Chapter 532: Five Elements Spell Combination

Meng Jingzhou and the two others watched while eating roast lamb, clapping their hands in admiration at Li Haoran's masterful move.

"What a brilliant strategy! You can't use conventional tactics against that kid Lu Yang!" Meng Jingzhou praised heartily. As Lu Yang's long-time rival, he knew well that winning with ordinary methods was impossible; only an unexpected strategy could lead to victory.

"This skin tastes good, more flavorful than the lamb meat itself," Meng Jingzhou said, smacking his lips. He had just been eating the lamb skin, which was roasted to a crispy, fragrant perfection, crunchy to the bite, leaving a lingering aroma. Paired with refreshing chive flowers to cut through the richness, the taste was simply divine.

The lamb meat beneath the skin was somewhat less appealing.

Meng Jingzhou inadvertently glanced at the vigorously burning Samadhi True Fire and smacked his palm. "I have an idea," he declared.

He flicked out a wisp of Nirvana True Flame and threw it into the Samadhi True Fire. The two true flames mixed, emitting crackling sounds.

Under the effect of the Nirvana True Flame, the lamb carcass gradually grew back its skin. And because the skin grew slowly, it allowed for a meticulous roasting by the Samadhi True Fire, making the taste even more exceptional!

Man Gu's eyes gleamed as he watched this scene. He hadn't expected the Nirvana True Flame to have such a use.

If he hadn't encountered Samadhi True Fire before and hadn't associated it with barbecue, it would be understandable.

But as for the renowned Nirvana True Flame, which cultivator in the cultivation world didn't know about it? He actually hadn't thought of using Nirvana True Flame for barbecue—that was truly unacceptable.

It was simply a disgrace to his identity as a descendant of the Man family's barbecue techniques!

He realized he could truly learn valuable insights by following Brother Lu and Brother Meng!

As a Confucian cultivator, Man Gu adhered to the sage's teachings: "Among three people walking, I find my teacher" and "I reflect on myself three times a day." He often reflected on himself and continuously worked to improve his shortcomings.

While Man Gu was learning, Lu Yang was still battling the four-armed Li Haoran.

The Three Heads and Six Arms was indeed a renowned divine ability. Even with his inferior four-armed version, Li Haoran still put considerable pressure on Lu Yang.

"Palm Thunder!""Six Ding Divine Fire!""Great Derivation True Fire!""One-Zhang Bamboo!"

With four hands forming incantations, four different spells simultaneously blasted towards Lu Yang.

The golden bird cried out, igniting the Samadhi True Fire. The golden bird spread its wings, every feather as sharp as a sword, cutting through the air.

Although Six Ding Divine Fire and Great Derivation True Fire were also true flames, they were not known for their explosive power and simply could not withstand Lu Yang's two true flames and sword qi attacks.

Palm Thunder also vanished into nothingness during the collision.

Only a section of emerald green bamboo, sharpened by Li Haoran, broke the sound barrier with a whoosh and thrust towards Lu Yang.

Lu Yang opened his spiritual perception and had already detected the bamboo's presence. However, his body reacted a beat too slowly, and it grazed his arm.

"Junior Brother Li, you're quite capable; you actually poisoned the bamboo," Lu Yang remarked. He used Golden Bird True Flame to keep Li Haoran at bay and took out an antidote pill from his identity jade token.

"There's no other way," Li Haoran replied. "Senior Brother Lu is too strong; I can't win without resorting to some tricks."

"Besides, Senior Brother Lu, you haven't shown your true ability yet, have you?"

Suddenly, Lu Yang and Li Haoran attacked simultaneously, colliding with each other.

They both wanted to launch a sneak attack while talking, but didn't expect their ideas to be identical.

"Arhat Fist!" Lu Yang no longer held back and fiercely threw a punch. As an artifact cultivator, Li Haoran simply couldn't contend with Lu Yang in close combat.

In terms of close combat, only top-tier body cultivators like Meng Jingzhou and Confucian cultivators like Man Gu could steadily overpower Lu Yang.

Li Haoran reacted quickly, knowing he couldn't directly clash with Arhat Fist. He directly pulled off two arms from his armpits, temporarily refined them into magical artifacts, and smashed them towards Lu Yang.

Bang, bang, bang! In the blink of an eye, the two exchanged dozens of blows. Unfortunately, these temporarily refined flesh artifacts ultimately couldn't match Arhat Fist, and Li Haoran was sent flying.

The good news was that Li Haoran's hair was a wig, so he wouldn't lose hair.

"Sixteen-Foot Golden Body!" Lu Yang lightly shouted. A golden body resembling himself descended from the sky, steadily enveloping Li Haoran.

"Tree-Planting Clone!" Lu Yang burrowed into the ground, and seeds burst out of the earth, growing into two Lu Yangs.

"I'll leave the rest to you," Lu Yang said, high-fiving his clone. The clone nodded, burrowed into the soil like an earth dragon, and quickly approached Li Haoran from underground.

"Earth Escape!" Li Haoran didn't panic. While he couldn't use Ground Shrink, he could still use Earth Escape.

The Sixteen-Foot Golden Body had this one weakness: it wasn't sealed underground, so anyone who could use Earth Escape could flee.

At this moment, Lu Yang's clone arrived from underground and drew a circle around the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body.

"Earth Prison Formation."

The area beneath the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body became an earth prison, sealing off Li Haoran's escape route. Li Haoran had no choice but to emerge.

Henceforth, the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body had no more weaknesses.

Li Haoran snorted coldly, "I'd like to see what a mere clone can do to me!"

Lu Yang's clone emerged from the soil and entered the interior of the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body.

Li Haoran's arm transformed into a white jade-like form, and with a whoosh, it pierced through Lu Yang's clone.

Lu Yang's clone was not affected in the slightest, as if its body wasn't its own.

"Universe in a Sleeve." He extended his right hand, and an endless stream of lake water sprayed from the clone's palm, instantly filling the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body.

"Impossible!" Li Haoran exclaimed. "Your Universe in a Sleeve stores water; it doesn't create a connection to lake water. You're just a newly formed clone. When did you absorb the water...?"

Li Haoran's words were cut short as he suddenly remembered Lu Yang had high-fived his clone.

Presumably, Lu Yang had already stored water in his palm before the battle began and transferred it to the clone during the high-five.

He had overlooked that!

"Water Splitting Art!" Within moments, the lake water that filled the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body vanished, transforming into hydrogen and oxygen!

With a bird's cry, golden flames flashed within the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body, and the huge explosion even caused cracks to appear inside it.

"My goodness, Lu Yang's move is quite powerful," Meng Jingzhou said, surprised. He understood the principle that the smaller the explosion space, the greater the power.

"Not only that, the two gases Senior Brother Lu decomposed seem to have also contributed to the explosion," Tao Yaoye said seriously. A single Golden Bird True Flame shouldn't cause such an exaggerated explosion; there must have been other contributing factors.

"This must be the Five Elements spell combination mentioned by the Elder of Transmitting Arts," Man Gu said, greatly impressed. Sixteen-Foot Golden Body, Wood Clone, Water Splitting Art, True Flame, Ground Shrink—all five spells were used.

Lu Yang withdrew the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body, only to see two charred corpses.

"Junior Brother Li, stop pretending. I saw you use a spell to escape just now," Lu Yang chuckled. He had been paying attention to the movements within the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body the entire time.

Just before the explosion, Li Haoran used a spell similar to Shape-Shifting Shadow Substitution to swap positions with his clone and true body.

He had long since used his divine sense to discover a Li Haoran clone buried underground, presumably prepared in secret to ambush him. Unfortunately, it never had the chance to be used for that purpose and instead became a life-saving move.

A muffled thud came from behind Lu Yang, and Li Haoran emerged from the ground.

"What terrifying power," Li Haoran said, still shaken with lingering fear. He knew this was still the result of Lu Yang holding back; otherwise, what awaited him wouldn't have been just one Golden Bird True Flame, but several Golden Bird True Flames plus Samadhi True Fire.

"Shall we continue fighting?" Lu Yang asked with a smile, turning his head.

"Of course I'll fight..." Li Haoran wasn't prepared to concede, but he suddenly felt disoriented for a moment, his steps faltered, and he nearly stumbled and fell.

"Poisoned... no, what is this?"

Li Haoran noticed something unusual about his body and couldn't continue fighting, but he hadn't felt like he inhaled any poison the entire time.

What was going on?

"Junior Brother Li, you might know that 'living qi' (oxygen) is essential for living beings," Lu Yang explained, "but you probably don't know that inhaling too much of it is detrimental and can lead to dizziness, chest tightness, and other reactions."

"From the very beginning of the battle, I've been continuously using the Water Splitting Art, decomposing all the moisture in the air into hydrogen and oxygen. As the oxygen content increased, you naturally wouldn't be able to continue."

"Junior Brother Li, if you had observed more closely, you would have noticed that I was holding my breath the entire time."

"So, shall we continue fighting?"

"I concede."