Hearing this, Lin Xiao’s brows furrowed slightly. His battle with Li Ren Chou had finally arrived.
Ling Hu and Zi Ling’s expressions grew solemn.
The crowd was curious. Could Lin Xiao, a dual-cultivator genius of elemental and spiritual power, break Li Ren Chou’s illusion technique?
However, many were not optimistic about Lin Xiao’s chances.
After all, even Sheng Li had been defeated. The likelihood of Lin Xiao countering the illusion technique seemed slim.
Li Luo wore a disdainful expression. Though she didn’t know how Li Ren Chou had acquired such powerful illusion techniques, even the formidable Sheng Li had fallen to him. No matter how talented or prodigious Lin Xiao was, he surely couldn’t match her extraordinary cousin.
At this moment, Li Ren Chou smiled lightly, his expression calm. Under the crowd’s gaze, he looked at Lin Xiao and said with a smile, “I surrender!”
“What?” Li Luo was instantly stunned, as was the entire crowd.
Surrender? Li Ren Chou was surrendering? Was this a mistake?
What was going on?
Even the Martial Emperors present, including Emperor Zi and Emperor Li, were baffled. Why would someone as powerful as Li Ren Chou surrender?
Emperor Li almost shouted out in question, but since Li Ren Chou had already spoken, even his intervention would be futile.
According to the summit’s rules, once a surrender was declared, it could not be retracted, and even a Martial Emperor could not interfere.
Otherwise, being expelled from the summit would likely be the least severe punishment.
Though Emperor Li held his tongue, everyone present remained equally puzzled.
Even Lin Xiao himself was somewhat confused.
Though he had fought Li Ren Chou to a draw before, Li Ren Chou hadn’t used his illusion technique then. So why surrender now?
“Why? Why would you surrender to this guy?” Li Luo finally couldn’t hold back, asking in utter confusion.
All eyes were on Li Ren Chou, their thoughts echoing Li Luo’s.
However, Li Ren Chou only smiled and said, “Because my illusion technique can’t be used again for a while.”
“You can rest for half an hour,” the referee interjected immediately.
“Even two hours wouldn’t be enough,” Li Ren Chou replied with a smile.
The crowd was stunned. Was that even possible?
He had only used the technique three times: twice on Sheng Li and once on Wu Shixun. It didn’t seem to have drained him much.
Could it be that using the illusion technique secretly required immense energy?
If so, didn’t that mean anyone facing Li Ren Chou within the next two hours wouldn’t need to fear his illusion technique?
In other words, was Sheng Li just unlucky to have faced Li Ren Chou earlier?
This summit was getting too bizarre.
Even so, why didn’t Li Ren Chou rest and recover before fighting Wu Shixun?
Why, against Wu Shixun, did he choose to use what seemed to be his last illusion technique instead of fighting normally?
Wu Shixun’s combat strength wasn’t that formidable. Li Ren Chou could have defeated him with elemental power alone.
To Li Luo and the Li family, this was utterly perplexing. With Li Ren Chou’s true combat strength, he could have defeated Wu Shixun, perhaps even Yin Mu, and maybe even fought Sheng Li with elemental power alone.
If the illusion technique was his strongest attack, why waste it on Wu Shixun?
Even without using the illusion technique, why surrender to Lin Xiao?
If not for the setting, Emperor Li would have intervened.
Even Sheng Li was skeptical. If Li Ren Chou was telling the truth, could he have won by enduring one more illusion attack?
But looking at Li Ren Chou’s calm, smiling expression, it didn’t seem like his illusion power was truly exhausted.
“Lin Xiao wins. Next match continues!” the referee quickly announced.
Though he too was puzzled, as a referee, he couldn’t delay due to confusion.
The summit continued. After the earlier battles, the subsequent fights, while exciting, weren’t particularly dazzling.
After some time, the referee’s attention-grabbing voice rang out again, “Next match, Lin Xiao versus Xing Tian!”
“Finally, it’s your turn. Will you surrender or take a bye?” Xing Tian said with a slight smirk.
“No need to provoke me. I’ve been eager to fight you. I never considered surrendering or taking a bye!” Lin Xiao replied, leaping onto the battlefield and landing on the stone platform.
“Bold words, but I’m afraid you’ll pay a price for your courage!” Xing Tian moved, flying into the battlefield, standing in mid-air, looking down at Lin Xiao.
“No need for veiled words. You just want to kill me, don’t you? Don’t worry, I won’t surrender. But if you want to kill me, be prepared to be killed!” Lin Xiao said bluntly.
“You think you can kill me?” Xing Tian was momentarily stunned, then sneered, “Big ambitions. Fine, I won’t surrender either. If you want to kill me, go ahead and try.”
“But let me remind you, you’ve offended someone you shouldn’t have. It’s not just me who wants to kill you; someone else does too. And they asked me to let you know why you’ll die,” Xing Tian added, as if ensuring Lin Xiao understood.
“I understand,” Lin Xiao responded calmly.
His eyes glinted with cold light. If anyone could enlist Xing Tian, it was likely Jian Wuque.
He hadn’t expected Jian Wuque to involve Xing Tian.
Of course, there was another possibility: Emperor Duan had approached Emperor Xing, instructing Xing Tian to kill him.
But Jian Wuque seemed the more likely candidate.
“Since he sent you to kill me, I’ll make sure you die first!”
With that, a thick killing intent surged from Lin Xiao.
Regardless of whether someone had sent Xing Tian, the fact that Xing Tian wanted to kill someone from the Zi family was reason enough for Lin Xiao to strike.
“What? Lin Xiao wants to kill Xing Tian? Is he dreaming?”
“Dual cultivation of elemental and spiritual power is indeed prodigious, but talent doesn’t equal strength. If his cultivation is lacking, even great talent can fall. Lin Xiao is so arrogant against Xing Tian; he’s overestimating himself!”
“Overestimating? He’s practically asking for death!”
“So what? Xing Tian said he’d kill Lin Xiao. Should Lin Xiao just comply?”
“He could surrender or concede after a brief exchange. There’s no need to go all out against Xing Tian.”
“Geniuses have their pride. How could he grovel? If it were me, I’d do the same!”
“You wouldn’t even make it to the platform!”
“I…”
“Xing Tian nearly killed Zi Ling in two strikes. With that experience, he might kill Lin Xiao in one, leaving no chance for escape.”
Amid the crowd’s heated discussions, Xing Tian’s aura surged. His earth-rank junior Bi’an phenomenon was unleashed.
A faint earthy glow bloomed from his dantian, and a ferocious Bi’an beast phantom appeared above and behind him. A terrifying ancient aura spread, its fearsome pressure enveloping all directions. Clearly, Xing Tian was preparing his strongest attack, determined to kill Lin Xiao in one strike, leaving no opportunity for escape.
