Inside the second level of War God Hall.
Thoughts collided wildly in Lei Zhan's mind.
To be honest, the trial Yellow-Haired Great Bear had arranged for the second level of War God Hall was genuinely more difficult than he had expected.
But even if the Bald Elder's true body is a genuine Void Return Divine Demon, the divine power he has here is still water without a source and a tree without roots. Lei Zhan pondered silently.
If I want to beat him, I don't need to do much. I just have to wear down his divine power. As long as I can drag the fight out long enough, I'll be able to claim the final victory.
Combat was about using your opponent's strengths against them, forcing them to defend what they could not afford to lose.
Obviously, once the Bald Elder's wisp of divine power had separated from his true body, it could no longer be replenished. Whatever was spent could not be restored.
Of course, this was also the only way to defeat this Void Return Divine Demon in the trial on the second level of War God Hall.
"Die!" Lei Zhan's thoughts stirred.
Lei Zhan used Three Heads and Six Arms and Law of Heaven and Earth, growing to a height of five zhang. The three Cold Shadow Divine Spears in his hands were grasped by six arms, and in an instant, they grew longer and larger along with his body.
Rumble~~~
Lei Zhan gripped the Cold Shadow Divine Spears and blurred forward. A tremendous roar burst out as he thrust at the Bald Elder in the blink of an eye.
"A spear user?" The Bald Elder looked at the spears in Lei Zhan's hands, each much taller than his body, and raised a brow. A trace of interest appeared in his eyes.
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"
The spears shot forward like dragons. Lei Zhan's thrusts were the Bald Elder's answer.
The three spears arrived in an instant, like dragons soaring through the heavens, striking all at once.
"Slow! Far too slow!" The Bald Elder strolled toward him with his hands behind his back, utterly relaxed, yet every step seemed to employ an evasion art, carrying him hundreds of zhang in an instant.
The Bald Elder was a Void Return Divine Demon on the verge of undergoing the Tribulation of the Celestial God. How formidable was his strength?
Even though only one ten-thousandth of a wisp of his divine power was present in this hazy space, his comprehension of the Dao and his combat skills and instincts had not diminished in the slightest.
"This is troublesome!" Lei Zhan knew how difficult this would be, but his expression remained calm. A powerful Divine Demon like this would naturally be no easy foe to defeat.
"Little fellow, if you're still this slow, you may find you can't even exhaust one ten-thousandth of my wisp of divine power by the end." The Bald Elder was still smiling.
He knew exactly what Lei Zhan was thinking. As long as he kept moving, the divine power he expended would be negligible.
And wearing down this wisp of his divine power like that would be no easy feat for Lei Zhan.
"Hmph!" Lei Zhan snorted.
"Azure Sea."
Crash, crash~~~
Crash, crash~~~
The quiet, hazy space suddenly rang with the roar of surging waves. In an instant, countless expanses of azure seawater appeared from the void, gathering into towering waves.
Since you're fast, I'll make sure there's nowhere left to dodge!
Lei Zhan kept his eyes on the Bald Elder, who moved with the ease of someone teleporting. Countless waves swept through the space.
Over the past five years, the Black Bead had been gathering some kind of energy. It could no longer send Lei Zhan into a state like his previous sudden enlightenment.
But with his own natural talent and comprehension, along with the aid the Black Bead provided, Lei Zhan had delved deeper into the Dao of the Azure Sea and the Way of Blazing Fire.
"Hmm. The power of this Dao is considerably better than that crude spear technique you used before." The Bald Elder nodded slightly. A faint light shone around him, and he stood unmoving amid the waves, like a reef in the vast sea.
Now the entire thousand-zhang space was filled by the Domain Realm of the Dao Lei Zhan had unleashed. No matter how mysterious the Bald Elder's footwork was or how he changed his movements, he could only remain within this small space.
"It works!" Lei Zhan's eyes lit up. Since the Void Return Divine Demon wasn't dodging, he could finally bring all his methods to bear.
"True Meaning of Blazing Fire."
"True Meaning of the Dao of the Spear."
One after another, profound truths of the Dao descended into the space.
Blazing flames raged, burning fiercely. Wherever they reached, the air warped.
At the same time, the surging waves charged like ten thousand horses, crashing forward in an unstoppable torrent.
"This..." Lei Zhan seemed to catch hold of something in that instant, yet it still felt as though a thin layer of paper stood between him and the answer.
"Water... Fire..."
Whoosh!
Suddenly.
In the Purple Mansion dantian, the Black Bead—which had spent five years accumulating some kind of energy and now seemed to shimmer with countless points of starlight—once again began to shine.
Countless cool currents seeped into his soul and true spirit. The feeling of utter clarity in Lei Zhan's heart, absent for five years, returned.
"Dao of the Azure Sea. Way of Blazing Fire. Great Dao of the Spear."
Countless insights surged into his mind at once, aided by the Black Bead.
With the Black Bead's help, he had entered a state of sudden enlightenment.
"This is... sudden enlightenment!" Immortal Juhua stared wide-eyed at the handsome young man in the round mirror, who seemed to have merged with heaven, earth, and space. A smile spread across his face.
"This seems to be a secret art? A grinding disc?" Yellow-Haired Great Bear's eyes held a trace of astonishment. He had naturally had his reasons for choosing Jiuya, a top Void Return Divine Demon, as the trial on the second level of War God Hall.
By his reckoning, this battle should have been extremely difficult. The two would eventually have to close in and fight desperately, and only after the Bald Elder's wisp of divine power was exhausted would Lei Zhan win.
But now...
"Such comprehension." Yellow-Haired Great Bear mused. It seems there's a chance the master's divine ability will see the light of day again.
"Hahahaha!" Lei Zhan laughed heartily.
"The secret art I've been pondering for so long has finally taken shape."
Before his voice had even faded—
Crash, crash~~~
The Dao of the Azure Sea and the Way of Blazing Fire—two Dao that should have been utterly opposed—now began to intertwine and spiral around each other in a strange, uncanny dance, like a grinding disc: orderly, yet hiding endless killing intent.
Below lay a boundless azure sea, its waters churning, every wave carrying enough power to overturn mountains and topple seas. Above surged a sea of blazing flames, its fire shooting into the sky and painting the entire space red.
Between the two, cold light flashed: countless spear projections, filled with the aura of slaughter, like blades slicing through space.
"Water-Fire Grinding Disc!" Lei Zhan pointed from afar.
Rumble, rumble~~~
Rumble, rumble~~~
An invisible force seemed to churn the entire thousand-zhang space.
The phantom image of a gigantic Water-Fire Grinding Disc slowly appeared, then began to turn. As it rotated, it gave off a muffled rumble, every sound like a heavy hammer pounding into the heart.
At the disc's edge, water and fire merged into a powerful grinding force that swept toward the Bald Elder, whose divine power shielded him and whose body was surrounded by a faint glow.
"Hmm? One Dao has reached the Domain Realm of the Dao? And there's the true meaning of a Great Dao, too? This secret art... it's meant to grind away my divine power?" The Bald Elder furrowed his brow and took a step, arriving instantly in front of Lei Zhan.
This secret art made him sense that something was wrong! Rather than endure it head-on, it was naturally easier to deal directly with the cultivator unleashing it.
"You want to fight me now?" Lei Zhan's handsome face remained calm, but the battle intent in his eyes surged like the sea of flames above them.
"Die!"
The Cold Shadow Divine Spears in his hands swept sideways, their power enough to cut off the flow of rivers, and smashed toward the Bald Elder before him.
All three spears struck at once. Covered by the phantom image of the enormous Water-Fire Grinding Disc, the Bald Elder no longer dodged.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
The Bald Elder thrust out both hands, like a pair of shields, repeatedly batting away the spears sweeping toward him.
"His avatar is clearly weak, yet he can still withstand all my attacks. Even the Water-Fire Grinding Disc I just comprehended will need a long time to grind away this wisp of his divine power."
Lei Zhan gritted his teeth. "If my Qi Refining Path had broken through to the Purple Mansion Realm, I could have controlled the Rahula Divine Needles to form this Water-Fire Grinding Disc. Then I wouldn't be struggling so much."
"Wait! Rahula Divine Needles..."
Lei Zhan's thoughts stirred, and he immediately split his focus three ways.
He controlled the Water-Fire Grinding Disc, keeping it turning and grinding.
He maintained Three Heads and Six Arms, while the three Cold Shadow Divine Spears stabbed, smashed, swept, and hacked, his six arms swinging wildly.
In an instant, countless black divine needles floated around Lei Zhan. Each was only an inch long, its surface shimmering with light as it gave off waves of energy.
"Go!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Wrapped in invisible Divine Sense, all one hundred and twenty-eight Rahula Divine Needles sliced through the air at the same moment, stabbing toward the Bald Elder.
"Hmm? You have another trick... Divine Sense!" The Bald Elder's expression changed. The ease had vanished from his face.
As soon as the phantom image of the Water-Fire Grinding Disc had formed, its endless grinding force—made up of water, fire, and spear projections—had begun wearing away at the divine power covering him.
If he were outside, he would have had nothing to fear from a secret art that was so slow to form and still only a rudimentary prototype.
But here, only the thinnest wisp of his divine power was present. Trapped in this space, he could not escape.
The pot was cold, and the stove was dead. Things had been quiet in the backstage lately, so please keep reading! I'm barely getting any traffic... Once the new book goes on sale, I'll probably be able to post three chapters a day.