HSSB65: There was a Yan Wudi before, there is still a Yan Wudi now!
The aura-qi within Yan Zhaoge’s dantian, one active, one passive, clumped together to form the figures of a turtle and a snake that exhibited the profoundness of the transformations of yin and yang.
The Xuanwu Fist technique relied on using the Ocean Stabilising Fist as well as the Heavenly Snake King Fist simultaneously to form the image of Xuanwu and shock the Door of Blood into erupting with an incomparably terrifying power.
Yan Zhaoge strode out and was instantly before the big man.
Never mind that it was within the hall—even if it had been in a wide, spacious region outside, this big man with a cultivation of the late outer aura Martial Scholar realm still wouldn’t have had the time to stimulate his aura-qi and levitate!
The power throughout Yan Zhaoge’s entire body erupted. With a flip of his palm, he struck outwards!
The surface of his palm was entirely purplish red, with sweltering heat that caused the big man to feel as though he had fallen into a furnace. It was precisely Broad Creed Mountain’s direct lineage martial art, the Tushita Palm.
While the big man was indeed shocked by Yan Zhaoge’s speed, he was, after all, a late outer aura Martial Scholar. He immediately raised his arms as he moved both his palms as he would blades.
His aura-qi surged, forming two swords which danced about within the air.
The two sword-auras flew, one above, one below, the former moving to meet Yan Zhaoge’s incoming palm, the latter chopping towards Yan Zhaoge’s chest.
The sword-auras glowed brightly, emitting a massive and unending cold, gloomy feeling as tens of thousands of images flickered to life in the surrounding air.
One of the Eight Extreme Arts, the Eight Sceneries Spirit Blade!
Unlike the Chaotic Elements Uniting Blade which was tough and unyielding beyond compare, the Eight Sceneries Spirit Blade had many profound transformations.
It was actually more similar to the kind of martial art that the Sacred Sun Clan’s Sunset Thousand Illusory Palm was.
The only difference was that, amongst the Eight Extreme Arts, the Eight Sceneries Spirit Blade and the Tushita Palm just so happened to possess a suppressive effect on each other. From a certain perspective, the martial art the big man was using now was a counter to the Tushita Palm!
As the sword-light spread and suffused the area, it could vaguely be seen that an Eight Sceneries Palace had appeared right before Yan Zhaoge.
While these furnace flames were not mere lights, as the purple Tushita flames encountered the lanterns which illuminated the Eight Sceneries Palace, they instantly became less vigorous than before.
As the sword-light spun, it was as though it had transformed into a massive palace lantern as it crashed straight towards Yan Zhaoge.
Yan Zhaoge’s expression did not change as he totally ignored the sword-light that was chopping towards him.
His Door of Blood shuddered, the turtle and the snake combining their powers as the power of the descended divine Xuanwu erupted completely, bolstering his Tushita Palm.
The purple colour within Yan Zhaoge’s palm grew even denser. As his aura-qi surged, the vague image of a massive pill cauldron was formed!
The pill furnace slammed straight into the Eight Sceneries Palace lantern that the sword-aura had transformed into, the strong and violent power instantly breaking the lantern apart!
The hairs on the big man’s entire body stood on end as he instantly realized that the power that Yan Zhaoge could erupt with was even fiercer than his, and even his speed was superior!
In this contest of attacks, before his sword-aura could connect, Yan Zhaoge would definitely have already landed a palm strike on the crown of his head!
The big man had no choice. Moving his body, he immediately retracted his sword to defend himself.
Having lost the chance to take the initiative, there was no longer any hope for him to get it back.
Yan Zhaoge let out a breath as he began striking out continuously with his palm. Under his tempestuous storm of attacks, his opponent was forced into constant retreat.
The big man had originally thought that such ferocious attacks would be hard for Yan Zhaoge to sustain for too long. However, he eventually found that these attacks seemed like they had no end.
He couldn’t even put some distance between them, so encompassing was the threat of Yan Zhaoge’s palm.
Biting his teeth, the big man spun his body around and chopped out with his backhand, actually throwing all thoughts of his own safety aside as he decided to fight offense with offense!
However, Yan Zhaoge leapt abruptly, the power that he was currently erupting with actually rising by yet another level!
Of the Six Spirits Demonic Fist, the Mighty Ape Demonic Fist boasted the greatest instant increase in power!
In this moment, Yan Zhaoge’s speed as well as strength increased yet again, completely surpassing everyone’s expectations.
As Yan Zhaoge leapt, he avoided the big man’s Eight Sceneries Spirit Blade, his palm arriving right before the latter!
Elder Qin, who had been silently observing the battle all along, let out an emotional, praise-filled sigh.
With the release of a formless pressure, the distance between the two combatants instantly increased.
The next moment, the two had already regained their pre-sparring positions.
The clash between the two had actually only happened in a single breath, the time it took a leaping rabbit to land back on the ground. However, it had contained a whole series of extremely intense offensive and defensive movements one after another.
Everyone else couldn’t help but simultaneously sigh as the gazes with which they looked at Yan Zhaoge were filled with shock and awe.
The Yan Zhaoge before them had actually really surpassed levels to defeat a late outer aura Martial Scholar expert of their clan.
This big man was no ordinary late outer aura Martial Scholar either; what he trained in were Broad Creed Mountain’s direct lineage Clear Qi Profound Art and Eight Sceneries Spirit Blade.
He was also a veteran of a hundred battles, possessing a rich combat experience. This was the kind of opponent that most young geniuses would be the most unhappy having to face.
However, he had been defeated by Yan Zhaoge cleanly and decisively.
Although the big man had not predicted that Yan Zhaoge would erupt so suddenly and seize the initiative and thus lost out in that aspect of the fight, there hadn’t been any flaws in how he reacted to the situation throughout the remainder of the contest. He had already performed as well as he could under those circumstances, yet he had still been defeated by Yan Zhaoge.
His defeat had seen Yan Zhaoge fighting him head-on with a higher level of power; it could in no way be dismissed as mere luck.
Yan Xu stared at Yan Zhaoge.
“While the Clear Qi Profound Art was indeed their base, many of the techniques you utilized were not of my Broad Creed Mountain.”
Yan Zhaoge said calmly, “I did not secretly learn the martial arts of other powers—I simply had some fortuitous encounters.”
“Speaking of which, Elder, don’t you also cultivate in martial arts obtained outside of Broad Creed Mountain?’
“The ownerless martial legacies that this disciple obtained from outside can be contributed to our clan’s Martial Repository in exchange for our clan’s elite martial arts. If I want to, I can also keep them to myself. This seems to be in accordance to the clan’s rules.”
Yan Xu let out a cold snort, not saying anything further.
Elder Qin, on the other hand, didn’t really care about this. His face was filled with praise as he slowly nodded to Yan Zhaoge.
This Broad Creed Mountain martial practitioner whom Yan Zhaoge had just defeated was actually somewhat weaker than Xiao Shen.
However, the result of this battle had already proven that Yan Zhaoge at least did have a chance of beating Xiao Shen head-on.
Martial practitioners of a slightly lower cultivation could surpass and defeat opponents of a higher cultivation level by utilizing superior experience, talent, mental strength, or quality of martial arts. While this didn’t often happen, it was still not that uncommon.
However, the higher the overall cultivation of the respective parties, the rarer it was to see the surpassing of levels to defeat opponents of a higher level.
To be able to attain a higher cultivation realm, everyone’s level of talent and fortuitous encounters couldn’t have been too terrible. The higher the level of cultivation base, the more this was true.
Amongst people of the same age and members of the same generation, this was even more applicable.
“I have offended you[1],” Yan Zhaoge cupped his hands towards the big man before continuing, “If Xiao Shen doesn’t admit it, I’ll just find him for another bout whenever—that’ll do.”
At that moment, someone entered to report that the the King of the Eastern Tang Kingdom, Zhao Shicheng, had arrived in person.
As Yan Xu and Yan Zhaoge got up and welcomed him in together, the first thing that Zhao Shicheng said when he saw Yan Zhaoge was, “What cultivation realm have you attained? Under what kind of situation was it that you defeated Xiao Shen and obtained his Radiant Sun Wheel?”
As these words left his mouth, the gazes of everyone within the hall all landed on Yan Zhaoge.
Smiling slightly, Yan Zhaoge said, “I won against him in a one versus one fight, then obtained his Radiant Sun Wheel with the help of my Jade Dragon Sword.”
Having heard the details and the result of that fight, the Broad Creed Mountain martial practitioners all sighed in unison, questioning no further.
Rather it was Zhao Shicheng who was a little surprised as he went on to ask a few more questions.
Yan Zhaoge answered all of them, to which Zhao Shicheng exclaimed emotionally, “Ah, Yan Di has a great successor!”
Everyone present nodded unconsciously.
Someone exclaimed, “Yet another Yan Wudi!”
In his younger years, Yan Zhaoge’s father, Yan Di, had outshone all of his peers to remain undefeated amongst the Eight Extremities World’s younger generation.
Back then, as a Martial Scholar, Yan Di had been invincible amongst all Martial Scholars.
It was to the extent that eventually his contemporary Martial Scholars no longer addressed him by his original name, rather adding a ‘wu’ character between his surname and given name.
Read that way, Yan Invincible[2]!
This title was used all the way up till Yan Di ascended into the Martial Grandmaster realm.
However, as Yan Di’s cultivation had progressed these past few years, his strength had also steadily risen. The suffocating pressure that he had once brought to Martial Scholars everywhere was now gradually beginning to return and envelop all the Martial Grandmasters of this world.
The day that the name of Yan Wudi once again resounded throughout this world was not far off.
As the words left that person’s mouth, even if it was Elder Qin or Zhao Shicheng, they also did not openly refute them, as their gazes instead gradually brightened.
As they looked at Yan Zhaoge, the same thought vaguely appeared within all their hearts.
There was a Yan Wudi before; there is still a Yan Wudi now!
Furthermore, the Yan Zhaoge before them somehow seemed to be growing at an even more monstrous rate than his father before him!
[1] Like how people bow to each other before sparring. It’s manners.
[2] Wudi= Invincible. Note that the Di from Wudi is different from the Di in Yan Di, just as the Yan from Yan Xu is different from the Yan in Yan Zhaoge