Chapter 56: Mountain Path!

Hong Tao slowly closed his eyes. He remembered every punch, every dodge. Every time Rei had changed direction. Every time she had attacked. Every time his instincts had warned him of danger.

He remembered the moment he had nearly fallen from the arena. The moment he had used his arm as a lever. The moment he had stopped resisting his own momentum.

Something clicked.

’Why do I have to see her? Why do I have to hear her? Why do I have to understand her technique?’ He questioned. His breathing became slower and his muscles relaxed. A strange calmness descended upon him.

The countless illusions suddenly became meaningless. Hong Tao did not need to know which Rei was real. He only needed to understand himself and his body.

His body had always been his greatest weapon. But the realization made him understand something real. He was treating his massive body as a tool this whole time, something that could only strike and crush.

But a mountain did not merely crush things. A mountain could endure. A mountain could just exist unfettered by mere ants. A mountain could become the foundation upon which everything else stood.

Hong Tao opened his eyes. This time his gaze was different. Rei could feel it.

’What is this feeling?’ Hong Tao took one step.

BOOM!

The entire arena trembled. Hong Tao took another step. Like a massive mountain moving itself, resounding in the arena and the others.

BOOM!

Many disciples who were completing their fights stopped and looked at Hong Tao in amazement.

His Qi began surging but unlike before, it was no longer wild. It was calm but heavy. Moving but unshakable. The Heavenly Mountain Elder’s eyes widened.

"D-D-Dao attainment...!!!"

"Koko... That old man really did find himself a monster." Karn’s expression became serious.

The inner sect disciple presiding over the match was completely dumbfounded by what was happening.

"The Qi just became much more oppressive.... I wonder why...." The disciple mumbled calmly, glancing at the two fighting.

He had no understanding of the Dao, that was why he could not recognize it either.

The eyes of the elders on the elevated platform widened in surprise.

"A-A Tier three greenhorn has understood a fragment of the Dao...!!!" An elder shouted in surprise.

"What?!?" Many elders who were not paying attention immediately looked over as they heard this.

"Dao attainment before Tier One is already exceedingly rare. To comprehend a fragment while still at Tier Three..."

"This boy..."

Rei was also helpless in understanding the change in her opponent. But she knew something had changed just by looking into Hong Tao’s eyes.

Hong Tao did not make an expression as he stared at Rei. His arm extended towards the girl beckoning her.

"Come at me." He spoke.

Rei’s eyes became icy at the provocation. Her body split into five figures and rushed once again at the man before them.

Except this time, the platform arena’s air changed. The air became slightly denser, Rei’s body became sluggish. It was as if there was a massive mountain on top of her body.

Hong Tao smiled in ecstasy as he looked above at the sky, he extended both of his arms out beside himself.

"Look above you, the heavens themselves are my mountain. How majestic!" Hong Tao spoke like a mad man.

The only one who understood him right now were the elders who sat in their seats in expectation. Just like Karn, the man had just comprehended a fragment of the Dao. The overgrown child had essentially become intoxicated by the Dao.

Rei was befuddled in awe. The man before her for some reason looked to be much bigger than before, but his size had not actually changed.

The phantoms moved nonetheless towards their target. Each one of them indistinguishable from the one before.

Hong Tao did not defend nor did he move. His expression of ecstasy remained as he looked above at the heavens.

Rei frowned. Hong Tao had changed, the opening she had seen before were no longer there. The man before her seemed like an impenetrable fortress.

"Tch!" Rei kept waiting but no openings presented themselves no matter how many phantoms she threw at the still man.

Eventually Rei gave up on waiting. She could not keep sending her phantoms as she would run out of Qi and stamina. Her body shot out with the five phantoms.

Hong Tao’s grin finally relaxed and his face looked at an empty space between the phantoms. His body shot out at once.

The massive hand grabbed the empty air. The hand wrapped around the air in a manner that resembled a human head.

The air distorted between his hand revealing a little girl with icy eyes.

’He can see me...!’ Rei thought. She had been caught too easily.

Rei’s arm moved quickly as she moved her arm to stab the man’s arm with her sword.

As the arm moved, Hong Tao’s grabbed the moving arm to a still.

The inner sect disciple watching the two fight jolted in surprise. He reflexively changed his posture, getting ready to save Rei from her demise.

But before the inner sect disciple could move, the hand holding the sword let go of the weapon. As the weapon descended, Rei’s leg flung in action. The leg shot out at the exact moment the sword aligned with her, stabbing into Hong Tao’s leg.

"Ah!" Hong Tao shouted in pain as he let go of the girl’s head in his hand.

Rei relieved of being able to save herself out of the predicament moved backwards.

Surprisingly, a smile had unknowingly appeared on her face.

She had gone all out, expending all of her trump cards and it was still not enough. The man before her demanded her to bring out something even more. For the first time she knew she was going to lose, but instead of being aggrieved she was ecstatic.

She had experienced joy for the first time in a fight. She charged at Hong Tao once again but this time without using any martial techniques.

A smile appeared between the two.