Chapter 542: Five Elements Spell Combinations

Meng Jingzhou and his two companions watched while feasting on roasted mutton, clapping in sheer admiration at Li Haoran’s stroke of genius.

“Splendid tactics! You simply cannot employ conventional warfare when dealing with a rascal like Lu Yang!” Meng Jingzhou praised him lavishly; as Lu Yang’s veteran adversary, he knew all too well that ordinary styles bore no hope of victory, and that only through the unorthodox could one glimpse a chance at winning.

“This skin tastes excellent, far more flavorful than the mutton itself.” Meng Jingzhou smacked his lips; what he had just eaten was entirely sheepskin, roasted to a crisp fragrance that crunched upon entry, leaving its savor lingering between lips and teeth, which, when paired with the grease-cutting chive blossoms, tasted absolutely divine.

The mutton beneath the skin, however, was slightly inferior.

Meng Jingzhou casually glanced over at the fiercely blazing Samadhi True Fire and struck his palm with his fist: “I have an idea.”

He flicked a wisp of Nirvana True Fire, tossing it into the Samadhi True Fire; the two distinct true fires merged, unleashing a crackling din.

Under the influence of the Nirvana True Fire, the sheep carcass gradually regrew its skin, and since the flesh and skin regenerated slowly, it allowed for a meticulous enjoyment of the Samadhi True Fire’s roasting, making the flavor even more exquisite!

Mangu’s eyes gleamed at the sight, having never expected that the Nirvana True Fire could be utilized in such a manner.

If it were said that he had never encountered the Samadhi True Fire before and thus failed to associate it with barbecuing, that would be pardonable.

Yet the illustrious Nirvana True Fire was known to every cultivator in the immortal cultivation world; that he actually failed to realize it could be used for roasting was truly inexcusable.

It was practically an insult to his status as the descendant of the Man family of barbecuing!

He knew that following Brother Lu and Brother Meng would always yield genuine knowledge!

As a Confucian cultivator, Mangu adhered to the sage’s teachings that when three walk together, there must be a teacher among them, and that one must examine oneself thrice daily; he frequently reflected upon himself and continuously corrected his shortcomings.

While Mangu was engrossed in his learning, Lu Yang was still engaged in combat with the four-armed Li Haoran.

The Three Heads and Six Arms was indeed a profoundly renowned grand divine ability; even though Li Haoran had only mastered this inferior four-armed variant, it still exerted immense pressure upon Lu Yang.

“Palm Thunder!”

“Liuding Divine Fire!”

“Dayan True Fire!”

“One Zhang of Bamboo!”

With his four hands forming hand signs, four different spells were hurled all at once toward Lu Yang.

A golden bird screeched, igniting the Samadhi True Fire; the golden bird unfolded its wings, every single feather as sharp as a sword, slicing through the air.

Although the Liuding Divine Fire and the Dayan True Fire were also true fires, they were not renowned for explosive bursts, and they simply could not withstand the assault of Lu Yang’s two types of true fire combined with his sword qi.

The Palm Thunder also dissolved into nothingness amidst the collision.

Only a section of emerald-green bamboo, sharpened by Li Haoran, suddenly broke the sound barrier with a sharp whistle, thrusting toward Lu Yang.

Lu Yang unfurled his divine sense and had long since discovered the presence of the green bamboo, yet his physical reactions lagged by a fraction of a beat, allowing it to graze his arm.

“Junior Brother Li possesses fine skills indeed, actually coating the bamboo with poison.” Lu Yang manifested the Golden Bird True Fire to restrain Li Haoran while retrieving a detoxifying pill from his identity jade plaque.

“It cannot be helped, Senior Brother Lu is far too strong; without employing some measures, I cannot win.”

“Furthermore, Senior Brother Lu, you still haven't displayed your true capabilities even now, have you?”

Suddenly, Lu Yang and Li Haoran struck simultaneously, colliding together.

Both had intended to launch a sneak attack under the guise of conversation, yet neither expected their thoughts to align so perfectly.

“Arhat Fist!”

Lu Yang no longer held back, executing a ferocious punch; as an artifact cultivator, Li Haoran could not possibly contend against Lu Yang in close-quarters combat.

In terms of melee combat, only a top-tier body cultivator like Meng Jingzhou and a Confucian cultivator like Mangu could firmly suppress Lu Yang.

Li Haoran reacted swiftly; knowing he could not clash head-on with the Arhat Fist, he directly tore off the two arms beneath his armpits, temporarily refining them into magic treasures to hurl at Lu Yang.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In the blink of an eye, the two exchanged dozens of rounds of collisions, but unfortunately, these temporarily refined flesh-and-blood treasures ultimately fell short against the Arhat Fist, and Li Haoran was sent flying backward.

The good news was that Li Haoran’s hair was a wig, so he would not suffer from hair loss.

“Sixteen-Foot Golden Body!”

Lu Yang uttered a soft cry, and a golden body bearing his own likeness descended from the heavens, firmly encasing Li Haoran within.

“Tree-Planting Clone!”

Lu Yang dove into the earth, and a seed broke through the soil, growing into two Lu Yangs.

“The rest is up to you.”

Lu Yang high-fived his clone; the clone nodded and burrowed into the mud like an earth dragon, swiftly approaching Li Haoran from underground.

“Earth Evasion!” Li Haoran did not panic; while he did not know the Ground Shrinking technique, he was still proficient in Earth Evasion.

The Sixteen-Foot Golden Body possessed this single flaw: its bottom was unsealed beneath the earth, allowing those capable of Earth Evasion to escape.

At that moment, Lu Yang’s clone arrived from underground and drew a circle around the base of the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body.

“Drawing a Earth Prison.”

The space beneath the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body transformed into a subterranean prison, sealing off Li Haoran’s retreat and forcing him to surface.

From that moment on, the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body possessed no further flaws.

Li Haoran snorted coldly: “I would like to see just what a mere clone can do to me!”

Lu Yang’s clone emerged from the mud, entering the interior of the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body.

Li Haoran’s arms shifted, resembling white jade, and with a squelch, he impaled Lu Yang’s clone.

Lu Yang’s clone remained entirely unaffected, as though the body did not belong to him.

“Universe in the Sleeve.”

He extended his right hand, and a continuous torrent of lake water gushed from the clone’s palm, filling the interior of the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body in an instant.

“Impossible, your Universe in the Sleeve stores water, it doesn't establish a connection with a lake; this is just a newly born clone, when did it absorb water...”

Li Haoran stopped halfway through his sentence, suddenly remembering that Lu Yang had high-fived his clone.

Presumably, before the battle commenced, Lu Yang had already stored the water source in his palm, transferring it to the clone during that high-five.

Careless!

“Water-Splitting Technique!”

In the span of three breaths, the lake water filling the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body vanished, transforming into hydrogen and oxygen!

As a bird’s screech echoed, golden flames flashed within the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body, and the colossal explosion caused cracks to appear even on the interior of the golden body.

“My word, Lu Yang’s move is quite potent,” Meng Jingzhou said in surprise; he understood the principle that the smaller the explosive space, the greater the power.

“Not only that, the two gases Senior Brother Lu decomposed seem to have aided the explosion as well,” Tao Yaoye said earnestly; a single strand of Golden Bird True Fire should not have generated such an exaggerated explosion, meaning other factors were definitely at play.

“This must be the combination of Five Elements spells mentioned by the Dharma-Transmitting Elder,” Mangu remarked in profound admiration; the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body, Wood Clone, Water-Splitting Technique, True Fire, and Ground Shrinking—all five elements of spells were fully represented.

Lu Yang dispelled the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body, only to behold two charred corpses.

“Junior Brother Li, cease your acting; I saw you utilize a spell to escape just now,” Lu Yang laughed, having maintained his focus on the movements of the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body from beginning to end.

The moment before the explosion, Li Haoran had executed a technique akin to shifting shapes and swapping shadows, exchanging the positions of his clone and his true body.

Lu Yang had long since discovered a clone of Li Haoran buried underground using his divine sense, presumably prepared in secret to catch him off guard, yet unfortunately there had been no chance to use it maliciously; instead, it had become a life-saving maneuver.

With a muffled thud behind Lu Yang, Li Haoran emerged from the earth.

What terrifying power, Li Haoran thought, a lingering dread gnawing at his heart. He knew full well that Lu Yang had held back; otherwise, he would not have faced a single true flame of the golden bird, but an entire flock of them, bolstered by the devastating Samadhi true fire.

Are we still fighting, Lu Yang asked, turning his head with a playful smile.

Of course we are, Li Haoran replied, refusing to concede. Yet a sudden wave of dizziness washed over him, causing him to stagger and nearly lose his footing.

Poisoned? No, wait, what is this?

Li Haoran realized something was terribly amiss with his body, rendering him unable to continue the fight, yet he had no recollection of inhaling any kind of poison from start to finish.

What was happening?

Junior Brother Li, you likely know that vital breath is essential for any living creature to survive, but you probably do not know that inhaling too much of it is actually detrimental, inducing symptoms like dizziness and chest tightness.

From the very beginning of our duel, I have been continuously employing the water-parting technique, breaking down all the moisture in the air into light breath and vital breath. As the concentration of vital breath rose, your body naturally gave out.

If you had observed more closely, Junior Brother Li, you would have noticed that I have been holding my breath the entire time.

Well then, do you still wish to fight?

I concede.