Lou Cheng walked out of the door and stepped onto the road of glory. In the background, tens of thousands of audience members cheered. Calmly, he advanced into the arena to his designated position.
At the same time, Warrior Sage, Qian Donglou ambled forth from the entrance across, clad in a quaint white Taoist robe. The weather didn’t change. No overcast sky, no lower air pressure, no thunder or lightning whatsoever.
For a moment, Lou Cheng felt like the Warrior Sage was looking down on him. Recalling his battle with the Dragon King, they both tried to pressure the other with their overwhelming auras, and thus came dense nimbus clouds, a resounding rumbles, silvery sparks, blazing temperatures, humid air, and shifting flames.
Internalization? The words came to his mind. He felt as though the Warrior Sage was plodding on his heart with his breezy steps.
Thump, thump, thump! Lou Cheng grew anxious and impatient. His Qi and blood stirred, and his eyes growing foggy. He saw a nimbus overcast, saw the silvery snakes slithering in it, and saw the surrounding land turn into a desolate desert.
He could no longer tell what was real and what wasn’t, even with his Enemy Heart Freezing Move and enhanced All-Seeing God.
He thought he had transformed into an ancient populus euphratica that had lived up to centuries and millennia as the storm brewed above him in the gloomy cold. The might of divinity, Yang natured and unbending, was becoming apparent and more fearsome. It made people tremble, unable to retaliate.
In this environment, he was all alone. The loneliness, terror, and helplessness he felt were extreme.
Lou Cheng had experienced something similar in the match against Living Buddha, Shishan. However, his was an Illusory Holy Land that sang the greatness of Buddha. What he faced now was a spectacle of divine punishment, a show of Heaven’s might. They appeared different on the outside, but were very much the same in truth.
This meant that Warrior Sage’, Qian Donglou was no longer inferior to the Living Buddha of supreme wisdom. In fact, he might even be stronger.
The Warrior Sage is a step closer to the Forbidden area, thought Lou Cheng. Gravely, he drew a deep breath, turning his spirit and unique journey into an intent that extended externally.
Around him, everything grew dark, as though he had absorbed all the radiance in his surroundings.
In that darkness were stars that shone like diamonds, but their tiny, insignificant existence accentuated the vastness, profoundness, and darkness of the environment, rather than providing light. Lou Cheng was the only living organism in it. Looking around, he was boundless and forlorn.
In that indescribable void, the Divine’s Might diluted, dissipating. With all its might, it couldn’t scatter the lonely, everlasting void.
Zap!
An unearthly zap came from afar. Once again, Lou Cheng saw the Warrior Sage amble through countless flashes of lightning and stop at his designated spot, giving him a slight nod of approval.
Even before the referee declared talk-time, they had begun a contest of minds and auras. The fight had begun before it even officially started.
No, it had begun from the moment they drew each other’s numbers in the private resting room.
This was how experts fought.
…
The audience, affected by the atmosphere, tensed up and ceased their cheering.
In the tense atmosphere, Shi Jianguo laughed dryly in a guest lounge after a brief silence.
“Haha! How long has it been, five years? You’ve changed so much I could hardly recognize you! I was wondering why you looked so familiar!” he said to the Physical Invulnerability expert beside him.
Mhm… There’s no way this geezer would be affected by his supernatural abilities. Must be the change in Wuguang’s appearance and his long absence that made me not recognize him immediately. It happens to everyone!
Or so Shi Jianguo convinced himself.
Taoist Wuguang lifted his eyes to look at him, then sighed,
“You didn’t even send an invitation to this elderly Taoist for your birthday celebration.”
Shi Jianguo turned to a clay doll.
…
“Talk-time begins!”
The referee’s voice came from afar, like a thin column of rising smoke amidst the dull roar of the illusory thunder and boundless universe.
Qian Donglou continued to look at his opponent wordlessly, with a commanding presence.
Lou Cheng knew the Warrior Sage wasn’t bad with his words, but he was bad at psychological warfare with words. There was only one reason he kept his silence—he was too lazy to speak and waste his breath!
And so, Lou Cheng preserved his silence as well, the strength he had fermented earlier flowing in his heart.
This time, to preserve his ease for the imminent storm, he chose not to form the Five Flames beforehand.
Time passed. The referee, clad in insulated clothing, stood at the edge of the venue. He raised his hand and swung it down.
“Begin!”
Lou Cheng saw a silver flash before his eyes. Somehow, Warrior Sage, Qian Donglou had removed the gap between them.
At his back, a column of condensed air pushed him forward like spreading white mist.
Lou Cheng, however, in his All-Seeing God mode where he sensed every minute change in the environment, foresaw the move. He moved in the opposite direction as Qian Donglou, like two giant magnets of the same end, giving an odd impression that the two would never collide.
As he evaded, he kicked at where he originally stood, the muscles on his right leg bulging.
However, just as his knees moved, Qian Donglou straightened his back and converted his stored energy to inertia. He kept going forward, past where Lou Cheng initially stood, like a truck that couldn’t brake in time.
Boom!
That was when Lou Cheng finally heard the sonic boom from his charge. The terrible sonic boom pursued him, expanding outwards, turning into a metal wind that smacked at Lou Cheng.
Qian Donglou’s Rapid Thunder was already comparable to Dong Baxian’s Shunpo, surpassing the speed of sound.
He had a mind stronger than Living Buddha, and speed that was only slightly inferior to Kirin. That’s why he was the Warrior Sage!
A martial art genius that appears once in a thousand years, capable of learning any kung fu and surpassing others in a short amount of time.
It was almost as though he had no weaknesses. He was at an advantage in every aspect.
Fighting against him truly brought despair and made one lose their will to fight.
Thump! Dashing past where Lou Cheng initially stood, Qian Donglou tensed up and strode forward, turning at his waist to deliver a backwards left roundhouse kick.
Bam! His leg whipped out horizontally, leaving a bright trail of knife light.
The knife light split the gust that spawned from the sonic wave, chasing after Lou Cheng who retreated with the aid of the gust.
While retreating, Lou Cheng tapped forward with his right index finger, releasing a beam of pellucid Ice Spirit Holy Light.
With a swish, the icy light landed on the silvery knife light, disintegrating and neutralizing it.
Qian Donglou had turned around by then, no longer using the supersonic footwork that taxed his body. He ran towards Lou Cheng with resounding thumps.
With every step, his frame grew bigger and more muscular, his muscles propping up his clothes. At the exposed parts were blue, purple, and silver ancient seal characters, and the purple sheen in his eyes shone brighter.
Thump, thump, thump! With Qian Donglou’s every step, the sky grew darker as clouds gathered rapidly to charge up lightning and thunder, as though a divine punishment would be delivered at any time.
This was no longer an illusion, but reality. His body and mind resonated with nature.
In this environment of crisis, where sharp swords hovered above his head, and he couldn’t surpass the speed of lightning, Lou Cheng released his control over his premonitions and secretly used the Attainment Formula to stimulate his body and retreat backwards.
As he moved, bolts of lightning struck down.
Bam, bam, bam! They came one after the other, merging into a silver, horizontal line that chased Lou Cheng. However, it always missed him by a hair’s breadth due to Lou Cheng’s pre-emptive dodges.
Just as the lightning at Lou Cheng’s back and sides was about to explode and attack him, he suddenly stopped moving. Faint blue flames spouted from his back and propelled him towards Qian Donglou like a rocket.
Bam!
He dashed past the low-risk areas where most of the lightning had already fallen, towards the advancing Warrior Sage. The mild paralysis wasn’t enough to affect his movements.
While retreating and advancing, he had cleverly neutralized the peril brought by the forest of lightning, Purple Stamp of The Heavenly Lord.
Thump! Midway, Lou Cheng oddly paused and concentrated his Qi and blood.
At his Dantian at his lower abdomen, a miniature universe quickly formed, the dazzling stars moving to form a large Fighting character.
Bam! His body enlarged, muscles bulging, like a giant of ancient times. Stepping forward, he raised his arm and smashed at Warrior Sage, Qian Donglou, who was already charging at him.
