"Although I have never seen you before, I should be able to guess your origins."
Solban took a deep breath, and the slight furrow in his brows smoothed out. His gaze fell upon Su Heng’s rough face, and a smile appeared on his face as he said calmly, "Jialan Gunna died by your hand, you are Su Heng."
"You’ve caused the three Esoteric Sects quite a bit of trouble; they planned for many years to invade the Jiangbei region. But because of your arrival, their efforts were in vain." Beneath the blood-colored moonlight, Solban and Su Heng, two giants, stood less than thirty ters apart, with the forr speaking somberly, "Those people consider you a thorn in their side, an itch they cannot scratch."
"Is that so?" Su Heng replied calmly, "I never care about the thoughts of ants; crushing them underfoot is enough."
"Indeed, such spirit, but you also have such strength," Solban laughed heartily, and then his gaze beca focused, "I am not your enemy, and I do not wish to complicate matters here."
"And what makes you believe that?" Su Heng tilted his head slightly.
"At the very least, not now, our goals do not conflict," Solban said, stroking his chin, a serious look of contemplation crossing his face.
"You’ve yet to reach Heavenly Deceit, and by coming here, you must be seeking the scriptures of the Tathagata’s hidden texts to make a breakthrough—good insight," Solban said, extending his hand to point at a stone stele in the corner, "The scriptures you need are engraved on that stone stele. How about we do not disturb each other, okay?"
After so serious consideration, Su Heng nodded and said with a smile, "Okay."
"Then..." Solban’s eyes steadied, and he took a step back.
He slowly turned around, and in the mont of his turn—
Whoosh!
The floor cracked open simultaneously, and both n burst into action.
Two dull and exaggerated iron fists collided, compressing the air with imnse force as if a thunderclap sounded out of nowhere.
The ripples from the clash of force distorted the moonlight, radiating outward, causing the floor to explode along its path, with large cracks also spreading across the surrounding walls.
Although both were deliberately containing the leakage of their power, the structure itself was quite extraordinary. It managed to withstand the aftermath of their battle, with golden symbols erging in the void, anchoring the pavilion in place and preventing it from collapsing.
Solban felt a slight numbness in his arm and his face darkened, "You breaking your word like that is not very nice."
"Aren’t you the sa? Never thought about ending this amicably."
Su Heng let out a chuckle and then said, "In our part of the world, there’s an old saying you might have heard of. How can I permit soone to snore beside my bed? I thought about it, and it seems better to eliminate you here—more secure."
"..." Solban was speechless, "This heritage of Skull Plain is mine, and by rights, I was here first. How has it beco your territory?"
"Heaven and earth’s treasures belong to those with virtue," Su Heng said, slightly lifting his chin and casually tossing his robe.
He shifted to the side, uttering a low grunt, his arms suddenly tensing.
On his broad and solid shoulders, muscles tightened; dark, dragon-like veins pulsated and crackled loudly. Swelling, condensing, reconfiguring, they eventually ford a large "virtue" character.
"See? This is the virtue of martial virtue!" Su Heng laughed nacingly, baring his ghastly white fangs. He spread his fingers and clenched them violently, causing a loud bang in the air.
The entire pavilion, along with Solban at its side, trembled fiercely.
"Alright, alright, alright, you want to play like this!" Solban laughed furiously as he rolled up his sleeves.
He said coldly, "I have cultivated for so many years, earned this reputation, ruled over Skull Plain, defeated the Demon Suppression Army, and countless masters from the Immortal Sects and noble families have fallen by my hand."
"You are the first who dares to be so arrogant in front of , treating like a pushover," Solban said in a low voice, "I admire your courage, but that’s all."
"Your legend ends with ."
Su Heng stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, his eyes blazing with bloodlust, like a beast scenting blood; his facial expression was terrifying, and intense fighting spirit burst forth from his robust body.
"Bring it on, I can hardly wait," Su Heng’s voice erged gutturally, filled with a bloodthirsty excitent, "Let’s see just how strong the legendary barbarian king is, don’t disappoint now."
"Fine!" Solban roared with laughter, his platinum aura exploding around him, "Then you shall have your wish!"
Boom!
Solban made the first move, breaking the floor beneath his feet.
A wide-reaching punch turned into a white incandescent waterfall, crashing down upon Su Heng’s head.
With this punch, Solban’s spirit, energy, and essence were elevated to their peaks; even a real mountain in his way would be utterly flattened by this blow. However, he was facing Su Heng, who spread his fingers and t the attack, capturing Solban’s punch securely in his hand.
Swinging up, then smashing down!
Bang!
The ground burst violently, stones and splinters flying everywhere.
Golden runes erged throughout the pavilion, barely blocking the shock waves scattered from the collision.
Su Heng applied a force, sealing it. Gaining the upper hand, he showed no rcy, lifting his leg to stomp at Solban’s head, aiming to kill him on the spot.
At the critical mont, Solban’s power surged, allowing him to dodge by a hair’s breadth.
Even so, a slash wound appeared on his face.
Blood spurted from the cut.
"You don’t seem as strong as you claim," Su Heng said coldly, his bronze skin reflecting a dense tallic glow under the moonlight.
"Again!" shouted Solban, "You’ll see my real strength now."
He held nothing back, unleashing his full aura.
In the blazing white light, a figure erged that resembled Solban by about seventy percent, but it was even more rugged and brimming with a tallic texture.
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Solban swung his fist forward, and the divine form did the sa, matching his strength without the slightest reduction, and even more ferocious.
Boom!
Caught off-guard, Su Heng couldn’t react in ti.
He traded a hard blow with Solban, only to be struck heavily in the chest by the divine form’s fist.
Su Heng’s towering body was sent flying backward, crashing into the wall, which collapsed thunderously, subrging him into a darkness untouched by moonlight, dust filling the air. Golden runes, ford from the earth’s energy, faintly erged in the void, quickly dimming as their energy was nearly rubbed out.
"Hm! What’s going on here?" Solban held the upper hand, but his heart felt no joy.
His brow furrowed deeply, a feeling of oppressive weight materialized on his chest, making it difficult to breathe. A cold, suffocating sense of crisis grazed his skin, causing his hairs to stand on end in an instant. Solban’s pupils shrank suddenly, "Just now, I clearly caught him off-guard, so why..."
Hiss!
Solban didn’t have ti to figure out the answer.
The heavy breathing of a beast echoed through the chamber, interrupting Solban’s thoughts.
Bang!
He looked up abruptly, his gaze intensely fixed ahead.
As the ground shook violently, a massive hand covered with pitch-black scales and protruding nails erged from the darkness, slamming into the left wall.
Cracks spread swiftly across the wall with a snap, and imdiately after, the wall in front was torn open with a blast, the dust revealing an eight-ter-tall figure standing before Solban.
Jet-black, sharp armor, horns, a pronounced spine, and a long tail swinging back and forth—Su Heng had not even resorted to enhancing himself with secret techniques, rely reverting to his normal state.
The aura naturally emanating from him already forced a change in Solban’s expression, over and over until his eyebrows were deeply knitted together and his face beca utterly grim.
"No wonder, no wonder Jialan Gunna, leading tens of thousands of Monk Soldiers and with Formation enhancent, still died by your hand," Solban took a deep breath, almost empathizing with the despair the Future Buddha must have felt at that ti.
"To force my true form out is indeed a matter of pride for you," Su Heng said gloomily, yet even so, his voice grated like steel, resembling the collision and roar of thousands of soldiers on the battlefield.
"Are you a man or a monster?!" Solban looked up, his eyes burning as he stared at him.
"For a man about to die, does it matter?" Su Heng replied calmly, then imdiately slapped down with his hand.
Thump!
Solban raised his hand to block, and the Platinum Divine Form did the sa.
Then both of them exploded simultaneously, as Su Heng’s physique exaggerated to a level of terror, rivaling a demon god, forcefully pressing down.
Boom!
The entire building trembled violently, a crater appearing on the ground.
Flecks of dark red firelight shimred around the edge of the crater, a result of the intense friction of the air.
"It’s over!" Su Heng glanced at the blood on his hand, flicked it off casually, and then his figure gradually shrank, returning to a three-ter-six humanoid disguise. The constant battles had nearly pushed Gion to the limit. Maintaining his true form, just the surging blood aura alone was enough to cause this place to collapse into ruin.
Su Heng turned and walked towards the stele recording the Sutras of the Tathagata.
But he halted abruptly after taking one step.
A look of surprise, rarely seen, passed across Su Heng’s face.
"How can this be possible!?" he whirled around abruptly, looking back.
Under the blood-red moonlight, Solban, who had been reduced to a ss of flesh and bones, miraculously reappeared. His flesh was reconstituting, and his aura hardly weakened.
"It seems you do not fully understand the realm beyond Heavenly Deceit." Watching the confusion on Su Heng’s face, Solban spoke calmly, "The first step of this realm is to temper the indestructible nature. The body is immortal, capable of Blood Rebirth, such things are within reach."
"I don’t believe that kind of resurrection cos without a cost," Su Heng said coldly, "If I can kill you once, I can kill you a hundred tis, a thousand tis, even ten thousand tis."
"What a madman." Solban began to laugh, "Too bad, I can’t afford to continue playing with you."
"My goals are almost achieved, goodbye," Solban flicked his finger.
A white force burst forth like a whip, not heading towards Su Heng, but targeting the stele inscribed with the Sutras of the Tathagata beside him.
Su Heng reached out to grasp the force, pulverizing it. But in that mont of distraction, Solban had already darted out the window like a fish.
Whoosh!
He pressed down with his hand, activating the Formation below.
The grey-white light re-erged, and without resistance, Solban was swallowed by a rift in space, disappearing from Su Heng’s view.
"To escape from my grasp, you’re sowhat capable," Su Heng chuckled, "Indeed, the well-known are not undeserving of their reputations, but you won’t be so lucky next ti."
"What’s this plan he ntioned?" Su Heng stroked his chin.
He moved to where Solban had been sitting and inspected the stele. After so contemplation, a line of grey text appeared on Su Heng’s attribute panel—Heavenly Demon Transformation Technique (Uninitiated).
Looking at the contents, Su Heng’s expression turned odd, because this Cultivation Technique turned out to be a top-tier demonic practice specifically designed to counter the Buddha’s strength by practicing in reverse.
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