Xiao Yuanjun's Fourth Divine Ability

With tenth-turn qi refinement and the Dao status of a Half-Step Foundation-Building Heavenly Being, her two divine abilities pulled against the [Iron Chain Baleful Force] flying toward Li Houjin, slowing it slightly.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at Xiao Yuanjun's audacious feat.

She was wrestling with a Heavenly Being!

This was no longer a question of boldness. She was throwing her life away.

No matter how powerful she was in the Qi Refinement Realm, even if she could overpower every Qi Refinement Perfected present, she was still an ant before a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being.

Xiao Yuanjun's brows drew together as she looked at Li Houjin high above her and the [Iron Chain Baleful Force] drifting farther away. Fury surged in her heart.

The [Iron Chain Baleful Force] was not merely Zhang Yuan's fourth heavenly dipper and earthly baleful force. It also concerned her Dao path and whether she could successfully prove and attain celestial human.

Li Houjin's intervention was not simply the theft of an earthly baleful force. He was obstructing her Dao!

Li Houjin remained high among the clouds, seemingly oblivious to Xiao Yuanjun's actions.

To Xiao Yuanjun and the other Qi Refinement Perfected, she was wrestling with a Heavenly Being. To Li Houjin, however, it was merely a passing breeze.

It was only a contest when both sides had equal strength.

Xiao Yuanjun's eyes flickered, and she glanced at Zhang Yuan.

Zhang Yuan understood at once.

Xiao Yuanjun was probably about to reveal her trump card.

Xiao Yuanjun drew a deep breath and stopped every divine ability she was using.

"It was a foolish move, after all. Is she giving up?"

"Giving up is the wise choice. The Heavenly Being has already shown immense mercy by not killing her. If she persists, her life may be in danger."

"Perfected Being, Heavenly Being—just one word apart, yet as far apart as heaven and earth..."

Everyone shook their heads and sighed, lamenting the gulf between a Qi Refinement Perfected and a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being. Their reverence for Li Houjin in the air deepened.

Yet, just as everyone thought Xiao Yuanjun was about to give up—

Xiao Yuanjun slowly rose into the air.

No divine ability lifted her body. She traversed the sky through her own Dao status.

Her Dao status was rising, climbing steadily from tenth-turn qi refinement toward that of a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being.

Though slow, the increase was real. It only stopped when she was a single step short of a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being.

Li Houjin abruptly turned to look at Xiao Yuanjun, now level with him. His eyes stirred with utter shock.

He could clearly sense that her Dao status was now almost equal to his. She was not a Heavenly Being, yet she already possessed a Heavenly Being's power!

How was this possible!?

How could such a bizarre thing exist under heaven!

No, a fellow cultivator was concealing her realm and posing as a Qi Refinement Perfected.

"Who are you? You dare oppose the Eastern Bian Li Clan?" Li Houjin demanded in a low voice.

Xiao Yuanjun did not answer his question. Instead, she clenched her fists.

Her fourth divine ability, [Heaven-Sundering Four Absolutes Immortal Domain].

Unlike ordinary divine abilities composed of three heavenly dipper and earthly baleful forces, this divine ability had been condensed from ten refined heavenly dipper and earthly baleful forces!

Its effect was therefore extremely unusual. It had no offensive power, nor any capacity for defense or concealment. It had only one effect: forcibly raising her Dao status to a level just beneath a Heavenly Being's!

"I declare, the [Iron Chain Baleful Force] is in my disciple's hand."

Xiao Yuanjun spoke calmly.

Just as Li Houjin had stilled the ground, the [Iron Chain Baleful Force] in midair vanished instantly and appeared in Zhang Yuan's hand.

"She's a Heavenly Being!"

"I was wondering how she could be so powerful. So she was a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being all along."

"She dares challenge [Celestial Zhenjue]. I wonder which clan's Heavenly Being she is, and what her Daoist name is?"

While everyone marveled at Xiao Yuanjun's cultivation realm, Zhang Yuan took the [Iron Chain Baleful Force] and used [Golden Chariot] to summon the Golden Carriage, speeding away in a streak of golden light.

Xiao Yuanjun seemed to possess a Heavenly Being's power and could challenge Li Houjin, but as her Founding Grand Disciple, Zhang Yuan knew without even thinking that she could not maintain this state for long.

They had only been master and disciple for a few days, but they still had that much unspoken understanding.

Xiao Yuanjun would draw the fire, while he grabbed the goods and ran.

Li Houjin watched Xiao Yuanjun opposite him and secretly divined heaven's secrets, trying to determine her identity.

Every Foundation-Building Heavenly Being had a Daoist name inscribed upon heaven and earth. His own was [Zhenjue]. Anyone who saw him could learn his name, provided he wished it.

Likewise, upon encountering an unfamiliar Foundation-Building Heavenly Being, one could divine their Daoist name and identity.

Yet no matter how Li Houjin divined heaven's secrets, he could not determine Xiao Yuanjun's Daoist name.

"You've obscured heaven's secrets... a skulking coward." Li Houjin sneered.

It did not matter if he could not determine her Daoist name. In fact, that was even better. He could attack without any reservations.

Little did he know that Xiao Yuanjun was not a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being and had no Daoist name at all.

Li Houjin slowly extended his hand and struck a palm toward Xiao Yuanjun from afar.

Rather than a strike, it was more like a gentle push, remarkably soft and feeble.

Even so, no one doubted the power of that palm.

The next moment.

Still without a sound, the space around Xiao Yuanjun abruptly exploded. Space shattered and rejoined, and every bit of matter within that area vanished into the void.

Yet Xiao Yuanjun's figure had disappeared without a trace.

Li Houjin froze, then understood everything.

She was not a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being. He had been fooled!

Damn it!

Anger surfaced in Li Houjin's eyes.

Since attaining the realm of a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being, when had he ever suffered such humiliation?

Had he been a little more vigilant and directly crushed her beneath his Dao status, she could never have escaped. But he had been arrogant, after all.

Not only had he been humiliated, he had also lost the [Iron Chain Baleful Force].

Li Houjin glanced at the people around him.

Everyone immediately scattered like birds and beasts, not daring to utter a word for fear that Li Houjin would vent his fury on them.

A moment later, only two people remained on the ground.

"Greetings, Little Ancestor." Clad in a cloak, Li Zhongshuang approached Li Huixi and bowed respectfully.

Li Huixi nodded.

Seeing Li Huixi there, Li Houjin hurried down from the clouds and cupped his hands in greeting.

"Greetings, Little Ancestor."

Li Huixi said coldly, "Useless."

Li Houjin felt as though he had plunged into an ice cavern. The anger in his heart vanished without a trace.

Aboard the Golden Carriage.

Xiao Yuanjun panted heavily and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. "That scared me to death. Li Houjin's Daoist attainment really is formidable. If he hadn't grown used to looking down on everyone from above, I would definitely have died today."

Indeed, what had remained behind was not her true body, but a past-world illusion she had fabricated with [Severing Past and Present, Leaving No Trace], using her near-Heavenly Being Dao status.

As for Xiao Yuanjun herself, she had actually boarded the carriage and fled with Zhang Yuan immediately after speaking her first sentence.

"Hurry and refine the [Iron Chain Baleful Force]," Xiao Yuanjun urged.

They had gone to great lengths to snatch the [Iron Chain Baleful Force]. They needed to secure it quickly, lest a long night breed more nightmares.

Zhang Yuan nodded, gripped the iron chain, and circulated his cultivation method. In the blink of an eye, he refined the [Iron Chain Baleful Force] imago within the chain.

Xiao Yuanjun had subdued the manifested earth dragon. The [Iron Chain Baleful Force] was now no different from a docile little lamb, so refining it posed no difficulty at all.

Fourth-turn qi refining!