From the first strike to the last, only three breaths had passed.
All three of the Chen Family's present-day prodigies, each possessing the potential to become a Great Emperor, had been defeated.
And from beginning to end, the green-robed youth had not taken a single step.
On Purple Sun Peak, tens of thousands of people fell silent.
Chen Lingfeng's mouth hung open, but he could not utter a word.
The Chen Family disciples who had marveled at the three prodigies' abilities moments ago now stared blankly at the green-robed figure on the viewing platform, as though their souls had been snatched away.
Those Chen Family Members who had doubted the strength of Chen Changqing, the "Sole Divine Son," felt their cheeks burning now.
One against three, and he had finished it in mere seconds—against three prodigies with the potential to become Great Emperors.
Such inconceivable strength had proved beyond doubt that Ancestor Changqing was the Chen Family's foremost prodigy!
Meanwhile, amid the ruins in the mountains, Chen Yuanba struggled out of a deep crater and looked up at the green-robed figure. For the first time, bewilderment and awe appeared in his defiant, tiger-like eyes.
He could not understand how Chen Changqing had defeated him in a single move!
He was a prodigy with the potential to become a Great Emperor!
Just how monstrous was Ancestor Changqing's talent?
And he was not alone.
At that moment!
Chen Musen and Chen Qingshuang looked equally bewildered, as though they had begun to doubt themselves.
True, they had suppressed their cultivation and had not used their full strength.
But for Chen Changqing, a Transcendent Realm cultivator, to defeat all three of the Chen Family's top present-day prodigies at once—wasn't that a little too absurd?
Most crucially—
They had not sensed the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy from Chen Changqing just now.
"Such terrifying power, yet it caused no spiritual energy fluctuations..."
"Could Ancestor Changqing's Divine Ability Method really exist? Was he not fooling us?"
At the thought, Chen Musen and the other two shuddered despite themselves. Having experienced the power of those divine abilities firsthand, they finally understood how terrifying the Divine Ability Method was.
Not only did its power far exceed their Saint-Tier Arts, it consumed no true essence or spiritual energy, required no casting conditions, and could be unleashed instantly?
That... was downright terrifying!
"Come at me with everything you've got."
"Oh, and remember to activate all your defensive artifacts!"
Chen Changqing smiled faintly as he spoke to Chen Musen and the other two.
He was fairly satisfied with the power the Divine Ability Method had displayed. His attacks just now had been casual, without much destructive force behind them.
Now he wanted to see how long the three could hold out against those divine abilities if they fought at full strength.
He also wanted to see whether combining divine abilities could increase their power further, and whether his cultivation realm could amplify their destructive force.
"Huh?"
Chen Qingshuang and the other two were baffled, but they nodded. After taking pills to heal their injuries, they rose into the air again.
"Ancestor, your strength truly is far beyond what we imagined!"
"But from here on—"
"Please be careful!"
Boom—
A terrifying surge of blood energy erupted from Chen Yuanba. His muscles swelled, and a layer of crimson blood-energy armor formed over his body, radiating a domineering force that chilled the heart.
"Battle Combat Formula, tenfold battle intent—activate!"
In that instant, Chen Yuanba unleashed the full power of his Azure Heaven Tyrant Body and pushed the battle-intent amplification of his innate Battle Combat Formula to tenfold.
The Battle Combat Formula's effect was astonishing. As long as battle intent burned in his heart, his body could maintain a tenfold increase in combat power. If he lost all reason, that increase would climb to a hundredfold!
In this state, Chen Yuanba's strength had long surpassed that of an ordinary Saint Realm cultivator. Even some Great Sage Realm cultivators with little foundation would have to steer clear of him.
And that was not all. A mystic-gold staff appeared from thin air in Chen Yuanba's hand—a top-grade saint artifact.
"Infinite Battle Staff Technique!"
Ordinary cultivators knew only that Chen Yuanba was a body cultivator who fought with his fists. They had no idea his staff technique was his true trump card!
Until now, no one had ever forced him to use it.
Chen Changqing was the first!
"Holy shit, Chen Yuanba was hiding another trick?"
"He's too strong!"
"I'm in the Saint Realm too, but I feel like I couldn't withstand even one move from Chen Yuanba!"
"Can Ancestor Changqing still beat Chen Yuanba when he's going all out?"
Curiosity swept through the Chen Family Members watching.
No one had expected Chen Yuanba to have kept his strength hidden until now.
Beside him, determination flashed in the eyes of Chen Qingshuang and Chen Musen.
"So you're finally getting serious?"
Boom!
Bang!
Almost at the same moment, two earth-shaking auras no weaker than Chen Yuanba's erupted from Chen Qingshuang and Chen Musen.
The Innate Sword Dao Treasure Art, honed for supreme slaughter!
A grand spell formation fusing Chen Musen's many arts!
At that moment—
The Chen Family's three top present-day prodigies each revealed their strongest form. Their trump cards differed, but every one of them was outrageously powerful.
They knew full well how strong Chen Changqing was!
Only by fighting with everything they had would they stand even the slightest chance of victory today!
"Not bad! Not bad!"
Chen Changqing stood in the air, his robes stirring in the wind. He looked down at the three figures whose auras surged skyward, his eyes filled with genuine admiration.
"The three of you are far more outstanding than those fellows who called themselves prodigies a million years ago."
He said it lightly, but to the Chen Family Members, his words struck like a thunderbolt.
None had expected Ancestor Changqing to praise Chen Yuanba and the other two so highly.
Was this the splendor brought by the Golden Age?
Chen Changqing marveled inwardly.
Prodigies who once appeared perhaps once in a million years had now emerged together in the Chen Family—three of them, each with genuine potential to become a Great Emperor.
And this was only one family. Across the entire Great Desolate Realm, how dazzling must the constellation of talent be?
No wonder the old ancestor had said this age would see a struggle unlike any in all eternity.
"Ancestor, forgive us!"
Chen Qingshuang and the other two shouted together. Three utterly different yet equally earth-shaking auras erupted and engulfed all of Purple Sun Peak.
The Chen Family disciples watching retreated. Many younger members with weaker cultivation were driven back again and again by the pressure, their faces deathly pale.
"Boundless Battle Staff—Heaven-Splitting Form!"
Chen Yuanba struck first. Bolstered by tenfold battle intent, the Mystic Gold Long Staff in his hands blazed with dazzling golden light.
He swept his staff across, and the void shattered inch by inch like a mirror.
A thousand-zhang staff strike crashed toward Chen Changqing with the force to destroy heaven and earth. Before it arrived, its terrifying pressure had already crushed countless cracks into the bluestone ground of Purple Sun Peak.
"Ten Thousand Arts Return to the Source—Spell Art Heavenly Net!"
Chen Musen formed seals with both hands. Behind him appeared seventy-two spell formation patterns, each representing a Saint-Tier Art cultivated to perfection.
The seventy-two patterns wove together into a Spell Art Heavenly Net that blotted out the sky, sealing off every avenue of retreat around Chen Changqing.
This was the trump card he had kept in reserve. With his Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart, he controlled seventy-two arts at once, their power resonating and stacking upon itself to far more than double its might.
"Innate Sword Dao Treasure Art—Ten Directions Annihilation!"
The sword in Chen Qingshuang's hand rang out clear and bright as the supreme-grade treasure art hidden within her Innate Sword Bone fully awakened.
A frost-white Sword Qi shot skyward, carving a thousand-mile sword scar through the clouds above the nine heavens.
She became one with her sword, turning into a streak of sword light that pierced heaven and earth as she thrust straight at Chen Changqing.
Three attacks came at him from three directions at once!
Each was enough to make a Great Sage Realm cultivator take it seriously.
Even more remarkable, the three had found an unspoken rhythm together.
Chen Musen's Spell Art Heavenly Net sealed off retreat, Chen Qingshuang's sword light stabbed straight at him, and Chen Yuanba's Heaven-Splitting Staff Strike blocked the way above. Every space Chen Changqing might have dodged into was cut off.
"Hahaha... well done!"
Chen Changqing laughed freely, his green robes snapping in the wind.
Faced with a terrifying assault that would make an ordinary Great Sage Realm cultivator blanch, he advanced instead of retreating. Brilliant light burst from his eyes, deep as chaos.
In that split second, his comprehension, accumulated over a million years, once again grasped every trump-card killing move the three had unleashed.
And so—
Just as their attacks were about to strike, Chen Changqing moved.
His right hand closed around empty air, and a long staff formed from pure battle intent appeared in his palm.
Its body was the color of chaos, without a trace of gaudy radiance, yet it gave off an aura that shook Chen Yuanba to the core.
Holy shit?
Battle intent could be used like that? Made solid?
Chen Yuanba's understanding of the world was overturned in an instant.
Before you continue