Volume 1 Chapter 25

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Volume 1 Chapter 25: Broken Stones

Like petals stirred by the wind, a shower of blossoms fell. The vibrant flowers rushed towards the four Stone Puppets, carrying a dizzying beauty and hidden danger.

Li Yuhan realized the danger in his subconscious the moment he saw the flowers suddenly appear from Xu Qingfan, but by the time he wanted to command the Stone Puppet to dodge those beautiful yet seemingly harmless flowers, it was already too late.

The flowers touched the four Rock Golems, and in an instant, Li Yuhan felt as if time had stopped. Then, a series of booming sounds erupted, and flames began to flash around the Stone Puppet, causing plumes of smoke to rise. As the flames erupted, petals fell like a beautiful shower.

Unfortunately, at that moment, Li Yuhan had no mood to appreciate the beauty before him. When those beautiful and dangerous flowers exploded, Li Yuhan felt a huge shock, his Spirit Qi in turmoil, and his face turned pale. He knew this was the backlash he experienced as the master when the Stone Puppet was harmed.

When the smoke cleared and the petals fell, the four puppets remained, but their rocky skin showed countless deep cracks.

Next, a sharp "squeaking" sound was heard as the cracks on the four Rock Golems grew larger and deeper. As those cracks quickly spread and connected, the Stone Puppet began to collapse, breaking into rocks of various sizes scattered across the arena. Soon, the broken rocks turned into yellow Spirit Qi, dissipating into the air.

At that moment, the crowd of onlookers finally reacted, gasping in amazement, while the elder acting as the judge looked at Xu Qingfan with a strange expression, clearly unsure of what kind of magic Xu Qingfan had just used.

"What a terrifying magic! Those four Rock Golems were crushed so easily."

"This magic is so beautiful and very powerful."

"Senior brother, you are also a wood-type cultivator; do you know this magic?"

"I’ve never heard of this kind of magic before. Its characteristics are so clear and its power is so great; I should have known about it!"

Hearing the crowd’s astonished discussions below the stone platform, Xu Qingfan couldn’t help but smile wryly, knowing that he would become famous from now on, though it was not what he wished for.

"Explosive Flame Flower; those were Explosive Flame Flowers." Li Yuhan stared blankly at the petals and shattered stones on the ground and suddenly spoke up.

"Indeed, they are Explosive Flame Flowers. You have good knowledge, Yu Han." Xu Qingfan replied with a faint smile after hearing Li Yuhan’s words.

"I should say, Martial Uncle, your magic is very unique." What surprised Xu Qingfan was that Li Yuhan was able to smile while speaking at that moment.

"Just now, after I shattered the Stone Puppet, you must have suffered a backlash, right? Now you can’t even maintain the Binding Technique. If you can’t stop my speed, is there any point in continuing this match? Just give up."

Some people, even though they are opponents, you just can’t feel any dislike towards them. And Li Yuhan is undoubtedly such a person. So, seeing his pale face, Xu Qingfan couldn’t help but speak up.

"Since some things have been decided and there is a goal, we should keep going, right?" Li Yuhan simply smiled calmly and said.

"Alright, then let’s continue," Xu Qingfan said helplessly as he saw Li Yuhan’s determination.

As he spoke, Xu Qingfan’s fingers danced like magic, and countless shapes shining like metal, resembling flying daggers, appeared at his fingertips. With a swift wave of his hands, they shot rapidly towards Li Yuhan.

"Blade Grass?" Li Yuhan said quietly.

For a moment, Li Yuhan felt as if green tender grass was flying towards him from all directions. But he didn’t think that these seemingly delicate green leaves would hurt any less than a blade cutting into him. So, he hurriedly performed a hand gesture, and suddenly, a thick and wide rock wall appeared in front of him, blocking the Blade Grass attack. As the grass struck the stone, clouds of dust flew up. In the end, although the rock wall was left with deep scars from the Blade Grass, it managed to block all of it to the ground.

While sending out hundreds of Blade Grass, Xu Qingfan also rushed towards Li Yuhan at high speed, leaving behind faint afterimages.

But when Xu Qingfan circled around the suddenly appeared stone wall and got in front of Li Yuhan, ready to grab and throw him out of the ring, he found that a flash of white light suddenly appeared at Li Yuhan’s feet. After the light faded, a small white boat appeared beneath him, the same flying device he saw the first time, lifting Li Yuhan rapidly into the air, causing Xu Qingfan’s grip on his collar to miss.

"Martial Uncle, the way of the Dao is truly mysterious." Li Yuhan stood on a small white boat in mid-air, looked down at Xu Qingfan, and softly said, "I feel ashamed and can only rely on the power of this magic tool. Please don’t blame me, Martial Uncle."

"The magic tool is also part of your strength; there is nothing to blame." Xu Qingfan looked up at Li Yuhan, who stood still in mid-air, and said calmly. Although he spoke lightly, he felt very frustrated that he had forgotten that Li Yuhan had a flying magic tool. Without the advantage of time and place, he would be at a disadvantage.

"I’m glad you can think this way, Martial Uncle." Li Yuhan nodded and smiled. At the same time, he took out a yellow triangular flag from his sleeve, which had a picture of flying sand and moving stones on it, and explained to Xu Qingfan, "This is the only magic tool I have besides the ‘White Cloud Boat’; it’s called the ‘Falling Stone Flag.’ Its power is quite good, so please be careful, Martial Uncle."

Saying this, Li Yuhan slowly waved the small flag gently as if it were very heavy. After that, the giant stone depicted on the flag suddenly became alive, and a stone larger than a grinding disk flew out and quickly smashed down towards Xu Qingfan.

Seeing the giant stone weighing thousands of pounds falling towards him, Xu Qingfan was slightly shocked, but without hesitation, he quickly moved to dodge outside its attack range.

"Boom…" With a loud crash as the stone fell from the air, the earth shook strongly, and fine cracks appeared on the stone platform where the stone hit. The entire world echoed with loud sounds. Many bystanders, especially those with lower strength, almost lost their balance and fell to the ground, showing the immense power of the stone’s impact.

Just as Xu Qingfan had dodged three yards away from the giant stone, another stone flew towards him. With no choice, Xu Qingfan had to dodge again. However, these stones seemed endless, continuously crashing down towards him.

As the giant stones kept falling, the intensity of the competition on the fifth stone platform grew stronger. The entire ground shook as if it were an earthquake, and the loud noise of the stones hitting the ground seemed to echo throughout Jiuhua Mountain, drawing many spectators from other stone platforms to this spot.

New onlookers watched in amazement as Li Yuhan, standing on the white boat and waving the triangular flag to drop thousands of pounds of stones, and Xu Qingfan, who was continuously dodging and leaving afterimages on the stone platform. They couldn’t help but be stunned: was this still a battle between Inedia Stage cultivators? Their strength was hardly less than that of the famous Jiuhua Twin Talents, Jin Qinghan and Feng Qingtian.

Below the platform, atop a giant tree, stood a large, chubby man with a kind face, always squinting his small eyes with a smile. But strangely, even with his huge size standing at the tree’s top, he seemed to have no weight at all; the tree didn’t bend at all, only swaying gently in the wind.

Next to him stood a middle-aged cultivator, balanced on a feather-like magical tool in mid-air. He was Sheng Yushan, the other cultivator who had welcomed Lu Huayan and Xu Qingfan together with Li Yuhan, and he looked serious as he watched the scene below.

"Yushan, who do you think will win between the two?" the chubby man asked Sheng Yushan with a smile.

"I don’t know. Both have similar skills. Martial Uncle Xu has mysterious techniques and unusual moves, while Yuhan is experienced with powerful tools; the outcome could go either way," Sheng Yushan replied calmly.

"Oh? I thought you would say Li Yuhan would win. After all, Xu Qingfan defeated your brother Sheng Yuji last time, and Li Yuhan is your close friend," the chubby man said, still smiling, not at all angry at Sheng Yushan’s indifference.

"Hopes are hopes, but facts are facts."

"But I really didn’t expect these two strong contenders to meet so soon. Isn’t it said that the sect secretly kept these top seeds in different arenas?" the chubby man asked in surprise.

"The higher-ups probably think Xu Qingfan is unknown, while Li Yuhan is from the ‘Yu’ lineage, so they believe their skills aren’t that strong. After all, the most famous on the fifth stage is Dongfang Qingling Martial Uncle," Sheng Yushan said with a slight smirk.

"But I actually think Xu Qingfan has a better chance of winning this time," the chubby man suddenly said with a smile after a moment of silence.

"What do you mean?" Sheng Yushan asked.

"Li Yuhan was already injured after his Stone Puppet was shattered by the rock. He suffered serious internal injuries from the Taoist spell, and now he can’t even maintain the ‘Earth Binding Technique.’ This shows how badly his Spirit Qi is harmed. Though the ‘Falling Stone Flag’ is very powerful, it uses up spiritual power very quickly. On top of that, he also has to keep the ‘White Cloud Boat’ underneath him, so soon his Spirit Qi will be completely depleted. Meanwhile, Xu Qingfan may be in a tough spot now, but his Spirit Qi hasn’t been used much. So, when Li Yuhan’s spiritual power runs out, that will be when he fails," the chubby boy said, his face showing a bit of regret.

"Not necessarily," Sheng Yushan countered. "Yes, Yu Han’s Spirit Qi is badly hurt, but haven’t you noticed? As the giant rocks keep falling, Xu Qingfan has less and less room to dodge. Perhaps before Yu Han runs out of Spirit Qi, he will have already lost. Besides, with Yu Han’s sharp mind, he must realize his disadvantage, right? I believe he has already thought of a way to deal with this."

"Then let’s wait and see," the chubby boy replied with a smile, not arguing further.

At that moment, Xu Qingfan also realized that the situation was slowly turning against him. As more giant rocks fell, he found his space to dodge growing smaller. If this continued, he would eventually be hit by the rocks due to lack of escape space. Seeing the power of the rocks, Xu Qingfan knew that if he was hit, he would be doomed.

"I can’t keep going like this," Xu Qingfan said, furrowing his brow as he dodged the falling rocks. "I need to make some changes."

As he spoke, Xu Qingfan’s eyes flickered with gray and blue light, and the tips of his fingers started producing fluffy white flowers, each giving off a faint mist.

These were the magical Misty Flowers, which could release thick fog.

Each time Xu Qingfan created several Misty Flowers, he tossed them to the ground. While dodging the giant rocks from above, he scattered more Misty Flowers. As more and more Misty Flowers landed on the stone platform, the mist around the Number 5 platform grew thicker, until finally, Xu Qingfan’s figure completely vanished into the fog.

After Li Yuhan noticed the change, he also stopped waving the magical item ‘Falling Stone Flag.’ He frowned as he looked at the thick fog before him, but he could not find a trace of Xu Qingfan. Li Yuhan tried to swing the ‘Falling Stone Flag’ to drop large rocks into the fog, causing the ground to shake and the fog to swirl, but there was no sign of the fog dispersing.

Feeling helpless, Li Yuhan had no choice but to hover in the air and wait quietly for the fog around the stone platform to dissipate on its own.

As time passed, the fog only grew thicker, showing no sign of clearing. Just when the onlookers could not hold back their boos and Li Yuhan was starting to lose patience, something unexpected happened!

Suddenly, a huge green tree burst out of the fog, quickly reaching just below Li Yuhan. It was as if time had sped up; in just a few breaths, the tree grew to the height of many years. Xu Qingfan was standing at the top of the tree, and with a wave of his hand, several dark green vines shot out from his arm like snakes, wrapping around Li Yuhan before he could react.

Then, with a wave of the arm that was tangled in the vines, Xu Qingfan sent Li Yuhan tumbling off the White Cloud Boat. He fell heavily outside the ring.

"Phew… finally won." Xu Qingfan sighed with relief. He had put in a lot of effort to win this match. First, he used the fog to hide his figure, then transformed into a rapidly growing ‘Centenary Tree’ to lift himself closer to Li Yuhan, and finally used ‘Iron Vine’ to bind Li Yuhan and throw him out of the ring. It was truly exhausting.

Gently jumping down from the tree, Xu Qingfan first recalled the Misty Flower, dispersing the fog. He then looked at the elder who was judging the match, waiting for him to announce his victory. However, Xu Qingfan was puzzled, as the elder only stared at him strangely without announcing the results.

"Is it because of the ‘Formula of Wither and Flourish’ I practiced that makes him feel strange?" Xu Qingfan speculated quietly.

Outside the ring.

"It’s over." Sheng Yushan also sighed with relief.

"Yes, this Xu Qingfan still has too little battle experience," sighed the chubby man standing by the tree.

Just when Xu Qingfan thought the elder was acting strangely, Li Yuhan’s voice suddenly echoed from the field.

"Spirit Stone Coffin!"

Just as Xu Qingfan realized something was wrong, the rocks around him suddenly rose quickly, instantly shaping into four giant hands that buried Xu Qingfan deep underground, leaving no trace of him. Before being buried, Xu Qingfan glanced at Li Yuhan, whom he had sent flying out of the field, and was shocked to see that Li Yuhan’s body had turned into a statue resembling him, shattered on the ground, but it was just a decoy.

Only then did Li Yuhan’s true form slowly appear in the corner of the stone platform.

"What a clever trick, what a great plan." The chubby man outside clapped and sighed, "First, he used a ‘Statue Decoy Technique’ to create an image of himself on the ‘White Cloud Boat’, then secretly hid in the corner of the stone platform using ‘Art of Invisible’ to conceal his form, and finally defeated Xu Qingfan when he thought he had won with ‘Spirit Stone Coffin’. It seems that when I meet him in the final sixteen match, I must be careful."

"Thank you for the compliment," Sheng Yushan said, revealing a slight smile on his otherwise calm face.

"I’m not complimenting you."

"Li Yuhan and I are like brothers. Praising him is the same as praising me," Sheng Yushan said calmly.

On the field, a faint smile appeared on Li Yuhan’s pale face, but it was a bit bitter. He had finally won this match, but at the cost of revealing all his secret moves and exhausting his Spirit Qi, making it hard to recover for several days. Especially at the last moment, he had to maintain the ‘White Cloud Boat,’ use the ‘Stone Avatar Technique,’ and cast the ‘Art of Invisible’ on himself, which was a huge burden. In the end, he even used the advanced technique ‘Spirit Stone Coffin,’ draining the last bit of Spirit Qi in his body. It was truly a rough defeat.

But no matter what, he still won the match.

"The winner is…" The elder by the side thought Li Yuhan had won and was about to announce the result when something unexpected happened.

Suddenly, cracks began to appear on the ground covering Xu Qingfan, accompanied by the sound of stones cracking. To everyone’s astonishment, hundreds of bamboo shoots suddenly burst through the ground. As the ground broke apart, Xu Qingfan leaped out from where he had been pressed and lunged at Li Yuhan.

Seeing Xu Qingfan charging at him, Li Yuhan wanted to fight back, but he couldn’t muster any Spirit Qi. Just as Li Yuhan was trying to think of a way, Xu Qingfan had already reached him, and a Blade Grass sprouted from Xu Qingfan’s fingertips, pressing against Li Yuhan’s neck.

"This time it should be your true form, right?" Xu Qingfan asked.

"This time it is," Li Yuhan replied with a bitter smile.

"The reason wood overcomes earth among the five elements is that no matter how hard the ground is, it cannot resist a growing plant; it can only be cracked by the plant that grows slowly. Your biggest mistake was not knocking me off the ring but trying to seal me with earth-type techniques, which is impossible for a wood-type cultivator," Xu Qingfan said, looking at Li Yuhan’s pale face from excessive spiritual power consumption.

"I understand, I give up," Li Yuhan said, then fainted. He had used too much Spirit Qi just now.

"The winner is Xu Qingfan," said the elder who was the judge.

Outside the arena.

"It seems I guessed right; in the end, Xu Qingfan won," the chubby boy said to Sheng Yushan, whose face was ashen.

"You only guessed the result but not the process," Sheng Yushan said, seeing Li Yuhan faint, as he quickly flew to the arena, leaving behind those cold words in the air.

"It seems that this competition has many skilled fighters. It’s getting more interesting," the chubby boy said, looking at Sheng Yushan flying to the arena. When he looked at the top of the tree, the chubby boy’s figure was gone.

After Xu Qingfan stepped down from the stone platform, he saw Jin Qinghan waiting below, and he smiled, saying, "It seems I lost our bet."

"My opponent is not as strong as yours," Jin Qinghan replied gently.

Just as Xu Qingfan was about to say something else, he couldn’t help but sway, and Jin Qinghan quickly steadied him.

This match was very exhausting for Li Yuhan, and it was no different for Xu Qingfan. Using "The Formula of Wither and Flourish" repeatedly put a heavy burden on him, and he had used up almost all his Spirit Qi.

"It’s okay, I just used too much Spirit Qi." Looking at Jin Qinghan’s concerned expression, Xu Qingfan smiled and said.

"Are you Xu Qingfan?" Just as Jin Qinghan was about to say something, a soft voice suddenly came from behind.

"I am. What’s the matter?" Xu Qingfan turned around and saw a person holding the unconscious Li Yuhan, watching him with a cold expression.

"My name is Sheng Yushan. Sheng Yuji, who you defeated in the first match, is my brother. Li Yuhan, whom you defeated now, is even closer than a real brother to me." Sheng Yushan stared into Xu Qingfan’s eyes and said, "Remember my name. In the final sixteen, I will defeat you myself."

With that, Sheng Yushan turned away, still carrying Li Yuhan without looking back.

"What nonsense," Jin Qinghan snorted heavily.

"Jin Qinghan, others might fear your ‘Jiuhua Twin Talents’ reputation, but I am not afraid. Strength doesn’t always relate to fame," Sheng Yushan’s figure became smaller as his faint voice lingered at the edge of the scene.

"Hmph." Jin Qinghan took a deep look at Xu Qingfan’s back and then said to him, "Senior Brother Yue is about to compete. Will you go to the back mountain to meditate and recover, or will you watch Senior Brother Yue compete?"

"Let’s go watch Senior Brother Yue’s match," Xu Qingfan said. "Anyway, meditating for a little while won’t hurt."

"Alright, let’s go together."

The competition continued the next day.