Both Sides Suffered?

"True Qi? Innate Major Accomplishment?"

Chen Cuo frowned slightly.

It was not that he could not bear to strike or was unwilling to do so.

It was just that such cultivation was not enough for him to grasp an opportunity to break through to Primal Core in battle.

"It seems everyone overestimated you."

He breathed out easily, feeling somewhat disappointed.

He raised his right hand, and True Essence enveloped the Wave-Slaying Saber. Azure saber intent swept out in all directions in an instant.

"Is that so?"

Xu Fan spoke evenly, unmoved.

As his words fell, Divine Intention surged forth, carrying Spiritual Radiance Essence Erosion with it.

A silvery-white ripple spread rapidly through the void.

"Do you think I'll compete with you in Divine Intention?"

Chen Cuo snorted coldly. The True Essence in his body circulated rapidly, joining with his Divine Intention to form an azure barrier around him.

Yet the silvery-white ripple passed straight through his body.

"What kind of technique is that?"

Chen Cuo grunted and took a step back, staring fixedly at Xu Fan.

The silvery-white ripple had ignored his Divine Intention and True Essence, acting directly upon him.

"Is this how you killed Han Tianling?"

That strange destructive force was steadily eroding his essence, Qi, and spirit, causing him to decline rapidly in every respect.

With every breath, he could feel his presence weakening.

If this continued, he might really lose.

"You're courting death!"

Now that things had come to this, he gave it no further thought.

His Divine Intention soared once more, throwing the Qi of heaven and earth around him into disarray.

Wave after wave of Divine Intention expanded rapidly, turning into streams of light that sank into the saber.

"I comprehended seven saber forms. Shen Guan fell to the sixth."

"You're the first to witness this strike. You should feel honored to die beneath the seventh form."

Rumble!

As he uttered the final word, thunder erupted out of a clear sky.

A mighty, profound saber intent swept out in all directions in an instant!

The Great Grandmasters were forced to retreat more than ten li.

The Innate Grandmasters without anyone to protect them all spat out blood and hurriedly fled, not daring to approach.

"This form is Severing Currents and Parting Seas!"

The saber light slashed down!

It seemed to cleave even the Qi of heaven and earth apart, bearing down with the force of crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood!

Xu Fan stepped forward, Law Power circulating within him. Taiyin True Intention swept forth, carrying Yin Sha Mysterious Light with it!

He had chosen to meet it head-on!

Hum!

The saber light cut through the Yin Sha Mysterious Light, but the latter continued toward Chen Cuo.

After unleashing that strike, Chen Cuo, eroded by Spiritual Radiance Essence Erosion, had grown so weak in essence, Qi, and spirit that he could not defend himself with his full strength.

But Xu Fan, facing the Seven Sea-Overturning Forms, was in an even worse position!

The saber intent had locked onto him, leaving him nowhere to dodge!

He raised his head slightly. True Qi circulated around him, forming a defense with his Divine Sense.

Boom!

The saber radiance and the mysterious light struck at the same time.

In front of the mountain gate, Chen Cuo's body fell heavily to the ground, his presence rapidly weakening.

In the fissure carved out below by the saber radiance, Xu Fan's clothes hung in tatters. His presence was in disarray, his face was pale, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. He looked gravely injured.

"Cough, cough."

Xu Fan leaped out, his body swaying as though he might collapse at any moment.

"Brother Xu, are you all right?"

Yang Haitian quickly descended and supported Xu Fan, asking with concern.

When that saber strike fell, he had thought Xu Fan was doomed.

Who would have thought Chen Cuo would be the first to fall unconscious instead?

Xu Fan had actually taken that strike head-on with Grandmaster cultivation. It was truly inconceivable.

Was this what an inheritor of a Celestial Person was like?

Sure enough, he could not be judged by common sense.

"I'll need some time to recover."

Xu Fan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked at the old man beside the unconscious Chen Cuo, whose presence he could not discern.

Of course, he was putting on an act.

Otherwise, if everyone came to challenge him over the ranking, how could he cultivate?

Earlier, he had used Spiritual Radiance Essence Erosion to weaken Chen Cuo, leaving him short of his peak strength.

When that saber form fell,

he had used Dark Moon Hidden Shadow to evade it, then used the Dark and Bright Moon-Hiding Technique to simulate his presence, making it appear that he had suffered grave injuries that would be difficult to heal.

Yin Sha Mysterious Light had been his full-strength attack.

Chen Cuo, eroded by Spiritual Radiance Essence Erosion and having unleashed a full-strength saber strike, could not have blocked it and was certain to suffer serious injuries.

Thus, in everyone's eyes, Xu Fan had narrowly won the duel.

That was enough to move him out of eleventh place on the Hidden Dragon Ranking.

"You won this battle."

The old man who had come with Chen Cuo dispelled the foreign force within him, then left those words behind and disappeared with him.

"Brother Yang, I need to enter seclusion for a while to rid myself of my injuries."

Only after taking a Minor Restoration Pill did Xu Fan let out a long breath.

"I'll take you back."

Yang Haitian nodded and took Xu Fan back to the mountaintop.

"What happened just now?"

"Why did Chen Cuo's presence keep weakening?"

Huang Tianfu narrowed his eyes and murmured as he watched Yang Haitian and Xu Fan leave.

"First that faintly glowing ripple, then that silvery-white streak of light. Were they martial arts created by Yin Moon Celestial Person?"

More than ten thousand years had passed since that Celestial Person's time. Now, only her name and certain characteristics of her techniques were known; little had been recorded.

Thus, he did not know exactly what effects Xu Fan's techniques had.

But judging by what he had seen, that silvery-white streak of light was extremely destructive.

That strange, faint light, on the other hand, had the ability to weaken others.

Chen Cuo had no longer been at his peak when he unleashed that form of the Sea-Overturning Saber Technique.

Still, taking it head-on with Grandmaster cultivation and surviving, suffering only grave injuries that would be difficult to heal, was indeed admirable.

But after that strike, Xu Fan would probably need six months or a year of recuperation to remove the lingering saber intent and heal his injuries.

With that delay, and his cultivation only at Innate, more uncertainties would likely arise.

"Incredible. Innate Major Accomplishment actually defeated someone at peak Divine Intention?"

Tie Shan sighed in admiration.

Sure enough, the inheritance of a Celestial Person held many incredible things.

They were beyond the understanding of ordinary cultivators.

Xu Fan's techniques just now had not been Divine Abilities, yet their power was strange and formidable. It was truly difficult to understand, and he could only attribute it to the Celestial Person's inheritance.

Martial arts and Divine Abilities were completely different.

Even with the support of Divine Intention, martial arts, however destructive, ultimately remained within the realm of mortals.

The reason Land Immortals were called immortals lay largely in their Divine Abilities.

A Divine Ability used one's own body to leverage the power of heaven and earth, making burning mountains and boiling seas seem as easy as an everyday task.

Whenever a Divine Ability appeared, it was invariably accompanied by phenomena in heaven and earth.

"Yes."

Huang Tianfu nodded with emotion.

His gaze swept over the people leaving one after another, and he suddenly noticed a young woman in a moon-colored dress, her face covered by a light veil.

The young woman was gazing at the summit of Mysterious Yang Mountain, lost in thought.

At this sight, Huang Tianfu's heart stirred, and he activated the World-Governing Qi Observation Method again.

In an instant!

Heaven and earth lost their color, leaving only one figure, pure azure in hue.

Heaven's favor!

The highest grade of fortune, and a pure color at that!

He had seen a person like this only once before, in Yan Chunqiu of the Four Symbols Mountain Manor.

This moon-robed young woman was the second!

But he was quickly discovered. A glance swept over him, making him step back as blood welled from the corner of his mouth.

"What's wrong?"

Seeing Huang Tianfu suffer a backlash, Tie Shan followed his gaze, but saw no one.

"It's nothing. I saw someone interesting."

Huang Tianfu suppressed the turmoil in his heart and shook his head slightly.

Pure azure fortune, Primal Core cultivation-when did someone like this appear in the world?

She looked quite young, too.

A cultivator's appearance stopped changing only upon entering Primal Core.

If the young woman was not in disguise, that meant she had already reached Primal Core at a young age.

Given her pure azure fortune, the likelihood of that was already over ninety percent.

"Let's go."

Faced with Tie Shan's suspicious gaze, he said no more and turned to leave.