Chapter 877 - 497: Will Win?

"Words are useless now. Come, let us fight to our hearts’ content!"

Xu Xiongda let out a maniacal laugh, and the muscles across his entire body began to pulse with a bizarre rhythm. The surrounding space trembled ceaselessly in time with this pulsation.

Gongyang Yunlan remained completely unfazed. She had always looked down on these brutes who only knew Body Refinement, and she possessed absolute confidence in her Divine Skills. Even without utilizing the Time Reversal of the Heaven-Flipping Seal, she was certain she could take down a brute like him.

The Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect believed themselves to be the undisputed overlords of all realms, invincible and unstoppable, but in truth, they had long since fallen into decline. The very fact that a brainless brute like Xu Xiongda could become Vice Sect Leader was proof of their decay.

Gongyang Yunlan naturally had her reasons for thinking him brainless. First of all, agreeing to this one-on-one duel was a mindless act in itself. The Immortal Sect clearly held the upper hand. All they had to do was methodically march their grand army forward. Once they reached the gates of the Imperial City, the Dubhe Divine Domain’s forces would be left with no countermeasures. As the Divine Domain Empress, she feared her only option at that point would have been to order a retreat and flee the Dubhe Divine Domain with her subordinates.

Yet, fully aware that she possessed a Divine Artifact like the Heaven-Flipping Seal, Xu Xiongda still dared to accept her challenge. If this wasn’t pure stupidity, what was? In short, there was absolutely no reason she should lose to a brute!

With this thought in mind, Gongyang Yunlan waved her hands. Hundreds of rope-like shockwaves hurtled toward Xu Xiongda amidst a terrifying howl.

To the untrained eye, it was mere spectacle, but an expert could see the true mastery at play. Although the sheer momentum of Gongyang Yunlan’s attack seemed even weaker than a strike from a Nascent Soul Realm Cultivator, it contained profound intricacies.

Zou Feng was no longer ignorant of the methods used by Divinity Transformation Realm cultivators. When Nascent Soul Cultivators engaged in Magical Combat, they often chose to clash using their Small Thousand Worlds. Divinity Transformation Realm cultivators, however, had completely integrated the power of their Small Thousand Worlds into themselves. No matter what move they unleashed, they could mobilize the entirety of their Small Thousand World’s power.

Moreover, compared to Nascent Soul Cultivators, their Small Thousand Worlds had long since evolved to the next stage. Simply put, a Nascent Soul Cultivator’s Small Thousand World was merely the prototype of a world. Everything was in its initial phase and didn’t truly function properly. In contrast, a Divinity Transformation Realm cultivator’s Small Thousand World had given birth to Creatures. Just like the many Outer Realms, it had truly come "alive."

In this world, the cultivator, as the creator, was naturally a god-like existence. All the Creatures born within it would rightfully worship their Creator God. Explained from this perspective, Divinity Transformation Realm cultivators had, in the truest sense of the word, become gods. Furthermore, the Creatures’ worship of their god produced the Power of Faith—also known as the Power of Incense—which the cultivator could absorb to further strengthen themselves.

The Power of Faith was a higher-tier energy, no less formidable than the Power of Reincarnation. Therefore, the shockwaves Gongyang Yunlan unleashed were clearly not as simple as they appeared; they were a massive Burst founded upon the Power of Faith. Even as Zou Feng and the others watched through the void screen, they felt a chilling certainty: if they were swept up in those rope-like shockwaves, they would instantly be pummeled into Reincarnation in the most agonizing state imaginable.

Bearing the brunt of the attack, Xu Xiongda didn’t react at all. He simply allowed the ropes to bombard and wrap around his body. The moment they made contact with his form, they triggered an unimaginably massive and violent explosion, followed by an ear-piercing screech of friction. When the explosion subsided and visibility returned to the scene, Xu Xiongda had been tightly bound into a human cocoon by these ropes.

Gongyang Yunlan let out a sharp cry. Forming her fingers into a sword gesture, she pointed at the massive cocoon from afar. Dazzling white flames instantly erupted around it, burning brighter and fiercer by the second. She was clearly attempting to use some kind of Exotic Fire to refine Xu Xiongda. Even if she couldn’t refine him to death immediately, she aimed to refine this brute until he was stripped of at least a layer of skin!

Meanwhile, everyone aboard the Fallen God had assumed Xu Xiongda would quickly unleash his Divine Skills to escape. After all, no matter how strong his Body Refinement was, the mere thought of being roasted by an unknown Exotic Fire augmented by the Power of Faith was terrifying. With every passing minute, the probability of Xu Xiongda suffering an unexpected defeat increased.

Some Elders were already displaying looks of resentment. What exactly was Xu Xiongda doing? He obviously shouldn’t have just stood there and let Gongyang Yunlan attack him. How could he afford to be so careless in a duel between peak experts?!

A good while passed, and to everyone’s surprise, Xu Xiongda still hadn’t broken free. He simply remained trapped in that cocooned state, being continuously and violently refined. This left even Zou Feng a bit dumbfounded. How had a duel where Xu Xiongda should have held the advantage turned into such a one-sided beatdown?!

Could this already be round two after a Time Reversal? That shouldn’t be the case... His Skills and Cultivation Skills were perfectly normal. The Soul-Attracting Technique he had just started cultivating was also progressing without a hitch.

Just as he was puzzling over this, the heavily cocooned Xu Xiongda finally reacted. He seemed to have found a way to break the technique and was on the verge of escaping.

However, a victorious smile had already unconsciously crept onto Gongyang Yunlan’s lips. She had every reason to claim premature victory. One must note that since it took Xu Xiongda this much time just to barely neutralize her Divine Skill, his performance was clearly abysmal. It was exactly as she had predicted: the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect had truly fallen from grace if someone like Xu Xiongda could serve as Vice Sect Leader.

Meanwhile, in the Imperial City, the civil and military officials who had been watching the battle intently all let out long sighs of relief. Left Minister Gongyang Tianrou even declared in a tone of absolute certainty, "It seems... Her Majesty has won!"