying to remember who it belonged to.
The next second... his eyes widened. "Wait... you mean the failure heir was the one who defeated my brother?" He couldn’t hide the surprise in his voice. Seeing his son’s reaction, Elder Jin nodded.
"Yeah. I had the exact same reaction when I first heard about it." Li Bao wore a strange expression. Had his brother truly fallen so low that he was beaten by Liyu? That was genuinely shocking. Still... he didn’t pay it too much attention.
At least... not until his father continued speaking: "Apparently... the failure heir has already stepped into the Peak Body Refinement Realm." Li Bao froze once more. "What? Liyu is already at the Peak Body Refinement Realm? But... wasn’t his spirit root broken? How can he cultivate at all?"
Elder Jin sighed. Even now, he still found the entire story difficult to believe despite all the evidence.
"Apparently, he underwent a reawakening inside the Beast Forest. And by the time Li Yuexin and the others found him... he had already reached the Peak Body Refinement Realm."
Li Bao simply stared blankly before slowly shaking his head. He had no intention of overworking his brain trying to understand how any of that was even supposed to make sense. Because... it simply didn’t. Liyu had only left the clan about a month ago.
Crossing all ten stages of Body Refinement in less than a month... was utterly impossible; completely impossible. Li Bao calmly took another sip of tea before speaking: "I see now why Zhu was defeated.
It seems the failure heir is no longer a failure." He continued drinking his tea as he thought quietly. No matter whether Liyu was still a failure or not... he was still nothing compared to Li Bao.
The battle between him and his pathetic elder brother must have been an extremely difficult one. No matter how weak and untalented Zhu was in comparison to himself... even Bao had to admit that Zhu was still considered strong among Body Refinement cultivators.
As though personally intending to shatter that train of thought... Elder Jin slowly shook his head before speaking again, his tone filled with disbelief: "And the most unbelievable part of the entire story... he was said to have defeated Zhu... with a single slap."
Pffft! Li Bao, who had just taken another sip of tea, instantly spat everything out. His eyes widened to their absolute limit. His face practically screamed... *What the hell?!*
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Meanwhile, back at the Clan Lord’s compound, Liyu couldn’t help himself. His intuition kept telling him that something was clearly there... and yet, no matter how he looked, there was nothing there.
So, he decided to use the System’s scanning feature just to confirm.
"Scanning... Scan complete." Liyu looked at the scan result and couldn’t help but frown ever so slightly. It wasn’t because of the result... but rather because there wasn’t one. The scan showed that nothing was there as well.
Liyu frowned slightly as his intuition continued tugging at his mind, refusing to let the matter go.
Just then, the calm and gentle voice of the Clan Lord reached his ears: "I can see that you have already reached the Peak of the Body Refinement Realm within a month. I have to admit... I am impressed."
Those words immediately snapped Liyu out of his thoughts. He quickly put on his adorable cat-eyed expression once again. He needed to escape punishment no matter what.
"Yes, my lord. I managed to reach it after only a few days of refinement." Li San’s eyes widened slightly upon hearing those words. "A few days?" That was utterly impossible.
If one could reach the Peak of the Body Refinement Realm within only a few days... then the realm wouldn’t be considered difficult or important to achieve in the first place. And yet... he was supposed to believe this kid?
Still... Liyu didn’t look as though he was lying. If anything... he looked like someone sincerely telling the truth. At least... he seemed delusional enough to believe his own words. "Very well. Tell me. How did you undergo your reawakening? And what method did you use to refine your body?"
Liyu respectfully nodded before asking, "My great lord... which version would you like? The short version... or the long version?" Li San stared at him calmly for a while before finally replying, "Either one. Just make sure it explains everything."
Liyu nodded. After thinking for a moment... he decided to tell the medium-sized version so he wouldn’t waste too much time. With a completely straight face, he began: "I died twice... and then came back alive as a new being."
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The story lasted for almost thirty whole minutes before Liyu finally finished. Yet... when he looked toward the Clan Lord... the calm expression from before was completely gone.
Instead... Li San’s eyes were twitching vigorously. Was he actually supposed to believe such an absurd story? Who did this brat take him for? A little child who would believe fairy tales?
What did he mean by there being countless realities, with this world being merely one among infinite worlds? And those infinite realities were supposedly managed by two unimaginably powerful beings... who, from Liyu’s description... behaved like a constantly bickering married couple.
How in the heavens was reality still existing if those two were the ones in charge?
Not only that... there were countless other ridiculous events. How could a single drop of water repair a shattered spirit root... and even evolve it into an Extreme Grade Spirit Root? That alone sounded impossible.
Then there was the part where Liyu claimed he refined his body by swallowing several beast cores whole. That was practically no different from saying he had personally committed suicide.
The overwhelming amount of essence contained inside those beast cores would have torn his body apart instantly. Forget surviving... there probably wouldn’t even be a corpse left behind.
And yet... he was somehow supposed to believe that this brat had actually done it. Then came the countless other unbelievable events; each one sounded even more ridiculous than the last.
Listening to the entire story almost made one’s brain cells burn away. And perhaps the most unbelievable part of all... was the serious expression on Liyu’s face. He genuinely believed every single word he had just said.
Li San couldn’t help but shake his head in pity. Still... he reached into his storage ring before bringing out an artifact used to determine the grade of one’s spirit root.
It was a smooth white stone carved into the shape of a flawless cylinder. Embedded across its surface were five tiny beads, each no larger than a small pebble.
Yet... those beads were the true artifact; each one radiated an ancient and profound aura. They were colored... white, blue, red, green, and finally... gold.
"Come over here." Li San beckoned for Liyu to step closer. He intended to determine the grade of Liyu’s spirit root first before continuing with everything else.
Liyu looked at the Clan Lord for a brief moment before walking over. He could already tell that the Clan Lord didn’t believe a single thing he had said. Still... whatever he wanted to verify, he was free to do so.
"Place your hand on top." The Clan Lord instructed. Liyu nodded before doing exactly as he was told. The very instant his palm touched the artifact... the white bead lit up. A bright white glow spread through it.
Then... the blue bead lit up, followed by... the red bead. Seeing this, the Clan Lord was already surprised. "Heaven Grade..." he muttered under his breath.
But then... the green bead suddenly began glowing as well. Li San’s expression changed dramatically. His eyes widened in disbelief. Yet before he could recover from that shock... the final bead... the golden one... also lit up.
For a brief moment... the entire place fell into absolute silence. Li San stood there completely speechless. His mouth slowly fell open. His eyes trembled violently as he stared at the brilliantly glowing artifact.
His entire body shook uncontrollably. "This..." he paused, his breathing becoming uneven. "This..." He looked once more at the five brightly glowing beads before finally speaking in a voice filled with complete disbelief: "...This is impossible."