"Roar!"
That Arhat let out a furious roar that echoed across all of Mount Song. Countless tourists on the mountain turned to look in astonishment.
Moro took one step forward, crossing thirty feet in an instant as if teleporting. He pressed one palm down through the air, and the Arhat made the exact same move!
"Crack, crack, crack!"
Before that enormous palm, broad as a cattail leaf fan, had even fully descended, the pressure it radiated crushed the ground beneath Tang Jie's feet with a thunderous roar. Countless cracks spread dozens of meters away.
The terrifying strike was enough to make anyone's heart tremble. It was unimaginable that such power could erupt from a body of flesh and blood.
Boyhood Art. Golden Body Art!
Without the slightest hesitation, golden light burst from Tang Jie's body. Surging golden gang force shot in every direction like countless needles, brilliant as the sun!
"Boom!"
Facing the descending palm, Tang Jie neither dodged nor retreated. With the bearing of a Heavenly King supporting a pagoda, he punched upward. The golden fist erupted with the force of a volcanic eruption and slammed into the palm of the descending Arhat phantom.
Rumble!
At the instant they collided, terrifying shock waves rang out, like a bomb swollen to its absolute limit suddenly exploding!
Visible ripples spread outward. The ground within nearly a hundred meters trembled violently, dust billowed into the air, and a cloud ten yards high rolled up. It was as if two ferocious beasts had crashed into each other head-on!
"This... This is a Martial Arts Great Grandmaster! A gang-force Great Grandmaster!"
Bu Hua, the Martial Arts Grandmaster who had been watching the scene, cried out in shock at the sight. His eyes were filled with astonishment and disbelief.
"That black-clad young man is Tang Jie... They say he advanced to the realm of a Martial Arts Great Grandmaster. I always thought that was only a rumor..."
Bu Hua swallowed. A Martial Arts Great Grandmaster might not appear even once in several centuries throughout the entire Great Xia Dynasty. Such a warrior belonged to legend.
Some time ago, Tang Jie had defeated Yuan Zhan in Peerless City and was judged to possess the cultivation of a Martial Arts Great Grandmaster. Yet the warriors who had not witnessed that battle with their own eyes remained half-convinced, Bu Hua included. In his view, a Martial Arts Grandmaster might already be the pinnacle. Martial Arts Great Grandmasters existed only in legends.
But now, after witnessing this astonishing scene with his own eyes, he understood that Tang Jie truly was a Martial Arts Great Grandmaster. He instantly realized Tang Jie's identity!
"And that white-robed monk... He calls himself Moro, a warrior who has lived for two hundred years?" Bu Hua was likewise shaken by Moro, who could fight Tang Jie. Earlier, when Moro had announced his name, Bu Hua had thought the man was being inexplicably strange. Names could be faked, but strength could not. That seemingly young white-robed monk truly was Moro, the Martial Arts Great Grandmaster who had vanished without a trace a hundred years ago!
Two martial arts powerhouses who should never have belonged to the same era had met and clashed here and now. The moment they made their move, gang force erupted. Clearly, they intended to kill each other!
"This... Boyhood Art?"
Moro's eyes narrowed. Feeling the shock force transmitted to him, he was secretly startled as he recognized that Tang Jie was using Boyhood Art—a Boyhood Art that had surpassed the Red Sun Art realm. It was a realm Moro himself had failed to reach!
"Boyhood Golden Body. Pure Yang Golden Core!"
At the instant fist and palm collided, the ground beneath Tang Jie's feet shattered inch by inch. Golden light spewed from his eyes as he let out a low growl. His right fist blocked the strike of the Arhat phantom, while his left fist punched out.
Within Tang Jie's dantian, the Pure Yang Golden Core trembled and released a surge of power. Friction with the air caused his punch to ignite with raging golden flames. Like a fire dragon, it shot straight toward Moro's chest.
The Pure Yang Golden Core had been condensed from the Pure Yang Qi Tang Jie had accumulated to the utmost after cultivating Golden Bell Shield to the eleventh gate and combining it with Golden Body Art. It was still far from reaching the level of a martial arts golden core, but the power it could erupt with in an instant was still astonishing beyond compare!
This punch, whose speed and strength had both reached the extreme, made Moro circulate the gang qi within his body without hesitation.
Golden Bell Shield!
An ancient golden bell appeared, enveloping Moro within it.
"Golden Bell Shield? Golden Bell Shield of the eleventh gate!"
Tang Tianhao's face was full of shock. Golden Bell Shield was the martial art his senior brother Du Jue excelled in. Tang Jie had also cultivated it, reaching the tenth gate. Yet the Golden Bell Shield Moro used far surpassed the tenth gate—it had reached the eleventh gate!
Among all the warriors who had cultivated Golden Bell Shield, fewer than ten people throughout history had ever reached the eleventh gate!
Clang!
Tang Jie's fist, wrapped in blazing golden flames, slammed into the Golden Bell Shield. A deafening bell toll erupted at once, echoing across the skies above Mount Song and shaking people's eardrums as if they were about to split!
The recoil left half of Tang Jie's body faintly numb.
"What a terrifying punch!"
Moro's expression turned solemn. He saw that the Golden Bell Shield had been dented by a shallow fist mark. This was the eleventh-gate Golden Bell Shield! It was practically the highest realm of Golden Bell Shield, because apart from Bodhidharma, no one had ever cultivated it to the twelfth gate.
"Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist!"
Using the Golden Bell Shield's recoil to shake Tang Jie, Moro did not hesitate. The Futu Arhat phantom behind him clenched both fists and smashed them down at Tang Jie's head like two bolts of thunder streaking across the sky.
The two fists descended together. Powerful pressure bore down, turning the space below into a vacuum. The muffled force was enough to make people feel as if they would faint!
Golden light spewed from Tang Jie's eyes. A great bell rapidly condensed around his body, its restrained inner radiance glowing dark gold and its surface carved with complicated patterns.
Eleventh-gate Golden Bell Shield!
Clang!
The two heavy fists struck the golden bell simultaneously. The earth rumbled with a thunderous boom, and the ground beneath Tang Jie's feet collapsed, forming a crater twenty to thirty meters in diameter.
Moro himself was also shaken backward by the recoil, letting out a muffled groan. The Futu Arhat behind him trembled violently.
"Eleventh-gate Golden Bell Shield?" Moro asked in disbelief. Tang Jie had actually cultivated Golden Bell Shield to the eleventh gate as well?
"To defeat him, I have to break his Golden Bell Shield!"
Tang Jie understood that he first had to blast apart Moro's Golden Bell Shield.
"Rumble!"
The Golden Bell Gang Qi within Tang Jie propelled his Boyhood Art. His already formidable Boyhood Golden Body shone even more brilliantly, golden light spewing forth. Like countless heavy fists pounding down, it shattered everything within thirty feet into powder. Even with the Golden Bell Shield protecting him, Moro was battered by the unceasing gang-force strikes until his body swayed again and again, as if he could barely remain standing!
"Can Boyhood Art really become this powerful?" Moro's face was grim. He had mastered the Four Divine Martial Arts of Bodhidharma, cultivating all of them to extremely profound realms. Yet Boyhood Art alone had once been his weakness. He had originally cultivated it to the highest realm, Red Sun Art, but for some reason, his Boyhood Art realm had fallen and he could never cultivate it back up. He had simply abandoned its cultivation.
Yet the power of the Boyhood Art Tang Jie displayed surpassed Moro's understanding of it. This was a realm he himself had never reached!
Drawing. Iron Cutting!
Tang Jie pressed his palm against the saber hilt at his waist.
Drawing Slash!
Ssshh!
The saber light condensed into saber force. Infused with his Golden Body Art cultivation, which had reached its limit, it transformed into gold. The golden saber force howled as it swept across, shaving a layer off the ground.
The dazzling saber force stretched ten meters long and could split anything apart!
Slash!
The saber force viciously struck the golden bell around Moro's body. The indestructible Iron Cutting Saber sliced into it, making the Golden Bell Shield emit a strained, pained groan.
The eleventh-gate Golden Bell Shield was certainly powerful, but it had ultimately not transformed into gang force. It still belonged to the domain of a Martial Arts Grandmaster's gang qi. Under Tang Jie's ultimate strike, it could be destroyed!
The Golden Bell Shield split apart. Moro retreated in great strides, and a bloodstain appeared across his chest as blood seeped out. He vomited large mouthfuls of blood, staining his white monk's robe red. The Golden Bell Shield had been broken, and he had suffered internal injuries from the backlash!
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Moro coughed blood. The saber wound across his chest was deep enough to expose bone.
"Big Brother Tang has grievously wounded Moro!"
Bai Fenghua, who had been nervously watching the battle, immediately showed delight on her face.
Tang Tianhao was also overjoyed. Moro had once brought him immense fear, but today, Tang Jie had fought him and erupted with astonishing strength, successfully inflicting a heavy wound!
"This Tang Jie... is formidable. In a head-on battle, even my odds of victory would be poor!" By then, large numbers of tourists had been drawn to Mount Song. A trace of gravity flashed through the eyes of the withered old man hidden among the crowd.
But then the withered old man licked his lips. He was in the shadows, a hunter. As long as he waited patiently, he would eventually find an opportunity to strike!
Moro wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked at Tang Jie, his face filled with amazement. "Impressive... Very impressive. Your strength has exceeded my expectations by far."
Tang Jie said nothing. His brows furrowed slightly. Although that last strike had broken Moro's Golden Bell Shield and grievously wounded him, Tang Jie instead felt the aura of the Moro before him growing even more powerful and dangerous. His opponent had not yet shown his true strength!
Moro sighed. "Actually, whether it's you or me, even though we have become Martial Arts Great Grandmasters, we haven't truly stepped into the ranks of martial cultivators. Calling us martial arts apprentices or seekers would not be an exaggeration!"
"Not yet stepped into the ranks of martial cultivators?"
Tang Jie was stunned. Setting aside the immortal cultivators, at least among martial artists, he and Moro were already nearly invincible. Yet according to Moro, neither of them had truly stepped into the ranks of martial cultivators? They were still only apprentices?
Moro stared at Tang Jie, a trace of amazement and excitement in his expression. "Martial arts are not as simple as you imagine. Both you and I are merely walking the path left by our predecessors. In the end, we have never escaped its bounds. A true martial cultivator should walk his own path, like Patriarch Bodhidharma and True Man Sanfeng. Any martial art they created themselves could be famous for a thousand years!"
Moro's words shook Tang Jie to his core. It was indeed so. Although he had now refined qi into gang force and could defeat practically any martial artist with ease, that was merely within the scope of martial artists. He had not truly entered the realm of martial arts—the realm of martial cultivation!
Warriors like Bodhidharma and Zhang Sanfeng, legendary figures who had founded their own schools and created martial arts that could be passed down for generations, whose names countless people would still remember many years later—only such people could be called true martial cultivators, people who truly walked and advanced along the martial path.
"I still have a very long road ahead of me." The trace of pride in Tang Jie's heart completely faded. He understood that he was indeed still far from enough.
Yet Tang Jie did not belittle himself. He was still young, and had not even fully digested what his predecessors had left behind. Given enough time, he would certainly walk a martial path of his own!
"Martial cultivation means transcending limits, defying the heavens, and turning the impossible into the possible!" Moro's body trembled, and he was extremely excited. "Since childhood, I have sworn to set foot upon the martial path and walk my own martial path. I can pay any price for it. And now, I am already close to walking my own martial path! And you... will be a cornerstone on my martial path!"
Moro's eyes turned cold. He could have walked a smoother, easier road. With his Heavenly Spiritual Root, even if he joined the Immortal Gate, he could achieve tremendous success in the future. For the sake of martial arts, however, he had abandoned too much.
To set foot upon the martial path, Moro could pay any price and use any means. He could break his vows, kill living beings, and ruin another person's future!
"Hm? Moro's aura has changed!"
The many people present watched the two figures in the arena in complete silence. But Bu Hua, a Martial Arts Grandmaster, suddenly narrowed his pupils. He clearly sensed that Moro's aura had changed, becoming filled with killing intent. That killing intent seemed even to have altered the surrounding environment. A cold wind howled, icy as a blade.
It was as if... the entire Heavenly Dao was changing along with Moro's emotions.
Tang Jie's expression turned solemn. He clearly sensed the oppressive force Moro was bringing to bear.
Whoosh!
Without the slightest hesitation, Tang Jie's figure flashed as he unleashed the Great Teleportation Movement Technique. His golden-light-shrouded body tore through the air and crossed more than thirty feet in an instant, appearing before Moro. The Iron Cutting Saber at his waist swept out horizontally, its blazing saber light tearing apart heaven and earth!
Just as Moro had said, he wanted to turn Tang Jie into a cornerstone on his martial path. Conversely, Tang Jie had come to Mount Song for their appointment with the intention of using Moro as a whetstone. This contest of martial paths was destined to be filled with slaughter!
"Hm?"
This saber strike was unbelievably fast and indestructible, but something that astonished Tang Jie happened. The closer his saber came to Moro, the more its power weakened. It was as if it had fallen into a layer of soft clouds, slowing more and more.
Clink!
Moro extended two fingers and caught the blade between them! A faint smile rested on his face. He looked calm and unhurried, as if he had done it without the slightest effort!
"How is that possible?"
Tang Jie was unable to believe it. The power of this saber strike was so terrifying that it could even cleave through an eleventh-gate Golden Bell Shield. Yet Moro had effortlessly caught it between two fingers? How could Moro have suddenly become so powerful in the blink of an eye?
No, Moro had not become stronger! Tang Jie's saber strike had become weaker!
"Black Level Futu!"
Moro held the blade between his fingers. Behind him, the Futu Arhat phantom transformed into a pitch-black form, deep and dark as hell itself. It was so black that it could swallow all light and make people fall into hell!
That was all for today's update, around eighteen thousand words in total. Thank you for your support. Also, the author has created a reader group. Everyone is welcome to come and hang out! O(∩_∩)O~
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