The moon was round once again after the eclipse passed.
Feng Feiyun resembled a white bird flying down from the peak. He shot towards the tablet in a particularly dazzling manner.
Ling Donglai was standing on the shore and didn’t try to stop him. He was heavily wounded after the fight with the avatar earlier, so he was currently recovering.
“Boom!” Feiyun’s aura boiled the lake water. All the names on the tablet turned pale.
Nalan Hongtao — these words began to move after being affected by Feiyun’s aura. They erupted with a white brilliance. A handsome man came out with a half-translucent body. He looked exceptionally tall and stately, giving others the sense that he was unbeatable.
Feiyun stood on the surface of the lake as the dragon-horse diagram flew out from his body. A boundless immortal energy floated above him with a dragon-horse raising its head in the river to look at the sky. 360 spots on its body were lit up.
This was the diagram turning into a visible qi image!
“The son of the demon wants to fight Nalan Hongtao at full strength?!” No one could stay calm. Some felt that Feiyun was being arrogant while others applauded his courage.
Even Ling Donglai paused his recovery and stood up in order to watch the fight.
“Not bad, Feng Feiyun!” Ji Feng was watching by the shore as well. He tried earlier but also ended in failure.
The girl from the Beastmaster Camp was standing on top of her silver wolf. With a slender figure and holy appearance with buddhist light, she was protected by many strange beasts behind her. Half-dragons, qilins, golden tigers… all of these beasts were obediently lying down while watching the center of the lake.
Meanwhile, the young master from the immortal sect was back on his divine boat with an amused expression on his face.
With their rippling eyes, the corpse controllers from the Yinvoid Cave watched this scene unravel with great interest.
“This is a battle across ten thousand years. Feng Feiyun’s talents are exceedingly rare, perhaps he can stop Nalan Hongtao’s full power.” Attendant Yu closed his eyes and gently nodded.
“Hmph, only an ignorant and arrogant stinky brat. Daring to challenge Nalan Hongtao at full power? He’s courting death.” Yao Ji stood by the imperial carriage with a faint smile on her face while peeking at the princess behind the curtains.
The princess didn’t say anything. This was her first time not criticizing Feng Feiyun; who knows what she was thinking?
“Boom!” Feng Feiyun had finally launched the first attack.
Nalan Hongtao’s aura erupted; he reacted even faster. Hongtao’s aura was so formidable that it formed a maelstrom and pulled Feiyun inside. There was no chance of escaping.
At the same level, Nalan Hongtao was much more frightening than any opponent Feiyun had met in the past. He represented a mythical generation and had never been defeated.
Feiyun immediately went all out with his Infinite Spirit Ring, stone saber, and even the spirit vessel. It would be foolish to hold back against such an opponent.
“Rumble!”
Even though the power of spirit treasures was suppressed by the holy tablet, they still couldn’t be underestimated. The six diagrams on the ring activated and formed a minor world.
The stone saber unleashed the Dragon King’s Saber Art. Feiyun could send out more than one hundred white dragon energy waves at any moment. They gathered around the lake as if it was a siege and continued to roar.
The bronze spirit vessel spanned a hundred meters with an air of vicissitude and unfathomable power. Although it had yet to use its primal power, it was still terrifying and was seemingly splitting the lake upon impact.
Feng Feiyun was extremely tense and didn’t dare to relax. The tiniest mistake would result in his death.
Hongtao left his name on the tablet at grand achievement God Base. However, he had cultivated many heaven-defying techniques, some on his own even. These became the foundation of his clan to reign over the world.
A flood shot out from his palm and disintegrated the six diagrams, turning them back into six ancient words that returned to the ring.
However, Feiyun forcefully activated the ring again to attack for the second time.
Both the saber and the spirit vessel were repelled several times as well, but Feiyun pressed the assault.
This was a nail-biting battle that exceeded all expectations.
After all, this was Hongtao in his prime state. Everyone thought that Feiyun would be killed in one move or at most be defeated in a short period of time.
“He… he actually made it to the fortieth move… This… this son of the demon…” A Heaven’s Mandate from the previous generation who was hiding in the darkness had to show up and shuddered a bit with a strange fear on his face.
This feat was incredible! Hongtao was at his strongest!
Feiyun wasn’t having an easy time either. There were seven occasions where he was almost killed. Luckily, he narrowly escaped due to his Swift Samsara.
Despite Hongtao’s exceptional talents, his speed was still no match for Feiyun in the same realm.
“Minor Change Art, Heaven Punishing Hammer!” Feiyun paused and used his three treasures to protect his body before condensing his forty divine intents to perform an attack in the form of a gigantic black hammer.
This was the legendary Heaven Punishing Hammer depicted in many ancient records. Feiyun called it out and ferociously smashed it towards the holy tablet.
At the same time, the spirit vessel, the saber, and the Infinite Spirit Ring made a line with Feng Feiyun at the end. This was them utilizing their strongest attacks.
This was the deciding moment, whether they could defeat Nalan Hongtao or not was all up to this next attack.
The cultivators around the lake seemed to have been petrified. None of them bat their eyes while watching this scene that would surely go down in history.
Feiyun was right behind the ring with an incomparable calm mind. To him, there was nothing else but his opponent, Nalan Hongtao. The entire world seemed to have turned dark, Hongtao’s body was the only entity emitting light. At this moment, Feiyun wished to annihilate this light.
“Boom!” The hammer slammed down first, causing the tablet to tremble. However, Hongtao punched it and turned it into black smoke right away.
“Boom!” The spirit vessel was the next to strike, but it was also blown away.
“Boom!” The stone saber issued its hymn with a Nine Firmaments Slash. Nine consecutive slashes went forth but were all shattered. Hongtao’s fist made contact with the blade and repelled it as well.
“Boom!” The ring couldn’t withstand the shockwave from his punch and fell into the lake.
All of this happened in a split second, the attacks came one after another without any gaps.
Feng Feiyun’s fist met Hongtao’s fist for the first time. The impact issued a steely growl. All the water in the lake went flying as explosions appeared in the sky.
After his fourth blood transformation, Feiyun’s body was as tough as a phoenix fledging.
This bout didn’t last long. After eighteen punches, Nalan Hongtao’s arm was crushed and turned into an incomplete ethereal mass.
Meanwhile, Feiyun was bathed in blood with cracks everywhere on his skin. The bones in his arm had been broken at several sections. On the final exchange, Hongtao slammed into him and blew him away. Feiyun eventually fell down by the shore and kneeled with one knee on the ground while his intact hand propped up his body.
In the end, he was still lacking a little bit and was grievously wounded by Hongtao. Nevertheless, he bit his teeth with a determined gaze to not fall down.
The ring, saber, and spirit vessel all flew back. All of them were dim.
Feng Feiyun had lost to Nalan Hongtao at the same level, but no one dared to mock him because this was Hongtao’s cultivation at its prime.
Everyone was completely astonished!
“Feiyun has broken Hongtao’s arm, that’s pretty much the same as breaking part of the seal. Damn! This is when Hongtao is at his strongest too!”
“If it was still dark and Hongtao was only at half power, Feiyun probably would have beaten him.”
“Feiyun’s aptitude is even above Ling Donglai. It looks like he’s the number one genius in this generation with no match at the same level.”
***
Ling Donglai, Ji Feng, Yao Ji, the girl from the Beastmaster Camp, and the young master from the immortal sect, all of them had indescribable emotions running in their minds, a sense of loss even.
“So what if he’s invincible in the same cultivation level? As long as he doesn’t leave his name on the tablet, he’s still nothing since he didn’t win the providence of the tablet. He can’t reign over us.” The young master snorted.
He was right. The reason why they wanted to leave their name behind was not only to become famous since they were already renowned. They actually desired the great providence granted by the tablet.
Throughout history, those who obtained this blessed providence could reign for a generation. They would take away the spotlight from the other grand historical geniuses.
Someone said: “Feng Feiyun can wait half a year for the next eclipse. With his talents, he can definitely defeat Hongtao at half strength.”
“Are you kidding? After this news spreads, it will shock the world. No one will want to see him leave his name on the tablet. Many will try and eliminate him, even Giants will take action. Not to mention half a year, he would be lucky if he could live another fifteen days.”
“Sigh! The tallest tree will always be the first to be pushed down by the wind.”
***
Feiyun naturally understood this truth as well. However, the people here didn’t know that he had only opened 216 meridians, he still hasn’t reached the apex of grand completion God Base.
If he could refine the remaining three spirit grasses and increase his cultivation, he could defeat Hongtao without needing to wait for half a year.
As long as he could leave his name there, the will of the tablet would protect him. It wouldn’t be so easy for others to kill him after that.
The most important part was how was he going to survive the next few days?
At the moment, some people were getting ready to take care of him so that he wouldn’t make it to the next eclipse.
Due to his current injuries, this was their greatest opportunity to kill him.