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Chapter 566: The Great Sage's Methods
Chapter 566: The Great Sage's Methods
With this grasp, he tore through chaos and spacetime, reaching towards the Nine Mysteries Sage.
"What is this?" The Nine Mysteries Sage felt a nameless fear.
Even when faced with the collapse and destruction of millions of light-years of space just moments ago, the Nine Mysteries Sage had not felt such primal fear.
He would be torn.
Shredded to pieces.
Such thoughts emerged in the Nine Mysteries Sage's mind.
Then came confusion.
Who is it?
Who dares to make a move against me?
In the instant that this grasp reached towards the Nine Mysteries Sage, a causal connection formed between him and its source.
In the depths of his consciousness, the Nine Mysteries Sage saw a scene—
Beyond countless layers of spacetime.
A young man was slowly retracting his right hand, and in the void still lingered five extreme rending forces.
Standing next to the young man was Cang Yu Long, the Stone Clan member, who at this moment stared at the former in a daze.
The Nine Mysteries Sage paid no heed to Cang Yu Long; through the brief causal connection, he focused on the young man who had unleashed that devastating grasp.
"Is it you?"
The Nine Mysteries Sage immediately confirmed that the young man who had made a move against him was also Lin Yuan, and that their causal connection stemmed from the same source.
"The one I'm facing is not your true body?"
The Nine Mysteries Sage found this hard to believe. He could sense that the young man standing next to Cang Yu Long, in terms of physical body and mental oppression,
exceeded the Grand Tai Chi Origin Soul that he had just fought.
The next moment.
The devastating grasp descended.
Riiiip!
The extreme rending force easily tore through the Nine Mysteries Sage's spacetime barriers,
then his skin, flesh, bones, and the universe within his body.
Everything about the Nine Mysteries Sage, his physical body, soul, and even his mental will,
was torn and shredded by this extreme grasp, without any ability to resist,
not even able to delay the inevitable for a moment.
Rustle, rustle.
As his physical body and soul were torn apart, a vibrant vitality emerged within the Nine Mysteries Sage, and he began to recover rapidly.
But with every bit of recovery, the residual rending force would tear him apart again,
and so it continued, until in the Nine Mysteries Sage's despair and reluctance, his physical body, soul, and inner universe were finally shredded to pieces.
Not far away.
The Grand Tai Chi Origin Soul quietly watched this scene.
"My true body fully unleashed the Rending Heaven Grasp, and its might indeed surpasses the explosion of the 'World' divine ability."
Lin Yuan thought silently,
Both the 'World' and 'Rending Heaven' divine abilities were offensive in nature,
but 'Rending Heaven' was much purer.
The 'World' divine ability also had suppression effects, but 'Rending Heaven' did not.
And when the 'World' ability exploded, the destructive force it unleashed was spread out over millions of light-years,
so its might was naturally inferior to 'Rending Heaven'.
The might of 'Rending Heaven' was concentrated entirely in that single grasp.
Buzz, buzz, buzz.
Just as the Nine Mysteries Sage's physical body, soul, and inner world were shredded to pieces, nine streams of qi condensed once again nearby,
and the nine streams of qi converged to form the figure of the Nine Mysteries Sage.
However, the current Nine Mysteries Sage, compared to his previous self,
had suffered a sharp decline in both qi and oppressive aura.
This decline was not temporary, like the one Lin Yuan experienced after exploding the 'World' divine ability,
but one that would take a long time to recover from.
"Not dead?"
Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow, not particularly surprised.
The life-saving methods of Chaos Sages were not to be underestimated, and Lin Yuan, after all, had only reached the Path Opening Realm. By unleashing the 'Rending Heaven' divine ability, he could at most severely injure a Sage.
As for killing one? It would be a stretch, especially since the Nine Mysteries Sage was a newly advanced Chaos Sage.
If Lin Yuan himself entered the Chaos Realm, then at the same level, by unleashing the Rending Heaven ability,
not to mention the Nine Mysteries Sage, even those peak Chaos Sages would be killed beyond resurrection.
In fact, Lin Yuan didn't need to reach the Chaos Realm; as long as he advanced to the Dominator Realm and elevated his life essence,
with the right techniques, inheritance, and cultivation, the Nine Mysteries Sage would be doomed under the Rending Heaven Grasp,
at least this physical body would be destroyed beyond recovery.
"Then let's go again."
Lin Yuan's Grand Tai Chi Origin Soul took a step forward,
having rested briefly, he had mostly recovered,
and the consumption from exploding the 'World' ability had been completely restored, bringing his combat power back to its peak state.
"You?"
The Nine Mysteries Sage's qi was weak, his face slightly pale, and he immediately said, "No need to continue the spar, I concede."
Currently, the Nine Mysteries Sage had suffered severe injuries, and if they continued, it wouldn't be a spar anymore but a life-or-death struggle,
a struggle where he would have to use all his trump cards and desperate measures.
Desperate measures?
For the sake of a Great Sage-level inheritance space, to risk his life against a fellow Sage,
the Nine Mysteries Sage would have to consider it carefully, especially given the current situation.
Even if he was willing to take that risk, he believed his chances of winning were extremely slim,
just Lin Yuan's Grand Tai Chi Origin Soul had pushed him to his limits, and the stronger true body was waiting in the wings, ready to strike at any moment.
Although if he lost this desperate struggle, the Nine Mysteries Sage wouldn't die permanently,
he had prepared numerous backup plans in secret locations, and if his true body perished, he would 'resurrect' through those means.
But all the investments he had made in this true body, as well as the close-guarded treasures, weapons, and rare artifacts, would be truly lost.
Lin Yuan certainly wouldn't return those treasures to him.
"Concede?"
Lin Yuan immediately stopped, he didn't want to push a Chaos Sage to desperation, who knew what other tricks they might have up their sleeve.
More importantly, there were other Chaos Sages in this Myriad Phenomenon Void Domain, and most of their gazes were fixed on this battle.
If it were just a spar, and neither side suffered any injuries, those Chaos Sages wouldn't have any thoughts about it.
But if Lin Yuan severely injured the Nine Mysteries Sage?
As an outsider?
Lin Yuan couldn't guarantee that the Exalted Beings from the native void domains wouldn't interfere.
Furthermore, Lin Yuan didn't dare to assume that the Nine Mysteries Sage didn't have any fellow Exalted friends. What if they joined the fray upon seeing the Nine Mysteries Sage and Lin Yuan fighting for their lives?
In a one-on-one battle, Lin Yuan was confident that he could overpower the Nine Mysteries Sage, a newly advanced Exalted, by revealing all his cards and deploying his true body and Nascent Soul.
However, a two-on-one fight would introduce too many variables.
Therefore, at the moment the Nine Mysteries Sage conceded, Lin Yuan decided against continuing the attack.
His goal for this battle had been achieved—to thoroughly crush the Nine Mysteries Sage. Even if the Nine Mysteries Sage still harbored discontent afterward, he would have to consider whether he could truly match up to Lin Yuan.
"He conceded?"
Beyond the layers of spacetime, Lin Yuan's true body departed directly.
For the sake of the twelfth-grade top-grade Chaos Tree and a Great Sage-level inheritance space,
Lin Yuan had carefully considered the situation and felt that merely deploying the Grand Tai Chi Origin Soul was still a bit risky.
Hence, his true body had also come along, lurking in the shadows to observe.
Upon seeing that the Nine Mysteries Sage endured the explosion of the 'World' divine ability, Lin Yuan's true body seized the opportunity to strike, executing the 'Rending Heaven' grasp.
Although deploying his true Nascent Soul increased the risk, Lin Yuan made the decision after ascertaining the value of that inheritance space.
Now that the spar had concluded, there was no longer any need for his true body to remain.
"Interesting."
Lin Yuan glanced at Cang Yu Long one last time.
With his true body present, Lin Yuan finally managed to detect the traces of another consciousness hidden within Cang Yu Long's body.
"Is this the backup plan of a certain Great Sage?"
Lin Yuan linked this to the mysterious inheritance space. This space was clearly crafted by a Great Sage, and Cang Yu Long must have entered it and gained some opportunity.
Only after Lin Yuan's true body completely vanished did Cang Yu Long's thoughts, which had turned to mush, begin to recover.
"Was that other person also a senior?" Cang Yu Long asked subconsciously as he steadied his mind.
The presence of Lin Yuan's true body had been too overwhelming for Cang Yu Long, especially that 'Rending Heaven' grasp. Even though its might had been completely restrained and not directed at him at all, Cang Yu Long still felt his heart tremble, as if everything within him had been shredded to pieces.
"Nonsense," the immature voice finally spoke up again. "You damn brat, what great fortune did your Stone Clan stumble upon to have such a connection with such a formidable being?"
The immature voice was full of emotion. Although it had kept silent earlier for fear of being detected by Lin Yuan, it had witnessed the 'Rending Heaven' grasp.
That kind of purity in destruction, even the immature voice found somewhat startling.
"This kind of ability isn't a technique but is more akin to an innate divine ability. Could this formidable being be a wondrous lifeform nurtured by the Chaos Void, inherently mastering such destructive abilities?" the immature voice wondered.
The intricacies of the 'Rending Heaven' grasp were so profound that even Great Sages would find it difficult to replicate.
Lin Yuan's strength was clearly not at the Great Sage level, yet he possessed such an ability, which could only be explained by an innate divine ability.
Innate divine abilities were innate powers that one was born with. One might not understand the underlying reasons or how the rules worked together, but they would know how to use it.
"Such a wondrous lifeform that excels in offense would likely become another peerless Great Sage upon entering the Great Sage realm," the immature voice mused.
Chaos Sages and peerless Great Sages both referred to beings who had perfected the Chaos Realm, but the offensive capabilities of peerless Great Sages far surpassed those of Chaos Sages.
"Huh?"
"I don't know either," Cang Yu Long answered honestly. At the peak of the Stone Clan, there had only been a Dominator Realm ancestor,
but that ancestor had disappeared over a dozen universe eras ago, and the soul lamp left behind in the clan had long since gone out.
As for having a connection with an Exalted?
If he didn't think that Lin Yuan wouldn't lie about this, Cang Yu Long wouldn't have believed it at all.
"Right, senior, how did the spar with the Nine Mysteries Sage go?" Cang Yu Long asked, as if he had just thought of something. He had been so immersed in the oppressive presence of Lin Yuan's true body that he had forgotten to ask about the battle between the two Exalteds outside the Nine Mysteries Secret Realm.
Cang Yu Long remembered that the last 'broadcast' from the immature voice had mentioned the Nine Mysteries Sage enduring one of Lin Yuan's killing moves and about to counterattack.
"Spar?" The immature voice sounded slightly surprised. "What do you think the purpose was for that senior's true body to appear just now?"
"Huh?" Cang Yu Long blinked.
He only remembered Lin Yuan's true body reaching out toward the battlefield from afar and then turning to leave.
"It's over. The Nine Mysteries Sage suffered severe injuries and probably conceded," the immature voice said directly. It hadn't heard the Nine Mysteries Sage admit defeat, but seeing Lin Yuan's true body leave and no longer sensing any battle fluctuations outside the Nine Mysteries Secret Realm, it inferred the outcome.
"Did that senior's grasp just now force the Nine Mysteries Sage to concede?" Cang Yu Long took a deep breath, finding it a bit unbelievable.
He indeed felt that the aura emitted by Lin Yuan's true body was terrifying, but in his eyes, Exalteds and Great Sages were already beyond his comprehension, with no distinction between them.
"Your realm, your strength—they're still too low. You couldn't possibly sense the might represented by that grasp," the immature voice said with emotion. "But this is actually a good thing."
"A good thing?" Cang Yu Long thought about it and vaguely understood.
In various Chaos Continents and high-level secret realms within the Myriad Phenomenon Void Domain.
Numerous Chaos Exalteds were paying close attention to the battle outside the Nine Mysteries Secret Realm with grave expressions.
"The Nine Mysteries conceded?"
"The might of that grasp was indeed terrifying."
"If the Nine Mysteries didn't concede, it would truly be a battle of life and death, and he would likely die."
The Exalteds communicated with each other. As Exalteds within the same void domain, they naturally had ways to communicate in real-time.
Even some of the Exalted beings who were separated by dozens or even hundreds of void domains could still communicate with each other. However, the greater the distance, the higher the cost of each interaction. Within the same void domain, communication was essentially unrestricted.
"Nine Mysteries probably still has some trump cards up his sleeve that he hasn't used, but there's no need to continue the fight. The same goes for that mysterious Exalted," one of the Exalted beings commented.
"Indeed, that mysterious Exalted is formidable. Even I could only take that grasp head-on and wouldn't be able to dodge it," another Exalted agreed.
"Hehe, if it were me, I would merge with the four directions of spacetime and greatly dilute the power of that grasp. Even if I were injured, it wouldn't be as severe as what Nine Mysteries is facing now," a third Exalted chimed in.
"Hahahaha, Nine Mysteries is excellent at offense, but his defense and survival skills are lacking. He's not flexible enough," yet another Exalted added.
The Exalted beings began to critique the battle, putting themselves in Nine Mysteries' position and discussing how they would have faced Lin Yuan's devastating grasp.
Among Exalted beings, direct confrontations were rare, and even when they did spar, they wouldn't reveal all their trump cards.
If they frequently revealed their trump cards, they would no longer be considered trump cards. In this case, however, it was clear that Nine Mysteries and Lin Yuan had fought with genuine intensity, bringing out their most potent abilities.
This gave the other Exalted beings a thrilling experience as they witnessed the exchange of such powerful techniques.
Especially Lin Yuan's 'Rending Heaven' grasp, it was a move they had never seen before, and they naturally discussed how they would defend against it if they were in Nine Mysteries' position.
Of course, what all the Exalted beings didn't know was that any strategy they came up with to counter the 'Rending Heaven' grasp was meaningless.
This was because Lin Yuan, who had executed that move, was not on the same level as them; he was a Path Opening Realm being.
The divine ability 'Rending Heaven' represented the pinnacle of offensive power, and this was true even for those in the Path Opening Realm. By the time one reached the Dominator or Chaos Realm, wanting to block this grasp would likely require one to be at the peak of the Chaos Realm or even a Great Sage.
If one's strength didn't reach that level, all strategies were just empty talk.
"Hmm, the spar is over. Nine Mysteries conceded, and that mysterious Exalted has also left."
"Aww, the excitement is over."
"Nine Mysteries suffered a big loss this time. It will take him at least a couple of universe eras to recover from his injuries, I presume."
The Exalted beings gave a final glance at the Nine Mysteries Secret Realm area before turning their attention elsewhere.
They had no designs on Lin Yuan, and as for keeping him here? The true clone that had unleashed the 'Rending Heaven' grasp earlier was obviously Lin Yuan's true self.
None of the Exalted beings could prevent Lin Yuan from leaving with his Grand Tai Chi Origin Soul.
Unless Lin Yuan truly fought to the death with Nine Mysteries, they, as fellow Exalted beings in the same void domain, might have intervened.
But for a simple spar, especially one that Nine Mysteries had agreed to, none of them would find it amusing to meddle.
"I lost."
Outside the Nine Mysteries Secret Realm, Nine Mysteries watched as Lin Yuan's figure disappeared, a dejected look on his face.
He had conceded, and Nine Mysteries naturally accepted the outcome. Lin Yuan's final grasp had made him feel the danger of death.
If he hadn't conceded, he truly might have died.
"I suffered quite a loss in this spar," Nine Mysteries began to assess his gains and losses.
First, that mysterious inheritance space was now gone. Even if he had won against Lin Yuan, he would have only obtained the replicated inheritance within the space.
But something was still better than nothing.
Now, however, that inheritance was completely out of reach.
Secondly, during the spar, his control over his combat strength had been inadequate, resulting in the collapse of the surrounding area spanning millions of light-years.
Even the outer regions of the Nine Mysteries Secret Realm, his lair, had been severely damaged.
Lastly, there were the injuries he had sustained from the 'Rending Heaven' grasp, which would take an immense amount of time to recover from.
As a newly advanced Exalted, Nine Mysteries had recently experienced a significant boost in status and strength, advancing from the Dominator to the Chaos Realm. He had been proud and confident, and on top of that, he had stumbled upon the mysterious inheritance space.
He had originally thought that his path would continue to be smooth sailing.
Straight to the Great Sage realm.
But now, this was the outcome.
"Never mind, never mind."
"I lost, so I lost. It's just some Great Sage-level inheritances. Even if I obtained them, it wouldn't guarantee that I'd become a Great Sage."
Nine Mysteries calmed himself down. After all, no matter how many Great Sage-level inheritances there were, it was still difficult to say whether they could nurture a Great Sage.
If it were that easy, there wouldn't be those ancient Great Sage-level forces that had declined over time.
To become a Great Sage, the most fundamental factor was one's own efforts. External forces had little to no help. Even if a Great Sage guided someone day and night, it wouldn't bring much benefit to a Exalted trying to break through to the Great Sage realm.
Great Sages and Exalted beings were both essentially in the Chaos Realm, so the guidance wouldn't make much difference.
"Through this battle, I can sense that my killer moves and secret techniques still have many flaws," Nine Mysteries reflected, a spark of determination appearing in his eyes. "Once I make up for these flaws, the outcome of our next spar might be different."
A fighting spirit arose in Nine Mysteries' heart. Although he still didn't know Lin Yuan's identity or which void domain he was from, he was sure that such a powerful being wouldn't remain unknown. He would find out eventually, and when he did, he would go to challenge Lin Yuan again.
In the depths of layered spacetime.
Cang Yu Long stood respectfully.
Lin Yuan's Grand Tai Chi Origin Soul appeared, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked at Cang Yu Long.
"Thank you, Senior," Cang Yu Long said gratefully, his voice shaking.
Although Lin Yuan had intervened, it wasn't without reason.
But in the end, there was no need for Lin Yuan to spar with Nine Mysteries just to save the Stone Clan members. He could have simply said that he couldn't save them, and Cang Yu Long wouldn't have asked Lin Yuan to do so in the first place.
"Hmm."
Lin Yuan nodded, and then said something that caused Cang Yu Long's expression to change drastically: "How long do you plan to keep hiding?"
(End of Chapter)
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