“Elder Ji, since you are here, let us begin.” Zhan Meng wasted no words and spoke directly.
Ji Lian nodded. He threw a punch, and brilliant fist light surged forth like the rolling Yangtze River, a torrential flood of unparalleled power carrying terrifying Martial Saint pressure as it smashed towards the floating heavenly palace.
Seeing Ji Lian act, Zhan Meng also moved. He sent out a palm strike, a colossal three-hundred-zhang palm force slamming into the side of the palace.
Boom! Boom!
Enormous explosions rang out, the void itself seemed to quake violently, and the floating heavenly palace was hurled far away, shrinking by another twenty to thirty zhang.
“Long Tutian, are you still not going to help?” Zhan Meng asked, clearly displeased that Long Tutian remained idle.
“Please, both of you, continue as you wish!” Long Tutian’s reply almost made Zhan Meng choke with anger.
“Ignore that madman!” Ji Lian frowned slightly, then attacked again. He unleashed a flurry of punches, each fist beam containing the mighty power of a Martial Saint, piercing through the air and striking the palace repeatedly.
Zhan Meng stopped staring at Long Tutian and also continued his assault.
For Martial Saints, even reducing the palace to the size of an inch would not drain them significantly.
Moreover, they were only using ordinary attacks and had not revealed any of their trump cards.
Yet to the onlookers, even the most casual strikes from Martial Saints were utterly astonishing.
The power of a Martial Saint was simply too frightening.
After more than a dozen exchanges, the originally three-hundred-zhang palace had shrunk to roughly twenty or thirty zhang across.
The once gigantic structure had become almost the size of an ordinary palace building.
It still floated in the void, however, still surrounded by the restrictive clouds.
Both Zhan Meng and Ji Lian tried rushing into it, only to be forced back once more.
Boom! Boom!
The two attacked again, their terrifying power slamming into the palace from opposite sides. This time, because their strikes countered each other, the palace was not sent flying.
After this exchange, the palace shrank by half again, now only a dozen or so zhang across.
At this size, a Martial Saint could already carry it away, but it was still somewhat too large and inconvenient. Flying while carrying a dozen-zhang palace would drastically reduce speed.
With two other Martial Saints present, whoever tried to take it would find it extremely difficult.
Therefore, they needed to keep attacking to make it smaller still.
Yet at this moment, neither moved. Both gathered power, waiting for the other to strike first so they could seize the chance to snatch it.
At the same time, they remained wary of Long Tutian.
Because after one more round of attacks, the palace would be only a few zhang in size, small enough that carrying it would hardly affect mobility.
In other words, after the next barrage, the real struggle would begin.
Thus, both waited for the other to make the first move, conserving strength to fight and flee.
But since both had the same idea, neither continued attacking.
“Why have the two of you stopped?” Long Tutian’s voice rang out at that moment. He swept Lin Xiao along and flew closer.
Both men’s expressions darkened. Why have we stopped? You are already rushing over. Do you really not understand?
“Since neither of you is moving, then do not mind if I do!”
The instant Long Tutian finished speaking, he threw punches with both fists left and right. Instead of targeting the palace, he attacked the two Martial Saints directly. Golden fist beams shot forth like golden dragons, whistling through the sky with faint draconic roars. Each beam carried heaven-shaking power as they hurtled towards Zhan Meng and Ji Lian respectively.
“You!” Both men flew into a rage. They had assumed Long Tutian would attack the palace, not launch a direct assault on them.
The palace was not yet small enough to carry away easily, yet he was already fighting them.
What infuriated them even more was that, the moment Long Tutian struck, the dozen-zhang floating heavenly palace suddenly sped towards him.
Boom! Boom!
The two hurriedly countered, unleashing peerless fist and palm strikes to block Long Tutian’s attacks.
Yet even though Long Tutian had split his focus, their combined assaults failed to completely shatter his strikes. Instead, the colliding forces turned into towering shockwaves that blasted upwards, downwards, left, and right.
Terrifying ripples swept across two to three hundred li in every direction.
Fortunately, no one was near those vertical planes of impact; otherwise, the shockwaves alone could have killed anyone below Martial Saint level.
This alone proved that Long Tutian, entirely on his own, could withstand the combined attacks of two Martial Saints.
After the exchange, both Martial Saints reacted swiftly and instantly shot towards the incoming palace.
Seeing the palace flying towards him, Long Tutian laughed heartily. “Hahaha! Let the younger generation fight over this floating heavenly palace. The three of us can simply watch from the sidelines.”
Instead of contesting the palace, he curved through the air and attacked the two men again.
Clearly, Lin Xiao was controlling the palace with spiritual force. The master and disciple had planned this beforehand.
Long Tutian was confident that even if Lin Xiao failed to control it, this was the perfect moment to strike the pair anyway.
As it turned out, Lin Xiao succeeded in using spiritual force to guide the dozen-zhang palace, which was the best possible outcome.
Moreover, controlling it with spiritual force was fairly quick, so there was no rush to shrink it further before taking it.
Instead, Long Tutian blocked the two Martial Saints, diverting their attention so that Lin Xiao, together with the Azure Dragon Gate elders and disciples, could contend against the Ji family, Sacred Heaven Gate, and everyone else.
He was genuinely curious to see what kind of storm Lin Xiao could whip up by commanding the floating heavenly palace.
However, neither Zhan Meng nor Ji Lian was willing to let the crowd, especially Lin Xiao, fight over such a supreme treasure.
Both tried to bypass Long Tutian and charge towards Lin Xiao.
But Long Tutian threw two more punches. Even more terrifying fist beams blasted towards them. The pair dodged and countered, intending to press forward.
Yet Long Tutian’s strikes were noticeably stronger this time. They directly shattered the duo’s defences and sent both men flying far back.
Shock appeared on their faces.
Long Tutian’s seemingly casual blows contained boundless power, churning their blood and nearly making them spit blood.
Fighting one against two and still easily repelling them, Long Tutian’s combat strength was truly terrifying.
“With me here, even if you reach the other side, you will not be able to touch a hair on Lin Xiao’s head,” Long Tutian declared.
Their expressions sank. Ji Lian shouted, “Since you want to watch the juniors fight, very well! Let us see whether Lin Xiao and your Azure Dragon Gate can withstand the might of my Ji family!”
Ji Lian charged at Long Tutian while bellowing, “All Ji family members, hear my command! Kill Lin Xiao and seize the floating heavenly palace!”
If the palace fell into Long Tutian’s hands first, gaining the initiative, it would be far harder for them to take it from him.
But the Ji family had seven or eight hundred people, three half-step Martial Saints, and numerous Ninth Layer Martial Emperors. Azure Dragon Gate only had two half-step Martial Saints. The Ji family could completely overwhelm them.
Moreover, Sacred Heaven Gate would surely join in. With two major forces, one of them holding the advantage, they could crush Azure Dragon Gate.
This was actually the outcome Ji Lian most desired. Since Long Tutian had chosen this method first, he was happy to oblige.
Zhan Meng thought the same. They wanted Lin Xiao dead and the palace seized. The palace was still a dozen zhang across; this was not yet the moment for Martial Saints to truly contest it. Since Long Tutian had handed this hot potato to Lin Xiao, Zhan Meng was perfectly content to let it play out.
Besides, both of them also wanted to test Long Tutian’s true strength. They refused to believe that two Martial Saints together could not handle one Long Tutian.
Boom! Boom! Boom! …
The three collided violently in a storm of explosions.
