"It's rare to meet a youngster who can pique this old man's interest." The bald old man raised his eyes, his murky gaze settling on Mu Chen like something tangible.
His withered fingers lightly stroked the cane across his knees twice.
"How about this?"
He spoke slowly, each word seemingly carrying immense weight.
"Withstand one attack from this avatar of mine."
"If you do, not only will I allow you to continue condensing Heavenly Thunder Beads here, but..."
"I can also give you a little extra reward. It might prove useful to you, or to that little bird beside you. What do you say?"
Yet after hearing him out, Mu Chen shook his head.
The smile on his face never faded. Instead, the swagger and defiance in his very bones shone all the more fiercely!
"Withstand one attack?"
Mu Chen chuckled, his voice carrying an arrogance that looked down upon everything amid the roaring thunder.
"Senior, from the moment I began cultivating, through leaving the Northern Spiritual Realm, braving the Spirit Road, and battling countless prodigies, to entering Northern Heavens today, I have never lost to anyone of my generation."
He tilted his head slightly upward, his gaze like lightning, as though it would pierce this vast Thunder Sea and reach the boundless heavens beyond.
"After being invincible for so long, even I sometimes find it dull. As the saying goes, only a master's staff striking down upon your head can curb pride and impatience, and let you see yourself clearly."
"Meeting you today, Senior, could not have come at a better time."
Mu Chen lowered his gaze and looked at the bald old man again. His lips curled into an utterly audacious grin as he spoke, each word crystal clear:
"Why don't you hold nothing back, Senior, and properly weigh the strength of my cultivation and combat prowess?"
"If you can grant me a defeat..."
He paused, his eyes blazing like a raging inferno, mingled with the light of thunder and burning with fierce intensity.
"Then I, Mu Chen, will be endlessly grateful. I can use that defeat to temper my Dao heart and climb to even greater heights!"
"But if you cannot..."
Mu Chen's laughter gradually subsided, but his aura erupted like a slumbering savage beast awakening fully!
His aura shot skyward without restraint, actually forcing back the sea of thunder cascading around him!
"Then it proves that my path and my arrogance have their own justification! From now on, I shall keep walking this way-cleaving through any mountain I encounter, leveling any sea in my path!"
Arrogance!
Arrogance beyond measure!
With cultivation at the body tribulation stage, facing the avatar of a Ninth Grade Sovereign Academy Guardian Beast, he not only refused to proceed cautiously, but actively sought defeat. His words scorned his entire generation and looked disdainfully upon the road ahead!
"Good."
Only after a long moment did the bald old man slowly utter that single word.
Countless geniuses had come and gone at the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy. Some possessed astonishing talent, some were steady and resolute, and others were cunning and clever.
But someone like the youth before him, who had carved his belief in invincibility into his bones and fused it into his soul, who still dared to openly seek defeat before a being far beyond his own level, so brazenly arrogant and forthright...
There had never been a single one.
This was not the stupidity of someone ignorant of the heights of heaven and the depths of earth. It was absolute confidence in himself, an unmatched edge that would sooner break than bend!
He was a newborn calf unafraid of the tiger, but more than that, he was a tiger cub already showing the bearing of one whose roar would command the mountain forests!
The youth before him truly believed he could win!
"Very good."
The bald old man slowly stood. At that moment, his hunched frame seemed to straighten somewhat.
The surging ocean of thunder and the roaring giant lightning dragons around them seemed to fall silent for an instant, inclining slightly toward him as though paying homage.
"Since you seek defeat to affirm your own path, this old man will grant your wish."
"Are you ready?"
"Please instruct me, Senior!" Mu Chen bowed.
The bald old man swept his sleeve.
His palm, as dry as old tree bark, casually reached out, its five fingers gently drawing together.
Boom-!
An indescribable pressure erupted from that hunched body.
The entire space of the Thunder Domain's tenth level groaned beneath the crushing spiritual pressure. The pitch-black thunder slurry churned even more violently, yet was forced to bow beneath some invisible restraint.
The old man slowly clenched his hand.
Overhead, the vast, endlessly boiling Thunder Sea seemed to be seized and hoisted by an invisible giant hand!
A thirty-thousand-foot mass of thunder slurry broke away from the ocean below, roaring into the air, coiling and condensing into a silver dragon formed entirely of destructive lightning.
The dragon's body stretched across the sky. Every scale shot out dazzling lightning, while its eyes were two thunderballs that continually collapsed and exploded, gazing down with cold indifference.
The bald old man merely pressed his clenched fist downward.
"Go."
The silver lightning dragon raised its head in a soundless roar, then swung its body. Bearing terrifying energy that could instantly vaporize a towering mountain, it tore through layer upon layer of space and crashed down upon Mu Chen's head!
Since he sought defeat, defeat was what he would receive.
A complete, crushing defeat, with absolutely no room for luck!
Arrogance was not a bad thing, but one had to know whom one was facing!
The bald old man was confident he could save Mu Chen before he died.
The silver dragon pierced the sky, as though death itself had arrived!
"Just what I wanted!"
He gave a low shout. Rather than dodge, he took a step forward.
Thud!
He simply raised his right arm and curled his fingers into a fist.
Then he punched the lightning dragon's head, now right before him.
"Hum-"
The instant he punched, every pore on his body opened, pouring out endless radiant light and tiny arcs of electricity.
The radiance was the outward manifestation of the innate chaos saint body dao embryo's blood and vital energy surging to their utmost, resonating with the lightning drawn forth by the thunderbolt body.
The two intertwined, illuminating him like a glazed divine statue born from thunder, his aura violent, blazing, and savage to the extreme!
The One-Qi Chaos Tower suspended within his qi sea suddenly shuddered!
The chaotic luster flowing across the tower abruptly brightened. A vast, ancient, ponderous power, seemingly capable of suppressing all heavens and every Dao, surged through his meridians and instantly empowered every limb and bone in Mu Chen's body!
His condition instantly rose to an unprecedented peak!
At the very instant Mu Chen swung his fist, unmistakable astonishment finally flashed deep within the bald old man's murky eyes!
In that instant, he felt as though he were facing not a youngster at the body tribulation stage, but a Heavenly Sovereign!
"BOOM-!!!!!"
Fist and dragon collided head-on.
The lightning dragon was instantly punched through, shattering and exploding inch by inch!
Mu Chen stepped out of the lightning bursting across the sky.
His eyes shone like stars, fighting spirit seething around him. He was completely unharmed!
Mu Chen trampled through the lightning without pausing for even a moment.
Like a raging dragon that had broken its shackles, he tore through the still-unsettled lightning turbulence, trailing a string of blurred afterimages as he headed straight for the bald old man!
The hundreds of yards originally separating them seemed to vanish beneath that single step.
Shrinking the earth into an inch? No-it was pure physical explosiveness pushed to the utmost, exceeding his avatar's perception in an instant!
The bald old man's pupils contracted slightly. Mu Chen's speed far exceeded his expectations!
This was... a monster!
Instinctively, his withered hand rose, its fingers curling into claws. Profound black light flickered at his fingertips, as though they could rend stars, as he seized at the neck of Mu Chen, who had already charged before him.
The claw strike seemed simple, yet it sealed every angle through which Mu Chen could dodge, carrying a fierce killing intent.
Mu Chen's charge did not slow. He ignored the sharp claws reaching for his neck and merely raised his right palm calmly.
Deep within his sea of consciousness, the Chaos Dao Diagram suddenly blazed with light!
Chaos Dao Diagram: Ten Thousand Laws Seal!
The profound essence of ten thousand laws, merged upon a foundation of chaos, gave rise to a single strike of utmost simplicity!
"Bang!"
An intensely muffled impact rang out.
The bald old man's body shuddered violently. An irresistible force knocked his grasping palm aside, and he staggered backward uncontrollably!
With every step he took, a deep crater exploded in the Thunder Sea beneath his feet, splashing thunder slurry everywhere.
This was absolutely not power a body tribulation cultivator could command! It was not even a realm ordinary Supremes could touch!
Just what cultivation method did this brat practice? What spiritual art had he cultivated? How could he be so absurd?
The bald old man could say with certainty that no Supreme below fifth grade could possibly be Mu Chen's match!
"Again!"
Mu Chen's ringing shout pulled him out of his momentary shock.
The youth allowed him no chance to breathe, charging in again like a shadow that clung to its owner!
This time, the seven-colored radiance surrounding him abruptly contracted, withdrawing entirely into his body.
Beneath his skin, billions of tiny chaos-colored rays seemed to surge and flow, producing a low roar like raging rivers.
He drove the innate chaos saint body dao embryo to the utmost limit he could currently reach!
He discarded every flourish, choosing the most primitive, savage, and direct close-quarters combat!
His right fist drove straight forward, its passage compressing space into a depression visible to the naked eye.
The bald old man's expression turned grave. No longer daring to underestimate him at all, he struck out with his left palm. A black vortex flickered in its center as he attempted to deftly deflect and devour the punch's force.
Fist met palm, but what erupted was not a blast of air. Instead, rings of transparent ripples distorted space.
The black vortex in the bald old man's palm trembled violently, actually showing signs of collapse. He grunted and used the force to retreat again.
Mu Chen clung to him like a festering sore on the bone, his left fist already blasting toward his ribs like a cannonball!
Before the wind of the punch arrived, its fierce pressure had already driven the surrounding lightning aside.
The bald old man smashed his right elbow down, meeting the fist head-on.
"Thud!"
It sounded like a giant drum being struck.
The bald old man's arm buckled, and he retreated again.
Mu Chen pressed his advantage relentlessly. His fists became a sky full of fist shadows, enveloping the bald old man like a tempest!
Every punch was as heavy as a mountain and as swift as lightning, carrying a powerful fist intent that surged forward without hesitation!
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang-!
Impacts burst out as densely as torrential rain beating on banana leaves. The two figures answered speed with speed, becoming blurred streaks of light that collided furiously.
Nine Nether's eyes widened. She was utterly dumbfounded.
The longer the bald old man fought, the more alarmed he became.
With his true body continuously feeding it power, this avatar now genuinely possessed the combat strength of a Seventh Grade Supreme and had reached its limit.
Yet now, a youngster at the body tribulation stage was suppressing him with the purest form of close-quarters combat!
Several times, he tried to create distance and suppress Mu Chen with divine abilities, but Mu Chen's storm of close-range attacks kept him firmly entangled, leaving him no way to escape.
Those punches and kicks also carried a suppressive power that was troublesome in the extreme!
How was this some genius youth?
He was an unrivaled savage beast wearing human skin!
At that very instant, a pitch-black beam shot from Mu Chen's right eye, immediately making the Thunder Domain tremble as heaven and earth erupted with thunderous noise!
The black light blazed fiercely, brimming with destructive energy that scorched the void until it twisted and nearly collapsed!
The bald old man... was blasted apart outright!
Before you continue