Li Yundong watched Sun Baitan make a slight bow, smiling as he said, "I wonder how True Person Sun intends to battle using the Five Elements?"

Sun Baitan let out a dry laugh, walked over to the table, rapped his knuckles on it, and declared, "True Person Li, why don't we use this table as our arena? Each of us can display our divine arts and techniques; whoever's transformations are more marvelous shall be the victor. How about it?"

Li Yundong was intensely curious and asked, "How can we perform our arts using this table as a stage?"

Sun Baitan retrieved five small pouches from his garments, each about the size of a fist. He emptied the five pouches onto the table. At a glance, everyone saw that each pouch contained soil, but the color of the soil in each was distinct: azure, white, red, black, and yellow—the five colors corresponding to the elements.

Sun Baitan placed the five piles of earth on the table, then clapped his hands together. The five differently colored piles of soil mixed into a single mass, interwoven with one another, forming a circular Bagua pattern.

Zhou Qin watched with curiosity and asked Zi Yuan, puzzled, "Zi Yuan, what is he doing?"

Zi Yuan's expression was solemn as she replied, "I'm not entirely sure either, but the five pouches Sun Baitan took out likely contained soil from the five directions: East, West, South, North, and Center. I just don't know what he plans to do by taking out this soil and arranging it into this Bagua pattern."

Once the Bagua pattern was set, exactly half faced Sun Baitan and the other half faced Li Yundong. He announced, "True Person Li, this Bagua pattern serves as our battlefield, split between two sides. The central Yin-Yang line is our line of engagement. Let us each bring forth our divine power and techniques, using this Bagua as the stage to assault the other. Whoever first pushes the battle line completely across to the opponent's Yin-Yang point loses. What say you?"

Li Yundong looked down and saw two extraordinarily conspicuous Yin-Yang points on the black and white sides of the Taiji diagram, looking like twin fortresses standing guard at the center, glaring at each other.

Li Yundong chuckled dryly, "True Person Sun, this method of contest is truly intriguing. Very well, I agree to your terms!"

As soon as Li Yundong accepted, Sun Baitan burst into loud laughter, "Excellent! Straightforward!"

The cultivators inside the cabin started whispering among themselves, discussing in a hubbub, "What kind of magical duel is this? I've never heard of it!"

"Exactly, how is this even fought?"

"Li Yundong is too bold, agreeing without even understanding the rules!"

"Haven't you heard the saying, 'Skill breeds courage'?"

"Nonsense! How old is he? Even if he started cultivating in the womb, it's impossible for him to master both Thunder elemental arts and all Five Element techniques!"

Su Chan and Zhou Qin watched the crowd chatter and couldn't help but worry for Li Yundong. Ruan Hongling looked at the center of the action, gently tugged Zi Yuan's sleeve, and whispered, "Sister Zi Yuan, did you discern anything? What does this duel mean? I don't understand it at all."

Zi Yuan frowned slightly, her gaze locked on the scene, seemingly deep in thought. Hearing Ruan Hongling, she replied without turning back, "While I don't yet know exactly how Sun Baitan will fight, a Five Elements duel must ultimately revolve around the principles of generation and restraint. Sun Baitan using the five-colored earth from East, West, South, North, and Center as his city and territory means that the soil itself already carries the distinct properties of those five directions."

Ruan Hongling's eyes lit up, and she whispered, "That's right! East corresponds to azure, which is Wood; West corresponds to white, which is Metal; South corresponds to red, which is Fire; North corresponds to black, which is Water; and Center corresponds to yellow, which is Earth! This soil is fundamentally Earth element, but within the Earth element are intermingled the five elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. This greatly increases the difficulty of the Five Elements' generative and restrictive cycle!"

Zi Yuan nodded slightly. Just as she was about to speak, they saw Sun Baitan suddenly cup his hands toward those around him and announce, "Esteemed guests, allow me to present a fine show!"

With that, he waved his hand, summoning some of the soil from the Bagua pattern before him into his palm. With his other hand, he swiftly pulled out a talisman from his robes, tucked it into his palm, and blew a quick breath onto it.

When Sun Baitan reopened his hand, the soil particles in his palm, as soon as they touched the soil in the circular Bagua pattern on the table, immediately transformed into tiny clay figures, each the size of a fingernail!

These clay figures possessed heads, faces, arms, and legs—they looked almost like miniature living people!

The onlookers were instantly shocked. Some cultivators abruptly stood up, exclaiming, "This is Sowing Earth to Raise Soldiers!"

Zhou Qin was also startled and remarked, "What kind of spell is this? I've only heard of Sowing Beans to Raise Soldiers; this is the first time I've heard of someone being able to Sow Earth to Raise Soldiers!"

Zi Yuan frowned and quickly explained, "This is a Talisman Art. Sun Baitan must have used an Earth-elemental summoning spell. Such talismans must gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth daily, allowing them to naturally acquire sentience over time. Eventually, they catalyze everything they touch—even common earth can transform into small figures."

Zhou Qin exclaimed, "Such a marvelous spell? Can it transform into other things?"

Zi Yuan's gaze was fixed on the scene. She replied, "Not impossible, but humans are the lords of all creation. If one transforms something, it would naturally be the most insightful thing available. Why would anyone transform something so base?"

While the two were speaking in low voices, they suddenly saw Sun Baitan beckon again, pulling over a Red Sandalwood Immortals' Eight-Sided Stool from nearby. Sun Baitan held the stool with both hands and, exerting force, kneaded the hard red sandalwood as easily as if it were soft tofu, crushing it into countless tiny wood shavings.

Sun Baitan scooped up a handful of shavings, murmured something quietly, then scattered them. The shavings instantly transformed into small wooden blocks of various shapes.

But when the crowd looked closely, they realized these small wooden blocks were siege weapons: scaling ladders, chariots, catapults, and fēn fēn (a type of battering ram)!

Everyone present turned pale with shock, collectively sucking in a sharp breath!

To use one's divine skills to control such small and precise siege weaponry from mere wood shavings—what terrifying control over the Wood element did this require?

But before the gasps of amazement could fully subside, Sun Baitan laughed heartily and beckoned again, summoning a bronze censer from another table into his hands. He gripped the bronze censer with both hands, and it began to change shape as if it were made of water. In a short while, he had kneaded it into a lump of clay!

Everyone in the cabin was awestruck, crying out, "Molding Metal into Mud!?"

Zhou Qin had previously witnessed Chen Yunyan compressing a sphere of water the size of a head down to the size of a thumb using only his inner essence, and she had thought that was an extremely terrifying display of power. But she never expected Sun Baitan to be able to knead a bronze censer like dough, reducing it to a soft lump of mud!

This was too terrifying!

For a moment, everyone from the Fox Chan Sect was too stunned to speak. Su Chan stared wide-eyed, looking at Sun Baitan with utter fear, and stammered, "What level of cultivation is this? It's too frightening!"

Zi Yuan's expression was grim as she said, "Sun Baitan is indeed a senior from the Gezao Sect, and was a great cultivator renowned twenty years ago. He vanished for two decades, and I did not expect his cultivation to have advanced to this level!"

Ruan Hongling also spoke with fear, "Senior Sister Zi Yuan, do you think he is hiding something in his palm? Otherwise, how could he possess such strength to knead bronze into mud?!"

Zi Yuan's heart stirred, and her eyes brightened. She said, "That's right! If he secretly harbors a Fire element spell in his palm, and Fire restrains Metal, the high temperature would naturally soften the hard metal!"

Hearing this, everyone felt a bit relieved and chorused, "That must be it!"

Su Chan patted her chest, still shaken, and said, "That scared me half to death! I thought this man had such tremendous physical strength that he could literally mold hard bronze like it was mud!"

Zi Yuan shook her head. "Even if that's not the case, we cannot underestimate Sun Baitan's abilities. Think about it: to conceal a Fire elemental spell within one's palm without revealing the slightest flaw requires immensely strong control over the Fire element. Furthermore, to maintain that power without harming oneself, especially when the bronze reaches its melting point, and yet to hold the object firmly without being scalded, and still manipulate it deftly—what incredible skill that requires!"

When they heard this, everyone couldn't help but wear worried expressions again, turning their anxious gazes toward Li Yundong.

At this moment, a hint of shock even flickered across Li Yundong's face. He watched as Sun Baitan continuously scraped off bits of the metal-mud, flicking them onto the table. Each speck that landed instantly transformed into a weapon—swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks, and forks, all manner of armaments!

These tiny clay figures swiftly picked up weapons and formed neat ranks. With every step they took, a uniform rumbling sound echoed across the tabletop, just like a real army marching, exuding an oppressive aura that could not be dismissed. Especially when they reached the dividing line of the Yin-Yang pattern, a leading clay figure raised its hand, and the soldiers behind it instantly halted with a deep rumble, disciplined like battle-hardened lions!

The leading clay figure raised its longsword and brought it down heavily forward! The dense swarm of little clay figures let out a resonant roar, fiercely breaching the boundary of the Yin-Yang Bagua, charging toward Li Yundong's stronghold!

For a moment, everyone felt as if the round table was the battlefield, and these clay figures were bloodied warriors, roaring like a tidal wave of beasts, surging forward with killing intent that was unstoppable and irresistible!

Zi Yuan was shaken by the terrifying momentum exploding from these tiny clay figures. She had never seen such a duel, nor did she know how to counter it!

Zi Yuan's eyes widened, and she stammered, "What should be done? How can we deal with this?"