Jiang Yun had actually been keeping most of his attention on the person behind the Great Roc. He had already formed some guesses about the identities of those two, so he had not put much power into this attack, keeping it at a level that would leave people baffled without causing serious harm.
This time, before the Great Roc could even get close, someone sent him flying two li with a single slap. He lay on the ground for quite a while before finally accepting that he had been instantly defeated. He shook his head vigorously, then slowly got to his feet.
After standing up, he did not provoke Jiang Yun again. Instead, he returned to Kong Xuan's side. That slap had made him realize the gap between his cultivation and his opponent's. Because of his laziness and playfulness, he had yet to refine the yin-yang origin qi within his body. Even now, he was only at Golden Immortal Perfection. Aside from his powerful physique, he had no formidable divine abilities to rely on and could only count on his elder brother to back him up.
Kong Xuan had not attacked just now. He had seen that Jiang Yun had not exerted much strength and would not injure his younger brother. But when he saw the slap mark on his brother's face, as well as the plea for help revealed in his gaze toward him, he silently stepped forward.
The moment Kong Xuan appeared, he brought with him a formidable air. His figure was lithe and powerful, his body draped in five-colored feathers, and his eyes sharp and cold.
"I am Kong Xuan, Son of the Phoenix. May I ask who you are?"
"My name is Jiang Yun. My master is Daoist Jieyin, lord of Western Mount Sumeru."
"Your cultivation is on par with mine. Today, you and I shall fight with all our strength. Regardless of victory or defeat, all our karma from this matter will be erased. What say you?"
Kong Xuan was proud toward his equals and never looked down on those beneath him. At Golden Rooster Ridge, when facing the Chan Teachings cultivators whose cultivation was inferior to his, he had merely captured them and then left them alone. He had not shown any arrogance toward ordinary soldiers either. Yet when he encountered Zhunti, a Saint, he had felt that Saints were nothing special and had even taken the initiative to attack. Even after being defeated, he had shown no intention of surrendering.
Now, facing Jiang Yun, he felt that their cultivation was more or less equal. Since Jiang Yun had not seriously injured his younger brother, he merely wanted to have a full-power battle with him and bring the dispute to an end.
"Good~. Please." Kong Xuan was peerless in battle. Jiang Yun had never encountered such a powerful opponent before, so this was the perfect chance to exchange blows with someone hailed as invincible among his peers and see where his own limits lay.
After replying, the auras of the two men surged. The might of Grand Unity Golden Immortals spread out. As their auras collided, it was as though wind and thunder had erupted, accompanied by flashes of lightning. The clouds and mist in the sky churned violently. At the point where their auras met, a continuous "creak" sounded, like glass scraping against glass. In this clash of aura, the two were evenly matched.
Seeing that neither could overwhelm the other with aura, both began to unleash their divine abilities.
Jiang Yun first tentatively used several Mount Tai Seals and Star Seals. Powerful seals condensed from magical power and stellar force descended from the heavens, only to be shattered by Kong Xuan below with his powerful physique.
While listening to the Dao at Purple Firmament Palace, Jiang Yun had learned the thirty-six Tiangang Divine Abilities and cultivated many offensive techniques to a basic level of mastery. He now took the opportunity to unleash them one after another, and they truly proved extraordinary. He waved both hands and shouted, "Rise!" The earth around their battlefield trembled violently. Sand and gravel gathered into a gigantic curtain of sand, completely obscuring half the sky. The entire battlefield looked as though the apocalypse had arrived, shrouded in a dusky yellow haze.
Countless stones were swept into it. The larger rocks rolled through the air like small mountains, while the smaller ones fell as densely as raindrops. At last, they gathered into a powerful torrent that surged toward Kong Xuan.
Seeing this, five-colored radiance appeared behind Kong Xuan and then enveloped the area around his body, forming a five-colored halo. The qi of the five elements flowed across its surface. When the torrent crashed against the halo, it was like an ant trying to shake a tree—not even the slightest ripple arose.
Seeing that the flying sand and rolling stones could not break through his opponent's defensive barrier, Jiang Yun formed hand seals and began chanting. In an instant, dark clouds covered the sky. Then the clouds seemed to be stirred by a giant hand, rapidly converging into a huge vortex.
The center of the vortex appeared pitch-black. Purple lightning began to flicker within it, and faint rumblings of thunder echoed out.
"Five Thunders Descend upon the World!" Jiang Yun shouted. Forming a sword gesture with his hand, he pointed at Kong Xuan. Five bolts of lightning immediately tore across the sky. Purple lightning, azure lightning, white lightning, black lightning, and yellow lightning intertwined into a five-colored thunder dragon that plunged downward, carrying the power to destroy heaven and earth.
The thunder dragon struck the five-colored halo, instantly erupting into light as dazzling as the sun. Accompanied by a deafening boom, it blasted a gigantic ravine into the earth.
This was the most powerful attack among the Tiangang Divine Abilities Jiang Yun had mastered. Yet moments later, a five-colored halo flew out of the deep pit, with Kong Xuan inside it completely unharmed.
Kong Xuan had protected himself with the Five-Colored Divine Light, enduring Jiang Yun's two rounds of attacks head-on. Hovering in the air, he looked at Jiang Yun with unconcealed disdain and said, "Is that all you're capable of? Now it's my turn!"
As Kong Xuan spoke, the five-colored halo surrounding him transformed into five agile dragons of light. This five-colored radiance was the technique he relied on most. It was a powerful divine ability he had comprehended and cultivated from the five-element origin within himself. It could brush away anything and cut through anything. Because the colors of the five elements appeared when it was used, people also called it the Five-Colored Divine Light.
The five dragons of light surged forward with the force of mountains and seas. The first to arrive was a streak of azure divine light, like a sharp azure sword. It tore through the air with a shrill whistle. Wherever it passed, space itself seemed to be cleaved apart as it stabbed toward Jiang Yun with a chilling force.
Jiang Yun did not hesitate in the slightest. The three hundred and sixty-five acupoints within his body lit up, and stellar qi erupted from every one of them in an instant, rapidly constructing a colossal Star Dharma Form around his body. With a sharp "hiss," the azure sword of light pierced through the outer layer of the Dharma Form as easily as a steel knife slicing through tofu. Yet once the Dharma Form had fully condensed, a clear "clang" rang out. The solidified magical power of the inner layer was like a steel plate, and when it collided with the sword of light, it produced a crisp sound. After the sword had penetrated three zhang, it could not go any deeper.
Seeing this, Kong Xuan gave a cold snort. Immediately afterward, red divine light howled forth. It was like a blazing inferno, scorching everything around it with searing heat. Wherever it passed, the air twisted and warped from the heat. The red divine light wrapped around the Dharma Form in a wave of scorching force, as if intending to melt it.
Jiang Yun did not simply wait for death either. The Dharma Form swung both arms, seemingly trying to disperse the red aura.
Kong Xuan remained unhurried. Yellow divine light arrived in succession. It was like a massive mountain of earth, carrying an endless pressure that made Jiang Yun's Dharma Form feel as though it had fallen into a swamp, its movements becoming incredibly sluggish.
Meanwhile, the white and black divine lights behind Kong Xuan also stirred restlessly, as if ready to deliver Jiang Yun the final fatal blow at any moment.
Every streak of Kong Xuan's divine light contained immense power. Under his control, they moved as easily as his own limbs, as though they could effortlessly plunge his enemy into panic at the brink of despair.
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