The great battle shook the heavens. Even the aftershocks of their magical power forced the surrounding youths to struggle with all their might to withstand them.
Even so, some were caught by the aftershocks and knocked to the ground, gasping for breath.
"Terrifying! Is this what a clash between young supremes looks like?"
Most of them were in the cave heaven realm, though some had reached the spirit transformation realm. At this moment, however, terror showed on every face.
Even those who considered themselves extraordinarily gifted could not help feeling inferior before these two.
At last, the divine radiance filling the sky gradually dispersed. Two figures floated down, their bodies covered in wounds from which fresh blood flowed freely.
Specks of blood also dotted their lovely faces. Coupled with their peerless beauty, it lent them the tragic allure of wounded beauties.
"Is the battle over? Who won?" Everyone scrambled up, eager to learn the outcome.
"No one won. It was a draw," someone announced.
That was indeed the case. Both were peerless prodigies of extraordinary backgrounds, and with their cultivation still in its early stages, there was little difference between them.
Besides, both still had trump cards they had not used. This was merely an ordinary sparring match, not a battle to the death. There was no need to unleash those methods.
Lan Canghai and his companion approached together. Dazzling brilliance flashed through his timeworn eyes as he tugged at his beard, looking ever more satisfied.
"Hahaha! Good, good, good!" Lan Canghai exclaimed three times in succession. With a sweep of his hand, he sent out a streak of green light brimming with vitality, healing both girls' injuries in an instant.
Seeing Lan Xian and Yao Yue so spirited and full of fiery vigor, his deep eyes gradually grew unfocused.
For a moment, he seemed to have returned to his youth. Back then, he too had displayed his sharp edge without restraint, daring to defy and strike at the Nine Heavens with nothing but his hot blood. He had been just as proud and resolute.
Sadly, years sank into oblivion and eras cycled on. Just as his name suggested, blue seas became mulberry fields, and the blazing flame that had once burned in his heart had finally gone out.
His hot blood had cooled completely, his sharp edge lay hidden. The past was gone, never to shine forth again.
Lan Xian and Yao Yue stood facing one another, unusual colors flickering in their beautiful eyes. Each nodded to the other in a gesture of recognition.
The watching youths saw this and immediately revealed looks of envy.
Two such radiant pearls, brilliant as stars in the Nine Heavens and luminous as the bright moon-what sort of unrivaled hero could pluck such a moon to keep him company?
For a while, everyone chattered noisily, offering their opinions and appraisals.
Yao Yue and Lan Xian paid them no mind, letting them talk. Both had gained something from this battle. Though their cultivation had not advanced, they had acquired new insights.
They had already cultivated their various precious arts and divine abilities to profound levels. Now, they had taken them a step further.
Some precious arts governed life and death. Merely cultivating them behind closed doors was meaningless; one had to bathe in an enemy's blood and grasp their true essence through deadly combat.
Nearby, Xi Yue's eyes burned with fervor. Though she had only watched, she was immensely excited, her blood boiling as she yearned to launch into an earth-shaking duel right there.
That was hardly realistic, however. After all, she had only just entered the cave heaven realm. Her foundations were shallow, and she had not even touched the threshold of the spirit transformation realm.
Although her fleshly cave heaven and the partially formed embryonic state of her primordial spirit cave heaven allowed her to contend with ordinary spirit transformation realm cultivators, she was still no match for peerless prodigies like Lan Xian.
She let out a long sigh, looking somewhat haggard. She truly had been born at the wrong time. Had she been born a few years earlier, she would probably already reign supreme among her peers. She had that much confidence.
At that thought, a sense of urgency rose in Xi Yue's heart. Her start was already rather late, and she no longer had much time to squander.
More than half a month passed. Xi Yue devoted herself to cultivation throughout, her accumulated foundations growing ever deeper.
Even the old man could not help marveling, declaring her talent rare throughout the ages. Even he, in his youth, had fallen short of her.
On a cliff at the summit of the divine mountain, clouds and mist curled through hazy morning light. Xi Yue's long, delicate eyelashes trembled as her eyes opened, and she opened her mouth to draw in a breath of dawn's radiance.
Brilliance shone all around her, like a blazing sun illuminating the sky, its extraordinary intensity lighting up the nine layers of heaven!
A streak of bloody light burst from her body, splitting the firmament and soaring upward amid unceasing thunder. It was like a true dragon charging into the sky to do battle with the Nine Heavens.
This was the manifestation of a fleshly body strengthened to its utmost limit: blood energy like a dragon, surging like a boundless ocean, vast and inexhaustible!
"My fleshly body has improved again, but this is essentially the limit. Further progress will be difficult."
Even after breaking through to the cave heaven realm, she had never stopped tempering her fleshly body.
The fleshly body was a divine treasury. If she could open the gates within and delve deeply into its mysteries, she would reap tremendous benefits.
Just then, she felt a searing heat in her right palm, as though a Golden Crow Sun were scorching it, accompanied by waves of stabbing pain.
Instinctively, she raised her hand. In her right palm, the Reincarnation Seal that had previously vanished from sight appeared once more. Its precious radiance glittered in a dazzling array of colors, somewhat brighter than before.
"Huh? The Reincarnation Seal? Why has it appeared again?" Xi Yue was startled and puzzled, and immediately sought to investigate.
At once, the Reincarnation Seal flared with golden light. In an instant, her consciousness left her body, seemingly carried into an unknown space.
Her beautiful eyes widened. The sight before her left her frozen in place.
Within the chaos stood a woman, endless chaotic energy swirling around her. She was hazy and indistinct, like a dream or an illusion.
Beside her, the long river of time manifested and flowed past.
At that moment, the woman seemed to sense something. She turned to gaze into the distance, her eyes seeming to pierce through time and space across the ages, crossing the cycles of eras to meet Xi Yue's gaze.
Xi Yue's heart trembled. Divine light blazed in her eyes and condensed into symbols. Though chaotic energy obscured the woman, she still wanted to see her true face clearly.
For she had a vague sense that the woman before her shared a tremendous connection with her. That feeling was elusive, impossible to put into words.
But that space began to quake violently, rumbling as though an eternal taboo had been touched. Endless Order Divine Chains danced like dragons and snakes. The azure heavens spanning the ages collapsed, as though the world were being destroyed and chaos born anew!
In the end, everything fell silent and returned to nothingness.
Her consciousness returned at that moment as well, as though everything she had just experienced had been no more than a dream.
At the same time, her memories began to fade. She did not try to stop them, for she knew she must have touched some taboo. Boundless power was driving all of this, something she could not possibly resist.
In the end, only that hazy silhouette remained in her memory.
"This is our second meeting. Just who are you?" she murmured impassively. Then she glanced at the old man beside her. He looked perfectly unperturbed, clearly having noticed nothing of what had just happened.
Fortunately, she had gained something as well.
With a thought, the divine
power within her surged like a vast ocean. Endless runes poured out of her body, all gathering in her right palm.
Six black holes appeared in her palm, their depths chilling and unfathomable. They rotated with a rumble, drawing upon one another.
Though they were black holes, they blossomed with immortal divine light of various colors and exuded tremendous might.
Within those six black holes, different scenes were faintly visible, vast and boundless, as though great worlds were being born and destroyed and eras cycling through reincarnation.
"Six paths of reincarnation?" Xi Yue tilted her head, several dark lines immediately appearing across her forehead.
Was this right?
Previously, she had wondered what her innate divine ability was. Now she had finally seen it, but something about the situation seemed wrong.
Even the old man beside her was startled. He hurried over. "Is this... the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art?"
Even as he said it, he found it hard to believe. When had his granddaughter obtained this ancient heavenly art?
After examining it carefully, however, he shook his head.
"It isn't the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art. It's an innate divine ability." He shook his head with a rueful laugh. He really was getting senile, unable even to distinguish a heavenly art from a divine ability.
Besides, even if it truly were the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art, a little cultivator in the cave heaven realm could not possibly unleash it.
Nevertheless, he was still shocked. He had never heard of anyone whose innate divine ability was connected to the six paths of reincarnation.
After all, there had been a Reincarnation Immortal King of the six paths during the Immortal Ancient Era. Now this innate divine ability was intimately related to those same paths. Could there be some connection?
Xi Yue was puzzled as well. This was an offensive ability possessing boundless power, one that plunged people into reincarnation.
It was entirely different from the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art, which governed precious arts.