Jiang Tao felt two completely different forces strike his fist.
One was as scorching as heavenly thunder, the other as heavy as the earth's magnetism. The two forces twisted together and bored into his arm.
The hardened layer formed by his Nirvana Golden Body cracked in that instant, scattering golden light in every direction.
The moment Fang Yun's Mountain Shattering Fist touched the black and white Qi, the golden substance formed on his fist likewise shattered. Jiang Wuyun met the same fate.
The three figures plunged deep into the Pill River almost simultaneously. Nirvana Qi churned like boiling water, engulfing them completely.
Xiang Yun withdrew his fist and turned into a streak of light once more, diving deep into the Pill River.
"You three little Nirvana cultivators."
Xiang Yun's voice came from deep within the Pill River, tinged with laughter.
"Still not making way for your tyrant? Hahahaha! Your fists aren't fast enough or fierce enough!!"
"Once I come out of seclusion, I'll give you three senior brothers a proper lesson!"
Jiang Tao struggled to poke his head out of the Nirvana Qi, his hair in disarray. Fang Yun and Jiang Wuyun surfaced one after the other, and the three stared at one another.
"Four Yuan Nirvana... taken out with one punch?"
Fang Yun's voice was full of disbelief. "The Young Hall Master just broke through to the Nirvana Realm, and he sent all three of us Four Yuan Nirvana cultivators flying with one punch?"
"As expected of the Young Hall Master. Truly, a wilderness cow can fly!"
"What do you mean?"
Fang Yun looked at Jiang Tao, his broad face puzzled. A wilderness cow?
What kind of comparison was that?
Wilderness cows were a type of vicious beast found in the Primordial Mountain Range, but the problem was that they couldn't fly.
"A cow so fucking awesome it flew into the heavens!"
Deep in the Pill River, Xiang Yun was already sitting cross-legged on a stone platform near the center.
The river around him was crimson, its water remarkably viscous, with crimson flames even floating on its surface.
That was Nirvana fire, which only condensed once Nirvana Qi reached a certain level of density.
Yet beneath Xiang Yun's black-hole vortex, even the Nirvana fire poured into his body like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea.
The vortex continued to plunder with unparalleled force, and the black hole's range grew larger and larger...
While Xiang Yun cultivated, the Primordial Trial, a grand event of the Primordial Hall, came to an end.
The disciples returned to the Primordial Hall one after another, and there were noticeably more people than usual on the cultivation platforms around the three Pill Rivers.
The disciples who had each occupied a platform to temper their bodies now gathered in groups of three or five, and the atmosphere was off.
The conflict between the Divine Ability Faction and the Body Refinement Faction had begun to show.
At first, there were only arguments and debates about the Dao.
But two or three months later, the explosive crashes of Origin Energy colliding frequently rang out above the Pill River.
"All that flashy stuff your Divine Ability Faction uses-did it do you any good back in the Primordial Mountain Range?
When that iron-armored rhinoceros charged over, you struck it with a palm from a distance, and it didn't even break its skin. In the end, wasn't it still up to me to smash its skull with one punch?"
The speaker was a disciple of Battle Heaven Peak, powerfully built, with knotted muscles on his arms.
Several disciples of Battle Arts Peak stood opposite him, the one at their head somewhat more slender.
He snorted coldly and raised his hand. A crimson palm print flew out, striking a trial stone at the edge of the platform from more than a zhang away and sending fragments flying.
"If one palm strike from a distance isn't enough, then ten or a hundred will do. I could wear the iron-armored rhinoceros to death before it ever reached me.
Your punch is fierce up close, but if you ran into someone faster than you, they could drag you back and forth, and you wouldn't even be able to touch the hem of their clothes."
"Bullshit! I can settle it with one punch, but you have to throw a hundred palm strikes. Are you too weak or too idle?"
"You!"
Before he could finish, the two sides came to blows.
The Battle Heaven Peak disciple stomped on the platform, splitting a crack in the stone slab.
He charged out like a wild bull, the blast from his fist pushing aside the Nirvana Qi around him.
The Battle Arts Peak disciple didn't meet him head-on. He tapped his foot and darted backward.
At the same time, he waved both hands in succession, blasting several palm prints through the air into his opponent's path and forcing the Battle Heaven Peak disciple to block them with his fists.
Smoke and dust immediately rose all over the platform.
Scenes like this were unfolding in more than one place.
People had also started fighting on Battle Arts Peak's Pill River platform.
One charged about using pure physical strength, while the other kept moving with a battle-body divine ability, unleashing palm prints, finger gusts and fist lights in an unbroken stream.
Their power fluctuated. Sometimes a palm print struck his opponent with nothing more than a muffled thud, failing even to break the skin. But the Divine Ability Faction disciple wasn't in a hurry; he opened the distance and kept firing.
"Is that palm technique of yours supposed to tickle?"
"Then stop dodging."
"Dodging? I'm going easy on you. I'm afraid I'd cripple you with one punch and have a hard time explaining it to the elders."
"Then come on."
What had started with just a handful of people quickly became a massive brawl. Origin Energy and bodies collided in a frantic barrage of explosive sounds, stirring up layer upon layer of Nirvana Qi around them.
Above the Pill River, however, two figures stood with their arms folded. Xiang Huang looked at Wu Xun, the peak master of Battle Arts Peak.
"Even the Nirvana Realm disciples have started. Aren't you going to do something?" Xiang Huang looked at Wu Xun.
Wu Xun shook his head. "You know the origins of the Divine Ability Faction. Though it hasn't made much progress, it was developed from the Primordial Ancestral Symbol by the Hall Master two generations ago."
"It still has some supporters among the Death Profound Realm elders, and a disciple has already succeeded in the experiment, merging with the bloodline of the Heavenly Demon Tiger Clan and gaining some demon clan divine abilities that can be driven by Qi and blood."
Xiang Huang frowned and said coldly, "Merging bloodlines? Wouldn't that leave them neither human nor demon? Trying it on a small scale is one thing.
But if it spreads to the entire Primordial Hall, I'm afraid it'll be hard to explain to the other super sects."
"But there's nothing we can do. Both sides now have Eight Yuan Nirvana disciples who refuse to yield to each other, and both have grand elders backing them. How do you propose we handle it?"
"What did the Hall Master say?"
"The Hall Master has already gone to persuade them, but so far it doesn't seem to have had much effect.
And why has this sect exchange become one between the Dao Sect, the Primordial Hall and the Nine Heavens Taiqing Palace?"
Wu Xun was puzzled.
Xiang Huang shrugged. "Who knows? I'm afraid it has something to do with that fellow Xiang Yun."
"Xiang Yun? I heard he came back a little while ago, and he made quite an entrance. He subdued three Four Yuan Nirvana disciples with one punch and caused quite a stir."
Wu Xun sounded surprised.
Xiang Huang, however, said helplessly, "Yes, but that fellow's physique is getting more and more terrifying. Disciples have already complained that he's causing too much of a disturbance cultivating deep in the Pill River, and that the amount of Nirvana Qi he's swallowing is terrifying!"
"Hm? How much can one Nirvana Realm cultivator swallow?"
Xiang Huang was just about to say that Xiang Yun alone had swallowed all the Nirvana Qi in the part of the Pill River reserved for Eight Yuan Nirvana cultivation.
Then Xiang Yun suddenly burst out of the Pill River, pale black Nirvana Demonic Flame wreathed around him, and his slightly irritated voice rang out in all directions.
"Noise, noise, noise! What are you making such a racket for?! I could hear you arguing all the way down in the depths of the Pill River!"
Xiang Yun looked at the two sides locked in a brawl, frowned slightly and said coldly, "You've even started a group fight? Stop it, now!"
"I said stop! Are you deaf?!"
But the people on the platform were so absorbed in fighting that hardly anyone paid him any attention.
"So you're still fighting, huh?!"
Xiang Yun narrowed his eyes. These fellows think my fists aren't big enough, do they?