It Could Be Called an Instant Kill

"Boom!"

The Golden Hou's attack arrived first, its oppressive force making souls tremble.

Its body was only five or six meters long, petite compared to the giants of the primeval forests. Yet that petite frame contained tremendous power.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared. The manifested Fierce Tiger suffered a devastating blow, unraveling at a speed visible to the naked eye, as though its essence, energy, and spirit had been blasted apart. Its divine radiance runes scattered completely.

Dozens of layers of thunderous light blazed as lightning danced wildly. Under the bombardment of one of the most terrifying forces in heaven and earth, the middle-aged City Lord was aghast.

Not every creature could wield authority over thunder. It represented the mighty power of the heavens, and only a very few races could pass down such a precious technique.

"I misjudged it. This is definitely no Strange Dog!" The middle-aged City Lord sensed disaster looming and lost confidence in himself for the first time in his life.

His precious technique, an attack imbued with his essence, energy, and spirit, had been broken, obliterated in a single instant. This was a gap in sheer strength; even a stronger precious technique would have been useless.

Moreover, had he not possessed a Treasure Tool to defend himself, that single strike would have grievously wounded him too.

"Break!" The middle-aged City Lord was not one to sit and wait for death. Every hair on his body stood on end, and his divine radiance runes shone brilliantly, releasing a flood of light as he manifested the Fierce Tiger again.

Unfortunately, it was all futile. Even when he stirred his Treasure Tool into resonance, hoping to shatter those dozens of layers of thunderous light, he was a mayfly trying to shake a tree, unable to harm the lightning in the slightest.

At the same time, Di Yi's attack arrived. A great bird soared through the sky, its entire body shrouded in radiance, conjuring fierce winds that swept across the ground like sword energy.

At this sight, both the middle-aged City Lord and Yu Qing's group braced themselves for a hard battle.

The reason was simple: the middle-aged City Lord was utterly suppressed, forced to rely on his Treasure Tool to withstand the Golden Hou's onslaught. At this critical moment, even someone merely in the spirit transformation realm could become the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Yet in the next moment, they seemed to witness something inconceivable. They could scarcely believe their eyes.

The great bird soaring through the sky was actually suppressed by the layers of rain. After just a few flaps, its wings were... pierced through. It fell, then dissipated.

"He's not a spirit transformation realm cultivator!" At that moment, both the middle-aged City Lord and Yu Qing's group wore expressions of disbelief.

Judging by the fluctuations of that precious technique, it was clearly a manifestation of the blood moving realm. It lacked the spiritual nature of divine radiance and possessed none of the characteristics of a spiritual heavenly grotto.

But how was that possible?

How could one blood moving realm cultivator beat another into bloody pulp? It was a tale from the Arabian Nights, even more frightening than the revelation that he was not a spirit transformation realm cultivator.

"Could it be a trick? Is he doing this on purpose?" Yu Qing and the others, who were assisting from the side rather than serving as the main attackers, discussed their response.

"Impossible. With the advantage in his hands, no one would be foolish enough to pull a trick like this. The only explanation is that he's reached the blood moving extreme realm and proven the legends true." Yu Qing did not believe that anyone with an overwhelming advantage in a fight to the death would still scheme to dig a trap.

"The blood moving extreme realm!?" Hearing Yu Qing's conjecture, the others looked shocked.

"That's the only possibility. His physical body rivals someone in spirit transformation. He's a monster!" Yu Qing felt a twinge of regret. Reaching the limits of the blood moving extreme realm carried tremendous significance.

It was a realm only Primordial Divines and Saints could reach, a standard Divine Birds, Heaven-Tier Fierce Beasts, and the like used to measure their offspring. For the vast majority of cultivators, it was beyond reach.

After all, such peerless divine strength was not the human race's forte.

"Then we have even more reason not to let him live. If we let him grow... we'll become sinners of the Rain Clan!" The future accomplishments of someone who had reached the blood moving extreme realm were plain for all to see.

If he came to settle old scores someday, even if they escaped today,

it would not change their ultimate fate of death. It might even implicate the Rain Clan, creating a formidable enemy for them.

"Our only option now is to kill him. We can't leave him alive. So what if he's reached the blood moving extreme realm? We won't fight him up close. His divine radiance isn't as abundant as ours!" Yu Qing steeled himself. After confirming the difference between their cultivation realms, he felt that killing Di Yi might still be possible.

"All right, let's form an array!" The others understood the consequences too.

There was another option: imitate the middle-aged City Lord, twist the facts, and send information about Di Yi back to the clan, borrowing the power of important figures under the pretext of eliminating a genius enemy.

But they did not dare take that gamble. Di Yi's identity was unknown, and he was a monster who had reached the blood moving extreme realm.

Rather than make an enemy, beating swords into plowshares would be the best choice for the Rain Clan's higher-ups.

After all, they were not members of the main lineage, nor were they indispensable. Besides, if the clan investigated the truth of their report, everything would come to light, and right and wrong would be clear at a glance.

"Roar?"

Compared with the enemies' tangled emotions, the Golden Hou's thoughts were far simpler. Since Di Yi had never used a precious technique before, the Golden Hou had assumed that his doing so now would unleash a terrifying eruption of energy.

Yet the result was all thunder and little rain. This left the Golden Hou thoroughly bewildered, unable to understand what had happened.

"Uh..." Di Yi was embarrassed too. This was his first time using a precious technique. He had thought it would at least accomplish something, only for his campaign to stumble at the outset and perish halfway through.

Although it had accomplished little, it had taught him that the power of a precious technique fluctuated with one's cultivation strength. It was a means of attack almost entirely unrelated to physical strength.

"My opponent's cultivation realm is higher than mine. Our divine radiance isn't on the same scale." Di Yi pondered. His plan to fight with precious techniques and "do as the locals did" had fallen through.

"Roar?" The Golden Hou looked at Di Yi, unsure what had dampened his spirits.

"Forget it. Let's finish this directly. There's no point wasting time here." Di Yi stretched, then unleashed the precious technique that tore through the void in an instant. Before the layers of rain could pierce through it, he arrived directly in front of the middle-aged City Lord.

This world truly was wondrous. Cultivating through precious techniques interested him greatly, but now was not the time to think about such things. Once he reached the Heaven Mending Pavilion, the Deer-Chasing Academy, or somewhere similar, he could refine this form of cultivation.

For now, ending a boring battle took priority.

"You dare fight me at close quarters? Who gave you the courage!?" The moment the middle-aged City Lord saw Di Yi, he was overjoyed.

No matter how monstrous someone who had not even reached the spirit transformation realm might be, the gap between cultivation realms was like a vast chasm. Who could defy the heavens?

He admitted that the Strange Dog was outrageously strong, with an insurmountable gap in overall strength between them. But Di Yi was, at most, in the blood moving realm. No matter how strong he was, he could pose no threat.

Yet something that stunned the middle-aged City Lord happened. The Fierce Tiger struck, unleashing terrifying surges of power, but they could not even approach Di Yi's body.

Watching the fist draw ever closer, he panicked. This was simply unimaginable. His confidence had been battered time and again today.

At the critical moment, the strand of Bone Beads shone. A range of towering mountains seemed to emerge, pressing down with immense, ponderous force.

"Boom!"

In the next instant, a brilliant rain of light filled the sky. Mountains, Fierce Tiger-everything was blasted apart by a single punch. Amid that dazzling radiance, the curtain fell on it all.

It happened so quickly, almost in a single instant, that it could be called an instant kill. Before Yu Qing and the others had even finished forming their array, the middle-aged City Lord and his strand of Bone Beads had already turned to ash.