Chapter 873: Lurking Concern

A semi-transparent spiritual sense chain shot out of the palm of his arm, then wrapped itself around Toxic Dragon's leg before tugging it to the side.

The tip of the chain then pierced straight through his True Extreme Film before plunging into a certain spot on his leg.

Toxic Dragon's right leg instantly stiffened before it was diverted to the side by the spiritual sense chain, causing it to glance past Han Li's body.

A resounding boom rang out as he crashed into the ground with a loud boom, while Han Li darted back to over a hundred feet away with a bright gleam in his eyes.

Everyone was taken aback by this sudden and unexpected turn, and the entire venue instantly fell silent.

"What just happened?" Tu Gang exclaimed in an incredulous voice, while a stunned look had also appeared on Sun Binghe's face.

At this moment, Chen Lin was watching the battle while standing behind Gu Qianxun, and a hint of realization flashed through his eyes as he recalled what Gu Qianxun had said to him earlier.

As for Gu Qianxun herself, there was a faint smile on her face, and she seemed to have already anticipated this outcome.

On the platform, Toxic Dragon had taken quite a hard fall, but he remained unscathed as he slammed a palm against the ground to bounce back to his feet.

He then turned to Han Li with a furious expression, but there was also a rather peculiar look in his eyes.

In the next instant, a huge crater appeared beneath his feet amid a loud boom, and he vanished once again before reappearing beside Han Li and sweeping his right leg toward Han Li's waist like a giant cleaver.

Han Li dodged to the side while releasing another spiritual sense chain from the palm of his hand, and it wrapped itself around Toxic Dragon's leg like lightning, then pierced into the same spot on his leg, namely a certain profound acupoint.

As soon as the spiritual sense chain pierced into that profound acupoint, the starlight emanating from it instantly began to flash erratically, and the True Extreme Film near it also became a lot thinner than before.

Toxic Dragon's right leg stiffened once again, and for a second time, he tumbled to the ground.

A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as the spiritual sense chain vanished from the palm of his hand.

All the while, all of the spectators were looking on in astonishment.

Just a moment ago, Toxic Dragon had been dominating the battle, but things had taken a very sharp turn for the worse from his perspective.

Han Li's spiritual sense chain was almost completely transparent, and it was extremely fast, so no one was able to see anything aside from a blurry white shadow erupt out of Han Li's hand, and before they knew it, Toxic Dragon had taken another fall.

Outside the exchange hall.

"You knew all along, didn't you?" Tu Gang asked as he turned to Gu Qianxun with a grim expression.

"What do you think?" Gu Qianxun asked with a faint smile.

"You possess far sharper eyes than I do, Fellow Daoist Gu. I'll send someone to deliver the Black Scaled Turtle shell to you," Tu Gang harrumphed coldly, then turned to depart, followed shortly thereafter by Sun Binghe.

"Why did they leave? It looks like Li Feiyu has gained the upper hand, but Toxic Dragon hasn't suffered any significant injuries, so the outcome is still undecided," the woman in purple exclaimed.

"It's already over," Gu Qianxun declared in an indifferent voice.

A perplexed look appeared on the face of the woman in purple.

"This is why I always tell you to be more humble, Yao Li. You've grown a lot stronger of late, but you're still a little rough around the edges. You should learn from Li Feiyu and not be so immature from now on," Gu Qianxun said as she also departed.

A hint of fury and indignation flashed through Yao Li's eyes upon hearing this, but she still lowered her head submissively as she gave an affirmative response.

Chen Lin departed from the exchange hall with Gu Qianxun, leaving Yao Li to continue watching the battle with a cold look in her eyes.

Scarface was also watching the battle from within the crowd, and at this point, his face had turned deathly pale as he stared after Gu Qianxun's departing figure with a horrified look in his eyes.

On the battle platform, Toxic Dragon stood up once again with a furious look in his eyes, but this time, he didn't immediately attack.

"Should we end things here, Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.

The enraged look on Toxic Dragon's face eased slightly in response to Han Li's decision not to speak out loud, and he asked through voice transmission, "How did you find out?"

"I have my ways. That profound acupoint on your leg is very vulnerable. All I need to do is disrupt it slightly, and that's enough to completely immobilize you on a temporary basis. That alone won't be enough to win me the battle, but if we go at it for a bit longer, I'm sure many of the gladiators watching this battle will also be able to identify this weakness of yours," Han Li said with a faint smile, and a steely look appeared on Toxic Dragon's face upon hearing this.

The bodily refinement cultivation art that he was using was primarily focused on refining the right leg. It was an extremely formidable cultivation art, but he didn't have the complete version, and he had been in too much of a hurry to make progress in it, so he had accumulated some internal injuries in one of the profound acupoints on his legs.

He had tried many methods to rectify the issue, and he had made some progress, ensuring that the profound acupoint didn't appear abnormal in any way, but ultimately, he was unable to remedy the problem at its roots.

This was a weakness that he had always carefully protected, and thanks to his tremendous power, very few people were able to even make contact with his body during past arena battles, so he had managed to keep this a secret thus far, but Han Li was somehow able to see right through him.

On top of that, perhaps the average person wouldn't have been able to see anything, but Toxic Dragon was certain that Gu Qianxun, Tu Gang, and Sun Binghe had already identified this weakness of his from his prior exchanges with Han Li.

Just as Han Li said, if the battle were to continue, more and more people would be clued in to this weakness of his, and that could prove to be extremely problematic. Hence, he was left unsure of what to do.

Han Li had actually only been able to identify this weakness in Toxic Dragon's profound acupoint through an immense stroke of fortune. It just so happened to be the case that this vulnerable profound acupoint was one that could also be opened using the Wingform Ascension Arts.

Han Li had only recently opened this particular profound acupoint, so he was very sensitive to it, and it was this factor, coupled with his tremendous spiritual sense, that allowed him to pinpoint this weakness in Toxic Dragon.

However, this was not a sufficiently damning weakness to allow him to win the battle. If Toxic Dragon were to cast aside all inhibitions and continue to go after Han Li at all costs, he would still most likely emerge victorious.

With that in mind, Han Li said, "I know of a way to help you heal this profound acupoint."

Toxic Dragon's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and he hurriedly asked, "Is that true?"

He was so excited that he had forgotten to raise his question through voice transmission, and even his voice was trembling slightly as he spoke.

"I'm currently using a bodily refinement cultivation art that also focuses on the legs. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to identify this weakness of yours," Han Li said.

The Wingform Ascension Arts laid out the correct way to open this particular profound acupoint, and with the assistance of his immense spiritual sense, he was at least 70% confident in his ability to remedy Toxic Dragon's injured profound acupoint.

"If you can resolve this problem for me, then I'm willing to set all of our prior differences aside, and I can also provide you with assistance in anything that you want," Toxic Dragon said as he hurriedly extended a salute toward Han Li.

Everyone was astonished to see this, and no one had any idea of what was happening.

"There's no need for such formalities, Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon. Let's go somewhere more private to discuss this matter," Han Li said with a faint smile.

Toxic Dragon nodded in response, then turned to the horned man to declare that he was forfeiting the match.

The horned man was very taken aback to hear this, but he had no choice but to announce the outcome of the battle.

Toxic Dragon paid no heed to the disgruntled spectators as he and Han Li departed from the battle platform, and they quickly returned to the ninth area together.

They made their way to Toxic Dragon's room, and Toxic Dragon pressed a hand against the stone door, upon which a burst of white light flashed from the gaps around the door before it slowly swung open.

Upon entering the room, Han Li discovered that Toxic Dragon's room was far larger than his and Chen Lin's, and it was also much more furnished.

"Please take a seat, Fellow Daoist Li," Toxic Dragon said as he made an inviting hand gesture.

After both of them had sat down at a stone table, Toxic Dragon immediately cut straight to the chase.

"This is a problem that has plagued me for many years. Do you really have a way to resolve it, Fellow Daoist Li?"

"The internal injuries that you suffered in this profound acupoint aren't just a result of your overzealousness to make progress. If I'm not mistaken, it also has something to do with the cultivation art that you're using," Han Li said.

"I don't want to rebuke you, but I don't believe that to be the case," Toxic Dragon replied in a hesitant manner. "The cultivation art that I'm using isn't particularly advanced or profound, but it's a legitimate cultivation art, so there's definitely nothing wrong with it."

"It's fine. I don't need you to give me the cultivation art, I just need you to tell me about the method laid out in the cultivation art for opening this particular profound acupoint," Han Li said.

Toxic Dragon duly obliged, even telling Han Li about some of the cultivation art's hidden intricacies.

"It's just as I expected. Your Profound Origin Divine Movement Arts can allow one to make rapid progress and open profound acupoints very quickly, but it's rather lackluster when it comes to building a stable foundation. I'm sure you've already noticed this problem and intentionally slowed down your own rate of progress to limit the detrimental effects to a single profound acupoint. Otherwise, you would be in even more trouble right now," Han Li said.

Toxic Dragon's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he extended another respectful salute toward Han Li as he said, "You've struck the nail right on the head, Fellow Daoist Li. IF you can help me remedy this problem, I'll be sure to repay you."

"Helping you is going to be quite costly for me as well..." Han Li said as he put on a hesitant display.

"Go ahead and state any condition that you have, Fellow Daoist Li. As long as it's within my means, I'll be sure to help you," Toxic Dragon promised.