The Ji Family would not be destroyed, but it would probably suffer a devastating blow. After all, that was the Chaos Green Lotus, the Azure Emperor's weapon and his former body. Once it awakened, there was no telling what unexpected turn things might take.
Without knowing it, the entire Ji Family had taken a stroll through the gates of the underworld.
The King of Hell: "Take care now. Come back next time!"
Thank goodness the Four Extremes Great Emperor had fallen short. Had he really killed Yan Ruyu and stained the Chaos Green Lotus with the blood of the Azure Emperor's descendant, the lotus might well have gone berserk.
A protector concealed in the void looked at Qin Tian, who stood facing Ji Haoyue, and sneered. "It's his good fortune, too, to die at Haoyue's hands as the first opponent of his debut."
"When Haoyue proves his Dao and becomes an emperor, the world will remember him as well."
"What an honor!"
Another protector chuckled. "Indeed. You're making even me a little envious!"
Then he glanced at Qin Tian and exclaimed in surprise, "Hmm? That mud-legged peasant's aura seems a little unusual. Isn't he far stronger than before?"
The other protector replied dismissively, "So what?! He's just a mud-legged peasant. Beating Haiyue was already a fluke. He can't possibly beat Haoyue."
"What can he use to defeat Haoyue? Scriptures? Secret Technique? His innate essence? Which of those can compare to Haoyue's?"
We hold every advantage here. I can't even imagine how we could lose!
Qin Tian looked at Ji Haoyue before him, but his mind was on another man. The Four Extremes Great Emperor was around twenty when he first appeared. He's only thirteen or fourteen now, meaning there are fewer than seven years before the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin arrives on the Big Dipper.
Ye Fan had also spent nearly a year cultivating.
"The Divine King Body, huh!"
Qin Tian grinned. Had this been two months ago, he would definitely have brought out the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar and blasted the bastard first.
But now, he possessed both the confidence and the strength to clash with a divine body.
"Good. Very good!"
"I've changed my mind. I'm going to defeat you right here." Qin Tian's eyes blazed.
How could I come to Shrouding the Heavens and not fight?
Shrouding the Heavens was synonymous with fighting. A proper inhabitant was either fighting, on his way to a fight, or leveling up in preparation for a fight.
"Just what I wanted!"
The Purple-Clad Divine King said coldly, "I'm not Ji Haiyue. I'll kill you swiftly and cleanly, and restore the Ji Family's tarnished reputation!"
"What a coincidence. I'm not the man I was two months ago, either!" Qin Tian's eyes were dark and deep. Within his Bitter Sea, black and white divine power surged with the roar of collapsing mountains and tidal waves. Yin and yang, life and death energies spread, seeming for an instant to reenact the creation of heaven and earth.
Ji Haoyue said little and seemed to think little of Qin Tian. Had the clan elders not sent him out to draw blood, he would never have come here.
"Let's finish this quickly. I still need to buy Ziyue a present."
Ji Haoyue took the initiative, walking through the void as though nothing in heaven and earth could obstruct his steps.
"The Void Art!" Qin Tian murmured.
A glimpse through a narrow tube was enough to spot the leopard. Even without the Divine King Body's enhancement, Ji Haoyue's Void Art surpassed Ji Haiyue's.
Although his physique was third-rate and his comprehension second-rate, he had at least become an emperor in the future, putting him above the passing mark.
Ji Haoyue struck first, emerging from the void and opening his mouth to expel a stream of void-origin divine power. It fused with the void and refined it, blurring this stretch of heaven and earth. Strange laws bloomed, refining everything back into the essence of the void.
"Innate Grand Void Astral Energy? I've already experienced that!"
Qin Tian raised a hand. Dazzling rays of divine light shot from his fingertips, linking together to form a great array. It collided with the Grand Void Astral Energy filling heaven and earth and dissolved it into nothing.
Ji Haoyue raised an eyebrow, apparently surprised that Qin Tian could break his move. Then he lifted a hand and unleashed the Void Great Stele Hand. An ancient void stele suppressed the ages, its ripples nearly destroying heaven and earth. The entire sky trembled in fear of its supreme divine might.
He merged with the void and appeared above Qin Tian's head in the flick of a finger, bearing crushing force.
"A pity your cultivation is too low to unleash the true power of these two Emperor Techniques." Qin Tian struck back as well. The Mountains and Rivers Dao Domain within him shook as he gathered the strength of its mountains and rivers into his palm and met Ji Haoyue head-on.
Bang!!!
Their palms collided, erupting with boundless divine light. Blazing radiance packed every direction, and the entire void roared and shuddered.
The shock waves fell upon a mountaintop. Silver radiance spilled across it, rippling like water, and silently reduced the summit to dust!
Qin Tian retreated five steps, his fingers trembling slightly.
Ji Haoyue retreated only three.
Although Qin Tian had forged his own path through the nine transformations of the Other Shore, formed a Human Body Dao Field through Using the Body as an Array 2.0, and opened "gates" to release more potential, strengthen his innate essence, and fortify his physique, he still fell short of a divine body.
"But at least we're on the same level now!"
Qin Tian was exhilarated. He had originally possessed nothing but a mortal body, with neither an inheritance nor resources, relying entirely on himself. Now he could contend with a divine body. What more could he possibly ask for?
"Again!" Qin Tian let out a long cry. The "gates" within him opened one after another, releasing boundless clear radiance. Divine power surged, his Human Body Dao Field operated at full force, and supreme Array Marks connected with the greater world. His blood and vitality billowed like beacon smoke as his aura reached its peak.
A strange feeling arose in Ji Haoyue's heart. His divine body began glowing involuntarily, as though it had encountered a worthy opponent-or become enraged.
"Kill!!"
In an instant, dazzling divine light shot into the sky, and the two exchanged dozens of blows.
As they fought, Qin Tian divided his attention, carving Dao Patterns into the earth to draw out the power of its earth veins and channel it into his body, granting him an immense boost in divine power.
The potential of his Human Body Dao Field was also awakened, and the Mountains and Rivers Dao Field continuously gathered the power of his blood and vitality.
From being slightly inferior to Ji Haoyue, he gradually drew even.
"Your name!" Ji Haoyue asked amid the battle. As the Ji Family's Divine King Body, he had his own pride.
Before coming here, he had not asked Qin Tian's name, believing it unworthy of his ears.
After all, Ji Haoyue had been this arrogant before experiencing defeat. He had dared seize an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon while in the Four Extremes Realm. How could he not be wildly conceited?
But now, Ji Haoyue acknowledged Qin Tian's combat strength.
"Qin Tian!"
Ji Haoyue nodded. "Good. I'll remember you!"
Ji Haoyue thrust out a palm. A pitch-black handprint descended, collapsing layer after layer of the void, while dark spatial turbulence concealed everything.
Qin Tian formed an array with a turn of his hand, halting the void's collapse. Though wary inwardly, he put on a look of utter disdain.
"I won't remember you. You're nothing but a stepping stone on my path."
Qin Tian spread his five fingers, and the five elements-metal, wood, water, fire, and earth-appeared.
Dao Patterns emerged, weaving together high in the sky and assembling into five array diagrams, which linked and fitted together.
In an instant, they formed a Five-Element Killing Array high overhead, drawing upon the Dao power of heaven and earth.
The next moment, the five elemental array diagrams shattered one after another. Each turned into the purest energy and flowed into the next diagram, strengthening the second array. Yet an instant later, the second array shattered as well, and its sublimated energy flowed into the next.
The cycle continued. As each array diagram shattered, the energy fluctuations grew increasingly terrifying, shaking the firmament and gradually surpassing the Other Shore Realm to reach the Dao Palace Realm.
Water nourished wood, wood fed fire, fire produced earth, and earth generated metal!
Qin Tian held the final array diagram high. Interwoven with Dao and principle, it released killing intent that pierced the clouds.
Having absorbed the power of the other four diagrams, it became incomparably brilliant. Strands of yang-metal energy streamed down, snapping vegetation wherever they passed and reducing it to withered fragments. Crisscrossing scars appeared across the earth.
"Metal Suppression Array!"
Qin Tian thrust the array diagram forward with a thunderous rumble.
The diagram slowly pressed down. The void trembled, and the Heavenly Realm seemed about to collapse.
"An array formation? Or a divine ability?!" Ji Haoyue was extremely wary. He had every reason to be. Rumor had it that Qin Tian had killed a Great Power using an array formation.
"Mirror, rise!"
Ji Haoyue brought out his artifact, his sole artifact, forged in imitation of the Void Mirror.
Made from a peculiar copper-gold metal, it seemed fused with the void. Its light flickered, illuminating the boundless void.
His Sea of Bitterness churned, and a moon's radiance appeared upon the mirror's surface. At the same time, it drew in boundless void power, sending his combat strength soaring beyond the Other Shore Realm as well.
Every Great Emperor possessed secret arts that amplified combat strength. The most typical example was Nine Secrets: Jie, which granted a tenfold increase. Though the Void Emperor's secret art was not quite so outrageous, it was hardly inferior.
Buzzz!
Dazzling radiance, indistinguishable as moonlight or mirror light, met the yang-metal array diagram whose murderous aura pierced the highest heavens.
Rumble!
Boom!
The array diagram and mirror light collided, erupting into dazzling Immortal Light that joined heaven and earth. Vast beyond measure, it resembled a celestial river pouring down from the nine heavens, beautiful yet dangerous.
After the great explosion, Ji Haoyue suddenly stopped attacking and stood upon the void.
Under Qin Tian's utterly bewildered gaze, he said, "You're quite strong."
"I acknowledge you!"
"I'm willing to take you in as a War General. As long as you join the Ji Family, even the Jade Light Holy Land won't dare do anything to you."
His purple robes fluttered. Still as the moon, his bearing transcended the mundane, like a deity enveloped in endless halos.
"Tch. The Four Extremes Great Emperor really thinks he's a Great Emperor!"
Qin Tian scoffed, muttering inwardly, If you weren't basking in your brother-in-law's glory, you'd just be cannon fodder.
But after working so hard for so long, I've only caught up with a piece of cannon fodder.
I'm a little envious of a certain Dao Ancestor Ji, born with a Chaos Body. Why couldn't that future self of mine whip up an innate sacred body dao embryo for me?
Qin Tian did not voice these words, only murmuring in his heart, Tsk, tsk. This really leaves a sour taste.
Though he had not heard Qin Tian's answer, Ji Haoyue knew it from his expression.
"In that case, you can die!"
Ji Haoyue sighed with some regret. An outstanding talent capable of contending with a divine body would meet his end here.
He no longer chose to use the Void Art. Instead, he walked forward step by step, his presence imposing and his bearing ethereal. The Blue Sea appeared, rippling, and a radiant moon slowly rose, spilling sacred silver light.
It was different from the Sacred Body's innate Manifestations.
Ji Haoyue's Bright Moon Rising Over the Sea had been cultivated.
It was a Manifestation formed through acquired cultivation, combining a learned secret art with innate essence.
The original novel had mentioned it as well. Ji Ziyue had asked Ji Haoyue to teach Ye Fan how to cultivate the Bright Moon Rising Over the Sea Manifestation.
Although he was currently only in the Sea of Bitterness Realm, the rudimentary form of his Manifestation had already taken shape.
With the aid of his divine body's innate essence, he could fully display a portion of the Manifestation's divine power.
The Blue Sea shimmered, and a brilliant moon hung overhead. The purple-robed youth stood with his hands behind his back, never moving an inch. His serenity and ethereal bearing defied description, his figure blending with the scenery into a picture of poetic beauty.
"I haven't fully mastered this Manifestation yet. I can't control its power." Ji Haoyue stood upon the broken mountain, like a gentle breeze or drifting cloud. Behind him, the tides rose and fell. He was utterly composed.
"There's still time to admit defeat."
Though the blazing sun hung overhead, night had now descended. The Blue Sea surged, its tides rising and falling beneath a suspended moon, inspiring a sense of crystalline clarity. Despite the sound of the waves, an atmosphere of peace and tranquility prevailed.
Manifestation-Bright Moon Rising Over the Sea!
"Have you thought it over?!" Ji Haoyue's expression was placid, as though nothing concerned him. With the moon above his head and the broken mountain beneath his feet, he looked indescribably graceful and natural.
"A mere divine body, nothing but a third-rate physique, thinks it deserves my submission?" Qin Tian pressed a hand to his forehead and feigned a sigh. "It's only because no truly top-tier physiques have appeared in the Eastern Wasteland these past few years."
"That a monkey gets to crown himself king!"
"If the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body could still shine with its former glory, so-called divine bodies like yours would be smashed to pieces on the spot." Qin Tian slyly planted the seeds for an intimate exchange between the elder brother-in-law and the younger sister's husband.
"Even if you're lucky enough not to encounter a Desolate Ancient Sacred Body, once you step onto the Emperor Road, someone will beat you until your Dao heart collapses sooner or later. Wouldn't it be far more delightful to join me early and become one of my Divine Generals?" Qin Tian said brazenly.
"If we both had mortal bodies, you wouldn't even qualify to carry my shoes."
Though he verbally belittled Ji Haoyue, he had endured enormous suffering to catch up with a divine body, racking his brains and risking his life to break through the limits of a mortal physique.
This was called despising the enemy strategically while taking him seriously tactically.
He might sound dismissive, but Qin Tian took this battle very seriously. As he had said before, Ji Haoyue was the testing stone for the Emperor Road.
Only by defeating him would Qin Tian qualify to set foot on the Emperor Road. Otherwise, even if he forced his way onto the Starry Sky Ancient Road, someone would beat him until his Dao heart collapsed.
Ji Haoyue chuckled, utterly unconcerned. At this stage, he was exceptionally confident.
Upon reaching the peak of the Four Extremes Realm, with his divine body only just taking shape, he had dared seize the Demon Emperor Saint Weapon. His audacity was simply outrageous.
His purple robes fluttering, Ji Haoyue stepped forward and said, "Then come and test the power of this 'mere divine body' you speak of."
Ji Haoyue raised a hand. The Blue Sea rippled, tides rose and fell behind him, and waves surged. A great wave swept past, and the moon above his head shed its clear radiance, spilling motes of gentle light.
Qin Tian's hair stood on end. He sensed danger.
That gentle halo seemed to embody the most terrifying killing intent in the world.
Qin Tian decisively drew a longsword from his Bitter Sea and slashed. The sword light split into countless rays, breaking the divine power composing the halo back down into primal energy.
Divine Spirit!
"Interesting!"
"But... it's all futile." Ji Haoyue turned to face him. The moon overhead released ribbon after ribbon of radiance, tranquil and magnificent, as motes of sacred light fell.
The longsword in Qin Tian's hand instantly dimmed and crumbled to dust on the spot.
A two-in-one update. Sorry, this one came a little late today.
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