Venerate Shenzang aimed to capture Zhao Li first. He made the initial move, instantly appearing behind Zhao Li and aiming a palm strike at his back.
Zhao Li's senses stirred. He turned, raised his hand, and with a slight twist of his wrist, met the attack with a palm strike of his own.
"Bang!"
Their palms collided, and a tremendous sound echoed out.
The intense energy fluctuations caused the void to tremble. Space continuously tore and repaired itself, revealing large patches of blackness. The vast energy poured into the unknown black space.
Meeting Venerate Shenzang's palm, Zhao Li's entire body's muscles vibrated at a specific frequency, as if merging with the void. He deflected most of Venerate Shenzang's palm force, while simultaneously channeling his Dou Qi to consolidate the remaining power in one place.
Immediately, Zhao Li's palm trembled slightly and continued to press forward, unleashing another burst of Internal Force. This combined with Venerate Shenzang's palm force, and the superposition created a force even greater than before, surging towards Venerate Shenzang.
Venerate Shenzang's palm strike was ineffective. Just as he was about to retract it, Zhao Li followed up. His sleeves billowed wildly, and his arm trembled slightly. He retreated a few steps before finally dispelling the immense force.
In that single exchange, Zhao Li caught Venerate Shenzang off guard, causing him to suffer a loss.
Seeing the collision of their palm forces and Venerate Shenzang's subsequent retreat, the spectators were greatly encouraged. Zhao Li's strength surpassed their imagination.
However, seeing Venerate Shenzang become serious, everyone grew tense again.
"Can he win this fight?"
Dou Venerates were already top-tier existences on the continent. None of them had ever seen one before.
Nobody knew the outcome of this battle; they could only wait in silence.
A Dou Venerate was still a Dou Venerate. Trying to achieve success with a single strike was undoubtedly wishful thinking. Zhao Li's palm strike had no other effect than making Venerate Shenzang take him seriously.
"Very good, very good. No wonder you dared to refuse this Venerate. Next, this Venerate will show you what true Dou Venerate methods are."
Hearing this, Zhao Li remained silent, only becoming more serious.
In that single exchange, Zhao Li had already understood the gap between them. It wasn't as vast as he had imagined.
"Go all out, catch him off guard, and there might be a chance to keep him here..."
Zhao Li mused inwardly, but he also knew that Venerate Shenzang wouldn't just stand there and take a beating.
As long as Venerate Shenzang wasn't stupid, he would definitely leave if he saw the situation turning unfavorable. At that point, Zhao Li wouldn't be able to do anything about him.
He feared he would be relentlessly pursued then.
"Damn it, these guys from the Soul Hall are like lingering spirits. I'm afraid I won't have any peace from now on."
As Zhao Li's thoughts flickered, Venerate Shenzang attacked again.
Beneath the black robe, dense Dou Qi condensed in his palm. The powerful might crushed the surrounding Space, making a harsh, grating sound that was extremely irritating and unnerving.
Sensing the pressure surging from all directions, Zhao Li's expression was solemn. This Venerate Shenzang was the strongest person he had ever seen among everyone he had encountered. He had to face him with all his might, not daring to hold back. This could also be considered respect for a Dou Venerate expert.
Unbeknownst to others, Zhao Li had already mobilized the surrounding heaven and earth energy, combining it with his own Dou Qi internally and externally. He gathered strength for a punch and met Venerate Shenzang head-on.
Fist met palm, but the true competition was the quality and quantity of their energy.
The energies collided, annihilating each other.
After taking another blow from Venerate Shenzang, Zhao Li quickly retreated, retracted his fist, and gathered strength. As Venerate Shenzang followed, he smashed his fist down towards him.
It was a simple punch, yet it carried the Momentum of heaven and earth, pressing down on Venerate Shenzang.
After two exchanges, Venerate Shenzang no longer dared to be careless. He understood in his heart that if he underestimated Zhao Li again, he would definitely suffer a loss. He had already begun to treat Zhao Li as an opponent on par with himself.
He sidestepped, then saw Zhao Li's punch miss. Seizing the opportunity while Zhao Li's old strength was spent and new strength hadn't emerged, he aimed a strike at Zhao Li's waist.
If this palm strike landed solidly, Zhao Li would be severely injured by him immediately, ending the battle.
However, Zhao Li avoided Venerate Shenzang's attack at an incredible angle, then smashed his fist onto Venerate Shenzang's elbow.
Zhao Li's Cultivation Technique had been created and cultivated to the point where he had meticulous control over himself. How could he be in a situation where he could unleash an attack but not retract it?
Clang!
Fist and elbow met, sounding like metal clashing, producing a crisp sound.
The two separated with a single strike, then clashed again immediately.
Although they were a major Realm apart, Zhao Li's unique cultivation path had created a physical body even stronger than Magical Beasts of the same level, equalizing speed and strength. His understanding of the Rules was also not inferior to a Dou Venerate. Only the quality of his Dou Qi was slightly weaker, but under his precise control, it was utilized to its fullest extent.
Similarly, although Venerate Shenzang was strong, he likely hadn't fought against many strong opponents. Thinking about it, there weren't that many strong individuals on the continent who dared to provoke the Soul Hall.
In a short period, the two had already exchanged dozens of blows. It was a difficult, evenly matched fight.
Over there, the spectators couldn't see the specific details, but their eyes were wide. They didn't know if they were trying hard to see the fight or if they were simply shocked by the battle between the two.
In stark contrast to the wide eyes of others, Li Ming's expression was calm, but his heart was roaring:
"I was just trying to comfort myself, but why did you really display Dou Venerate level combat power again? Phew~ Calm down, calm down. He's not human. Even if he says he's a Rank 8 Alchemist, don't be surprised at all."
While the Li Family members were shocked, Sun Xiaochuan's face was pale, and his heart sank to the bottom:
"He can actually fight Venerate Shenzang to this extent? That's a Dou Venerate..."
He first felt lucky that he hadn't been instantly killed by Zhao Li back then, then felt extreme regret. He even began to feel that he had indeed been too arrogant over the years, having lost his former humility.
Sun Xiaochuan regretted it immensely and even wanted to sneak away while the two were fighting.
But he knew that if he really did that, not to mention Zhao Li, he feared that before long, another soul would be added to a certain part of the Soul Hall. He knew that Venerate Shenzang was merely the tip of the Soul Hall iceberg.
Up in the air, the two clashed once more. Venerate Shenzang used the force to retreat, and seeing Zhao Li about to follow, felt a sense of helplessness mixed with lingering fear.
He had already discovered that Zhao Li's Dou Qi Realm hadn't reached Dou Venerate, yet he possessed such combat power. A surge of killing intent rose in his heart. Such a genius, now that they were enemies, would be an endless source of trouble if not suppressed.
Venerate Shenzang no longer thought about capturing Zhao Li alive. Suddenly, he roared:
"Kid, stay here! To be defeated by this move of mine, you can be proud enough. Withering and Flourishing Finger, One Finger of Withering and Flourishing!"
The black mist on his body, which had been greatly depleted, instantly burned wildly. Venerate Shenzang's hair rapidly withered, changing from black to a deathly gray.
The surrounding Dou Qi condensed, forming a giant finger.
Beneath the fingertip, a sense of desolation arose. In an instant, the surroundings were filled with sorrow.
Venerate Shenzang, left with no choice, unleashed his killing move.
After clashing up to this point, Venerate Shenzang understood that continuing would be a pointless battle. Several times he had wanted to stop fighting and retreat, planning to gather more people to deal with Zhao Li later, but Zhao Li had relentlessly pursued him each time.
In an instant, the power of the Dou Technique affected the emotions of those nearby. The onlookers felt sorrow and desolation in their hearts, retreating again and again. And this was just the charging phase of the Dou Technique, yet it was already terrifying to the extreme.
Zhao Li bore the brunt of it, feeling an inexplicable sadness in his heart, but it quickly dissipated.
Hearing Venerate Shenzang's words and seeing such power, he felt a great sense of unease and rapidly retreated.
As he retreated, a hand of thunder and a hand of flame appeared in his hands. Immediately after, Zhao Li slowly brought his hands together.
Thunder and fire, both were extremely violent forces in the world. Either one possessed immense power.
Now, Zhao Li wanted to fuse the two together, causing Venerate Shenzang's heart to pound.
"Three produces all things, everything in the world, none can exist apart from Rules. And in my hometown, there's a book that studies the patterns of all things..."
What Zhao Li was thinking, though crazy, had a basis.
Finally, the thunder and fire gradually fused in Zhao Li's hands, forming the Thunder-Fire Twin Fish, intertwining with each other to create a Primal Chaos Orb, slowly rotating.
"Shocking Thunder, Blazing Fire, Li below, Zhen above, Thunder-Fire Abundance."
All of this seemed to take a long time, but it was completed within a few breaths.
Immediately after, both of them attacked almost simultaneously.
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