The battle ended with a clear winner.
The crone, who was an extremely terrifying figure to everyone who had seen her in action, had been little more than an insect when taking on Lu Xuan.
The spectators only realized just how ungodly powerful Lu Xuan actually was.
One could say that his powers were far beyond that of common Celestial Realm cultivators, even far beyond that of common Airborne Realm beings.
The battle and the fact that came after it, were nothing short of utterly shocking.
Lu Xuan’s powers were far beyond their imagination.
Everyone realized that with the crone’s demise and Lu Xuan’s rise to prominence, yet another even more terrifying truth was laid bare before their eyes.
The rise of the Heavenly Palace would be even far more stifling for all of them, when compared to the pressure they felt from the Special Task Force.
“I wonder, is it a good thing or a bad thing for one such figure to emerge in this era?”
“The times give rise to heroes, and heroes, in turn, make the times indeed. A golden age like this would definitely see the rise of one such prominent one.”
“This is unreal. Cultivators, when trained until reaching such a level, would be no different from gods among mortals indeed.”
Everyone remained aghast as they gazed upon the man standing airborne at the moment. The crone’s powers spiked after consuming a special pill, yet she remained incapable of fighting Lu Xuan. Many wondered who in the world at the moment, could actually take him on.
“How could one such figure emerge from Huaxia?” That master of the sword from Japan, Watanabe Kenjiro, asked while remaining befuddled.
His way of the sword was an utter joke when compared to what Lu Xuan brought about.
There was not even a need to compare.
Arthur, Deputy Commander of the Royal Knights, looked at Lu Xuan and sensed pressure of magnitudes that he had never experienced before.
It was the same with all the other Celestial Realm cultivators. All of them wore grim looks.
Regardless of how highly they all thought of Lu Xuan, none of them expected to see anything out of the ordinary from him before that battle.
However, when the crone fought and brought about terrifying powers that were utterly beyond their imaginations, yet eventually damaged and defeated at Lu Xuan’s hands, one could imagine the magnitude of shock all of them experienced deep down.
Conventional, secular powers had next to no way of keeping a cultivator of such a magnitude of powers in check.
“There definitely was not any fighter of such level even several hundred years ago, when cultivation was at its prime.”
Zhang Fashan commented.
He had experienced the heyday of cultivation hundreds of years ago, yet he never knew any such figure to have existed nonetheless.
“This is truly beyond what is fathomable to us all.”
Zhang Ao’s face was completely reddened as he stood by his master. When he lost at Lu Xuan’s hands back then, so much so that he was unable to even begin to fight, he felt frustrated and vexed, yet after seeing all of that unfolding before his eyes, all that frustration dissipated.
He realized right there and then, judging from the level of powers showcased by Lu Xuan just moments ago, that the means by which Lu Xuan intimidated him, had been child’s play in comparison.
All the fighters from the Celestial Palace base wore smiles on their faces.
That crone had been causing them tremendous stress for quite a while. The way she was able to easily cause Duan Shan serious injuries made all of them feel as if they were facing off against the Reaper himself.
Even though all of them were absolutely confident of Lu Xuan’s powers, none of them expected that he was able to kill off the crone so easily.
“I guess our Palace Lord right here would be known as utterly invincible after this battle then.”
A fighter from the Heavenly Palace commented.
“I’d say so myself. There’s just no one able to fight someone like him. Not just in the country, I don’t think anyone even overseas would be able to fight against him.”
Compared to those from Huaxia, the stress and pressure the foreign cultivators felt were even more severe.
Lu Xuan won, but more importantly, he, who was a representative of the government, won.
There was no doubt that the Huaxian government would be even more powerful than before, given that they then had one such unmatched fighter taking charge of things.
It was the scene of Huaxian cultivators dominating everyone back several hundred years ago, coming to life before their eyes yet again.
There had been a time when Huaxian cultivators had been dominating the far east for millennia. One could even say that the cultivation methods originating from the far east, could have their origins traced back to Huaxia one way or another.
However, after Liu Bowen severed the Dragon’s Vein hundreds of years ago, the Huaxian cultivator withered at breakneck speeds as well, which caused all the others outside of Huaxia forget what it had been like when they were dominated.
As Lu Xuan rose to prominence, all of them recalled the terror from the time when they had once been dominated.
Lu Xuan killed both the crone and one of his most troublesome loose ends—Luo Ying, and he felt that he was finally able to rest easy.
But then again, he knew that said respite would be short-lived.
He knew well that as time passed, the time where those from the sects and clans that isolated themselves from the world, grew close.
Everyone went their separate ways before long, with only Celestial Master Zhang Fashan remaining behind.
“Congratulations, Mr. Lu, for yet again putting your might in full display before the world.”
Zhang Fashan cupped his hands and said.
“Put my might in full display before the world?” Lu Xuan wore a faint smile and continued, “I bet someone would just see me as a thorn at their sides, after what I’ve just pulled.”
Zhang Fashan grinned and said, “Hehe, well, that’s how it is, but I assume that none of that would matter to you, no?”
Lu Xuan nodded and added, “Who cares if they don’t like what they see, eh?”
He knew that what he did would definitely make many list him as enemy number one. Most people would definitely think of ways to just lay low, if they were in his shoes, feeling like they were glaring nails sticking out ready to be hammered.
However, he cared for none of that. While it was true that nails that stuck out would be hammered, there was still the question of the strength of said nails and hammers.
“Other than to congratulate you on your achievement, I’m staying behind for yet another matter, Mr. Lu. I’d like that failure of a grandson of mine, Zhang Ao, to join the Heavenly Palace.”
Zhang Fashan said as he looked at Lu Xuan seriously.
“Grandpa…” Zhang Ao never expected Zhang Fashan to make such a request, and the old man had never said anything to him about it before.
What puzzled Zhang Ao even more was that he hailed from the Celestial Master Taoist Sect of the Longhu Mountain, which was a renowned sect on its own. There was utterly no need for him to the Heavenly Palace at all.
It was especially so given that he was first in the line of succession among the disciples, despite how unsightly he looked and behaved when he got intimidated by Lu Xuan back then.
However, that had nothing to do with him being weak; it was just that Lu Xuan was too powerful. In truth, he was the number one among all his peers in the sect, which naturally made him one of the most formidable among the younger generation of cultivators.
The Celestial Master Taoist Sect naturally had their ways of nurturing their disciples, and there was just no need for any to study under someone else.
What Zhang Fashan was doing at that moment—getting Zhang Ao to join the ranks of the Heavenly Palace—was tantamount to siding with the government, which in turn meant making enemies with the world.
“Grandpa, you’re making yourself the enemy of the cultivators from all of the world here!” Zhang Ao added frantically.
Zhang Fashan shot a look at Zhang Ao and wore a rather disappointed look on his face, saying, “Making myself the enemy of the world, so what? Would any of them dare to invade Longhu Mountain then? If you couldn’t amount to even this much, how could I possibly pass the sect down to you in the future?”
