Chapter 179: Release
Editor: Atlas Studios
A hard fist smashed into Monk Le Yuan’s chest. Both sides stood where they were and began a primitive power struggle.
Jiang Li did not use spiritual qi and only used his physical strength to press forward. The other party combined all of his strength and used a technique to deflect the force, continuously transmitting Jiang Li’s strength to the ground.
In terms of strength, Jiang Li’s fist was undoubtedly stronger, but the various methods of his opponent were sufficient to offset this portion of the disadvantage.
Two bodies that were harder than steel were squeezing each other, emitting creaking sounds. It was as if some solid metal object was slowly deforming under the immense pressure.
Jiang Li’s strength continued to increase bit by bit. Under the pressure of the enormous force, Dharma Master Le Yuan’s chest could no longer rise and fall. However, to cultivators, not breathing for more than ten minutes could not cause any trouble.
However, it could be seen from this that the other party’s defense was so high, and the secret was still the Palm Meditation Technique. In terms of physical strength, he was obviously far inferior to Jiang Li.
Jiang Li had also noticed that the energy that was contained in Le Yuan’s body seemed to really be only able to passively endure attacks and not actively attack.
It seemed that this was also the reason why the other party had only been defending after so many battles.
However, a doubt arose in his heart. Cultivating the Palm Meditation Technique had a high requirement on aptitude and the difficulty of cultivation was very high. Not only did he need to put his palms together for a long time, but he might also need to supplement some other spiritual herbs.
Under such circumstances, although its defensive ability was exaggerated, if it was really only passively defended, this secret cultivation method would seem a little useless. Could a Meditation Technique that could only defend really become one of Benevolent Travel Temple’s ultimate techniques?
As Jiang Li’s strength gradually increased, he finally touched the limit of the Palm Meditation Technique.
After a loud bang, the golden light on the monk’s body dimmed. The rock beneath his feet shattered, and he directly smashed into the huge hole behind him that had been destroyed by the force.
Jiang Li’s extraordinary strength could not be blocked so easily even if it was the Palm Meditation Technique.
However, the small victory did not make him happy. Looking at the smoke and dust rising from the huge hole, Jiang Li frowned.
He knew very well how much strength he had used just now. He estimated that he could kill the Dragon Tortoise from before with a punch.
However, the power of the punch just now seemed to be a little unsatisfactory, as if… there was a portion missing.
Although it was not very obvious, Jiang Li, who had been pounding the ground all year round, still acutely sensed that something was wrong.
But where did the disappeared power go?
Amidst the dust, the golden figure walked out again. His footsteps were still stable and his expression was still calm. However, there was a fist mark that had yet to disappear on his chest. It was especially conspicuous in the golden light.
“Cough cough. Benefactor Jiang’s fists are indeed impressive.”
After coughing a few times, the other party’s lungs, which had been squeezed by the huge force, healed completely, and his breathing became smooth.
“I can still hold on. Feel free to punch.”
Monk Le Yuan walked over to Jiang Li. He was actually fine after enduring such a punch. Moreover, he stood there without moving and continued to wait for Jiang Li to punch.
This fearless and even eager appearance made Jiang Li have some thoughts.
There was definitely something fishy going on.
It seemed that the effect of directly attacking the opponent was very poor.
“Then, in accordance with the principle of stopping whatever the opponent wants, continuing to punch and attack is probably not a wise choice.”
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Li suddenly stepped forward and grabbed the other party’s wrists with both hands. After that, he slowly started to exert force and tried to pull the other party’s palms away.
Wasn’t it just the Palm Meditation Technique? If his palms were pulled apart, how could he still maintain it?
The palms that were pressed together seemed to be made of molten iron, they were so tight that it was unbelievable.
However, in Jiang Li’s hands, even if it was a real iron block, as long as it was not too thick, he could still tear it apart!
Golden sparks began to erupt from the gap between the palms of Le Yuan. The gap opened bit by bit, and in the end, the hand seal that had been maintained for five years was finally forcefully broken by Jiang Li’s brute force.
When his hands separated, the feeling of his entire body being connected disappeared instantly as expected. This meant that his opponent’s defense should have failed as well.
There was a sigh.
“Unfortunately, I’m still a little short. Forget it. Thank you, Benefactor Jiang, for helping me to release my technique.”
Not only was Dharma Master Le Yuan not angry that his Palm Meditation Technique had been broken, he even thanked Jiang Li.
Jiang Li was not too surprised by this, and there was no joy of victory in his expression, and it carried a trace of seriousness.
This was because although the complete state of the meditation stance had disappeared, the state of putting his palms together did not seem to be just for defense, but also a kind of shackle.
Not only did the power entrenched in the other party’s body not dissipate because of this, but because the shackles of the Meditation Technique were removed, the originally calm energy began to boil violently.
In his biological instincts, Jiang Li sensed that something terrible was about to happen.
The wrist that Jiang Li was holding suddenly swelled up, and the size of his entire arm directly swelled by three times! The palm that Jiang Li held around his wrist was directly blasted away.
Then, his left hand, left foot, right foot, and his entire body!
As the power boiled, Monk Le Yuan, who was originally similar in size to Jiang Li and was still considered a normal person, began to swell.
His bones grew thicker and longer at a speed visible to the naked eye. Clear and visible muscles swelled and tightened. Even his refined face, which was like jade, became hideous and terrifying under the influence of some force.
Apart from his hair, everything else was growing crazily.
The cultured monk actually transformed into a muscle giant more than 2.5 meters tall!
However, this was not the most important thing.
Right before Jiang Li, the other party’s aura and cultivation actually started to rise steadily. In less than a moment, without giving anyone any time to prepare, he directly broke through the limit of the Qi Refinement realm and stepped into the Foundation Establishment realm!
The surrounding spiritual qi immediately reacted. With Monk Le Yuan as the center, a spiritual qi vortex automatically appeared. The dense spiritual qi in the Medicine Garden Mystic Realm surged into his body to fill the requirements for building the Dao Foundation. This also made his already ferocious aura rise even further.
This Monk Le Yuan was actually breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm!
Jiang Li was stunned. Shouldn’t this sudden breakthrough be something only a transmigrator like him could do?
Previously, he was still wondering if he should just break through in the arena. At most, he could just transfer to the Foundation Establishment stage to continue fighting.
Later on, he gave up on this plan because of the news about the Dao Foundation Fruit.
Why did this happen now even after he gave up on that idea?
Monk Le Yuan had been cooped up in the tenth ring all along and only attacked brazenly at the final moment. Could it be that he originally intended to rely on breaking through at the last minute to establish a victory?
After all, if he broke through too early, he might be asked to transfer to the Foundation Establishment stage for a battle and lose his advantage. However, if it was the last match, this problem would not be a problem.
From the looks of it, no one was foolish these days. Even the monks of Benevolent Travel Temple had their own schemes.
However, why was there such a change after the Palm Meditation Technique was broken?!
Master, oh Master He, your habit of only giving half an explanation was really problematic.
If not for the fact that he had received a few new statuses in advance, he might have been in trouble this time.
“Benefactor Jiang, I’ve already released the Palm Meditation Technique. I’m about to attack!”
Due to his size, his voice became muffled as he spoke. He squeezed his large palms that were not used to it and used an enlarged version of the Vajra Style.
“Dharma Master Le Yuan, you’re breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm, right? You can’t be careless in building your Dao Foundation. You can break through first. I, Jiang Li, will not take advantage of you.”
Jiang Li’s words revealed a very righteous and awe-inspiring gentlemanly demeanor, and it drew a lot of goodwill from the high-level elders.
His actions in this stage were really commendable, he cared more about the other party than the competition. Even if the strength change brought about by the opponent’s breakthrough might cause him to lose directly, he still said this.
For the sake of his fellow Daoist’s smooth Foundation Establishment, he did not choose to attack and ruin the breakthrough. Instead, he decisively let his opponent break through in peace.
One had to know that this was a critical moment in the competition for the share of the Medicine Garden Mystic Realm’s production. It represented an entire 10% of the share.
To be able to say such words without any hesitation under such circumstances, his character and bearing really made people involuntarily feel admiration.
Especially when compared to the cultivators of the Hundred Tempering Mountain, he was even better.
However, in Jiang Li’s mind, he felt that he would not lose no matter what. So, wouldn’t it be convenient for him to increase his reputation and gain the goodwill of others?
“Benefactor Jiang, I admire your righteousness. However, This Monk’s cultivation is special. There is no need to worry, but now, you have to be careful.”
Buddhist cultivators were Buddhist cultivators after all.
When a normal person was in such a violent state of gaining strength, even if they did not lose their rationality and could not differentiate between friend and foe, they would at least be agitated and irritable.
However, despite having a monster-like body of more than 2.5 meters, the words that came out of Le Yuan’s mouth were still so calm and indifferent.
It could be seen how important the cultivation of the mental state was.
“In that case, let’s do it!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the distance between them vanished instantly!
The two fists, one big and one small, collided. The air seemed to have a vacuum at the point of collision.
A deep crack appeared between them and quickly spread to both sides. In the end, it completely penetrated the integrated arena. The spreading energy directly tore the arena under their feet into two.
Both sides took a step back in the collision, but in the next moment, they closed in again and launched an extremely intense short-range attack.
Jiang Li was shocked in his heart. After the Palm Meditation Technique was released, the amount of energy he let out was so huge that it surpassed his guess.
Under the enhancement of that force, he transformed into a small giant and successfully broke through to the Foundation Establishment realm. He exchanged punches and kicks with Jiang Li, and for a time, they were actually on par with each other!
In fact, Jiang Li was even forced to use a bit of spiritual qi to augment himself.
Reaching this extent was a little unthinkable.
Who was Jiang Li? He was an existence who could fight or even suppress a Void Core cultivator head-on.
Here, he only used his physical strength and a small portion of spiritual qi, it was still far from his strongest combat strength.
However, to be able to fight him head-on without being at a disadvantage was definitely not something that an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator could do.
The released energy was extremely large, but Jiang Li was still puzzled as to where it came from.
Monk Le Yuan was young and had only entered the sect for five years. In these five years, it was already very good that he could cultivate to the peak of the Qi Refinement realm and break through to the Foundation Establishment realm at any time.
Where did he get the time and effort to accumulate another portion of energy that was almost beyond the Foundation Establishment realm?
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Jiang Li punched his opponent three times in a row.
Not only did he break two of the bones, but he also left behind a large swelling and bloody fist mark.
This released Palm Meditation Technique was indeed very powerful, but in contrast, the nearly invincible defense had already disappeared.
Bang!
A fist the size of a basin fiercely smashed into Jiang Li’s stomach, and the force transmitted over instantly shattered the rock beneath his feet.
Jiang Li, who was sent flying, took a few steps in the air. After neutralizing the force, he pounced forward again.
Soon, the rock-like stage was no longer enough to support their battle.
Both sides could only rise into the air and continue to exchange punches in the air.
Moving in the air, Jiang Li possessed the Cloud-Treading Boots, so his movements still seemed to be on solid ground. No matter if it was in terms of strength or flexibility, he was superior to his opponent.
However, he did not choose to rely on dodging to win. Although the other party’s fist was very large, its strength was not enough to break his defense. Even if he could occasionally cause a small scratch, it would recover in a blink of an eye.
After another 20 breaths of fast attacks, Monk Le Yuan’s small giant body was already covered in injuries.
The continuous patches of bruises swelled and made his body look even larger.
On the other hand, other than slightly increasing his breathing, Jiang Li’s clothes were not even torn.
That was because the clothes Jiang Li wore now were all weaved from the Nine Nether Wood’s roots according to the inner sect disciple uniform design. It was abnormally tough and possessed extremely extraordinary defense.
Now, he finally did not have to worry about his clothes exploding every time he fought.
Jiang Li touched the abdomen where he had been punched again and revealed a pensive expression.
In the swift attack just now, he had at least suffered more than twenty punches from Monk Le Yuan.
When the force first struck him, he had already sensed something strange.
After getting hit for more than twenty times, Jiang Li finally recovered.
Every time the attack landed on him, it was not a single attack. Instead, it was from hundreds to thousands of tiny forces combined together before striking out.
However, because the direction in which those powers were gathered was uniform, he did not discover them immediately.
Coupled with the fact that Jiang Li had attacked his opponent earlier, a portion of his strength had mysteriously vanished.
Thus, Jiang Li finally understood where the energy in the other party’s body came from.
With this, the Palm Meditation Technique could finally match its status in Benevolent Travel Temple.
Under the state of meditation, he continuously absorbed external attacks and stored them in his body. When the meditation technique was broken, all of them erupted at once.
Jiang Li had already seen the effect. Not only could it greatly increase one’s combat strength, but it could also directly increase one’s cultivation to break through realms.
This kind of powerful cheat effect was worthy of its difficult cultivation conditions and identity as a secret cultivation technique.
However, as long as it was an explosive state, there would definitely be a time limit.
It had only been around two minutes since the Palm Meditation Technique was broken until now, and Jiang Li had already clearly sensed that the strength struck from his opponent’s fists had already weakened slightly.
How long could the accumulation of five years of meditation last?
After regulating their breathing for a moment, the two sides tacitly approached each other, and the two fists collided fiercely again.
Crack!
However, this time, Monk Le Yuan’s right middle finger bone was directly broken.
Under the situation where there was not much difference in strength between the two sides, it was naturally more advantageous to cause some injuries.
With this finger bone as the starting point, the balance of victory and defeat between the two sides was completely tilted!
