Chapter 1088: I'll say it again, you're not lasting long, are you?

"You dare mock me?"

"He Pingsheng... I'll f*** your grandmother..."

"Go to hell..."

Boom...

That Tiandao Daoist, having his mind clouded by rage for a moment, brandished the golden blade in his hand, intending to hack He Pingsheng down.

But halfway through the swing, he suddenly remembered that magic treasures were not allowed during the competition, so he forcibly suppressed the urge, risking a backlash of his internal energy to retract the golden blade.

"Pfft... Pfft, pfft, pfft..."

Before He Pingsheng even made a move, he had already spat out several mouthfuls of blood himself.

After all, he had already catalyzed his immortal essence, and then forcibly retracted that power back into his body, which was equivalent to striking himself.

This scene made the referee elder chuckle: "The use of immortal artifacts is prohibited, or else you will be disqualified immediately!"

"Understood!" That Golden Blade Daoist took a deep breath, spat out two more mouthfuls of golden divine blood, and looked at He Pingsheng. "Hehehe... Good lad, a clever scheme, I almost fell for it!"

"If that blade had landed just now, you would have won, wouldn't you?"

"Good, good, good... A fine strategy!"

"I've discovered that I'm not quite as good at playing mind games as you are!"

He Pingsheng smiled.

That's right, he wasn't being bored enough to mock others; that line about "you're not lasting long" was purely to provoke this big brute into swinging his blade down. If he had, He Pingsheng wouldn't have needed to fight at all and could have won by default.

What a pity, the guy reacted in the end and didn't fall for it.

Sigh...

Since he didn't fall for it, they had to fight!

This was quite difficult.

Defeating Tiandao wasn't hard; for He Pingsheng, it would take at most one or two moves.

But defeating him was a dilemma, as it would expose his true strength.

The key was, how should he fight?

Should he win in one move, or drag it out?

Forget it... He absolutely could not win in one move!

He would just have to drag it out!

"Damn your grandmother, you've got plenty of tricks up your sleeve, let's see how I deal with you, you dog..."

"Hu Liu Heaven-Opening Fist... Die!"

Boom...

With no immortal artifacts allowed, Tiandao threw a punch directly at He Pingsheng. "Lad, do you know why this move is called the Hu Liu Heaven-Opening Fist?"

Although Tiandao's words weren't reliable, he didn't hold back at all when fighting.

The power of a single strike shook the void.

He Pingsheng could even feel the space trembling.

After all, this guy was ranked in the teens within the inner sect of the Red Lotus Immortal Valley; while not a heaven-gifted prodigy, he was certainly talented.

He Pingsheng didn't dare to be careless. His feet flashed with light as his speed instantly increased fivefold.

Before that punch could land, his body had already dodged away. "I don't know..."

Bang...

Tiandao's fist slammed directly into the ground.

A large, round crater instantly appeared in the earth.

Immediately after, Tiandao didn't give He Pingsheng any chance to catch his breath. His immortal essence surged forth, manifesting a golden long-blade phantom in front of him.

The long blade expanded to a hundred zhang, slashing down at He Pingsheng. "Because my father is named Hu Liu, and he created this move himself!"

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Massive golden elemental energy exploded in the void, blowing He Pingsheng's clothes until they snapped and his hair flew wildly.

This time, He Pingsheng didn't dodge. Instead, he moved his spiritual sense, activated the blood energy within his body, mobilized the strength of his muscles, and threw a punch.

A ten-zhang-wide fist phantom manifested, colliding with the golden long blade.

Then, violent energy, carrying sand and stones, surged in all directions.

In this strike, He Pingsheng didn't use his full strength; he just matched Tiandao blow for blow.

Tiandao leaped into the void and shouted, "Good lad, you really are something, come again..."

"Golden Snake Wild Dance!"

Whoosh... Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Earth produces metal!

Countless golden lights, resembling snakes, flew out from the ground below, shooting toward He Pingsheng.

He Pingsheng didn't dare to be careless. He immediately activated his fire-attribute technique to condense a fire-attribute shield, firmly protecting his body.

Fire overcomes metal!

The two traded blows, and soon half an incense stick of time had passed.

And after half an incense stick of time, there was still no winner.

The key was, you couldn't even tell who had the upper hand; they just kept fighting!

Meanwhile, the other nine arenas in the same batch had already decided their winners.

The point was, the others had been waiting for them for nearly half an incense stick of time.

"Damn, this kid is quite strong..."

"He's actually trading blows with Tiandao, who is ranked fourteenth, without falling behind?"

"No wonder he could kill Jing Lei in one move, he's actually this strong!"

"But he only has the cultivation of the ninth layer of the Human Immortal Stage. If he reaches the twelfth layer, Tiandao definitely won't be his match!"

"What was his name again?"

"He Pingsheng, right?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... He Pingsheng is very strong, but compared to Qiao Shijie Lu Xiaoci, he's still lacking."

"Exactly," someone said. "Back when Qiao Shijie Lu was at the ninth layer of the Human Immortal Stage, she was already the number one inner sect disciple, undefeated against everyone!"

"He Pingsheng is at the ninth layer now, the same cultivation as Qiao Shijie Lu back then, but he's only on par with Tiandao, who is ranked fourteenth!"

"He and Qiao Shijie Lu are indeed quite far apart!"

"Isn't that obvious? Qiao Shijie Lu is ranked ninety-second on the Heaven Stele of the Qiankun Immortal City from ancient times to the present. What does He Pingsheng have to compare with her? What can he use to compare?"

Just wait!

Before they knew it, another incense stick of time had passed.

Before they knew it, half an hour had passed.

The two were still trading blows, unable to determine a winner.

"I'm not waiting anymore!" the Heavenly Martial Pavilion elder said. "The rest of you continue your matches, let them keep fighting!"

Actually, there were only ten people left, so five arenas were enough!

As it turned out!

After those ten people decided their winners, He Pingsheng and Tiandao were still fighting.

"I'll f*** your grandmother..." Tiandao was on the verge of a breakdown. "He Pingsheng... you b******... how are you like a rock... aren't you tired?"

"Are you doing this on purpose?"

He Pingsheng, while carefully parrying Tiandao's attacks, dodging, and countering—each time perfectly neutralizing the force of Tiandao's strikes—said, "Wang Shixiong Tiandao, this is called meeting one's match!"

"However... I think you should just concede!"

"You're not lasting long!"

At these words, Tiandao's face turned green with rage. "He Pingsheng... are you trying to provoke me?"

"Hehehe... you b****** succeeded... you've successfully provoked me... next, watch how I deal with you!"

"Heavenly Blade Fury... Slash!"

A fifty-zhang-long golden blade phantom manifested, churning the immortal spiritual energy in the void as it slashed toward He Pingsheng.

He Pingsheng said, "It seems Wang Shixiong isn't doing so well... I remember when you used Heavenly Blade Fury last time, the blade phantom was a hundred zhang long. Why is it only fifty zhang now?"

"See? I told you you weren't lasting long, didn't I?"