Chapter 972: Farewell, Huang Tian

The sea surface churned, and after a moment of spatial distortion a light gate formed; Yan Buji calmly stepped through.

It seemed to be a combination of some Cosmic Dao and an Illusion Formation, which concealed the floating island before us.

Yan Buji arrived on the island and met Huang Tian.

Huang Tian's aura was still strong; he had already reached the Mid-stage of Refining Void!

"Dao friend Huang Tian."

"Yan Dao friend, you truly are a prodigy; yet in just a hundred years without meeting, you've already broken through He Dao," Huang Tian said with a bow and a smile.

Yan Buji frowned: "No need for more words. Does the original agreement you made with me, Dao friend Huang Tian, still count? The Great Mysterious Apple, one of the Seven Treasures..."

Huang Tian nodded: "Of course it counts. I have been observing the night sky, calculating that my opportunity is about to arrive, and I did not expect to meet Dao friend Yan again... oh no, Senior Yan."

Yan Buji waved his hand, a hint of caution in his eyes: "Dao friend, no need for formalities. Though we have had our disputes, we have often cooperated. What do you want me to do?"

Huang Tian smiled: "Then I'll get straight to the point. I want an ancient treasure from the Sun-Moon Palace called the Sea-Viewing Disc. The Sea-Viewing Disc should now be in the hands of the palace master Zhao Wuyan, who is a He Dao Peak cultivator!"

Yan Buji narrowed his eyes slightly, his fingertips lightly tapping the stone table, producing a crisp sound.

"Zhao Wuyan... He Dao Peak?" he said evenly, but a hint of gravity flashed in his eyes.

Huang Tian nodded, took a jade slip from his sleeve, and gently pushed it before Yan Buji: "Here is his detailed information."

Yan Buji's spirit sense swept, and the information on the jade slip instantly flooded his mind.

Zhao Wuyan, the current master of the Sun-Moon Palace, possesses He Dao Peak cultivation, primarily practices the Sun-Moon Rotation Scripture, excels in the Solar Flame and Moonlight divine arts, and once single‑handedly suppressed three He Dao Mid-stage cultivators who jointly attacked; his strength is unfathomable.

He is cautious by nature, rarely ventures out alone, but on the seventeenth of each month he secretly goes to the 'Listening Tide Cottage' near Seven-Star Island, lives there alone for two days, for unknown reasons.

Yan Buji withdrew his spirit sense, lifted his gaze to Huang Tian: "Are you sure he'll go this time?"

"Confirmed." Huang Tian smiled faintly, "I have used the Heavenly Mechanism Art to deduce; his journey is inevitable."

Yan Buji pondered briefly, and asked: "What is the Sea-Viewing Disc? Why do you go to such lengths?"

Huang Tian's eyes flashed with heat: "This is an ancient treasure, rumored to let one glimpse the 'End of the Sea', and even... to observe scenes beyond the heavens!"

"Beyond the heavens?" Yan Buji raised an eyebrow, a slight stir in his heart.

He has now reached He Dao; the next step is the Great Vehicle Stage, and after that comes tribulation transcendence, stepping into the beyond! If the Sea-Viewing Disc truly has this effect, it would greatly aid his future cultivation.

"Very well." Yan Buji nodded, "However, I must first obtain the Great Mysterious Apple."

Huang Tian was prepared; he took a Jade Box from his bosom and gently opened it. Inside lay a wholly translucent fruit, its surface bathed in a faint mysterious glow—the Great Mysterious Apple, one of the Seven Treasures!

"This item can help a Dao friend solidify the He Dao Realm, and even aid the breakthrough of the Great Vehicle Stage," Huang Tian said with a smile, "but it must be consumed within three days of harvesting, or its potency sharply declines."

Yan Buji reached out, took it, examined it carefully, and after confirming it was intact, stored it in his satchel.

"When shall we act?"

"Three days later, the night of the seventeenth."

Three days later, the night was deep and dark.

Three hundred li beyond Seven-Star Island, on an unremarkable small island, a bamboo grove concealed a modest, elegant wooden house. In front of the house by the sea, a man in white robes stood with his hands behind his back, quietly watching the distant tide.

The man was Zhao Wuyan!

He had a refined visage, eyes like stars, his aura restrained, yet gave an unmistakable sense of unfathomable depth.

"Each time I come here, my mind becomes far more tranquil..." he murmured, his fingertips gently stroking an ancient jade disc—the Sea-Viewing Disc!

Suddenly, his brow furrowed as if sensing something, and he turned his head toward the depths of the bamboo grove: "Who goes there?"

"Lord Zhao's keen spiritual perception."

A figure stepped out slowly, gray robes fluttering, it was Yan Buji!

Zhao Wuyan's gaze hardened: "Who are you?"

"Just a nameless foot soldier," Yan Buji smiled lightly, "I have come today to borrow an item from the palace master."

"Oh?" Zhao Wuyan sneered coldly, "Borrow? Or steal?"

"If the palace master is willing to give, it is borrowing; if not..." Yan Buji's eyes turned cold, "then it can only be taken by force."

"Arrogant!" Zhao Wuyan laughed furiously, "A mere He Dao Early Stage dares to act brazenly before me?"

Before the words finished, he flicked his sleeve, and a blazing Solar Flame light suddenly erupted, striking Yan Buji's face!

Yan Buji neither flinched nor dodged; his left eye flashed with golden light—Eye of Law-Breaking!

"Break!"

The Solar Flame light instantly shattered, turning into specks of fire that faded into the air.

Zhao Wuyan's pupils contracted: "Eye of Law-Breaking?!"

He was shocked; such a divine art had long been lost—what was this person's true background?

Before he could think further, Yan Buji lunged forward, and amid swirling gray mist, a palm slammed toward Zhao Wuyan's chest!

"Hmph!" Zhao Wuyan snorted coldly, the Moonlight power circulating, forming a crystalline barrier before him.

"Bang!"

The palm force collided with the barrier, erupting a violent spiritual energy surge. Zhao Wuyan used the momentum to retreat, simultaneously brandishing the Sea-Viewing Disc, and shouted low: "Sea and Sky One Line!"

In an instant, the surrounding scenery shifted dramatically; Yan Buji felt his vision blur, and found himself standing on an endless sea, the sky merging with the water, with no discernible up, down, left, or right.

"Illusion?" Yan Buji's brow furrowed slightly.

"This is the Sea and Sky Illusion Realm of the Sea-Viewing Disc; you would do well to surrender obediently," Zhao Wuyan's voice echoed from all directions.

Yan Buji sneered: "Such petty Illusion Art dares to show off?"

His left eye's golden light flared, the Eye of Law-Breaking surged at full power!

"Give me—Break!"

"Crack!"

The illusion shattered like a mirror, Yan Buji returned to reality, only to see Zhao Wuyan having seized the chance to increase the distance; with a hand seal, the Solar and Moon powers converged, forming a brilliant light wheel that roared and slashed toward him!

"Sun-Moon Rotation Slash!"

This strike contains the power of the turning sun and moon wheel, its might enough to heavily wound a late-stage Unity Dao cultivator!

Yan Buji dared not be careless; the Extreme Desire Path operated at full power, the gray mist condensed into a shield, while his figure violently retreated.

"Boom!"

The Light Wheel Slash struck the gray mist shield, erupting in an earth-shaking roar. Yan Buji let out a muffled groan, a trace of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but his fighting spirit grew even fiercer!

"What a Sun-Moon Palace Master!" He wiped away the blood, sneering, "But today, this sea-watching disc, I must have it!"

Zhao Wuyan's face darkened: "Who exactly are you? Why must you be an enemy of my Sun-Moon Palace?"

Yan Buji did not answer; his figure flashed, and he attacked again!

The two fought dozens of rounds; although Zhao Wuyan's cultivation was higher, Yan Buji's methods were strange, and his Dharma-Breaking Eye especially restrained his divine abilities, making it hard to tell who was superior for a time!