However, just as the Phoenix Feather was about to touch his brow, Donghua casually raised his right hand and brought his index and middle fingers together in midair. The movement seemed slow, yet his aim was uncannily precise.
"Clang!"
With a clear ring, the Five-Colored Phoenix Feather—powerful enough to pierce metal and stone—was firmly caught between Donghua's fingers. It could move no farther!
The five-element divine power coursing through the feather surged wildly, yet it couldn't even scratch the skin between his fingers.
Although Donghua had only cultivated the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique to the Fourth Revolution, his physical strength had already surpassed all imagination.
Just then, a figure suddenly appeared.
He was a tall, imposing young man, clad in gleaming armor that shimmered with all five colors. His features were as handsome as carved jade, and his brows carried a naturally imposing air.
Most striking were his lapis-lazuli-like eyes, in which five-colored radiance faintly swirled. The Daoist principles of the five elements seemed to flicker around him, making him seem impossibly noble—and brimming with the will to fight.
"You actually stopped my attack," the young man said coldly, his voice tinged with innate arrogance. "But you're still going to die!"
Before his words had faded, the Five-Colored Divine Light behind him flared once more. Green, yellow, red, black, and white intertwined, forming a mighty torrent imbued with the mysteries of the five elements' creation and destruction. It surged toward Donghua!
Wherever it passed, the void trembled, and spiritual energy was brushed away, broken down, and returned to its source.
Facing this attack, which contained the power of the five elements, a look of understanding flashed in Donghua's eyes. So it was him.
After the Dragon-Han Calamity ended, the Innate Three Clans, once mighty throughout the Primordial Wilderness, had been gravely weakened.
Beginning Qilin, Yuanfeng, and Ancestral Dragon had each sworn a Great Dao oath to guard one part of the world. They became auspicious beings of the Primordial Wilderness, guarding the Sea Eyes of the Four Seas and the Immortal Volcano to atone for their sins and lessen the crushing weight of karmic burden upon heaven and earth.
Before Yuanfeng flew back to the Immortal Volcano, she had given birth to two eggs at Fallen Phoenix Slope, weeping blood as she did.
One was nourished by the origin of the five elements, while the other was nurtured by the Yin and Yang Energies. When they hatched, Kong Xuan and the Golden-winged Great Peng entered the world.
Kong Xuan, standing before Donghua, was exceptionally gifted. In the future, he would distinguish himself during the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation.
Kong Xuan had been especially dazzling during that Great Tribulation. Known as invincible beneath the saints, he wielded the Supernatural Ability Five-Colored Divine Light, brushing away every treasure of the five elements.
Had Saint Zhunti not stepped in to subdue him, Yin Shang might not have fallen, and the course of the Investiture of the Gods could have changed entirely.
Now that he recognized Kong Xuan, Donghua naturally felt a desire to preserve such talent.
At the same time, he wanted to take this opportunity to test the power of his Fourth Revolution of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique.
As the Five-Colored Divine Light swept toward him like the Heavenly River pouring from the sky, Donghua neither dodged nor retreated. He threw back his head and laughed. "Well done!"
Clear light blazed around Donghua. The stars in all three hundred and sixty-five of his acupoints trembled at once, and his blood and qi surged like a primordial flood.
He didn't dodge or retreat. Instead, he slowly raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and reached straight for the Divine Light that could brush away anything!
Seeing Donghua face his innate ability—which could brush away anything—and try to withstand it with his physical body, Kong Xuan's eyes flashed with anger.
"He merely caught one casual strike of mine, and now he dares to be so arrogant? He doesn't know his own limits!"
But in the next instant, Kong Xuan's pupils contracted.
The moment Donghua's palm touched the Divine Light, a warm jade sheen rose beneath his skin, and Daoist patterns of the five elements faintly flowed across it.
The Five-Colored Divine Light, powerful enough to brush away all things, was caught in Donghua's hand!
The Divine Light surged and crashed around in his palm, but, like a trapped beast, it could not break free. His fingers slowly closed, and the sound of metal and stone striking together rang from his palm, scattering brilliant sparks.
As Kong Xuan stared in disbelief, Donghua turned his wrist and tightened his grip.
"Crack!"
A sharp, brittle sound rang out. The peerlessly fierce Five-Colored Divine Light was crushed in his bare hand, dissolving into scattered points of spiritual light.
Donghua casually shook his hand, as if brushing away a speck of dust, and said, "The force is decent, but your control is far too crude."
Donghua's Daoist robe remained undamaged. Clearly, he had taken the attack with his physical body alone.
Only then did Kong Xuan realize, to his shock, that the seemingly ordinary robe Donghua wore was a High-grade Innate Spirit Treasure!
Yet his opponent hadn't even bothered to use a spiritual treasure for protection. He had crushed Kong Xuan's innate Supernatural Ability with nothing but his physical strength.
In that moment, all the arrogance on Kong Xuan's face gave way to shock. He finally understood what a terrifying existence stood before him.
Donghua stood with his hands behind his back and looked at the stunned Kong Xuan, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.
"The principle of how the five elements overcome one another isn't used like that."
"My attack contains the origin of the five elements. Even a Great Luo Golden Immortal would have to avoid its edge. You took it with your physical body alone. Are you Di Jun of the Demon Race, or Taiyi?"
Kong Xuan let out a long howl, and the Five-Colored Divine Light blazed around him. The innate origin of the five elements gathered before him into a brilliant wheel of light.
His gaze was resolute, and his voice carried a determination to perish together with his foe. He formed a hand seal, and the five-colored wheel spun rapidly, tearing through the void.
"I never thought someone as powerful as you would come in person. But don't waste your effort. I've long since severed ties with the Phoenix Clan. I will never help your Demon Race!"
Before his words had faded, the pressure from the five-colored wheel grew even stronger.
Kong Xuan had already resolved to die in this strike. He was burning through his origin, determined to perish together with the so-called "Demon Race" before him.
No wonder he would be such a hotheaded youth during the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation, daring to challenge even the saints. Who would have thought he was already like this?
Just as the flames of Kong Xuan's origin were about to ignite completely, Donghua appeared before him as if he had pierced through time and space.
There was no earth-shattering spectacle. Donghua simply raised his hand and lightly touched a finger to Kong Xuan's brow.
The finger seemed to move slowly, yet the churning origin throughout Kong Xuan's body froze in an instant.
The flame of life he had ignited at any cost was snuffed out by that casual touch, like a guttering candle in the wind.
"Foolish."
Donghua's voice was calm and unruffled. Daoist principles flowed around his fingertip, suppressing all the rampaging five-element origin within Kong Xuan.
Kong Xuan stared wide-eyed at the figure standing within arm's reach, unable to believe it. Before this person, his Taiyi Golden Immortal cultivation had been dispelled as easily as a child's game.
Donghua stood with his hands behind his back and looked at the horrified Kong Xuan, shaking his head slightly.
"To die just to prove your resolve is the most foolish choice. I am East King Duke, not Di Jun or Taiyi of the Demon Race."
Kong Xuan steadied himself and bowed respectfully. The arrogance between his brows had turned into sincere reverence.
"Thank you for showing mercy, Senior. I was blind and failed to recognize who you truly were. I offended you earlier; I hope you'll forgive me."
He paused, then continued, "Since Senior needs this place for cultivation, I'll take my leave."
With that, five-colored light flowed around Kong Xuan as he transformed into his true form and prepared to take flight.
"You've been trapped at the peak of the Taiyi realm for a long time. Have you ever wondered where the gate to Daluo truly lies?"
Donghua's voice drifted leisurely through the air, carrying a hint of deeper meaning. His gaze was sharp, as if it could pierce illusions and see the very roots of Kong Xuan's cultivation.
Hearing this, Kong Xuan paused and immediately stopped moving.
Before you continue