Chapter 196: The Concept of Heaven

An old Daoist and a young Daoist were already incredibly close to Jinhua City.

Standing on high ground, one could still see the outline of Jinhua City.

Because the bell had rung earlier, he already had misgivings in his heart; now, seeing the changes in the celestial phenomena above Jinhua City, he frowned even more deeply. What had happened in the city where the Town Luck Artifact was located?

According to his calculations, it shouldn't have been like this.

Suddenly, he saw the celestial phenomena over Jinhua City change drastically; a massive Thunder Pool appeared, with lightning flickering within it, which shocked him even more. It was actually a Thunder Pool Dharma Form?

He observed carefully again, and his heart eased.

Fortunately, it was only the embryonic form of a Dharma Form; although the Dharma Law had already been constructed, it had not yet transformed into a complete Dharma Form, so he could still manage it.

The next moment, Li Heng's Great Sun Dharma Image also appeared before his eyes.

This surprised him once again.

What on earth was going on?

A Dharma Form that followed the path of the Great Sun had actually appeared?

Before the old Daoist could figure out what was going on, he saw Tribulation Luck slowly emerge, with a bolt of Heavenly Thunder weaving through it. The terrifying power of Heaven and Earth could be sensed even though he was outside Jinhua City.

His expression changed abruptly, and he cursed.

"Is this an attempt to destroy this city?"

Above Jinhua City.

Xuan Dao's feeling at this moment was very strange; he felt as if he had merged with Heaven and Earth and grasped the authority of punishment. With a single thought, he could make the lightning within the Tribulation Cloud fall.

Is this acting on behalf of Heaven to mete out punishment? What a powerful feeling.

As he moved his thought, the Tribulation Cloud's Heavenly Thunder fell.

As for Li Heng, his expression remained calm.

The Great Sun Dharma Image he visualized was not just a simple Sun; it also symbolized many concepts, such as the source of light in this world, or the Great Sun traversing the sky, replacing Heaven with Yang.

It originated from the Great Sun of this world, yet it had broken free from the barriers of this world.

By relying on these concepts, coupled with the operation of the Taiyuan Scripture, he grasped the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi, became imbued with the vastness of the Origin Qi, covered all existence, and attained the supreme Heavenly Position of being the Vast Heaven himself.

He was then able to touch upon the concept of the Heaven of this world.

Of course, given his realm, saying this might be a bit overambitious. The so-called "touching upon" was far from influencing, interfering with, or controlling. At most, it was just establishing a slight connection with a high-level concept like Heaven.

But this was enough to deal with the current situation.

Xuan Dao's Tribulation Thunder could not be called Heavenly Punishment at all.

He flipped his palm and pressed down, and his Godly Intent suddenly manifested.

Xuan Dao, who had previously felt that he was merged with Heaven and Earth, felt as if the blue sky were shaking, and then a terrifying pressure erupted; the endless sky seemed to have collapsed, pressing down on his entire being.

At the same time, above the blue sky, a pair of eyes seemed to appear.

One eye shifted the stars, the other reflected the human world.

He trembled involuntarily.

An absurd thought could not help but arise in his heart: Is this "Heaven"?

No, this is Godly Intent infiltration, an illusion!

In an instant, he reacted and realized what kind of method this was. His Innate Level aura erupted, stirring the Heaven and Earth Principles, trying to make himself sober and shatter the illusion.

In fact, he quickly broke free from the illusion.

The sky had not collapsed, nor were there any eyes.

The Tribulation Thunder he had summoned was also prepared to strike Li Heng's head.

Then, the next moment, his Tribulation Thunder was pinched by Li Heng.

In the physical sense of being pinched.

The Tribulation Thunder, like a thunder dragon, containing the power of Heaven and Earth, sufficient to destroy Evil Demons in all directions, and serving as the pivot of Heaven and Earth, was pinched in Li Heng's hand!

Xuan Dao's pupils shrank, and he was incomparably shocked. How could this be possible?

"You are acting on behalf of Heaven to mete out punishment? Have you asked me?"

Li Heng smiled lightly.

What Xuan Dao had just seen was both false and true, both true and false.

Naturally, he did not possess the great power to override the blue sky, but at this moment, he had a trace of the Heavenly Position added to his person, supreme and noble. The so-called Tribulation Thunder, which carried the power of Heaven and Earth and acted on behalf of Heaven to mete out punishment, encountered him like a pet dog encountering its master, possessing no threat at all.

Even... he flicked this bolt of Tribulation Thunder away.

It backlashed against its original owner.

The Tribulation Thunder, dozens of feet in size, turned into a thunder dragon, roaring as it swept across the sky, causing a booming sound to echo throughout the city as it attacked Xuan Dao.

Xuan Dao's expression changed abruptly, but he had no time to think about what was going on; he caused his Thunder Pool Dharma Form to swell and manifest before him. The thunder dragon charged into the Thunder Pool, causing the Thunder Pool to tremble violently, riot, and develop cracks.

Clearly, his Tribulation Dharma Form could not contain a bolt of Tribulation Thunder that carried the power of Heaven and Earth. It did not hold out for long before the Thunder Pool Dharma Form exploded with a bang, causing Xuan Dao's expression to turn deathly pale as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

However, after the consumption by the Thunder Pool.

This bolt of Tribulation Thunder was much smaller, only a few feet in size. Although Xuan Dao was caught off guard and struck because the two were too close, he was at most charred all over and severely injured.

"Cough, cough, cough, you, what kind of method is this!?"

"What was that illusion just now?"

Xuan Dao coughed up blood and asked with difficulty.

"Oh? Do you really think it was an illusion?"

Li Heng smiled slightly and flipped his palm again.

Godly Intent suddenly manifested, and the power of the blue sky was revealed; under the blessing of that trace of Heavenly Position that was about to dissipate, it turned into substance. Then, as he pressed down, Xuan Dao was slapped down into Jinhua City with a thud.

In one battle, the gap in strength was immediately clear.

In this battle, Li Heng did not intend to kill; Xuan Dao was merely slapped by Li Heng, crashing straight into Jinhua City, creating a large pit in a street, with cracks spreading densely in all directions.

Xuandao lay in the large crater, coughing up blood.

Just now, at the end, what kind of technique was that?

Originally, even if he were heavily injured, he would still have had the strength for one more battle. But it was as if he had been swatted by something invisible; he was unable to resist, unable to do anything, and was directly swatted down.

He smiled bitterly in his heart.

Although his Qi was as thin as a gossamer thread throughout his body, his eyes grew increasingly bright.

Above the Bell Tower.

The group of Second Heaven experts were no longer just gasping in cold air; they were afraid to speak. They had not expected the battle to be so one-sided, and that the one who fell would actually be Xuandao?

They had assumed that after Xuandao summoned that Tribulation Thunder with its terrifying Heaven and Earth pressure, the outcome of the battle had already been sealed.

After all, the Dao Scripture says:

"Thunder is the pivot of Heaven and Earth. Heaven's pivot and Earth's mechanism, Yang thunder and Yin lightning, pivoting the Yin and moving the Yang, thunder births lightning's bane, thunder is good and lightning is evil."

Therefore, there was no reason for such powerful lightning not to win.

But the Reality was that Xuandao's lightning was easily handled by this old friend of Ma Suxuan, which was simply inconceivable.

Could it be that he had truly comprehended the Great Sun True Intent?

Was his Dharma Aspect not just a hollow shell, but truly possessed of its spirit?

But even so, it made no sense.

The Great Sun and the Tribulation Thunder, even if there was some gap in their status, they were not that far apart. Therefore, even if he could win, he shouldn't have been able to do it so easily, directly seizing control of the Tribulation Thunder.

The group of Second Heaven experts could not fathom it.

That Second Heaven expert from the Wang Family was even secretly regretting it.

If he had known earlier, he shouldn't have spoken up to stir the flames. Now it was done; he was afraid he had ended up on that person's blacklist, and he was finished. With Xuandao's cultivation and physique, he had been beaten half to death; if it were him, he feared he wouldn't even be able to withstand a single strike.

At this moment, Li Heng arrived at Xuandao's side with a natural expression.

"How do you feel?"

Xuandao smiled bitterly upon hearing this.

"How else could I feel? I kicked an iron plate. I always thought I was very strong, but I didn't expect you to be even stronger than me. What exactly was that move just now?"

"Why did I feel like it specifically countered my lightning?"

At this moment, he cast Life and Death aside, leaving only curiosity.

If not for being constrained by his duty as the Demon Suppression Division Chief.

He was naturally a seeker of the Dao.

Li Heng smiled at his words, pointing his finger upward without speaking.

Xuandao followed the direction of Li Heng's finger and looked up. There were the drifting white clouds after the celestial phenomena had subsided, the brilliant Great Sun shining with endless light, and...

He lowered his head and fell silent.

After a long while, he spoke, "It seems I didn't lose unjustly..."

"What do you want to do now?"

"Rest assured, I don't intend to kill you. Killing a useless Division Chief is one thing, but if I were to kill you, a Grand Division Chief, I fear some old monster would truly appear and suppress me directly."

Li Heng smiled slightly.

He had seen just now that Xuandao did not want to fight him, and his stance was vaguely on Ma Suxuan's side. According to Xuandao's previous words, as long as he endured for a moment, he would have had a chance to strike at Jin Feihai.

However, he was too lazy to endure.

With strength.

It is better to take the straight path than to seek through crooked means.

Not to mention that he had come to Jinhua City this time with the intention of testing his sword against the world, to stir up trouble, and to verify his own strength.

"I don't think so; it might be you suppressing the old monsters."

Xuandao shook his head upon hearing this, saying with a strange expression.

"To thank you for sparing my life, I will not report the fact that you killed Jin Feihai; I don't want to die. However, whether those aristocratic Second Heaven experts report it or not, that is up to you."

He said this very realistically.

"You can rest assured about that."

Li Heng replied calmly, took a step, and vanished from the spot.

Seeing Li Heng leave, Xuandao felt a bit dejected, but then suddenly laughed and said, "Forget it, forget it. That group of aristocratic families has watched my joke for so long; now it's my turn to watch their jokes."

On the Bell Tower.

Li Heng took a step and appeared before the eyes of the Second Heaven experts.

"Everyone, how was the show just now?"

The Second Heaven experts did not answer; they did not know how to answer. What did this mean? Was he dissatisfied with them? They looked at each other and, following the words they had discussed earlier, spoke in unison.

"We are willing to withdraw from the struggle for the Jinhua Bell and will not contend with you."

"What withdrawal or not?"

"I am asking you, how was what you just watched?"

Li Heng emphasized again.

The Second Heaven experts stiffened, but hindered by Li Heng's powerful strength, they could only grit their teeth and continue to flatter Li Heng.

For example, something about his divine arts being peerless.

"Divine arts peerless, what a great line, 'divine arts peerless'."

"But even so, one still cannot escape a wanted poster."

Li Heng shook his head and sighed faintly.

The Second Heaven experts were puzzled upon hearing this; wasn't Jin Feihai dead?

"I would like to ask everyone present: back then, who accepted benefits from Jin Feihai, agreed to his view on this matter, imprisoned Ma Suxuan and the others, and issued a wanted order for me?" Li Heng smiled playfully, launching his attack.

He had come to Jinhua City specifically to stir up a major commotion.

Smoothing things over was simply not his personality.

Upon hearing this, the Second Heaven experts from the various noble families had stiff expressions and felt anger in their hearts; this man was truly relentless now that he had the upper hand—could he be thinking of settling scores with them? They had only accepted a few measly benefits!

At this moment, a voice drifted over from the distance.

"Nine turns of the pill complete, the dragon and tiger roar; a lone mountain, idle clouds, and a single Daoist."

One could see an old Daoist, accompanied by a young Daoist, stepping through the air as they approached.