"You sure talk big! In that case, let us three family heads show you what we're capable of!"
High above in the sky, both sides stood facing each other, separated by hundreds of meters.
On one side were the three family heads of the state city: Mason Ning, Jason Chen, and Selena Jin. On the other side stood Darius Di, a Sword Hall elder under the mysterious Divine Temple.
"Enough talk—if you want to fight, then let's fight!" Darius Di raised his longsword, pointing it at the three, his voice full of swagger.
"Fine! Mason, Selena, today the three of us will join forces against this arrogant fool!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Jason Chen strode out into the air. With each step, a golden lotus bloomed beneath his feet, releasing a faint lotus fragrance. His aura surged higher and higher, and by the time he was within ten feet of Darius Di, his momentum had reached its peak.
"Planting Golden Lotus in the Void! Take this!"
With a low shout, Jason Chen formed a seal and sent out a massive golden lotus. As it flew forward, it exploded into countless strands of golden sword-qi.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!!
The golden sword-qi could cut through anything, tearing open the void as it shot toward Darius Di.
At the same time, Selena Jin made her move.
With a casual flick of her hand, a copper coin flew up. The unremarkable coin reached the sky and suddenly began multiplying—one became two, two became four, four became eight... In an instant, thousands of coins filled the air.
"Go!"
Selena Jin pointed, and the coins merged into a giant copper-colored dragon that charged at Darius Di.
Seeing this, an experienced spectator shouted, "That's the Jin family's Mother Coins of Ten Thousand Generations! It's said to be a seventh-grade spirit tool, unbelievably powerful!"
Meanwhile, Mason Ning began playing his black ancient zither once more.
The music flowed gently like water, yet each note condensed into a transparent rune that drifted out from the strings, flying toward Darius Di.
"That's the Ning family's World-Enthralling Heaven-Tone! It's their peerless dao art passed down for ten thousand years—Darius Di is in real trouble now!" another onlooker exclaimed.
The clash between the four late Soul-Split experts was about to erupt.
But facing the combined assault of the three, Darius Di showed not a hint of fear. His eyes burned with fighting spirit, brimming with endless battle intent.
He formed a fist-seal with his left hand, sword in his right.
In the next instant, his left fist swept out, unleashing a surging Heaven-Hate Fist intent that rolled forward like a mountain range.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sword-qi formed from the golden lotuses shattered to dust under the relentless fist intent.
At the same time, Darius Di's right hand slashed out with his sword. Sword light arced across the sky, alternating between two distinct sword intents.
Boom!
The copper dragon collided with Darius Di's sword-qi and instantly disintegrated.
But the transparent musical runes seized the opportunity to close in on Darius Di.
"Roar! Roar!"
Darius Di opened his mouth and unleashed a thunderous roar. The sound waves drowned out the zither music, scattering the transparent runes.
He had spent days training inside the Divine Temple, raising the power of his Heaven-Hate Fist, and mastering the Seven-Absolutes Heaven-Sword and Divine-Beast Heaven-Tone imparted by his young master. His strength had soared tenfold, giving him the confidence to even challenge a Fusion-stage expert for a few rounds.
Indeed, Darius Di was Old Man Tanner, while Logan Lang was Conrad Wolf. The nine early Soul-Split experts were Song One through Song Nine, and the girl by Old Man Tanner's side was Raina Quinn.
This time, in order to scheme against the Liang Province altar, Ian Song had sent out every available subordinate.
In the blink of an eye, Old Man Tanner had exchanged dozens of moves with the three family heads.
Yet to the shock of the spectators, he was single-handedly overpowering all three family heads.
Another flurry of exchanges followed.
Old Man Tanner blasted Jason Chen back with a punch. As Jason staggered, he spat out three mouthfuls of blood.
Immediately, Old Man Tanner raised his sword and struck out.
Selena Jin retreated, but a horrific wound still opened across her chest.
As for Mason Ning, he flew backward, clutching his zither—but Old Man Tanner's fist still caught him.