My Clones Can Cultivate

Chapter 181

"Don’t worry, Sys. I have a plan that would give me one hundred percent chance of taking this crazy guy down," Liyu said with a small, confident smile on his face. "No matter what happened or what will happen... I would win."

There was an absolute confidence in his voice as he said those words. It wasn’t the confidence of someone who had everything under control.

Far from it. His body was battered, his hands had only just been forcibly restored, his Primal Qi was steadily dwindling, and his opponent was currently standing before him in a state that was practically beyond reason. Yet Liyu still spoke as if victory had already been decided.

The System remained silent for a while. Then it finally spoke. And when it did, its tone sounded rather confused.

[Host... and what is this plan of yours?]

Liyu didn’t give the System the answer it wanted. Instead, he only shook his head.

"It is a surprise."

[Host, please tell me this plan.]

Liyu remained silent.

[Host?]

Still nothing. The System continued pestering him, repeatedly asking what exactly he was planning, but Liyu didn’t say a single thing. His face remained adorned with that calm smile as he stretched the rest of his body. His muscles were still aching.

The force with which Haoran had smashed him into the massive pillar earlier had been more than enough to make his bones groan and his entire body shake. Even now, phantom pain still lingered throughout his body.

But Liyu knew he couldn’t afford to remain stiff. Soon, he would be going into another round of battle. He needed his body ready. He needed every muscle, every joint, every inch of his body prepared for what was coming next.

[Host, tell me this plan of yours.]

The System refused to give up. But Liyu continued ignoring it. And the longer he remained silent, the more the System began to grow furious. At the same time... it was also becoming slightly anxious. After all, the System had been with Liyu for only a relatively short period of time.

Yet somehow, it felt like an eternity. It knew Liyu. Perhaps better than anyone else did. And because of that, the System knew something very important. Whenever Liyu spoke about having a plan... especially when he described that plan as a good plan... that plan was almost certainly going to be a very bad one. A terrible one. Possibly a completely insane one.

The kind of plan that would make a normal person question whether Liyu had any desire to remain alive.

After a while of questioning him and receiving nothing in return, the System finally relented. It had one last word of advice. Or perhaps... a plea.

[Host...]

Its tone sounded unusually serious.

[Don’t go doing anything stupid or drastic, okay?]

Liyu didn’t reply. At least, not instantly. After a while, he nodded.

"I can’t say for certain..." He paused. "But don’t worry." His smile widened slightly. "I can’t die."

Silence. If the System had eyes at that moment, they would have undoubtedly twitched in pure disbelief.

The way Liyu casually spoke about death... It was almost as though he was deliberately messing with it. I can’t die. A s if that was supposed to be reassuring. The System had seen this side of Liyu many times in the past. He had repeatedly walked straight toward situations that could have ended his life. He had repeatedly tempted death.

And every single time, he somehow managed to survive. That was precisely why the System knew for certain that whatever plan Liyu was preparing to launch... It was probably something capable of putting his life in serious danger.

Liyu had finally finished discussing things with the System. And after considering his next course of action, he had finally come to a decision. For now, his goal was simple. Find out just how strong Guan Haoran truly was.

And more importantly... find out if there was any weakness in his defense. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be one. Liyu had already thrown numerous attacks at him. He had used his speed. His claws. His abilities. He had even combined Eagle Eyes, Origin Eyes, Linear Blink, and Camouflage to launch a relentless barrage of attacks.

And yet Haoran had stood there and endured everything. His defense seemed almost absolute.

But Liyu didn’t believe there was truly such a thing as an absolute defense. There had to be a weakness. There had to be something. And the only way he could find out was by exchanging moves with Haoran.

He needed to test him. Observe him. Study his reactions. Find the smallest flaw and then exploit it. But there was one major problem. That wouldn’t be possible if Haoran decided to simply spam endless Behemoth Punches. That would end him instantly. Well... not actually instantly. But he surely wouldn’t survive for long if Haoran truly decided to go down that path.

So Liyu had decided to do something else. He was going to talk the big guy out of it. He was going to force Haoran to play fair. Liyu began walking forward. Step by step. His footsteps echoed softly across the battered arena.

Soon, he stood only a few metres away from Haoran. Haoran simply looked at him. Plainly. Calmly. His blinding white eyes remained fixed on Liyu without the slightest trace of emotion. For a brief moment, neither of them spoke.

The atmosphere between them seemed to grow strangely still. After everything that had happened, the silence itself felt heavy. Then a few seconds passed.

Liyu suddenly spoke. He did so before Haoran could say whatever he had intended to say. And Liyu was almost certain that he already knew what those words would be. Give up.

The guy had been saying that over and over again like a man possessed. It seemed as though Haoran only knew those two words. But before he could repeat that same phrase once again... Liyu spoke first. And what he said made Haoran pause in sheer disbelief.

"You are weak."

Silence. Haoran, who had been about to give Liyu one final chance to quit while he still could, froze. His white eyes blinked once. Then again. Wait. Was he really hearing that correctly? Or had the battle somehow damaged his hearing?

If neither of those things was the case... then why the hell was he hearing Liyu utter complete nonsense from his mouth? Haoran remained silent for a long moment. A very long moment. Then he slowly raised a hand.

He pointed at himself. His expression remained blank, but the gesture seemed to carry a simple question. Me? Was that phrase really directed at him? And no one else?

Liyu looked at him. Then, being Liyu... he nodded.

"Yes." His gaze sharpened. "I am certain of it now." A small smile appeared on his face. "You are weak."

"Earlier, I was able to completely dominate the battle," Liyu’s voice carried a strange confidence as he stretched out his hand, his fingers curling slightly as if he were holding onto something invisible. "I locked you in place because of my endless assault." His gaze sharpened.

"And you started to feel fear and panic." He paused for a moment, allowing those words to sink in. "You felt it then, didn’t you?" Liyu’s expression became increasingly serious. "You must have been scared shitless." His tone was filled with absolute conviction, as though he were stating an undeniable fact rather than making an outrageous accusation.

"And that is why you cheated." He pointed directly at Haoran. "You had to use that Behemoth Punch of yours against me just so you wouldn’t get defeated, isn’t it?"

Haoran remained silent. Liyu nodded as if the silence itself was an admission.

"Normally, I wouldn’t mind it." He paused. "But there is another reason why I would totally mind it." His expression became even more solemn. "And that is because you are cheating even while cheating." Liyu’s eyes narrowed. "You’re a double cheater."

Haoran blinked. Once. Twice. Then he slowly raised his second hand and pointed at his own chest, his expression seemingly asking a very simple question. Are you really talking about me?

Liyu nodded without hesitation. "Who else is a cheater around here?"

He casually looked across the stage. There was no one else. Only him. And Haoran. Liyu looked back at the large figure standing before him and shrugged. "You see? Only you."

Haoran remained silent. For a while, he simply stared at Liyu. His expression was still filled with confusion. Clearly, he was trying to understand what the hell this guy was talking about. Eventually, he finally asked:

"I cheat?" His voice remained calm. "How?"

Liyu raised an eyebrow. The expression on his face was almost as if Haoran had just asked the most ridiculous question imaginable. "The question is... how are you not cheating?"

Haoran’s eyes blinked again. Liyu continued before he could interrupt. "First, I am winning." He pointed at himself. "And then you enter whatever this black mode is." He waved his hand toward Haoran’s current state, his expression becoming increasingly animated.

"And after that, you’re stronger." Liyu paused. "But I still stood my ground." His chest puffed out slightly. "Because I am a true warrior." He said those words with complete seriousness. "I didn’t falter. I continued fighting you. And guess what?" His grin widened. "I started winning once more."

Liyu’s voice became increasingly passionate as he recounted the battle as though he were presenting an airtight case before a court. "And what did you do after that?" He pointed at Haoran. "You used the Behemoth Punch." Liyu’s eye sharpened.

"And since your Qi is endless, I believe that is the one you’re going to keep using over and over again, isn’t that right?" His tone carried a slight judging quality. It was the tone of someone who believed he had just witnessed a crime and absolutely refused to let it slide.

It was almost as if Liyu were some righteous and law-abiding citizen who had caught someone committing a serious offense right in front of him. "This isn’t something I can just let go."

Haoran remained speechless. For a while, he simply stared at Liyu. His white eyes continued blinking in pure disbelief. The more Liyu explained, the more confused he seemed to become. It wasn’t that Haoran couldn’t understand the words.

He understood every single one of them. The problem was that he couldn’t understand how Liyu had somehow managed to reach such a conclusion. Eventually, after allowing all of those words to settle deep within Haoran’s mind, Liyu continued.

Internally, however, Liyu was already grinning wickedly. Yes. The guy has entered the trap. That was exactly what he wanted. He didn’t need to fight Haoran head-on.

Not when he already knew that the bastard could simply keep spamming those earth-shattering Behemoth Punches and end him in a matter of seconds. No. He wouldn’t allow that. He had to outsmart Haoran. Or rather... he had to outtalk him. Either way, it didn’t make much of a difference.

As long as Haoran stopped using those Behemoth Punches, Liyu’s plan could work.

Haoran’s gaze remained locked onto him. His white eyes still showed nothing but confusion as he continued trying to understand exactly how he was supposedly cheating.

Liyu looked at him. His grin remained hidden beneath the serious expression on his face. Just a little more. He only needed to push him a few times more. If everything went according to plan, things could still remain safe. He could still win without having to resort to the final extreme in his crazy plan.

Externally, however, Liyu maintained an incredibly serious expression. He looked almost like a police officer explaining to a criminal exactly what laws they had broken. "You see... When one battles in a tournament like this, cheating isn’t allowed." His tone was firm. "And what you’re currently doing is cheating."

Haoran remained silent. Liyu continued. "You have an infinite Qi reserve." He pointed toward Haoran. "So you can basically just keep spamming attacks over and over again." His expression became increasingly stern. "And that would be far from the honorable fight that I want."

He paused. "The fight that you want." Another pause. "And the fight that everyone wants." Liyu nodded firmly. "Do you understand?"

Haoran was silent for a while. Then, slowly... he nodded.

Liyu’s face became even more serious. If anything, the seriousness in his expression had reached an entirely different level, as though he was about to reveal another extremely important detail that could determine the outcome of the entire battle.

He continued, his voice brimming with absolute conviction. "And so, to make this an honorable fight, we would be fighting fair." He paused briefly. "Meaning we are just going to be throwing our fists and nothing else." His expression was solemn.

"No Behemoth Punch. No Behemoth Stance. Nothing else." His gaze sharpened. "Otherwise, it would be cheating." He nodded firmly.

"Ahem."

The System had finally had enough of listening to Liyu’s nonsense. It had almost forgotten that being a psycho wasn’t the only negative quality its host possessed. There was another. One that might even be worse.

Liyu was shameless as fuck. What the hell did he mean by an honorable fight? The System was damn sure that if Liyu were the one standing in Haoran’s shoes right now, the latter would already be cooked.

Liyu wouldn’t even give him the chance to run his mouth before crushing him with endless attacks and punches while smiling at him. That was exactly what the System believed Liyu would do. Maybe even worse. And now that he was on the receiving end, he was standing there preaching about an honorable fight. Trying to blabber his way out of an impossible situation.

The System couldn’t even decide whether it should be amused or exhausted.

[Host, what exactly are you trying to achieve with this?]

The System asked. Its tone sounded slightly exhausted, almost as if trying to understand and comprehend its host’s antics was giving it a really massive headache.

Liyu didn’t seem bothered. "Sys, watch and learn." His lips curled slightly upward. "This is what I call the Battle of Tongue." He paused dramatically. "Using one mouth to win the battle."

The System remained silent. Liyu continued with complete confidence. "In this case, I would say I used it to level down the battle." His eyes narrowed. "And make it go from totally impossible..." He smiled. "To at least a little bit possible."

There was a brief silence.

[Hmm...] The System’s response sounded skeptical. [But, Host, I believe you don’t think your opponent would be stupid enough to listen to your request, do you?]

The System genuinely couldn’t understand how Liyu could have such confidence in this ridiculous plan. After all, Haoran wasn’t an idiot. He had already seen how Liyu fought. Surely he wouldn’t simply listen to whatever nonsense came out of Liyu’s mouth.

But before Liyu could reply... Haoran, who had been silently staring at him this entire time, finally moved. His white eyes remained calm. He looked directly at Liyu. Then slowly... he nodded.

"Okay." His voice was calm and unwavering. "I agree."

Liyu’s eyes widened slightly. Haoran continued. "I would fight you and win this battle relying on my combat art..." His gaze sharpened faintly. "...but on my own pure combat skills."

Silence. Liyu stared at him. Then, internally.... Mission accomplished. His mind practically erupted with satisfaction. He had done it. The ridiculous plan had actually worked.

Externally, however, his face maintained the righteous expression of a debater who had finally convinced everyone that his argument was correct. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of the wicked thoughts running through his mind.

"That is a nice decision," Liyu said with a small smile.

He then turned around and walked away, creating some distance between himself and Haoran. His footsteps were calm. His expression was relaxed. But inside... his mind was already moving to the next stage. Now for the second phase of the plan. Liyu’s eyes gleamed.

With his mental pull, he gave the System a command. Because compelling Haoran to fight fair didn’t mean that he was also going to fight fair. Nah. That was absolutely not happening. He had only managed to level the battle slightly in his favor. That was all.

Haoran had removed his greatest advantage. But even then, Liyu wasn’t confident in winning just yet. The power gap was still enormous. And Liyu wasn’t foolish enough to underestimate the guy standing before him. Good thing... He was more prepared than Haoran knew.

[Ding! Strength Surge Elixir has been consumed.]

[Temporary boost of 300 Strength.]

[Effect duration: 30 minutes.]

[Ding! Speed Surge Elixir has been consumed.]

[Temporary boost of 300 Speed.]

[Effect duration: 30 minutes.]

[Ding! Endurance Elixir has been consumed.]

[Temporary boost of 300 Endurance.]

[Effect duration: 30 minutes.]

[Ding! Basic Stamina Elixir has been consumed.]

[Temporary boost of 300 Stamina.]

[Effect duration: 30 minutes.]

A series of system notifications rang inside Liyu’s mind. Then another notification appeared.

[System Message: Primal Qi has run out.]

Liyu’s expression remained unchanged.

Then...

[Ding! Hybrid Form has been deactivated.]

His beastly aura instantly began to recede. But Liyu wasn’t done. Another system notification appeared.

[New System Message: Host, would you like to sacrifice 100 Qi Beads to refill your Qi?]

[Warning: Doing this will cause a great deal of pain. If the resulting damage is not properly controlled, it might result in cultivation regression.]

[Would you like to proceed? Yes/No.]

A moment passed. Liyu didn’t hesitate. "Yes."

[Ding! Primal Qi has been restored.]

[Ding! Hybrid Form has been restored.]

The moment the notifications sounded, Liyu’s eyes shot open. His yellow slit pupils returned.

But this time... They were different. More domineering. More ferocious. And filled with an overwhelming sense of power.

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