My Clones Can Cultivate

Chapter 187

Ding! All temporary boosts received from the consumption of the Basic-Tier Surge Elixirs have faded. The time limit has been reached. The moment Liyu heard those words, he knew he had lost something valuable.

At almost the same time, his strength dropped sharply. The explosive power that had been coursing through every fiber of his body just moments ago suddenly receded, and the difference was immediately obvious.

Liyu’s hands twitched. "Damnation..." He cursed under his breath, his face filled with indignation and annoyance. Why?

Why? After everything... with all the limits he had pushed past, with how hard he had pushed himself, forcing himself harder and harder every single time, and yet... it was as if all of it had been meaningless. Wasn’t it? In the end, he was still unable to take that big guy down.

Liyu’s hand clenched tightly. He could feel it. The approaching failure. His approaching defeat. The feeling stung. And he hated it. He hated losing. He really, really hated losing. More than he could properly put into words. He had fought this hard.

He had gone this far. He had thrown practically everything he had into this battle, and yet he was still standing on the edge of defeat. It was infuriating.

At almost the exact same time he was having those thoughts, the system’s words rang inside his head. "Host, I have only one word for you..." A brief pause. "Quit."

The system’s tone sounded sincere and completely factual. There was no teasing. No sarcasm. No hidden meaning. It was simply stating what it believed to be the obvious truth. And somehow, those words became the final drop that tipped the bucket.

Liyu’s gaze changed. His eyes gradually hardened as he slowly shook his head. "Quit?" His voice was low. "No." His teeth gritted together. "I wouldn’t." Liyu raised his head, his expression becoming increasingly stubborn. "I didn’t come this far just to quit." His fists clenched. "Not like this." His gaze sharpened. "Never."

The system remained silent for several long seconds. It seemed to be considering its next words carefully before finally speaking again. "Host, I know you want the Golden Tokens and the quest reward."

The system’s voice remained calm. "But let’s be realistic here." A pause. "Nothing... I repeat, there is absolutely nothing... you can do here that can help salvage this situation."

Liyu remained silent.

"You might not be able to tell, but trust me, I can." The system’s tone became even more serious. "That Haoran standing before you is several times stronger than the one from before." Liyu’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"If you go near him now, he might genuinely kill you by accident." The system paused. "Don’t do something too stupid. You can’t win anymore. You can simply find another way to get to the Gold Valley Sect if you want to go there that badly. And about the quest..."

The system’s tone softened slightly. "There will be plenty of quests to look forward to in the future. So don’t push forward anymore. I am telling you this now because there is no point. It is meaningless. It is pointless. So don’t push yourself anymore. You can’t win anymore."

Liyu remained silent. His head lowered. His gaze dimmed. For a while, he didn’t say anything at all. The battlefield around him continued to exist, the pressure from Haoran’s newly completed transformation still hanging heavily in the air, but Liyu seemed to have momentarily withdrawn into his own thoughts.

Then, slowly... he shook his head. "Sys..." His voice was quiet. "I can’t believe it."

The system remained silent.

"Even you don’t understand me, do you?"

The system paused. It seemed to be trying to comprehend what Liyu was saying before finally responding. "Understand you?" A brief pause. "As far as understanding anyone can go..."

The system’s tone became strangely firm. "I believe I am the one that understands you the most in this world, Host."

Liyu shook his head. "No." His voice carried disappointment. "You don’t."

The system went silent.

"If you did..." Liyu slowly lifted his head. "...then you wouldn’t be thinking that I wanted to win just for the sake of the prize."

Liyu shook his head once more, his expression showing genuine disappointment, as if the system had somehow failed to understand something that should have been obvious. "This isn’t about the prize." His gaze gradually sharpened again. "It never was. Yes, I wanted the prize, but that is not the only reason."

Liyu slowly stood to his feet. His body was battered, his strength had fallen sharply after the temporary boosts disappeared, and every part of him was screaming at him to stop. Yet despite all of that, he still forced himself upright. He looked around.

The massive crowd surrounding the arena came into his sight. Mundane people. Cultivators. Young and old. Rich and poor. Peasants and nobles. His gaze slowly swept across their faces, taking in every single expression that he could see. And then he continued. "You see those gazes..." His voice was low. "It is pity, isn’t it?"

Affirmative.

"I hate it." Liyu’s expression became colder. "I hate all of their gazes." His gaze slowly dropped toward his own trembling hand. Those gazes. The pity. The disgust. The disappointment. He hated every single one of them.

And yet, those same gazes had haunted his entire childhood. Liyu took a steady breath, allowing the words to settle inside his chest. The system didn’t need to ask what he meant. It already understood. Liyu had inherited the original Liyu’s memories. He had inherited everything. His feelings. His fears. His experiences. His pain.

Everything the original Liyu had gone through, he had felt as well when he appeared inside that body. It was almost as though he was Liyu, and Liyu was him. When someone inherited another person’s emotions, feelings, experiences, and memories to such an extent, it was impossible to simply ignore them.

That was why Liyu had decided to help the previous Liyu achieve his long-planned dream. He wanted to be seen for who he truly was. A human. Not a disgrace. Not a failure. And certainly not someone who deserved to be looked at with pity. He didn’t want those pitiful gazes.

He didn’t want those sympathetic expressions. He didn’t want those pained looks accompanied by forced smiles. He hated all of them. All he had ever wanted was to be treated the same way everyone else was treated. Like a normal person. Like someone who had value. Like someone whose existence wasn’t something that needed to be pitied.

And yet... that never happened. No matter how hard he tried, those gazes continued to haunt him. They followed him everywhere. Until eventually, their influence had become so deeply rooted within him that he had started looking at himself through those same eyes.

He had begun to see himself as someone inferior. Someone destined to fail. Someone who could never escape the fate that had been assigned to him. That was when his mind had first broken. That was when he had sought to change his fate within the Beast Forest.

Either he managed to change his fate... or he died. Either way, he wouldn’t have to live beneath those gazes anymore. Those gazes that had never truly seen him for who he actually was.

Liyu’s hand slowly clenched into a fist. His knuckles trembled. "I would change it." His voice was quiet, yet every word carried an unmistakable determination. "I would win this tournament." His eyes slowly swept across the countless people watching him. "And I would change everyone’s opinion of me."

His fist tightened even further. "Of Liyu. I would wipe those annoying, pitiful gazes off every single person’s face." The words came out slowly, but there was an absolute conviction behind them. "And the only way to do that..." Liyu raised his head. "...is to win this tournament."

His gaze was dark. "I can’t lose." It wasn’t merely because of his ego. It wasn’t simply because he hated admitting defeat. And it wasn’t only because of the rewards waiting for him at the end. "No." Liyu shook his head. "I can’t afford to lose this chance."

His eyes burned with determination. "This is the chance to change everything." A chance to finally break free from the image that had followed him for so long. A chance to bring himself... and the original Liyu... peace. "I wouldn’t lose." His voice became firmer. "No matter what." Liyu said, his gaze sharp as a blade.

The system remained silent for longer than usual. It was trying to understand Liyu. The system’s tendency toward emotions was greatly lacking, after all. It operated primarily through databases, calculations, analysis, and countless stored records.

Although it possessed emotions of its own, they were nowhere near as complex as those of a human being. So, it couldn’t honestly say that it completely understood why Liyu wanted to do this. Why he was willing to continue fighting despite knowing just how hopeless the situation had become.

Why he refused to accept defeat even when every logical calculation pointed toward the same conclusion. But for once... the system could feel something. The conviction in Liyu’s words. The sincerity behind them. The determination that burned within him.

For a while, the system remained silent. Then it finally spoke. *Host... but still... think this through. You can’t win this fight. Not against someone like him.* The system tried to get through to Liyu once more. But Liyu didn’t say anything. He only took in a deep breath.

Then... he vanished.

His figure disappeared from where he stood, and in the very next instant, he appeared directly behind Guan Haoran. Without hesitation, Liyu threw a strike straight toward Haoran’s back.

He might have lost most of his major boosts, but he still had Momentum active, alongside the rest of his abilities. That should still be enough. Enough to stealthily execute his plan. At least... that was what he believed.

But reality was far different. Because the moment Liyu appeared directly behind Haoran and attempted to throw his punch... his entire body suddenly froze. Completely. His punch. His body. Everything.

It was as though the very flow of time around him had been paused. Liyu’s pupils contracted. He tried to move. Nothing happened. He forced his muscles to respond, but his body refused to obey.

What the hell?!

He forced his eyes to move sideways, and what he saw immediately caused his expression to change. The white aura surrounding Haoran had spread outward. It was curling around every inch of Liyu’s body, binding him completely.

The pure World Qi had wrapped itself around him like invisible chains, locking down every part of his body. Liyu couldn’t move even an inch.

Haoran slowly turned around.

His expression remained as calm as ever. His gaze was detached and tranquil. There wasn’t even a hint of anger on his face. He simply looked at Liyu. The look of a god gazing down upon a mortal. He didn’t speak.

Yet every hair on Liyu’s body stood on end. That silent gaze was enough. Liyu could almost hear what Haoran wanted to say without him actually saying a single word. *Give up.*

Liyu’s lips slowly curled upward. Even that tiny movement seemed to consume nearly all the strength he had left. Still, he forced himself to smile. A faint, defiant grin appeared on his battered face. "Sorry, but..." His voice was weak. "...no."

Haoran’s gaze seemed to dim slightly. He slowly raised his hand.

Then... Pah!

Like someone disciplining a stubborn child, Haoran casually slapped Liyu across the face.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

BOOM!

Liyu’s body shot backward at a speed far too fast for ordinary eyes to follow. His body slammed violently into one of the massive pillars.

BOOM!

The pillar shook violently from the impact. Liyu’s body sank down from it before sliding onto the ground. His arms and legs were twisted at unnatural angles. His entire figure looked battered beyond recognition.

No, he looked far worse than before. His ribs had been shattered from that single exchange. And that... had been nothing more than a casual attack from Haoran. A mere slap.

The thought alone was terrifying. Because if that was the power behind a casual strike, then what kind of destructive force would be contained within a serious attack? An attack that Haoran actually intended to use to kill? That would probably send Liyu straight into a half-dead state.

The entire crowd sucked in a sharp, cold breath. Shock and disbelief were written across countless faces as they stared at the scene unfolding before them. The mundane people were completely stunned.

They had been unable to follow what had happened at all. One moment, Liyu had been standing several meters away. The next, he had suddenly appeared behind Haoran. Then... he had frozen.

And before they could even understand what was happening, he had already been slapped through the air and smashed into a pillar. Everything had happened far too quickly.

But the cultivators were even more shocked. Their expressions were filled with genuine astonishment. Because they could see it. They could sense it. They could understand just how terrifying that casual strike had been.

Haoran had become insanely powerful. That single attack had radiated a level of power unlike anything most of them had ever experienced in their entire lives. It made them feel utterly uneasy. Their gazes toward Haoran had changed completely.

Just what kind of monster had that legendary state transformed Guan Haoran into? The question lingered in the hearts of countless cultivators. Yet none of them had an answer.

Meanwhile, the system’s voice once again rang inside Liyu’s mind. *Host, I would advise you to give up.*

Its tone was unusually serious. *I understand your motivation for wanting to win this. But I have to come clean with you, as I have been doing for a while already. There is no way you are winning this. All your plans have failed. There is no way left. You can’t win. Just accept reality.*

Liyu’s body remained slumped against the ground. Blood slowly trickled down from the side of his head. His body was in terrible condition. His ribs were shattered.

His strength had fallen. His major boosts had already disappeared. And the opponent standing before him had become stronger than ever. By every possible calculation... Liyu had already lost.

Yet slowly... Liyu raised his head. His bloodied face emerged from beneath his messy hair. And then his lips curled upward.

A faint smile, not a smile of surrender, not one of acceptance either. But something far more unsettling. Something that made the system feel strangely unsettled.

Liyu’s voice was low. Almost a whisper. "And who told you..." His eyes slowly narrowed. "...that I have no more cards to play?"

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