Jiang He’s meaning was clear.
In short, if someone were to be blamed, it would be the exceedingly weak Diamond Sect Disciples whose Dragon-Elephant Prajna proved lacking.
I wouldn’t have such an easy time thrashing them, would I?
Furious, River White Nima pressed, “If you wanted to spar with the Dragon-Elephant Prajna, you could have sparred against the disciples who had cultivated that technique. More than a dozen amongst the twenty-nine disciples you beat up did not cultivate it, so why would you hurt them?”
“…”
Jiang He mused to himself for a few moments before answering seriously, “I might have struck too quick to notice if they had learnt Dragon-Elephant Prajna.”
“Arrogant brat!”
River White Nima yelled, his aura instantly bursting out.
He was burly in the first place, and he became even larger after he charged Dragon-Elephant Prajna, presenting him in a menacing presence.
The lama then took one step forward, the earth cracking and shaking beneath his foot.
“I’m River White Nima, personal disciple of the Diamond Sect’s guru. My Dragon-Elephant Prajna has already been cultivated up to tier-twelve—Mister Jiang, do show me the Dragon-Elephant Prajna you developed yourself!”
A boom resounded as he punched out, and the air itself was cracking.
The fist was not charged with True Qi or a technique at all, and yet the sheer physical strength of Dragon-Elephant Prajna at the twelfth tier absolutely reached the limit point of rank-nine.
“Good!’
Even so, Jiang He was completely unafraid.
Rawr!
In the instant that River White Nima attacked, Jiang He had already charged his own Dragon-Elephant Prajna. In his body, a dragon’s roar and an elephant’s trumpeting resounded deafeningly, and a dragon’s silhouette circled his head while an elephant roared at the skies.
Golden light shone upon his body, and Nature Qi encircled him.
Indestructible Diamond and Dragon-Elephant Prajna burst out simultaneously…
After all, from Jiang He’s standpoint, though his revamped Dragon-Elephant Prajna was strong, he had merely cultivated it to fifth-tier while River White Nima had cultivated to twelfth-tier—he would never win by relying on Dragon-Elephant Prajna alone.
Boom!
Jiang He clenched his fist and punched out as well.
With a thundering band, the two men’s fists collided sharply. Air waves visible to the naked eye kicked out between their fists and unfurled over all directions, blowing sand and stone off the ground.
River White Nima grunted and took three steps back, while Jiang He did not move an inch, staring straight at his fist while he remained where he was and exclaiming in surprise, “My physical strength is already this powerful?”
Actually… Jiang He really had not expected that!
Nonetheless, he soon understood.
Mastery of Indestructible Diamond had already honed his physique to frightening toughness, and coupled with the fifth-tier of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna, he could physically match the best rank-nine elites.
Moreover, he also had the Nine Stars Heavenly Body Formula…
That technique was an immortal physique technique, and with Jiang He’s first-tier mastery, his physical strength would triumph against the strongest of rank-nines. Even though he did not use it right now, the physical strength and strengthening gained from the first tier of the Nine Stars Heavenly Body Formula was very much real.
“This is the Dragon-Elephant Prajna you developed yourself!?”
River White Nima growled as he turned to Jiang He. “No, the cultivation method you developed is wrong—the Tigercoat Wise Kings, the Diamond Sect founders had developed the Dragon-Elephant Prajna according to the ancient divine beast, the Dragon-Elephant. Mastery meant one would gain the power of the Dragon-Elephant with each move, with the silhouette of a Dragon-Elephant hovering above them!”
Amused, Jiang He could not help saying, “Nima, are you wrong in the head? Is the silhouette of the dragon and elephant over my head not obvious enough?”
“No!”
River White Nima retorted seriously. “A dragon is a dragon, an elephant is an elephant, and a Dragon-Elephant is neither a dragon nor an elephant.”
Jiang He: “…”
Opps.
He was certainly stunned.
So that’s what ‘Dragon-Elephant’ actually meant?!
He had misunderstood Dragon-Elephant into a dragon and an elephant when he copied the cultivation method…
That being said, he couldn’t just say that, could he?
Moreover, Jiang He felt that his revamped version of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna was much stronger than the Diamond Sect’s Dragon-Elephant Prajna.
Hence, River White Nima walked up and punched out at Jiang He again, who returned the punch as if he had that reaction beaten into him.
Indeed, this primitive fighting style was making Jiang He beside himself with excitement. He even attacked, punching, kneeing and elbowing at River White Nima who parried each blow. Even so, in this pure contest of strength and physical toughness, how could he win against Jiang He when he was lacking in all departments?
Suddenly, their fists collided again.
Pow!
River White Nima stumbled over ten feet behind, the ground shattering beneath him as he stared at Jiang He in disbelief, the hand with which he clenched a fist shaking profusely.
Now, the dragon’s roar and elephant’s trumpeting were becoming even louder and the creatures’ silhouettes even more solid.
Delighted, he exclaimed, “My Dragon-Elephant Prajna actually improved to sixth-tier…”
“…”
River White Nima breathed a deep sigh. He was about to offer a fist-palm salute and admit defeat, but Jiang He had already lunged at him, squawking, “Come, come, Master Nima. Let’s keep this going for another three hundred rounds!”
The pair once again clashed.
River White Nima was an earnest one, and did not unleash his True Qi cultivation even though Jiang He was basically giving him a beatdown—his face was swollen and he had one broken rib, and his arms were hurting so much that he could not raise them.
Most importantly, Jiang He had slammed a palm over his bald head, elaving a clear red palm mark.
Nonetheless, Jiang He offered a fist-palm salute as he floored River White Nima with another punch. “You’ve let me win, Master Nima!”
River White Nima was lying on the ground and wheezing like a cold, even as he heard an exclamation of delight—
“Haha!”
“I’ve really earned a killing here… not only did I get to punch this old bald donkey, my Dragon-Elephant Prajna is also almost seventh-tier. I might even reach seven if I could have a real battle now!”
The voice slowly became distant as Jiang He wafted into the distance.
After a long time, River White Nima finally got to his feet, breathing a long sigh as a bitter smile appeared on his face.
As a high priest of the Diamond Sect, he had come with a bone to pick with Jiang He. Aside from trying to stop him and preventing him from beating up the other Diamond Sect disciples, his most important intention was to prove that the Diamond Sect’s Dragon-Elephant Prajna was genuine!
Even so, he was beside himself in disappointment!
That secret technique, almost divine body-refining art left by the founding masters of the Diamond Sect fell far too short compared to the ‘Dragon-Elephant Prajna’ which Jiang He created himself.
Hence, dragging along his exhausted and quite injured body, River White Nima found himself a seclude spot and meditated to heal his wounds. He was physically strong and possessed strong regenerative abilities, but though swells were easily removed, broken ribs can’t be mended that quickly.
***
In one of the mountain caves.
The twenty-nine Diamond Sect disciples had kept waiting until the moon appeared, but River White Nima had yet to return.
Some of them were worried.
Some of them were delighted!
“Clearly, Master Nima has defeated—and even injured Jiang He. That’s why he hasn’t reached us, because he has no strength to come to us… Master Nima must have found himself a place to cultivate too, which is why he hasn’t returned!”
“Everyone, the seven days are soon up. Let’s seize the moment and start cultivating.”
The twenty-nine Diamond Sect disciples hence split up and cultivated separately.
***
At the same time, Cheng Dongfeng and the others were cultivating as well.
The five-days of cultivation had greatly improved them, and most importantly, it was easier to grasp the Boundary of Wills in the Secret Realm, and their understanding of martial arts had also hence become even more profound!
Naturally, Chen Jingzhou benefited the most.
He had neither slept nor drank over the last few days as he kept training his swordplay atop a peak. When one looked from the distance at night, they would fine a faint sword light covering the mountaintop.
Even if he was a thousand meters away, Jiang He felt…
Envy.
“Impressive!”
“Chen Jingzhou now grasps around sixty percent of sword will, does he not?”
Chen Jingzhou could hone his sword will by training his swordplay, but he… did not even know how to use a sword. The only thing he had confidence in was the White Foal Crosses the Rift which was a Royal Sword technique, open which he promptly mastered once learnt, making training meaningless.
“Huh…”
Jiang He breathed a sigheven as he sat atop the mountain. After taking out his barbecue rack, cutting out chunks of Blue Drake King meat and making over fifty skewers, he organized a moon-viewing party with himself, taking out his sunflower seeds and rank-nine Origin Fluid as well.
Others notwithstanding, the moon of the Secret Realm was in a league of its own.
The moon here was eternally round and very huge, the latter perhaps because it was too close to the ground or because of spatial refraction.
After he was full of food and drinks, Jiang He found himself a secluded valley, took out a capsule and threw it on the ground…
Bang!
A mansion appeared upon the ground.
Stretching and yawning, Jiang He entered the mansion while complaining, “The days in here are so difficult, and it’s another two more days before the Secret Realm reopens… How am I supposed to pass the time!”
“I’m not going to any Secret Realms anymore!”
***
Bukadaban Peak…. Or Mount Golden Roc, after its renaming by the Golden-Winged Roc.
At the foot of the mountain, Wang Hou, Dong Haichuan and Yang Luchan were sitting together and fishing in front of a lake.
They were not using fishing rods, but fashioning fishing lines out of Yuan Qi to fish with in the water.
The trio’s seating was actually specific too: Wang Hou sat in the middle, while Dong Haichuan sat on Wang Hou’s right and Yang Luchan to Wang Hou’s left.
“By the way, Master Yang, Master Dong… you two had been the most famous grandmaster backs in your heydays, with Master Yang being known as the invincible while Master Dong founded the school of Eight Trigrams.
Reining in his fishing line, Wang Hou smiled as he asked, “I’ve heard that you two had sparred more than once, so I’m very curious… did you, actually? Who won then?”
Dong Haichuan and Yang Luchan both gave Wang Hou a glance, smiled, but said nothing.
But out of the blue, the surface of the lake burst apart—Dong Haichuan and Yang Luchan’s Yuan Qi fishing lines had actually been fighting underwater.
One giant fish after another was sent flying up into the skies, and the two two-hundred-year-old martial art masters moved, catching themselves two fishes.
Smiling as he grilled his fish, Dong Haichuan said, “Elder Luchan had been peerless back then in Jingdu, and with his reputation of being the Invincible Yang, why would I dare to challenge him at the peak of his fame, when I only went there later?”
Though Yang Luchan appeared younger than Dong Haichuan and appeared around thirty, he was still of the Taiji faction and therefore paid more attention to his wellness.
“You’re too kind, Master Dong.” He laughed.
The pair complimented each other, but said nothing about the past.
Clearly…
The two had fought before.
Nonetheless, no martial artists would fight in the open back in those days unless it was a death grudge. For one, they would be embarrassed if they lost, and secondly, they would definitely need a clear winner if it was fought out on a ring. Setting aside the cases where there was a huge difference in abilities between the combatants, fatal strikes and bloodbaths were unavoidable if they were equally matched, and it was certainly easy to tell what would happen if a someone bearing a grudge seizes the opportunity.
Meanwhile, as the trio had their grilled fish, Dong Haichuan suddenly said, “Minister Wang, I heard my disciple mention that Jiang He’s cultivation is not actually that impressive… but after learning that he had cut down four Feral Kings in a single week, I wonder—could you have had a hand in the matter?”
Wang Hou smiled, shaking his head. “I would have simply come up with some excuse if I really wanted to kill me some Feral Emperors. Why go through such lengths?”
“Then that’s simply outstanding!”
Dong Haichuan exclaimed in awe. “And he’s only rank-nine?”
“Even if he relied on outside help, a rank-nine turning the tables against Feral Kings is so frightening.”
Clearly, from the trio’s perspective, Jiang He relied on outside help to slay the Golden-Crowned Black Eagle and the Violet-Crowned Golden Eagle.
Dong Haichuan’s tone changed then as he asked uncertainly, “But despite his genius, you’ve actually agreed to the Golden-Winged Roc’s condition of letting it settle its differences with Jiang He personally. What are you thinking, Wang Hou?”
Wang Hou laughed out loud. “I’m just going along with Jiang He’s idea… Moreover, with us three staying here, could that bird kill the kid even if it wanted to?”
He looked up at the direction of the Tantra Sect then.
Inwardly…
He was actually feeling a little anticipation, but was also rather worried.
Anticipation, because Jiang He was capable of miracles.
As for his worries…
The kid seemed restless, and the Tantra Sect’s bald donkeys were quite prejudiced towards Wang Hou himself, and Jiang He could start trouble after reaching the Tantra Sect.
“I’m overthinking this.”
Withdrawing his gaze, Wang Hou chuckled self-deprecatingly as he changed his mind. “The Tantra Sect possesses profound depth, and not even I would are to push them too far… would Jiang He even dare to go too far at the Diamond Sect?”
