Chapter 192 - 173: Temples Appearing on the Divine Land

Chapter 192: Chapter 173: Temples Appearing on the Divine Land

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Air currents swirled, and Fist Power raged. The terrifying sound of crashing ocean waves echoed through the heavens and the earth.

The two men separated. The one coughing up blood was Chen Sha; the one with fractured bones was Yuan Ruhua.

They stood facing each other, ten zhang apart.

Yuan Ruhua spat out two words: "A draw?"

His tone actually carried a trace of disbelief. He then looked at Chen Sha. "Since the day I, Yuan, stood in this Tide-Watching Pavilion, no one has been able to be my match. I never expected that today, I would actually fight someone to a draw."

His hands hung naturally at his sides, but his arms were trembling. The bones in his arms had developed hairline fractures. It was a terrifying injury; although invisible from the outside, he wouldn’t be able to lift his arms for quite some time.

"COUGH..."

Chen Sha wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His internal organs were similarly fractured, having sustained terrifying injuries. However, his eyes remained bright, shining like stars.

In the sea breeze, his Daoist Robe fluttered wildly. Chen Sha lowered his eyelids. Resting his hands behind his back, he said evenly, "Since my debut, you are the first to fight me to a draw."

Yuan Ruhua smiled at those words. "So, what now? I know that since you are here, you will absolutely not rest until you take the position of number one in the world."

The sea breeze blew gently as the ocean waves and the swirling air currents gradually calmed down.

With his hands resting behind his back, Chen Sha said calmly, "It’s simple. Until I defeat you, I will not leave. Since we are injured, we will heal and fight again. At our Realm, our mastery over our bodies has reached the absolute Peak. Although our injuries are severe, it won’t take much time for us to recover."

He had never expected to completely steamroll Yuan Ruhua and win flawlessly, like he had done to the other figures. After all, this was an invincible figure of the current era. He was not someone like Zhang Shouren or Bai Zancang, nor could Long Zaitian and Pang Saint compare to him. He stood at the same height as Chen Sha’s father, Chen Canxuan. Both were the number one figures of the Divine Land.

If Yuan Ruhua were placed in an environment like the Ninth Tribulation, with this middle-aged man’s pure devotion to the Martial Arts Dao, stepping into the Great Vajra Realm above the Great Innate Realm would be absolutely no problem for him.

Especially after this battle, Chen Sha realized even more clearly that Yuan Ruhua’s strength within the Great Innate Realm was something none of the figures he had fought in the Ninth Tribulation could match. Whether it was Zhang Daoxuan, Bu Feiqing, or Shif Xingyu—if they were swapped into this position, they would only end up as corpses falling half a step short of Yuan Ruhua.

Although Chen Sha’s Great Yellow Court and various foundations combined into something truly incredible, reaching the absolute Peak of the Great Innate Realm permitted by the Tenth Tribulation’s world, he could still only fight Yuan Ruhua to a draw.

The reason was simple: in the declining environment of the Tenth Tribulation, his opponent had also pushed his Cultivation to the absolute limit permitted by this world.

To be precise, the limits of Chen Sha and Yuan Ruhua went far beyond this. However, the world itself had reached its limit. The Heaven and Earth Rules were restricting their Cultivation and Power, forcing the two of them into a draw, because this was the absolute limit of the world. Both stood at this limit, restricted by the Heaven and Earth Rules.

WHOOSH!

Listening to Chen Sha say they would "heal and fight again," Yuan Ruhua couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Good! How satisfying! To think that I, Yuan, would finally find someone I can fight to my heart’s content today. Nothing in life is more lonely than having no equal. Today, I have an opponent. How fortunate!

"Since that is the case, I invite Sect Leader Chen to stay here. Across the sea is Putuo City. Clothing and food can be delivered. We will fight again when our wounds have healed."

As he spoke, Yuan Ruhua stomped his foot. A small boat moored by the shore was kicked toward the Divine Land Continent across the sea, heading in the direction of Putuo City.

SWISH!

The small boat sped across the surface of the sea. In less than half an incense stick’s time, it arrived at the shores of Putuo City. At this time, the various Martial Artists standing in Putuo City, as well as the Great Innates hovering over the sea, were watching with Moo Ming shock as the scene on the island returned to calm.

Neither of the two men had fallen.

It wasn’t until several tavern owners in Putuo City saw the small boat whizzing over and rushed out that the silence broke. They found formless words engraved inside the cabin, seemingly struck into the wood with Power, alongside a few ingots of gold.

These tavern owners immediately shouted out, "The old rules! The number one person in the world’s boat has come over. He wants us to send food, wine, and clothes to the island!"

The crowd watched as these taverns busied themselves, preparing all sorts of things, loading them onto the small boat, and dispatching people to escort it back toward Yuan Ruhua’s small island.

All at once, everyone watching the battle was completely dumbfounded. This was... The two hadn’t decided a victor, and they were actually going to stay on the island!

However, when the third day arrived, a violent disturbance erupted from the island once again. As it turned out, the two had only rested for three days to heal some of their injuries before they resumed their fierce battle.

That day happened to be stormy. They looked exactly like two Divine Spirits of the sea, their terrifying, god-like battle making the very ocean tremble!

This great battle lasted for another full day, yet the outcome remained undecided. Following that, the small boat carrying gold arrived at Putuo City once more, instructing the taverns to prepare food as usual.

Thus, the people of the world began to faintly understand. The battle between these two men wouldn’t be decided in just ten days or half a month. They were evenly matched, having both reached the absolute pinnacle of this world.

Slowly, the people in Putuo City grew accustomed to the earth-shattering combat shockwaves erupting from the island every three to five days. In the blink of an eye, the two men had been fighting on the small island for a month. A battle every three days meant they had already fought ten matches.

Not a single patch of land on the island remained intact. Even the fifty-zhang-tall mountain peak had been shaved down by twenty zhang during their clashes. The ground was covered in ruins.

With blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, Yuan Ruhua spoke. "The might of your Fist Technique is actually growing stronger with each passing day."

Chen Sha’s Daoist Robe was also in tatters, his hair flying wildly in the wind. He simply looked up at the sky and murmured, "Because the heaven and earth are also growing stronger day by day. As the heaven and earth grow stronger, I grow stronger."

Yuan Ruhua had already realized something. He said calmly, "It seems your chances of winning will increase as time goes by. However... I, Yuan, am not without my own gains. In the end, it is still unknown who will fall."

This great battle would certainly be remembered by future generations.

Both Chen Sha and Yuan Ruhua were the kind of existence that could only appear once in an era—beings destined to stand above the world and crush everything in their path. Therefore, for Chen Sha, the gains from fighting Yuan Ruhua were even greater than his trials within the Cosmic Light Fragments. Only someone like Yuan Ruhua could produce such an effect.

Every time he clashed with Yuan Ruhua, Chen Sha’s comprehension of that Broken Void technique would perfect itself further in battle, generating more variations.

The same was true for Yuan Ruhua. This was his first time encountering an opponent like Chen Sha. For the number one person in the world, who believed deeply in his Martial Dao Will, combat would always be the best method to elevate his Cultivation.

But what Chen Sha did not know was this:

While his Broken Fist Technique grew more powerful by the day alongside the restoration of the Heaven and Earth Rules...

At Celestial Silkworm Ridge, the location the Chess Master had pinpointed as Li Jianzhou’s land of opportunity, the mountain forests were beautiful and lush. The Chess Master stood inside a cavern, looking at the Divine Cocoon Li Jianzhou had formed. It stood upright in the stone cave like a giant stone egg.

As it turned out, this was the historical ruins of the Divine Silkworm Sect. The Divine Silkworm Scripture focused on finding life through death, breaking out of the cocoon and becoming a butterfly. This location was a natural burrow of life and death. It was said that the Cultivation Technique of the Divine Silkworm Sect was comprehended right here in the past.

However, the Chess Master’s gaze was currently not fixed on Li Jianzhou, but on the wall behind Li Jianzhou’s Stone Cocoon.

Because a picture had suddenly appeared on the wall. It was as if it had manifested out of thin air in that very instant!

His expression changed. He murmured, "This picture definitely wasn’t here just a moment ago..."

Under the Chess Master’s watchful eyes, bizarre light and shadows flickered on the cavern wall. The light and shadows faintly outlined the shape of a small Earth God Temple. It looked like a mural painted on the rock. Except, this mural seemed to possess a life of its own, able to flicker and shift its position.

Inside the mural, within that temple resembling an Earth God Temple, there was actually a Stone Cocoon enshrined, identical to Li Jianzhou’s!

However, when the Chess Master reached out to touch the light and shadows on the wall, he felt nothing but solid rock. It was as if the image of the small temple composed of light and shadow did not exist within this world at all.

But the Chess Master felt as though lightning had struck his heart.

He murmured, "This is not a painting!

"This temple... it looks exactly like some of the things I’ve seen..."

In the visions he occasionally saw in his dreams, on a certain day in the future, many corners of the Divine Land would suddenly manifest countless temples. Enshrined within them would be various clay figures, and then... those clay figures would resurrect from their statues, using incomprehensible power to alter the landscape of the Divine Land.

The Chess Master stared at the image on the wall, restraining his excitement. "This day has arrived as expected. Could it be that this temple image on the wall will slowly emerge from the world behind the wall and manifest in reality, bringing the Divine Cocoon within the temple directly to Li Jianzhou’s side?"

He immediately realized what Li Jianzhou’s "Flying Dragon in the Sky" destiny pattern meant. The Divine Cocoon clearly contained an ancient figure who had cultivated the Divine Silkworm Scripture, one who was about to return from a mysterious world to bring Li Jianzhou his grand opportunity.

At once, the Chess Master could no longer stand still. If Li Jianzhou’s opportunity was tied to this event, then were similar scenes playing out all across the Divine Land right now?

Countless figures in various temples, just like the mural he was looking at now, were revealing phantom scenes across the Divine Land—merely the tip of the iceberg.

The Chess Master had not guessed wrong.

As Chen Sha and Yuan Ruhua’s battle in the South Sea continued day after day, the Heaven and Earth Rules were recovering, and Chen Sha’s Broken Fist Technique grew increasingly powerful.

The strange occurrences and bizarre changes cropping up across the Divine Land became more and more frequent. Strange images of light and shadow, all taking the form of small temples, appeared out of thin air inside people’s homes. They frightened many commoners. They even materialized inside the Imperial Palace of a certain Dynasty, making the palace maids believe the place was haunted.

In other parts of the Divine Land—in mountain forests, vast deserts, and even unknown places—phantoms of these temples appeared. Some were in the sky, some were on cliffs, and some were in the Great River. Even within the Major Sects of the Daoist, Buddhist, and Demon Religions, such as True Martial Mountain, Water Moon Temple, and the Emotionless Sect, images resembling a Mirage Tower appeared.

People could only see them, but could not touch them.

As time passed day by day, rumors of such events spread far and wide across every corner of the Divine Land. Furthermore, those images seemed to grow more solid, as if they were going to grow out of their phantom states into reality.

Meanwhile, Chen Sha, on the small island in the South Sea, also sensed it.

Along with the restoration of the Heaven and Earth Rules and his intense battles with Yuan Ruhua, his Broken Void technique had grown incredibly powerful. Gradually, it allowed him to feel the barrier of his own Spiritual Void, giving him the illusion that he could use this Fist Technique to shatter his own Spiritual Void.

To achieve what his father had deduced: "By shattering the void, one can be Seeing God."

To see the Jiazi Tai Sui Guardian God hovering above his head, the same entity cultivated by his Ancestral Master, Chen Fuyao.

To step into the realm beyond the Great Innate Realm... the Broken Realm!

Over a decade ago, his father couldn’t do it, saying that the world was flawed and the path to the void was severed. But now... with the restoration of the Heaven and Earth Rules, this path had reappeared before Chen Sha’s eyes.