Divine Ability

Blood clouds and black mist coiled into a mass.

Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan went all out to intercept the two Grand Commanders. Streaks of cold light flashed within the blood clouds and black mist. After a few exchanges, the pained cries of the two eunuchs from the Longevity Cult could be heard.

In terms of combat strength, the high-ranking members of the Longevity Cult were indeed no match for the Mist Blades Commanders.

On the wooden boat, among the family heads who had followed the Longevity Cult here, five immediately took to the air, weapons in hand, and joined the fray.

With seven people working together, the two Grand Commanders were immediately suppressed. The blood clouds rapidly expanded, vaguely engulfing the entire black mist. Even the sound of the Grand Commanders' blades cleaving through the air became faint and indistinct.

Wu Tie staggered to his feet. He first looked down at his left hand.

The state of his left index finger was extremely gruesome. The flesh on the finger was completely gone, leaving only three sections of bone exposed. Strangely, though the flesh had exploded, the blood vessels and tendons attached to the bones remained intact.

Green blood vessels and white tendons clung to the differently colored finger bones, looking quite terrifying.

The Eighth Commander staggered backward, spitting blood as he retreated.

His posture was peculiar, his upper body appearing somewhat slumped and unable to support itself. This was not surprising; Wu Tie had shattered his entire chest, ribs, and thoracic spine with a single finger. It would be a miracle if his posture remained normal.

"Your hand... is strange," the Eighth Commander spat another mouthful of old blood, staring vaguely at Wu Tie's left index finger and howling.

Wu Tie crouched down, placing his left hand on the armor that had shrunk into a ball. A surge of Origin Force whistled into the armor. Streams of light flickered, and the pale white metal sphere rapidly melted and shifted, re-equipping itself onto Wu Tie.

Wu Tie cursed himself for being foolish.

He had already condensed Origin Force, and his Origin Force could fly out of his body to injure others. A wisp of Origin Force contained a hundred times more energy than his previous Origin Power. In other words, during combat, he could have fully infused his Origin Force into the armor in time to maintain its complete form.

Next time, unless his Origin Force was depleted, he would never let the armor detach from him so easily.

Taking a deep breath, Wu Tie shook his left hand. The armor completely covered his left palm, and he found that his left hand actually felt no pain.

Drawing his spear, Wu Tie pointed it at the Eighth Commander and rapidly advanced without a word.

An invisible force field enveloped the surroundings. Wu Tie, seemingly taking small steps, advanced rapidly. Each step covered seven to eight meters. In a few breaths, he reached the Eighth Commander and flicked his spear, thrusting it towards his chest.

The Eighth Commander spat a cloud of blood. He let out a strange laugh, brought his hands together in front of his chest to form a ball, and suddenly blood-red light spurted from his fingertips.

"Kid, what you experienced just now was the 'Illusory Mist Heavenly Net' created by my Mist Blades' 'Illusory Mist Scripture'... Did I suffocate you?"

"What you're about to experience now is the unique Divine Ability of my Mist Blades' 'Blood Blade Scripture' – the 'Origin Breaking Blood Blade'... You'll definitely come to love the feeling of wishing you were dead after being injured by the Origin Breaking Blood Blade."

The Eighth Commander let out a low, sinister laugh. His body, lacking the support of his thoracic spine and ribs, had an odd shape. A large mass of bone and flesh bulged from his back, his breathing became heavy, and his voice grew hoarse and unpleasant.

Only the blood-red light between his palms became extremely intense, like a pool of stagnant blood condensed in his palm. The blood-red light rapidly churned and transformed, seemingly about to form a strangely shaped scimitar.

Foundation Establishment realm, the beginning of cultivation.

After Foundation Establishment comes Xuan Sensing. According to Old Tie's explanation, it's a magical process of borrowing the energy of heaven and earth to sense oneself. During this process, cultivators can condense a power even stronger and more magical than Origin Force, or it could be described as 'Mana'.

And after the Xuan Sensing realm comes the Chonglou Realm.

The Chonglou Realm is also called 'Heavenly Pass' or 'Heavenly Lock' by some. It is a long process of 'ascending the tower,' 'breaking through the pass,' or 'unlocking.'

In the Chonglou Realm, cultivators can comprehend Divine Abilities!

Divine Abilities are more powerful than any moves or techniques.

The Illusory Mist Heavenly Net was a Divine Ability, which is why Wu Tie's five senses were stripped away, and his invisible force field was suppressed to within three feet of his body.

The Origin Breaking Blood Blade was clearly also a Divine Ability, and a directly offensive one at that.

Wu Tie's spear point struck the blood-red light condensed between the Eighth Commander's palms.

With a muffled 'buzz,' Wu Tie's extremely sharp spear, capable of easily piercing metal, stopped dead against the blood-red light.

The spear tip vibrated slightly, and the blood-colored scimitar formed by the blood-red light also trembled.

The Eighth Commander grinned at Wu Tie and suddenly flicked his fingers.

A blood-red blade light shot out from the blood-colored scimitar in the Eighth Commander's palm with a sharp, terrifying whistling sound. It traced an almost invisible blood-red trajectory and instantly reached Wu Tie.

With a 'chi' sound...

Just as the blood-red blade light was about to strike his chest, Wu Tie unleashed his invisible force field at full power. He managed to slightly tilt his body just before the blade light hit him. The blood-red blade light struck his left chest, cleaving open his tight-fitting armor with a palm-length, hair-thin crack that slanted across Wu Tie's shoulder.

A large amount of blood gushed from the armor's crack. The color of the blood... was as clear as water.

Wu Tie felt a wave of numbness and weakness spread through his body. The tight-fitting armor, which had been exceptionally sturdy these past few days, was finally damaged by an external force.

Origin Breaking Blood Blade... what a fierce offensive Divine Ability.

Stars flashed before Wu Tie's eyes. The feeling of weakness around the wound quickly spread throughout his body. He let out a low roar, instinctively turned, and ran with all his might towards the Ancient Divine Weapon camp, running frantically.

The Eighth Commander cackled. He raised his hands high, his eyes wide, about to unleash the full power of the Origin Breaking Blood Blade to utterly kill Wu Tie.

Thousands of meters away, Old Tie, standing on a small hill, suddenly opened his mouth.

A mass of blood-red flames erupted from his mouth.

Purple-blue lightning crackled on his two rows of white teeth, transforming into a swift and fierce lightning dragon that coiled around the blood-red flames.

A pillar of red fire and purple lightning, thick as a bucket, traced a dozens-of-meters-long, dazzling trajectory. Almost simultaneously as Old Tie spewed out the fire dragon, it fiercely struck the Eighth Commander.

The Origin Breaking Blood Blade in the Eighth Commander's hand failed to be unleashed. The red fire and purple lightning hit his chest. With just a light 'buzz,' the Eighth Commander's upper body completely vanished.

It was unclear whether Old Tie had intended it or if the angle was chosen accidentally.

After killing the Eighth Commander with the fire dragon and purple lightning he spewed out, it continued straight towards the Longevity Cult's wooden boat near the riverbank.

The hundred-meter-long wooden boat was shattered by a single blow. Countless broken, pitch-black planks spewed large amounts of firelight, emitting a whistling roar as they were flung far, far into the surroundings.

On the wooden boat, the family heads and elite warriors gathered by the Longevity Cult were thrown into the river in disarray.

The attack came too suddenly, and its power was too immense. The entire wooden boat exploded into pieces. Those on board were all violently impacted by the explosion, spitting blood continuously as they fell into the water.

Less than a tenth of the people on the boat could swim...

The rest, upon falling into the water, sank directly to the bottom like millstones.

Several family heads screamed hoarsely. Mermen and Frogmen swarmed over, frantically helping their injured allies to the surface.

Old Tie's red fire and purple lightning roared across the river, which was dozens of miles wide, and struck the middle of a watchtower.

The earth and stone watchtower snapped in half. The red fire and purple lightning grazed the city walls of the Longevity Cult's stronghold, and a section of the walls, three to four miles long, was scorched by the pillar of fire. The city walls crumbled, and rubble and mud rained down everywhere.

Finally, this bolt of red fire and purple lightning continued to streak for nearly a hundred miles before striking the ground with a heavy thud.

With a deafening roar, the earth shook. A ball of red light surged upwards, and a mushroom cloud rose hundreds of meters high. The immense explosion echoed continuously between the ground and the dome thousands of meters above, causing everyone's ears to ache and ring.

Except for Wu Tie, who was desperately fleeing with stars flashing before his eyes, everyone else stood frozen in place.

Old Tie's attack had vaporized a small mountain over a hundred miles away, leaving a crater over a hundred meters in diameter on the ground.

Gales rolled up countless fragments of broken fungi and ferns, along with large amounts of earth and stone debris, which tumbled over. The strong wind swept through the Longevity Cult's stronghold, and even dust and sand were blown onto the great river, slowly covering half of its surface.

The lethality of a single blow was this immense.

Eunuch Gu, Eunuch Lan, and the two commanders of Mist Blades simultaneously withdrew their hands and retreated, staring dumbfounded in the direction of the mushroom cloud.

The mushroom cloud had reached the dome and was spreading outwards along it.

Several stalactites hanging from the dome were severely impacted. One by one, they snapped at their bases and fell, striking the ground with loud thuds.

Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan suddenly realized that this attack seemed to have intentionally avoided the Longevity Cult's stronghold.

If this blow had landed directly in the center of the stronghold...

Let alone the people of the Longevity Cult, even the slaves and warriors brought by Mist Blades would have been annihilated.

"That brat... he's not alone... he has a terrifying powerful being... protecting him..." Eunuch Gu screamed hoarsely. "This secret realm..."

Eunuch Lan trembled all over. "We can't handle this... we need the main hall... we need the main hall to send experts and powerful beings..."

Mist Blades' Seventh Commander suddenly turned his head and roared at the direction of the small hill where Old Tie had been, "Madman... madman... in this day and age, who dares to use such a powerful move? Bastard, bastard, if the dome is destroyed... if there's a lava river above..."

As the Seventh Commander said, who would dare to use such a wide-ranging destructive divine ability and secret technique in this day and age?

It was uncertain how stable this dome was. If the dome were to collapse, and if there happened to be a lava river above...

Look at the end of this great river, the crack dozens of miles wide on the cliff face, from which magma flowed incessantly. This was entirely possible.

A lava river pouring down from the dome...

The scene would be truly breathtaking.

Especially with a great river dozens of miles wide below, the water volume would be sufficient.

Magma and the great river would react wonderfully, and high-temperature steam would sweep through the entire grotto. Except for experts like the two commanders, Eunuch Gu, and Eunuch Lan who could escape, everyone else would be stewed into mush like fish in a pressure cooker.

Even if Mist Blades' commanders were usually decisive and ruthless...

Thinking of the terrible consequences, they couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, their legs feeling weak.

"Dual Divine Ability of Thunder and Fire..." another commander muttered in a low voice. "And judging by the destructive power, this person's cultivation is at least a hundred times greater than ours... We are like ants before him, even though we are both in the Chonglou Realm..."

"This secret realm... unless the boss makes a move." Mist Blades' two commanders exchanged glances, then silently rose into the air on black mist, leaving afterimages as they rushed towards the direction of the great waterfall.

Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan exchanged glances, then let out cold laughs. They glanced resentfully at the direction where Old Tie had been, and they too rose into the air on blood-red clouds, flashing away to the opposite bank of the great river.

A while later, a hundred-meter-long wooden boat flew up. Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan, along with a group of family patriarchs, rushed towards the great waterfall at top speed.

The Longevity Cult and Mist Blades, both sides' high-ranking officials, had fled... no, they had tactically retreated.

They dared not face Old Tie's terrifying attack head-on and had all chosen temporary evasion.

Mist Blades' two commanders were preparing to request reinforcements from their so-called boss.

The Longevity Cult's two eunuchs chose to ask for help from their so-called main hall... It was worth noting that Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan seemed to have kept the discovery of this secret realm a secret, as if they intended to monopolize it.

Only now, realizing they were incapable of taking this secret realm for themselves, did they choose to report to the Longevity Cult headquarters.

Several palm-sized Metal Spiders, hidden beneath thick moss, heard everything clearly.

Wu Tie fled towards the Ancient Divine Weapon camp at full speed.

The Origin Breaking Blood Blade was extremely vicious. Large amounts of clear, blood-like plasma continuously spurted from his wounds. The evil energy of the Origin Breaking Blood Blade invaded his body, constantly disrupting Wu Tie's normal physiological functions.

The Origin Force condensed within Wu Tie actively confronted the evil energy of the Origin Breaking Blood Blade. The two clashed near Wu Tie's wounds. Wu Tie's condensed Origin Force was gradually worn away, and after the evil energy of the Origin Breaking Blood Blade devoured some of Wu Tie's vital essence and aura, it grew stronger.

Compared to the Eighth Commander's divine ability, Wu Tie was two major realms behind in terms of cultivation, and the difference in strength was too great.

"Old Tie, you told me to fight them..." With the help of an invisible force field, Wu Tie leaped like the wind, occasionally gliding for several miles in mid-air, his speed reaching its limit.

Finally, before he fainted, Wu Tie rushed back to the Ancient Divine Weapon camp.

Old Tie was already standing at the entrance of the Ancient Divine Weapon camp. More than a dozen Metal Spiders swarmed forward, dragging the exhausted Wu Tie into the camp.

Some Metal Spiders were busy concealing the entrance to the Ancient Divine Weapon camp.

"What elite warrior isn't forged through near-death experiences on the battlefield? Perhaps I... might have been a bit too hasty?" Old Tie walked into the Ancient Divine Weapon camp, shaking his head and muttering to himself.

"However, with me looking out for him... there shouldn't be any major danger... Hmm, to unleash such an attack next time, I'll need to accumulate several months of Origin Energy? This damn thing has really damaged himself too much."

"Alright, for the next few months, I'll keep a low profile... A wise man knows when to retreat."