Tang Jie and Flowing Wind faced off in the sky, their bodies exuding powerful auras.
This was a stand-off between two of the most outstanding geniuses of the era.
As he gazed at them in all their radiant glory, even the old dragon felt inferior.
He knew that this battle wasn’t something he could influence.
He retreated and went over to help the others deal with Mou Siming.
Flowing Wind didn’t mind. In his eyes, only Tang Jie had ever existed. In his view, Tang Jie represented the only threat, and so long as he handled him, even the Flame Celestial Sovereign and old dragon combined couldn’t threaten him. As for Mou Siming: apologies, but those of the Stellar Net Gate had never been his friends.
Looking at Tang Jie, Flowing Wind laughed. “It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not. Once your destiny has been decided, the mandate of the heavens is difficult to defy. If you don’t believe it, I’ll go ahead and show you!”
With a wave, he produced a candle in his hand.
The candle was very long and thin, with bamboo-like joints across its length. At its top, a flame flickered, and when Tang Jie gazed at it, he felt his heart thumping as if something was influencing him.
Flowing Wind chuckled and blew on the candle flame, upon which the flame suddenly intensified and began to rapidly melt away the candle.
The burning of the candle sent fear running through Tang Jie’s body.
Flowing Wind said, “You see it? The Fate Candle is a real manifestation of your fortune. If your fortune was powerful, your Fate Candle is bound to burn slowly, and not even my Dao Art would be able to hasten the process that much. But look at how quickly your Fate Candle burns! It’s a clear sign that your fortunes have declined, that you are no longer protected by Fate. All you have is a long lifespan that will be burned down to nothing all the same.”
As he said this, Tang Jie could feel a sort of weakness in the depths of his body, as if something really was being stripped away from his life force.
That candle seemed very long, but at the rate it was burning, it probably wouldn’t last long.
Holding the candle, Flowing Wind smiled as if everything was now under his control.
His Fate Dao Art was truly profound. No matter who it was, he could fish out their Fate Candle and essentially hold the life of his opponent in his hands. But this Dao Art also had some restrictions. For example, those who were protected by great fortune were highly resistant to it, and sometimes even fishing out the candle was extremely difficult.
Even once he performed this difficult feat, the Fate Candle wasn’t going to burn away all at once, so the other party had sufficient time to counterattack, and using it in battle wasn’t very easy.
This was why Flowing Wind had wasted so much time talking to Tang Jie: to buy time.
In truth, the moment he saw Tang Jie, he had started searching the Ocean of Fate for his candle. Alas, Tang Jie’s fortune was too immense, so he had to wait until Tang Jie had killed two Immortals and enslaved two more before he could finally find the Fate Candle and ignite it.
While Tang Jie didn’t know of all these limitations, he did know that he was in trouble and he couldn’t let his opponent do as he pleased. “I’ll just have to kill you before that happens.”
He let out a thunderous punch: the Devil Crushing Strike!
Flowing Wind held the candle in his left hand and summoned his Genesis Cloud with his right, sending a sea of clouds at Tang Jie. Tang Jie’s heaven-shaking strike landed in the clouds, and while it caused them to churn and roil, Flowing Wind himself seemed to only suffer a light push. All of that berserk energy had been absorbed by the Genesis Cloud, and the punch seemed to only strengthen it.
“A Dao armament?” Tang Jie’s eyes narrowed.
Flowing Wind smiled. “This treasure is called the Genesis Cloud. Although it is called Genesis, it is actually a Karma Dao armament. Its primary focus is creation, not killing.”
Tang Jie nodded. “‘Genesis’? I’m familiar.”
There was still the Genesis Stone Slab in his Yellow Court World, a divine item created through the influence of Divine Genesis. Although it didn’t have the Dao Standard, it still had some level of creation, and it was playing an important function in his small world. Ɽ
Anything that carried the name “Genesis” generally had the ability to create, as well as some other unique function.
Divine Genesis was able to create various treasures, and this Genesis Cloud seemed to have another kind of special power.
Tang Jie didn’t know what these exact abilities were, but by fighting, he would find out. He went on the offensive, punching out a Fierce Gale Strike with his left hand to scatter the clouds to see if this could undo the Genesis Cloud, and swinging the Sovereign Blade with his right to see if this divine weapon of the Weapon Dao could be the solution to the cloud.
Flowing Wind was unconcerned, jabbing a finger into the air. The Genesis Cloud contracted, a vortex appearing in its center, from which a vast torrent of power surged and slammed into Tang Jie’s Fierce Gale Strike, the titanic clash of energies shaking the very fabric of space.
Fortunately, this was a True Immortal estate, so it managed to endure the impact.
The cloud then split apart into numerous tendrils that the Sovereign Blade slashed at to no avail.
Tang Jie was startled, because the energy unleashed by the vortex just now was none other than his Devil Crushing Fist.
In other words, the Genesis Cloud had absorbed the power of his punch and then turned it against him.
This was an even higher level of using one’s own attack against oneself, for not only had it devoured his strength, it had been able to save it to use for the right moment.
Attack and defense were combined in a single cloud.
“The Dao of Karma?” Tang Jie’s eyes narrowed.
The Dao of Karma was the Dao of cause and effect, preordaining all things!
It seemed like “reversing the heavens and earth” and “constant transformation” were the two fundamental powers of the Genesis Cloud.
Akin to how the Sovereign Blade could shatter all weapons, the Genesis Cloud could counter all arts. No matter what spell art was used against the Genesis Cloud, it could absorb and use it, even counterattack. Even the Sovereign Blade couldn’t do much to it.
However, if the other side didn’t attack, the Genesis Cloud wouldn’t have much to do, so it was ultimately a Dao armament better on defense than offense.
But Flowing Wind also had his Fate-Burning Candle, so all he wanted was to stall for time. This combination was extremely dangerous to Tang Jie.
It was no wonder the old dragon was so afraid of Flowing Wind. With this combo, Flowing Wind was the strongest of all the Immortals who had come along this time.
“Interesting!” Tang Jie grunted. “This Genesis Cloud is quite amazing, but I wonder how it deals with Dao Arts.”
With a wave of his arm, Tang Jie unleashed a Skyrend Swordfall.