Helpless, Zhang Shuren tilted his head away slightly.
However, the bloodied beam drew a graceful arc within the air, still cleaving downwards as it struck the Phoenix Cry Crown on Zhang Shuren’s head flying!
Seeing that his high-grade Sacred Artifact had been dislodged by Yan Zhaoge’s Cloud Circulating Heavenly Light Sword, a bad premonition arose within Zhang Shuren’s heart.
Indeed, the next moment, a massive axe of white jade appeared within Yan Zhaoge’s hands.
He grasped its hilt before turning it round and hacking it over towards Zhang Shuren’s waist!
The bystanders saw streams of spiritual light congregating between the heavens and the earth, transforming into a huge heaven splitting axe that hacked the trunk of the towering Wutong tree!
As it chopped down, even the treasured Wutong tree that seemed to tower into the heavens even as it stood on the great earth trembled.
Countless branches and leaves fell as the tree trunk which was like a towering pillar that supported the heavens actually tilted slightly over to the side!
Seeing the Heaven Earth Reversing Axe which Yan Zhaoge grasped, even the usually stable and calm Zhang Shuren felt stifled and useless as rage arose within his heart.
Ignoring that strange dark green bamboo cane, this youth still had a third high-grade Sacred Artifact besides the Extreme Yang Seal and the Cloud Circulating Heavenly Light Sword?
The other party was clearly burying him to death beneath a pile of treasures, bullying him based on his superior quantity of weapons?
The problem was that it seemed that it was he, Zhang Shuren who was the Immortal Bridge Martial Saint!
This fellow who was loaded with treasures was just a Seeing Divinity Martial Saint, right?
With Zhang Shuren’s time and experiences ever since having attained the Immortal Bridge stage, with his cultivation base and strength, it would not be impossible for him to forge more high-grade Sacred Artifacts.
The main thing which had stopped him from doing so was the scarcity of materials.
Yet, this Yan Zhaoge who had yet to ascend the Immortal Bridge was armed to the teeth with treasures here.
As opposed to feeling defeated, the thought that filled Zhang Shuren’s mind now was that this was utterly absurd.
He felt despondent to the point of wanting to vomit blood.
History's Strongest Senior Brother Chapter 984: Peerless genius
HSSB984: Peerless genius
Yan Zhaoge could not care less what Zhang Shuren was thinking.
As he viciously chopped down with his axe, that towering Wutong tree was nearly directly toppled!
Zhang Shuren was almost enraged to the point of vomiting blood. Still, he could only grit his teeth now.
He exerted his strength which temporarily erupted, jolting away the Extreme Yang Seal.
Then, he intercrossed his palms, changing his techniques as he no longer attacked, instead devoting everything to defence.
The treasured Wutong tree which towered into the sky turned more tangible now, a treasured light shooting into the heavens.
At this moment, this late Immortal Bridge Martial Saint seemed to have transformed fully into a huge, towering tree.
The thick earth of meritorious virtue appeared beneath his feet, encompassing the entire Vast Spirit Mountain was it was connected to the great earth, bearing all things.
The water ripples of holy virtue flowed endlessly about the foot of the tree, seeming eternal.
The purple light of fortuitous virtue flickered on the branches and leaves of the tree, indistinct slivers of white qi of nether virtue drifting about its dense greenery.
Zhang Shuren raised his defensive power to the maximum at this moment.
Giving up on using his Wutong Divine Palm to attack as he was devoted fully to defence, this was the number one defensive supreme martial art of Phoenix Ritual Mountain’s Wutong Slope.
Currently bolstered by the four Virtues, herein was manifested the greatest heights achievable in terms of defensive power for a ninth level Martial Saint expert of Wutong Slope’s direct lineage.
As Yan Zhaoge’s axe hacked over, the treasured Wutong tree remained standing, unaffected!
“Extraordinary indeed,” Yan Zhaoge’s eyes shone as he simply kept the Heaven Earth Reversing Axe, an existence that resembled a seal whilst also a short sword appearing in his hand.
Seeing this, Zhang Shuren was angered to the point of smiling, “Another high-grade Sacred Artifact?”
It was precisely the Light Yin Sword Seal.
Yan Zhaoge wielded the Light Yin Sword Seal as a sword, striking out towards Zhang Shuren with yet another Slaying Azure Dragon.
As the sword seal landed on the treasured Wutong tree which Zhang Shuren had transformed into, the brutal sword-glow flickered as the huge towering tree instantly trembled.
Sighs of withering shockingly appeared on the surface of the tree trunk which flickered with light.
The thick earth of meritorious virtue surfaced down below, seemingly providing endless nutrients with the signs of withering on the tree trunk now gradually replaced by surging vitality once more.
Yet, soon afterwards, the tree trunk turned withered again beneath the attacks of the sword-light.
Both sides entered a see-saw like contest.
Yan Zhaoge was not flustered at all. Instead, Zhang Shuren’s heart grew heavy.
The Extreme Yang Seal which he had barely managed to jolt away earlier smashed downwards once more!
The great golden sun descended, targeting none other than the treasured Wutong tree that towered high into the clouds.
All in the world knew that the phoenix perched atop the Wutong tree.
At this moment, however, there seemed to be a Great Sun Golden Crow which descended from the heavens, seeking to land on that Wutong tree.
Whether the phoenix was happy about it or not, whether the Wutong tree was happy about it or not, this simply did not matter.
Even though the entire treasured tree was wreathed with flames, it did not fear blazing fire as it could even birth flames itself.
Yet, beneath the barbecuing of the great blazing sun, even the branches of the Wutong tree that surged with vitality vaguely showed signs of drying up and withering now!
Yuan Xiancheng was finally unable to stay a spectator as he transformed into a fiery phoenix and arrived at the peak of the Wutong tree.
The phoenix now began trying to expel the golden crow that wished to take over its nest as these two sides clashed unrelentingly.
Yuan Xiancheng flung his Five Phoenix Fan which landed amidst the branches and leaves, lending that high-grade Sacred Artifact temporarily to Zhang Shuren.
Zhang Shuren did not use it, however. He could only go all out in defending himself now. If he were to wield the Five Phoenix Fan, it would only pointlessly suffer the fate of being beaten down by Yan Zhaoge’s dark green bamboo cane.
This longtime Elder of Wutong Slope calmed himself at this moment, observing Yan Zhaoge carefully even as he focused on defending against his attacks.
Having experienced a great battle against Daoist East Spring, Zhao Zhen and Yuan Xiancheng, he was now battling with him, Zhang Shuren.
Even many other late Immortal Bridge Martial Saints would be depleted greatly by now even if they had not run out of steam.
Yan Zhaoge’s expression was as per usual, his breathing heavier and more prominent than before.
The black and white qis of yin and yang were unceasingly inhaled and exhaled by him.
Still, even as he battled a late Immortal Bridge Martial Saint bigwig like Zhang Shuren, Yan Zhaoge’s breathing was not harried or messed up in the least as it eternally maintained a calm, stable rhythm.
Five colours, crimson, white, green, red and black flickered about his chest, circulating unceasingly.
A Taiji diagram was visible at times whilst unseen at others on his forehead, rotating non-stop.
Seeing this,
Zhang Shuren was even more shocked, “No wonder he is so powerful! Exactly just how many supreme martial arts are this youth proficient in?”
“Senior apprentice-uncle Zhang, this Yan Zhaoge is proficient in at least the Cyclic Heavenly Scripture of the Earlier Heaven Three Scriptures and the Yin Yang Heavenly Scripture and Life Creation Heavenly Scripture of the Later Heaven Three Scriptures of the Jade Clear direct lineage,” Yuan Xiancheng hurriedly reminded on seeing that his senior apprentice-uncle wished to try to fight a protracted battle with Yan Zhaoge.
Zhang Shuren said, “This old man is aware of that. Besides those, there is likely the Aeon Light Heavenly Scripture too. Also, whether or not this is related to Ingenious Flying Peak, he is even proficient in the Taiji Yin Yang Palm of the Grand Clear lineage’s Grand Cosmos Five Manifestations!”
“And how old is he this year, exactly?” Zhang Shuren sucked in a breath of cold air.
In order to cultivate supreme martial arts, the greater the profundities contained within, the more time and effort martial practitioners would have to devote to attaining certain heights with them.
For supreme martial arts like the Cyclic Heavenly Scripture, the Yin Yang Heavenly Scripture and the Taiji Yin Yang Palm, any single one of them would require entire lifetimes of study for most people if they were to cultivate in them.
Of course, if sufficient time and effort was spent, a peak expert would correspondingly be created.
Being proficient in so many martial arts, it seemed not so far fetched that the youth before them possessed such terrifying strength.
It was just that this was sound in theory but hard in practice.
How had he managed to achieve this?
This felt even more difficult to believe.
First not mentioning that Zhang Shuren had reigned for many years in the World beyond Worlds, even Yuan Xiancheng had also accomplished his fame many years ago despite being very young amongst martial practitioners of the same cultivation level, going by normal standards of time.
Despite having seen countless geniuses of all kinds, this Yan Zhaoge still vaguely caused their worldviews to be overturned somewhat.
Why was it that even the opposing southeastern Yang Heaven Territory was rather in admiration of Yuan Xiancheng’s strength?
This was because whatever the case, he was still the sole descendant of Phoenix Ritual Mountain’s Wutong Slope who already bore four Virtues despite having yet to attain the late Immortal Bridge stage.
This had paved a flat path for Yuan Xiancheng to reach the late Immortal Bridge stage. As long as his accumulation was sufficiently abundant, it was virtually set in stone that he would be able to achieve this successfully.
It was also very possible indeed that he would be able to attain the Human Exalt stage like his Master, Zhuang Shen.
Did the other martial practitioners of Wutong Slope not wish to be like this?
Of course they did. Still, they could not do so.
Before they could learn to run, they were only able to stably walk forward step by step.
Yuan Xiancheng was indeed supremely talented. Still, it was only because of fortuitous encounters that he had managed to surpass common sense and reach his current heights.
Still, comparing him to Yan Zhaoge, the gap was great to the point that the martial practitioners of Wutong Slope would be left totally dumbstruck and confounded.
Let alone the fact that Yan Zhaoge was much younger than Yuan Xiancheng, even if the two were of a similar age, this gap was still much too great.
“The Cyclic Heavenly Scripture, he actually has the Cyclic Heavenly Scripture of the Jade Clear lineage’s Earlier Heaven Three Scriptures. With that, the abundance of his true essence would already have far surpassed that of normal Seeing Divinity Martial Saints,” Zhang Shuren felt all disturbed within, “Yin Yang Heavenly Scripture and Taiji Ying Yang Palm- so he simultaneously cultivates in the supreme martial arts of the Jade Clear and Grand Clear lineages? In that case, returning his qi would be even easier for him than for this old man.”
“If he also cultivates in the Life Creation Heavenly Scripture, that will enhance his accumulation of true essence and its recovery rate yet further.”
The Elder of Wutong Slope looked at Yan Zhaoge like he was looking at a monster.
If things went on like this, perhaps it might even be him who was totally depleted first.
History's Strongest Senior Brother Chapter 985: Scaring away the numerous heroes
HSSB985: Scaring away the numerous heroes
It was already bad enough that a late Immortal Bridge Martial Saint expert was unable to take down an opponent of the late Seeing Divinity stage.
In the end, he was even suppressed by the other party’s attacks, being forced to concentrate solely on defence.
Although the other party had the advantage in terms of weapons, the gap between their cultivation bases was so immense. Zhang Shuren felt embarrassed to the extreme.
This was especially so when Yan Zhaoge who was a Seeing Divinity Martial Saint was unable to fully exert the power of high-grade Sacred Artifacts.
What was even more shocking was the fact that this was him, ‘Treasured Branch Suppressing Peak’ Zhang Shuren.
First not speaking of the full defensive prowess of the Wutong Divine Palm, the four Virtues together already possessed extreme defensive power.
If it were anybody else here, whether they might be able to withstand such ferocious attacks by Yan Zhaoge was still an unknown.
Besides that, though, he as a late Immortal Bridge Martial Saint even lacked confidence in entering a protracted battle with this junior of the sixth level of the Martial Saint realm, competing in terms of their foundations and wearing him down?
While it was rather hard to stomach, Zhang Shuren was clear on the fact that Yan Zhaoge who was proficient in many peak supreme martial arts was really not afraid to fight a protracted battle with him.
Also, as Yan Zhaoge possessed numerous treasures, Zhang Shuren felt even less confident.
Who knew if he might still possess yet more treasures, yet more methods?
Granted, the ‘Blazing King’ Peng He who was also a ninth level Martial Saint and company were also chasing after Yan Zhaoge as they were currently hurrying over to the eastern region of the southern Blazing Heaven Territory.
If Zhang Shuren could drag it out till then, Yan Zhaoge would be caught in a pincer attack and left hard pressed to flee alive.
Still, there was another problem that Zhang Shuren definitely needed to be concerned with.
His actual responsibility was to guard Circumference Mountain from the peak experts of the southeastern Yang Heaven Territory to the east of the border.
At this time, it could be said that he had left his post without reason in having departed from Circumference Mountain and come to the Announcing Peace Mountain Range.
It was still fine if he was not away for long. Still, if some more time passed, the experts of the southeast might discover that he had left.
With Circumference Mountain left unguarded by him, their enemies might directly rip a hole through their defences.
Even if they had not known about Yan Zhaoge’s situation beforehand, when they had speedily advanced into the southern Blazing Heaven Territory, they could learn about his situation then.
As Zhang Shuren and Yuan Xiancheng remained at the Announcing Peace Mountain Range, there was also the possibility of them being caught in a pincer attack.
With that in mind, Zhang Shuren immediately made up his mind.
His palm technique abruptly changed as he turned and evaded the Light Yin Sword Seal that Yan Zhaoge held.
Yan Zhaoge changed his sword techniques in response, continuing to stab towards Zhang Shuren with a sword.
Yan Zhaoge’s sword landed on the shoulder of the old man who was facing sideways as a haze of blood instantly erupted.
The tall treasured Wutong tree vanished between the heavens and earth at this moment.<
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There were only streams of white qi of nether virtue which surged, sweeping along Zhang Shuren and Yuan Xiancheng in flying into the air, leaving Vast Spirit Mountain and fleeing eastwards.
“Senior apprentice-uncle…” Yuan Xiancheng’s lips twitched, but he remained silent.
He could understand Zhang Shuren’s rationale.
Since he was unable to defeat Yan Zhaoge, there was no need to continue engaging in a battle of life and death. If he retreated to Circumference Mountain, he would still be blocking Yan Zhaoge’s path back east at the end of the day.
Ever since the great battle between the southeast and south two years ago when the two sides had completely become enemies, the experts of Phoenix Ritual Mountain’s Wutong Slope had set up an extremely powerful formation in the region of Circumference Mountain that they used to guard the border.
It was because he was worried that Yan Zhaoge might conceal himself within the Announcing Peace Mountain Range that Yuan Xiancheng had come to oversee the search and capture operation this time.
Since this had ended in failure now, standing guard at Circumference Mountain would still be more beneficial for the martial practitioners of Wutong Slope in obstructing Yan Zhaoge.
At the same time, they would also be obstructing those of the southeast. Even if they were attacked from both sides, it would be more advantageous for them to battle there than at the Announcing Peace Mountain Range.
Zhang Shuren had no way of ascertaining now whether it would be the ‘Blazing King’ Peng He’s group or the experts of the south who first arrived.
He did not wish to make such a gamble too.
Therefore, Zhang Shuren had chosen not to irrationally battle with Yan Zhaoge here as he instead retreated to Circumference Mountain.
It was just that with that, the reputation of Zhang Shuren and Wutong Slope would probably plummet drastically before these numerous locals of the southern Blazing Heaven Territory.
“This Yan Zhaoge is really a heaven-defying genius. It is no wonder that senior apprentice-uncle Zhang made such a choice,” Yuan Xiancheng sighed deeply, feeling rather unresigned somehow.
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