Chapter 1288 - A Battle Astonishing in Any Era

However, Yan Daolin’s words still left Su Yi inwardly solemn.

If Yan Daolin had already taken half a step onto the Path of Transcendence, he was surely no weaker than the Temple Master had been at his peak!

“In your eyes, Temple Master, this paltry accomplishment truly doesn’t amount to much,” Yan Daolin said slowly. “But it’s enough to face you here today.”

“Care to test that?” asked Su Yi.

Yan Daolin laughed. “You and I have known each other for a long time. If we’re going to fight, why not be straightforward about it? Without relying on any external items, let’s pit our attainments in the Grand Dao against each other and see who’s better. How about it?”

Su Yi leaped into the air, arriving beneath the dome of heaven. “Come on up and fight me.”

He stood alone amidst the sea of clouds, blue robes swaying around him, as if rising above the dust of mortality.

When Yan Daolin saw this, he turned to Lu Yun. “No matter who wins, you are not to implicate anyone else.”

“Understood!” Lu Yun solemnly acknowledged his orders.

Yan Daolin nodded, then soared into the air.

The Supreme Leader of the Nine Heavens Pavilion wore long, wide-sleeved robes. His face was thin, and from beginning to end, he seemed tranquil and composed.

He was currently gazing at the distant Su Yi. His calm eyes didn’t so much as ripple.

He’d been waiting for this day for far, far too long.

Invisible majesty silently surged around Yan Daolin.

The dome of heaven abruptly darkened, full of a power of the Laws rife with an aura of calamity. It was as if dense, dark clouds were obscuring the firmament.

There were the Laws of Heavenly Prayer, the supreme Celestial Laws of the Heavenly Prayer Star Realm!

Wei Shan and the others watched from the ground, their expressions solemn. Although the battle had yet to begin, the calamitous aura permeating heaven and earth made their skin prickle, and their hearts felt stifled.

This was the ancestral ground of the Nine Heavens Pavilion. The skies were full of the purest, strongest power of the Laws of Heavenly Prayer. Here, Yan Daolin was like an incarnation of heaven’s will, a sovereign!

“If you please,” said Yan Daolin.

Su Yi laughed, then took a step toward Yan Daolin.

Boom!

Although his step seemed light and airy, as his foot landed, heaven and earth shook violently. The skies full of the Laws of Heavenly Payer churned and shook violently on impact.

With each step Su Yi took, his majestic aura grew. At first, he seemed as unassuming as tranquil seas, but soon, his majesty was like a ferocious tidal wave overturning the skies!

His clothes billowed around him, and his entire body was swathed in the light of the Dao. Overflowing sword force gathered continuously, brewing non-stop, like a long-dormant volcano on the brink of eruption.

Off in the distance, Yan Daolin narrowed his eyes and sighed. “Establishing such firm foundations in the Heavenly Longevity Realm is truly rare. There’s no one else like you. No wonder the Contract of the Gods no longer permits reincarnation to take place; its power and secrets are indeed far too great.”

As he spoke, his clothing suddenly bulged as the body obscured beneath his robes grew, his muscles expanding and shining with radiant Dao Light. His physique now looked as if it were forged out of divine gold.

All of a sudden, his presence changed completely. He now seemed like a primordial divine mountain connecting heaven and earth.

Tall, imposing, unmovable, and unshakable!

“Do you know about the Contract of the Gods?” asked Su Yi.

“I know a little,” Yan Daolin said casually.

Su Yi was stunned. The Illusionist told him that the gods represented a supreme, ironclad natural order!

Their will reached the past, the present, and the future!

Their power transcended all epochs and eras!

And all he knew for certain about the Contract of the Gods was that it was a joint effort with the goal of preventing anyone from achieving reincarnation ever again!

Even as the two combatants conversed, Su Yi’s feet never slowed. As he moved, heaven and earth rumbled and boomed as if on the verge of collapse.

Dazzling, radiant light appeared on Yan Daolin, making his majesty even denser and more imposing. He seemed utterly unshakeable.

Even just watching from afar was enough to leave an onlooker’s heart on tenterhooks and their throat parched.

One combatant was the reincarnation of the Temple Master.

The other, the Supreme Leader of the Nine Heavens Pavilion!

There was no doubt about it. This was a battle sure to astonish any era, and it would enter the annals of the Eastern Profound Star Domain’s history!

When Su Yi was just a hundred feet from Yan Daolin, both combatants unleashed their gathered power.

Yan Daolin stretched out his right hand, clenching his fist and striking the air.

Su Yi pressed his fingers into a sword and slashed the air with maximum efficiency.

Boom!

The hundred feet of sky between them exploded with a bang.

The entire stretch of heaven and earth distorted as the power of the Laws scattered.

The crowd watched as Yan Daolin struck like an enraged divine sovereign with the unsurpassed power to destroy all of creation.

The power of this fist alone made the onlookers’ hearts shake. The astonishment left their hair standing on end.

Su Yi’s slash was like the distilled essence of the Grand Dao, unflashy and unadorned, simple and direct. Yet it seemed as if nothing could stop it or stand in its way.

When punch and slash collided, it represented a clash between the combatants’ powers of the Grand Dao!

Boom!

A rain of light and tumultuous currents scattered.

Su Yi and Yan Daolin both swayed, then attacked once more without the slightest hesitation.

A grand battle instantly ignited.

Su Yi was extremely domineering, but Yan Daolin never retreated.

One used his fingers in lieu of a sword, displaying unparalleled attainments in the Dao of the Sword.

The other fought with his fists. Every punch drew upon the Laws of his surroundings, and every strike burst forth with calamitous power, sweeping through the nine heavens.

In the blink of an eye, the two of them clashed countless times.

The surrounding mountains and rivers swayed. The living things therein fled for their lives in panic.

The disturbance was so great and so terrifying that it even triggered strange, startling phenomena.

“Is this... really a battle between World Kings...?” Meng Changyun’s heart quivered as he watched in a daze.

He was a World King too, but even just watching from afar, his heart felt stifled. He didn’t even need to think to know that were he to get any closer, even just the aftershock of such a battle could scatter his soul!

“The young master once said that even within the same realm, strength is highly variable. Yan Daolin’s strength places him at the pinnacle of the Cosmic Enlightenment Realm,” Wei Shan said gravely. “Throughout the stars, you can count those on his level on the fingers of a single hand.”

“Father, is the ‘young master’ you speak of... the Temple Master?” The Netherworld King couldn’t help but ask.

“Of course,” said Wei Shan without even pausing to think. “When the battle ends, I’ll tell you all about it.”

The Netherworld King looked conflicted, but even though she still didn’t know what was going on, she could guess that the Su Xuanjun she knew... was actually her senior!

“You really can’t judge someone like the Temple Master by his cultivation base,” Lu Yun sighed.

The battle left his heart jumping with fright too!

Numerous eyes were watching the battle from within the Nine Heavens Pavilion. All of them widened with astonishment as the onlookers fell into a daze.

“Temple Master, you’re truly a far cry from your former peak,” said Yan Daolin as the fierce struggle raged on.

His long robes billowed around him, and he struck like a primordial divine mountain in motion. Every time he swung his fists, heaven and earth shook on all sides. Each blow was incomparably tyrannical.

Su Yi laughed dryly. “So what? Were your attainments anything like mine when you were in the Heavenly Longevity Realm?”

Yan Daolin said directly, “I was far from your equal.”

It might have seemed as if they were conversing, but their battle was fierce to the extreme. Every strike could have killed most Cosmic Enlightenment cultivators with ease!

And as time passed, the battle only intensified.

Su Yi fought barehanded, displaying his powers of the Laws and Dao of the Sword. His terrifying attainments were on full display in each and every strike.

The same went for Yan Daolin. He fought with his fists, without the slightest flourish, but every punch suppressed every technique and Dao in its path.

Before long, they’d fought their way into the nine heavens, and the battle raged beneath the firmament. They were like deities locked in an unprecedented, bitter struggle.

By now, even Cosmic Enlightenment experts like Lu Yun and Wei Shan were having a hard time discerning the battle’s details.

Both Su Yi and Yan Daolin’s abilities had reached unbelievable heights.

It was just too terrifying!

As for Meng Changyun? He was completely dumbstruck and rooted to the spot.

“Take this!” Yan Dalin suddenly bellowed, his fist slamming down, parting the skies and colliding with Su Yi’s left shoulder.

Meanwhile, Su Yi’s sword fingers tore open Yan Daolin’s chest.

Bang!

Su Yi was forced several hundred feet back.

His shoulder shattered with a spray of blood, and his face paled.

But at the same time, Yan Daolin’s robes tore at the chest, and a bloody gash ripped open those muscles seemingly forged out of divine gold.

Immediately afterward, the two clashed once more.

Neither wasted any time talking. Their expressions were calm and composed, and they completely disregarded their injuries. However, both fought with increasing ferocity.

Like two clashing, erupting volcanoes!

In the time that followed, the battle grew increasingly intense.

Su Yi ‘s injuries piled up, and soon, his blue robes were stained red.

But Yan Daolin paid a corresponding price. He too was riddled with wounds.

This bloody scene left countless onlookers shaken, their hearts quivering with fright.

But neither Su Yi nor Yan Daolin ever so much as shrank half a step back!

Crunch!

Before long, Yan Daolin’s right arm soared into the sky like a flood dragon, his hands opening like a flood dragon’s gaping maw before “biting” into Su Yi’s left arm.

But at the same time, a streak of sword qi swept across him, slashing open countless cuts and leaving his flesh an indistinct meaty pulp.

“Impressive. Throughout all of history, and even the days yet to come, I doubt there’s another Heavenly Longevity cultivator like you,” sighed Yan Daolin.

His long hair hung loose, and blood flowed from numerous wounds. He looked wretched.

But he didn’t care in the least. He looked around, his gaze contemptuous and his qi boiling over, shaking both heaven and earth.

“At this point, there’s no longer any need to hide anything. Show me just how capable a half-step Transcendent is,” Su Yi’s voice rang out in the distance.

He was already approaching.

His robes were thoroughly dyed red, and he too was covered in wounds. His left arm was broken and useless.

However, his gaze was as tranquil as ever; it had never once shifted. The only difference was that now, the will to fight had ignited in the depths of his gaze.

“Very well.” Yan Daolin subtly inclined his head.

Then, his aura abruptly transformed.