Chapter 624: Incomparably Domineering, Leng Tianhe
Only the light of the Divine Weapon was everlasting. At this moment, the gray-robed old man who held the Divine Weapon became the center of this universe, of this Sky Dome Realm.
“Xiu!”
An anguished cry echoed, and the light vanished. All the mysterious phenomena disappeared, and the blazing sun in the sky reappeared.
However, the vast scene that shook everyone left a permanent mark in their hearts in that instant.
On the horizon, everyone could see the black dot that was Sima Hong falling to the ground like a broken kite. The saber Qi of the Divine Weapon severely injured him from kilometers away.
“Come back!” the gray-robed old man shouted, opening his left hand. His palm contained the natural law as it formed an irresistible suction force.
A horrifying tornado formed in the air and sucked in Sima Hong, who was several kilometers away. He could not control his blood-drenched body.
“Bang!”
A m.u.f.fled crash resounded, and Sima Hong and Sima Lingxuan both fell on the Heaven Ascending Platform.
Sima Hong knelt on one knee before the vast might of the Divine Weapon. His injured body could not help but tremble. A horrifying wound gus.h.i.+ng blood was visible on his chest.
When Jiang Chi and the other elders below saw the old man arriving, they became extremely excited. However, because of the might radiating from the Divine Weapon, they could not approach to speak to him.
“Ka cha!”
The old man casually waved his hand, and the Divine Weapon returned to its scabbard. The wooden box immediately pieced itself together and floated quietly in front of Xiao Chen.
Suddenly released from the aura, Sima Hong fell heavily to the ground, unable to move. The old man’s figure flashed and arrived beside Sima Hong.
“You think you can run away like that after injuring so many of my Heavenly Saber Pavilion disciples.”
Sima Hong got to his feet, bent over. He said skeptically, “Leng Tianhe, you merely wield the might of the Divine Weapon. What abilities do you have? If you are truly capable, you would have been the Pavilion Master back then.”
“So, it is him. Unexpectedly, the younger brother of the Heavenly Saber Pavilion’s Pavilion Master came back.”
“Forty years ago, for the sake of obtaining the Pavilion Master position, you fought with your older brother and lost. You left in a pique back then. Surprisingly, after not appearing for forty years, you stepped through the threshold of Martial Sage.”
Hearing Sima Hong’s words, everyone was stunned. They all guessed who the gray-robed old man was.
Forty years ago, when the Heavenly Saber Pavilion was flouris.h.i.+ng, two absolute geniuses appeared at the same time. Furthermore, they were brothers. Unfortunately, a mountain could not contain two tigers.
Leng Tianhe lost to his older brother and had to give up on the Pavilion Master position. After that, he left the Heavenly Saber Pavilion. However, twenty years ago, all the elites of the Heavenly Saber Pavilion perished in a Demonic Calamity. Even the Pavilion Master died. Since then, the entire Heavenly Saber Pavilion had been in decline.
Otherwise, Sima Hong would not have dared to come here and throw his weight around, all by himself, declaring that he would destroy the Heavenly Saber Pavilion.
Now, at the Heavenly Saber Pavilion’s most critical moment, Leng Tianhe finally returned. Using the Divine Weapon, he defeated Sima Hong in one move.
When Leng Tianhe heard Sima Hong’s words, he snorted coldly and said, “Idiot, even if your father were here, he would not dare say such words. Junior Brother Jiang, send someone to hang him at the entrance of Saber City. We will wait for the Sima Clan’s people to come and collect him. The Sima Clan will pay a hundredfold for all the damages to the Heavenly Saber Pavilion.”
Unbelievably, a bona fide Martial Sage—someone who stood at the top of this world—was going to be hung at the city entrance. Everyone felt their heads swelling just at the thought of it.
Sima Hong got up and threw himself at the gray-robed old man, shouting angrily, “Leng Tianhe, you dare?!”
“Why not?!”
Leng Tianhe kicked and sent Sima Hong flying back. Filled with tremendous force, his right leg scattered the remnants of Sima Hong’s Quintessence.
When Jiang Chi and the other elders heard Leng Tianhe’s words, they quickly ordered people to capture Sima Hong and lock him up.
Leng Tianhe looked up and glanced at the other cultivators who had come over to spectate. They immediately came to their senses and quickly fled the place.
Normally, this area was off-limits to outsiders. With the problem now resolved, if they still did not leave, they would be in deep trouble.
Seeing that these people still had some discretion, Leng Tianhe looked away and ignored them.
Jiang Chi and the others rushed over and said respectfully, “Junior Brother Leng, fortunately, you managed to arrive in time. Otherwise, the Heavenly Saber Pavilion would have gotten destroyed.”
Leng Tianhe replied, “There is no need to say more. Although I have left the Heavenly Saber Pavilion, I will never sit back and watch the Heavenly Saber Pavilion’s destruction.”
Raising his hand to stop Jiang Chi and the others from saying anything more, Leng Tianhe turned his head to look at Xiao Chen, who was already standing up. Interest appeared in his eyes.
Xiao Chen performed a cupped-fist salute and said, “Many thanks to Senior for helping.”
Leng Tianhe smiled faintly and said, “You saved yourself. You were able to resist the temptation of the Divine Weapon and deliver it to me. You sowed this seed back then. If the Divine Weapon did not warn me today, I would not have rushed over. This is the fruit of that seed.
[TL note: In Chinese, rather than seed and fruit, it was cause and effect. It is the concept of karma. The Chinese believe that every cause will lead to effects, and every effect had its cause. Every single action matters and will lead to something.]
“If you had given up on the Heavenly Saber Pavilion and gone to the Supreme Sky Sect, Sima Hong would not dare to play such tricks. In the end, it is actually the Heavenly Saber Pavilion dragging you down. However, this will never happen again. I will compensate you for today’s matter.”
When the surrounding elders heard what Leng Tianhe said, they realized that he intended to stay and support the Heavenly Saber Pavilion. They could not help but reveal excited and joyful expressions.
With this, the Heavenly Saber Pavilion now had a Martial Sage holding down the fort. Furthermore, he could wield the Divine Weapon. No one in the Sky Dome Realm would dare to slight the Heavenly Saber Pavilion in the future.
After this, Sima Hong and Sima Lingxuan had their cultivations sealed, and they were hung at the entrance of Saber City. The commotion Xiao Chen and Sima Lingxuan’s match caused was over for now.
The strong Sima Hong with his ferocious aura lost all his reputation. He could not garner any compa.s.sion from others.
In the morning of the second day, the Supreme Sky Sect’s Old Feng arrived at Saber City. When he saw Sima Hong hanging at the gates, he smiled faintly and did not even enter the mountain before leaving.
Actually, Old Feng was not particularly worried for Xiao Chen. As a King Grade True Dragon genius, he possessed great Luck. It would be very difficult for others to kill him in the Sky Dome Realm.
All sorts of things would happen mysteriously, as if Xiao Chen received the personal care of heaven, ensuring nothing happened to him.
The result was not far from Old Feng’s expectations. Sima Hong hanging at the gates of Saber City was the best proof. Who could have imagined that when a Martial Sage made a move against a Martial Monarch, he would end up in such a state, becoming the joke of the world?
However, this unimaginable matter indeed happened before everyone’s eyes. In the Sky Dome Realm, Xiao Chen would not die easily since he was the possessor of the Sky Dome Realm’s Luck.
Only after arriving at the Kunlun Realm, where there were many geniuses with great Luck as well, might Xiao Chen meet with mortal danger.
Ten days later, the Sima Clan’s retired Clan Head personally brought two hundred thousand Superior Grade Spirit Stones as an apology before taking back Sima Hong and Sima Lingxuan.
Given that the Sima Clan was in the wrong in the first place and the presence of Leng Tianhe, who wielded the Divine Weapon, even if the Sima Clan’s retired Clan Head had any dissatisfaction, he would not dare express it.
Otherwise, if Leng Tianhe wanted to kill Sima Hong and Sima Lingxuan, the Sima Clan’s retired Clan Head would not be able to do anything. Between two hundred thousand Superior Grade Spirit Stones and one Martial Sage, the Sima Clan’s retired Clan Head knew which was more important.
Leng Tianhe used half of the two hundred thousand Superior Grade Spirit Stones to reconstruct the Heaven Ascending Platform as well as reward the many disciples and treat those injured.
Then, Leng Tianhe gave Xiao Chen the remaining one hundred thousand Superior Grade Spirit Stones. Not only that, he fulfilled his promise and gave Xiao Chen a hundred Inferior Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls that he refined himself.
Compared to Superior Grade Spirit Stones, the Spirit Gathering Pearls were undoubtedly more effective. They not only had vast Spiritual Energy but were also extremely pure.
Now, Xiao Chen had two hundred Inferior Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls. If he used them for normal cultivation, they would not be sufficient. He would use them up within a few days.
Xiao Chen intended to use the Spirit Gathering Pearls for breaking through bottlenecks or for emergencies, like when he depleted his Quintessence. Having the Spirit Gathering Pearls would make things easier.
After fighting with Sima Hong, Xiao Chen felt a sense of danger in his heart. Before a Martial Sage, he was still too weak.
In the future, when Xiao Chen went to the Kunlun Realm, his Luck would not have that strong an effect. He could not rely on others to come and save him. He had to have his own trump cards.
A Martial Sage’s body was already a Sage Body. If the core was not truly hurt, it would be hard to cause any lasting damage to a Martial Sage.
For now, Xiao Chen gave up on severely injuring a Martial Sage; wanting to do so was unrealistic. His aim was to be able to flee from a Martial Sage and at least protect himself.
At this moment, all Xiao Chen could do was raise his Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art quickly to Great Perfection, to see if he could flee from a Martial Sage.
If the other geniuses of the same generation knew what Xiao Chen was thinking, they would all be astonished. They were all still thinking of how to break through to Martial Monarch or how to deal with a Medial Grade Martial Monarch.
Xiao Chen’s sights, however, were set on Martial Sage, a level much higher than them, leaving them far behind.
There was a waterfall in the back mountains of Qingyun Peak. Below the waterfall was a lake about six kilometers wide.
Previously, Xiao Chen had cultivated the Dragon and Tiger Body Sculpting Art to Consummation here. The Azure Dragon was water-attributed. It would definitely be faster for Xiao Chen to practice the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art at this lake.
While Xiao Chen trained, time went by extremely fast. It might be dawn when he looked up; then when he next looked up, it might be sunset already.
The days went by quickly. Xiao Chen spent his days alone at this lake. It was quiet here save the endless gus.h.i.+ng of the waterfall.
However, no matter how lonely it was, Xiao Chen had to endure it. In the exchange with Sima Hong, Xiao Chen had suffered too much. He even nearly died.
If he did not want such a situation to happen again, he had to endure all this.
“Roaming Dragon’s Nine Transformations!”
Xiao Chen shouted, and a dragon roar resounded in his chest. His figure wavered, and nine identical figures immediately appeared.
Compared to the previous Roaming Dragon’s Nine Transformations, there did not seem to be any difference. However, if one observed closely, they would discover that every clone had an ethereal dragon around it.
The clones also looked more realistic. Not only did they have flesh and blood, but they also seemed to have spirit. Their expressions were not dull like before.
Of all the tricks within the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art, Roaming Dragon’s Nine Transformations was Xiao Chen’s favorite. He could use this move to advance or retreat. He could attack and use this move to deceive his opponent. When he fled, others would find it hard to figure out which was him.
However, it was far from adequate for use against a Martial Sage. Xiao Chen shook his head slightly. The nine figures merged, and a dragon roar resounded behind him, causing a pillar of water to shoot up into the sky.
“Azure Dragon Tail Whip!”
A strong gale blew, and Xiao Chen’s body seemed to have turned into a dragon tail. He moved in a long arc over the water. As his figure flashed, he left behind a crescent-moon-shaped pillar of water.