Ye Futian pressed on. The void was practically filled with mighty ones. Formidable people from all walks of life seemed to have a piece of their own space, while they cast their gaze below.
“Ye Futian, those who suit their actions to the times are wise. Hand over the holy badge, and you may still live,” Li Xun, who was standing beside Mo Jun, said. He wanted to follow Ning Huang and intended to perform a deed of merit to win it. The ambush failed, however, and he began to worry for his own future.
“You shameless b*stard. I was so wrong to have been your friend.” Xuanyuan Bashan, the young city lord of Yellow City scoffed coldly as he glared at Li Xun.
Li Xun used to be a member of Mount Jiuxian and was tutored personally by the sages, yet he betrayed them and sided with Ning Huang.
Li Xun took a look at Xuanyuan Bashan with equally cold eyes. He did not feel any shame for what he did. One trained to achieve strength, be it serving the sages as he used to or siding with Ning Huang as he did now; it was all for his own growth. Only by following powerful figures, would one’s vista of the world be broadened. His training on Mount Jiuxian severely limited this, yet he earned the chance to encounter top-notch geniuses all the time, which was very different from how he trained back then.
Xuanyuan Bashan would have been able to understand the correctness of his actions given time. Li Xun did not do so out of Zhuo Jun’s provocations; he weighed the pros and cons before doing what he did. He knew to seize the day when the opportunity presented itself.
“There’s an ancient saying, ‘people die in pursuit of wealth; birds die in pursuit of food.’ You knew the holy badge was too much for you, so why did you force yourself then?” Gu Feiyang of Mount Duantian asked, hoping that Ye Futian would have yielded and handed over his holy badge.
“Well, who wouldn’t want to see what they are made of when the chance presents itself? Yet, those who did often ended up paying the price with their lives.” Xia Hou smirked. He had seen too many who behaved like this, but Ye Futian was still considered one of a kind among those people. Ye Futian was able to crack the ruins, had command over what amounted to an army of mighty ones, and made them his personal guards by his flanks. All of that was something in their own right.
It was a pity that he was out of his luck. They were on the Holy Road, and anyone encountered would be a top-level figure among the younger generations of the Barren State. Even with Ye Futian’s immense talents, his current plane meant that he would have been able to leave the ruins in death; there was simply no other way to go about it.
“Ye Futian, you would have been a somebody and would have had a bright future of you if you made it out of here. Why risk all that for the ruins?” Chu Shang said, looking at Ye Futian. She was an acquaintance of his and no one in Nantian House knew the young man better than Nan Feng and his people. The battle of Sky Mountain was glorious. She thought it would have been a pity for one such as Ye Futian to perish on the Holy Roads.
Ye Futian lifted his head to look at Chu Shang, then smirked sarcastically at her. It all sounded very nice, like it was all said for his own good. Yet, the Chu Shang and the others’ intentions were simple: they were after his holy badge.
“There are many powerful figures on the Holy Roads, and you all managed to carve out your own place here. With that said, I think all of you would have thousands of such badges on your person. Yet, instead of fighting amongst yourselves for the badges, you all came here. You all looked as if you were persuading me to take a better path, but you were simply throwing threats at me. Why is that then?” Ye Futian swept his gaze over the opposing party and answered his own question, “It is because you see that I’m weak, someone you can bully into submission.
“The world of cultivators has always been one where the strong preys on the weak. Since you are able to understand that fact, why hold on to all that and die a vain death?” Bing Yi, Virgin of Mortal World said coldly. Chu Shang was trying to be nice, yet Ye Futian seemed to have no intention to yield regardless.
Ye Futian smirked. What Bing Yi said was the truth. The strong preyed on the weak. It was precisely because they thought he was weak that they ganged up on him, intending to take his holy badge away.
“I hope you all will always be the strong ones.” Ye Futian smirked sarcastically as he said that.
“Goddess Bing Yi, it seems that this man has no intention of appreciating our kindness,” Gu Feiyang, a disciple of Sage Duantian, said plainly. He looked at Ye Futian below, who looked dashing. Gu Feiyang took a step forward, and the winds howled in response, as his spiritual qi exploded outward.
It was apparent that Gu Feiyang was about to make his move. Everyone beside Ye Futian blasted away with their aura as they peered upward.
Fierce gales whipped in the air above Gu Feiyang, calling forth immense pressure on the ground below. A glittering ancient mountain, which looked like the mountain of the gods, seemed to have appeared behind him. He willed his Dharma spirit to unleash powerful attacks. Broken cliff faces fell from the skies, which looked like they have been shaved clean enough to sever the void, and they rained down on their intended targets. They flew with great speeds, making them look like a rain of giant mountain blades.
The Noble Plane mighty ones from Starry School leaped into the air and unleashed powerful spells. Countless meteors floated in the air, which closed in on the blades of rocks; the move was none other than the Star Burial spell.
Loud booming sounds reverberated in the air as the spells clashed. The rock blades cut through the Star Burial spell and continued raining downward. The Noble Plane mighty ones gathered their strengths and blew the blades to smithereens.
Gu Feiyang leaped forward. His hair flailed about in the air as he extended his arm, bringing down the might of the godly mountain on his foes, seemingly with full intention of burying the heavens and earth. Everyone felt a terrifying sense of pressure on them. Their bodies were barely able to move, as if they were being crushed by gravity.
Many leaped into the air and launched their attacks, resisting the falling giant mountain. One figure after another was thrown off, vomiting blood from their mouths. The mountain seemed to have carried an irresistible amount of pressure on it. Anyone who got near felt like their insides were being crushed by said pressure.
Top notch geniuses were practically people who could have taken on an army all by themselves. They were existences capable of razing nations if they so fancied.
Mo Jun, who made his move before, took to the air and launched his attacks again. His Dharma spirit bloomed and the air seemed to be filled with lightning storms. A mass of lightning in the form of a carriage which seemed to be pulled by a Kui emerged from above. Anyone who dared stand in its way would have been quickly torn apart. Galloping noises rang throughout the space as the army of chariots followed soon.
Mo Jun leaped onto one of the chariots and went straight for Ye Futian. His eyes were cold as he glared at Yi Xiaoshi, who was standing beside Ye Futian. He did not have his fill of the previous battle, and he intended to see right there and then, how a grade eight Noble, who was of a lower plane than he was, would have fared trying to stop his stampede.
“Be careful,” Yi Xiaoshi said to Ye Futian as he leaped upward for the clouds.
Second sister had him come to the Dawn Road instead of the Nether Road to guard Ye Futian. However, Ye Futian proved to be quite a handful, and the troubles he stirred right there was a testament to that fact. He was still incapable of taking care of himself right there, and things were looking dire for all of them.
Yi Xiaoshi knew that that was Ye Futian’s way of things. The young man simply was unable to keep himself still in peace.
Ning Huang took a look at the battle between Yi Xiaoshi and Mo Jun. There was a sparkle in his eyes. Yi Xiaoshi’s Dharma spirit was a powerful one: Emperor’s Vines. They took the form of Tree of Emperors and incorporated the divine arms and ritual implements of the sages, making the attack looking like he was having control over such fearsome arsenal in the thousands. No one would have been able to make it near him easily, and it was no wonder that Mo Jun was incapable of taking down Ye Futian before.
“Hmph.” Xia Hou led the mighty ones in the air downward, and a firestorm was seen above Xia Hou’s body. Dark colors streaked across the flames. It was the Flames of Ruin, flames that were inextinguishable and would have burned everything they touched until they were reduced to cinders.
Many hesitated to move near him as Xia Hou made his move. The Flames of Ruin were simply too dangerous. Anyone who was of inadequate capacity would have been burned to death if they so much as touched the flames, with no chance of escape.
A long xiao flute was seen in Xiao Junyi’s hand, who was standing beside Ye Futian. He put the flute close to his mouth and began to blow the instrument. Streaks of formless power of the tunes spread from the holes on the flute. Hints of sorrow came from the tune played, which fit Xiao Junyi’s temperament very well.
The formless tune which spread out turned into a fearsome spiritual will attack. It blew like a breeze on the Flames of Ruin coming from above. The falling wisps of flames known to be inextinguishable were quickly extinguished.
Many looked in Xiao Junyi’s direction and felt a chill run down their spines. The Flames of Ruin, which were something even powerful water spells would not have been able to do anything against, were extinguished by Xiao Junyi’s tune instead. It was a solid testament to the spiritual will laced within the tune. It would have been engulfed by the flames instead otherwise.
Xia Hou took a look at Xiao Junyi as well. One move and he was already able to tell that Xiao Junyi was a formidable combatant.
The tune wiggled its way into his mind in the form of formless spiritual energies, messing up his will someone and robbing him of his mental focus.
Boom! A formidable explosion of Flames of Ruin took place and Xia Hou was seen bathing in it, like a god of fire getting ready to burn everything down in his path, as he made his way to Xiao Junyi.
Xiao Junyi remained calm and serene as he continued playing his flute. The sorrow about his body made his clothes flutter, as his dashing figure rose into the air. A storm of immeasurable magnitude began to form around him.
The Flames of Ruin clad around Xia Hou burned unpredictably, extinguishing for one moment only to burn bright again in the next—an influence brought about by the tune. His will was under assault and his expressions looked gloom. An unknown figure ended up making him look bad.
It seemed that many hidden geniuses were on the Holy Road indeed.
Xia Hou lifted his palm and went on to clap on Xiao Junyi with a terrifying palm of Flames of Ruin. The move looked a palm of burning silence, rendering all who looked at it feeling fear in their minds. Would Xiao Junyi have been able to resist one such move?
Xiao Junyi’s body remained floating in the air, while looking all dashing and handsome as he played away with his flute. Auroras of music appeared around him, which took the forms of indestructible sword of music, and flew straight for the palm. They cut right through it and in an instant, the palm of Flames of Ruin scattered to bits and was extinguished shortly after.
Xia Hou’s expressions changed as his Flames of Ruin roared. A dragon conjured by the Flames of Ruin out to reduce all to cinders appeared and charged straight again for Xiao Junyi. The man with the flute continued playing his tune calmly, as one divine bird of music after another gathered around him. Rocs and phoenixes came as they heard the tune, and went on to face the dragon. Both sides clashed and the dragon of Flames of Ruin was yet again extinguished.
Xia Hou was simply unable to do anything about him.
“Interesting.” The mighty ones from Nantian House did not make their move. Nan Hao looked on with an interested expression. All manners of peculiarities life had to offer appeared as soon as the Holy Road was opened. Many formidable figures were hiding among the common people, and Xiao Junyi was one of the first of the hidden ones to have displayed fighting capacities of top-notch geniuses.
Bing Yi and Chu Shang from Mortal World looked troubled, while Ning Huang simply spared Xiao Junyi a look. His composure remained, and then he took a look at Ye Futian.
Ning Huang stood up from the carriage. His body was clad in immense brilliance, making him look like some kind of god. Ning Huang, at the moment, looked as if he was donned in godlike armor, looking arrogant and proud as he stepped. The air shook as he walked in Ye Futian’s direction.
“Ning Huang has made his move.” Many shivered at the thought as Ning Huang was thought to be unstoppable.
Qin Yin, Xuanyuan Bashan, Xie Wuji and the others appeared above Ye Futian as they unleashed their formidable auras.
Ning Huang swept at all of them with cold eyes. Some closed in on him attempting to hold him back. Ning Huang responded by taking a heavy step in the air, which seemed to have stepped right into the minds of everyone around him. Those who were of insufficient strength and training whelped in response, and blood was seen at the corner of their mouths, gazing in terror at the figure making its way downward.
A mighty one said to be among the top three on the Holy Road, was no joke indeed!