Amid a series of thuds, the two figures parted and stood facing each other in silence.
"Great King, your body is peerlessly strong, and you possess such natural strength. I'm truly impressed!" Yuan Hong said.
Ever since arriving in Zhaoge, he had heard plenty about the great victory in the North Sea. The Great King had undoubtedly been at the heart of it.
They said the Great King was invincible and valiant, charging at the head of the troops and routing the Seventy-Two Route Lords of the North Sea.
They said his might was unrivaled, and that he had faced danger without fear, battling the Yao Race and personally slaying its members over the North Sea.
He hadn't entirely believed those stories, thinking many of them had been exaggerated.
In his eyes, King Zhou was indeed wise and formidable, not some foolish ruler. The victory in the North Sea probably hadn't been embellished too much, either.
But he couldn't believe the Great King was invincible, possessed a peerlessly strong body, charged into battle alone, and slew countless members of the Yao Race.
The Great King wasn't a Cultivator and had no magic at his disposal. No matter how strong his body was, how strong could it possibly be?
It was no wonder he had been skeptical. This was basic cultivation knowledge, something every Cultivator knew.
Today, the Great King had summoned him to the palace and said he wanted to spar. Yuan Hong hadn't given it much thought.
Sparring with the Great King was just a formality. He hadn't even needed to show his true strength.
But what he had never expected was that the Great King's body really was so strong—its strength was no less than that of a True Immortal.
A True Immortal was nothing special to him, of course, but it was still astonishing for a body to be this powerful.
"Compared with you, my strength is nothing more than a little extra muscle. It's nothing worth mentioning," Zi Shou said with a smile.
Yuan Hong was the foremost of the Meishan Seven Saints. He had cultivated for thousands of years, possessed profound mastery of the Dao, and had already reached the Mystic Immortal realm.
What was more, Yuan Hong was extraordinarily powerful. It could even be said that he was invincible beneath the Golden Immortal realm.
With his current strength, even if he used everything he had, he still wouldn't be Yuan Hong's match.
He had sparred with Yuan Hong partly because he was itching for a fight, but also because he wanted to see what Yuan Hong could do.
"The Great King is too modest. A body this powerful is a rarity in the world!" Yuan Hong said.
The more time he spent with the Great King, the more he felt that he was no ordinary man. Yuan Hong had long since lost any trace of disdain for him.
Besides, in Yuan Hong's view, the Great King had never cultivated any Daoist arts, yet his body was already so powerful.
If he cultivated Daoist arts on top of a body this astonishing, what heights might he reach?
"Without knowledge of Daoist arts, one is still just a mortal. I summoned you today because I wanted to see your divine abilities," Zi Shou said.
Yuan Hong's strength was secondary to him. No matter how powerful he was, he couldn't surpass Kong Xuan.
What interested Zi Shou was the Daoist arts Yuan Hong had cultivated. He had wanted to witness them for a long time.
"Your Majesty, I cultivate the Eight-Nine Mysterious Skill. It encompasses all things and contains many divine abilities and spells..."
In Heaven and Earth, eight was the greatest of the yin numbers, and nine the greatest of the yang numbers. Eight multiplied by nine made the greatest number.
The Eight-Nine Mysterious Skill was named after this, which was enough to show that it was no ordinary cultivation method.
According to Yuan Hong, the Eight-Nine Mysterious Skill not only contained a method for cultivating the Golden Core Great Dao, but also included all manner of divine abilities and spells.
Instantaneous Golden Light, Law Manifesting the Universe, the Seventy-Two Transformations, Riding the Clouds and Mist, the Five Elements Escape Technique, Samadhi True Fire, the Five Thunders Incantation, Soul Leaving the Body...
All these famous divine abilities came from the Eight-Nine Mysterious Skill. It was clear that the technique truly encompassed all things.
Yuan Hong then demonstrated many of these abilities before Zi Shou, including the Seventy-Two Transformations, his greatest specialty.
"Cultivate the Golden Core Great Dao, complete nine revolutions, and strip away all acquired yin to reveal the innate true yang. Truly profound!" Zi Shou said.
Though the Eight-Nine Mysterious Skill contained all manner of divine abilities, its true core was the method for cultivating the Golden Core Great Dao.
Cultivating the Golden Core Great Dao refined one's innate three souls and seven spirits, uniting them through nine revolutions. From then on, the Golden Core would endure forever, and one could attain the Great Dao.
If one truly mastered it, not only would the Primordial Spirit never disperse, but the body would also withstand countless tribulations without being destroyed.
In the Canonization of the Gods, Yang Jian had cultivated the Eight-Nine Mysterious Skill and ultimately attained sainthood through his physical body.
"Does the Great King wish to cultivate the Eight-Nine Mysterious Skill?" Yuan Hong asked hesitantly.
The Great King had summoned him personally, sparred with him, and then asked him to demonstrate the Eight-Nine Mysterious Skill. It was hard not to read more into it.
His sect had rules against casually passing on its techniques. Passing one on to the Great King was even more out of the question.
"Grand Tutor Wen once said that the Human Sovereign cannot cultivate the Dao. I gave up on cultivation long ago," Zi Shou said, shaking his head.
He understood Yuan Hong's concerns, but he truly had no intention of cultivating the Eight-Nine Mysterious Skill.
It wasn't that the Eight-Nine Mysterious Skill was lacking. In fact, many of its divine abilities made him envious.
The Seventy-Two Transformations, for example. If he could master them, he could transform into anything at will, with wondrous applications limited only by his own ingenuity.
Birds and beasts, mountains and stones, trees and plants—anything within the yin and yang and Five Elements of Heaven and Earth could be transformed into at will.
But he already had a cultivation method suited to him, and had cultivated it to a certain level. There was no need to switch to another.
Besides, Yuan Hong was a member of the Yao Race who had voluntarily joined Great Shang as an official. Even now, Zi Shou still didn't know what he was after.
Until he knew Yuan Hong's intentions, how could he reveal that he had cultivation of his own?
"Grand Tutor Wen was right. For the Human Sovereign to cultivate the Dao is taboo. The Great King must never attempt it!" Yuan Hong said, relieved.
He said that, but he still had many questions. If the Great King wasn't interested in cultivation, why had he summoned him?
"I summoned you to discuss the rebellion of the lords. What do you think?" Zi Shou asked.
He didn't beat around the bush. Aside from seeing the Eight-Nine Mysterious Skill, he had another purpose in mind for Yuan Hong.
Since their last audience, Yuan Hong had become a Great Shang commander and had been training troops outside Zhaoge City.
Judging by the results so far, Yuan Hong was indeed a talented general when it came to military discipline.
"The Great King ordered the Four Lords to put down the rebellious lords, but the results so far have been poor," Yuan Hong said.
After the Great King issued his decree, the Four Lords had appeared utterly loyal, each accepting the order and mobilizing troops.
The Four Lords had attacked the rebellious lords from the east, south, west, and north.
The Four Lords were powerful and stood at the head of the realm's lords. Naturally, the rebels couldn't compare to them.
Under normal circumstances, the Four Lords should have quickly crushed the rebellion.
But things had not gone that way. All but the Lord of the West had suffered defeats.
After their defeats, the three lords had temporarily halted their campaigns, only adding to the rebels' momentum.
The Lord of the West, by contrast, had reportedly barely sent out his army before the rebellious lords surrendered of their own accord.
In no time, the Lord of the West's prestige had soared, and he was beginning to look like the foremost lord in the realm.
"You're right. The Four Lords can't be relied upon. I want you to lead an army against the rebels. What do you think?" Zi Shou asked.
Lead an army? Yuan Hong was taken aback. He was both excited and puzzled.
He was a member of the Yao Race who had lived freely on Mount Mei. He had come to serve Great Shang because he wanted to make a name for himself.
He was confident in his own abilities, but he also knew his place.
He had joined Great Shang only recently. His lack of seniority was his greatest weakness.
Although Great Shang was facing a rebellion by the lords, the realm was nowhere near the brink of collapse.
It had a pillar of support like Grand Tutor Wen, a stabilizing King Wucheng like Huang Feihuang, and plenty of veteran generals like Zhang Guifang.
By any measure, he shouldn't have been chosen to lead an army. Yet the Great King intended to send him, and had even asked for his own opinion.
"Rest assured, Great King. If you let me lead the army, I will surely put down the rebellion!" Yuan Hong said.
It would be a lie to say he wasn't moved by such trust, respect, and recognition.
That was why he spoke with such certainty and confidence.
If the Great King truly entrusted him with such an important task, he would do everything in his power to live up to that trust.
"With you leading the army, I can rest easy. But there's something you don't know: those rebellious lords aren't the real problem.
"They've gained such momentum and defeated three of the Four Lords because Deities are supporting them from behind!" Zi Shou said.
That was why he wanted to send Yuan Hong. Dealing with the Deities required a powerful expert.
Grand Tutor Wen could certainly do it, but a mere rebellion by the lords wasn't enough to send this pillar of Great Shang into the field personally.
"Deities? If the Great King knew about this, why did he still send the Four Lords to put down the rebellion?" Yuan Hong asked.
He knew what Deities were and understood why the three lords had lost. But he was even more puzzled now.
The Great King clearly knew about the Deities, yet he had still sent the Four Lords to attack the rebels.
Wasn't that just setting the Four Lords up to suffer defeat?
Could it be that the Great King planned to use the rebels to eliminate the Four Lords?
"Though the Four Lords haven't rebelled, they are still lords," Zi Shou said.
Before you continue