Red King City.
Directly ahead, not far from the Red King's Residence, stood Red King City's Public Martial Arena.
It was a primitive gladiator arena built from piled boulders. Bloodstains from unknown creatures still lingered on the ground.
It was vast enough for Supremes to duel, with runes carved throughout the surrounding void.
Crowds filled the place that day. Even Supremes who had spent years in secluded cultivation emerged just to watch the battle.
The heir of the Red King's lineage was to face the son of the Crane Clan's progenitor. The news had shaken all of Red King City.
Even this enormous city had briefly opened its gates to the outside world.
One was a descendant of the invincible, savage Red King; the other was the son of He Wushuang, whose talent had dazzled past and present, and who was now on the verge of entering the King Realm.
Both were pinnacles of the younger generation, figures capable of stirring the winds and clouds.
A battle between them was indeed a compelling spectacle, setting the long-peaceful Ancient Realm boiling.
Its ripples reached multiple vast domains and the ancestral lands of King Clans and Emperor Clans.
He Xian stood at the center of the arena. This grand spectacle was exactly what he wanted-to become famous in a single battle, to make his peerless name resound.
A smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.
Since he was destined to contend with the Desolate Heaven Emperor, he would first crush every young cultivator in this Ancient Realm beneath him and, like his father before him, claim the title "Unmatched Under Heaven."
He was extraordinarily gifted. His father had praised him more than once, declaring that even in his youth, he would have been no match for his son.
The Indestructible Scripture could only be cultivated to full mastery in the Supreme Realm, yet he had already achieved it in the Self-Slaying Realm. He mastered all manner of Ancestral Arts and Immortal Arts with a glance; even the most difficult Ancient Scripture could not hold him up for three days.
He could even reverse-engineer and perfect them.
When his father's master had baptized him, even he had praised He Xian as a prodigy rarely seen across the ages.
Their lineage might well produce three Kings!
Now that he had emerged into the world, he intended to sweep aside the entire younger generation of the Foreign Realm.
Otherwise, how could he contend with the Desolate Heaven Emperor?
Across from him, Chi Menghong's battle blood was already boiling. A sea of people surrounded them, their cheers rising wave after wave.
Even the Supreme-level martial arena, which could hold a hundred thousand people, had run out of room.
Many powerful cultivators hovered in the void above.
This grand spectacle had been built up by both the Crane Clan and the Red King's lineage, with enormous interests stirring beneath it.
Of course, the Crane Clan had done most of the driving.
"This first step into the world must not fail." He Xian's smile grew brighter as he looked at his first stepping stone.
"If you must blame anything, blame your ancestral land for being too close to mine."
"Make your move!" He Xian summoned the full force of his essence, energy, and spirit.
"Kill!" Chi Menghong met his gaze and did not hesitate. One hand rose to prop up the heavens, and the battle erupted.
He Xian likewise thrust out a hand. Palm met palm, fist met fist-simple and brutal, wild and unrestrained, displaying his peerless bearing.
Chi Menghong's gaze was icy, more terrifying than that of a peerless savage beast. His eyes blazed red as he seized upon a tiny opening amid their devastating exchanges. His fist shook the world and blasted open the void.
He intended to smash He Xian's head to pieces. The blow was incomparably powerful and viciously sharp, worthy of a supreme expert of the Emperor Clan.
His terrifying gaze and perception resembled the divine sight of a heavenly eye.
Unfortunately, He Xian was just as swift. He blocked the attack as though he had anticipated it.
"Very good. A fine strike," He Xian praised.
Immediately afterward, he returned an incredibly savage blow. His upright palm resembled an impossibly sharp demonic blade as it smashed toward Chi Menghong's face, filling the sky with tens of millions of dazzling rays.
It arrived in an instant, like lightning.
Boom.
But who was Chi Menghong? He was a supreme expert among the Emperor Clan's younger generation, his battle instincts all but ingrained into his very being.
He tilted his head slightly and formed a seal with his hands. His palms blasted forth like two great mountains, tyrannical beyond compare, violent runes surging like an ocean.
The two swiftly separated after that exchange.
Worthy of the Emperor Clan's name, they had roughly gauged each other's strength within those few dozen moves.
Neither had suffered a loss or been wounded, yet neither seemed satisfied with the result.
One felt that, as a true member of an Emperor Clan, he should have done better; the other felt that his performance had not been elegant enough.
"What is your name? You have earned the right for me to know it," Chi Menghong said coldly.
"He Xian!"
"Very well. You will be the first man whose name deserves to be remembered by me-and who dies." Chi Menghong's voice turned harsh. He was about to employ his true methods.
Once he struck with his full strength, he could no longer guarantee that he could hold back.
Roar!
An ancient beast burst from the crown of Chi Menghong's head. Blood-colored and peculiar, it was the size of a fist, its body covered in blood-red bone spikes. The little beast roared at He Xian, unleashing a rolling ocean of crimson.
Without question, this blood beast was Chi Menghong's primordial spirit, bearing the form of his true body and commanding the supreme Great Dao of time.
He Xian suddenly felt everything around him come to a standstill. It was as though everything had been frozen in place, and he could no longer control his body.
As a cultivator, he governed his own body and understood the mysteries of the Great Dao within it. Yet now he could no longer control himself. It was utterly terrifying.
Enough to fill anyone with dread.
Was this a true Emperor Clan? Each possessed an ancestral forbidden art that had made its name, sweeping all before it and claiming invincibility.
Unfortunately, it was useless against him. A single overwhelming force could shatter ten thousand arts.
Brilliant golden light erupted from his entire body, more dazzling than the sun. Heavy heartbeats thundered one after another, louder than heavenly drums.
Symbols of the Great Dao emerged from his flesh and blood, eternal and indestructible, capable of breaking through anything.
Indestructible Scripture.
He broke free of that imprisoned space-time, his battle blood boiling. Never had he craved a fierce, sweat-drenched battle as much as he did at that moment.
"Kill!" He let out a long cry.
Chi Menghong was stunned. He had never expected his opponent to break through his Time Domain. He had slain many renowned experts with that move.
"Indestructible Scripture." He recognized the peerless scripture.
It was the supreme scripture the Crane Clan's progenitor had brought back from the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. Even here in the Foreign Realm, it stood above all others.
It was the foundational scripture that allowed members of the Crane Clan to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Emperor Clans.
"Take my fist!" He Xian cried out.
He moved, his utmost strength shaking the world. Every strand of his blood energy radiated endless golden light, rolling like a tide. He was like an emperor emerging into the world, sweeping across ninety thousand miles.
His five fingers clenched tightly. Divine manifestations of true dragons coiled around his arm, their heads overlapping upon the edge of his fist. This blow would punch through the heavens.
"Kill!" Chi Menghong likewise threw back his head and roared. Sensing a mortal crisis, he unleashed his surging king blood, which swept across the sky. In an instant, he raised his combat power to its utmost limit to meet that fist head-on, certain that he was inferior to no one in bodily combat.
He clenched his five fingers and likewise drove out a fist.
Boom!
After an enormous crash.
Pfft!
Chi Menghong's body shook violently. A spray of blood burst from his chest and pierced the void. The bones in his hand shattered, exposing stark white bone. His right arm was nearly ruined, and waves of agonizing pain kept crashing over him.
His expression remained cold, boundless killing intent sweeping from his eyes.