"Ancient Heavenly Venerable, sorry for the trouble."
After raising the power of his physique to the ultimate realm, Xu Taiping looked solemnly at the Ancient Heavenly Venerable ahead of him, who held the Heaven-Flipping Seal aloft.
The Ancient Heavenly Venerable nodded lightly, then raised the Heaven-Flipping Seal in his hand and slammed it toward Xu Taiping's left-eye lotus pupil.
Whoosh...!
Almost simultaneously, Xu Taiping flicked a finger upward, and the Blade of Guicang shot into the Lotus Eye like a bolt of lightning.
The Lotus Eye's nine-petal lotus suddenly bloomed at that very moment.
Bang-!
The next instant, with an ear-splitting explosion, both the Blade of Guicang and the Heaven-Flipping Seal were sucked into the Lotus Eye.
Even the phantom image of the Ancient Heavenly Venerable's spirit form vanished from the spot along with the Heaven-Flipping Seal.
Within Xu Taiping's Lotus Eye, the blooming lotus, the Blade of Guicang thrust into it, and the seal imprinted on the surfaces of both held one another in balance, resembling an image on a painting scroll.
But with a single blink from Xu Taiping, the lotus within the Lotus Eye abruptly closed, sealing both the Blade of Guicang and the Heaven-Flipping Seal's seal pattern inside.
Immediately afterward, the Ancient Heavenly Venerable's voice sounded in Xu Taiping's mind:
"Congratulations, young friend. The fusion went very smoothly."
Xu Taiping let out a long breath of relief and nodded.
"Thank you, Ancient Heavenly Venerable."
As he spoke, Xu Taiping blinked again. The closed lotus within the Lotus Eye abruptly transformed into a long saber with a lotus for its guard, standing upright within his pupil.
At the same time, Xu Taiping's divine sense perceived the change in the Lotus Eye's power with utter clarity-
"With heavenly secrets as the blade, kill the enemy before they realize."