The Celestial Sect of Wonders tried to fully understand the potential of its disciples. However, generally, there were very few disciples from major families. After all, their own families should have their own unique mantras and spells. If these disciples harbored ill-intentions, then they would be eliminated straightaway by the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
Calculating carefully, other than Lin Tong, Zhuge Wanqiu's background was the most special amongst the second-generation disciples. After all, her father was a Immortal Soul Third Level cultivator. Very few cultivators in the Divine Lands reached this stage.
However, as Zhuge Zhan remembered how he lost his wife and son when he had unintentionally placed them in danger, he decided, in his grief, to enter the Void Battleground once more but only after he had entrusted his only relative, his daughter Zhuge Wanqiu, to the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
The flow of time in the Void Battleground was unpredictable. When Zhuge Zhan went, five years passed in the Greater World without him revealing himself once. Normally, Zhuge Wanqiu was polite, courteous and kept a low-profile. Hence, Wang Lin, Shi Tianhao and the rest forgot that she had a Immortal Soul Third Level father.
Very few people knew of Zhuge Wanqiu's background. Not even her fellow disciples of the same generation knew that she came from such an illustrious background.
However, Shi Tianhao and the rest knew a bit about Zhuge Zhan's background.
Many years ago, he was already an Immortal Soul Third Level cultivator who cultivated the Divine Light of the Sun Mantra. He was one of the few descendants of the formerly-great sect, the Bright Light Sect. However, as the Bright Light Sect was destroyed in the Antiquity Age, Zhuge Zhan was only able to obtain its teachings through Fate and luck. With its teachings, Zhuge Zhan formed his Immortal Soul and then reached the Immortal Soul Third Level, becoming one of the few Immortal Soul Third Level independent cultivators.
While he cultivated the Divine Light of the Sun Mantra, it was different from the Grand Sun Primordial Flame. Successfully cultivating the Divine Light of the Sun Mantra would allow one to obtain the Divine Sunlight. With the Divine Sunlight as the foundation, one could conjure many types of powerful and mystic spells.
Zhuge Zhan beat the Yu'ao Dragon King into retreat and then, he clasped his hands together at Wang Lin and said with a smile, "We'll take care of that later. I'll take care of the matter at hand first."
With that, he rushed straight for the Zu'e Grand Sage, whom Shi Tianhao was battling!
The Scorching Sun Holy Man was best-known not for his cultivation, but for his extreme love for his son and daughter!
As Zhuge Zhan's elder son had passed away, he only had a daughter left. Therefore, he was extremely protective of her. Thus, how could he tolerate the Yu'ao Dragon King threatening her?
He beat the Yu'ao Dragon King into retreat and then went straight for the Zu'e Grand Sage. A rainbow sliced through the sky and appeared before the Zu'e Grand Sage. Tiny dots of light started to shine around his body. While they appeared weak and faint, they managed to dim the entire sky. Everyone could only see these lights flashing before their eyes.
When dots of light appeared, Zhuge Zhan's powers increased exponentially. It was as if ten thousand suns were rising around him. He pointed at the Zu'e Grand Sage. The action seemed slow, as if he was carrying an object of ten thousand tons on him.
In comparison to his teleportation spell, the speed was vastly different. It was so slow till the point that whoever witnessed it felt as if they could die from boredom.
The flashing rays of light around Zhuge Zhan concentrated on his fingertip, which grew brighter and brighter till the point whereby one could not even look straight at it.
As he pointed forward with his finger, it was like a rising sun. Slowly but surely, it was like the most powerful natural energy amongst all creations. Nothing seemed capable of stopping it.
The Divine Light of the Sun Mantra, the Shining Sun Divine Fist Martial Way, the Sun Rises from the East!
The Zu'e Grand Sage did not try to dodge the blow. He counter-attacked Zhuge Zhan. After all, physical strength was his forte.
The void where the two combatants came into contact was obliterated immediately as the shockwave from the attack spread through the sky. It was if a hole had been punched in the sky by this pair of human and demon.
Zhuge Zhan did not obtain the advantage here like he did with the Yu'ao Dragon King. However, he burst out laughing, "Good! This is good!"
The Zu'e Grand Sage gathered his focus and no smile crossed his face. He specialized in physical strength and physical martial arts. However, Zhuge Zhan dared to meet him head-on in this regard. This meant that not only did Zhuge Zhan possess powerful and mystic spells on him, his own physical strength was not weak too.
The Zu'e Grand Sage's physical body twisted in space and his tail came lashing out with such force as if it wanted to smash a heavenly pillar in half.
At the same time, he opened his mouth and an ink-black fog came pouring out. Wherever the ink-black fog touched, it destroyed.
Looking at the situation, Zhuge Zhan's hands returned to before his chest. He continually called up spells as the many divine rays of sunlight congregated together to form round ball of light that was like the very sun itself.
In the next instant, the Dao fruit made from the divine sunlight rays flew into the sky, which suddenly split open! The light from the Sun, brightest of the nine luminaries, shone. Almost instantly, the entire void appeared to have darkened.
It was not because the sun had set or because clouds had enveloped the sun. Instead, it was because every single ray of light was devoured by this sun.
The vast expanse of heaven and earth as well as infinite void and the stars in space were all plunged into darkness as if they had never existed.
Only the sun shone. It appeared to be the only real thing there. A supreme brightness, a supreme lord!
Heaven's Gate of the Antiquity Age had the Celestial True Spells of the Seven Planets, which could summon the power of the seven planets with the power of a single human cultivator. However, in comparison to Zhuge Zhan's attack, which summoned the power of the Sun, it was much weaker.
Amongst all human mantras, this was the mantra that understood and manipulated the power of the Sun the best.
"Glorious Sun Holy Shine!" Zhuge Zhan's left hand was vertically-upright in front of his chest and his right hand wiggled a finger at the Zu'e Grand Sage. A bright, radiant light came crashing down from the sky.
The giant power in it made the Zu'e Grand Sage's face change. He continued to spew black fog. In the black fog, stellar light flashed and twinkled as he tried to use his own luminaries. He concentrated all of his power on his tail as he slammed it against the radiance that came down from the Heaven.
"Boom!" The entire heaven and earth became cloaked in light, blinding everyone. Everyone could only see white light.
At this distance, even Wang Lin, Shi Tianhao, the Lu Yuan Grand Sage, the Yu'ao Dragon King and Xu Anda could only feel a burning-hot sensation when they probed with their supernatural awareness.
"Master once said that it is extremely difficult for independent cultivators to make a name for themselves. However, when they rise truly, many of them possess some special spell or attack. It is indeed true," thought Wang Lin and Shi Tianhao simultaneously. "The Scorching Sun Holy Man used his own spell and power to battle against a demon of the same level as him. By managing to fight him to a draw, it proves that his abilities were exceptional."
Zhuge Zhan before them lived up to his fame and name with his powerful battling abilities. Let's not talk about his powerful mana, for his battle awareness and battle experience were all exceptional. Even if someone possessed a similar ability as his, they may not be able to win.
While he was free-spirited, his control and assessment of the battle was accurate and precise.
Lin Feng's Physical Spell Body watched the battle interestedly. "Amongst all of the Immortal Soul Third Level cultivators who went to Mount Yujing, only Xu Anda has an advantage over him. However, even he may not be able to win."
"The others, including Jie Luoshi, may not be able to win."
"In terms of other independent cultivators, the Luofu Holy Man could not match him in terms of battling abilities. However, in the Ying Sea, I doubt that the Luofu Holy Man would fight till the death with this temporary ally of the Great Zhou Empire."
As Zhuge Zhan and the Zu'e Grand Sage battled intensely, Shi Tianhao did not take over Wang Lin in dealing with the Lu Yuan Grand Sage. Instead, with a smile on his face, he went after the Yu'ao Dragon King.
On the other side, the shockwaves from the battle affected Xu Anda's Wailing Spirit Heaven and the Cang Heaven Spell Blade finally managed to emerge. However, he was still trapped by Xu Anda and could not progress at all.
In a short time, because of the Cang Heaven Spell Blade, the rapidly-deteriorating situation of the Celestial Sect of Wonders stabilized as the two sides returned to a draw. In fact, the Celestial Sect possessed a slight advantage here.
Yang Qing and the rest who managed to free themselves from danger continued with what they were doing before. Chu Yang sighed in relief too.
The two sides battled vigorously and the entire Outer Realm trembled non-stop. Large amount of dimensional tears began to appear in mid-air, creating a frightening sight.
Zhuge Zhan snorted. While he was having fun battling against the Zu'e Grand Sage, he was growing impatient. He opened his hand and a thick, long spear appeared. Its entire body was white as it shone with an eye-dazzling brightness. It burned like the sun. This was his Metaplasia level magic treasure, the Scorching Sun Spear.
That was a perennial problem amongst independent cultivators. Alone, they lacked resources. While they lived freely, they were rather poor compared to the major sects in terms of resources. It was very difficult for them to cultivate and improve magic treasures.
However, this offensive magic treasure, while only in its Metaplasia level, was able to maximize its terrifying powers in the hands of Zhuge Zhan.
During this battle, the Zu'e Grand Sage revealed his true form, obtaining a slight advantage over him. Now, with the Scorching Sun Spear in hand, Zhuge Zhan regained the advantage.
"Scorching Sun Holy Man, there's no need for it." Here, Shi Tianhao smiled and turned his head to Wang Lin and said, "Third Senior, you seem to have used all your powers?"
Wang Lin nodded, "Right."
Shi Tianhao smiled and said, "Good, let us play with them later slowly."
As he said that, he thrusted his fist forward lightly and said, "Saros, please show yourself!" As he said that, a dark gold pillar of light shot into the sky as a powerful energy covered the entire Outer Realm.
An immovable, immortal and indestructible energy began to envelop the heaven and earth. Even the Outer Realm itself, which was being torn apart, slowly stabilized and stopped trembling.
The heaven and earth, which was shaking because of the fight, stabilized. No matter how much Zhuge Zhan and the Zu'e Grand Sage fought, they would no longer be able to damage the Outer Realm itself.
"Saros Steel Tree?!" The Yu'ao Dragon King, the Lu Yuan Grand Sage, the Zu'e Grand Sage and the Cang Heaven Spell Blade looked dumbfounded as a humongous tree rose into the sky next to Shi Tianhao. Its trunk and branches were metallic black while its leaves were gold.
On the canopy stood a dark-skinned youth. He appeared slightly similar to Lin Feng's Steel Tree Avatar. However, the Steel Tree Avatar had been re-fused into this magic treasure of Lin Feng, the Saros Magical Tree. The youth was the original soul of the Saros Magical Tree, Saros.
However…
The rest did not know of the situation but the Yu'ao Dragon King received news that Lin Feng's Saros Steel Tree was a Gestation level magic treasure that he had successfully cultivated only two years ago in the Greater World.
However, the Saraos Magical Tree before him was a Mahayana level magic treasure!
The Yu'ao Dragon King's gaze was shocked as he thought, "What is going on?"