Martial Cultivator

The world was truly vast.

The thirty thousand miles of the desolate north ceded by humanity in the past was immensely expansive. Yet, looking across the entire human territory, it was not considered much.

In such a vast world, the number of cultivators was beyond count. Yet, when it came to those powerhouses who truly stood at the summit, there were only but a handful of people.

Hence, even though the battle in the palace could not compare to the legendary battle of the Demon Emperor and the Great Liang Emperor, it was still regarded as the strongest battle among humans in centuries.

Simply considering the identities of the two fighters, it was enough to call it the strongest battle of the human race.

The battlefield between the two began in the plaza at the palace. The Great Liang Emperor radiated a boundless might akin to a towering mountain. His every movement exuded an unparalleled imperial majesty to the fullest expression of its beauty and form. If the Great Liang Emperor’s greatness as an emperor in the history books was still debatable, calling him the number one emperor in terms of martial prowess left no room for doubt.

The Temple Master had cultivated for many years and mastered countless daoist techniques. Sensing the Great Liang Emperor’s unparalleled aura, he was not in a hurry. With a mere wave of his sleeves, brilliant lights filled the entire plaza.

Behind the Temple Master, countless dazzling divine lights shot toward the horizon, transforming into myriad mystical beasts that roamed the heavens.

It was said that when sword cultivators fought, the phenomenon was matchlessly grand, resembling immortals or buddhas. However, when cultivators of the Three Schools at profound cultivation realms fought, their splendor was likely no less awe-inspiring than that of sword cultivators.

As the brilliant lights spread across the plaza, the scenery on the ground changed. In an instant, a vast expanse of rivers and mountains appeared. Suddenly, the two people who were originally in the palace, seemed to have been transported to another place.

The Temple Master now stood with ten thousand miles of rivers and mountains beneath his feet.

This peerless daoist, who had not revealed his cultivation to the world for countless years, was now finally showing everyone why he was the leader of this world’s Daoism and why he could sit firmly on the seat of Temple Master of the Infatuation Daoist Temple.

The Great Liang Emperor looked at the vast expanse of rivers and mountains, completely unperturbed. He simply smiled and said, “This world belongs to Great Liang, what does it have to do with Temple Master?”

Before the words had even finished, the Great Liang Emperor made no visible movement, yet the ten thousand miles of rivers and mountains began to quake. One of the towering mountains suddenly collapsed with a deafening bang. Countless boulders tumbled down, crashing into the rivers that wound around the mountain, instantly blocking their flow. Hence, a beautiful sight was reduced to utter devastation in a single moment.

The Temple Master’s hair stirred slightly in the wind, but he showed no anger. Instead, he invoked the great power of heaven and earth, directing them to crush down on the Great Liang Emperor before him.

Behind him, a sea of clouds roared and churned, surging toward the Great Liang’s Imperial City. In an instant, a majestic scene unfolded, magnificent beyond compare.

It was a spectacle of extraordinary grandeur.

At that moment, the entire Divine Capital could clearly witness the event.

The sea of clouds descended into the Imperial City, instantly enveloping it in a dense, white haze. The figures of those two became obscured, as if they were trapped within a sea of clouds.

The Great Liang Emperor waved his sleeve lightly, clearing the clouds within a ten-foot radius around him. Then, he casually grabbed a wisp of cloud and flung it forward. That wisp of cloud shot forth like a sharp sword, slicing through the cloud sea and arriving in front of the Temple Master in an instant.

Yet before it could get close, the boundless currents of qi surrounding the Temple Master devoured and dissipated it.

At this point, the two supreme powerhouses of their era were still merely probing each other.

The Temple Master smiled and said, “Though His Majesty does not practice magic spells, relying on your martial cultivation alone is enough to stand invincible.”

The Great Liang Emperor was unconcerned and merely said, “A strong physique simply makes one hard to kill. But when it comes to accomplishing anything, it’s always about killing first. When you kill so many that people tremble in fear, they naturally won’t dare to think about provoking you.” ŗ₳ΝÒ𝖇ЁS

The Temple Master replied, “But if Your Majesty kills in such a manner, it will only cause everyone to live in constant fear. When that happens, you’ll be isolated, and if they unite against you, the outcome will be just as disastrous.”

“A bad outcome only comes from not being strong enough. It has nothing to do with anything else.”

The Great Liang Emperor chuckled lightly and took a step forward. The ten thousand miles of rivers and mountains beneath him, which were originally still barely holding together, began to crumble inch by inch under this single step. Just looking at the destruction of the landscape below was like witnessing the end of the world.

Countless cracks spread outward, reaching all the way to the Temple Master’s feet. The Temple Master tapped the ground lightly with his toes and ascended into the air, hovering there with his wide sleeves billowing. From high up above, he looked down at the Great Liang Emperor.

The Great Liang Emperor smiled faintly. With just a slight movement of his body, a vast surge of qi erupted from the ground, shooting toward the heavens to confront that daoist great sage head-on.

A moment later, a resounding boom echoed throughout the entire Imperial City like the striking of a giant bronze bell.

In an instant, countless palace servants bled from all seven orifices; a pitiful sight.

The clouds enveloping the entire Imperial City were completely dispersed at that moment. Just as Chen Chao managed to catch a glimpse of the two figures, a nearby palace collapsed with a deafening roar. It did not crumble gradually, but shattered in an instant. Countless fragments of wood and stone blotted out the skies and covered the earth.

Chen Chao waved his sleeve to deflect the falling debris before looking up again.

The Great Liang Emperor had already arrived in the sky. Without any hesitation, he threw a punch straight down.

A terrifying aura condensed on the Great Liang Emperor’s fist. As it smashed down, the energy surged wildly, resembling a cascading galaxy, drawing a resplendent river of light across the sky.

The Temple Master’s expression changed slightly. He quickly formed hand seals, layering countless array formations before him in an instant to block the punch of this strongest martial artist of the current era.

However, what unfolded next was beyond the Temple Master’s expectations.

The power of the punch shattered the first array formation in an instant. After a brief pause, it quickly surged forward once more, breaking through array formation after array formation. After this, strong winds scattered fragments of the final array, and the Great Liang Emperor appeared directly before the Temple Master.

The fist was mere inches from the Temple Master’s chest.

A ripple suddenly emerged in front of the Temple Master, blocking the residual force of the punch and preventing it from landing directly on his body. But as soon as the momentum of the punch dissipated, the Great Liang Emperor swung his sleeve again. Another terrifying blow followed, directly knocking off the Temple Master’s daoist cap, leaving the leader of Daoism with a head of disheveled hair.

The Temple Master formed seals with his hands and a palm fell on the Great Liang Emperor. An overwhelmingly terrifying aura erupted from the palm, carrying a sense of annihilation.

The terrifying aura spread outward, shattering the surrounding plaza completely.

The Great Liang Emperor remained unfazed, slamming his palm down toward the top of the Temple Master’s head.

A lotus suddenly bloomed above the Temple Master’s head, swaying brilliantly in midair.

The surging qi landed and several petals of the lotus shattered instantly. Moments later, the entire lotus disintegrated, and the Great Liang Emperor’s palm had already landed.

At the same time, the Temple Master’s palm landed squarely on the Great Liang Emperor’s chest.

The two attacks landed almost simultaneously, but the outcomes were vastly different.

The Temple Master plummeted swiftly, falling from mid-air to the ground.

Before he could stabilize himself, the Great Liang Emperor had already floated down.

His emperor robe seemed to encompass heaven and earth in an instant.

The Temple Master’s face turned slightly pale. With a thought, one of the massive beasts circling in the sky earlier, a fiery phoenix, responded.

Letting out a piercing cry, the phoenix dove from the heavens. Its massive claws aimed straight for the Great Liang Emperor, intent on tearing him apart.

The Great Liang Emperor did not evade. Instead, he reached out with one hand, grabbed the claws, and with a sudden powerful pull, slammed the fiery phoenix to the ground.

The phoenix’s figure plummeted rapidly, but it spewed a torrent of flames from its beak, attacking the Great Liang Emperor.

In the skies, a sea of fire quickly emerged.

The Great Liang Emperor stood amidst the inferno, the situation appearing precarious.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the Temple Master’s expression grew grave.

His clash with the Great Liang Emperor did not last long, but at their level, many outcomes were decided without any need to think about things.

Although both were figures standing at the summit, it seemed the Great Liang Emperor had truly walked further ahead than him.

At this thought, the Temple Master also could not help but feel a sense of appall.

Such a thing had never happened before.

For a ruler of a mortal dynasty to one day stand ahead of all cultivators was unprecedented.

______