Chapter 49: Pulling People Down

Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Pulling People Down

Huh!

’He’s not trying to kill me, he’s trying to steal the ball?’

’Is this even your specialty? Why are you trying to steal it?’

Li Ye was suddenly amused that Xiangli was trying to steal the ball.

He had to admit.

The guy had an incredibly sharp combat instinct; he knew the ball would make him stronger.

It wasn’t the wrong move, but in doing so, he was also giving up his own advantages!

Xiangli was a Grandmaster, and he had the enhancement from a demon object.

His advantages were clearly his powerful Martial Arts and his Demon Qi, which was stronger than Li Ye’s.

’My wounds won’t stop bleeding. Besides sustaining this fight, most of my Demon Qi is busy making new blood so I don’t die from bleeding out.’

’Xiangli doesn’t really need to do anything else. All he has to do is give me a few more cuts. Once my Demon Qi can’t keep up, I’ll just bleed to death...’

’But this idiot is actually trying to steal the ball from me?’

’Did he get kicked in the head by a donkey?!’

As Li Ye was mocking Xiangli’s stupidity in his heart, a new Derived Skill suddenly popped into his mind:

Pulling People Down: Once an opponent is lured into your area of expertise, they will not only fail to notice it but will also fall deeper and deeper into the trap.

Holy shit!

A new Derived Skill!

When the new Derived Skill popped up, a classic saying inexplicably came to Li Ye’s mind: "Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience."

’Alright, I’m not the idiot here, but this skill came at the perfect time!’

His demon object was a soccer Team Emblem. He’d been playing since the first day he arrived in this world. Who could possibly beat him at his own game?

To verify the skill’s reliability, Li Ye flicked his toe, and the soccer ball suddenly jumped up, flying over Xiangli’s head.

Just as he expected.

Xiangli didn’t seize the opportunity to attack him. Instead, he turned and chased after the soccer ball.

That being the case, Li Ye saw no reason to be polite. He drew his dagger and stabbed at the space between Xiangli’s shoulder blades.

Xiangli was fundamentally a Grandmaster, and having been nourished by Demon Qi for two years, his agility was no less than Li Ye’s.

Even at a disadvantage, he twisted his torso at the last second. The dagger missed his heart and struck his shoulder blade instead.

SHLICK!

Li Ye’s dagger slid horizontally.

The dagger, which could cut through iron as if it were mud, slid smoothly from Xiangli’s shoulder, nearly severing his entire arm.

Xiangli grunted in pain, but he managed to get the ball under his foot. Dodging Li Ye’s follow-up attack, he sneered, "Idiot, a single stab won’t kill me. But now that you’ve lost the ball, you’re a dead man."

Li Ye glanced at him and went in for a slide tackle.

Xiangli instinctively hooked the ball back, dodging the tackle, but he couldn’t pull his leg away in time.

CRACK! Li Ye’s tackle snapped his shin.

The ball was back at Li Ye’s feet.

Li Ye dribbled the ball to one side, gave a thumbs-up, and then slowly turned it downward. "You? Trying to take my ball? Train for another three years!"

In the time it took to speak.

The wound on Xiangli’s shoulder and his broken leg had already healed. Under the influence of the skill, however, he had completely forgotten his original objective. He flashed to Li Ye’s side to once again fight for control of the ball.

He was a Grandmaster, after all, and a quick study. As he tried to steal the ball, he started throwing in some dirty moves with his hands.

But when it came to dirty moves, Li Ye had the boost of a demon object.

With the same elbow strike, Xiangli couldn’t hit Li Ye, but Li Ye could easily break several of his ribs...

In mid-air.

Li Ye and Xiangli fought over a single soccer ball, flying up and down, dazzling the spectators below.

The terrified townsfolk even forgot to flee, each one staring up at the sky, not daring to breathe.

...

"Yu, Lord Li is truly in a class of his own. He’s completely dominating Xiangli!"

"This is only natural. Soul Devourer is Lord Li’s weapon, after all. Didn’t you notice? After encountering Lord Li, it couldn’t even release its red cloud. It must be the natural pressure from its true master!"

"Mm," Huaiyi nodded. "To be honest, when Xiangli injured Lord Li at the start, I thought Lord Li had tricked us!"

"Lord Li may be arrogant, but when has he ever lied?"

"That’s right. In his eyes, we’re just a bunch of uncivilized savages. Who would bother lying to a bunch of savages?"

"I’d love to follow Lord Li to the Galactic Federation one day. But his rate of improvement is just too fast. It’s too hard to keep up."

"It’s not that hard. I think eating the Dragon Flesh should be enough. We should go help Lord Li now. Spiritual Power grows fastest on the ’field’. If we wait any longer, once Lord Li suppresses Soul Devourer, we’ll have wasted this opportunity."

"That makes sense."

...

Huaiyi and Yu Hai flew into the air, one after the other, approaching Li Ye and Xiangli, intending to lend Li Ye a hand.

Li Ye and Xiangli were fighting in the sky. Shi Xiang and the others were only Innate Masters and couldn’t stay airborne for long, so all they could do was watch and worry.

The only ones present who were qualified to assist Li Ye were the two Grandmasters.

Seeing Yu Hai and Huaiyi ascend, an idea struck Li Ye. He back-heeled the ball. "Yu Hai, catch!"

The soccer ball shot away. Xiangli reflexively chased after it, and Li Ye, from behind, launched a vicious attack—first a Groin Kick, followed immediately by a dagger strike to his back.

BANG!

SHUNK!

Struck by the heavy blows, Xiangli became enraged. He spun around and kicked Li Ye away, then flashed to Yu Hai’s side. He stole the ball and, while he was at it, landed a vicious elbow strike on him.

Yu Hai spat blood and plummeted downward.

Xiangli paid Yu Hai no mind, dribbling the ball as he charged back toward Li Ye.

At that moment, only a single thought remained in his mind: no matter what, he had to get the ball under his control, weaken Li Ye’s advantage, and then kill him.

Xiangli’s strength was on par with Li Ye’s, so Li Ye’s body could withstand his elbow strikes. Yu Hai, however, was a different story. Half his chest had caved in, and he had already lost consciousness as he fell.

Seeing this, Li Ye sighed. ’I went through all the trouble of getting this world’s two strongest fighters on my side,’ he thought. ’I can’t just let them be wasted like single-use consumables.’

Ignoring the approaching Xiangli, Li Ye flashed straight to the falling Yu Hai and decisively stomped on his wound, inflicting a second injury.

The unconscious Yu Hai let out a miserable scream and was painfully jolted awake.

After seeing clearly who had injured him, Yu Hai’s eyes were filled with disbelief.

But very quickly, he felt the Demon Qi in his body rapidly strengthening, and his Inner Strength expanded by more than double.

’What’s going on?’

Before he could figure out what was happening, he slammed heavily into the ground. Li Ye had already turned back and re-engaged the dribbling Xiangli.

Shi Xiang and the others surrounded Yu Hai, their expressions filled with envy.

Liu Guangsheng stuffed a healing Elixir Pill into his mouth and urged, "Grandmaster Yu, you have received Lord Li’s grace! Hurry up and heal. Once you’re better, go up and help Lord Li."

...

Xiang Ying and the others, who had been gleefully cheering for Li Ye, were now in a daze. They understood less and less about how battles between Cultivators were supposed to work.

’This completely subverts our understanding of combat. Is this really what Immortal cultivation is like?’

’This is terrifying!’

...

Xiangli’s demon object was a pair of gloves, which gave him no advantage in soccer. The moment he faced Li Ye, the ball was stolen again, and his other leg was broken by a slide tackle.

Then, Li Ye booted the ball, sending it flying toward Huaiyi.

Watching the soccer ball fly toward him, Huaiyi stood frozen, completely dumbfounded. He didn’t know if he should catch it. ’If I catch it, I’ll probably get beaten up by Xiangli, and then get beaten up by Lord Li. I can see it now... Lord Li is doing this on purpose...’

While he was hesitating.

The soccer ball had already whizzed past his ear.

Xiangli followed closely behind and delivered an elbow strike to his chest.

Huaiyi felt a sharp pain in his chest and an overwhelming sense of injustice. ’I didn’t even go for the ball! Why are you hitting me?’

Before he could recover.

Another elbow struck him. This time, it was Li Ye.

Unlike Xiangli’s deadly elbow strike, Li Ye’s was also painful, but his power...

Feeling his Inner Strength nearly double, Huaiyi suddenly understood what Xu Chuan had meant when he’d told him about how Lord Li "seriously injured" his own teammates on the field.

’This must be the legendary baptism of enlightenment!’

’Cultivation truly is beyond the comprehension of a mere mortal like me...’