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In the spectator area, Yu Xiaogang's face turned terribly grim as he listened to Shi Quan's evaluation. His already stiff face alternated between green and purple, and he felt a bit worried that Tang San might change his opinion of him.
"Shut up!"
Hearing Tang San's furious roar from the stage, Yu Xiaogang immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Shi Quan looked at Tang San's uncontrollable rage and couldn't help but shake his head slightly. This Tang San truly embodied the saying 'a teacher for a day is a father for life.' Even after he had made things so clear, Tang San's attitude towards the Master remained unchanged. It seemed that trying to sow discord between them was futile.
"Shi Quan, you're too conceited! How could you possibly see through my teacher's talent!" Tang San took a deep breath, his gaze fixed on Shi Quan, "Let's settle this with our skills!"
"Settle it with your skills?" Dugu Yan, below the stage, said disdainfully, "You? You're not even worth one of Shi Quan's fingers. Shi Quan, let him see your true strength!"
A cold sneer appeared on Tang San's lips, ignoring Dugu Yan. Purple light flickered in his eyes, and his eight long legs rapidly moved, leaving a trail of purple afterimages in the air. In a few blinks of an eye, he had already arrived in front of Shi Quan.
"Shi Quan, after using your Third Soul Skill twice already, how much spirit power do you have left?"
Thinking this, Tang San propped himself up with four of his Eight Spider Lances, while the other four, carrying a sharp aura, pointed directly at Shi Quan's forearm and shoulder.
"The speed is just so-so." The Soul Devouring Eight Spider Lances also had a similar enhancement effect to the Eight Spider Lances, and Shi Quan was not surprised by this. He instantly shifted three meters away with Nine Shadows Shift, just outside the attack range of the Soul Devouring Eight Spider Lances.
"It's that strange footwork again." Tang San looked up ahead, purple light flickering in his eyes. His Eight Spider Lances vibrated again, chasing Shi Quan at extreme speed. "It's a pity, though, I've already seen through your movements!"
Shi Quan calmly dodged the thrusts of the Eight Spider Lances, retreating while casually taunting, "So what if you see through it? Can you hit me? What's so great about good eyesight?"
When Nine Shadows Shift is cultivated to the Peak, it can conjure nine illusory figures through sheer speed, which alone shows how astonishing the speed of Nine Shadows Shift is.
Shi Quan's spirit power Rank was already six Ranks higher than Tang San's, and his body had been successively modified by the Tenfold Perfect Great Restoration Pill, the external Spirit Bone Dragon Spine, and the Holy Dragon Eight Spears.
So, even with the enhancement of the Soul Devouring Eight Spider Lances, Tang San still couldn't catch up to Shi Quan.
Duodu, the host, flying in mid-air with a cone-shaped megaphone, exclaimed, "This...is this still a battle between Spirit Elders?"
Most of the audience around the central main Martial Spirit Arena could only see constantly shifting figures on the stage, unable to clearly make out the two's specific movements, feeling only a dizzying blur!
"Tianheng, can you see their movements clearly?" Dugu Yan looked at the scene on the field in surprise.
"No..." Yu Tianheng clenched his fist.
"What about you, Yu Feng?" Dugu Yan then looked at Yu Feng, who was standing beside her, his mouth slightly agape.
Yu Feng paused, swallowed, and then said in astonishment, "Barely, but if we're talking solely about speed, I can't compare."
On the Martial Spirit Arena stage, Tang San controlled his Eight Spider Lances, and the two chased each other. After a long time, Tang San's Eight Spider Lances hadn't even touched the corner of Shi Quan's clothes. Although he could clearly see Shi Quan's movements, each attack always missed by a hair. After all that, his own stamina was considerably depleted, while Shi Quan, on the other hand, looked unperturbed, not even breathing hard, as if nothing had happened.
"What? After all this time, all you can do is run around like a scared rat?" Tang San's Eight Spider Lances continued their pursuit, and he began to mimic Shi Quan's taunts.
Shi Quan smiled faintly, "I originally wanted to play with you and let you understand the gap between us. Since you're so impatient, I'll show you my methods!"
The retreating figure shifted sideways, and silver light flickered in his palm.
Clang!
The Soul Devouring Eight Spider Lances collided with Shi Quan's palm, but it produced a strange metallic clanging sound.
Tang San felt as if his Soul Devouring Eight Spider Lances had struck a copper wall and iron barrier.
What shocked Tang San the most was that when the Soul Devouring Eight Spider Lances touched Shi Quan, its devouring ability was actually ineffective against Shi Quan?!
The two figures continued to move, and crisp clanging sounds rang out continuously.
Tang San's face grew increasingly grim, as he found that the Soul Devouring Eight Spider Lances could not inflict effective damage on Shi Quan. Instead, his own Soul Devouring Eight Spider Lances began to tremble slightly under the pulling and colliding with Shi Quan. With each collision, a certain amount of recoil force bounced back onto the Soul Devouring Eight Spider Lances. At first, Tang San didn't feel anything, but as the recoil force increased, the Soul Devouring Eight Spider Lances became increasingly difficult to control.
"Why has your speed slowed down?" Shi Quan's mocking voice rang out, "Can't control it so quickly? Is this the result of your more than six years of cultivation?"
Hearing this, Tang San said nothing more, but instead reached for the Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges at his waist. His hands moved into a blur, and countless steel needles, flying knives... and a series of Hidden Weapons were unleashed from his hands.
Looking at the large array of Hidden Weapons covering him along with the Eight Spider Lances, Shi Quan was already prepared. His figure pulled back again, silver light gathered around his body, and with a flick of his hand, he blocked several Hidden Weapons. His hands moved swiftly in mid-air, and the force stirred up by Heavenly Star Shift was fully displayed at this moment.
As the Hidden Weapons were continuously nullified, Tang San's heart grew more and more shocked. He found that Shi Quan seemed to have mastered a force technique similar to Controlling Crane Catching Dragon. This force technique was extremely peculiar, capable of deflecting all of his Hidden Weapons.
His flexible and varied Hidden Weapons, in front of Shi Quan, were all deflected to the side. The area around Shi Quan was like a forbidden zone, impossible to Breakthrough.
His Hidden Weapons technique, which he was so proud of, was thus broken.
For a moment, an indescribable sense of powerlessness arose in Tang San's heart. Why... why was Shi Quan so strong...?
He clearly had Innate full spirit power and Cultivation Techniques like Mysterious Heaven Skill, but why was he inferior to Shi Quan, who had Innate first-Rank spirit power!
As the Hidden Weapons were continuously consumed, Tang San's attack frequency gradually decreased.
"Is this your confidence? Although these Hidden Weapons are strange, they only bully those with weaker observation skills. As long as one has enough observation and reaction time, it's not difficult to defend against them."
Silver light flickered in Shi Quan's hand. He raised his hand and caught a flying blade thrown by Tang San, revealing a look of disappointment and disdain. He said indifferently, "Both our Martial Spirits are Blue Silver Grass, but you possess the most enviable Innate full spirit power. Is this the result? In these past six years, have you been playing with these low-grade trinkets all day? Memorizing some useless theories whose truth is unknown? What exactly have you been doing?"
Hearing this, Tang San's pupils contracted. Already somewhat self-doubting, Tang San looked down at his own two palms, immediately falling into confusion and self-doubt.
Seeing this, Shi Quan's lips also curved into a subtle smile. Although the relationship between Tang San and Yu Xiaogang was not easy to provoke, Tang San in the original work was almost driven to aura Deviation during the All-Continent Advanced Spirit Master Elite Academy Tournament. If it weren't for Dugu Bo's guidance, Tang San's mentality would have already collapsed, and he might have directly switched to cultivating the Clear Sky Hammer.
Since there was a loophole, Shi Quan naturally wouldn't let it go. Because Tang Hao was behind Tang San, he couldn't directly kill Tang San, so he could find a way to make Tang San destroy his own talent.
Can't withstand a blow, huh?
Then he could just start from this aspect, slowly eroding Tang San's confidence, and prompting him to switch to cultivating the Clear Sky Hammer.
To destroy Tang San, start by destroying his talent!
Zhao Wuji below the stage watched this scene in shock. Tang San's frantic use of Hidden Weapons still failed to cause effective damage to Shi Quan. Even those special Hidden Weapons were dismissed as worthless by Shi Quan, called 'low-grade.'
Yu Xiaogang's expression was terribly grim. The 'useless theories whose truth is unknown' that Shi Quan mentioned naturally referred to his 'invincible theories.'
Suppressing Tang San, and not forgetting to belittle himself a few times, Yu Xiaogang immediately gritted his teeth and shouted to Tang San on the stage, "Xiao San, don't listen to him! He's deliberately belittling you and stalling for time. In the previous battles, he used his Third Soul Skill consecutively, plus the consumption of his first and second Martial Spirit Abilities. His spirit power must be almost depleted now. Don't fall for his trick! You haven't lost yet! Don't lose your fighting Martial Spirit because of a few words from him!"
Upon hearing this, Tang San's Martial Spirit immediately sharpened. He then took a deep breath, his eyes gradually becoming firm, staring directly at Shi Quan, and said coldly, "Are you done talking? Do you think I'll fall for it easily? Next, I'll let you truly witness the 'trinkets' you look down on!"
Shi Quan shrugged, disdainfully saying, "Are you going to take out that black clip from before?"
"As you wish!" Tang San's hands went to his waist, and two Godly Zhuge Crossbows appeared out of thin air in his hands. He crossed his arms, and with a 'clack' of the spring mechanism, dozens of crossbow bolts covered the direction where Shi Quan was.
Facing the Godly Zhuge Crossbow, Shi Quan's expression became unprecedentedly serious.
Just as Tang San pulled the trigger, the first spirit ring beneath Shi Quan lit up. Layers of Blue Silver King rapidly grew out, followed by the activation of his hardening ability.
Facing the Godly Zhuge Crossbow, it was still very difficult for Shi Quan to dodge now; he could only endure it head-on.
Clang, clang, clang!
Dull thudding sounds suddenly rang out.
The sounds didn't stop, and another 'clack' of a spring mechanism sounded. The dull thudding sounds rang out again. No matter how strong the hardening ability was, it finally succumbed to two rounds of Godly Zhuge Crossbow.
The power of the flying crossbow bolts was also reduced to less than one-tenth. Shi Quan, with a raise of his hand, sent all these crossbow bolts flying away.
Even so, it was enough to alarm Tang San. One must know that even a Spirit Ancestor facing a Godly Zhuge Crossbow, if they didn't activate a defensive skill in time, being killed would not be an accident.
But Shi Quan's hardened Blue Silver King actually withstood two rounds of Godly Zhuge Crossbow...