HSSB904: Sincerely devoted to the dao, the Heavenly Lord’s blessings cometh
Yan Zhaoge watched as those people clashed.
His gaze involuntarily turned more distant, “It is a martial art that already existed in pre-Great Calamity times, and preserved in relatively good condition at that. It is just that…”
It was just that although these martial practitioners similarly condensed aura-qi and true essence through cultivation and refined their qi and blood and acupoints, their foundation was the power of faith within their bodies.
This was so for the pursuers who were speeding over.
However, the treasured light of the power of faith within the fleeing person was somewhat unstable.
Regardless of their cultivation bases, the treasured light of his pursuers were all very stable and fixed at the very least.
Yet, the treasured light from the body of he who was being murderously pursued was flickering non-stop as it was bright at times whilst dim at others.
Peering carefully over, Yan Zhaoge and Fu Ting saw that he was a red-clothed middle-aged man with stern, authoritative features and a firm gaze.
His cultivation base was very high. As his acupoints pulsed, it was not just that the main acupoints of his entire body had already all been refined to achieve Divinity.
Even many obscure acupoints of his were already successfully resonating with the actual stars of the external universe, having broken through space to see true Divinity.
This was precisely the characteristic of an expert of the sixth level of the Martial Saint realm, the late Seeing Divinity stage.
Martial practitioners would have arrived at the peak of the mid Seeing Divinity stage when they had refined all their main acupoints to achieve Divinity.
At this point, they would begin attempting to refine the many obscure acupoints. After successfully taking the first step, they would hence have accomplished the sixth level of the Martial Saint realm, the late Seeing Divinity stage.
The martial practitioner named Yang Chong who was currently being pursued was precisely of this cultivation level.
Yan Zhaoge recognised the martial art he cultivated in as the Chaotic Phenomena Heavenly Deficient Palm from the Chaotic Heavenly Scripture. This had actually been stored in the Marital Repository of the Heavenly Court’s Divine Palace in pre-Great Calamity times.
It could be seen that even though his foundation was ultimately the treasured light of the power of faith, Yang Chong was still rather talented in martial arts as he had already acquired the essence of the Chaotic Phenomena Heavenly Deficient Palm.
Yet, at this moment, he was in dire straits as he was being pursued by a number of Martial Saints who had just entered the Seeing Divinity stage or were even merely at the Merging Avtar stage.
He was only able to flee frantically even as he battled.
Those pursuing him also cultivated in the Chaotic Heavenly Scripture as they were evidently his fellow disciples.
“Is he injured?” Yan Zhaoge pondered, “Or is it that…”
Someone now yelled from amongst the pursuers, “Senior apprentice-uncle Yang, enough with this foolishness! Return to the sect with us and repent sincerely before the Heavenly Lord’s altar. There may still be a way out of this!”
Before Yang Chong could reply, someone else shouted severely from amongst them, “Quan Haolong, are you trying to protect this sort of blasphemer?”
The face of the person who had just spoken turned slightly pale.
Yang Chong nodded slightly towards Quan Haolong in appreciation, musing emotionally, “External daos are not daoless, and the orthodox dao may not be the only dao. I have seen more paths, and wish to choose and follow another way of living of my own volition.”
“While our current world is real, it may not be complete. The world that we can see now consists only of what the bigwig experts want us to see.”
Yang Chong’s gaze rippled somewhat, “Having seen more things, the world before our eyes would appear different…”
The expressions of most of his pursuers changed as they heard this, “Stuff and nonsense, deceit and bedevilment!”
They roared and attacked with the same Chaotic Phenomena Heavenly Deficient Palm towards him.
Where their palm force passed, the scenes between the heavens and earth continuously changed.
The flowing wind ceased, the air becoming stick and hard to navigate as it resembled a swamp.
The flowing clouds solidified, plummeting from the sky as they resembled blocks of solid lead.
The surface of the earth collapsed, the river waters surging in reverse as they shot into the skies.
Everything was different from how it usually was with chaotic phenomena abound, causing one to feel incomparably muddled and in chaos.
The myriad chaotic phenomena agglomerated, forming an immense force of distortion that seemed about to rip the very horizon apart.
Amidst the shattered space, infinite tribulations surged as everything appeared even more shocking.
Seeing this, Yang Chong sighed, simultaneously pushing forth with his palms. He now executed the Chaotic Phenomena Heavenly Deficient Palm as well.
Chaos met chaos, righting chaos and bringing forth order. Where Yang Chong’s palm force passed, the scenes between the heavens and earth instead began to regain their normalcy.
However, Yan Zhaoge and Fu Ting both frowned as they watched on.
This was totally not the level of power that a late Seeing Divinity Martial Saint should be able to unleash.
Even while he was of the Immortal Court of Daoism and possessed strength inferior to the orthodox tradition of the Three Clear lineages, he was an actual sixth level Martial Saint who had refined all the main acupoints of his body to see Divinity, presently even having already begun refining the obscure ones. He should logically possess heaven-shocking, earth-shaking power.
His opponents were martial practitioners of the Immortal Court of Daoism as well, not being any noteworthy in terms of strength as they were not like Yan Zhaoge and Fu Ting who were able to surpass levels in battling, suppressing all other lifeforms.
Under such circumstances, Yang Chong of the sixth level of the Martial Saint realm should logically be able to completely dominate and sweep through these pursuers who were at the fourth level of the Martial Saint realm at most.
Yet, the result was an unexpected one.
Yang Chong was actually unable to deal with these opponents.
He was even hard pressed to face their collective attacks as he was being suppressed.
With Yan Zhaoge’s and Fu Ting’s current level of discernment, a single glance was sufficient for them to see through the entire battle situation.
“It is not the weakness from having sustained an injury…”
“He is not deliberately going easy on them…”
“It seems more like he has intentionally restricted his own strength or like a portion of his strength has been restricted by someone else.”
Yan Zhaoge raised his brow slightly, “It is like his cultivation base has fallen. Yet, he is not injured. This is due to that treasured light of the power of faith.”
“He previously relied on this as a foundation in refining his acupoints to achieve Divinity. This is where the basis for his acupoints resonating with the stars lies,” Fu Ting similarly realised the predicament Yang Chong was in, “The treasured light within his body is currently unstable. Consequently, those acupoints that had originally seen true Divinity seem to be slumbering as they are not moving in the least!”
Yan Zhaoge stroked his lower chin, “Is it because he is no longer devout that his cultivation base is unceasingly deteriorating as time passes?”
Yang Chong’s strength was currently not much different from his fellow disciples of the fourth level of the Martial Saint realm.
If this continued, it would not be long when he merely possessed the strength of a third level Martial Saint.
Also, his strength would continue deteriorating throughout.
It was not just in the refining of his acupoints to achieve Divinity. All of his cultivation thus far had relied on that treasured light of the power of faith.
The person leading the group that was attacking Yang Chong said coldly, “Yang Chong, in trying to bewitch us with these words of deceit, isn’t it just for throwing our minds into chaos such that we will end up in the same state as you, making it easier for you to escape?”
“Dream on! We are all sincerely devoted towards the dao as the Heavenly Lord’s blessings cometh. How would we be as sick in the head as you?”
“You are actually still stubborn and blind even now. Since that is so, prepare to die!”
As this person said this, his body suddenly flickered while Yang Chong was blocking the attacks of the others.
Another supreme martial art recorded in the Chaotic Heavenly Scripture, the Heaven Earth Reversal Chaos Finger.
Concentrating fully on defending against the other attacks, Yang Chong was not in time to block or evade this as he was instantly struck by that finger.
His face suddenly turned first completely red and then a pale shade as he abruptly spat out a mouthful of blood.
The other attackers capitalised on this chance to attack all at once, breaking through Yang Chong’s protective true essence with several Chaotic Phenomena Heavenly Deficient Palms as Yang Chong was completely beaten out of the sky with this.
Yang Chong plummeted feebly to the ground, dying and unable to move.
The others crowded over, someone now saying slowly, “End him, junior apprentice-nephew Quan.”
That person named Quan Haolong instantly stiffened up as he heard this.