A sun descended into the mortal world, instantly draining the sky of color and igniting all beneath.
Zhou Fan watched unmoved. His palms slowly clenched, and golden spirit energy surged from his body like a storm. His cultivation gave the impression of a blade's edge in its sharpness.
"Spirit‑Severing Wave!"
Planting his feet on the ground, Zhou Fan shot into the sky, flying directly toward that burning sun.
Cracks radiated from where he had stepped, spreading across the ground. Even those near observing rushed back hundreds of meters before regaining their footing.
Li Qing and Guo Xiong watched Zhou Fan ascend. They gasped in horror as his palm—like a blade—split the blazing sun in the sky in two.
"Is Zhou Fan's power truly this fearsome?"
Though both were not King‑ranked, they were elite members of the second tier in the Spiritual Road. They had harbored doubts about those who achieved King rank.
Only those like Li Xuantong, the Crane Demon, or Su Xuan whose talent and power commanded respect would convince them. Zhou Fan clearly lacked such pedigree.
But today, seeing his fearsome display, they realized they had underestimated him.
While shock was evident on their faces, Su Xuan spoke softly:
"Don't overrate who he is. Zhou Fan's talent among King‑ranked prodigies is only above average. His power stems from reaching the Heaven Fusion Realm…"
"Even at early-phase Heaven Fusion Realm, one can draw heavenly and earthly spiritual qi from hundreds of meters around to augment a technique. Combined with his prowess, achieving that effect is not surprising."
"And although Liu Bai's move is powerful, because of his cultivation level, he cannot fully unleash the true power of the Great Sun Burning Sea Palm. Had he reached the Three Heavens Realm, the moment the sun appeared, the entire Ice‑Valley would have melted. Then would Zhou Fan dare to act so boldly?"
The strength of high‑level Spirit-grade Techniques lies in enabling the cultivator to mobilize more ambient spiritual qi. Thus practitioners below the Three Heavens Realm cannot truly exploit their full power.
This was one reason Liu Bai had previously delayed mastering two High‑level Spirit-grade Techniques.
Nevertheless, after spending immense experience to elevate Great Sun Burning Sea Palm to its Greater Mastery, Liu Bai had already gained the confidence to face fusion‑realm experts head‑on.
Boom! The blazing sun exploded violently. The flames swept over a radius of a hundred meters. Even surrounding millennia‑old ice melted under the blast, instantly turning into steam and vaporizing.
Zhou Fan spun and landed on the ground, though numerous burn scars were visible on his body.
Liu Bai was also engulfed by the blast. Unexpectedly, the moment Zhou Fan regained his stance, another figure appeared beside him.
The newcomer's hand clenched into a fist. Three black spirit seals flickered on the fist.
Surprise flashed across Zhou Fan's eyes as Liu Bai's shattered figure dissipated… leaving only a phantom image where he had stood.
Blaze Step, Flame Phantom Body!
Simultaneously, the three Death Seals flared with black light and transformed into a straight beam of black energy. The force was so intense that the air appeared to distort.
Bang bang bang! Just before contact with Zhou Fan, the three Death Seals erupted. Layers of black waves rippled outward like overlapping surging tides.
With the ferocious power of those Death Seals, used for close‑quarters combat or ambush, their effect is terrifying. Coupled with Liu Bai's perfect‑level Blaze Step, this strike was devastating.
Feeling that terrifying shockwave, Zhou Fan's spiritual energy instantly burst forth. After a fearsome beast‑like roar, Zhou Fan was hurled backwards nearly a hundred meters.
Though awkward in posture, he avoided Liu Bai's sudden strike entirely, without even a scratch.
"Was that… Zhou Fan's fused spiritual beast essence?" Liu Bai recalled the beast‑like roar that had sounded in his ear at that moment. For a split second, he felt targeted by a fierce tiger.
"It seems Zhou Fan had some special fate. He must have obtained a spiritual beast better suited to him. That explains why he broke into Heaven Fusion Realm earlier than others."
Clearly, Liu Bai's arrival had a significant influence on this generation of Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy. At the very least, An Ran had already acquired the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk, and Zhou Fan's strange fortune likely set them on a different path than in the original story.
At minimum, An Ran surely would not wait three years to break through to Heaven Fusion Realm...
Having confirmed Zhou Fan had hidden stronger strength, Liu Bai no longer hesitated. He closed his eyes, lifted a hand, and several spiritual seals shot out swiftly.
In the blink of an eye, three spiritual Array were fully constructed. Hisses of snake and howls of wolf accompanied thunderous roars echoing throughout Ice‑Chill Valley. One might think the valley was under attack by spiritual beasts.
"Spiritual Arrays?"
Zhou Fan sneered coldly.
Knowing Liu Bai was a Spiritual Array Master, he had long been on guard—just he did not expect Liu Bai to quickly deploy three Rank One Spiritual Array.
"Trying to stop my advance and buy time for more setup?"
How naive!
As wolf‑spirits and fire‑serpents flew from the sky, thunder roared. Zhou Fan's right palm appeared armored with a layer of golden scales. He thrust a punch toward the three formations.
Roar! A ferocious beast clad in golden armor burst forth—a Qilin-like mystical beast. Its jaws opened, releasing a pillar of golden light sweeping across heaven and earth, annihilating the three formations in a single blow!
"That is… the Tianxuan Golden Qilin Beast!" Su Xuan cried in astonishment at the golden Qilin‑shaped spirit beast.
Ranked sixtieth on the Earth Ranking of the Myriad Beasts Record, its mature body capable of achieving mid‑phase Heaven Transformation Realm strength. Though it could not compare to Su Xuan's Sea‑Spirit Siren, she knew full well: hers was obtained through family advantage. Otherwise she could never have attained such a spiritual beast essence.
But Zhou Fan's case differed. He had acquired it upon entering the Northern Heaven Realm, through his own fortune and strength.
Whether by blind luck or not, this was a display of true power.
It remained mysterious how such a ranking spiritual beast could exist in the Northern Heaven Realm...
Bear in mind that even exceptional cultivators like Li Xuantong would not walk away unscathed if they encountered a Tianxuan Golden Qilin Beast!
Su Xuan's speculation seemed correct: the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy would not intentionally place a living Tianxuan Golden Qilin Beast in this trial realm. But this trial realm is an ancient small world that has existed for countless years. Hidden within it may be undiscovered treasures. If fate allows someone to obtain one, it truly becomes a springboard to soaring advancement.
Across this century, Zhou Fan has been the only fortunate one…
Boom! An explosion echoed. Liu Bai's three spiritual Array were shattered in one strike.
Cold light gleamed in Zhou Fan's eyes as he continued commanding the Golden Qilin to attack. He sneered, "That's all you've got? And what about that Array you used on the snowy mountain? Why not bring it out now?"
"As you wish!"
Liu Bai's eyes snapped open. Prepared spiritual seals shot forth, and soon a grand golden formation took shape in midair.
Hum hum hum! With a violent buzzing, five massive golden Wheels flew from the formation. Their serrated edges gleamed as they spun toward the Golden Qilin.
Whoosh! The five wheels moved at incredible speed. Many observers only glimpsed flashes of gold, and traces torn across the sky.
Many members of the Zhou Faction watched in fear. At the snowy mountain, several of their people were sent away by that second‑rank Spiritual Array. Even a single golden Wheel is difficult for a late‑phase Divine Soul Realm cultivator to intercept.
Now all five were targeting Zhou Fan. For a moment, they all worried for their leader's safety.
But Liu Bai's assault did not stop there:
Though the Five-wheel Heaven-Splitting Array was powerful, it still wasn't enough to pose a threat to a Heaven Fusion Realm expert—even if it was only someone who had recently stepped into that level.
At this moment, Liu Bai's entire right arm turned a dim grayish-white, as though it had become the hardest rock.
"Stone Dragon Break!"
With a thunderous roar, Liu Bai launched his fist. Majestic spiritual energy surged out, and with a deep dragon's roar, gray-white energy condensed into a clawed, fanged, one-horned stone dragon. It shattered the air as it tore straight toward Zhou Fan.
Boom! Boom!
Even the air exploded from the pressure of the punch, forming arcs of compressed wind that intertwined before the charging stone dragon.
This was not any Spiritual Art Liu Bai had cultivated before. Rather, it was a combat technique he had acquired after fusing with the Earthstone spirit Python spiritual essence. It shared a similar effect to Zhou Fan's earlier Tianxuan Golden Qilin technique.
Though the condensed spiritual energy shaped like a dragon, it was more accurately a stone flood dragon or stone python. However, those names lacked dominance, so it was simply called "Stone Dragon."
Seeing his golden-scaled Qilin destroyed by the combination of five golden rings and a stone dragon, Zhou Fan did not grow angry—instead, he smiled.
"Heh… Looks like this is your limit."
A trace of triumph flashed in Zhou Fan's eyes.
"You gave everything you had and only managed to block a casual strike from me. What do you have left to fight me with?"
Liu Bai's expression remained calm, but inwardly he sneered.
"Truly blinded by arrogance… Did you already forget how I snatched the Northern Golden Stripe Seahawk's spiritual essence from hundreds of your Zhou Faction men?"
As those words fell, an endless killing intent suddenly erupted in Zhou Fan's eyes. The cold aura around him was even more chilling than the Ice-Chill Valley itself.
"Fine, blinded by arrogance? Then I'll show you what true arrogance looks like!"
Zhou Fan stomped the ground with force. A surge of violent spiritual energy exploded from his body. Behind him, spiritual energy condensed into a dazzling golden four-legged beast.
This giant beast towered dozens of zhang tall. Its four claws were sharp like eagle talons, a pair of dragon horns crowned its head, its entire body was covered in radiant golden scales, and a crimson mane ran along its back.
As soon as it appeared, golden flames surged beneath its four limbs. The surrounding temperature instantly soared, and even the ice beneath its feet directly vaporized.
The Tianxuan Golden Qilin Beast, ranked sixtieth on the Earth Rank of the Myriad Beasts Record, had finally unleashed its full power!
"Truly terrifying…" Liu Bai murmured softly.
Among those present, probably only Su Xuan, with her Sea-Spirit Siren, could suppress this spiritual beast.
"But my Array… is finally complete."
With that quiet voice, a massive Array suddenly spread across a hundred-zhang radius.
Even those members of the Zhou Faction who were outside the boundary of the grand array looked up and paled. Just witnessing the mysterious patterns in the sky made them feel the dreadful power of the formation.
"This is… the Demon Vine Strangulation Array? But isn't the Array diagram incomplete? How can an incomplete Rank Three Array be this powerful?" Li Qing's face was full of confusion.
When Liu Bai used this formation during the hunt against the Snow Demon Beast, it clearly didn't appear nearly this strong.
In contrast, Su Xuan simply smiled. Under the confused stares of Li Qing and the others, she calmly said:
"You all don't seriously think a Rank Two Array could summon those magic vines that even suppressed a Snow Demon Beast, do you?"
"Even I don't know how Liu Bai managed it. But judging purely by the power, the Array he deployed was definitely a complete Rank Three Array. And since this Array combines both confinement and slaughter aspects, it ranks among the elite even within Rank Three Arrays."
"This must be the trump card that gave him the courage to face Zhou Fan directly."
However, Su Xuan didn't mention one thing aloud: after setting up three Rank One Arrays and one Rank Two Array, Liu Bai was still able to easily construct a Rank Three Array. During this, he also continuously unleashed powerful Spiritual Arts. Was his spiritual energy truly limitless?
Moreover, for someone at late-phase Divine Soul Realm to not only construct a Rank Three Array, but also do so without anyone noticing during such intense close combat, this level of skill was clearly far beyond that of an ordinary Spiritual Array Master.
It was precisely because there were no other Spiritual Array Masters present that no one noticed concepts like "Heart Array State" or other Array path realms. Otherwise, they would immediately recognize that Liu Bai's Spiritual Array mastery had made a tremendous leap and had already reached the High-Tier of Heart Array state!
....
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