Hu Mazi was no less eager to prove himself, he drew out several talismans, those talismans shimmering with an enigmatic glow in his grasp, he muttered incantations under his breath, then hurled them towards the cultivators still sprawled upon the stone platform.
The talismans transformed in mid-air into streaks of golden light, streaking across like shooting stars, alighting upon the cultivators and instantly dispelling the malevolent sorcery afflicting them.
“Many thanks to you, senior, for saving our lives!” Once roused to awareness, the cultivators kowtowed to Hu Mazi in gratitude, their eyes brimming with heartfelt appreciation.
Hu Mazi waved them off, feigning nonchalance as he declared, “No need to thank us, make haste and depart, this place will soon become a battlefield. My brother’s wrath is more than these wretches can endure.”
The cultivators wasted no time, scrambling to their feet and fleeing the hall as if pursued by fiends from the underworld.
At that moment, a heavy tread echoed from the rear of the hall, as if Death itself were drawing near.
Out stepped a man clad in a golden robe, his features gaunt and venomous, eyes ablaze with murderous intent, like a serpent coiled in shadows, none other than the Sixth Hall Master, Jin Fu.
“Chen Ping, so you have finally arrived? I never imagined you would locate my palace so swiftly, and dare to invade my Sixth Hall with just the two of you, sabotaging my ritual!”
Jin Fu snarled, his voice reverberating through the hall, laced with an aura of unassailable authority.
Though Jin Fu’s heart raced with unease at that instant, he could not afford to betray it.
Chen Ping regarded the Sixth Hall Master with utter indifference, his gaze appraising a corpse, and said slowly, “Look at you, skulking about like a coward, are you not terrified out of your wits? Spare us the pretence of bravado, kneel now and address me as grandfather, and perhaps I shall grant you a swift end.”
Upon hearing this, Jin Fu’s face darkened to a scowl, his eyes narrowing with icy malice as he retorted, “You two? And you presume to slay me? What utter folly! I have the Divine Hall at my back, and the Fifth Hall Master will arrive presently, it is you who shall perish.”
Hu Mazi scoffed dismissively, “Is the Divine Hall so formidable? Let me tell you, before Chen Ping, your vaunted Divine King’s Hall would not merit the task of polishing his boots! Chen Ping’s power now surpasses anything you can fathom.”
Chen Ping, catching this, shot Hu Mazi a quick glance and coughed lightly, saying, “Master Hu, that is quite enough, do not exaggerate so…”
Chen Ping was hardly equipped to challenge the Divine King as matters stood, let alone oppose the entire Divine Hall outright, after all, the Fourth Hall Master had rendered him tangible aid in the past.
“I am merely putting the frighteners on him, have you not seen how this Sixth Hall Master is on the verge of wetting himself!”
Hu Mazi grinned broadly.
At Hu Mazi’s words, the Sixth Hall Master Jin Fu’s complexion turned ghastly, as if he had swallowed a fly whole, and he roared in fury, “Insolent curs! You dare to mock me, today I shall demonstrate my true might!”
With that, Jin Fu unleashed a formidable aura, that aura surging forth like a relentless tidal wave towards Chen Ping and Hu Mazi, compressing the very air with a sizzling hiss in its wake.
Hu Mazi’s expression shifted in alarm, he hurriedly circulated his inner immortal energy to resist, a faint shield of immortal qi materialising around him, yet beneath the onslaught of that potent aura, fissures began to spiderweb across the barrier.
Chen Ping, however, stood unmoved, merely fixing Jin Fu with a chilling stare, that gaze capable of congealing all it surveyed, then declaring, “Your cultivation is indeed commendable, alas, you have crossed my path. In my presence, you amount to little more than refuse.”
No sooner had he uttered this than Chen Ping emanated an aura far surpassing Jin Fu’s own, that aura bearing down like the weight of Mount Tai upon its target.
Jin Fu felt an inexorable force crashing over him, his frame as though pinned beneath a colossal peak, his legs buckling involuntarily.
