Chapter 112: Fighting Spirit

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Lin Hao saw him increase the flow of spiritual energy. After reciting a spell, the man shifted his footing, and suddenly a rain of arrows began to fall from the sky.

At once, a storm of arrows descended over Lin Hao’s head.

When Lin Hao unleashed the power of his fire spiritual root, the man in golden robes—the leader of the group—reacted just like the silver-robed man before him. He recited a spell, and only then did a gigantic golden axe descend from above.

It seemed that whenever Lin Hao used a technique against them, each of them could immediately respond with a countermeasure.

An ordinary cultivator would have found this extremely difficult to deal with.

The Five Elements Formation was indeed formidable. Once trapped inside it, escaping safely was nearly impossible.

No matter what technique one employed, they always had a way to restrain it before it could be used to full effect.

After probing the formation for a while, Lin Hao proceeded according to his own understanding and unleashed an attack using each of his spiritual roots in turn.

As he had expected, every technique he used was met by a corresponding counterattack.

Having confirmed his theory, Lin Hao showed no sign of retreat or discouragement.

Instead, the battle intent in his eyes grew stronger and stronger.

His expression was resolute, and the corners of his lips curved into a faint smile.

After dodging another attack from the golden axe, a strange look suddenly appeared on Lin Hao’s face.

With a resounding boom, Lin Hao vanished once more, using his earth spiritual root to burrow underground.

In this way, Lin Hao first escaped the Five Elements Formation.

The five men were no pushovers, however. The moment Lin Hao made his move, the man in earth-colored robes immediately followed suit.

When the signal disappeared, he vanished as well.

The other four men seemed completely unsurprised by what had happened.

A short while later, an explosion suddenly erupted about thirty feet away from them.

With a sudden burst, Lin Hao shot out of the ground, the Devouring Cloud Sword in hand.

The man behind him emerged immediately afterward.

Lin Hao was astonishingly fast. The moment the man appeared, Lin Hao kicked him with a clang and sent him flying.

The other four members of the Five Elements Formation reacted just as quickly. They rushed forward and unleashed a barrage of attacks at Lin Hao.

Whoosh! Boom! Crackle!

A multitude of colorful attacks surged toward Lin Hao.

In an instant, they seemed to weave themselves into an inescapable net, ready to trap him within.

Relying on his speed and swordsmanship, Lin Hao swiftly defended against them.

He began by defeating them one at a time. Using his water spiritual root, he broke through the fire spiritual root on their side.

Then he used his fire spiritual root to defeat the wood spiritual root among them.

That was precisely how Lin Hao intended to dismantle their formation: defeat them one by one.

During his earlier probing, Lin Hao had discovered that the restrictions this formation imposed on ordinary cultivators did not affect him.

That was why he had initially used his earth spiritual root to burrow underground. He had already anticipated that the man with the earth spiritual root would follow him.

Before making his move, Lin Hao had also carefully assessed that man.

Judging by his individual strength, he was no match for Lin Hao. He was merely at the third level of the Spirit Severing Realm.

That was why Lin Hao had chosen this strategy.

As expected, once one of them was injured, the power of their formation weakened considerably.

They could only attack Lin Hao one at a time. Even when they attacked together, their combined strength was far weaker than it had been at the beginning.

If they came at him individually, Lin Hao no longer feared them at all. They possessed five spiritual roots among them, while Lin Hao had now awakened four.

Thus, although the Five Elements Formation might have been difficult for ordinary people to overcome, Lin Hao could dismantle it piece by piece.

By the end, four of the five men facing Lin Hao had fallen. Only one remained—the man in golden robes.

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Only the golden-robed man remained from the Five Elements Formation.

The five men were roughly equal in strength. However, if one had to be singled out as the strongest, it was naturally the wielder of the golden spiritual root. His power was the most domineering and formidable.

Moreover, Lin Hao had yet to awaken a metal spiritual root, and for the moment he could not think of a way to deal with him.

The man in golden robes looked at Lin Hao.

The two stood facing one another, their expressions resolute and solemn, yet their eyes burned with battle intent.

Looking at Lin Hao, the golden-robed man said, “You are indeed very strong. In all these years, you are the first opponent we have encountered who is this powerful.”

“You flatter me. We are merely exchanging pointers,” Lin Hao replied modestly.

His expression, however, was not modest in the slightest. His entire face was filled with unyielding determination.

Seeing this, the golden-robed man gave a cold laugh. His eyes blazing with fighting spirit, he said to Lin Hao, “Then come. Let me see just how strong you really are!”

As he spoke, he swept out his hand and revealed a massive golden axe.

This was a real weapon. The enormous golden axe that had appeared earlier had merely been a manifestation of it.

The great golden axe came crashing toward Lin Hao.

With a sharp burst, Lin Hao raised the Devouring Cloud Sword to block it.

A shower of sparks flew through the air.

Although this man possessed a metal spiritual root, he had developed his own cultivation method, and his strength was far greater than Heavy Stone’s.

However, he was not particularly powerful in terms of physical strength.

He did not possess Heavy Stone’s brute force, so Lin Hao did not find it especially difficult to defend against him.

Yet for some reason, Lin Hao did not finish the battle as quickly as he had against Heavy Stone.

Instead, he continued to circle his opponent, using the newly developed Azure City Sword Art to exchange sword techniques with him.

Everyone watching saw Lin Hao fighting the golden-robed man with complete ease.

The golden-robed man sensed it as well. Lin Hao had not yet used his full strength.

He could not understand what Lin Hao was trying to accomplish.

At the main hall of the Azure City Sect, everyone was filled with doubt. The First Elder frowned and muttered, “What is going on? Why do I feel that Lin Hao is holding back and has yet to use his full strength?”

“Indeed!”

The elders below began discussing the matter among themselves.

The Third Elder stroked his chin and said, “This is not his usual way of doing things. He did not hold back against Heavy Stone just now. What exactly is going on?”

“What scheme is he plotting?”

That was the question in everyone’s mind.

They were all puzzled.

None of this affected Lin Hao, however. He continued to fight the man with the metal spiritual root in the same relaxed manner.

By now, the golden-robed man had grown utterly impatient, and a sense of humiliation welled up inside him.

He knew that he was no match for Lin Hao, but what exactly did Lin Hao mean by fighting him this way?

Did Lin Hao think he was merely playing with him like a trained monkey?

In a flash of anger, the man let out a furious roar.

No one knew what method he had used, but his strength suddenly surged to more than twice its former level.

The golden axe in his hand expanded several times in an instant and came crashing down on Lin Hao with a violent gust of wind.

Lin Hao did not dodge. He merely raised the Devouring Cloud Sword in front of himself to block the blow.

But he failed to stop it.

The golden axe possessed tremendous force, and Lin Hao was sent flying by the impact.

At that very moment, as Lin Hao was struck away, a sudden boom sounded.

It was as though something had exploded inside his body.

Yet when Lin Hao appeared, his expression was not that of someone who had been injured and thrown aside.

Instead, his face was filled with delight.

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Lin Hao turned in midair. Before he even landed, he braced the Devouring Cloud Sword against the ground, used it to vault himself upright, and shot back into the sky.

Descending from above, Lin Hao shouted, “Take this sword strike!”

In an instant, the Devouring Cloud Sword flashed repeatedly. Its movements changed so quickly that no one could see the technique clearly.

It was as swift and fluid as drifting clouds.

The man below was dazzled by Lin Hao’s swordsmanship. In the end, all that remained in his eyes was shock and disbelief.

The Devouring Cloud Sword pointed directly at his head. Lin Hao tapped him lightly with the blade before turning and landing on the ground.

Less than two seconds later, there was a loud thud.

The man collapsed and did not rise again.

Lin Hao stood with his back to him. Only after hearing the sound did he slowly turn around.

He saw that the other four men had also fallen to the ground.

Unlike before, Lin Hao did not kill them all. He respected these opponents.

As for the man in golden robes, Lin Hao had not intended to kill him either. However, the man’s sudden outburst had caught him off guard, and Lin Hao’s counterattack had been too powerful. That was why he had ended up killing him.

At that moment, Lin Hao’s cultivation had reached the seventh level of the Spirit Severing Realm.

The reason he had continued circling the golden-robed man was that he had sensed the bottleneck associated with the metal spiritual root.

He had wanted to search for that feeling a little longer and use the man as a training partner.

After the man unleashed his final burst of power and struck Lin Hao with the golden axe, Lin Hao suddenly had an inspiration. Every meridian in his body opened at once, and his power erupted.

He sensed the metal spiritual root.

The metal spiritual root awakened immediately.

Now, all five of Lin Hao’s spiritual roots had been fully cultivated. Every one of them had awakened.

His cultivation advanced directly to the seventh level of the Spirit Severing Realm.

The moment Lin Hao stopped, dark clouds gathered overhead, and thunder began to roar.

Clang! Crack! Rumbling thunder!

The sky above the Azure City Sect darkened in an instant.

The surrounding sects and major forces all looked toward the Azure City Sect in astonishment.

Who had caused this strange phenomenon?

Everyone was filled with curiosity.

“What happened?”

People from every side began secretly converging toward the Azure City Sect.

At the same time, the elders in the main hall of the Azure City Sect were staring toward Lin Hao.

Even the Sect Master rose in astonishment.

A bolt of lightning shot directly toward Lin Hao.

Before he could react, the lightning wrapped around him completely.

In an instant, the area around Lin Hao became pitch-black.

Lightning struck him again and again.

Those outside had no idea what was happening to Lin Hao. They could only see a dark mass being battered by flashes of lightning and thunderbolts.

The brilliance of the lightning and the power of the thunder were overwhelming.

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

The large screen in the main hall of the Azure City Sect turned completely black. A moment later, nothing could be seen at all.

The same thing happened on Cao Yi’s side.