Cultivators of Ethereal Enlightenment level were able to use the Power of Heaven and Earth to cast Dharmic powers. This was what set them apart from the cultivators of Foundation Establishment level. Without a decent Dharma Artifact or Dharmic powers, a Foundation Establishment level cultivator would stand no chance against his Ethereal Enlightenment counterpart. Chen Fan’s fight at the Medicine God Valley Sect was a perfect example. Without Li Fire Golden Eyes, Chen Fan would be slowly worn out by the Seven Malice Poison Array and eventually be defeated.
Lei Qianjue was a martial arts genius who had refined his earthly martial arts skills to such an extreme that he was able to surpass the limit of his cultivation and grasped the Power of Heaven and Earth. However, he was only able to control a small portion of the Power of Heaven and Earth and couldn’t compare with the amount of energy an immortal cultivator, such as Chen Fan.
Chen Fan summoned a blade with a wave of his hand. The blade was five meters long and pointed directly at the rainy sky, threatening to cut open the drizzling curtain above and roiling the lake below. The Blade Qi stretched across a few hundred meters of the area around him, and it was so powerful that it would easily slice through a tank if it happened to be in the way of the Blade Qi.
“This is not martial arts, this is divine power and a divine spell!” Gu Shitong’s hands trembled as tears of excitement welled in his eyes. “I had heard that once a martial artist entered Immortal State, he would no longer be a mortal and is able to control all kinds of unimaginable powers. Is that what I am seeing right now?”
His defeat at the hands of Lei Qianjue had halted his cultivation toward Transcendent State cold in its track. However, he never stopped dreaming. The sight of Chen Fan’s otherworldly power and the thought of a young boy obtaining such power through cultivation filled the old man’s heart with poignant emotions that brought tears into his eyes.
“Chen Beixuan is not very far from the Immortal State if he hasn’t already reached it.” Chen Jiuyang paused a second and then heaved a sigh.
The Grandmaster Du kept his silence, but his face was tight and so were his clenched fists. Even the enormous monster under him seemed to fear the Blade Qi that threatened to break the world. So the snake lowered its hideous head and tucked it under its coiled body.
Meanwhile, the rest of the martial arts watched on with a great measure of admiration and respect. They wished they could be as powerful as Lei Qianjue and Chen Beixuan.
As for Zhang Yumeng and her friends, they had been long since rendered speechless and all they could do was stare.
“Am I dreaming? Why have I never heard of such things before and never saw them on TV or movies? The two were like members of the Avengers. I doubt even spiderman or iron man would be able to defeat them.”
Jiang Churan was the only one who was still puzzled by other questions.
“Did I mishear? He really sounds like…”
Meanwhile, on the lake, Lei Qianjue’s hair white hair stood on end, and his face was somber. He fixed his eyes on the giant immortal sword that hovered above the lake as he couldn’t help feeling impressed.
Although he was able to tap into the Power of Heaven and Earth using his True Qi, Chen Fan could do much better and more effortlessly than him. With a wave of a hand, Chen Fan had summoned a water sword that was over a few dozen meters long. Worse, it seemed sharper than even real blades. It’s belligerent Blade Qi was a telltale sign that it was able to slit the sky and kill a Grandmaster with ease.
“I had thought that I had gotten a handle on the power of the Immortal State and only Ye Nantian could have known more about the Immortal State than me.”
Lei Qianjue heaved a sigh and said: “But I was wrong. I have never thought that I would meet such a powerful semi-Immortal State fighter here in Lin City. Worse, he looks barely twenty.”
While Lei Qianjue lamented, Chen Fan kept a calm face and swept one arm in the air.
The giant water sword, weighed over a few tons suddenly flew up and bore down on its target. Even without the Power of Heaven and Earth that was infused in the blade, just the sheer weight of the water would have crushed a mortal’s body.
The giant blade came down on Lei Qianjue, carrying the weight of a mountain. No mortal would be able to stop it now. Even though Lei Qianjue was a Physique Refinement Grandmaster, the blow would outright pulverize his body.
Everyone felt their hearts catch in their throats. Was this the end? Was the Grandmaster of the renowned Hong Sect going to die here and now?
Romon stood on the bank against an old willow tree. His fingers dug into the tree’s bark as he tried to overcome the anxiety.
Meanwhile, everyone watched on with great anticipation.
When the five-meter-long blade was about to land on top of Lei Qianjue, the white-haired old man heaved a sigh and said:
“Fortunately, I have prepared well ever since I was defeated by Ye Nantian.”
“Chen Beixuan, let me show you what I have prepared for you over the three months while I fish on the lake.”
Lei Qianjue’s eyes shone sinisterly as he stamped the lake surface with his feet.
“Arise!”
The water in the lake trembled at first and then it started to bubble. It wasn’t long before countless dead fish surfaced with their bellies up. Upon closer look, people noticed that these creatures were frozen to death.
“Swoosh!”
The lake suddenly opened up as a giant scintillating web appeared. The giant web was made out of countless gleaming threads that were formed by ice crystals. Despite it being ice, it was as hard as steel. When the entire net came into view, everyone was astonished by its immense size. It covered a circular area of a hundred meters in radius, even Chen Fan’s giant sword was covered under it.
“Over the three months, I have been weaving this web every passing second and created the real Qi Net of the Thousand Trickeries.” Lei Qianjue said heavily: “I prepared this Qi Net for Ye Nantian, but looks like I will have to use it on you today.”
“Chen Beixuan, come and test the power of the Ice Qi Net formed by the Frigid Qi from the Arctic Tundra.”
So saying, he commanded the net to fly up until Chen Fan was under its center. His intentions were clear: to capture Chen Fan in the net like a fish.
Everyone was taken aback by the turn of events as they marveled at the powerful Lei Qianjue once again. Everyone agreed that he was worthy of the title: The Most Powerful Man Outside of China.
Seeing his teacher had finally used his real coup de grace, Romon heaved a sigh as his brows unfurled.
Standing before the giant web that was coming down at him, Chen Fan didn’t even flinch. He pressed both palms down and shouted under his breath.
“Kill!”
The water sword flew out and hacked at the icy web.
Everyone had expected a huge shock wave after the impact—and rightfully so since it was a clash of Immortal State level spells and the True Qi of a powerful Grandmaster— but they were disappointed. The giant water sword suddenly melted the second it came into contact with the web, losing its shape and form and turned into a turbulent gush.
The water passed through the holes in the net and as soon as they reached the lake, they converged into the shape of a blade again and swung at Lei Qianjue with its deadly edge.
“Chen Beixuan, have you gone mad?”
Lei Qianjue was startled by the development, disbelief was written all over his face.
He thought that Chen Fan was going to die with him.
He sprung up and unfurled the misty wings on his back. The powerful True Energy that propelled Lei Qianjue upward pressed hard on the lake surface and created a deep depression. The misty wings enabled Lei Qianjue to launch himself into the air and he flew backward.
“Kaboom!”
The giant blade hammered down at the lake where Lei Qianjue was standing, creating a temporary chasm that was thirty meters wide. Emerald colored water was pushed to both sides and formed giant rollers around the chasm.
Lei Qianjue’s white hair fell loose over his shoulders as he fumbled to get out of harm’s way. He evaded the attack, but not the water that slashed out with the waves.
He looked toward Chen Fan and saw Chen Fan was still under his giant crystalline net. Chen Fan ignored the net that was closing in on him and closed his fingers to form a fist.
“Blade, arise!”
Numerous explosions erupted on the lake as countless columns of water rose into the sky. Just like last time, these water sprouts converged and formed a large blade, however, this time, the blade was a bit shorter than the last one.
Lei Qianjue fumbled to dodge the attacks.
“The third attack!”
“The fourth attack!”
“The fifth attack!”
Chen Fan struck at his opponent five times in a row and the violent commotion had turned the otherwise clear lake water a muddy soup. Although each time Lei Qianjue was able to escape by a hair’s breadth, exhaustion was slowly claiming him. A few more attacks, he was bound to slip up.
However, Lei Qianjue suddenly stood still and was no longer on the run. He let out a peal of laughter.
“Chen Beixuan, you thought that you could kill me before my Qi Net of the Thousand Trickeries closed in on you. Well, think again.”
Everyone was stunned by his announcement. They looked toward Chen Fan and noticed that the previously giant net was reduced to the size of a bird cage, encasing Chen Fan in its hollowed belly.
“Close!”
Lei Qianjue commanded with a deep growl.
The crystalline net let out a peal of cracking noise like ice being crushed and compressed as it shrunk in size. The strands of ice that made up the net were gaining more mass and strength by the second. Everyone knew that even an Immortal State martial artist would be crushed into the pulp inside the formidable death trap.
This was the real coup de grace, the killing blow that Lei Qianjue had been perfecting over the decade on the tundra.
Although he didn’t get to use it on what it was intended, to be able to kill an Immortal State cultivator such as Chen Fan with it was not a waste of its power.
“sigh”
Facing the shrinking web of frigid crystals, Chen Fan let out a sigh. He let go of the water sword still hovering above the lake and lowered his hands. It looked like he had given up.
“Chen Beixuan, I have to say that you are one of the most ingenious and talented opponents I have ever met. Even Ye Nantian could not compare with you while I fought him seventeen years ago.” Despite Lei Qianjue’s praise, his gaze only grew colder. He was not going to let the young man live.
He knew that at his level, pity and sympathy could be a deadly thing.
“What a shame, if he waited ten more years, he could definitely kill Lei Qianjue.” Chen Jiuyang shook his head and heaved a sigh.
His sentiment was shared by many other martial artists. Chen Fan’s rise to power was swift and stunning, yet his fall was even quicker and more spectacular.
“Let’s go now.”
Grandmaster Du patted the giant snake under his feet and was ready to leave.
Zhang Yumeng and her friends heaved a sigh of disappointment. Compared to the white-haired one, they liked Chen Fan much more due to their similar age.
“Ten meters, five, three…”
In a blink, the net had turned into an ice ball that was devoid of any openings. No longer could people see Chen Beixuan, and they wagered that they would never see the boy again.
Suddenly, muffled laughter drifted out from the ice ball
“Lei Qianjue, is this your trump card?”
Everyone was startled by the voice and they looked at the ice ball again. They saw a pair of hands that reached out of the ball through a small opening, they grabbed hold of the edge of the opening and tore at it.
“Sssth-Wack!”
The ice cage was torn open by Chen Fan’s bare hands. The layers upon layers of hardened crystals were shattered into pieces like papers.
Under Lei Qianjue’s terrified watched, Chen Fan stepped out of the cage languorously.
There was no trace of Dharmic Powers about him, but he seemed to have become the one with Heaven and Earth, he wove his essence into the very fabric of reality.