Shi Hao stepped forward, the air around him exploding with thunderous roars as radiant spheres burst forth one after another. Clenching his fist into a seal, he resembled a celestial sun deity, launching a devastating strike toward Qin Fa!
With every movement, so natural yet so overwhelming, the sheer force sent Qin Fa hurtling backward, forced into retreat again and again.
“Boom!”
The void trembled as Shi Hao’s fist shot forward—simple, direct, unstoppable. His fist transformed from dim to dazzling, from dark radiance to a golden brilliance, marking a qualitative evolution.
Blindingly fast, impossible to evade.
Qin Fa crossed his arms, exhaling a milky-white stream of innate essence. Countless symbols ignited along his limbs, resonating with immense power.
This was the cultivation of a Venerable, manifesting in his arms as he blocked Shi Hao’s fist—their first true clash.
But this was no mere defense. As his arms crossed, they morphed into a pair of intertwined flood dragons, roaring in unison, forming a colossal silver scissor.
The Silver Scissor Divine Art, also known as the Twin Flood Dragon Shear—arms transforming into two massive dragons capable of severing even the mightiest weapons.
“Clang!”
The moment Shi Hao’s fist neared, the silver shear blazed with radiant light, clamping onto the golden fist. The dragons’ roars shook heaven and earth.
In an instant, a blinding explosion of light erupted between them.
Shi Hao felt the overwhelming might of a true Venerable—a surging ocean of divine power, its laws sharp as divine swords, threatening to cleave his fist apart.
Qin Fa, however, was even more shocked. His pupils contracted, arms trembling. As a Venerable, he had been blocked—proof of the terrifying battle armor that elevated the youth’s power by an entire realm, allowing him to stand toe-to-toe.
“Boom!”
Shi Hao’s fist trembled, erupting with golden light like a volcanic eruption—brilliant and savage.
Qin Fa cried out as the twin dragons formed by his arms were shattered, and a monstrous force surged toward his chest, unstoppable and brutal.
With a sharp shout, his body erupted with light, covered in intricate formations—powerful runes carved into his flesh, condensed killing arrays.
Though the punch was partially halted, Qin Fa was still sent flying, coughing blood. The force had penetrated his body, unrelenting.
“So strong!” Qin Fa’s heart quaked. This was merely a youth at the Array Formation realm. Beyond the obsidian battle armor, the boy’s own strength was the true foundation.
This clash made it clear—Shi Hao, fused with the armor, could truly challenge a Venerable. And his own prowess was extraordinary, wielding boundless combat power.
“Swish!”
Qin Fa’s hands swept through the air, summoning a dense array of divine swords—manifestations of the formations etched into his flesh. Three hundred sixty-five sword beams, bright as the sun, slashed forward.
These were the laws of a Venerable—capable of shattering mountains with a thought. Each strike could slay a Marquis, topple a peak.
Three hundred sixty-five sword beams unleashed at once—unimaginable!
In this moment, the sun and moon dimmed, the mountains and rivers paled. The void was filled only with the crisscrossing sword beams, descending like stars from the heavens.
Shi Hao roared, exhaling a stream of faint golden qi infused with a drop of his essence blood. In the air, it transformed into a supreme sword path—manifesting as a single blade of grass.
“Boom!”
What seemed fragile erupted with world-splitting force, unleashing an indestructible power surpassing even the mysteries of a Venerable, shaking all who witnessed it.
Augmented by the Undying Battle Armor, its supreme laws reached unprecedented heights, birthing infinite sword radiance. With a final surge from Shi Hao’s hands, the sword energy erupted—transcendent, annihilating all in its path.
A flood of white sword light, not individual beams but a crushing tide, filled the sky and crashed down.
A cataclysmic collision—a duel of sword arts. At the center, Shi Hao unleashed invincible sword intent, countering Qin Fa’s decades-honed sword array.
Qin Fa’s expression darkened. This sword array was the pinnacle of his flesh-carved runes, a famed offensive art of Mount Immortal. Yet now it was suppressed—by sword intent surpassing even his sect’s legacy.
Finally, the sword beams shattered, dissolving into streams of light.
Shi Hao’s sword energy was also blocked, but the drop of essence blood remained—imbued with golden runes, it pierced through Qin Fa’s arm in a spray of crimson.
Though just a drop, it carried immense force and indomitable sword intent, nearly shredding his arm and body.
With a snap, the sword array within him crumbled—destroyed by Shi Hao’s essence blood, erasing decades of cultivation in an instant.
All this transpired in mere moments—blindingly fast exchanges, a brutal clash with decisive results.
Separating once more, Qin Fa retrieved a jade vial, swallowing a dragon-eye-sized golden pill to heal his wounds, his expression grave.
The Stone was even more formidable than the legends—beyond his expectations!
In such a short span, their exchanges had wounded him, a Venerable. This wasn’t just the armor’s doing—Shi Hao himself was monstrously strong, his sword comprehension rivaling or surpassing Qin Fa’s own.
Ancestors left behind divine techniques and scriptures, profound and infinite, but few truly grasped them to such heights.
For a youth like Shi Hao to wield such mastery—capable of slaying Venerables with sufficient power—was extraordinary. The more Qin Fa pondered, the more terrifying it seemed.
He even believed that, given time, Shi Hao could carve enough runes into his flesh, breaking into the Venerable realm within years.
“Truly, the younger generation is to be feared!” he could only marvel.
The Venerable realm was fundamentally different from prior stages. In the lower realm, none had ever entered it at fifteen or sixteen.
Even across history, such cases were vanishingly rare.
Was this youth destined to overshadow past and future? Qin Fa trembled—Shi Hao’s potential was godlike, staggering.
“Even in the upper realm, such talent would shake the world,” he murmured with a sigh.
And then there was the matter of Shi Hao’s Supreme Bone—his expression grew even more complicated, beyond words.
“Where is my grandfather? What have you done to him?” Shi Hao’s killing intent surged, his black hair whipping wildly as a chilling battle aura swept outward.
Even with protective formations, boulders and trees were uprooted, floating in the air before shattering under his wrath.
“I told you—he ascended to the upper realm,” Qin Fa replied.
“You’ll pay with your life!” Even within Mount Immortal, Shi Hao’s murderous aura soared, fearless and furious. His grandfather had sacrificed too much—this was his bottom line.
Qin Fa’s evasiveness only stoked his killing intent.
Now, it wasn’t just one blade of grass—dozens sprouted in the void, lush and vibrant, radiating potent life force.
Qin Fa’s heart quaked in disbelief. This was the embodiment of the Dao—sword energy, meant for slaughter, now birthing life and vitality.
Though at the Array Formation realm, Shi Hao’s sword comprehension surpassed all expectations, leaving even Venerables awed and wary.
“Slash!”
Shi Hao roared. The dozens of grass blades swayed before erupting into dazzling sword beams, all slashing forward.
This was the decisive clash. Qin Fa’s body glowed as every formation in his flesh awakened, unleashing chains of divine order.
Like a great spider, he wove a web of laws, standing at its center as countless chains filled the sky.
The battle reached its zenith—light and symbols flared and faded like colliding stars, like a golden crow crashing into the earth.
The spectacle was blinding.
In the end, Qin Fa groaned, sent flying with a shattered arm and foot, his body splitting apart in sprays of blood.
Thirteen sword strikes—each enough to kill him once. He had used thirteen formations as substitutes, yet his body still neared collapse.
Now, half his limbs were ruined—one arm and one leg severed.
For a Venerable, regeneration was possible with rare medicines, but the true damage lay deeper.
His foundation was wounded. Thirteen or fourteen formations had shattered, nearly knocking him out of the Venerable realm. He was half-crippled, requiring years to recover.
Shi Hao wiped a trickle of blood from his lips, unharmed. With a wave, he sought to capture Qin Fa.
But a cold killing intent pressed against the back of his skull—silent, lethal, poised to strike.
Without turning, Shi Hao activated his Ten Great Heavenly Passage, freezing the void to secure Qin Fa within one, intent on interrogation.
Then, within his controlled space, he turned slowly to face the newcomers.
Three figures stood before him—two elderly men in plain robes, their auras subdued yet exuding an inexplicable divine might that chilled the soul.
Beside them stood a youth, twelve or thirteen, clad in gleaming silver battle armor, his presence overwhelming.
Tall, with star-bright eyes and an extraordinary bearing, he seemed a child of the heavens—a young supreme being beyond the mortal world.
“Divine Battle Armor!” Shi Hao’s heart jolted. The youth’s silver armor radiated divine power—vast and unfathomable.
This was the source of the killing intent—the youth had aimed a silver spear at Shi Hao’s head moments before.
A divine artifact, forged by gods—nothing else could have made even Shi Hao wary in that instant.
“Qin Fa taught me to read and write since childhood. You cannot kill him,” the silver-clad youth declared, lowering his spear.
Shi Hao studied him silently. The boy’s striking features, his familiar brow—it sent a tremor through his heart.
“Who are you?” he asked calmly.
“Qin Hao,” the youth replied, his divine armor elevating him above the mundane, his gaze confident, his stance proud.
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