Sweeping Through the Successors of the Great Sects

On the platform, the moment Li Wangxian voiced his question, everyone froze before their expressions filled with shock and fury. What did he take all the cultivators below the platform for?

Cowards? Spineless rats?

This was outright contempt. Several thousand cultivators had gathered below, nearly a thousand of them in the Four Extremes realm, with no shortage of disciples from great sects among them. Yet not one dared step up to fight, forcing this youth to seek an opponent on another platform?

Leaving aside whether the Ziwei Divine Dynasty would permit such a method, if word of today's situation spread, everyone here-and even some of the great sects behind them-would be disgraced.

After all, the Saint Sons of holy lands could enter the inner city directly and cultivate there until Princess Yueshi's birthday banquet, but ordinary successors and disciples could not. Thus, the moment he spoke, the crowd below erupted in outrage.

"Arrogant brat! I'll fight you!" A disciple of a great sect flew onto the platform. He glared furiously at Li Wangxian, then wasted no words, forming seals with both hands and unleashing a mighty combat divine ability.

"Roar! Boom..."

This was a formidable young cultivator, a genius of the Beasts Palace. His left hand formed the Azure Dragon Seal, producing a dragon's roar that resounded through the nine heavens. An azure dragon manifested in solid form, shaking its head and lashing its tail as it lunged ferociously at Li Wangxian.

Then his right hand formed the White Tiger Seal. The roar of the king of beasts was deafening as a white tiger thundered forward, shattering the void beneath its paws.

Among the beasts, there were kings: first the dragon, second the tiger! Now the dragon and tiger converged, twisting together to deliver a killing blow. This was a lethal sacred art; with sufficiently profound mastery, killing someone several minor realms higher would be child's play.

Below the platform, many sucked in cold breaths, their expressions changing.

"Who is he? Never mind that someone this strong hasn't entered the inner city-why hasn't he even won ten matches to advance to the next round?"

Someone below voiced their confusion. With this man's combat strength, the first round's ten victories should not have posed an obstacle.

"He's Bai Jin, a Candidate Saint Son of the Beasts Palace. He's very powerful. He hasn't advanced because he ran into Yan Yixi earlier and was injured. He had to recuperate before fighting again!"

A cultivator who knew the circumstances explained in a subdued tone, but the others only grew more puzzled.

"Isn't Yan Yixi already in the Dragon Transformation Realm? Why would he fight Bai Jin, who's at the peak of the Four Extremes realm? Isn't that against the rules?"

"Because Yan Yixi arrived together with Bai Yuzan!"

Another informed cultivator sighed, his tone tinged with sour envy.

At that explanation, everyone immediately understood. A beautiful woman was a wellspring of trouble. Bai Yuzan was one of the world's ten greatest beauties, and wasn't Yan Yixi famous for his dashing charm?

So Bai Jin had resented it and gotten beaten up below the platform?

Meanwhile, on the platform.

Li Wangxian watched the azure dragon and white tiger roar toward him in a killing pincer, his expression unchanged. He still had no intention of using any sacred art. With a gentle flick of his finger, a "Dao sword" manifested and slashed toward the charging beasts.

"Shing!"

The "Dao sword" swept across the sky. Though less than three feet long, the sight of its slash was horrifying. A beam of sword light pierced the heavens, as though cleaving heaven and earth in two. Like a torn painting, the void was easily sliced open into great, pitch-black fissures that spread beyond the platform. It seemed intent on cutting apart the eternal blue heavens, sending chills through everyone.

"Rrrip!"

The "Dao sword" slashed horizontally. As though they possessed real flesh and blood, the azure dragon and white tiger were torn apart by the heaven-piercing sword light like rotten wood, with a sound like ripping silk.

How powerful was Li Wangxian now? Those capable of crossing the Eight Prohibitions had been rare throughout history-at least on Ziwei Ancient Star.

And after his trip to Tianyuan City, his comprehension of the Great Dao was absolutely world-shaking for his realm. Compared with his, the Dao other Four Extremes cultivators wielded was like a firefly's glow beside the radiant moon. The gulf was that between heaven and earth, beyond all measure.

Every movement he made embodied wondrous methods and supreme truths. To other cultivators of his realm, the "Dao sword" he casually manifested was an unparalleled sacred art. Even defying the realms to slay immortals would have been nothing unusual, let alone defeating someone at his own realm. Who could withstand a single blow from him?

"Crack!"

After cutting down the dragon and tiger, the "Dao sword" did not vanish. It tore through the void and swept straight toward Bai Jin. Its sword qi was incomparably sharp, carrying the momentum to slay gods and slaughter immortals. Bai Jin's expression instantly changed, and he brought out numerous Spirit Treasures to protect himself. But the result horrified everyone. Nothing could withstand the "Dao sword." Amid a series of cracks, every Spirit Treasure was cut to fragments and obliterated.

"Bang!"

In a single instant, Bai Jin spewed mouthfuls of blood, and both his arms broke. Had he not decisively violated the platform's rules at the critical moment and brought out a Saint Lord-grade mighty artifact interwoven with "Dao" and "principle" to protect himself, the "Dao sword" would already have reduced him to ashes.

"I overestimated you. Someone at the level of a Saint Son could have survived that blow."

Li Wangxian shook his head. Although he had a very poor impression of some of Ziwei's great sects, he would not slaughter innocents indiscriminately. He had already held back a great deal with that strike, yet he had still nearly taken a life.

Below the platform, there was utter silence. Once again, Li Wangxian had stunned everyone.

Was Bai Jin weak? To become a Candidate Saint Son of the Beasts Palace, even if he still fell short of a Saint Son, the gap should not have been too great. Yet someone like him had nearly been slain with a single sword strike.

What did that mean?

Did it mean that ordinary Saint Sons would be just as helpless against him?

"At the very least, he's a monstrous prodigy on the level of a young king!" Below the platform, a cultivator sighed softly and offered his verdict.

"He stands shoulder to shoulder with King Physiques, rivaling supreme prodigies like Lu Ya and Daoist Sanque!"

Everyone marveled. The disparity was plain to see, and no one was foolish enough to argue otherwise just to draw attention to themselves.

"So the gap is this vast? Like a heavenly abyss between us! This is a true favored son of heaven, isn't it? What do I amount to?"

On the platform, Bai Jin murmured listlessly with blood in his mouth, then walked down in dejected silence.

Everyone sighed, but this was the cruel truth. In this world, people truly were not born equal.

"I'll fight you."

The moment Bai Jin stepped down, another successor of a great sect flew onto the platform without Li Wangxian having to say another word. No matter how strong he was, they had to face him. Otherwise, once word spread, the sects of everyone present would be disgraced, their dignity stripped away completely.

"Dong!"

Li Wangxian pressed down with both hands. This time, a "Dao Tower" manifested from nothingness. It, too, was an aspect of his understanding of the Dao, impressed into tangible form. It flew forward to suppress every direction, bearing supreme power that could subdue space itself.

"Boom!"

The "Dao Tower" represented the will of heaven and earth, as though the Great Dao had truly descended. Its power was unfathomable. Spatial forces surged, and heaven and earth congealed into one. With a slight tremor, it sent the world into violent upheaval, shaking the unnamed successor until he coughed up mouthfuls of blood and fell off the platform.

"I'll fight!" With a long cry, another disciple of a great sect leaped onto the platform, fearless of death as he defended his sect's reputation.

"Clang!"

A great halberd swept like a dragon, cutting across the skies in every direction with the momentum to destroy the boundless cosmos and cleave eternity. It manifested from Li Wangxian's understanding of the Dao of combat, its offensive power unrivaled among those of his realm. With a gentle sweep through the sky, heaven and earth collapsed. It easily cut through his opponent's many Spirit Treasures and secret arts, knocking him off the platform.

"I'll fight!" As one descended, another rose. Yet another disciple of a great sect stepped onto the platform to battle. Neither joyful nor sorrowful, Li Wangxian gently moved both hands, entering a certain Dao Realm as he manifested the trajectories of the Great Dao, using tangible vessels to bear the intangible Great Dao of heaven and earth.

"Boom!"

A great cauldron suppressed the world, with three legs and two handles. One cauldron, two handles, three legs-it accorded with "the Dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things." This, too, was a tangible embodiment of the Dao.

The instant the cauldron formed, space and time shook violently. Space was suppressed, and time congealed. His opponent had barely stepped onto the platform before being pinned in place, unable to move. Had Li Wangxian not noticed and shaken the cauldron to blast him off the platform, he might have been shaken to death.

"I'll fight!" This time, a female cultivator leaped up like an immortal maiden soaring through the sky. But when she attacked, she was formidable indeed. As her delicate hands formed seals, dazzling divine light burst forth and formed a Great Dao Treasure Bottle. This was the Great Dao Treasure Bottle Seal, a divine art renowned throughout the universe.

"Bang!"

The treasure bottle trembled, and a world-shaking beam of immortal light exploded from it. Its killing power surged to the heavens, bearing supreme divine might capable of defying the realms to strike down the Dao as it rushed toward Li Wangxian.

"Swish!"

Li Wangxian remained composed. With a movement of his fingers, a three-inch-tall tree manifested in his hand. He gently waved it, and strands of Dao traces and expanses of Dao laws appeared. It seemed as though ten thousand Daos had manifested together in the heavens. Their thunderous resonance shattered the treasure bottle seal and blasted the extraordinary female cultivator off the platform.

"I'll fight!" One disciple of a great sect after another stepped forward, their cries ringing out as though cultivators had assembled to confront a great demon king. They drew the attention of everyone across the square, but to Li Wangxian, their "resistance" was destined to be futile.

He manifested a taiji diagram and knocked another successor of a great sect off the platform. Then he began trying to manifest immortal creatures to embody particular aspects of the "Great Dao."

He succeeded. A Heavenly Phoenix descended, its cry resounding through the nine heavens. It possessed the might to burn the ninefold firmament and strike across three thousand worlds, as well as the supreme mysteries of nirvanic rebirth.

Then a true dragon appeared. Heaven overturned and earth capsized, and the sun and moon lost their light. It possessed the great divine abilities of ascending to immortality through nine transformations and remaining impervious to all arts, shaking all of heaven and earth.

"Does he intend to manifest a Divine Form right here?" The elder of the Ziwei Divine Dynasty sighed quietly. Even someone as powerful as him, a top-tier Great Ability from an immortal lineage, felt repeated chills. This youth's brilliance gave him the illusion that he had spent his entire lifetime living as a dog.

"Is he perhaps like a dragon? Imperial Mother, was this what you felt after that journey? I seem to have experienced that same feeling now."

The supreme Great Ability stared unblinkingly at Li Wangxian, as though beholding a true dragon.

A long chapter of three thousand characters. My editor contacted me today and said they would help sort out the contract signing and status change. Starting today, I'll work hard to get back to two updates a day, but I'm chronically slow at typing, so I can't promise two updates every single day. Still, barring anything unexpected, there should always be one.