The disciples watching from below were dumbfounded.
It took Zhang Ergou a while to react.
Did this senior brother named Xu Yufeng have some kind of serious problem?
He would only use three moves and then immediately concede?
What kind of logic was that? Zhang Ergou couldn't quite understand these top experts on the inner sect rankings.
One would concede, and the one he finally met who could fight for a bit only used three moves before jumping off the stage and leaving.
What the heck.
The inner sect battle stage once again became a one-sided slaughter for Zhang Ergou. This was definitely not the strength a cultivator at the early Golden Core stage should possess.
Zhang Ergou's arrogance naturally irked some people...
"Zhang Ergou, I'll fight you!"
"Qin Lang!" Zhang Ergou's eyes narrowed. Wasn't this the Qin Lang he encountered when he first descended from Lingyu Peak?
"I didn't expect you to still remember me, brat. Today, we'll settle all our old scores."
If he hadn't broken through yet, Zhang Ergou might have felt some worry seeing Qin Lang.
After all, the cultivation gap between them was too large.
Qin Lang was no longer at the early Golden Core stage; he was a mid-stage Golden Core expert.
The further one cultivated, the greater the disparity in cultivation.
The strength of a mid-stage Golden Core was not simply equivalent to two early-stage Golden Cores combined.
At the Golden Core stage, even a difference of one minor realm could become an insurmountable chasm between cultivators.
Therefore, even though Zhang Ergou had broken through to the early Golden Core stage, Qin Lang was absolutely confident in defeating him.
But he had forgotten Zhang Ergou's strange fist that could break through his spiritual energy shield.
What he didn't know was that the inner core condensed within Zhang Ergou was a five-colored inner core, containing more than five times the power of cultivators of the same rank.
"Brat, I've finally caught you. Let's see how you escape this time?"
Qin Lang glared viciously at Zhang Ergou, not concealing his anger towards him in the least.
"Heh, I thought you would have made some progress these past few days. It seems you're still only capable of empty threats."
Zhang Ergou disdainfully glanced at him. His dismissive look immediately enraged Qin Lang.
"How dare you, you whelp!"
Qin Lang roared, forming hand seals. Rain began to fall from the sky.
"Look, it's raining!"
The inner sect disciples spectating were astonished. It was actually raining in the area where Zhang Ergou and Qin Lang stood on the stage.
"Look closely!"
Only then did people realize that the raindrops had turned into hailstones the size of thumbs.
And their speed was so great that they gouged out deep pits in the bluestone ground.
Huh.
Is that all?
Zhang Ergou casually swatted away the hailstones around him with his Ghost Spear Tianwen. With his spiritual energy shield protecting him, the hailstones couldn't even get close.
"Hmph, brat, the real trouble is yet to come."
Qin Lang sneered. He muttered incantations, and the dark clouds above Zhang Ergou's head grew denser.
"Look, what is that?"
Someone exclaimed.
"Holy crap, no way!"
Large ice spheres, the size of human heads, descended from the sky, hurtling towards Zhang Ergou.
It was only then that Zhang Ergou realized something was wrong and quickly brandished his spear to block.
With a clang, the iron spear in Zhang Ergou's hand was knocked to the ground.
"Hmph, this is the consequence of you underestimating me, brat."
Having learned from his previous fight with Zhang Ergou, Qin Lang unleashed his pride and joy, the "Cold Ice Array," as soon as he stepped onto the stage.
This Cold Ice Array could transform into ice spheres, as well as highly destructive forms like ice spikes and ice blades.
Qin Lang's use of the Cold Ice Array, which manifested as ice spheres, was a result of his extensive research on Zhang Ergou.
Unlike other opponents, Qin Lang's hatred for Zhang Ergou was profound, and no one had ever dealt with him in such a manner.
That was also the first time Qin Lang had suffered such humiliation.
His ability to endure until now indicated that Qin Lang was not an impulsive person.
He had watched every single one of Zhang Ergou's fights these past few days, and he had identified what he believed to be a method to deal with him.
Zhang Ergou not only possessed astonishing strength but was also much faster than cultivators of the same rank, and he had also cultivated techniques and skills related to speed.
Faced with such a troublesome opponent, Qin Lang had pondered for a long time, constantly rejecting his own ideas.
Today, it was finally his turn to face this brat. For days, Qin Lang had been consumed by the humiliation Zhang Ergou had inflicted upon him.
Although no one knew that Zhang Ergou and his companions were responsible for his miserable state back then, Qin Lang was not a broad-minded person.
Now, facing Zhang Ergou in a battle, he was determined to kill him.
Therefore, as soon as he stepped onto the stage, he unleashed his most powerful technique – the Cold Ice Array.
Although Qin Lang was a cultivator with an ice-element spiritual root, when his master took him to the Cold Ice Cave for training, he hadn't absorbed much cold ice spiritual energy.
This was because the Ice Snow Old Man had become somewhat impatient and more ill-tempered by then.
He was no longer cooperating with the elders of the Piaomiao Sect. When Qin Lang emerged from the Cold Ice Cave, the elders found that he hadn't changed much.
They concluded that his compatibility with the ice and snow mountain was insufficient.
Qin Lang had been the most accomplished disciple in cultivating ice-element techniques over the years, but his lack of significant change after emerging from the Cold Ice Cave had thoroughly disappointed the elders.
When a large number of head-sized ice spheres appeared above, Zhang Ergou's expression turned grim.
Indeed, Qin Lang's research over the past few days had not been in vain. Zhang Ergou possessed advantages in strength and speed that were difficult for ordinary people to match.
However, facing this type of area-of-effect spell, Zhang Ergou truly had no good countermeasure for the moment.
As the Ghost Spear Tianwen in his hand was struck by the ice spheres and knocked away, Zhang Ergou condensed his spiritual energy and pushed out a palm, smashing fiercely towards the incoming ice spheres.
But the effect was minimal. The ice spheres merely wobbled slightly and continued to hurtle directly towards Zhang Ergou.
Zhang Ergou conjured spiritual fire to roast them, but the spiritual fire couldn't melt the massive ice spheres in a short time. As the ice spheres were about to strike Zhang Ergou,
"Little fellow, don't rush, let me handle this."
Hearing the voice in his mind, Zhang Ergou rejoiced.