Chapter 106: Crippling His Son
Upon seeing Li Hao's actions, Li Qianfeng froze in shock.
Moments later, his eyes widened slightly, as though in disbelief. His entire body trembled faintly with anger.
"What do you mean by this?"
"Using a sword might hurt you. This will suffice," Li Hao said with a faint smile, though his heart was cold, radiating murderous intent.
Hearing Li Hao's words, everyone in the courtyard was stunned, doubting their own ears.
To face Li Qianfeng—also at the Fifteen Li realm, a direct disciple of the Boundless Buddhist Lord and a top-tier prodigy—with nothing but a chopstick?
This was the very definition of youthful arrogance, and today, they finally witnessed it firsthand!
This wasn’t just arrogance; it was outright disdain, a complete disregard for everything and everyone!
At the banquet table, Li Tiangang's expression changed dramatically. His initial shock quickly turned into fury.
Earlier, he had thought of Li Hao as simply arrogant, which he could somewhat understand. After all, with no one to discipline him and having reached such a terrifying cultivation realm at just fourteen, it was natural for him to be a bit haughty.
But this had gone beyond arrogance; it was pure overconfidence!
Even against an ordinary Fifteen Li realm opponent, victory might be achievable. But Li Qianfeng was the Boundless Buddhist Lord's disciple!
And even if Li Hao truly possessed the skill to win, what of it?
Defeating his cousin with nothing but a chopstick would be a devastating blow to Li Qianfeng's pride. It could crush his Dao Heart irreparably, ruining his life forever!
If that were to happen, how would Li Tiangang face his deceased elder brother?
At the same table, Jian Wudao and Chu Jiuyue were equally stunned, unable to comprehend how this young prodigy could be so audacious.
Slaying a prodigy with a chopstick—how was that even possible?
Was he intending to replace the sword entirely with a chopstick? Jian Wudao was puzzled. Judging from Li Hao's stance and the fact that the Li family had gifted him a renowned sword, it was likely he practiced the Sword Dao.
However, recalling the look in the boy's eyes from years ago, Jian Wudao couldn't help but shake his head inwardly. When he first heard about the Eternal Night sword, he had already felt displeased, believing the Li family had once again wasted a renowned sword.
This child could never achieve greatness in the Sword Dao!
Meanwhile, Liu Yurong, Jiang Haiping, and others were both shocked and furious, with a hint of delight mixed in.
Such arrogance from Li Hao could only lead to his own downfall!
This thought echoed in the minds of most of the guests present. Truly, geniuses were geniuses, but they also had fatal flaws, and these flaws were often the reason for their untimely demise.
"You..."
Li Qianfeng stared at Li Hao, his gaze locked onto the boy’s smiling face. Yet through those eyes, he could feel the undeniable contempt.
"I will make you pay for this!"
Grinding his teeth, Li Qianfeng spoke each word with venomous precision.
His aura suddenly surged, causing his robes to ripple as he swung his sword, his voice low and venomous:
"Take this strike!"
Li Hao stood calmly, his smile fading as he didn’t even bother with a mocking smirk.
A dazzling burst of sword energy slashed toward him, lifting his robes and sending his hair flying.
With a casual flick of the chopstick in his hand, a streak of sword energy shot forth.
With a loud boom, the two forces collided and dissipated, stirring up a cloud of dust.
The tables, chairs, and buildings nearby remained unscathed, protected by Li Qingzheng's energy barrier.
Seeing the two engage, Li Qingzheng suddenly remembered he hadn’t called upon the ancestral spirits from the Li family shrine to temporarily lift the Oath Bonds between the two.
However, he quickly came to his senses. Neither of them had inherited the soul of a Li family ancestor, so there was no risk of breaking the oath and suffering injuries.
"This boy..." Li Qingzheng muttered, his gaze fixed on the confrontation. While he was confident in Li Hao's victory earlier, the boy's current overconfidence left him uneasy.
The brief exchange clearly did not involve their full power, yet they were evenly matched, leaving the onlookers astonished.
"Hmm?"
Jian Wudao’s gaze sharpened. The sword energy the boy had just released with a flick of the chopstick carried an air of natural mastery.
Li Qianfeng’s eyes grew colder, his murderous intent subtly surfacing. He hadn’t expected his opponent’s Object Manipulation Ability to be so formidable.
No longer holding back, he raised his aura to its peak, resembling a war god wielding a sword.
"Rising Moon!"
Li Qianfeng unleashed his strongest technique, intending to obliterate Li Hao in a single blow.
Terrifying sword intent gathered in his palm, and the sharp energy extended outward. The surrounding guests turned pale, feeling as though their throats were being slit.
"It’s the Li family’s Boundless Sea Sword Technique!"
"He’s already mastered the third layer? And at such a young age?"
"What extraordinary talent in the Sword Dao! This strike could only be parried by a grandmaster!"
The crowd was stunned, their expressions grim.
Beyond the courtyard, Ren Qianqian clutched her sword case, her eyes gleaming with recognition.
That technique—it looked so familiar!
But... it seemed different from what she had seen before.
Simpler, perhaps.
Li Hao’s gaze remained icy and indifferent as he observed the incoming technique. The mere Supreme Perfection realm, though impressive, was not worth his concern.
Slowly, he raised the chopstick in his hand.
In an instant, radiant light erupted from his fingertips.
Boundless Sea.
Rising Moon!
A crescent moon suddenly illuminated the entire courtyard.
And countless pairs of eyes.
Even in broad daylight, the brilliance of the moon could not be obscured—it was dazzling beyond compare.
Jian Wudao, who had been lamenting the missed opportunity to recruit Li Qianfeng, widened his eyes in utter disbelief at this moment.
The wrinkles around his aged eyelids seemed to stretch taut as he stared.
"That’s... the True Realm!?"
Jian Wudao abruptly stood up, completely losing his composure as he gazed at the young boy in shock.
His four disciples, including Bian Ruxue, were equally stunned. They stared at the scene, unable to believe what they were witnessing.
As sword practitioners, how could they fail to recognize the terrifying mastery and perfection behind this strike?
The light that once graced the city walls now illuminated the world once again.
Ren Qianqian clutched the black sword case in her arms tightly, her knuckles whitening as she held it. Her eyes sparkled with the moonlight and the silhouette of the boy standing before her.
"Brother Hao!" On the other side of the courtyard, Li Yuanzhao clenched his fists in exhilaration.
"What...?"
Liu Yurong, initially sneering, found her expression frozen in shock as she saw the brilliance of the crescent moon.
Beside her, Jiang Haiping, along with several other powerful figures, including Lin Wujing from the Buddhist Sect, were all visibly startled. They hadn’t anticipated Li Hao to not only possess extraordinary cultivation but also achieve such unparalleled mastery in the Sword Dao.
"A once-in-a-millennium Sword Dao genius..." someone murmured among the guests.
However, the person most affected was none other than Li Qianfeng himself. He was utterly stunned. Having reached the Supreme Perfection realm in the Boundless Sea Sword Technique at his age was already a feat surpassing his uncle at the same age.
But the boy before him...
Before he could dwell further, the radiant crescent moon descended—launched from a single chopstick.
Li Qianfeng’s eyes bulged with fury and humiliation as he roared in defiance. His hair whipped in the wind, and he bellowed, "Break!"
The same sword technique collided—Rising Moon against Rising Moon. But in the next instant, Li Qianfeng's body was flung backward, crashing heavily onto a banquet table. He spat out a mouthful of blood.
His luxurious robes, once pristine, were now shredded and torn. The brief exchange had left him battered and scarred.
And this was only because Li Hao had chosen to use a chopstick. Had he used a sword, Li Qianfeng’s body would have been drenched in blood, the wounds far deeper.
Li Qianfeng struggled to his feet, his gaze locked onto Li Hao in disbelief.
Though his mastery in swordsmanship paled in comparison, the disparity in their weapons should have been overwhelming. Yet, his blade hadn’t been able to shatter Li Hao’s chopstick!
He realized that during their brief clash, the power infused in Li Hao’s chopstick had subtly redirected the trajectory of his blade, preventing a direct collision.
This level of Object Manipulation Ability was beyond anything he had faced before.
He had crushed other Fifteen Li practitioners with similar techniques, but he never imagined himself on the receiving end of such domination.
The only explanation was an overwhelming mastery in Object Manipulation. Yet he cultivated the Boundless Buddhist Lord’s finest technique for controlling objects!
To surpass him in this required a technique on the level of the royal family’s Nine Heavens Soaring Cloud Art!
But even then, the gap shouldn’t have been so immense!
As he processed the humiliation, Li Hao began striding toward him.
Li Qianfeng’s pupils shrank as rage and shame roiled in his heart. He had sought to suppress Li Hao using his own strength, but now he was the one being driven into a corner.
Four extra years of cultivation—reduced to this?
His eyes burned with hatred as he restrained his killing intent, keeping it from surfacing on his face. Inside, however, his fury erupted.
Die!
Summoning every ounce of strength, he channeled the power left by his master into his chest.
A deep hum resounded—like a morning bell at dawn—followed by a surge of power coursing through his body, filling his limbs with immense strength.
Unopened meridians across his body began unlocking one after another as torrents of energy rushed through them.
Within moments, Li Qianfeng's meridians expanded from fifty-eight to eighty-two!
The Li family’s Meridian Opening Method peaked at fifty-four meridians. The Boundless Buddhist Lord’s method extended it to fifty-eight. The royal family’s finest technique pushed it to sixty-two.
And now, through this burst of power, he had forcibly expanded to eighty-two meridians!
Twenty more than even the royal family's most exalted technique!
This newfound power made his entire body feel unshackled. His mind sharpened to unprecedented clarity as his soul force expanded from twenty li to over thirty li.
Even the royal family would pale before this level of dominance.
As his soul force grew stronger, so did his Object Manipulation Ability.
Li Qianfeng exhaled sharply, standing upright once more. He glared at the boy before him, then moved.
With his speed amplified by his newfound power, his figure became a blur. To most of the audience, it seemed as though he had teleported.
He left no room for Li Hao to react, nor for anyone else to intervene. His intent was clear: cripple Li Hao in one decisive strike!
His sudden explosion of power shocked the onlookers, leaving them guessing at the nature of this technique.
Li Qingzheng's expression shifted, and he prepared to act, but just as he moved, Li Hao abruptly accelerated.
Not to flee, but to charge directly at Li Qianfeng.
The two figures clashed in an instant, their movements too fast for those below the Fifteen Li realm to track. All they could make out were faint gray afterimages.
Li Qianfeng's sword slashed toward Li Hao, but he suddenly felt a wave of pressure, like a ferocious tiger bearing down on him. His pupils constricted in fear.
His blade veered off course, barely grazing the chopstick in Li Hao’s hand.
The chopstick, however, drove straight toward his eye socket.
Desperately, Li Qianfeng raised his free hand to block. It was a Buddhist palm technique—designed to counter weapons with bare hands.
Yet before it could connect, Li Hao's hand darted out, gripping Li Qianfeng’s wrist with terrifying speed.
It felt like gripping soft sponge.
The strength of Li Hao’s eighty-two meridians, combined with the explosive force of his Yin-Yang Dual Meridians, crushed the bones in Li Qianfeng’s hand instantly. Flesh and bone were reduced to pulp.
Before he could even scream in agony, the chopstick pierced his eye.
Boom!
A shockwave erupted from the impact.
But in that same moment, another surge of power descended, enveloping Li Hao and shielding him.
A figure clad in snowy white robes flashed into view—the Bodhisattva of the Buddhist Sect. He appeared between the two combatants, separating them and pulling Li Qianfeng back to a safe distance.
"Such ruthless methods!"
Lin Wujing's gaze turned frosty as he cast a glance at Li Hao before turning his eyes to the injured Li Qianfeng, his eye pierced through.