Meng Tingfeng stared at his son with some surprise. The fact that Ba Shifang was already an immortal monarch made him proud. What he didn’t expect was for his son to be so strong, and not only that, it seemed that he was extremely strong among peak monarchs.
He was not blind. Even a layman can discern the ease with which Ba Shifang dispatched his previous opponent. Not only that, but Meng Tingfeng could see elements of all five elements in his attack. He had a strange feeling. ‘Doesn’t it mean my own son is farther ahead of me in terms of pure realm?’
Ba Shifang had restrained all his qi within his body, and Meng Tingfeng couldn’t discern the state of Ba Shifang’s qi without scanning him with his immortal sense. Such an act was a naked provocation, so Meng Tingfeng didn’t do it.
‘This is really embarrassing. I just became a second-step monarch while my son is already a fifth-step monarch.’ Meng Tingfeng decided he would not reveal his true identity to Ba Shifang without surpassing the latter in cultivation base. He had no doubts about his ability to supersede his son. Although he cultivated longer than Ba Shifang, he spent most of his time in lower realms, where the spiritual qi wasn’t as abundant and time was faster.
With a goal in mind, Meng Tingfeng could feel the motivation to progress. After becoming a peak lord, Meng Tingfeng felt like he had lost a goal. Previously, he advanced fast because of his many enemies, but in the Numinous Sword Sect, he didn’t feel like his life was endangered at all. Even Bao Ling didn’t bring him as much pressure since he had never seen the latter take action, only tales and rumors.
The two monarchs stood in the air, facing each other. Neither moved, and the tension continued to build and build. Finally, after the ten minute mark, Ba Shifang couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you going to attack?”
Meng Tingfeng shook his head. “No need, why don’t you go first?”
“Are you serious? My cultivation base is higher than yours. Wouldn’t it look like I was bullying you if I initiated the offensive?”
“Cultivation base isn’t everything,” Meng Tingfeng said. “The most important aspect is mastery of the worldly law.”
“I agree,” Ba Shifang said. “I think my mastery is a bit higher than yours, so why don’t you attack?”
“No need,” Meng Tingfeng said. There was no way he would attack his son first.
The standoff between the two continued as neither side moved to take the initiative. As an hour passed, the once tense atmosphere turned awkward. Now, even the spectators just wanted one of them to do something instead of staring at each other the whole day.
“Oh alright, this is just getting ridiculous,” Ba Shifang finally said. He pointed a finger at Meng Tingfeng, and five orbs of light circled around his fingertip. “You better dodge.”
Meng Tingfeng tensed up and shifted his body away. Not a moment later, a bolt of five-colored lightning grazed past him toward the palace. Before reaching the palace, the five-colored lightning struck an invisible barrier and dispersed into nothingness.
Before he had time to observe anything, more bolts of lightning streaked toward him. Meng Tingfeng reached for his back and grasped the Seven Star Sword. He unsheathed his sword and slashed four times. Each of his slash struck one of the bolts and completely absorbed it.
“You’ve mastered the Law of Lightning?” Meng Tingfeng asked. Then, he frowned. “No, it’s more than that. I can feel all five different types of elemental qi inside, and they aren’t just powering it. It seems whole, complete. Did you master all five elemental laws?”
For most cultivators and immortals, the Law of Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, and Metal were the easiest to comprehend. Part of this had to do with their spiritual roots. Most cultivators were biased to what type of spiritual root they had. Cultivators with special spiritual roots like lightning or yin would have an easier time comprehending the Law of Lightning or the Law of Yin.
Although rare, people who comprehended other laws, like the Law of Stars, like Meng Tingfeng also existed. Still, it didn’t necessarily mean the cultivator who comprehended the more esoteric worldly law was stronger. Everything depended on the cultivator himself.
Meng Tingfeng glanced at his Seven Star Sword. He blinked in surprise when he saw what had happened. The blade itself was gray, and countless tiny white dots littered the body. Each dot was a different size and represented the myriad stars in the night sky. Still, the most eye-catching thing was the many fractures littered everywhere. He noticed that the edge of the fractures had healed the tiniest bit, practically a hundredth of a nanometer.
The Seven Star Sword was a divine artifact, true, but it did not mean it could not be damaged. Meng Tingfeng didn’t know if his predecessor obtained it damaged or if it was damaged in his possession, but he did everything he could to repair the divine artifact.
The Seven Star Sword required many materials that could only be found in the Vast Void. It was not the materials themself that mattered but the stellar essence they absorbed for eons as a result of the exposure to the starlight. Of course, Meng Tingfeng didn’t have the capabilities to find a large amount of meteorite or the like, but essence of the five elements also helped the recovery, just not as much.
Meng Tingfeng glanced at Ba Shifang. He was sure that his son’s attack didn’t have any essence, but that meant the amount of qi he used would be astronomical. It seemed that his son was even more amazing than he thought.
“What’s wrong? Are you just going to stay there and let me attack?” Ba Shifang asked.
He smiled. “It’s not my style to receive attacks. Since I’ve tried your attacks, then taste my sword.”
Meng Tingfeng shot toward Ba Shifang. Starlight encased him, transforming into a shooting star. It wasn’t the end as the single shooting star split into seven shooting stars, all shooting toward Ba Shifang.
Ba Shifang clapped his hands together and erected thirteen colossal pillars of lightning in front of him. For each second, a thunderclap would explode in the air. The spectators in the palace would only think it was loud, but Meng Tingfeng could feel the sonic vibrations brushing against the starlight around him. Were it not for this barrier, the sound waves would penetrate his body and injure him.
The six of the seven shooting stars all showed signs of deviance. Meng Tingfeng flicked his wrist, and those six shooting stars transformed into sword-shaped qi. On the blade of the six sword qis, seven stars glowed with extreme brilliance. The light made it seemed as if day had turned into night.
The six sword qis slammed into the lightning pillars. After a few seconds of back and forth between the starlight and lightning, six lightning pillars collapsed. They condensed into themselves and exploded. When the light died down, the six sword qis had dimmed, but they still shot forward, only to be blocked by another round of lightning pillars.
Unlike the first confrontation, the current lightning pillars directly imploded, destroying the sword qis.
As for the last pillar, Meng Tingfeng directly slashed it with his sword. White starlight directly dyed the golden pillar white before evaporating into tiny motes of light. His speed did not slow down as he adjusted his wrist so that the flat of his sword would strike Ba Shifang.
Despite having his defenses destroyed, Ba Shifang showed no shock. Instead, four differently colored shadows erupted from him. They were aimed at Meng Tingfeng but flew east, south, west, north.
With a quick glance, Meng Tingfeng could see an azure dragon formed of wood immortal qi flying five kilometers to the east, a vermillion bird formed of fire immortal qi toward the south, a white tiger formed of metal immortal qi toward the west, and a black turtle formed of water immortal qi in the north.
“Four Symbols Formation, arise!”
The four divine beasts formed of four types of elemental qis exploded. Green, red, white, and black formed a large domain ten kilometers in diameter. Soon, the four layers of color disappeared and everything in the domain returned to its previous clarity, but Meng Tingfeng could feel an oppressive force acting on him. It wasn’t anything direct, but more like he was being rejected and suppressed, as if the world itself hated him.
‘In this domain, the strength I can exert has dropped by thirty percent,’ Meng Tingfeng thought. During the Unity Realm, many venerables used their connection to heaven and earth to form domains. It was akin to a buff on yourself and a debuff on your opponent. True immortals also liked to use domains and often added their insights into them, but in the Seamless Immortal Realm, most cultivators moved away from domains.
Unless a domain was powerful, its effect was extremely miniscule on the body formed from the worldly laws.
A sense of pride erupted from Meng Tingfeng’s chest. Even so, he didn’t plan on losing.
Ba Shifang charged at Meng Tingfeng with his fist reared back.
Meng Tingfeng almost didn’t react, not expecting such a coarse action from him. However, he did react. He raised his sword into the sky and shouted, “Shine! Northern Dipper!”
The seven brightest stars on the blade shimmered and formed a ladle pattern. Starlight pierced through the Four Symbols Formation and congregated onto him. Instantly, Meng Tingfeng felt a little relief, but the Four Symbols Formation still suppressed twenty percent of his overall output.
“First Star, Tianshu!”
The tip of the Seven Star Sword shone brilliantly, like a miniature star. It left a trail of light in the air as it pierced toward Ba Shifang. Fist met sword. Or rather, fist met miniaturized star.
Meng Tingfeng didn’t continue to pierce after the initial contact. He knew the power of his move and he didn’t want to maim his son. What he didn’t expect was the enormous force the collision brought. Because of his unpreparedness, he was launched backward hundreds of meters.
When Meng Tingfeng stabilized himself, he saw that Ba Shifang had only been forced back a hundred meters. Not only that, but his fist only had third-degree burns. With Meng Tingfeng’s eyesight, he could see that a healing force was already acting on it. It might not take minutes, but it wouldn’t take longer than an hour or two.
“I never expected you to be a martial cultivator, too. And such an outstanding one.”
“Are you not?” Ba Shifang asked. “Aren’t all cultivators who ascended from the lower realms amazing geniuses who cultivate two or three paths simultaneously?”
Meng Tingfeng blinked. “How can it be that simple? Most are only a little above average in terms of cultivation base. It’s their experience that makes them stronger than regular immortals.”
Ba Shifang nodded. “Shall we continue?”
“Okay,” Meng Tingfeng said, no longer taking it easy. Three of the seven stars on the Seven Star Sword lit up. In its heyday, all seven stars could light up simultaneously, but three was the maximum the broken divine artifact could exert.
The two immortal monarchs continued their battle. Unlike before, Ba Shifang no longer chose to engage in physical combat, but unleashed spell after spell. He abandoned his lightning tactics and used elements of fire, water, wood, and metal. Spectators could see a bird, tiger, dragon, and turtle battling a swordsman.
Meng Tingfeng became a dazzling star. His flight left trails like a shooting star. Each swing of his sword would slice through the elemental animals, but their body would soon condense again and attack him.
Rather than a clash between monarchs, the duel between Ba Shifang and Meng Tingfeng resembled a clash of emperors.
“I got you!” Meng Tingfeng said as he appeared in front of Ba Shifang. Behind him were the elemental incarnations of the four divine beasts, but they would not make it in time to stop Meng Tingfeng’s blow. He twisted his wrist so that only the flat of the blade would strike Ba Shifang.
Just as it seemed that Meng Tingfeng would attain victory, Ba Shifang suddenly disappeared.
“Law of Space?” Meng Tingfeng couldn’t help but shout out loud. He turned around and saw Ba Shifang outside the Four Symbols Formation.
A yellow shadow flew out of Ba Shifang’s figure. The yellow dragon formed of earth immortal qi merged into the Four Symbols Formation, transforming it to the Five Phases Formation.
Inside, Meng Tingfeng’s expression changed. He could feel that the amount of power he could exert dropped to sixty percent, even with the blessing of the stars. “Law of Five Phases?!”
During the battle, the sheer number of laws Ba Shifang mastered surprised him. He could see the Law of Lightning, the Law of Fire, the Law of Water, the Law of Wood, and the Law of Metal. In fact, he had already suspected that Ba Shifang also mastered the Law of Earth, but kept it as a trump card.
Ba Shifang kept a trump card, but it wasn’t the Law of Earth.
The stars in the skies shimmered and shrouded Meng Tingfeng, making him appear like a human-shaped nova. He had an ominous premonition, and he wanted to break out of the domain before it was too late.
“Too late! Five Phases Formation condensed!” Ba Shifang shouted as he clasped his hands together.
The ten kilometer domain began to shrink at a rapid rate. Soon it was a kilometer, then half a kilometer. Although the pace slowed down, it continued to shrink. During that time, Meng Tingfeng was like an insect encased in amber, unable to move. The smaller the domain became, the dimmer the starlight shimmer until the domain was only three meters large.
Not only could starlight not pierce it, but the three-meter large domain had become completely black, like a prison of darkness.
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