Chapter 862: The Grandmaster of the World, Who But Me?

Above a mountain peak, the snow lay thick and white.

A tall, slender figure walked up to the summit.

The newcomer wore a green robe and a bamboo hat, holding a seemingly ordinary iron sword in hand.

Leaping onto a rock, the person sat down casually and looked up toward the direction of Mount Tiansha.

For some reason, as this person simply sat there, the ordinary iron sword placed casually to the side—

It was as if the entire snow-capped mountain were being pressed down beneath that sword!

At the summit of Mount Tiansha.

On the mountain plateau, Ying Jie, Li Fei, and Huyan Hetai stood in a three-legged standoff.

A crowd stood on the perimeter, their gazes fixed upon the three of them.

Ying Jie recalled the first time he had descended the mountain in his youth to gain experience on the grasslands.

At that time, he was merely a martial artist at the Body Breaking realm, and he encountered a pack of wolves on the grasslands, among which was a wolf king that had already become a strange beast.

Back then, Ying Jie had two choices.

Either fight while retreating, and after inflicting enough damage on the pack, force the wolves to withdraw.

Or take the risk of charging into the pack to slay the wolf king, thereby causing the pack to scatter!

This choice directly affected his own life and death.

Today, Ying Jie is already one of the few great grandmasters in the world, but no matter how many life-or-death battles he has experienced since, none seem as deeply etched in his memory as that battle with the wolf pack when he was just starting out!

Whenever he has to make an important decision, he always thinks of that past experience.

Now, it is time to make a choice again.

"Marquis of Jing'an."

Ying Jie looked at Li Fei with a complex expression, "I reached the peak of the Dao Establishment realm thirty-five years ago, and I have polished my skills for years, solely to break through. Today's duel is also solely to seek the Dao through life and death."

He openly admitted his thoughts.

Li Fei did not rush to speak, knowing that Ying Jie must have more to say.

"Over these years, I have observed the paths of those before me in seeking the Dao, searching high and low, and I have gained some insights into the matter of verifying the Dao and becoming a Saint."

Ying Jie's words caused everyone present to perk up.

A group of grandmasters stared at him intently.

Could it be that Ying Jie intended to share his insights on verifying the Dao in public?!

"In my view, breaking through to become a Saint—first establishing the Dao, then verifying it—can be done in two ways—"

Ying Jie's voice was not loud, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly:

"The first is verifying the Dao through momentum; the second is verifying the Dao through strength!"

Hearing this, Li Fei was startled, lost in thought.

"Those who verify the Dao through momentum must seek outward, rising with the wind, borrowing the great momentum, and gathering destiny! Once the great momentum is formed, one breaks through to become a Saint.

For example, our dynasty's Grand Marshal, who gathered momentum through the path of war, campaigned across the world, his military might sweeping all before him, invincible in every battle, and thus verified the Dao!"

Ying Jie's words immediately made Li Fei think of many people.

Bai Yan, who died in the Northern Barbarian lands, had also cultivated the path of war, following the very road that Wenren Zheng had once walked and proven feasible.

If Bai Yan had been able to lead the Barbarian-Slaying Army to successfully behead the Northern Barbarian King Boerhu and then wipe out a few more Northern Barbarian tribes, he would have had the chance to 'verify the Dao through momentum'!

As for how high the success rate would be, that is hard to say; it is related to one's individual talent, foundation, opportunity, destiny, and the strength of the gathered momentum.

Likewise, Qiming's 'cursing the nation to achieve the Dao' was also a route of 'verifying the Dao through momentum,' only his 'momentum' lay not in gathering, but in scattering—he had to destroy the national destiny of the Great Lan Dynasty to verify the Dao.

The New Heaven Society laid its plans in secret for decades, and only by borrowing the 'great momentum' brought about by the rebellion of Qingxu was Qiming able to succeed.

Ying Jie's voice continued:

"Those who verify the Dao through strength focus on seeking inward, with the barrier lying within oneself. One breaks the bottleneck through one's own power to verify the Dao and break through!"

"Verifying the Dao through momentum requires borrowing external forces and depends on timing and the great momentum; it is more difficult, but the risk of breaking through is lower. Whereas verifying the Dao through strength relies entirely on oneself; it seems easier to achieve, but in reality, the risk of breaking through is greater."

Hearing this, the grandmasters present had varied expressions, all secretly pleased.

This trip was worth it!

Even if many of them had not yet reached the Dao Establishment realm and were far from the point of verifying the Dao, these experiences could be passed down to future generations.

The 'verifying the Dao through momentum' and 'verifying the Dao through strength' that Ying Jie summarized undoubtedly pointed out the direction for all those seeking to verify the Dao!

Even if he did not fight Li Fei today, based on these words alone, Ying Jie would be worthy of being remembered in history after his death!

Li Fei also gained some realization.

For those who verify the Dao through momentum, external forces are very important. The 'Dao' of the Northern Barbarian King Boerhu was to unify the Northern Barbarians; it was a typical case of verifying the Dao through momentum. As long as he succeeded, he would almost certainly become a Martial Saint!

But what is the result now?

He was severely wounded, the alliance he had painstakingly built collapsed, and three of the seventeen Northern Barbarian tribes were wiped out.

This shows that for verifying the Dao through momentum, relying on one's own efforts is not enough; one must also look to destiny and fortune.

Li Fei naturally thought of Bo Chen.

The other's 'slaying the self to verify the Dao' was neither purely verifying the Dao through momentum nor purely through strength; it was more like a combination of 'momentum' and 'strength.'

That he could find such a path while unable to borrow great momentum, thereby ensuring an astonishingly high success rate for his breakthrough, undoubtedly proved he was a heaven-sent talent!

And the insights and experience Bo Chen brought to Li Fei also allowed him to find a third path to verifying the Dao—the combination of 'momentum' and 'strength.'

This gave him more gains and deeper insights than anyone else present!

After finishing the distinction between 'momentum' and 'strength,' Ying Jie began to mention himself:

"I broke through to the Dao Establishment realm through life-and-death combat; my path to verifying the Dao can only be sought through strength. What I verify is the path of the common man, blood splashing five paces. In the space of an inch, life and death are decided!"

"Therefore, today I seek to break through via a life-and-death battle, solely to find the strongest opponent!"

He did not spell it out, but everyone present was clever and understood his meaning.

Li Fei, after all, had only just broken through; his cultivation base had not reached the limit below the peak, and even if his current combat power could rival the peak of the Dao Establishment realm, he was likely still a notch weaker than Ying Jie.

Conversely, Huyan Hetai displayed the true peak of the Dao Establishment realm!

Ying Jie's path of verifying the Dao through strength was inherently high-risk with a low probability of success, so even a hair's breadth of difference was very important to him.

His subtext was already obvious: he wanted to abandon Li Fei and choose Huyan Hetai!

Saying so much beforehand was just to explain his own helplessness.

The way the crowd looked at Li Fei became subtle.

It was Ying Jie who had publicly called out Li Fei for a life-and-death battle, a fact already known to the whole world.

Now, in front of the martial arts peers of the Central Plains, he was publicly rejecting Li Fei.

Wouldn't Li Fei's face be dragged through the dirt?

Beside Lan Tingzhou, Lan Ruoyun, who had come with her ancestor, bit her lip, unable to stop herself from wanting to speak.

But Lan Tingzhou had sensed it beforehand and placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her attempt to speak.

On the other side, Shentu Yue, who had come alone, had no one to stop her. Compared to Lan Ruoyun, her temperament was more fiery; she stepped forward, emerging from the crowd, about to say something bluntly.

But Ying Jie, having sensed her movement, spoke first:

"Marquis of Jing'an, I have recorded all my insights and experiences regarding breaking through from the past thirty-plus years, and I am willing to hand them over to you."

That he had taken the initiative to mention the two paths to verifying the Dao and summarized 'verifying the Dao through momentum' and 'verifying the Dao through strength' already proved his profound attainments in this area.

The martial arts insights of any peak grandmaster are worth a fortune, let alone a secret manual summarized by a grandmaster like Ying Jie, who had such deep experience in verifying the Dao?

For a grandmaster aiming to become a Saint, this manual could not be described as anything less than a priceless treasure!

Ying Jie also knew that his actions this time were unfair to Li Fei in both reason and sentiment, which is why he was willing to offer compensation with sufficient sincerity.

"Ying Jie!"

Li Fei's form of address also changed; he looked into the other's eyes and shook his head:

"You want to find the strongest opponent—among all the grandmasters in the world, who but me?!"

Ying Jie opened his mouth to speak, but Li Fei did not give him the chance:

"I had intended to let you and this grassland man come at me together, so you would know the severity of the situation. But in consideration of your single-minded pursuit of the Dao, I, the Marquis, will give you one last chance!"

As his voice fell, the whole scene was in an uproar.

Li Fei's words were more arrogant with every sentence!

Even though Ying Jie felt he had wronged Li Fei, he was still provoked into a bit of anger by these words.

There is no grandmaster in the world who would dare say they could take on themselves and another Dao Establishment realm expert combined, one against two!

No one has the qualifications to say such things!

However, he still underestimated Li Fei's 'arrogance':

Li Fei turned to look at Huyan Hetai, his gaze disdainful:

"This is the Great Lan Dynasty, not the grasslands. Get out!"

Huyan Hetai was enraged, the black flames on his body becoming increasingly violent.

At the summit of Mount Tiansha, black clouds pressed down on the city; a storm was brewing!

If it weren't for the many grandmasters of the Central Plains present, Huyan Hetai would have already made a move:

"Central Plains man, is that all you can do—just wag your tongue?!"

Li Fei extended a finger toward Huyan Hetai:

"One move!"

"After one move, if you can still stand here, I, the Marquis, will turn around and leave!"

These words were so arrogant that Huyan Hetai was angered to the point of laughter.

The group of grandmasters also felt that Li Fei must have completely lost his composure out of shame and anger.

Countless golden sword auras bloomed from within Li Fei's body.

In the blink of an eye, the 【Primordial Sword Realm】 unfolded:

The sun and moon wheels hung in the nine heavens, and the sea of clouds in the nine firmaments churned with raging waves.

A thousand mountains arrayed in formation while ten thousand ravines stood jagged, and the Heavenly River poured backward as silver pythons traversed the sky!

One hundred thousand zhang of golden light split the sky and descended; one could see ink-wash paintings forming arrays, snow waves collapsing clouds, azure tides shaking the heavens, and red feathers burning the sky.

Ten thousand manifestations gathered into one realm!

The Grandmasters present who had been defeated by Li Fei all revealed expressions of astonishment; they all saw manifestations related to their own unique arts within the 【Primordial Sword Realm】!

This was the first time they had seen Li Fei display the 【Primordial Sword Realm】 in its most complete state.

The sword realm was clearly in an unfolded state, yet its intensity was not a whit inferior to the "semi-condensed state" of Huyan Hetai's Martial Dao Domain!

Before the crowd's emotions could shift further, an even more shocking scene appeared:

The unfolded 【Primordial Sword Realm】 began to shrink and condense at an extremely fast speed!

Soon, the sword realm condensed completely onto Li Fei, transforming into a set of golden armor:

The armor plates were shaped like swords, the shoulders featured dragon claws, and the helmet was in the form of a dragon head.

On the chest, a great sun and a bright moon faced each other, with an altar in between.

On the back of the armor, the two characters "Jing'an" flashed.

A suffocating, terrifying pressure descended upon the peak of Mount Tiansha!

The clouds in the sky, dyed black by black flames, were pierced through by an invisible force, and golden sunlight shone once again upon the mountain peak.

"Dao Establishment Realm?!"

"No, it is forcibly condensed using a divine ability."

"This kind of power..."

The Grandmasters present could all tell that Li Fei had not truly reached the Dao Establishment Realm; it was by using a divine ability to forcibly compress the sword realm that he had reached his current state.

But the power Li Fei displayed had already completely exceeded these Grandmasters' understanding of the Dao Establishment Realm.

Is this still a Grandmaster?!

Not far away, Ying Jie was both shocked and regretful, while Huyan Hetai went from furious to shocked, finally turning grave:

"You..."

Li Fei took a step, drew his Ghost-Slaying Blade, and performed a simple horizontal slash.

A white rainbow traversed the sky, and heaven and earth were left with a void!

In this instant, in Huyan Hetai's eyes, there was no longer Ying Jie, nor the others watching from the sidelines.

Mount Tiansha had vanished, and heaven and earth had also vanished.

The white rainbow reflected in his pupils grew increasingly intense; looking up at shooting stars in the grasslands as a child—that brilliance carrying the might of heaven was now reappearing within the blade light!

He could not dodge, he could not avoid it!

Huyan Hetai's hair and beard bristled with rage as he drove his "essence, qi, and spirit" with unprecedented violence, the black flames rising into the sky retracting onto his skin.

Immediately after, the black flames boiling around his body collapsed inward, congealing into mysterious crystal battle armor on the surface of his skin, and the dark light condensed on his fists emitted the eerie whistling of a black hole devouring light.

He thrust his fists forward, the black flames on his body surging along with them, finally condensing entirely upon his fists like a black sun!

Huyan Hetai, sparing no cost to himself, compressed his Martial Dao Domain beyond its limits to unleash this strike!

Space twisted in its wake; wherever his fists passed, black cracks spread, and space peeled away like shattered glass.

Below the Dao Establishment Realm, any Grandmaster's Martial Dao Domain would be instantly shattered if it were even slightly touched by these fists!

The white rainbow streaked across and collided with the black sun.

The black flames, the sun... all were cut open!

The mysterious crystal battle armor emitted the clear sound of porcelain shattering, and his protective qi vanished like spring snow meeting the sun.

Huyan Hetai was shocked and furious, feeling as if the entire world were rejecting him, with billions of living beings berating him.

It was as if he were fighting a nation all by himself!

An unimaginably vast power slashed toward him; Huyan Hetai wanted to withstand it head-on, but his intuition told him—

If he did not retreat, he would die!

"Oh?"

On a snow mountain in the distance, a person dressed in green robes and wearing a cloak looked at the white rainbow that had suddenly exploded in the distance and let out a soft sound of surprise.

The voice was crisp and very pleasant to the ear.

The next second, the figure vanished from the snow mountain.

At the peak of Mount Tiansha.

After one blade strike, heaven and earth were clear and bright.

The suffocating, terrifying pressure vanished, the white rainbow and black flames also vanished, and everything was like a hallucination.

The crowd looked closely and saw that Li Fei was still standing in the same spot, having already sheathed his blade.

As for Huyan Hetai, he had left the mountain terrace and was retreating madly, transformed into a black streak of light!

Just as Li Fei had said, he had made him roll back to the grasslands from the territory of the Great Lan Dynasty!

Directly east of Mount Tiansha, several thousand meters away, stood a few towering snow mountains.

As Li Fei slashed out with his blade, the thousand-mile sea of clouds was split apart, allowing everyone to clearly see those snow mountains in the distance.

Rumble—

A deafening, explosive sound suddenly rolled in from afar.

The crowd looked over and saw that a straight white line had suddenly exploded across those snow mountains several thousand meters away, and the snow filling the sky turned into a storm!

The snow mountains collapsed, and rocks flew everywhere.

The snow mountains were soon submerged in the mist filling the sky.

"..."

The crowd withdrew their gazes and looked back at Li Fei, everyone plunged into a state of inexplicable shock!

Li Fei was not at all surprised by the effect of his blade strike.

Entering the "Blood Demon State," he consumed 500 Blood Souls to perform 【Sword Sacrifice】, used to compress the sword realm.

Then he consumed 1800 Blood Souls to perform 【Blood Rage】; this was his new physical limit after breaking through his realm!

Next, he activated the 【Dragon Elephant】 divine ability.

Under the dual enhancement of the sword realm and the 【Jing'an】 divine ability, the efficiency of the 【Dragon Elephant】 divine ability increased significantly, reaching a fourfold amplification instantly!

Coupled with the various manifestations simulated by 【Ten Thousand Manifestations】 during this time, as well as the combat power boost brought by the 【Jing'an】 divine ability within the borders of the nation.

All of these were stacked onto a single blade strike.

How could Huyan Hetai block it?

The 【Dragon Elephant】 divine ability continued to take effect, and the power of the dragon and elephant, like a torrential flood of heaven and earth, continuously bolstered Li Fei.

After he slashed Huyan Hetai away, his momentum and power did not drop; they continued to rise!

This made the Grandmasters feel terrified!

Only then did they realize just how polite Li Fei had been when he was sparring with them earlier.

No wonder the other party had dared to utter the wild words of letting Ying Jie and Huyan Hetai come at him together!

Li Fei likely truly possessed that strength!

It was just that if it were two against one, Ying Jie would not need to think about breaking through his realm today, as his state of mind would be completely misaligned.

Li Fei was truly giving Ying Jie a chance!

"Among the Grandmasters of the world, who but me?"

The crowd recalled the words Li Fei had just spoken, and for a time, their emotions were indescribable.

As for Ying Jie, a tremor he had not felt in many years descended upon him once again!

His core-level extraordinary ability, divine ability, and the intuition honed through years of life-and-death battles were all sending the same signal to his instincts—

Danger!

He would die!

Ying Jie once again entered a state of bewildered looking around, caught in a life-or-death dilemma.

This made him both terrified and excited!

Many years ago, the gaze of that wolf king among the pack had pierced through over a hundred years of time and landed on him once again—

Li Fei turned around and looked calmly at Ying Jie:

"It is your turn."

Requesting monthly votes.

(End of chapter)