After Yuan Shenglian formed the hand seals, ancient writing quickly appeared in a thirty-foot radius and flaming red lotus flowers began to grow from the ground within it. It was as though the land was being engulfed by a sea of fiery lotuses, and all along the petals of the flowers were strands of gold. Not only was Fang Xing covered by these lotus flowers, but the Jing Guang disciples who'd survived up until now were covered as well.
At the same time, Jing Fu pointed her sword towards the empty sky and a cloud began to appear. Rain began to fall moments later, but this rain was filled with sword lights that covered the entire land with densely-packed blades falling down from the heavens.
The battle prowess of the pair's skills combined was indeed extraordinary. Both had studied their Ancient techniques to extreme degrees. One from the heavens, one along the earth—together, they blocked off each and every angle.
Yuan Shenglian's Enveloping Lotus skill had the ability to lock down space and bind Fang Xing, allowing Jing Fu to finish him off with her attack. It was inevitable these two attacks combined would injure their own clansmen, but the pair no longer had any other options. Fang Xing's actions had intimidated them and they needed to kill him no matter what.
Woosh woosh woosh….
As the lotus flowers silently grew and bound the surrounding area, Jing Fu aimed the dense sword rain to fall towards Fang Xing. It was clear to everyone that Fang Xing had nowhere to escape, and yet it seemed like he didn't even care to try; instead, he simply held his head up towards the sky filled with sword rain and looked on with a cold expression.
"Such a refined spell…. What a pity; it's too delicate!" With a sigh, Fang Xing raised both of his hands and began moving them in a peculiar manner that left behind hints of profound truths with every motion.
An ear-deafening bang rang out as two gigantic forces materialized from the heaven and earth—one gold, pure, and sanctified, the other ink-black, dark, and terrifying. Both forces began to rotate, one on top and one below, forming into a shape similar to a millstone. Under Fang Xing's guidance, the spell began to take shape, both turning counterclockwise before closing in….
"The reversal of Yin and Yang, Yin Yang Sanding Disc!" Fang Xing abruptly yelled out as the two forces finally converged. Amidst the loud noise, an overabundance of energy flowed out and covered over a hundred-foot radius in an instant, leaving nowhere to hide.
Even the Peng King within the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits made sure to draw back his black smoke in order to tightly wrap around Chu CI and protect her. "You think this boy asked me to protect this girl because he's worried about her wounds? He's worried that once his skill activates, he'll tear everything around him to shreds…."
When Grand Elder Jing Guang on the other side of the bridge saw Fang Xing activate this skill, surprise, anger, and hints of panic began to settle into his voice while his mind was filled with fear and questions. "How… an apex skill…. This kid is performing an apex skill…." Who taught this kid? At such a young age and at only Foundation Stage tier two, how was his battle prowess so strong? As for his fear… was this the end of his Jing Guang disciples? Was his branch going to die out here?
"What kind of foundation does this boy have? What could cause such a huge change?"
"Look at those two forces he's controlling. One is black malice and the other is gold. Could he… could his foundation be gold?"
The black-robed, red-browed, and blue-robed Golden Cores all started to feel amazed as well. As for the disciples inside the Mysterious Domain, they couldn't speak any longer.
As the Yin Yang Sanding Disc was activated, the heavens and earth reversed and the Yin and Yang became unsettled. The gold lotus flowers were blown into the air from the discs' power, and the rain of swords falling from the sky were sucked into it as well. Even the weapons and spells from the surrounding disciples was sucked up into that giant disc floating above them, causing loud noises to ring out as everything was ground up into pure Qi….
It had to be mentioned that although Wanluo had named this technique without much thought or care, the imagery was still rather accurate—the Yin Yang Sanding Disc, reversal of Yin and Yang was a skill that grinds away anything and everything. Delicate and refined spells would simply be overpowered and crudely crushed with violent force; when Fang Xing had said Yuan Shenglian and Jing Fu's spells were too "refined", it was precisely for this reason.
After two full rotations with Fang Xing's left palm on top and his right palm below, there were no longer any spells left surrounding him, nor could any weapons could be seen in front of the disciples. Yuan Shenglian, Jing Fu, as well as all of the other surrounding disciples were stunned speechless and frozen in place.
This was an apex skill, so of course it wouldn't be ordinary!
In the land of Tianyuan, it was usually only the elite youths from major clans and sects with tens of thousands of years of history who could study these. As for the rest, even many Golden Core cultivators hadn't studied an apex skill because they simply didn't have the manuals to do so.
This apex skill Fang Xing mastered was based around an incomplete manual Wanluo had found, but it was something he'd mastered by himself. This was the first time Fang Xing he'd openly revealed it in front of others after mastering it, and its impact was indeed breathtaking.
Amidst all the fear and panic, it was Yuan Shenglian who came to his senses first. "No, there's no time to be restrained anymore…." After seeing the power of Fang Xing's apex skill, he couldn't care about such matters any longer and activated the Golden Dragon Infant Bagua with a loud howl—the most important thing right now was staying alive.
By now, all of his arrogance had disappeared and the only emotion he felt was regret.
How… just how did he end up involved with such a little devil?
Only an elite taught by those ancient clans would have a battle prowess like this, right?
Once the Golden Dragon Infant Bagua was activated, it began to rotate while ascending into the air. It was a faint gold-colored jade plate, and as it rotated faster and faster, its shape distorted and its size suddenly grew to become like a small golden sun. Draconic howls rose up and three golden rays of light shot out from the plate into the sky, soon forming three vicious young dragons that howled at the heavens….
"Go!" Unafraid of using his own blood essence as fuel, Yuan Shenglian bit his tongue and spat it all into the air. Amidst the golden shine, another draconic howl rose up and yet another young dragon flew out.
Four young dragons!
The bagua had eight different formations, each sealing the spirits of a young dragon. It was possible to use this bagua to control up to eight young dragons at once, but this was an Ancient weapon and Yuan Shenglian's level wasn't high enough for him to activate it completely. Even after using his blood essence, it was only enough to summon four of the eight dragon spirits and this was already pushing himself to a limit.
How could an Ancient weapon be taken lightly?
An early Foundation Stage cultivator like him couldn't activate it completely. Based on conventional knowledge among cultivators, only someone who'd formed a golden core would have the ability to activate the full power of an Ancient weapon in battle. As someone in Foundation Stage tier three, being able to activate four of the eight dragons inside the bagua was already proof enough that Yuan Shenglian had extraordinary talent and ability—his rank as one of the best youths from the western desert was well-earned.
Boom….
After all four dragons released a howl together, one of them flew down above Yuan Shenliang and Jing Fu and began circling the pair to protect them. Two more were filled with malice as they dashed towards Fang Xing to try to swallow him whole. As for the fourth, it actually seemed to be self-aware and waved its tail towards all of the stunned disciples below with murderous intent in its eyes. Whether it was a disciple belonging to Jing Guang's branch or any of the other three Golden Cores, one gulp would swallow two at a time, a single wave of its tail would send half a dozen disciples flying, and a clamp of its claws would slice apart three more…. It had actually started massacring the disciples as though it was playing….
"Pfffch…." Yuan Shenglian spat out a mouthful of blood, his expression filled with helplessness. Although he'd activated four dragons, this was clearly above his limit and he was only able to control three of them with his spirit sense. The fourth one had started running amok and showed its instinctual viciousness by killing everything and everyone in its path.
Cultivation level was important when using an Ancient weapon, not only to supply an abundance of Qi but also to have a strong spirit sense. With too little Qi, the Ancient weapon couldn't be activated at all, and with too weak a spirit sense, it would be difficult to draw out the weapon's full potential.
Yuan Shenglian was feeling weak and didn't have enough energy to recall the fourth dragon right now. He could only let it roam free while pouring all of his focus into the hope the other two dragons would be able to kill off Fang Xing.
Hope wasn't completely lost! The apex skill Fang Xing showed was filled with power, yes, but that was precisely why he was confident Fang Xing had spent all he had to use it. The more powerful a spell, the more Qi someone would need to activate it—this was a fundamental rule no one could change. For someone to use such a terrifying apex skill while only in early Foundation Stage, the amount of Qi used had to also be extremely large. This was an opportunity for Yuan Shenglian to activate the bagua and kill him once and for all!
"What's this spirit weapon?" Fang Xing's brows creased as he felt the terrifying presence of the dragons, but he didn't show a sign of backing off or fleeing even towards them. Fang Xing just let out a cold laugh, "You think this apex skill of mine is finished?" His right palm began to move upwards from below while his left palm went from top to bottom, and his Yin Yang disc also began to move in reverse.
Yuan Shenglian had actually activated the Golden Dragon Infant Bagua with specific timing, intentionally waiting until right after Fang Xing had finished his apex skill. Because such an apex skill was abnormal and had such a large amount of power, Fang Xing's Qi should be almost completely empty by now—a perfect moment to go for the kill.
He would have never guessed that the jaw-dropping apex skill Fang Xing had performed was merely half of it.
Now it was time to activate the other half.