"Divine Ability—Battle-Heaven Staff!"
Chen Changqing gave him no time to think. He swept his staff across.
That seemingly effortless strike smashed Chen Yuanba's heaven-and-earth-shattering Heaven-Splitting Staff Strike to pieces. Its momentum undiminished, it slammed into the Mystic Gold Long Staff in Chen Yuanba's hands.
The webbing between Chen Yuanba's thumb and forefinger split open. He hurtled toward the ground like a meteor, crashing into the arena and leaving a man-shaped pit dozens of yards deep.
Almost at the same moment, Chen Changqing formed a seal with his left hand, his five fingers turning in succession.
"Divine Ability—Return of All Laws!"
"Divine Ability—Sword of Annihilation!"
Pfft!
Pfft!
The three's strongest trump-card attacks were once again broken by a single move from Chen Changqing.
This time, however, Chen Changqing did not crush them completely.
He had deliberately held back, and none of them suffered any injuries.
"Keep going. Use every art, combat skill, and secret technique you've learned."
Chen Changqing stood with his hands behind his back, his tone calm.
Chen Yuanba gritted his teeth and leaped out of the pit. The Mystic Gold Long Staff in his hands blazed with light again.
Far from fading, his fighting spirit burned even fiercer after that setback.
"Again!"
With a roar, he pushed his Azure Heaven Tyrant Body to its limit. His staff technique changed abruptly as he unleashed another move.
Chen Musen rose again too, choosing to continue his assault with combinations of different arts.
"Not bad. Keep it up."
Chen Changqing nodded slightly, then struck again.
"Divine Ability—War-Intent Sky Hammer!"
"Divine Ability—Arts Returning to the Void!"
"Divine Ability—Illusory Heart Sword!"
Throughout the fight, Chen Changqing unleashed one divine ability after another, then began combining them in different ways.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three figures were sent flying back again and again.
No matter what killing moves Chen Musen and the other two used or how they changed their tactics, Chen Changqing always grasped a corresponding divine ability in the next instant. He gave them a taste of their own medicine and battered them into a sorry state.
From Chen Yuanba's fist technique, he developed a divine-ability fist technique. From Chen Musen's arts, he developed divine-ability arts. From Chen Qingshuang's sword technique, he developed a divine-ability sword technique.
Every attack mirrored a move one of the three had just used, yet each was stronger, faster, and sharper than the original.
The longer they fought, the more alarmed they became—and the deeper they sank into despair.
Their true essence drained at a frantic pace, while the vital energy in their bodies poured out like floodwater through an opened sluice gate.
Chen Changqing, by contrast, still stood in midair with his hands behind his back. Not a trace of true essence stirred around him. His green robe remained as neat as new; not even its hem had fluttered.
No one knew how long the fight went on.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Three more dull impacts rang out.
The three were sent flying once more.
This time, they could not get back up.
The true essence in their bodies had been wrung completely dry. Not a single trace remained.
And the youth in the green robe still stood in midair, showing no sign of fatigue.
Chen Yuanba looked up at him. Understanding finally dawned in those fierce eyes that had never accepted defeat. It gave way to a rueful smile, and he closed his eyes.
"Ancestor Changqing... was using us to test his moves."
His voice was hoarse and weak. There was no resentment left in it, only the utter acceptance of someone who had been taught a lesson from head to toe.
Chen Musen froze at those words, then let out a rueful laugh of his own.
He thought back over every detail of the fight.
Each time they unleashed a killing move, Chen Changqing answered in the next instant with a similar but stronger attack. Then he deliberately held back, giving them room to breathe so they could attack again—and take another beating.
This had never been a fight. He had been using them as sparring partners to test how those divine abilities performed in battle.
So that was it—
They had never stood a chance from the start.
Or rather, their purpose had been to let Chen Changqing try out every one of those divine abilities.
"Drained dry..."
Chen Qingshuang finally lost the strength to stay upright and fell backward onto the ground, her chest rising and falling faintly.
Her voice was soft, carrying a weakness she had never known and a deep helplessness. "Completely drained dry."
On Purple Sun Peak!
The entire Chen Family stared at the scene, dumbstruck. For a long while, not one of them could say a word.
What they had just witnessed had gone far beyond anything they could comprehend.
At the peak of the Transcendent Realm, he had fought three opponents alone!
And those opponents were three genuine Saint Realm prodigies. Each had the potential of a Great Emperor, and each possessed a terrifying talent capable of sweeping aside their peers.
Yet from beginning to end, Chen Yuanba and the others had been beaten down without the slightest chance to fight back.
It had been a cat toying with mice.
"D-did I see that right?"
One of the ranked prodigies swallowed with difficulty, his voice trembling. "Big Brother Yuan Ba even used the Boundless Battle Staff, but he couldn't touch so much as the hem of the ancestor's robe?"
"He couldn't help it. Ancestor Changqing is too strong! So strong the rest of us can only watch him disappear into the dust ahead!"
An elder beside him spoke with grave admiration.
"And did you notice? Ancestor Changqing never used a trace of true essence from start to finish. He didn't draw on the slightest power of the laws of heaven and earth."
"Yet every move he used was stronger than a saint-grade art and more domineering than the Supreme Treasure Arts."
At those words, the Chen Family disciples around them sucked in sharp breaths.
That was right!
That was the most frightening part.
Among those present were Supreme Elders of the Saint King Realm. How sharp were their eyes?
That was precisely why they understood the implications of the battle even more clearly than the younger family members.
Each time Chen Changqing struck, there had been no fluctuation of spiritual energy and no resonance with the laws.
That meant the "divine abilities" he had used could be unleashed without limit—and without consuming anything!
"It's no exaggeration to say that if the ancestor had wanted Chen Yuanba and the others dead, it would have taken no more than the blink of an eye."
"With strength like that... even we must admit we cannot compare!"
A Saint King Realm veteran drew a deep breath, reverence unmistakable in his voice.
"Ancestor Changqing is the Chen Family's Sole Divine Son, and no one else deserves the title!"
Suddenly!
No one knew who had shouted it first.
And then—
Cries rose one after another across all of Purple Sun Peak.
If anyone had still doubted Chen Changqing's standing as the "Sole Divine Son" before, that battle had swept every doubt away like smoke.
At the Transcendent Realm, he had crushed three Saint Realm cultivators with the potential of Great Emperors. For battle prowess that defied heaven to such an extent, there was no second example in the present age—or anywhere in the Chen Family's million-year history.
Of course—
Even as they reeled from Chen Changqing's strength, an overwhelming desire rose in everyone's hearts.
"Those moves the ancestor just used... they must have been... Divine Ability Methods, right?"
"If every Chen Family Member could master even one divine ability, wouldn't we be able to keep unleashing killing moves against opponents at the same realm without ever worrying about running out of true essence? Who could withstand that?"
At that moment, the atmosphere across Purple Sun Peak changed completely.
Having seen the power of Divine Ability Methods with their own eyes, every Chen Family Member turned toward Chen Changqing, their eyes filled with longing for them!
Divine Ability Methods!
They had to learn them!
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