“Brother, is Liu Zhengyi really that formidable?” Li Jiaying asked, somewhat worried.
Li Tan glanced briefly and replied calmly, “Not particularly. He’s no match for Li Xiu.”
“But the fight hasn’t even started yet. How can you be so sure Liu Zhengyi can’t beat Li Xiu?”
Li Hantian questioned doubtfully.
Li Tan answered matter-of-factly, “This kind of thing can be determined with just a glance, right?”
“Oh yeah? Then please explain how one can tell just by looking once?”
“Do you possess the ability to foresee the future?”
“Foreseeing the future?
Fortune-telling?
Hehe, I might have some superficial ability that resembles glimpsing into fate, but using it for something like this would be an overkill.”
“You dare to say that, huh?”
“What are you afraid to ask that I wouldn’t dare to say?”
“Tsk, I don’t want to argue about these trivial matters with you. But on what grounds can you guarantee he will win?”
Li Hantian was clearly challenging Li Tan. However, from his perspective, it was normal not to understand Li Tan’s behavior.
The reason Li Tan dared to make such a bold assertion was twofold: first, from observing Li Xiu last night, he had a grasp of his strength, and second, in the brief moment he had just glanced, he had estimated Liu Zhengyi’s abilities.
At the early stage of the Post-Heavenly Realm, born from a lesser branch of the family, capable of fighting against someone at the middle stage of the Post-Heavenly Realm for more than ten exchanges.
This information was sufficient to deduce the opponent’s strength.
However, naturally, he couldn’t explain it like that to Li Hantian. Therefore, Li Tan chose to ignore him, turned his head away, and focused his gaze on the ongoing duel.
“Tsk, showing off with mysterious nonsense. I, young master, will exactly see how useful your so-called training can be.”
Li Hantian also turned his gaze to the arena. However, hidden within his seemingly disdainful words was a barely perceptible hesitation.
Most likely a lingering effect from losing fifty gold coins yesterday.
Li Yang observed the younger generation’s actions silently, saying nothing, but thinking of his own daughter, a sense of pride couldn’t help but arise in his heart.
Lin Cui, who had stormed over angrily earlier, had also stopped nagging about the matter of the training in the Domain of Falling Immortals and was now watching the duel on the arena.
Whether Li Tan’s training was useful or not would soon become clear.
On the arena, the two had politely introduced themselves, and the duel had already begun.
The battle at the early Post-Heavenly stage wasn’t particularly exciting. Compared to ordinary people, it was simply a matter of having slightly more strength. Most martial techniques couldn’t even be used due to insufficient Qi. When using weapons, there were no dazzling moves; without weapons, the hand-to-hand combat looked no different from a street brawl.
In fact, that was exactly what it was.
Li Xiu chose a relatively slender one-handed sword, while Liu Zhengyi wielded a massive broadsword. Just looking at it gave the impression of weightiness; every step Liu took seemed to shake the arena, thus further reinforcing the impression that Li Xiu was destined to lose.
Even before the fight had started, he was already at a disadvantage in terms of momentum.
But.
That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
For example, if Liu Zhengyi had the illusion that his opponent was weak and fragile, he would become overconfident. As the saying goes, overconfidence leads to defeat. Moreover, if he had chosen any other weapon, it might not have been so clear, but since he had chosen a heavy sword, this was why Li Tan had been so certain in his initial assessment.
Bang! A loud noise echoed from the arena. In the first round, Liu Zhengyi chose the most direct attack method—a heavy downward strike—but surprisingly, Li Xiu dodged it.
“Try again!”
Bang! “Eat this move!”
Bang! “If you’re a man, don’t dodge!”
Bang! Liu Zhengyi kept launching attack after attack, but each time Li Xiu evaded them in the simplest manner, barely grazing past the blade.
Thus, the thought that “he could end the fight instantly if he only got a bit closer” and the fact that he always narrowly missed his target frustrated Liu Zhengyi greatly.
“Darn it, darn it! He’s only bullying me because he’s from the main family with better martial techniques. What’s so impressive about that? Today I’ll show him how effort can bridge the gap!”
“Ahhhh!”
Roaring furiously, Liu Zhengyi, with his face flushed red, unleashed terrifying explosive power. Although it was purely physical strength, each swing of his fists carried considerable force.
Opposite him, Li Xiu’s clothes were tattered, his clean face smeared with dirt and soot.
“This is troubling,” Li Hantian’s expression darkened. “It seems he’s going to lose. This kind of strength is beyond what Xiu can handle.”
“He should be able to determine the outcome within a single move.”
Lin Cui declared decisively.
Li Yang also looked grave, but at this moment, Li Tan’s voice, light as a drifting feather, sounded.
“The battle is over. Xiu wins.”
“Hmph, did you forget how to use your eyes? From where I see it, Liu Zhengyi is clearly going to win.”
Li Hantian replied in a bad mood.
Li Tan tugged at the corner of his mouth and said, “Words won’t help. Just watch. The result will be revealed soon enough.”
Li Hantian looked puzzled, but Li Tan appeared extremely confident, showing no sign of concern.
What was there to worry about?
Although wielding a heavy sword provided tremendous explosive power, without special training, speed would be greatly affected.
If it had been the Li Xiu from before, he indeed wouldn’t have been able to deal with this. Unfortunately for Liu Zhengyi, the Li Xiu who had experienced half an hour of life-and-death pursuit last night was no longer the same.
In Li Tan’s eyes, the seemingly mighty Liu Zhengyi was probably nothing more than a clown dancing around.
No matter how strong you are, if you can’t hit your opponent, it’s all useless!
Boom! Liu Zhengyi’s heavy sword flew out of his hands at a speed that seemed extremely fast to ordinary people, hurtling toward Li Xiu. The whistling sound could be heard even at the farthest edges of the training ground.
Even if this strike didn’t directly hit, the shattered stones flying from the ground impact alone would be enough to trouble his opponent.
Li Xiu landed, instantly kicking up dust that obscured the view.
“Hehe, feel my power now? Turned into meat paste yet? Hehe, this is all your own fault!”
However, once the dust settled, Li Xiu was already nowhere to be seen.
“Eh?” Liu Zhengyi could no longer smile.
Li Xiu held his long sword at a forty-five-degree angle, slightly leaning backward, and charged toward Liu Zhengyi with the speed of a leopard.
In the blink of an eye, Liu Zhengyi, now weaponless, had no means of resistance. In an instant, a bloody gash opened across his chest.
Though not a fatal wound, he had completely lost his ability to fight.
Silence fell over the entire arena. The referee was stunned for a while before loudly announcing, “Ahem… This match, Li Xiu of the Li family is victorious!”
“This…” Li Hantian was stunned, his arms trembling slightly from shock as he pointed at Li Tan in disbelief.
“That speed… For someone at the middle stage of the Post-Heavenly Realm, it’s already nearly at the limit. How could Li Xiu possibly…”
Li Tan glanced at him and finished his sentence with a smirk, “How could he possibly have that speed, right?”
Li Hantian nodded. Li Tan’s lips curled into a mocking smile as he replied, “That’s none of your business.”
“You!”
“What ‘you’ about? Wasn’t you who wanted to see how he’d lose? Does your face hurt?”
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