Chapter 149: Did I Show You Too Much Respect?

Ye Guan was engaged in an intense battle with the Martial Goddess. The pair moved so fast that it seemed as if there were a pair of afterimages flying across the skies.

Ye Guan wasn’t using his sword; he was throwing out punches and kicks. Ye Guan wasn’t born a swordsman, so he was without any weapon when he started walking down the path of cultivation.

The Martial Goddess was suppressing Ye Guan, leaving him without any chances to retaliate. The Martial Goddess was superior to him in all aspects—speed, reaction speed, and combat sense. However, Ye Guan still didn’t pull out his sword.

He had decided to get beaten up on purpose to improve his reaction speed.

It was a good thing that he had consumed nothing but dragon meat and dragon blood for sustenance all this while, which meant his stamina was much better than ordinary people. Otherwise, he couldn’t have lasted for so long.

Ye Guan wasn’t worried about taking any steps toward comprehending the Great Dao of Simplicity. He was convinced that he had to prioritize his cultivation first because it was the prerequisite of comprehending the Great Dao of Simplicity.

One had to pursue the complexities of the cultivation path first before one could pursue simplicity. Otherwise, one wouldn’t be pursuing simplicity at all but was simply simple.

Simplicity and simpleness were two sides of the same coin, after all.

And that was exactly why Ye Guan had decided to pursue the peak of his prowess first before pursuing simplicity.

Ye Guan was still being suppressed by the Martial Goddess, but he was making progress. Three days passed by in the blink of an eye, and Ye Guan had relied entirely on spiritual pills to recover and forgo rest for the sake of fighting the Martial Goddess.

He was pushing himself to his limits by making sure that his concentration would never wane while he was under attack. However, the truth was that Ye Guan didn’t dare to be distracted by even a split second because the Martial Goddess could easily take advantage of that split second to destroy him.

Ten days later, Ye Guan had grown accustomed to the Martial Goddess’ attack patterns. He still couldn’t retaliate, but he had gotten extremely adept at defending himself. He had also gotten used to the Martial Goddess’ speed.

The Martial Goddess’ strength was fixed, and she was five times stronger than the challenger. Unlike her, however, Ye Guan was learning and improving as they fought.

Just like that, another five days went by, and Ye Guan was now capable of retaliating. Unfortunately, his attacks were ineffective against the Martial Goddess.

It turned out that the Martial Goddess’ defenses were airtight, but Ye Guan wasn’t disheartened. He was thrilled by the discovery.

Ten days later, Ye Guan had completely memorized the Martial Goddess’ attack patterns as well as the way she deflected his counterattacks. The two remained unrelenting, and it was clear that either of them didn’t want to give up.

However, it had to be known that Ye Guan still hadn’t wielded his sword over the course of this bout.

Bam!

A hollow noise echoed, and Ye Guan hurriedly retreated. The Martial Goddess dashed forward and threw a punch toward Ye Guan’s head. Her fist didn’t glow, nor did it emit any terrifying energy, but it carried a terrifying amount of pressure.

Ye Guan’s eyes narrowed. He stomped with his right foot and shot toward the Martial Goddess as if he were an arrow that had left its bowstring. He decided to use his own fist to greet the Martial Goddess’ fist.

Boom!

A loud explosion reverberated as the two were sent flying away.

Ye Guan crashed to the ground and stood up, but the Martial Goddess was already in front of him. She raised her leg and lashed out with a kick toward Ye Guan’s head, but Ye Guan mirrored her actions and sent a kick toward her head as well.

Boom!

Their feet collided with each other, and the collision sent the two flying away.

Ye Guan landed, but he didn’t take his sweet time recovering.

He slammed his palms on the ground and propelled himself backward. He stomped and shattered the ground beneath him to send himself flying backward at least twelve meters away from his initial location.

The Martial Goddess’ turned into a blur as she charged at Ye Guan.

A rift was torn in front of Ye Guan, and a terrifying pressure swept past him.

However, Ye Guan had already disappeared.

The Martial Goddess abruptly whipped around and punched out.

Boom!

The Martial Goddess’ fist shattered space, but Ye Guan was safe a few meters away from where her fist had struck nothing but air. Unfortunately, the Martial Goddess seemed unperturbed. She stomped and dashed toward Ye Guan with a punch.

Boom!

Ye Guan disappeared once more, and the Martial Goddess’ punch struck nothing but air yet again. The bizarre scene continued for a while. The Martial Goddess was relentless in her pursuit, but her pursuit was made in vain by Ye Guan.

The Martial Goddess’ attacks looked deceptively simple, but they had been fighting each other for so long that Ye Guan was already aware of the tricks she had up her sleeves as well as her attack patterns.

Unfortunately, Ye Guan was too weak and too slow.

The Martial Goddess was five times stronger than him as well.

The Martial Goddess abruptly stopped moving, surprising Ye Guan.

This was the first time the Martial Goddess had stopped moving during the course of their fight. The Martial Goddess opened her palms, and the space around her was peeled away.

Ye Guan was dumbstruck, but his expression soon fell as he cried out, “Hey, are you really going to start using martial skills? Really?! I guess I can’t play around anymore.”

Ye Guan wasn’t afraid of martial skills. He was afraid of what the Martial Goddess could do with those martial skills. Needless to say, the Martial Goddess’ martial skills had to be extremely powerful.

Swoosh!

The Martial Goddess vanished into the air.

Ye Guan’s pupils constricted.

He was about to make a move, but a force field had immobilized him.

He was about to shatter the force field, but Ye Guan’s heart jumped in fright upon seeing a hand reaching out toward him.

Ye Guan clenched his right fist and sent a punch toward the hand.

However, the Martial Goddess was even faster than him.

Ye Guan had just punched out, but the Martial Goddess’ hand had already touched Ye Guan’s right arm. An inexplicable scene unfolded afterward. The profound energy within Ye Guan’s right arm was abruptly sucked out of him, rendering Ye Guan both horrified and stunned.

Meanwhile, the Martial Goddess’ other hand landed like a feather on Ye Guan’s fist.

Ye Guan went silent at the sight. He was about to say something, but a tremendous wave of energy inundated him like a deluge, sending him flying away as if he were a kite with a broken string.

The Martial Goddess’ attack was so strong that Ye Guan’s fleshly body couldn’t withstand the attack and cracked. Blood seeped out of the cracks, creating a grotesque and terrifying sight.

Rumble!

A low rumbling echoed as the tournament square belatedly cracked, which made the entire square platform look as if it were a massive spider web.

Meanwhile, a dull thud echoed as Ye Guan crashed to the ground and spat a mouthful of blood. The blood pouring out of his wounds dyed the ground crimson, and he was quivering violently beneath the intense pain and shock.

Ye Guan felt as if the Martial Goddess had shattered every bone in his body and wounded every square inch of his skin.

Ye Guan’s voice was trembling as he asked, “M-M-Master Pagoda, what was that?”

Little Pagoda didn’t reply to him.

Swoosh!

The Martial Goddess abruptly appeared in front of Ye Guan.

Ye Guan froze, but he hurriedly cried out, “I surrender! I admit defeat!”

The Martial Goddess didn’t say anything, but her figure blurred.

Ye Guan stared at her incredulously.

Soon, the Martial Goddess finally disappeared.

An ancient book appeared in mid-air and floated over to Ye Guan. Ye Guan was greatly startled upon seeing the book’s name.

World Devastation Art!

Ye Guan ignored the excruciating pain and raised his hand to open the book.

The first page of the book contained only a single line of words—Seize the opportunity, move the heavens by an inch. Cultivate a punch to destroy the world, and you shall be invincible in close-range combat.

Invincible in close-range combat! Ye Guan was ecstatic. He flipped to the next page, and a ray of light shot out and melted into his glabella.

Boom!

A deluge of information flooded Ye Guan’s mind.

Simplicity-rank martial skill—World Devastation Art.

On the Zhongtu Divine Continent, martial skills and cultivation methods were categorized into the following ranks: Human, Spiritual, King, Earth, Sky, Immortal, Saint, and Imperial. The ranks above Imperial were Divine and Simplicity.

An Imperial-rank martial skill was extremely rare. Ye Guan had only encountered a single cultivator with an Imperial-rank martial skill in his arsenal, and it was none other than Zhang Longhu.

Ye Guan was still in awe of Zhang Longhu’s Imperial-rank martial skill.

The great clans of the Zhongtu Divine Continent only had a few Divine-rank martial skills, while only the top clans had Simplicity-rank martial skills.

The Great Dao of Simplicity was all about simplicity. The only way forward—once things had gotten a bit too complicated—was to simplify everything. One had to be straightforward and attack without bells and whistles.

A punch had to be enough to kill one’s opponent.

Ye Guan was beyond excited, even though he was heavily injured. The World Devastation Art had said that he would be invincible in close-range combat upon successfully cultivating it.

A Martial Goddess had developed it as well, so how could it be mediocre among the other Simplicity-rank martial skills? The World Devastation Art was definitely unrivaled, and it would definitely help him stand toe-to-toe against opponents whose cultivation bases were significantly higher than his.

It was all worth it! Ye Guan boisterously laughed before shouting, “Master Pagoda! I got a Simplicity-rank martial skill! Look! It’s a Simplicity-rank martial skill! Oh my goodness! Hahaha!”

Little Pagoda remained silent.

Meanwhile, the mysterious voice remarked, “How do you think he’s going to react once he finds out that what he obtained today is considered garbage in his family?”

Little Pagoda sighed and said, “I don’t know.”

The mysterious voice asked, “Why don’t you give him something better than that?”

Little Pagoda said, “No. He put his life on the line in exchange for that martial skill, so I can’t just give him something better without any sacrifice on his part.”

The mysterious voice agreed. “Indeed.”

Ye Guan was still laughing enthusiastically as he marveled, “Master Pagoda, look! Master Pagoda? Why are you not saying anything? It’s a Simplicity-rank martial skill! Isn’t it amazing?”

Little Pagoda remained silent.

Ye Guan jumped for joy for quite a while, but he eventually calmed down and sat cross-legged. He consumed the remaining two spiritual pills in his storage ring.

Two hours later, he felt much better, but he didn’t stand up. He decided to cultivate.

World Devastation Art—Seize the opportunity, move the heavens by an inch. Cultivate a punch to destroy the world, and you shall be invincible in close-range combat. It was a martial skill that massively increased one’s explosive strength at the opportune moment.

Ye Guan reckoned that he would instantly kill an Ancient Heavenly Dragon in just one punch using the World Devastation Art.

The Martial Goddess couldn’t display the full might of the martial skill, as she was just a replica of the real Martial Goddess and was being suppressed by the Profound Tower as well.

If the real Martial Goddess were here, she wouldn’t have to use the World Devastation Art. Ye Guan reckoned that she could destroy the entire Zhongtu Divine Continent with a casual punch.

It didn’t take Ye Guan that long to memorize the intricacies of the World Devastation Art. It only took him two days to learn and master the martial skill. He could now display the same might that the replica of the Martial Goddess had shown to him using the same World Devastation Art.

Rumble!

The Tower Keeper’s voice suddenly echoed in Ye Guan’s head. “Young Lord Ye, hurry up and leave! There are people from the main branch here!”

Ye Guan jumped up. He left the platform and returned to the Profound Tower.

The Tower Keeper saw Ye Guan and hurriedly said, “Young Lord Ye, you really have to leave. The main branch has discovered that you’re here, and they sent men to come after you.”

Ye Guan frowned, but he cupped his fists and said, “I’m leaving, Senior.”

He turned around to leave, but a powerful divine sense locked onto him from above.

The Tower Keeper’s expression turned pale.

Ye Guan sent a message to the Tower Keeper using voice transmission.

“Tell them that I forced you, Senior.”

The Tower Keeper smiled wryly.

A white-robed old man descended in front of Ye Guan and the Tower Keeper. A group of ten elites clad in black robes stood behind the white-robed old man. They were powerful, and the weakest of them was a Divine Tribulation Realm cultivator.

Meanwhile, the white-robed old man was a Seal Shattering Realm cultivator.

The white-robed elder stared at Ye Guan and said, “Young Lord Ye, the Immortal Treasures Pavilion doesn’t welcome you.”

“All right.” Ye Guan nodded and said, “I’m leaving, then!”

He turned around to leave.

“Hold on!” the white-robed old man called out.

Ye Guan turned toward the white-robed old man.

The white-robed old man said indifferently, “You may leave, but you have to leave your equipment behind.”

Everyone was already aware that Ye Guan possessed a seemingly invincible sword.

It seemed that the white-robed old man was coveting Ye Guan’s sword.

Ye Guan stared at the elder and asked, “You want me to leave my equipment behind?”

The white-robed old man nodded and said, “Yes.”

Shwik!

A sword pierced the white-robed old man’s forehead.

The white-robed old man stared in disbelief at Ye Guan.

Ye Guan glowered and asked, “Did I show you too much respect?”