Chapter 240.1: One Palm Sends a Martial Saint Flying; Every Sacred Land Shaken! (I)

"Hmm?" Elder Xue's eyes narrowed slightly. He spun around and looked behind him.

Lu Changsheng was walking toward him slowly, dressed in the robes of the Heavenly River Sacred Land. Clearly, he was another one of their elders.

Elder Xue let out a cold laugh. "So that is where Old Bastard Feng found his nerve. Reinforcements have arrived.

"But I know every Martial Saint Elder of the Heavenly River Sacred Land. This one had just become a Martial Saint, I suppose? You really are regressing, if you must lean on fresh blood now."

Elder Feng made no response; he merely sneered.

Elder Xue had noticed something else. Those Heavenly River Sacred Land disciples had been hanging their heads a moment ago, their spirit crushed to nothing. Now, with the arrival of this Martial Saint, their morale had flared anew.

Perhaps this new Martial Saint isn't a weakling?

"Elder Immeasurable is here."

"Saint Lu has come. Let us see how those Great Snow Mountain people swagger now!"

"Hmph. With Saint Lu leading us this time, why have nothing to fear."

"Elder Feng is a touch weaker, yes, but Saint Lu... What Martial Saint would dare claim he could hold Saint Lu down?"

"The Great Snow Mountain Sacred Land has pushed too far. It's finally time they tasted defeat..."

Confidence swept through the Heavenly River Sacred Land disciples at once. Lu Changsheng's arrival alone seemed to give them a spine.

"Elder Feng, may I kill?" Lu Changsheng asked, each word measured, his tone perfectly calm.

At that, the faces of the Great Snow Mountain Sacred Land contingent changed.

"Who is this arrogant bastard?"

"Big words. Our Elder Xue drove back Martial Saint Feng only moments ago. What are you?"

"We know every last Martial Saint of the Heavenly River Sacred Land. An unfamiliar face means a new Martial Saint, most likely. And he dares speak like that to us?"

"I would love to know just who it is you intend to kill."

The Great Snow Mountain disciples were understandably angry. Some unknown Martial Saint had barged in and talked about killing one of them. Who had given this stranger from the Heavenly River Sacred Land such courage?

While the Great Snow Mountain Sacred Land seethed, Elder Feng felt a chill down his spine. He knew Lu Changsheng's words were no bluster. If it came to blows, Lu Changsheng could very likely cut Elder Xue down.

The sacred lands did compete with one another, and there had been plenty of heated moments between them, sometimes even leading to brawls. However, actual intent to kill was the limit no one was meant to cross. Killing someone from the other side would change everything. If it came to that, the situation could easily escalate into a full-on confrontation between sacred lands.

Besides, these martial artists stood on the grounds of the Azure Mountain Sacred Land. If a Martial Saint actually died here, the Earthly Saints of the Azure Mountain Sacred Land would very likely be roused, and then things would undoubtedly get ugly.

So, Elder Feng tried to defuse the situation. "Elder Immeasurable, that will not be necessary. Old Bastard Xue of the Great Snow Mountain Sacred Land is insufferably arrogant, but a small punishment will serve. His crimes do not warrant death."

Lu Changsheng understood.

However, Elder Xue was enraged by those words. The two were talking as though deciding on the punishment of a child who had misbehaved. How could they treat him so lightly?

"You..."

Elder Xue's fury erupted, and with it, his Saint Body manifested with a boom.

Elder Xue's Saint Body stood thirty zhang tall, standing menacingly in the air. A dreadful presence rolled toward Lu Changsheng, its might astonishing.

And yet, Lu Changsheng seemed completely unfazed.

Buzz!

The next moment, another Saint Body emerged, and this one was a hundred zhang tall. This terrifying colossus materialized out of thin air to stand before them all. It loomed over everyone like some primordial divine mountain, its pressure so great one could scarcely breathe.

This was Lu Changsheng's Primordial Chaos Saint Body!

The hundred-zhang Primordial Chaos Saint Body reached out and closed its hand lightly. That palm was immense beyond measure, and as it grasped toward Elder Xue's Saint Body, it seemed to devour the air itself.

The surroundings went dark as the giant hand blotted out the sky. There was no escaping. Elder Xue's Saint Body roared as it hurled its fist. The blow carried the whole of its strength as it slammed into the descending palm of Lu Changsheng's Saint Body.

And then it was gone.

Elder Xue's fist collapsed in an instant, then dispersed into nothing. A Saint Body's full-strength blow vanished into the giant palm of the Primordial Chaos Saint Body like a clay ox sinking into the sea.[1]

There was no mistake about what had happened here. The Five Elements Decomposition had broken down Elder Xue's divine ability outright.

Then, the giant hand of the Primordial Chaos Saint Body simply came down and seized Elder Xue's Saint Body the way one snatches up a chick, and the Saint Body began to crumble, inch by inch.

"No..." Terror and despair spread across Elder Xue's face. If his Saint Body collapsed, he would be gravely injured. Death was a real possibility.

Fortunately for Elder Xue, Lu Changsheng did not strike to kill. Elder Feng had warned that taking a life here would be unwise and that a small punishment would suffice. And so, Lu Changsheng did not annihilate Elder Xue's Saint Body completely. He annihilated half of it, then flung the remainder at the ground.

BANG!

Elder Xue's Saint Body struck the earth hard enough to leave a crater.

In wake of the deafening impact, there was silence. The surroundings were utterly still, and everyone stood dumbstruck, unable to believe what had just transpired before their very eyes. The Great Snow Mountain disciples were especially shocked, their eyes wide and mouths agape.

As for Elder Xue, he was still alive; he had taken a bad hit, but he was still alive. Aside from having his Saint Body crippled, the humiliation of being overpowered so easily and driven into the ground in front of everyone was perhaps more painful than the physical injury.

The Heavenly River Sacred Land disciples, by contrast, broke into cheers, their faces alight.

"Hahaha! So much for the elders of the Great Snow Mountain Sacred Land."

"With Elder Immeasurable taking action personally, what can their lousy elders even do to us?"

"One palm was all it took. Had Saint Lu not shown mercy, that blow would have destroyed Elder Xue outright."

"Saint Lu's horrifyingly strong... No matter how many times I see him in action, I cannot get used to it."

The Heavenly River Sacred Land disciples seemed to have known how this confrontation would end. Or rather, they had been hoping it would end this way."

For the Great Snow Mountain disciples, however, it was another matter entirely. They were still reeling from what they had witnessed.

A dignified Martial Saint elder of the Great Snow Mountain Sacred Land, slapped into the dirt with one hand, unable to muster the slightest resistance. And had the man not held back, that same slap would have killed him.

Is Elder Xue simply that weak, or is this man that strong?

"W-Who exactly are you?"

Elder Xue had by then climbed out of the crater, his face full of horror and disbelief. Even now he was somewhat dazed. How had he ended up smashed into the ground so suddenly, left in such a wretched state?

"Hehe, Old Bastard Xue, seems like you finally got what was coming to you. Saint Lu is a titled elder of the Heavenly River Sacred Land. You know perfectly well what that position means within our sacred land. So don't be too upset about this loss." Feng Tianxing flashed him a wry smile.

Seeing Elder Xue humbled delighted him greatly. His long-held grievance had finally been settled, leaving him thoroughly at ease.

More than that, Feng Tianxing now realized that the sect master's decision to send Lu Changsheng to lead the delegation to the Azure Mountain Sacred Land had been nothing short of brilliant.

In the whole vast Heavenly River Sacred Land, among all its Martial Saint Elders, who besides Lu Changsheng was strong enough to leave Elder Xue unable to tell up from down with a single slap?

1. "Clay ox sinking into the sea" is a Chinese saying, meaning to vanish without a trace. ☜