Chapter 622: Already Standing at the Absolute Pinnacle Under Heaven

Not giving Li Li Yuanzhong the slightest chance to catch his breath, Fang Fang Sanyun's tone was cold and hard, his face dark as still water.

The Heavenly Fire Sanmei Seal was a treasured inheritance of the Sanmei Grotto; even with Pang Pang Wenlong's endorsement, he absolutely could not bring himself to hand it over willingly.

"Senior, you've misunderstood. It's not taking—it's borrowing."

Li Li Yuanzhong corrected him.

"Save the nonsense. Pompous words, the surnamed Pang has already said plenty."

He wanted to explain, but Fang Fang Sanyun raised a hand to cut him off, his voice very cold: "I'll only ask you one thing—the seal is here. How do you intend to take it!"

"Fang Dao Master…"

Xin Xin Wenhua, who had just stepped through the door in hot pursuit, had his face change drastically the instant he crossed the threshold. An invisible surge of energy burst forth without warning and sent him flying backward.

Li Li Yuanzhong sighed inwardly and said no more, merely asking calmly: "What does the senior think?"

"Long Long Yingchan and Yuan Qing say you're an unprecedented genius. The surnamed Pang says your innate talent is first under heaven and earth through the ages, and that you have the ability to wield multiple mystic weapons…"

Fang Fang Sanyun's brows lowered, and within the room a violent gale suddenly rose, whipping his crimson robe until it snapped like flame:

"I'm not as magnanimous as they are, nor do I have so many considerations… You want to take the Heavenly Fire Sanmei Seal?"

"Very well!"

Boom!

The ferocious air current, carrying with it the violent sonic boom of true astral energy, scattered in all directions, then like a tornado swept up tables, chairs, wine and dishes, ripped off the roof, and shot skyward.

The crimson-robed youth rose like a dragon ascending to heaven, his exhaled breath like thunder, shaking the air for a hundred li:

"Beat me!"

His crimson robe snapping like burning flame, Fang Fang Sanyun vaulted into the air, like a scarlet flying sword cleaving through the endless currents of air, crossing a hundred li and plunging into the Dragon-Tiger mountain range.

"My house…"

In the small courtyard, looking at his collapsed house, Li Li Yuanzhong sighed. Channeling force through his feet, he likewise rose into the air, his true qi radiating outward and interweaving with heaven and earth to transform into true astral energy,

and pursued at extreme speed.

"Junior Brother Li!"

Outside the small courtyard, Xin Xin Wenhua stamped his foot in anxiety. The two were moving far too fast—not only could he not intercept them, he couldn't even catch up.

"If Junior Li isn't afraid, what are you panicking about?"

Nie Xianshan silently appeared, casting a rather displeased glance at his own disappointing disciple. Grabbing his shoulder with one hand, he let out a sword-light flash and likewise gave chase.

Behind them, Long Long Yingchan and Long Xi Xiang exchanged a glance, then unhurriedly followed.

Boom!

True astral energy pierced the wind.

After a few rises and falls, Li Li Yuanzhong landed on a desolate mountain. Gazing into the distance, he saw Fang Fang Sanyun standing at ease on a distant high mountain, his back ramrod straight.

Crimson flames billowed around his entire body, making him look like a blazing great sun, the light and heat he radiated even melting the unmelted snow on the mountain.

"The Great Sun Golden Scripture!"

Li Li Yuanzhong's heart stirred.

The Great Sun Golden Scripture was an untransmitted divine art of the Sanmei Grotto; through the generations very few had ever managed to enter its door, yet anyone who mastered it would inevitably become the next Grotto Master of Sanmei.

For instance, Brother Zhongli Wang Luan—and also Fang Fang Sanyun.

"Come!"

The instant Li Li Yuanzhong caught up, Fang Fang Sanyun's great shout exploded forth.

Boom!

On the high mountain, Fang Fang Sanyun strode into the air and raised his hand to deliver a palm strike.

His aura blazed like raging fire; the palm he thrust out erupted with dazzling firelight, as if setting the very sky ablaze. The strike spanned over ten li, like a falling meteor!

"Opening with the Crimson Sun Palm right away?"

Long Long Yingchan, who had pursued them closely, could not help raising an eyebrow.

Fang Fang Sanyun was not of his generation, but he knew this Grotto Master of Sanmei well. This man's talent was in no way inferior to his own, and he had cultivated multiple divine arts of the Sanmei Grotto,

but what he was most adept at were the Great Sun Golden Form and the Crimson Sun Palm Seal.

Using the utmost-yang spirit aspect to drive the utmost-firm palm seal—this was the most ferociously firm palm art under heaven; even he would not dare take it head-on.

"Good!"

Li Li Yuanzhong answered the challenge aloud. As that palm came sweeping through the air, he stamped his foot and rose, the Mystic Whale Battle Hammer wrapped in endless hurricane winds as he struck upward to meet it.

His spirit aspect had yet to form, and his divine realm was only in its embryonic stage. Though his true qi was no less abundant than a Grandmaster's, he still could not, like Fang Fang Sanyun, project true astral energy for dozens of li.

But he was utterly unafraid, raising his hammer to meet the blow—hard against hard, firm against firm!

Boom!

When hammer and palm met, there was first a momentary pause, then an ear-splitting thunderous explosion burst forth.

Visible ripples splashed outward from where the two collided, rolling forth in waves. Astral wind and true qi crisscrossed and scattered in all directions; from afar it looked like an enormous firework detonating.

"Truly a magnificent sight. Three years into entering the Dao, and he's already reached such a level…"

Xin Xin Wenhua, watching from afar, could only see the endless waves of air and dust. But Nie Xianshan and the others beside him saw clearly: in this clash, even though Fang Fang Sanyun had the high ground and the initiative, he had not gained the upper hand.

"No wonder some call the Crimson Sun Palm the most ferociously firm palm art under heaven…"

Dust billowed. Beneath Li Li Yuanzhong's feet the mountain rock had sunk by as much as a zhang; within a hundred zhang around him, every rock, tree, and blade of grass had been pulverized, and even the entire desolate mountain was shaking violently.

But he had weathered it head-on—even without employing the Palm Weapon Register, he was completely unharmed.

Even this body-tempering Grotto Master of Sanmei, in terms of pure physical body and horizontal training, could not compare to him!

"This kid…"

Feeling the tremendous force transmitted through his palm, Fang Fang Sanyun, suspended in mid-air, was not shocked. Previously, when he had witnessed Li Li Yuanzhong and Pang Pang Wenlong's spirit aspects contending within Pang Pang Wenlong's divine realm, he had already known full well that though this kid had only recently entered the Dao, his cultivation was already no less than that of any Grandmaster of the present age.

Were it not so, he would not have opened with the Crimson Sun Palm.

But when the descending palm strike failed to land, his eyes blazed. He forcibly withstood the rebound force and, instead of retreating, pressed forward.

Hum~!

Even fiercer flames surged from his entire body, sketching themselves into a silhouette with the speed of lightning. In less than an instant, a golden-sun silhouette had been outlined around him.

It was precisely the Great Sun Spirit Aspect he had cultivated through the Great Sun Golden Scripture!

Boom!

The golden sun spanned the sky. Fang Fang Sanyun spread both arms, formed the Red Sun Zhang Yin, his aura blazing like Wu Gong, strike after strike pouring down like a raging storm.

Red Sun Palm—

Red Sun Palm—

Red Sun Palm!

From on high, Fang Fang Sanyun's momentum grew ever more violent. Back and forth it was only the Red Sun Palm, yet he struck with a terrifying might that blotted out the sky!

"A domineering style of fighting, but it suits me just fine!"

!

Amid the smoke-choked ruins, Li Yuan stood tall. A Profound Whale Battle Hammer whirled in his palm, impenetrable as splashed water; no matter how the Zhang Yin rained down from the sky, none could break through.

Boom!

Boom!

In the span of a spark, the two exchanged several hundred moves.

The sounds of collision, tearing cloth, burning flames, and true qi clashing rang out in endless succession… Centered on their clash, boulders flew and trees snapped even dozens of li away.

"Junior Brother Li actually, actually…"

Xin Xin Wenhua, watching the battle from afar, gaped in astonishment, his mind momentarily going blank.

Although he had long known this junior brother's strength far surpassed his own, seeing it with his own eyes still left him finding it hard to believe.

That was the San Mei Cave Master, a great master on the level of an earthly immortal!

Xin Xin Wenhua cried out in shock. Beside him, Long Xi Xiang and the others wore solemn expressions, true qi circulating within them, as if they might rush out at any moment.

In the eyes of the three, this clash held no particular finesse to speak of, yet this head-on collision of hard against hard, of force against force, was far more perilous than any contest of technique!

Boom!

The two men's collision continued.

Ripples rapidly expanded, transforming into boundless giant waves that surged and scattered in all directions. Boulders were flung about like straws, then shattered into countless fragments by the tremendous force of their clash.

"Ah!"

After yet another collision, the sky-filling Zhang Yin suddenly withdrew. Borrowing the rebound force of the impact, Fang Fang Sanyun vaulted hundreds of zhang into the air. His eyes were crimson as blood, and he let loose a long howl that pierced the clouds:

"Great Sun, Red Sun!"

Boom!

On the nearly leveled wasteland mountain, Li Yuan stood amid the ruins. He slowly raised his head. Under his gaze, the flames churning around Fang Fang Sanyun grew ever more intense,

and in just a few instants, they blazed so fiercely that even he found them dazzling.

Under the sharply contracting gazes of Long Xi Xiang and the others, the flames burning at their peak around Fang Fang Sanyun suddenly collapsed, contracting violently until they gathered upon that single palm.

"Has he gone mad? Even a life-risking technique?"

Long Xi Xiang's expression changed drastically. Without a second thought, he darted forward, but a hand pressed down on his shoulder and forced him back. He glared back in anger, but the surging qi he had gathered loosened.

The one who stopped him was naturally Pang Pang Wenlong.

This Great Fortune Grand Ancestor, no one knew when he had arrived, now pressed down Long Xi Xiang with one hand and Nie Xianshan with the other, watching with keen interest as Fang Fang Sanyun descended from the sky:

"Such fierce temperament—no wonder he could cultivate the Great Sun Golden Scripture I left behind to such a degree. A pity, though he has fire in his heart, he has not grasped the true essence of San Mei, and has not truly achieved perfection…"

Boom!

Under the gaze of the onlookers, Fang Fang Sanyun descended from the heavens with the explosive force of wind and thunder, like a falling star, and slammed heavily onto that smoke-shrouded wasteland mountain.

Then, a terrifying hurricane erupted violently, blasting outward for dozens upon hundreds of li, sending sand and stones flying and snapping trees and grass in its path.

This was the high-pressure airwave formed by the surrounding air being compressed under the violent collision—enough to tear apart pig iron!

Whoosh!

As the unending explosions gradually faded, the smoke-shrouded wasteland mountain suddenly fell silent, until the gale formed by the expelled airflow surged back in reverse,

and after scattering the smoke, revealed a scene of utter devastation.

The wasteland mountain where Li Yuan had stood had been more than half leveled. On the ruin-like mountaintop, Li Yuan stood in tattered clothes, leaning on his hammer. At the edge of the cliff, Fang Fang Sanyun lay on his back, his chest heaving violently.

"Senior Fang's Great Sun Red Sun Palm is indeed the world's foremost fierce and powerful Wu Gong."

Li Yuan shook his right hand. After weathering several hundred head-on collisions without dodging or evading, even with his current physique he felt pain coursing through his entire body, his viscera churning with stabbing pain, his blood circulating so violently that steam rose from his whole body like clouds and mist.

"Foremost…"

Fang Fang Sanyun rolled over and sat up, his breath waning, a look of wistful unwillingness on his face:

"Is this the talent of a god and demon?"

It's not…

Li Yuan answered silently in his heart.

From the start of their clash until the final strike, he had not activated the Palm Soldier Register, but had withstood it all purely through his own cultivated body-tempering.

And his own talent, at most, could only be called quasi-Zhao Zhao Tianxing, still a considerable distance from god and demon.

"No wonder that surnamed Pang took such a shine to you. I truly am no match for you."

After a long silence, Fang Fang Sanyun stood up, cast a reluctant glance at the Huo San Mei Yin, then flung it toward Li Yuan:

"I'm lending it to you!"

"Many thanks, Senior Fang."

Li Yuan caught it with both hands and bowed in gratitude:

"I'll pay it back."

(End of this chapter)