At the edge of the sky, a crimson cloud drifted aimlessly.
Suddenly, a violent gale swept in.
Terrifying pressure crushed the rosy clouds into clusters of red cloud.
"Damn it! Who dares ambush me?"
Hong Yun's furious, startled roar rang out as he swiftly revealed his true form.
"Hong Yun, you old scoundrel! Look at the mess you've made!"
Hong Yun's spiritual perception flared wildly. He focused his gaze and looked.
Before him stood a man with a gloomy expression, dressed in a green Daoist robe and wearing a skyward crown. It was Kunpeng.
Seeing Kunpeng's furious expression, Hong Yun was puzzled. He stepped forward and said, "So it's Daoist Kunpeng. Didn't you say you weren't coming to Buzhou Mountain? Why have you stopped me now? What's the meaning of this?"
Kunpeng ground his teeth. "You old scoundrel, Hong Yun! You brought this on yourself. Today, one of us will die!"
As he spoke, boundless green light surged from Kunpeng's hands, its radiance turning the entire sky a vivid green.
The endless green light condensed into demonic lightning. Without another word, it rained down on Hong Yun.
Hong Yun was enraged. "So, Kunpeng, you dare! I've always treated others kindly, and every wandering immortal under heaven respects me. But that doesn't mean you can bully me as you please!"
With that, Hong Yun swept out his wide sleeve!
Crimson clouds filled the sky, spreading for hundreds of miles.
Endless red light formed a red lotus half an acre in size!
Each lotus spewed forth boundless red sand, every grain nearly the size of a human head.
They spun rapidly in midair!
For the moment, the rosy clouds held their own against Kunpeng's green radiance, and the two forces were evenly matched.
After making his preparations, Hong Yun did not seize the chance to counterattack. Instead, he asked, "Kunpeng, I've always treated others kindly, and I've never had any dispute with you. Why are you relentlessly attacking me?"
"Hong Yun, you fool, stop pretending! If you weren't guilty, why wouldn't you fight back?" Kunpeng roared, never letting up in his attacks.
Hong Yun was furious. "Could this be about what happened at Zixiao Palace?"
Kunpeng snorted angrily. "If you hadn't played the good guy that day and listened to Zhunti's wicked lies, yielding your seat of sainthood so he could attain the Dao, that bastard Zhunti wouldn't have been so greedy as to join Jieyin in taking my seat of sainthood!"
"You started all of this by giving your seat to Zhunti. If I don't come after you, who else am I supposed to go after?"
"Hong Yun, you old scoundrel! Hand over that Primordial Violet Qi today, and we'll settle our grudge once and for all. Otherwise, I'll reduce you to ashes!"
Kunpeng spoke as he attacked without pause, his blows only growing more ferocious.
Hong Yun groaned inwardly. Whenever he thought of the incident, he regretted it immensely.
But he didn't regret losing his own seat of sainthood. He regretted dragging Kunpeng into it.
As far as Hong Yun was concerned, losing the seat of sainthood simply meant he had never been fated to attain it.
The one thing he should never have done was listen to Zhunti's wicked lies and let Zhunti take Kunpeng's seat as well!
But now, no matter how he explained himself, he feared he couldn't change Kunpeng's mind.
Ah, I'll just take a few more blows and let Kunpeng vent his anger.
That was Hong Yun's plan, but Kunpeng's cultivation and Mana were even stronger than his.
Before long, Hong Yun was at a disadvantage.
Seeing that Kunpeng intended to kill him, Hong Yun grew frantic.
Forget it. I'll let this go for now and reason with him another day!
Having made up his mind, he prepared to escape.
Hong Yun swiftly formed a hand seal and brought forth a gourd three feet and three inches tall, its entire body a crystalline crimson.
Kunpeng narrowed his eyes. "Well, Hong Yun! You keep running into one fortuitous opportunity after another. You actually managed to refine this treasure!"
This gourd was the red gourd borne by the Innate Spiritual Root gourd vine long ago.
After being refined by Hong Yun for countless years, it had become an unfathomably powerful Innate Spiritual Treasure—the Nine-Nine Red Cloud Soul Scattering Gourd!
Hong Yun pointed a finger, and the gourd tipped downward.
Boundless red sand gushed from within. In an instant, it blanketed the sky, engulfing both Kunpeng and Hong Yun.
Red sand swept across the heavens, as if they were caught in a raging sandstorm!
The moment Kunpeng came into contact with it, he was shocked.
Hong Yun's magical treasure was astonishingly powerful!
Kunpeng's Divine Soul was dazed and feeble.
His physical body felt as if a mountain had been pressed down upon it, leaving him unable to move.
His divine ability for extreme speed was suppressed, and he couldn't use it.
Kunpeng snorted coldly and suddenly circulated his Mana.
Countless streaks of green light and flame rose from his body, holding back the red sand!
Then he charged toward Hong Yun.
Even a clay Bodhisattva would have felt some anger by now. Hong Yun snapped, "Kunpeng, if you keep hounding me, I won't hold back! Zhunti took your seat of sainthood, so go take revenge on him. Why make things difficult for me?"
Hong Yun would have been better off saying nothing. His words reminded Kunpeng of the humiliation of being knocked down from his seat by Zhunti, and his fury surged even higher!
He launched a frenzied attack on Hong Yun without holding anything back!
Feeling Kunpeng's determination to fight to the death, Hong Yun's expression shifted.
"You're insane! I'm leaving. I won't fight you over this!"
As soon as the words fell, Hong Yun took advantage of his own strength.
Concealing himself within the boundless red sand, he suddenly teleported away.
Kunpeng continued pursuing him relentlessly and snorted. "Hong Yun, you can't hide from me, not even at the ends of the earth!"
Hong Yun returned to his true form and drifted lightly for several million miles.
Seeing that Kunpeng hadn't followed, he finally breathed a little easier.
"Die!"
A gigantic green claw suddenly appeared in midair!
Formless Sky Demon Rending God Claw!
This was one of Kunpeng's renowned divine abilities, and an extremely sinister one.
It struck as swiftly as lightning, leaving no trace to detect, and specialized in wounding cultivators' Primordial Spirits.
The instant the green Formless Sky Demon Rending God Claw appeared, countless ripples spread through the air. It seemed to pass through layer upon layer of space before suddenly seizing Hong Yun's Primordial Spirit in its grasp!
Hong Yun was horrified. It looks like I'm doomed today!