He was severely injured within the blink of an eye.
There was utterly no way for him to resist.
Despite being at the peak of the Divine Transformation Realm, which was the most impressive level of cultivation known to the cultivation world, he was still completely helpless against that young man.
It was a one-sided massacre.
“Master!”
His disciple caught his body as he was about to crash onto the ground before immediately escaping to the central gate in the mountains.
That one attack left everyone completely stunned.
A deathly silence loomed over the place.
One could imagine just how frightening that one attack from that young man truly would’ve been, given how it could render over two million people scared to silence.
It felt as if the entire place had become his stage, and he was the star of the show; everyone’s eyes were focused on him.
At that moment, he seemed to have truly become a god.
Suddenly, an elderly voice rang out from the sky. “You are quite the handful. It looks like I’ll be the one who has to teach you a lesson, then.”
A massive hand then appeared out of nowhere and came down like a giant meteor right away. That massive hand shrouded over the entire sky as it came down onto that young man.
Boundless spirit qi above that massive hand formed a terrifying pattern, which looked like it could snuff out an island with just one clap.
“Look over there! It’s the Immemorial Great Hand! The sectmaster is here!”
That was when the fighters of the Immemorial Path began to cheer. There could already tell that the Immemorial Great Hand was their sectmaster’s signature ability.
A massive hand conjured out of spirit qi was a ubiquitous skill that all sects and even the lone cultivators could pull off, albeit to a lesser extent.
However, there was a difference between being somewhat proficient and being a master at it.
The Immemorial Great Hand was one of the most formidable spells of the sect as well as the landmark spell. Once it was conjured, one could basically tell that the conjurer was from the Immemorial Path.
The only one who was able to conjure the skill at such a frightening level was none other than Xuanyangzi, the sectmaster of the Immemorial Path.
Boom!
A terrifying sonic boom rang out as soon as that hand came down. Everyone covered their ears, fearing that their eardrums would rupture from the effect of that massive hand.
“What petty tricks. You’re embarrassing yourself here, you know that?”
That young man who called himself a god casually grinned as he unleashed yet another slash right away. The blast of sword aura shot through their air in a golden wave as if it was a golden rainbow bridge, immediately tearing at that Immemorial Great Hand.
Boom!
A massive rumble rang out as that massive hand was torn apart, causing spirit qi to disperse throughout the entire place and spread out. Everyone felt as if a hurricane had just hit them, causing their robes to billow loudly.
When the storm ended, everyone saw an old man wearing a Taoist robe standing in the sky. That old man had silver hair yet a youthful face. Electricity crackled somewhat about him, making him look like some kind of celestial being.
“Xuanyangzi. It’s you.”
The young man who called himself a god was apparently able to immediately recognize that old Taoist standing in the air. The look in his eyes was full of contempt.
The young man claiming to be a god casually said, “Now, another person who wants to die shows up. Xuanyangzi, I’ll admit that you’re pretty well-known, and for good reason. Although you’re indeed strong, I’m stronger than you; you couldn’t begin to comprehend how strong I am.” and my strength is not something you could imagine. It’d be no different from how a dragon in the sky looks down on bugs on the ground. You couldn’t imagine what kind of level my strength is at.”
Xuanyangzi’s voice brimmed as he said, “Hmph, you sure know how to talk big. That level is just that of the Three Flowers at One’s Prominence, no? Do you seriously think that us natives know nothing about that?”
The young man who called himself a god immediately froze when he heard Xuanyangzi talk about Three Flowers at One’s Prominence. He didn’t realize that Xuanyangzi actually knew about that level. A tinge of murderous intent appeared in his eyes right away.
He then added, “Now that you know about that level, then you should know the difference between our power levels. I’m not here to kill you today, as you’re not worthy of getting me out just yet. I’m here for Lu Xuan, the sacred one. Get him out to face me!”
That young man was extremely arrogant, making it apparent that he was extremely confident of his own powers. He deemed that if Xuanyangzi knew about the Three Flowers at One’s Prominence, then the old man should differentiate between the two.
“God, I’ve never seen anyone more insolent than you are.”
Xuanyangzi smirked.
“Seeing how stubborn you are, I guess I’ll have to cut you down as well.”
That young man chuckled coldly and slashed at him right away. His movement was as casual and effortless as it had always been.
At that moment, a terrifying sword aura that was kilometers long burst and headed straight for Xuanyangzi.
That attack was quick and brutal, seemingly about to punch through Xuanyangzi in mere moments.
If Xuanyangzi was pierced by this attack, he would be no better than Xuanzhenzi was before.
Meanwhile, Xuanyangzi crackled with frightening electrical power. A burst of lightning emerged from his hand, clashing with the blast of sword aura right away.
At that moment, the sword aura was about to punch through Xuanyangzi. His hands, which were covered by lightning, tore at the sword aura in the nick of time, succeeding in tearing that attack apart.
Xuanyangzi smirked and said, “Show me whatever else you’ve got, kid.”
The young man seemed rather doubtful as he said, “Oh? It looks like you’re no longer just at the peak of the Divine Transformation Realm, then. Not bad.”
Xuanyangzi then grinned casually and said, “It’s nothing special, just the Three Flowers at One’s Prominence.”
A nearly transparent flower appeared above his head shortly afterward.
It was the Spirit Flower of the three flowers.
That was different from the Auric Flower that Lu Xuan conjured earlier. The first one that Xuanyangzi managed to conjure was the Spirit Flower instead.
Xuanyangzi had been at the peak of the Divine Transformation Realm for hundreds of years. At his current level, he was as solid he could be. He simply lacked a way to make further progress. Thus, he was stuck where he was, unable to move any further along the path of cultivation.
However, once he had gotten the appropriate means to do so, conjuring the three flowers was a natural step of progression.
One could’ve said that while the foundations of everyone else in the Immemorial Path were lacking in some way, Xuanyangzi was the only exception. His foundations were so profound that he was but a tad bit behind Lu Xuan, whose level seemed impossible for anyone to reach.
He hadn’t been spending the last several centuries doing nothing, after all.
It was just that among the three flowers—the Auric Flower, the Spirit Flower, and the Essence Flower—he had chosen to first master conjuring the Spirit Flower before working to master the other two.
That was the most suitable among the three flowers for him. Conjuring the Auric Flower required one to be of exceptionally formidable aura reserve. The younger one was, the higher the chances of being able to successfully conjure the Auric Flower were.
Aura capacities between the young and the old were two completely different concepts; the difference was that between heaven and earth.
The Spirit Flower was different in that regard; one’s primordial spirit would only grow stronger as time passed. That was where Xuanyangzi’s greatest strength lied.
