Chapter 406: Full Strength

"Three strikes?!"

At Yaoguang's words, Jing Yuntian felt a sense of humiliation unlike anything he had ever known surge up in his heart.

In the next moment, he exploded into motion, and behind him, the phantom of a world spanning five hundred kilometers seemed to unfold. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Deep within that phantom, a towering fiend god with three heads and six arms stretched out an arm, reaching through the barrier of the void to seize the sword Yaoguang had sent slashing down.

This was his Myriad Forms World. Myriad arts, myriad forms. A Great Dao capable of accommodating countless configurations of power, utterly different from the Great Dao of signlessness.

Carried to a higher level, these two Great Dao became the Great Dao of chaos, one of the core Great Dao.

"Who do you think you are?! A Dao Lord?"

The moment this Void-Shattering supreme elder summoned the fiend god Dharma Form from his Myriad Forms World, terrifying waves of energy scattered in every direction, and the entire Heavenly Dao Sect seemed to shudder with it.

The floating islands suspended above the sect grew unstable. That was Void-Shattering Realm power! Even in an environment like the North Sea Star, the aftershocks were enough to affect an area fifty thousand kilometers across.

Seeing this, Chief Supreme Elder Zhen Xuanyuan, who had apparently been keeping an eye on the battle, waved his hand.

The Twelve-Fiend-God Heaven-Sealing Array activated. Under its power, all the scattered energy seemed drawn into the array and recycled into energy that sustained its operation, reducing the impact on the surroundings more than tenfold.

"You want to cut me down in three strikes?! A Void-Shattering cultivator who can kill me in three strikes has yet to be born into this world!"

With an eruption of psychic thought, the three-headed, six-armed fiend god thrust out its hand, clamping down on the void-rending blade Yaoguang had sent slashing down.

The instant the fiend god caught the blade of the void, a crack split open across its palm. The blade drove straight through, piercing its arm and, with its momentum unabated, slashing into its body, where, after only slight resistance, it transformed into a Primordial-Void-like existence that began devouring the Myriad Forms Fiend God.

In moments, it was as if a black hole had formed inside the enormous fiend god, frantically swallowing and absorbing the matter and energy within its body, threatening to devour it whole.

"What?!"

Countless people witnessed the scene, and the higher one's cultivation, the more drastically one's face changed.

"Such power from a Dao Technique..."

"The Void Sword, practiced to perfection?! That's impossible... How could he possibly have practiced a Dao Technique to perfection this quickly?!"

"A Dao Technique at the perfection level! But... if even his Void Sword has reached perfection, then his life-bound Dao Technique must have reached the perfection stage as well! No wonder he had the confidence to tear all pretenses away and face a Void-Shattering supreme elder like Jing Yuntian!"

Shock was clearly apparent in the eyes of the many Void-Piercing and Void-Refining cultivators well versed in Dao Techniques.

Yue Kuhai, the Dao lineage's leader, stared with utter disbelief.

The Void Sword at the perfection stage! Take three of those strikes head-on? If things went badly, Supreme Jing Yuntian might truly be unable to do so.

That Dao Technique, after all, had made its name on an offensive edge that nothing could withstand!

"You want to cut through my Myriad Forms World? It won't be that easy!" Jing Yuntian let out a low roar, and phantom after phantom of fiend gods surfaced from the Myriad Forms World behind him, all of them pouring into the three-headed, six-armed fiend god.

Thanks to that reinforcement, even though the Void Sword kept grinding away at and devouring the Myriad Forms Fiend God, in the end, its strength fell short.

A burst of brilliant light erupted from within the fiend god, opening a massive wound in the giant phantom's chest, inside which a faint black hole seemed to churn.

But the black hole lasted only a moment before being filled by more myriad forms' power, which continuously welled out of the Myriad Forms World. In the blink of an eye, the fiend god's frame had knitted itself back together, restored to perfect condition.

He had blocked the strike, yet there was no trace of joy on Jing Yuntian's face. Because withstanding that single strike had taken everything he had!

And he could guess that since Yaoguang had cultivated the Void Sword to perfection, his life-bound Dao Technique, Void Flicker, would be even more refined.

If one strike failed to kill him, there would be a second. If two failed, then a third, a fourth, a sixth, a tenth.

Sooner or later, Yaoguang's attacks would exhaust his Myriad Forms World and deliver a fatal blow. In other words, he had already lost.

How could he have practiced two Dao Techniques to perfection so quickly? It's been three thousand years since I reached the Void-Shattering Realm, and to this day I've only managed to reach the perfection stage with the Myriad Forms World. Void-Shattering cultivators like Perfected Lord Bu Zhou haven't managed to reach perfection with a single Dao Technique, despite having been at the Void-Shattering realm for thousands of years. Yaoguang... How on earth did he do it? A thread of cold sweat formed on the supreme elder's forehead.

In the distance, Gu Li, who had likewise been watching the spectacle, could no longer sit still. He sent word to Zhen Xuanyuan at once. "Perfected Lord, are we really going to stand by and watch two top-tier figures of the sect tear each other apart? If word of this spreads, the whole world will mock our Heavenly Dao Sect and laugh at our expense."

"Patience."

Zhen Xuanyuan was himself somewhat shaken by the strength Yaoguang had displayed. Then again, for someone who dared surround Skyview Peak, having this kind of strength was hardly surprising.

He said, "As things stand, Jing Yuntian may be at a disadvantage, but holding off three strikes from Yaoguang shouldn't be a problem. Yaoguang seems to have overestimated himself. Once Jing Yuntian withstands the three strikes, I will step in as peacemaker and have the two sides bury the hatchet... Of course, the Jing family must pay a steep enough price to quell Yaoguang's anger. If it comes to it, even Jing Zhengyang, the chief culprit, will have to be given up to appease him."

"Perfected Lord Xuanyuan, you mustn't. If we indulge Yaoguang in his actions against the Jing family, then from this day on, anyone with a bit of strength will settle scores by force within the sect, and there will be no peace. Even the sect master will have to think twice before leaving on any business, wondering whether someone will seize the chance to make trouble in his absence! We must put a stop to this immediately!" Gu Li said urgently.

"Yaoguang has proven with his own strength that he now has the power and the reputation to stand at the peak of the North Sea Star. So one way or another, he must be given an answer for the Jing family's collusion with the Yin Lunar Sect's fiendish cultivators," Zhen Xuanyuan said flatly.

"An answer, fine, but not now. Jing Zhengyang said one thing correctly: the Jing family is, in the end, the family of a supreme elder. Yaoguang has no authority to deal with them. If they are to be dealt with, it should wait until the sect master returns and convenes the Supreme Elder Council." Gu Li paused, then added, "Surely you wouldn't want someone taking advantage of your absence to wipe out your family and everything behind you while you're off exploring the Dao Lord's secret realm in the depths of the starry sky, am I right?"

That made Zhen Xuanyuan pause. According to Zong Wenxian, they had discovered a secret realm formed where a Dao Lord had passed away in meditation.

He would never miss a secret realm like this; he intended to explore it in person. And once he left, his family and the powers attached to him would indeed have no one to guard them. If, at such a time, there were still figures like Yaoguang who disregarded the laws...

After thinking for a moment, Zhen Xuanyuan made his decision. "A matter concerning a supreme elder is indeed not something Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang should adjudicate on his own authority. Still, let him have his three strikes and vent his resentment. After the third, I will step in and stop him."

"Perfected Lord, thank you for upholding justice." Gu Li breathed a small sigh of relief, and he passed the decision straight along to Supreme Chi Yun, whose heart quietly sank at the news.

Zhen Xuanyuan was the chief supreme elder, a peak existence at the Void-Shattering Realm. Void-Shattering cultivators' combat power generally ranged from fifty million to a hundred million.

People like Chi Yun, Gu Li, and Jing Yuntian all sat at around seventy to eighty million, while Zhen Xuanyuan had unquestionably reached the limit of the Void-Shattering Realm, with a combat power of a hundred million. As for what lay beyond a hundred million, that was the territory of the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings.

Perfected Lord Jinghong, who was stationed deep underground monitoring the Gate of the Immortal Realm, had reached a combat power of a hundred and twenty million.

With a fifty percent advantage in battle strength, the weaker party would hardly be able to escape with their life. And when one's combat power was twice that of the opponent, the fight could end with an instant kill, and one could fight ten at once.

Zhen Xuanyuan's battle strength was only some thirty percent above theirs, but that was still enough to create a decisive gap in any exchange. If a powerhouse like that intervened in the battle between Yaoguang and Jing Yuntian...

"Oh? You blocked it?" Watching the rapidly recovering Myriad Forms Fiend God, a flicker of surprise crossed Yaoguang's eyes. "Compared to the Eight Desolations and Dark Fiend Lords, you are indeed stronger."

Jing Yuntian said nothing. His expression was grim, and the confidence and arrogance he had displayed earlier were gone from his eyes. That single strike had made him understand the gap between himself and Yaoguang.

"Come, then! That was the first strike! Show me the remaining two," Jing Yuntian said in a low voice.

By this point, his only hope was surviving the two strikes Yaoguang had spoken of.

At the same moment, his senses caught what seemed to be Gu Li's transmission. Upon learning that Zhen Xuanyuan would step out to play peacemaker once he withstood all three strikes, he quietly let out a breath of relief.

If I used the Torrent of Time, I could finish you quickly, but that would certainly take more than three strikes, which would go against what I said and weaken the deterrent effect... As Yaoguang's thoughts turned, the power of the Limitless Sword, that top-tier Dao Artifact, roared to life around him. In that case... Jing Yuntian will have the honor of witnessing my strongest strike.

At once, the power of the Great Dao of the void was drawn out by the Limitless Sword and flowed into Yaoguang's body, and a peculiar Dao resonance began radiating from him.

The instant that Dao resonance spread, Jing Yuntian, who was just a few steps away, sensed something. His eyes flew wide in utter disbelief. "T-This feeling..."

He stared fixedly at Yaoguang, and in his daze, he had the illusion of standing once more before the Central Heaven Dao Lord!

And it was at that moment that the golden sword light Yaoguang had been controlling, the Wandering Dragon Sword, slashed down once more, stirring up the power of the Great Dao of void.

But this time, what the sword ultimately condensed into seemed no longer to be the sharp edge of the Void Sword, but rather the Great Dao of void itself!

Or perhaps... the ultimate form of all Dao Techniques: the Great Void Technique!