Facing Xia Song's seventeen fierce attacks wrapped in flowing fire, Li Haoran stood rooted to the spot.
He still wore that gentle, bamboo-like expression, his pure white daoist robes gently fluttering in the sweeping wave of heat, while the gilded cloud crane patterns on his sleeves were dyed by the surrounding flames into a color almost like red gold.
The moment Xia Song's first fist came howling with flames wrapped around it, Li Haoran's first reaction was to casually place his right hand behind his back.
Then he lightly raised his left hand.
"Boom!"
The first fist exploded with a half-zhang-long trail of flames, the fist wind tearing through the air, bringing with it a terrifying scorching wave of heat.
Li Haoran's left hand remained unmoving, catching Xia Song's fist at just the right moment.
Then came Xia Song's left-leg kick.
This Kongyuan Mountain chief disciple, clad in pure white daoist robes, simply lowered his left arm, using his forearm to effortlessly block Xia Song's kick, before once again raising his left hand to intercept Xia Song's third strike aimed at his heart.
Li Haoran stood motionless, simply using his left hand to perfectly intercept every single move and every single technique Xia Song threw at him.
Throughout the entire process, Li Haoran never even glanced once in Xia Song's direction.
He was almost entirely relying on his instinctive reactions to block all of Xia Song's attacks.
Xia Song's sixteenth move was a sweeping leg strike.
A swift fire serpent skimmed across the ground. With this move, Li Haoran had no way to block it using only his left hand, so he had to slightly lift his left foot, causing Xia Song's sweeping leg to miss.
But this was exactly what Xia Song had planned.
Xia Song, whose entire body was pressed flat against the ground, suddenly exploded with force from his arms, launching himself into the air. Then, his extended right palm aimed straight at Li Haoran's face:
"Blazing Wildfire!"
Xia Song's furious shout and the roaring explosion of flames erupting from his palm sounded almost simultaneously. His Martial Spring was pushed to full power, the true qi surging from his meridians completely transforming into a crimson pillar of fire, hurtling toward Li Haoran with the momentum to burn everything in its path.
The moment the pillar of fire surged forth, the bluestone bricks on the arena platform visibly cracked with countless scorched fissures at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Even the crowd gathered in the Daoyan Arena, dozens of feet away, could feel the air instantly becoming scorching hot.
Li Haoran still stood in place. The moment the pillar of fire was about to reach within three feet of him, he raised his left hand, with his index and middle fingers pressed together—
Kongshan Finger.
Colorless and formless true qi surged outward, instantly completely dispersing the crimson pillar of fire erupting from Xia Song's palm.
This Crimson Phoenix Tower disciple, clad in crimson daoist robes, crashed to the ground like a bird shot down from the sky by a hunter's bow.
Xia Song lay flat on the arena platform, his chest heaving rapidly as he gasped for breath.
White steam continuously rose from his body. Compared to when he first stepped onto the arena platform, Xia Song's daoist robes seemed to have grown a size larger, or rather, at this moment, his body had shrunk by one size compared to just a few breaths ago.
The consumption of Meteoric Fire Flying Star was enormous, especially regarding the moisture within Xia Song's body.
In the history of the Crimson Phoenix Tower, there were even quite a few cultivators who had died from dehydration due to forcibly executing Meteoric Fire Flying Star.
Xia Song had reached his absolute limit. It wasn't as if he had launched this fierce assault without any preparation.
Because he knew Li Haoran's dominant hand was his right, Xia Song had from the very beginning adopted a strategy of violently attacking Li Haoran's left side.
Yet even after exhausting all his strength, he still couldn't break through the defense of Li Haoran's single left hand. What else could he do?
The gap was simply too great.
"I concede, Chief Disciple Li."
Xia Song, lying on the ground and panting heavily, said this.
"You're too kind."
Li Haoran, standing on the arena platform, just smiled.
"The winner—Chief Disciple Li!"
The manager disciple from the Star Heaven Sect who was in charge of officiating the match shouted loudly, thus pronouncing the undisputed outcome of this duel.
When he declared the victory, his address for Li Haoran wasn't even his actual name but instinctively called him "Chief Disciple Li."
This alone proved Li Haoran's weight and status in the current cultivation world of the Chenping Continent.
After the victory was announced, several Crimson Phoenix Tower disciples quickly ran up to the arena platform and began pouring water from their canteens into Xia Song's mouth.
...
On the viewing stand.
Although the duel between Li Haoran and Xia Song had just lasted only a few breaths, it had still left a rather indelible impression on the cultivators on the viewing stand.
"This Crimson Phoenix Tower Dao Inquirer at Heavenly Summit Mountain is actually pretty good, huh. That combo of attacks, damn."
"If he hadn't run into Li Haoran, he'd probably be a dark horse at this Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry, likely able to squeeze into the top hundred."
"I'm not so sure. Crimson Phoenix Tower's 'Meteoric Fire Flying Star' technique has too great a toll on the body. Even if he could win the first round using it, he'd basically be a free pass in the second round."
"True enough. But just being able to cross hands with Li Haoran makes this trip worthwhile."
"No kidding. Chief Disciple Li is still too strong. This Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry, I reckon..."
Those voices of discussion suddenly cut off. At the same time, Su Hongzhen, sitting alone on the viewing stand, also sensed the gazes coming from behind him.
Before Su Hongzhen had burst onto the scene, the champion position of this Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry had almost been confirmed as Li Haoran's for the taking.
But now, a new variable had emerged.
"I see..."
Su Hongzhen's gaze was still fixed on Li Haoran, who was slowly walking down from the arena platform.
A ripple finally stirred in his heart.
Since the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry began, only Li Haoran's performance had been able to rouse his spirits even slightly.
Li Haoran's performance wasn't like Su Hongzhen's, who used utterly unreasonable stats for a full-press domination, not even needing to draw his sword to easily defeat the formidable Jia Hongtao.
If Su Hongzhen was more like the fury of thunder, then this Kongyuan Mountain chief disciple's performance was more like an unfathomably deep pool of water.
Every move and every technique he displayed revealed the profound heritage of the Kongshan Sect, passed down for over fifty thousand years.
It was a display of near-perfect control rooted in orthodox sect lineage, built upon a solid foundation.
This was a kind of strength that more closely matched the definition of an "orthodox" genius.
Su Hongzhen slowly withdrew his gaze, his eyelids lowering.
The aura around him seemed even calmer than before, as if he was pondering something.
A few breaths later, this young swordsman in cyan daoist robes reached his conclusion regarding Li Haoran's strength:
Still not good enough.