A Tempestuous Combat Rhythm!

Boom! A violent explosion rang out, and Li Guanqi's backward momentum finally slowed. Yet the clone was already before him! Raising his left hand, Li Guanqi unleashed thirteen sword strikes in an instant! Simultaneously, his right hand shot out like an iron clamp. Just as his palm was about to seize the clone by the neck— The clone flickered explosively, leaving fourteen afterimages within the square inch of space before him. The moment Li Guanqi's hand made contact, the afterimages shattered! Immediately, the two clashed fiercely in midair, exchanging dozens of sword blows every breath! Li Guanqi's heart sank inch by inch. No matter how he struck, the clone found a way to counter. By comparison, even though this was clearly his own clone... Parrying its attacks proved extraordinarily difficult. The clone's sword momentum was ethereal and elusive, leaving no trace to follow. Its strikes were not purely his own moves; woven among them were sword techniques from foes Li Guanqi had fought in life-and-death battles! Realizing this, Li Guanqi exhaled a foul breath and allowed his mind to settle. He began running through the techniques of every enemy he had faced throughout his cultivation journey. For a time, the two fought to a stalemate, but Li Guanqi ultimately lacked deep familiarity with other people's sword momentum. Instead, his imperfect imitations disrupted his own offensive rhythm. Suddenly! A chill ran down Li Guanqi's spine. In an instant, the clone's aura vanished from before him. Almost by instinct, Li Guanqi shifted three inches to the side. A lightning blade struck from behind, grazing his cheek. A stinging burn seared his cheek as Li Guanqi twisted his sword at an impossible angle, thrusting backward! To his surprise, the clone condensed a lightning sword in its right hand, thrusting it forward with precision. The clash of blades unleashed violent waves of primal energy. At the same time, the clone's left-hand sword, having missed, did not pull back. Nor did it slash horizontally—a horizontal slash could be easily dodged if Li Guanqi ducked. In a split-second decision, the clone snapped its wrist, bringing the blade down in a vertical cleave! The instant the strike fell, Li Guanqi started to condense a spiritual sword to parry. Yet the clone gave him no opening. The moment it shifted its wrist, it lashed out with a kick straight to the back of Li Guanqi's knee! The kick landed with tremendous force, nearly snapping his lower leg. And that blow disrupted the primal energy gathering within him! *Splurt!* The blade pierced into his body, but Li Guanqi clamped down on it firmly with his bones, his eyes chilling as blades. "Heaven Shatterer Sword Slash!" With the Heaven Shattering Sword Art, he unleashed three consecutive slashes backward. The three strikes followed with virtually no gap between them, sealing off all of the clone's escape routes the moment he attacked! Just as Li Guanqi felt victory within his grasp, his clone relinquished its spiritual sword without hesitation. As it shot backward, it detonated the power within the spiritual sword. Had Li Guanqi not reacted quickly enough to erect several primal energy barriers, he would have been severely injured. Yet when he looked behind him, shock coursed through him! His clone stared expressionlessly at the incoming sword light, without the slightest ripple in its eyes. Hurling backward, its hands formed hand seals and slammed down against the void! Boom! Endless thunderous power erupted in an instant, erecting layer upon layer of lightning curtain walls before it! After forming two lightning curtain walls, the clone simply stood behind them without expression. Boom! The first lightning curtain wall detonated immediately, but the second only fractured. The moment the lightning fragments shattered, the clone had already forged another lightning sword. Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. Just as he prepared to strike, his heart leaped—he caught an oddity! Three hundred-zhang-tall lightning gates abruptly materialized around him! Rumble! A thunderous rumble shook the space, accompanied by an inexplicable surge of pressure. The terrifying weight forced Li Guanqi's frame downward! "Three Phantasms Jinling Gates!" *Not good!* Li Guanqi looked down and saw colossal sealing lightning pillars shooting toward him from every direction! Spirit Incantation: Four-Direction Heaven-Reaching Pillars! *No, how can he be so fast?!* *Could it be... the lightning curtain walls earlier were nothing more than a decoy?!* *No... how could he pull off such a massive, intricate sequence of moves in a single instant?!* Rather than disbelief that the clone could do it, it was more that Li Guanqi himself could not achieve such a feat... Li Guanqi's body blurred into afterimages, but even his terrifying speed was hounded step by step by the sealing power! Suddenly! Li Guanqi's composure shattered, goosebumps erupting across the back of his neck. In his divine sense, the original clone began to fade—at some unknown point, what had stood there was only an afterimage! The moment he spun around, a flash of sword light as swift as lightning flared in the corner of his eye! Li Guanqi's body began to shatter, a wound piercing clean through his chest surfacing. Li Guanqi murmured, "What a swift Sword Draw Stance..." *Hum!* Li Guanqi was flung backward and out! Gu Li murmured with a crestfallen face, "Isn't Big Brother just too strong?" Li Guanqi paused, then looked down, stopped the bleeding from his wound, and asked, "How long?" Ye Feng smiled faintly. "Exactly ten breaths!" Li Guanqi's expression darkened slightly. He had thought he had held out long enough. Seeing his expression, the others shared the same sentiment. Li Guanqi sighed, forced to admit... The Nirvana Pagoda that the sword spirit had poured so much effort into forging was countless times stronger than the old Hundred Champions Illusion. Because the clones inside were their very selves! Li Guanqi's eyes flickered. His Spirit Absolution blood threads likely had something to do with the Nirvana Pagoda as well. Otherwise... an imprint taken simply from entering each floor could never reach such depth. Li Guanqi murmured, "In other words..." "As long as we work hard enough, we could theoretically reach the strength of those clones!" Hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement! For they had all endured more than one savage beating at the hands of 'themselves.' That power clearly had not exceeded the limit of their realm, and they had seen every bit of power displayed by the clones inside. Many of the techniques were even created by their own hands. Yet the clones wielded their combat rhythm and every skill they possessed with consummate mastery—even better than they themselves did! Like Li Guanqi, who had never thought to draw useful experience from the foes he had defeated. Throughout the battle, the clone had suppressed him completely, giving him not a single moment to breathe! His clone wasted no opportunity to attack—or even to eliminate its opponent! The entire combat rhythm remained in its grasp from beginning to end. Such an unrelenting onslaught, dense as a torrential downpour, was nearly impossible to defend against; even Li Guanqi could do nothing but scramble to hold his guard... None of them spoke, not even bringing up their earlier wager. All of them sat quietly in place, digesting their combat experience and continuously reflecting on their shortcomings.