"Kid, your cultivation is not much, but your tone is quite arrogant. I hope your strength can match your big mouth from now on."
Li Xu was amused by Zhang Ergou's words. He had offered good advice, yet this brat remained unrepentant.
He had spoken such audacious words, so he could only teach him how to behave with his own hands!
Li Xu stopped wasting words, his expression turned serious, and he raised his fist to salute Zhang Ergou.
"Since that is the case, allow me to learn your masterful moves, junior brother."
Zhang Ergou also saluted Li Xu.
"Senior brother, please!"
Though they had no deep-seated hatred, both were impetuous youths.
A word disagreed, and the atmosphere grew tense.
As he spoke, Li Xu formed hand seals, first condensing a spiritual energy shield as tangible as a physical entity around his body.
Then, a sword of qi shot towards Zhang Ergou with lightning speed.
Facing Li Xu, who was in the early Golden Core stage, Zhang Ergou dared not be the slightest bit negligent.
His eyes fixed on the direction from which the qi sword was flying, his taut body ready to exert force at any moment.
"Hasn't Zhang Ergou been scared silly? Why is he just standing there?"
"I told you, this brat challenged a master on the inner sect rankings just to gain fame. See, Senior Brother Li's first move has already stunned him!"
"Hush...!"
A wave of boos erupted from below the battle stage, and everyone scoffed at Zhang Ergou's overestimation of himself.
Xiao Qingyu, Wang Teng, and the others, seeing Zhang Ergou's stance, also thought he had been scared stiff.
Wang Teng even covered his face with his hand, unable to bear witnessing Zhang Ergou's impending misery.
*Swish...!*
With a soft sound, the scene everyone had imagined did not materialize.
Just as the qi sword approached Zhang Ergou by half a meter, he flashed, becoming a blur of afterimages, and moved away from his original position.
Though he had only moved a step from his previous spot, he had dodged the incoming qi sword.
"Hmm?"
Li Xu on the opposite side let out a surprised cry. The qi sword Zhang Ergou had dodged just now had shown no spiritual energy fluctuations!
This discovery greatly astonished Li Xu. While the move he had just used was merely to test the opponent's strength, Zhang Ergou's performance far exceeded his expectations.
Without using spiritual energy, he possessed such speed. What about when he used spiritual energy?
Li Xu, naturally unaware that Zhang Ergou was also a body cultivator, became serious after his attack failed.
He no longer viewed their strengths based solely on the cultivation difference as he had before.
With just one move, Li Xu felt that Zhang Ergou was qualified to be his opponent, and his expression grew solemn.
*Swish, swish!*
Two qi swords, one after another, shot towards Zhang Ergou from different directions. Judging by their trajectories, they were intended to block Zhang Ergou's paths of lateral movement.
If Zhang Ergou moved left, he would be injured by the qi sword coming from the left. If he moved right, he would be injured by the qi sword coming from the right.
The inner sect disciples who had not clearly seen how Zhang Ergou dodged earlier now widened their eyes.
Zhang Ergou's nearly perfect evasion earlier had slapped them hard across the face.
The arena became extremely quiet, and no one dared to underestimate Zhang Ergou anymore.
With the courage and composure Zhang Ergou had just displayed, coupled with his ghost-like speed, many disciples present felt they could not achieve it.
Indeed, strength was the best weapon to silence doubters.
Zhang Ergou stared intently at the incoming qi swords. Just as they were about to pierce his body, he executed a perfect squat, evading both incoming qi swords.
The qi swords struck the stone pillars behind him, dislodging a pile of rubble.
"Damn, no way, that worked too!"
Xiao Qingyu couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. Even as a close friend, he was astonished by Zhang Ergou's swift reaction.
Lin Yichen, Wang Teng, and beside them, Lin Yueru and Lu Xiaoyu, were no better. They were also amazed by Zhang Ergou's divine evasion technique.
Back in the outer sect, they had never seen Zhang Ergou showcase such skills.
Even in their two most challenging spars, they hadn't witnessed anything like it.
The other disciples watching were utterly dumbfounded. If Zhang Ergou's first evasion had silenced them,
then his second, a rapid squat, had left their mouths agape.
Compared to the observing disciples, Li Xu, who was battling Zhang Ergou, was even more shocked.
He was most aware of the power of the qi swords he had unleashed again.
The two consecutive qi swords, with their speed and power, would require even an ordinary early Golden Core cultivator to face them with full attention.
But what astonished Li Xu the most was that Zhang Ergou's evasion this time still showed no trace of spiritual energy fluctuations.
"How is this possible?"
Without using spiritual energy, he could so easily evade his two qi swords. This made Li Xu regard Zhang Ergou with even greater respect.
*Swish, swish, swish, swish...*
This time, Li Xu formed hand seals, and a series of qi swords shot towards Zhang Ergou from various directions.
Judging by their trajectories, the qi swords seemed to seal off Zhang Ergou's movement in all directions: up, down, left, right, east, west, and north. No matter how one looked at it, these qi swords had cornered Zhang Ergou.
Unless Zhang Ergou could vanish into thin air, he would be attacked by a qi sword regardless of which direction he tried to dodge.
Li Xu was confident in this move. Not only did it block all possible escape routes for his opponent, but the speed at which they were fired was even faster than the previous attacks.
What was even more terrifying was that Li Xu had varied his exertion when firing these qi swords, causing the later ones to be faster than the earlier ones.
Many of Li Xu's opponents had suffered losses from this very move. They would focus on dodging the initially fired qi swords, only to be caught off guard by the later ones that arrived first. Sudancd.com
Facing these qi swords, which were even more powerful than the previous two, Zhang Ergou concentrated his mind. His recent cultivation had greatly enhanced his perception of sound and气息.
Furthermore, since he had discovered that peculiar way of exerting force, Zhang Ergou's environmental perception had undergone a qualitative leap.
Although the sound of the qi swords was extremely faint, Zhang Ergou still detected the subtle differences in their force.
In an instant, his body contorted into bizarre positions, and the qi swords whizzed past him, narrowly missing his body.
*Bang! Crackle!*
Behind him, the sound of shattering stone echoed continuously, revealing the immense power of Li Xu's qi swords.
Not only Li Xu, but everyone below the stage was stunned by Zhang Ergou's peculiar movements.
What kind of precise control and judgment were required to dodge these powerful qi swords?
What further amazed them was that Zhang Ergou's body flexibility far surpassed their understanding.
These were attacks launched by Li Xu, who possessed early Golden Core cultivation, yet they couldn't harm Zhang Ergou in the slightest.
"Senior Brother Li, you've attacked for so long. It's my turn now!"