Hua Yunfei was utterly shocked. The more he fought the Dharma Master Sanzang before him, the more he sensed how terrifying his opponent was. Every casual strike was an unparalleled secret art. His fingers danced swiftly over the zither strings, yet he still retained that ethereal air of a Banished Immortal as he pushed the Nine Tribulations Phoenix Song to its utmost limit.
At that moment, a mysterious force of heaven and earth resonated with the strings and merged with the music, transforming into immense heavenly might.
Nine Divine Phoenixes emerged once more from the Dao laws. This time, traces of small-world power circulated around them, as though they were about to evolve into small worlds. Unfortunately, Hua Yunfei's cultivation was insufficient to reach that stage.
Even so, the nine Divine Phoenixes seemed to carry an aura capable of piercing the heavens and destroying the world. There was also the aura of Tribulation Punishment.
"He has pushed the Nine Tribulations Phoenix Song to the realm of perfection. He's truly evolving a Heavenly Tribulation!"
"The younger generation is formidable indeed!"
Ji Haoyue watched the scene quietly. He had once faced this move and had needed to use a secret art from the Void Scripture, the Innate Grand Void Aura, to evolve a Grand Void Dao Diagram before he could suppress and seal it.
The nine Divine Phoenixes seemed ready to transform into nine Heavenly Tribulations, perhaps even evolve into nine small worlds. At that moment, they aligned with the Dao laws of heaven and earth, borrowed heavenly power, pierced through eternity, and descended to suppress Jiang Ming.
Just as Jiang Ming was about to activate the Fearless Lion Seal, his Sea of Bitterness within his dantian trembled. Ripples spread out and evolved into a blurry Dao diagram, accompanied by the faint sounds of dragons roaring and phoenixes crying.
In the next instant, the nine Divine Phoenixes transformed directly into Innate Essence and were swallowed by that blurry Dao diagram, making it seem slightly clearer.
No one had expected such an outcome, and everyone froze for a moment.
The old men were all greatly shocked.
"What kind of physique does this person have? That fluctuation is the might of a nascent phenomenon, isn't it?"
"Could he truly be a Buddhist Son who came down from Mount Sumeru in the Western Desert, preparing to travel the world and measure heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers before eventually attaining Buddhahood?"
The old men were utterly stunned.
Not only them—even Jiang Ming was surprised. His phenomenon was in an exceptionally active state.
As his cultivation in the Foundation Establishment Stage deepened, he understood that the Foundation Establishment Stage was divided into the initial, middle, late, and perfected stages.
This meant that the phenomenon cultivated through the Chinese Paladin Method would become increasingly complete. Its nascent form would sooner or later transform into a complete phenomenon.
"Ha!"
At that moment, Ji Haoyue finally made his move. After watching for so long, he had gained some understanding of both sides' attacks. No matter how formidable the Nine Tribulations Phoenix Song was, it was ultimately only a Quasi-Emperor Method. Ji Haoyue had inherited the legacy of the Void Great Emperor and mastered numerous powerful Emperor Scripture secret arts. No matter how extraordinary Hua Yunfei was, he had once been Ji Haoyue's defeated opponent.
With Ji Haoyue's vigorous shout, a gray haze of Innate Grand Void Aura surged from his mouth. The moment it appeared, it condensed into a mysterious scroll in the void. The scroll rustled as though it were real, containing the sound of the Great Dao as it outlined the veins of the Dao and evolved into a Void Formation Diagram.
"It truly leaves one breathless with longing... Brother Ji Hong, your family's supreme secret art—the Innate Grand Void Aura—truly lives up to its reputation. When it evolves into a Dao diagram, it can absolutely suppress Hua Yunfei's Nine Tribulations Phoenix Song from before, or Dharma Master Sanzang's Vajra Fearless Demon Lion Roar."
"Indeed. The Void Scripture truly deserves to be called the art created by the legendary Void Great Emperor. Later generations of cultivators can only admire and revere it."
The old men and old women could not help speaking up again.
Ji Haoyue wanted to use this method to tell Jiang Ming that he had not refrained from acting because he lacked the means to fight back. He simply truly did not wish to join forces with Hua Yunfei. He had his own pride as well.
After all, anyone who had seen the original plot knew that Ji Haoyue, the Eastern Wasteland Divine Body of the early stages, wanted to become invincible in the Eastern Wasteland and invincible in the Northern Region, nurturing an invincible heart as he remained constantly on the path of battle.
How should one put it? Ye Fan's brother-in-law always ended up evenly matched with whoever he encountered.
He had never truly possessed the potential to crush others outright.
Even in the later stages, his Divine Body was no longer enough to stand out and had fallen into the ranks of second-rate physiques.
The Innate Grand Void Aura was nurtured from childhood through secret arts of the Void Scripture, cultivating a breath of innate origin essence. As one's cultivation continuously rose, this breath of Innate Grand Void Aura gained the effect of evolving the Dao laws of heaven and earth, refining the void, and using innate qi to evolve all methods.
"Buzz!"
As the void trembled, the Dao diagram naturally aligned with space, covering more than thirty li of heaven and earth as it directly descended to suppress Jiang Ming. At that moment, heaven and earth shook. The Innate Grand Void Dao Diagram shimmered with hazy radiance, sealing the heavens and locking down the earth.
Jiang Ming had long admired the Void Great Emperor and attached great importance to the methods he had created. Forming seals with both hands, he summoned before himself a dazzling golden seal that glittered brilliantly and resembled a tiny lion the size of a bowl.
The moment the golden seal appeared, an indestructible Dao rhythm that could suppress all things began circulating around it. Its power was explosively fierce and terrifying, radiating brilliant golden light.
Rumble!
Even the surrounding earth seemed unable to withstand such terrifying and tyrannical suppressive force or such unstoppable destructive power. Mere pressure shattered the ground, whipping up raging hurricanes as rocks flew through the air. Golden light surged in unending waves like a raging sea, drowning the entire area.
This was the innate Dharma seal of the Vajra Fearless Lion clan. It contained the might to suppress mountains and overturn seas, capable of suppressing heaven and earth, drawing upon the power of heaven and earth, and shaking the heavens while making ghosts weep.
The Vajra Fearless Lion Seal collided with the Void Dao Diagram in midair, like mountains and seas crashing together—unyielding force against tyrannical might, needle against wheat awn.
Buzz!
This small world shook violently once more. Fine cracks appeared in the void, while the earth cracked loudly. Black fissures spread in every direction like rampaging demonic snakes.
The old men were already dumbfounded. These juniors were clearly only in the Dao Palace Secret Realm, yet they could unleash destructive power at the level of the Fourth-Level Secret Realm.
The master of Star Peak hurriedly activated the Formation Patterns between heaven and earth again, protecting this secret realm's small world and preventing it from collapsing.
Heaven-Cutting Finger!
Ji Haoyue would not let the matter end there. He had always been battle-hungry and needed to fight powerful opponents to prove his potential within his clan. He extended two fingers and used the Void Scripture secret art, the Heaven-Cutting Finger.
Screech!
His two fingers evolved the yin and yang of the Great Dao. Black and golden Divine Dragons swung their heads and tails, coiling and twisting through the air. Each was as thick as a house, refining the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and drawing upon the essence of the sun and moon. They rose and bent through the sky, their heads meeting like scissors and their tails twisting together like strands of rope. They crossed in pairs to form dragon shears. With a crack, a sound like the heavenly voice of the Great Dao rang out.
At that moment, Jiang Ming even felt as though his soul would be cut into two. What a powerful secret art. The Void Great Emperor truly deserved to be called the Human Race Great Emperor who had never been inferior to anyone in his life and who, even in death, fought one against two. He was the most revered among the Great Emperors of the Human Race.
The black demonic markings between Jiang Ming's brows shone brilliantly, and the demonic light treasure wheel behind his head gleamed. Myriad Laws Immunity directly blocked the Dao sound attack of the Heaven-Cutting Finger.
Facing the terrifying Heaven-Cutting Finger, Jiang Ming reached out with a hand as black as ink. His enormous palm covered the sky like a curtain. With the Demonic Domain in the Palm, he seized that terrifying attack in one grasp. The power of the world within his palm suppressed it and ground the void dragon shears into nothingness.
Who said cloth had to lose when it met scissors?
Hadn't Jiang Ming won this round?