‘Fang Xingjian’s strength is deep and unfathomable, and only Guardian King-level experts will be able to defeat him with divine arts. But…’ The Realm Traversing Guardian King thought of the various rumors and information he had heard about Fang Xingjian, and the strange gleam in his eyes deepened.
‘Regardless, we are still unable to interfere with Fang Xingjian for now. But the Heavenly Lion King’s Heavenly Lion Clone…’ The Realm Traversing Guardian King threw a glance at the Heavenly Lion Clone’s remnant will and smiled inwardly. ‘The Church has no shortage of materials. If we can get our hands on this Heavenly Lion Clone’s essence and bring it back to reforge its conjured physique, we’ll be able to get an additional top notch battle prowess.’
At the next moment, the Realm Traversing Guardian King smiled. The Heavenly Lion Clone before him dissipated slowly and then disappeared from his sight.
“Are you able to escape?”
Simultaneously, the Heavenly Lion King had cut out a portion of his consciousness to deal with the Realm Traversing Guardian King while the rest of him arrived several thousand kilometers away. However, in just an instant, a palm stretched out and grabbed him.
Right now, the Heavenly Lion Clone was left with only a small translucent space. After it was grabbed by the Realm Traversing Guardian King, only a hint of spark remained.
“Hmph, split up again?”
The Heavenly Lion King had sensed danger through his Sudden Inspiration and thus let a bit of his martial will remain while the main body escaped once again.
Although the power of the martial will was weak, it was still a tier five Divine level expert’s martial will after all, and the Heavenly Lion King moved at light speed.
However, in his series of escape attempts, he was be stopped by the Realm Traversing Guardian King in almost less than 0.0001 seconds. The other party’s speed was so fast that it was unbelievable.
The Heavenly Lion King made over ten consecutive escape attempts and was stopped every single time. He could not even take one step into the plains. Then as he split up more and more of his powers, it left him feeling anxious.
‘Damned Church! To think that they are actually taking advantage of another’s difficulties!’
With the Heavenly Lion Clone’s initial optimal condition, even the Church’s Guardian Kings would have to be on their guards. They were unwilling to pay too high a price to take care of the Steel Lion Kingdom when they were having an internal strife.
Due to this, the Steel Lion Kingdom developed rapidly.
The Heavenly Lion King had wanted to take this great opportunity to take advantage of the Empire and rob them of their riches to strengthen the Heavenly Lion Clone. Then from there, it would increase the chances of him clearing the Nine-Tiered Heavens.
However, he had not expected to fail in the attempt and end up worse off. As a result, the Heavenly Lion Clone was serious injured, and the Realm Traversing Guardian King was given a chance to exploit the situation.
After a few more attempts to escape but getting stopped every time, one-third of the the remnant consciousness in the Heavenly Lion Clone was gone. Out of fury, the remnant flame in the Heavenly Lion King exploded, turning into several hundred clones that shot out toward different locations.
He succeeded. Although majority of his several hundred clones—that were moving at light speed—were stopped by the Realm Traversing Guardian King, the last bit of the Heavenly Lion Clone’s essence finally managed to escape the encirclement and arrive in the sky above the plains.
However, at the next moment, his gaze narrowed and he came to a stop.
In this pause that was less than one second, the Realm Traversing Guardian King had already grabbed the other few hundred of his clones and arrived before the last bit of the Heavenly Lion King’s essence.
Looking at the light spot which was so weak that it was like a firefly, Realm Traversing Guardian King smiled and asked, “Why aren’t you escaping anymore?”
The Heavenly Lion King did not say anything and just used the last bit of his powers to take on the form of a human. He smiled bitterly and shook his head. “You still haven’t realized it?”
The Realm Traversing Guardian King frowned. “Realized what?”
The Heavenly Lion King pointed to a gigantic black figure in the distance and said, “Look at what that is.”
The Realm Traversing Guardian King’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked toward that black figure. It was a towering and majestic mountain of an unknown height that had risen up from the ground.
“Hmmm? That’s not right. There are no mountains that are this tall within the plains. What on earth is that?”
The Realm Traversing Guardian King reacted, sending his martial will sweeping out toward that tall mountain.
However, after this action, he became slightly stunned. At the next moment, his countenance turned extremely grim. “That can’t be… Something like this…”
The wind and clouds seethed as rumbling sounds rang out from the world. Other than that towering mountain, four other mountains started moving over from four different directions.
The terrifying mountain peaks seemed to be so tall that they pierced through the skies. As they moved, they did so with an astonishing momentum, pressing the space incessantly and bringing up strong gusts of gales.
However, both the Heavenly Lion King and the Realm Traversing Guardian King had figured it out. Those were not mountains but someone’s conjured physique.
Before they realized it, they were grabbed by someone’s hand. The five mountains that seemed to penetrate through the world were actually five fingers.
‘No, it could be that I might have walked into it unknowingly and had never gotten out.’ At the thought of this, the Heavenly Lion King was struck by shock.
He suddenly lifted his head and looked toward the sky, only to discover that the cloud layers in the sky had disappeared without him knowing. This revealed Fang Xingjian’s face and that they were currently located on Fang Xingjian’s palm.
Fang Xingjian looked at the two astonished people on his palm and asked indifferently, “Have you had enough fun?”
“Amazing, really amazing.” By this time, the Heavenly Lion King was completely convinced. He relaxed, looked at Fang Xingjian, and asked, “When were we captured by you?”
Fang Xingjian’s eyes were extremely cold as he looked at the two experts in his palm like he was looking at two ants. Hearing the Heavenly Lion King’s question, he replied calmly, “You never left it in the first place.”
“So that’s how it is,” the Heavenly Lion King said with an expression which suggested this had been within his expectations. Ultimately, he could not help but ask, “Then are all these actually real or are they fake?”
A hint of surprise flashed in the depths of Fang Xingjian’s eyes. For the Heavenly Lion King to be able to ask this question, it meant that he had already noticed a hint of Fang Xingjian’s illusory arts’ essence. For him to be able to do this within a short amount of time… It was as expected of an unparalleled talent from the plains.
However, Fang Xingjian only replied, “What’s the difference regardless of whether it’s real or not?”
The Heavenly Lion King laughed bitterly and said, “It’s true that there’s no difference while we’re in your hand.” However, at the next moment, his gaze regained its solemness as he looked at Fang Xingjian seriously and stated, “Fang Xingjian, I’ve lost this time around. But at our level, as long as we don’t seek death by ourselves, we’ll have countless times to start all over again.
“Do you know why my true form did not come to help out? It’s because I know that even if I were to come, I won’t have the absolute confidence to win. Therefore, my true form is already in the Nine-Tiered Heavens, and I can start striving for tier six of the Divine level at any moment now.”
“Oh?” Fang Xingjian asked calmly, “So what?”
The Heavenly Lion King sighed. He had not expected that Fang Xingjian would not be wary regarding the fact that he was striving for tier six of the Divine level. His plans fell through once again.
Consequently, the Heavenly Lion King could only continue, “Fang Xingjian, it’s my loss today. I’m willing to offer you the last bit of essence in this Heavenly Lion Clone. However, I hope that you can stop here instead of continuing to pursue the matter.
“If you’re unwilling to do this, my true form will immediately strive for tier six of the Divine level, and you won’t be able to catch me. When I attain a breakthrough, it’ll be your turn to run out of luck.”
