“Creak.” The courtyard gate swung open.
Outside, Fan Sanyuan and Fan Mozhu immediately turned their gaze toward the yard. They saw the frail-looking ‘Fan Yiqian,’ clad in green armor, staggering out with a dazed expression on his face. Behind him, the gate closed shut.
“Why did you come out?” Fan Sanyuan asked, puzzled. “If he refused to fight, didn’t I tell you to stay inside his residence no matter what?”
Fan Mozhu beside him added, “If he tried to force you out, that would have been the perfect chance to engage him in battle.”
“We already fought,” Fan Yiqian murmured, staring blankly ahead.
“You fought?”
Fan Sanyuan and Fan Mozhu exchanged startled glances. They had been right outside the residence. Although the estate was protected by formations that could muffle ordinary sounds, a battle between two experts at the Chaos Realm’s tenth level would unleash terrifying shockwaves—how could they not sense anything? Especially since Fan Yiqian was renowned for his brute-force approach to breaking techniques!
Yet, they had felt nothing. And Fan Yiqian had emerged far too quickly.
He had just entered—barely a few words exchanged—and now he was already out? And they had fought?
“What happened?” Fan Sanyuan pressed.
“I lost,” Fan Yiqian muttered. “Lost completely, without any excuses. Let’s go. We’re no match for him.” With that, he turned and walked away, heading back to his own residence.
“What in the world happened?” Fan Sanyuan and Fan Mozhu were both bewildered.
“Yiqian has the most violent and domineering temperament, and his pride is unmatched,” Fan Mozhu mused, her eyes gleaming as she glanced at Dongbo Xueying’s residence. “Even if he lost to someone of the same level, a crushing defeat would have provoked him. Among our Fan Clan’s Chaos Realm experts, only you, elder brother, can barely suppress him. Yet this battle left no trace, and he exited so swiftly. That means Ying Shan Xueying must have defeated Yiqian effortlessly in just one or two moves—utterly overwhelming him.”
Fan Sanyuan nodded slightly.
Fan Yiqian’s strength was terrifying, especially when he unleashed his forbidden technique. Yet Ying Shan Xueying had defeated him without a sound?
“It wasn’t the Five-Phase Sealing Art,” Fan Mozhu said. “It must have been some other secret technique, one capable of easily defeating Yiqian—likely no less formidable than the Five-Phase Sealing Art.”
Fan Sanyuan nodded again.
There were indeed techniques on par with the Five-Phase Sealing Art that could act silently—curse arts, prophecy magic, illusory realms, or even the most intricate formations. Some even transcended time itself. If one disregarded the collateral damage, there were even more methods to defeat Fan Yiqian.
Figures like Patriarch Fan and Emperor Xia had created theoretically possible secret arts, while the enigmatic and transcendent ‘Meta’ had left behind even more terrifying legacies. But those were all theoretical.
As for the ‘Five-Phase Sealing Art,’ in all of history, aside from that one figure from the Motian Ancient Nation, only Dongbo Xueying had mastered it—just two individuals in total!
Fan Yiqian himself hadn’t even perfected his own techniques, and he could only wield a single forbidden art.
“It seems the Elders had good reason to approve Ying Shan Xueying as our Fan Clan’s High Guest Elder,” Fan Sanyuan remarked, abandoning any thought of challenging him.
“Once the Three-Clan Conflict begins, we’ll see his true capabilities,” Fan Mozhu said with a smile.
“Indeed. His strength is a boon for our Fan Clan,” Fan Sanyuan agreed softly. Though he was proud, when surpassed, he could only respect Dongbo Xueying and strive to surpass him in turn.
Such was the way of cultivators. The Xiawind Ancient Nation might look down on surrounding realms, but a rare few could earn their respect—like the ‘Southcloud Monarch.’
—
“Finally, some peace.”
Dongbo Xueying shook his head slightly. Within the Fan Clan, he had no desire to make too many enemies.
In his cultivation plans, the Fan Clan was crucial. Once he became a Cosmic God, he would naturally send a clone back to his homeland, the Chaos Void, to monitor events there. But whether it was the ever-strengthening ‘Annihilation Demons’ or the ‘Sacred Master,’ both forced Dongbo Xueying to grow stronger at an accelerated pace.
After all, the treasures crafted in his homeland were far cruder—unable to bridge the gap between realms.
At the Chaos Realm, the pinnacle was only the ninth level.
Even as a Cosmic God, surpassing one’s tier was difficult there.
“Dealing with the Sacred Master in my homeland won’t be easy. I need the Fan Clan’s precious archives to accelerate my progress. This opportunity to earn merits is rare—I must execute this mission flawlessly.” After sitting in the courtyard for a while, Dongbo Xueying noted that no one else knocked. He knew those three core disciples likely wouldn’t disturb him again.
He stood up.
“Molong, unless it’s urgent, do not disturb me,” Dongbo Xueying instructed.
“Yes, Master.” The servant Molong gazed at him with admiration. That Fan Clan core disciple who had defeated Sarong Wang had been effortlessly crushed by his master in a single encounter. His master was truly formidable.
—
Dongbo Xueying entered the quiet cultivation chamber within his residence.
The Fan Clan had provided top-tier accommodations for the five experts participating in the Three-Clan Conflict. While other areas were ordinary, the cultivation chambers were of the highest quality. As he sat cross-legged, Dongbo Xueying felt the surrounding formation energies nourishing his body and soul—far surpassing the effects of the costly Void God Tower he had constructed in Feixue City.
Naturally, the Fan Clan’s resources were extraordinary.
It was a pity his stay here would be brief.
“Hum.”
Closing his eyes, Dongbo Xueying reflected on insights from recent battles.
Not his encounter with Fan Yiqian—that had been trivial. Instead, he recalled his successive victories over the avatars of Grandmaster Tunyun, particularly the eighth battle, where he had needed six attempts to prevail. Against Tunyun’s defensive techniques, Dongbo Xueying had adapted his Five-Phase Sealing Art, cycling through the five phases to exploit weaknesses.
Each of those six strikes had been subtly adjusted.
“The rotation of the five phases…” Dongbo Xueying pondered, absorbing these realizations.
Suddenly, his thoughts turned to his void-body technique.
“Rotation?”
A spark of inspiration ignited.
He had studied void-body techniques for an eternity. In his past life, he had reached the fiftieth layer of the *Traveler’s Secret Codex*—the Chaos Realm’s limit. The Ninecloud Emperor’s four scrolls had taken his void-body refinement as far as it could go. The scales of General Megu had been a constant reference. After reincarnating into the Heart Realm Continent, he had first perfected the ten layers of the Southcloud Sacred Body, then mastered the ‘Five-Phase Sealing Art,’ deepening his understanding of the five paths of void to their Chaos Realm limits. He had also studied the void-body talents of countless void-attribute beasts…
His accumulated knowledge had long since allowed him to fuse these insights, using General Megu’s scale patterns as the foundation. Yet, the final ‘key’ had eluded him.
Now, in this quiet chamber, reflecting on the rotation of the five phases, he grasped that missing link.
“Why force a fusion? Rotation—strengths and weaknesses shifting fluidly—that’s the way.”
Enlightenment dawned.
“Hum!”
As Dongbo Xueying sat cross-legged, the surrounding void twisted violently. Multicolored lights swirled, merging into a black hole centered on his seated figure.
“Even if the heavens perish, I shall endure. Only power capable of shattering the cage of a Source World can harm me.” Dongbo Xueying smiled. Back then, the Sacred Master had relentlessly pursued the Ninecloud Emperor. Even during the final battle that shattered the Primordial Ancient Sacred World, despite going all out, he had only managed to severely wound the Ninecloud Emperor, who then escaped. The Sacred Master never obtained the Fire Prison Triworld Cauldron.
This was the terror of void-body mastery at its peak.
Only power capable of breaking a Source World could harm such an expert—and even then, only ‘harm.’ To truly kill one? Nearly impossible.
Dongbo Xueying’s *Skybreaker* technique had merely shattered a few dark mist particles. Against him, such an attack would destroy, at most, a single cell. Thus, ‘void-body perfection’ was the aspiration of countless experts—even his master, Gu Qi, had never achieved it. Only the creator of the Voidwalker lineage, the Void Primogenitor, had reached this level.
This step was arduous.
Some who became Cosmic Gods through void-body refinement, lacking proper guidance, failed to create such techniques.
To achieve it at the Chaos Realm? Unthinkable.
In the Chaos Void, the Annihilation Demons’ ‘Shadowless Talent’ alone allowed them to bypass the void barriers erected by cultivators, wreaking havoc. But to reach ‘void-body perfection’ was a qualitative transformation.
“Nine cycles of rotation for true indestructibility. This void-body art shall be named *Nine Revolutions Indestructible Art*,” Dongbo Xueying murmured with a faint smile. “After countless years of cultivation, through reincarnation and accumulation, it was here, in the Fan Clan’s Demon Mountain, that I finally grasped it.”
With the creation of the *Nine Revolutions Indestructible Art*, Dongbo Xueying immediately sensed that, with a bit more study, he could break through to the Cosmic God realm in the void path.
His foundation was too profound.
The ‘Five-Phase Sealing Art,’ and now the even more challenging ‘Nine Revolutions Indestructible Art’—self-created, no less.
With such depth, advancing to Cosmic God in the void path would be effortless.
“But no rush.”
“I still have the Fan Clan’s Three-Clan Conflict to attend. If I break through now, I’ll be disqualified.” Dongbo Xueying mused. “I’ll wait. It’s starting soon anyway. After the conflict ends, I’ll ascend to Cosmic God—then it’ll be time to send a clone home. Jingqiu, Yu’er, Qingyao…”
A deep longing surged within him for his wife and children.
After being away for so long, were they well?
“Just a little longer… just a little longer.” Dongbo Xueying silently reassured himself.
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