Chapter 23: Grandmaster Combat Power

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Grandmaster Combat Power

The Extraordinary Nine Monsters sat inside the hall.

The Elders of Dao Yi Mountain were making small talk with them, trying to probe for the true purpose of their visit.

Song Yu waited outside the hall for a long time.

But then Zhang Liting returned with the news that the Little Junior Uncle was completely unwilling to come.

Song Yu was taken aback.

"I was being inconsiderate."

’It’s true,’ he thought. ’The great demon the Little Junior Uncle is guarding on the back mountain is what’s most important.’

"Then what about my junior brother, the Sect Leader..."

Before he could finish, a Little Daoist from the mountain arrived, looking troubled.

"The Sect Leader isn’t in his room. We don’t know where on the mountain he’s cultivating or meditating. The Second Junior Uncle has already taken people to search for him, but I’m afraid he won’t be here anytime soon."

Song Yu rubbed his forehead. If Chen Sha couldn’t appear now, then he would have to make all the decisions himself.

’Looks like I’ll have to keep this group placated for now.’

He paced around a few times, then walked into the Sect Leader’s Hall.

"Hero Song has returned."

Seeing Song Yu walk back in, the Child Emperor chuckled.

"Why don’t we see your Sect Leader?"

Of course, Song Yu couldn’t admit he didn’t know where Chen Sha was. He simply said,

"I’ve kept you all waiting. The Sect Leader is busy with another matter, but he has agreed to let me lead you to pay respects to our former master. Please, come with me."

Their visitors claimed their only purpose was to pay respects to the former master, Chen Canxuan, and revealed no other motive. As long as they didn’t initiate a conflict, Song Yu couldn’t just tell them to leave. If he provoked a dispute, he would have only himself to blame for his poor judgment.

"That’s no matter."

The Child Emperor smiled.

"It’s a shame we won’t have the chance to meet the successor of Elder Chen, the Sect Leader, but our main purpose here is to mourn him. Please, lead the way."

As he spoke, the Extraordinary Nine Monsters stood up and exchanged glances.

They all understood what the others were thinking.

’Our target isn’t Chen Sha anyway. It doesn’t matter whether we see this young Sect Leader or not.’

They had come up the mountain this time for another reason...

They were holding back for now, wanting to be cautious and see if there were any other powerful figures on the mountain.

So, Song Yu led the way. Before coming in, however, he had already made arrangements, telling all the disciples of Dao Yi Mountain to be ready. The moment these nine showed any malicious intent, the entire sect would mobilize to stop them.

Additionally, the Grandmaster Level Elders had also been notified.

***

Meanwhile, in another part of Dao Yi Mountain.

Birds chirped and the air was fragrant with flowers.

A squirrel scrambled up and down a tree, clutching a dried fruit. Suddenly, it accidentally dropped it...

The squirrel looked down at the young Sect Leader sitting cross-legged below. Its eyes showed a hint of fear as it hesitated in the branches, wondering whether it should dare to approach Chen Sha to retrieve its fruit.

At that moment, Chen Sha was inside a Cosmic Light Fragment, engaged in his final battle with Zhou Botong.

***

「Cosmic Light Fragment.」

「Peach Blossom Island Chapter.」

ROAR—

The dragon’s cry was almost tangible as it spread in all directions. A Palm Wind of ultimate yang extended from Chen Sha’s left hand, pressing down on the wide space before him.

Under the force of this one palm, Zhou Botong cried out, struggling immensely to counter it with his Void Clarity Fist.

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

This Old Mischievous’s hands were a blur. His fingers clenched into fists, meeting Chen Sha’s attacks punch after punch, as if two people were fighting Chen Sha at once.

He had already deployed his strongest technique.

The Dual Hand Fighting Skill!

Zhou Botong’s two fists flowed like water, striking from both left and right. His Power erupted through the air like jets of water.

WHOOSH WHOOSH~~

As this Punching Force whistled through the air, it seemed as gentle as rain. Yet each strike that landed was part of a terrifying Fist Technique capable of instantly immobilizing a person.

But even so, Zhou Botong was drenched in sweat as he fought back.

"I created the Seventy-Two Paths of Void Clarity Fist on Peach Blossom Island! You monster, we’ve only fought a few times, and you’ve already learned it..."

He cried out, protesting to the heavens:

"What kind of monster are you?!"

BANG!

Chen Sha formed a Fist Seal with both hands, then shifted them into a fist and a palm—a palm with his left hand, a fist with his right.

The Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms with his left hand, the Seventy-Two Paths of Void Clarity Fist with his right.

One was the world’s most unyieldingly hard Palm Technique.

The other was the world’s most yielding and soft Fist Technique.

One hard and one soft, one fist and one palm. These two Superior Martial Arts should have been completely unrelated, yet when Chen Sha executed them, there was no sense of discord. Instead, they added a feeling of harmony, like the Great Dao of Yin and Yang.

Chen Sha closed the distance to Zhou Botong in just a few steps.

He threw a punch.

And followed with a deadly palm strike!

Both fist and palm descended upon Zhou Botong.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Even though Zhou Botong had used the Dual Hand Fighting Skill, effectively transforming into two combatants on the level of the Five Extremes, he couldn’t gain the slightest advantage. Instead, he was being crushed, sweat pouring down his face.

’Back then, when my Senior Brother fought four of them on Hua Mountain Peak, Huang the Evil and the Old Poisonous Creature must have felt this same sense of disbelief. To think such a person could exist in the world.’

’No, this monster is even more of a demon than my Senior Brother! Even my Senior Brother couldn’t have learned my Fist Technique after just a few fights. This is impossible for a human! He’s a demon! I, Old Mischievous, am seeing a ghost!’

Zhou Botong had the Heart Nature of a child to begin with, and now his eyes filled with the fear of seeing a ghost.

Chen Sha, however, just kept attacking without any explanation.

His opponent was inside a Cosmic Light Fragment, merely a remnant of time. His mind only remembered that Chen Sha had come in, fought him a few times, and learned his Fist Technique.

He had no idea that the Peach Blossom Island he was on was an evolved Cosmic Light Fragment where everything repeated in an endless cycle.

A little over two months had passed in the outside world on Dao Yi Mountain.

Meanwhile, Chen Sha had entered the repeating scenario of Peach Blossom Island again and again, sparring with Zhou Botong a total of three thousand, seven hundred and eighty-four times...

He hadn’t learned the seventy-two moves of the Void Clarity Fist in one or two fights.

It was the result of nearly four thousand battles!

And now, it was time.

’It’s time to end this!’

A sharp light flashed in Chen Sha’s eyes. The fist and palm of his left and right hands, controlled flawlessly by the Dao Yi Seal, had reached their absolute peak over the course of nearly four thousand fights.

The Dragon Subduing Palm with his left hand, the Void Clarity Fist with his right. One yin and one yang, one hard and one soft!

The changing Move Intents of the two techniques didn’t conflict in the slightest. Under the control of the Dao Yi Seal, they transformed into a harmonious Yin-Yang Fish flowing within Chen Sha’s Fist Intent!

He extended his right fist, and his left palm enveloped it, forming a unique Fist Seal.

The Dao Yi Seal!

Like a Celestial God beating a war drum, he brought it down upon Zhou Botong from above!

"Die!"

In that instant, a single, blood-red character burned itself into the Old Mischievous’s mind.

RUMBLE!

Zhou Botong raised both hands to block. The moment of contact, he felt he wasn’t catching a fist, but a terrifying, exploding Yin Yang Diagram!

BANG!

A cloud of dust flew up, billowing three feet into the air.

RUMBLE!

Zhou Botong was smashed into the ground right where he stood. Half of his body was driven into the earth.

He was like a nail that had been violently hammered into the soil.

"I lose! I lose! I’m not fighting anymore!"

Smashed into the ground, Zhou Botong felt his insides were Overturning Rivers and Seas. He spat out a mouthful of blood, his organs feeling as if they had been shaken apart.

"I give up! I, Old Mischievous, am completely and utterly impressed!"

Chen Sha retracted his fist, then pulled the Old Mischievous out of the dirt and said,

"I should be the one thanking you. Without you as a sparring partner, I couldn’t have mastered two Superior Martial Arts—two completely different arts of hard and soft—in just two months."

The more Martial Arts the Dao Yi Seal controlled, the stronger a person became.

Generally, the more similar the Fist Intents of the Martial Arts, the easier they were to control, like small streams flowing into a lake.

But the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms and the Void Clarity Fist were one hard and one soft, one yin and one yang. They were exceptionally difficult to control, like forcibly merging two rivers flowing in different directions into one great river.

The difficulty was extreme.

But upon success, the resulting power was also extreme.

In two months of outside time, which amounted to several years inside the Cosmic Light Fragment, Chen Sha’s Dao Yi Seal had perfectly mastered these two Martial Arts.

Although his True Qi Realm was still that of a Half-step Grandmaster, his combat prowess had reached the Grandmaster Level!

Otherwise, it would have been impossible to defeat Zhou Botong, who was equivalent to two Five Extremes Grandmasters.

However, just as he was pulling Zhou Botong up...

WOOOOOO~~

The sound of a flute, like the tide crashing against the shore, seemed to rise from the distance. It filled the heavens and the earth, rushing in from all directions.

’Huang the Evil!’

Chen Sha had just finished a great battle with Zhou Botong and his Heart Spirit was relaxed.

Caught off guard, he heard the sound wave, which was imbued with immense Grandmaster Skill. His figure immediately wavered and dissipated on the spot.

***

Beneath the tree, Chen Sha opened his eyes.

’That Huang the Evil... could it be that he was watching from the side this whole time I was fighting Zhou Botong in this scenario...’

’Otherwise, it couldn’t be such a coincidence that he chose the exact moment my Heart Spirit relaxed after defeating Zhou Botong to suddenly unleash the Jade Sea Tide Raising Melody.’

However, looking at it from another angle, it felt a bit like clearing a mini-boss only for the next one to automatically appear. It gave him a sense of déjà vu.

’The trial mode of the Cosmic Light Fragments...’

’...is quite similar to certain concepts from my memories.’

Just as Chen Sha was preparing to regulate his breathing for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before re-entering the Cosmic Light Fragment...

A Little Daoist finally found Chen Sha.

He was overjoyed and quickly explained the situation:

"Sect Leader, I’ve finally found you! A group of uninvited guests with powerful Martial Arts has come to the mountain. They claim they want to pay respects to the old Sect Leader and sweep his grave. Elder Song couldn’t find you anywhere, so now he’s been forced to take them to the old Sect Leader’s tomb..."

"Hm?"

Chen Sha immediately stood up.