“Twin brother?” Seeing the appearance of another figure with an identical appearance and soul aura, the deity was stunned for a moment before a knowing smile crept onto his lips. “This is your clone, right? Spectacularly made, I must say. For a clone to possess strength identical to the main body, it must have been made using some kind of invaluable material. Wonderful, I shall claim it for myself!”
There were cultivators in the Azure who created their own clones to augment their fighting prowess, but most of them were just lookalike puppets that were similar to the main body in form.
The clone that was standing right before him actually possessed a unique soul! This meant that the material used the create the clone was of extremely high quality, even by the standards of the Azure. If he could acquire such a treasure for himself and forge his own clone, his fighting prowess would effectively double in an instant!
With reddened eyes, he pointed at the clone in front of him and spoke with quivering lips. “From this day forth, you shall be mine as well…”
Boom!
Torrential energy poured out toward Zhang Xuan’s clone, but before it could even reach the latter, the deity saw a blur in his field of vision.
Before he knew it, the clone was already standing in front of him, and a leg was flying toward his face. With a haughty look on his face, the clone demanded, “Who the hell are you? The likes of you actually think that you would be able to tame me?”
“You…” With twitching lips, the deity swiftly grabbed the clone’s leg to stop the attack when the latter’s other leg came flying from the opposite direction.
Peng!
Just like that, the deity was knocked back as his cheekbone sunk inward from the powerful impact.
“What? How is this possible?” The deity was stunned by the earlier strike.
It was not due to the damage that he had sustained but by the sheer disbelief at how powerful the kick had been.
The clones that he had seen thus far had always been weaker than the main body, but why would this person’s clone be even stronger than the main body itself? How in the world did this even work?
It was illogical!
“You sure make a huge fuss out of nothing. My main body is a weakling, so how could he begin to compare to me?” The clone smirked as he charged toward the deity once more, whipping his leg over at a terrifying speed.
As Zhang Xuan had been suppressing his cultivation, he was still at Sempiternal realm consummation. However, it was different for the clone. As a God artifact, there was no need for him to suppress his cultivation at all. A month ago, he had already pushed for a breakthrough to Ancient Sage using the Aeon of Ancient Sage, making him a full-fledged Blood Reincarnation realm expert.
Even when they were in the same cultivation realm, Zhang Xuan was no match for his clone, let alone the fact that there was a gap of three entire realms between them. If Zhang Xuan had a fight with his clone, he would barely be able to protect himself with the Dragonbone Divine Spear in hand.
Slowly, the surprised look on the deity warped into feverish excitement as he began laughing maniacally. “Hahahahaha! The heavens are really shining on me! Now I am more determined than ever to make you mine!”
With a piercing cry, he leaped forward to meet the clone’s attack. He gathered all of his strength together in order to suppress this showoff of a clone once and for all when a shadow was suddenly cast over him.
He hurriedly retreated in alarm before looking upward. It was a massive book. Following which, a pitch-black palm shot out from the book and darted right for his face.
Pah!
This strike caused him to spin around twice on the spot as fresh blood spewed all over the area.
“What the heck is this?”
The deity was a little astonished by all of the trump cards that Zhang Xuan had up his sleeves.
Just what other things did the other party have in store? First the spear, the sword, and the brick, and shortly after, the clone… and now, a book was joining the battle.
More importantly, he could sense incredible pulsations of energy coming from within the book. There was some kind of existence that possessed strength comparable to him sealed within!
Hu!
In that moment of astonishment, Zhang Xuan charged forward with a spear in his left hand and a sword in his right hand. Brandishing the two weapons with surprising coordination, he was actually able to throw the deity into a fluster for a brief moment through the bizarre combination of attacks.
Meanwhile, his clone and Vicious quickly rushed forward to further pressure the deity.
Peng peng peng peng!
Under the relentless assault, it did not take long for the deity to be struck by several hundred times, and the impact sustained caused his bones to shatter and internal organs to shift. There was not a spot on his body that remained unharmed.
“No, this can’t be happening…”
For the first time throughout the entire battle, the deity tasted fear.
He had rushed over when he noticed the weakening of the dimension barrier because he had thought that he would be able to acquire some rare treasures, but who could have known that he would end up being cornered in this lower dimension?
Even Zhang Xuan himself was already a tricky opponent to deal with, let alone having to simultaneously cope with another two experts who boasted strength similar to his. How could he win against such a lineup?
In the depths of his heart, the deity began to despair. He knew that he could not allow the battle to continue any further. He had to escape.
Thus, he gathered all of his energy seemingly with the intention to launch a desperate counterattack, causing the other three to immediately go on the defensive. However, it was, in fact, a feint. With no one tying him down, he immediately turned tail and ran away.
However, before he could get far, the world suddenly turned dark. He barely had time to glance upward before a massive brick crushed down on his head once more.
It was as if this fellow had been biding his time in the sky all along, waiting for the ideal opportunity to smash his face!
Peng!
While this smash did not deal a fatal blow to the deity, it did throw him off for a moment. This momentary lapse in attention turned out to be his undoing. The next instant, a spear and a sword pierce through his chest. Right after, a fist smashed right into his head, and a black hand stabbed into his heart.
Putong!
Even down to his last breath, there was an incredulous look on the deity’s face, as if he could not believe that a superior being like him had been defeated by mere ants. As the last breath escaped his lips, his body grew limp, and he began plummeting from the sky.
It would be a waste to leave the blood and body of an expert of such caliber lying around, Zhang Xuan thought as he quickly stowed the corpse of the deity into the Myriad Anthive Nest.
Following which, he heaved a deep sigh of relief. The battle was finally over.
No matter what, the enemy that he had faced was a true Dimension Shatterer realm expert. Had he made any mistakes over the course of the battle, he would have been destroyed in an instant. As such, he had pushed his concentration to its very limits throughout the entire duration.
Nevertheless, the rewards from the battle were well worth the fight. The deity’s blood and body would surely prove vital for his breakthrough to Ancient Sage in the future.
Placing his clone and Vicious back into the Myriad Anthive Nest, Zhang Xuan turned his sight to the mountain range where the void was and stared silently for a moment before making his way back.
…
On the elevated platform in the midst of the mountain range, Ancient Sage Yan Qing finally struggled to his feet. He looked at the massive rifts around him with a worried look on his face.
At that moment, Kong Shiyao suddenly flew over and asked, “Ancient Sage Yan Qing, was that young man the Celestial Master Teacher you previously mentioned, Zhang Xuan?”
Having overexerted her bloodline ability, her face was horrifyingly pale as well. It took everything she had just to maintain her flight.
“That’s right,” Ancient Sage Yan Qing replied with a nod.
“He’s truly an extraordinary individual…” Kong Shiyao nodded in awe.
She had been blessed with a powerful bloodline at birth, so there had been no one who was able to compete with her in terms of talent. She had been confident that there was no one beneath Ancient Sage who would be stronger than her, but from the earlier battle, it was clear that the young man’s fighting prowess exceeded even hers.
Ever since she heard of Zhang Xuan’s existence, she had been wanting to meet and compete with him. She had thought that she could have a duel with him after achieving a breakthrough to Ancient Sage. However, from the looks of it, there was no need for that.
Even after using her bloodline ability, she had been unable to stop the deity’s movements. On the other hand, the young man was able to battle the deity on equal footing and even lure him away. It was apparent from this that there was a gap between their abilities.
“There’s no denying that Zhang Xuan is formidable, but he’s still lacking in comparison to the deity from the Azure. I fear that he’s in peril!” one of the Ancient Sages remarked worriedly.
“Given our current condition, there’s nothing we can do to help him. Even stabilizing the formation is impossible for us at the moment…”
The Ancient Sages had already been reduced to a skeletal rack at the moment, and they would die soon enough without any Aeon of Ancient Sage to replenish his energy. Given their states, there was nothing that they could do to help.
Knowing this, Ancient Sage Yan Qing also shook his head.
While the deity had been lured away by Zhang Xuan, it did not mean that the danger was over. The formation that was sustained by Ancient Sage Zi Yuan’s corpse had been opened, and the mercury-like energy was rapidly pouring in. If they did not seal the rifts quickly, everyone in the Kunxu Domain would soon die from taking in that incredibly heavy energy.
Their entire populace was at stake!
“It’s fortunate that this energy doesn’t diffuse too quickly due to its weight. What’s more urgent is for us to get rid of that deity, or else anything we do will be futile!” Kong Shiyao said.
As long as they sealed their acupoints, they would be able to bear with the mercury-like energy in the short-term. However, as long as the deity remained alive, his existence would be like a guillotine hanging right above them, ready to snap down at any moment.
“You’re right. Even at the cost of our lives, we must eradicate that deity…”
Everyone nodded grimly in agreement. Gathering the last bits of their strength, they were going to move in the direction that Zhang Xuan had disappeared in when a young man approached with a nonchalant look on his face.
He was dressed in a clean white robe that was completely devoid of dust. There was no hint of blood or wounds on his body, making it seem as if he had left earlier not to battle but to go on a leisurely holiday.
Who else could that young man be other than Zhang Xuan?
“Y-you’re fine? What happened to the deity? Did you… kill him?” everyone asked anxiously.
