The newcomer had a look of arrogance, showing no regard for Zhang Ergou.
Zhang Ergou immediately perked up. If these disciples on the inner sect rankings kept forfeiting, he would fall asleep.
"Who are you?" Zhang Ergou asked.
"Kid, don't be arrogant! I, Li Haoyu, am here to teach you how to behave today!"
As Li Haoyu spoke, he slashed his sword towards Zhang Ergou, giving him no chance to react.
"Hmph!" Zhang Ergou snorted coldly and raised his spear to block. With a clang, the sword struck the iron spear and actually chipped it.
"Haha, senior brother, your sword is no good!"
Zhang Ergou burst into laughter, mocking how the opponent's weapon was rendered useless by his Ghost Spear Tianwen.
"Kid, don't be arrogant, take this!"
Li Haoyu didn't get angry. He threw away his sword and struck at Zhang Ergou with his palm.
"Go!" Zhang Ergou dared not be slow. While speaking dismissively, his actions did not falter.
A Fire Spirit Fist met the opponent's palm strike.
Boom!
An explosion sounded as the fist and palm met in mid-air, emitting a loud bang.
"What the heck, no way! Zhang Ergou can actually fight Li Haoyu to a draw? He's different after breaking through!"
"Yeah, before we only saw Zhang Ergou use physical strength. This is the first time we've seen him use magical techniques." Su Dan Novel Network
"Looking at the power of that punch, it's not much weaker than Li Haoyu's palm strike!"
Below the stage, the surrounding disciples were in an uproar. Before this, they had always thought Zhang Ergou was a body cultivator.
They thought he couldn't use magical techniques, but the clash just now opened their eyes. It turned out Zhang Ergou had been holding back.
Not only was his physical strength beyond that of ordinary people, but his magical techniques could also contend with cultivators at the peak of the early Golden Core stage.
Li Haoyu naturally hadn't expected Zhang Ergou to be able to contend with him in terms of magical techniques.
However, he wasn't in a hurry; the previous moves were merely probing attacks.
"Again!" Li Haoyu grunted, and a more ferocious palm strike than before rushed towards him.
"Go!" Zhang Ergou still used the Fire Spirit Fist to block. This time, the Fire Spirit Fist's power was also stronger than the last.
As the saying goes, one becomes stronger when facing a strong opponent. Zhang Ergou did not fall behind.
Bang…
A violent explosion sounded, and spiritual energy scattered. The aftermath of the explosion even made the surrounding air tremble.
The spectacle this time was even grander than the last…
"Kid, you've got some skill!" Li Haoyu observed Zhang Ergou with cold eyes, and only now did he begin to take him seriously.
He had watched a few of Zhang Ergou's previous fights and then stopped watching.
In Li Haoyu's opinion, body cultivators were ultimately inferior.
Qi cultivation was the true path, so from the bottom of his heart, Li Haoyu had never thought highly of Zhang Ergou.
Naturally, he hadn't seen the Spear of Divine Consciousness that Zhang Ergou had condensed during his fight with Lü Xiao yesterday, so he instinctively believed Zhang Ergou was nothing special.
As for the masters on the inner sect rankings surrendering to Zhang Ergou, Li Haoyu hadn't bothered to inquire about it.
He believed those guys were just spineless cowards and disdained to associate with them.
"Wind and Thunder Technique!" Li Haoyu shouted, and the world seemed to change color. Dark clouds gathered around, and the sky darkened.
Zhang Ergou's expression became much more solemn. This guy who had been so arrogant from the moment he stepped onto the stage indeed had some skills.
He couldn't just sit and wait for death. Judging by the extent of the dark clouds, this Wind and Thunder Technique was definitely not simple.
Zhang Ergou's mind stirred, and spiritual fire shot out of his body, flying towards the dark clouds in the sky.
Crack!
With a loud bang, lightning flashed across the sky, and a bolt of lightning pursued Zhang Ergou.
"Zhang Ergou is finished! Li Haoyu has actually cultivated the Wind and Thunder Technique to great mastery. This is incredible!"
"Yeah, no wonder he was so confident. Everyone else on the stage obediently surrendered, but Li Haoyu didn't give Zhang Ergou any face at all."
"Of course. Li Haoyu has been an established Golden Core cultivator for nearly ten years. Zhang Ergou only broke through a few days ago. How can he possibly contend with Li Haoyu?"
Below the stage, the surrounding disciples murmured. Clearly, they were not unfamiliar with the Wind and Thunder Technique displayed by Li Haoyu, and they were full of anticipation for its power.
As for the spiritual fire that had shot out of Zhang Ergou's body, it had disappeared, and no one had seen any trace of it.
They saw Zhang Ergou standing there, seemingly frozen in fear.
"Has Zhang Ergou been scared stiff?"
This level of attack was the first Zhang Ergou had encountered since his challenge, so these people instinctively believed Zhang Ergou was intimidated by the aura of the Wind and Thunder Technique.
Zhang Ergou stared at the approaching lightning bolt, a mysterious smile appearing on his face.
"Absorb!"
Zhang Ergou grunted, and the lightning bolt, which had been so menacing moments before, instantly vanished, leaving only the dark clouds covering the sky.
"What happened? Why did the lightning disappear?"
The disciples below the stage were dumbfounded. They had been waiting to see Zhang Ergou struck by lightning, but the lightning was not cooperating.
Li Haoyu was also dumbfounded. In just an instant, his connection with the Wind and Thunder Technique was severed, and the lightning simply vanished into thin air.
This was his greatest trump card. With it gone, how could he make Zhang Ergou lose face?
Li Haoyu refused to believe it. Perhaps the incantation he used to cast the Wind and Thunder Technique was incorrect. He continued to mumble.
"Wind and Thunder Technique!" he grunted again.
Crack! A dazzling lightning bolt appeared in the sky as expected, and a much thicker bolt of lightning shot towards Zhang Ergou.
"Absorb!"
Zhang Ergou smiled mysteriously. The moment the lightning bolt crossed the cloud layer, it disappeared…
Uh?
Li Haoyu was completely stunned. What was going on? The usually powerful Wind and Thunder Technique had failed him today, vanishing into thin air twice in a row, leaving him feeling utterly dejected.
"How could this be?" Li Haoyu looked up at the sky, his expression changing unpredictably.
"Wind and Thunder Technique!" Li Haoyu refused to believe it and activated the incantation again. This time, his face turned pale at a visible speed.
Each time he cast the Wind and Thunder Technique, it consumed a great deal of energy. With Li Haoyu's current cultivation, he could barely cast it twice.
But today, the abnormal disappearance of the Wind and Thunder Technique drove Li Haoyu into a frenzy. Spiritual energy poured out of his body recklessly. However, the power of the Wind and Thunder Technique this time was significantly weaker than the previous two.
"Heh heh! Absorb!"
Zhang Ergou chuckled and directed his spiritual fire to swallow the lightning bolt from Li Haoyu's third casting of the Wind and Thunder Technique.
"Impossible?"
Li Haoyu muttered to himself, staring blankly at the sky. He had even forgotten that Zhang Ergou was still standing opposite him.
"Down you go!"
Zhang Ergou roared and delivered a whip kick to the still dazed Li Haoyu.
Puff!
Li Haoyu, flying backward, spat out a mouthful of blood. His body, like a kite with a broken string, plummeted off the stage…