Black clouds from the undersea volcanic eruption surged into the heavens, and countless fiery red rocks traced streaks of fire across the sky, scattering in every direction.
After rolling to its feet in the ocean, the Tianyang puppet turned its head slightly, an eerie red light glowing from its eyes.
It strode forward, heading directly toward Wanxian Island.
*Boom!*
With a single step, it kicked up massive waves hundreds of meters high.
Amidst the trembling earth and shaking sea, the Tianyang puppet marched forward with great strides.
It appeared slow, but was in fact astonishingly fast.
It drew ever closer to Wanxian Island.
Along the way, the tsunamis kicked up by its thunderous strides destroyed untold numbers of islands in its path.
Suddenly, the Tianyang puppet's colossal body jerked to a halt.
For the sky had suddenly plunged into darkness.
The Tianyang puppet looked up.
An inverted mountain, dozens of times larger than itself, had abruptly appeared overhead.
The mass of the mountain took up nearly its entire field of view, and beasts and trees could faintly be seen upon it.
"Fellow Daoist, please halt!"
At the same time, a chilly voice laced with subtle killing intent echoed through the heavens.
The mountain's tip, sharp as a drill, bore down straight from above!
Defiance written across its face, the Tianyang puppet roared and thrust both arms upward.
It crashed violently into the descending inverted mountain.
A shockwave exploded outward, centered on their point of impact.
Li Fan and Zhang Haobo, watching from afar, were caught in the blast wave, nearly tossed like duckweed in a gale, unable to hold their footing.
Expressions of terror could not help but surface on both their faces.
Only a moment later did a succession of delayed explosions come thundering in.
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
...
Looking closely again, they saw the inverted mountain continuing to press downward, and the Tianyang puppet's waist was slowly bent under the strain.
Its feet sank straight into the seabed, generating a continuous roar of concussions.
"Tian..."
Dark red light coursed across its body, growing increasingly bright and dazzling until it surpassed the blazing sun in the sky.
"...yang!"
The Tianyang puppet looked up at the inverted mountain held in its hands, madness and defiance surging violently from its eyes.
With relentless groans and creaks, its hunched body slowly straightened.
The massive mountain was gradually pushed back toward the sky, inch by inch.
"Hmph!"
Seeing that the Tianyang puppet remained unyielding, a cold snort echoed through heaven and earth once more.
Upon the inverted mountain, the phantom outlines of several differently shaped peaks faintly emerged.
Together they formed a profound array, and an immense, majestic aura instantly manifested.
The weight of the inverted mountain overhead seemed to multiply several times over in a split second.
Every part of the Tianyang puppet beneath its head was abruptly crushed into the sea.
The surrounding seawater was forced completely outward, forming a ring of colossal waves that surged into the distance.
The cracked, lava-covered seabed was laid bare.
Under the crushing impact, the earth was ground away continuously.
And under this tremendous pressure, the puppet's lower body was pulverized, bit by bit.
Soon, only the upper half of the Tianyang puppet remained, struggling to hold on.
Defeat seemed imminent.
"In all my life..."
"I bowed to no man..."
Yet it continued to repeat those words over and over.
After several repetitions, only the puppet's head still remained intact.
Beneath the base of the inverted mountain, its eyes snapped open in fury.
"Bowed to no man!"
The head detonated with a roar.
It dissolved into blazing red magma.
Beneath the floor of the Congyun Sea, the fire of the earth veins violently erupted once again.
Countless torrents of magma fused with the molten rock of the Tianyang puppet, coalescing into a figure of flame.
This reconstituted Tianyang puppet, enveloped in churning, boiling flames like a fire dragon, slammed head-on into the inverted mountain.
*Boom!*
It bored into the mountain's pointed tip from below and tore straight through the stone.
Amidst continuous deafening blasts, countless fissures spread across the inverted mountain.
Finally, the fire dragon broke out from the top of the mountain's base.
It soared into the air, roaring with fury.
A moment later, it shifted back into human form.
It gazed coldly down at the inverted mountain below.
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
...
The enormous inverted mountain shattered with a catastrophic roar.
Countless fragments rained down like meteors.
They crashed upon the black seabed formed from cooled magma.
"Quite interesting. Worthy of a successor of the ancient Path of Bodily Transformation."
With the inverted mountain destroyed, that voice resounded through the world once again.
There was none of the expected fury, but rather a tone of great interest.
"To possess such power after several thousand years, despite starting with only Golden Core potential..."
Above the Tianyang puppet, the phantom mountain peaks grew increasingly solid.
Seemingly provoked by the words 'Golden Core potential,' the Tianyang puppet let out another defiant roar, facing off against the phantom peaks.
"If you want to fight, take it somewhere else."
Just then, a languid female voice sounded.
Heaven and earth abruptly darkened.
Li Fan and Zhang Haobo looked up, only to find that at some point, the sun had vanished from the sky.
A great hole seemed to have been torn open in the heavens.
Within it, stars glittered like a night sky.
Starlight like sheer gossamer drifted down, settling over the Tianyang puppet.
"Roar!"
It only had time to let out a roar before its colossal figure vanished.
"Fine! Let us find another place and fight to our hearts' content!"
The phantom peaks disappeared without a trace as well.
The rift in the sky slowly closed, and the stars faded one by one.
The sun shone bright, and heaven and earth were quiet, once again calm with light clouds and gentle breezes.
Only this shattered stretch of the Congyun Sea bore silent witness to the earth-shattering battle that had just transpired.
"Those two who just appeared must be Soul Formation cultivators from Wanxian Island."
"Such power and majesty truly inspires awe."
This was also Li Fan's first time witnessing Soul Formation powerhouses taking action in person, and he could not help but feel his heart surge with restless excitement.
When he came back to his senses, he turned to look beside him.
Zhang Haobo was also in a daze, the shock on his face lingering long after.
*It seems the illusions created by the Cloud Water Illusory Dream Technique still cannot compare to firsthand experience. Otherwise, having truly witnessed the Red Flame Scorching Sea, he would never be so shaken by this clash between Soul Formation experts,* Li Fan mused.
Releasing his Insect Binding divine ability, Li Fan spoke up, "Fellow Daoist Zhang, how are you feeling?"
Zhang Haobo started, snapping back to reality.
The spiritual energy in his body surged instantly, and the twenty-four Sea-Calming Swords materialized around him in a flash.
"Hm?" Li Fan tilted his head, looking at him.
Remembering what had happened, Zhang Haobo's aura hitched, and he recalled the blue water swords.
Rubbing his head in slight embarrassment, he bowed toward Li Fan and said solemnly, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist, for saving my life."
Li Fan chuckled and waved his hand. "A trivial matter. For Fellow Daoist Zhang to battle seventeen puppets single-handedly with only middle Qi Condensation cultivation—"
"Controlling all those water swords across the sky to thoroughly suppress every puppet was truly an unforgettable sight!"
Zhang Haobo hurriedly shook his head. "It cannot compare to Fellow Daoist's divine ability."
Then he looked up toward the sky, a trace of melancholy crossing his expression. "Originally, having risen from a mere mortal to the middle Qi Condensation stage in just over a year, I felt a bit pleased with myself. Only today, having seen true wielders of great divine abilities, did I realize..."
"In their eyes, mere Qi Condensation cultivators are truly no different from ants."
Li Fan offered comforting words. "Fellow Daoist Zhang need not feel downcast. With your natural talent, given enough time, you might very well become one of those great wielders of divine power yourself."
Chapter 103