“Hmph, arrogant! Let me see just how capable you really are!” Ji Lian snarled in fury. He charged forward at once and shouted, “Everyone else, fall back!”
When Martial Saints fought at full power, everyone present would be caught in the fallout.
That was why they did not choose to attack from afar.
As soon as Ji Lian’s command rang out, the three great factions and all the onlookers retreated explosively in every direction.
Against a battle between Martial Saints, they could not intervene at all.
While the crowd retreated, Ji Lian and Zhan Meng attacked once more. Long Tutian met their weapons bare-handed again and sent both men flying.
This time, however, he moved left and right, striking one at a time rather than taking both simultaneously.
Naturally, he also swept Lin Xiao along with him, the pressure radiating from his body repelling the Martial Saint pressure unleashed by the other two.
Otherwise, the pressure alone might have gravely injured or even crushed Lin Xiao to death.
“Since you two refuse to give up, I’ll play with you for a while!”
Long Tutian drew out a pair of golden gauntlets and slipped them over his fists. He clenched his hands; golden light flowed across the surface of the gauntlets.
Carrying Lin Xiao with him, he took the initiative and charged straight at Ji Lian.
At Martial Saint speed, a distance of ten or even dozens of li was effectively melee range; a single shift in position was enough to close the gap.
In an instant, Long Tutian appeared before Ji Lian and unleashed a ferocious punch. The void trembled. His gauntleted fist carried heaven-shaking momentum as it smashed down.
Ji Lian was not to be outdone. Peerless power erupted from him. His long sword slashed straight down, producing a sound like firecrackers, and clashed head-on with Long Tutian’s fist.
Clang!
A piercing metallic screech resounded through heaven and earth. Sparks flew. The terrifying collision of forces made the void itself seem about to explode.
Under the impact, Ji Lian’s body was hurled far backward.
At that moment, Zhan Meng’s blade chopped heavily toward Long Tutian’s back. Long Tutian spun, throwing out his left fist to meet the incoming sword.
Clang!
Another deafening metallic clash. Zhan Meng’s body was likewise flung hundreds of li away.
Ignoring the rear, Long Tutian swept Lin Xiao forward and charged at Ji Lian again. In a flash he was upon him, another punch thundering forth with the ferocity of a dragon and overwhelming might.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Long Tutian’s twin fists struck in rapid succession. Within a few blows, Ji Lian was repeatedly sent flying. In the space of several exchanges, he had been driven back two or three li.
Only then did Zhan Meng catch up and attack once more, only to be casually repelled again.
In close-quarters combat, the two were utterly outmatched by Long Tutian.
Whether it was Lin Xiao or the distant retreating crowd, everyone was stunned.
Long Tutian’s battle prowess was simply too terrifying. In direct confrontation, two Martial Saints were actually at a complete disadvantage.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Long Tutian’s aura exploded. He became like a true dragon incarnate, savage and unstoppable. He pressed Ji Lian relentlessly, forcing him back more than a thousand li. Even Zhan Meng’s constant harassing attacks from behind proved useless. Long Tutian simply hammered Ji Lian until blood trickled from the corner of the man’s mouth.
Lin Xiao was shaken to the core. He had assumed that among Martial Saints, every fight would be an earth-shattering stalemate, both sides evenly matched in a spectacular, endless clash.
He had never imagined that even at the Martial Saint realm, one side could be completely dominated.
Clang!
Another thunderous strike. Ji Lian was blasted a full hundred li away.
His expression was unsightly beyond description. That blow had surely left his entire body in agony.
By now, the Martial Saint battlefield was more than a thousand li from the spectators. Zhan Meng, acting as the pursuer and disruptor, had not suffered Long Tutian’s focused onslaught.
At this moment he gripped his blade with both hands. Knowing Long Tutian’s physical body was monstrous, he no longer chose close combat. Instead, he unleashed a terrifying martial technique. Vast and majestic power surged. With supreme might, he cleaved downward through the air.
Boom!
A matchless blade beam, like a heaven-startling rainbow or void-born thunder punishment, stretched a hundred zhang. It whipped up ferocious gales and howling winds as it slashed straight toward both Long Tutian and Lin Xiao.
Roar!
Long Tutian spun around and punched. Terrifying golden fist radiance condensed before his gauntlet, forming a massive golden dragon. It seemed to emit a draconic roar. The destructive power looked capable of obliterating all obstacles as it smashed directly into Zhan Meng’s blade beam.
Boom!
A heaven-shaking explosion erupted. The golden dragon fist radiance collided with the centre of the hundred-zhang blade beam, causing the blade beam to collapse from the middle outward.
Both halves of the blade beam disintegrated in turn. The resulting torrential shockwaves also caused the fist radiance to crumble section by section.
Ocean-like waves of qi swept toward Zhan Meng.
One remaining segment of uncollapsed golden radiance, like a dragon’s tail, shot through the rolling shockwaves and slammed into Zhan Meng.
Martial Saint attacks were simply too fast; everything happened in the blink of an eye.
Zhan Meng paled in shock. He hurriedly raised his blade horizontally before his chest. The remnant dragon-tail radiance struck the weapon. Another deafening explosion rang out. Heaven-overflowing shockwaves burst in front of him, and his body was hurled more than a hundred li backward.
Blood already spilled from his mouth.
A single blow had injured Zhan Meng. One could only imagine how domineering Long Tutian’s strength truly was.
“Ji Water Form!”
On the other side, seeing Long Tutian’s true power, Ji Lian immediately executed the second form of the Ji family’s Zhaotian Sword.
His supreme sword slashed down. A sword beam more than ten zhang long stabbed straight out from the blade.
The sword beam resembled flowing water, not particularly dazzling.
Yet it contained power so immense that the void itself seemed unable to contain it and began to tremble.
The flowing water coursed through the sky, unstoppable. Wherever it passed, the void was pierced with a hissing shriek.
“Ji Water Form!”
Lin Xiao and all the distant onlookers cried out in alarm.
The Ji family’s Zhaotian Sword was their core martial technique, peerlessly mighty and utterly terrifying.
Previously, whether it was Ji Yang or Ji Yue of the Ji family, they had only managed to produce vague sword beams. Even Ji Yue had only manifested a flowing-water sword beam one or two metres wide.
But in the hands of Martial Saint Ji Lian, it had become fully materialised: a sword beam more than ten zhang across. Its might was truly horrifying.
The instant the sword beam appeared, Lin Xiao immediately felt a suffocating pressure.
If he had to face this sword beam alone, he would probably be crushed to death by its terrifying presence long before it even reached him.
Every attack of a Martial Saint carried dreadful Martial Saint pressure. Unless one was also a Martial Saint, no one could withstand that pressure alone.
“Solitary Dragon Art!”
Long Tutian spoke softly. He turned sideways and punched. Dazzling golden fist radiance poured from both gauntlets, illuminating the entire heaven and earth.
This time the golden radiance condensed into substance. The entire fist beam transformed into a sturdy dragon three or four zhang thick. At the front, a dragon head formed, complete with horns.
Scales even appeared along its body; it was utterly lifelike.
The whole fist radiance seemed to become a living golden dragon. Mouth gaping wide, it charged toward Ji Lian’s flowing-water sword beam.
