Kind Old Man - 484

Zhu Yi understood why the man was confused. It was hard to believe that Zhu Yi could possibly fight against multiple Chaos Beasts only a single level below him.

"I can do it." Zhu Yi said.

The man shook his head. "It's not that simple. If you die to the Chaos Beasts, it could cause a collapse in the strategy. If you want to fight against multiple Chaos Beasts of the same level, you have to prove your strength."

Zhu Yi nodded. "I can do that. How will it be tested?"

The man shrugged in response. "I don't know. I'll go ask."

Even among soul formation realm cultivators, there was a clear difference.

Zhu Yi watched as the man left and entered a hole in the giant structure of ice. After a few minutes, a different person came out. He was older, and seemed wiser than the last man.

"How many do you want to fight against?" He asked Zhu Yi.

"I think I can handle 3." Zhu Yi responded. He didn't want to be too careless.

The old man thought for a second before speaking. "I am at the tenth level of the soul formation realm. I could theoretically fight two at the same time, though I don't, but I feel that three is a stretch for even me. If you can defeat me in a fight, you can fight three Chaos Beasts."

Zhu Yi agreed and they moved far away from the Frost Sect. Once they were far enough away that it was impossible for them to even shake the Frost Sect, they stopped.

Before fighting, the old man spoke. "Perhaps in the wider universe, it isn't too crazy to fight against multiple Chaos Beasts a level lower than you, but I truly don't believe that you can fight three."

Zhu Yi was surprised. It seemed that this old man knew about the wider universe.

"You know about the wider universe?" Zhu Yi asked.

"I do. I know that in the wider universe, fighting a Chaos Beast at the same level below the void traversing realm, while shocking, is not a unique achievement. When looking at the vast amount of people born with extreme talent, at least a few born every now and then can fight a Chaos Beast at the same level."

The old man paused for a moment and spoke again. "Yet, everything changes when the void traversing realm is involved."

He looked at Zhu Yi. "How much do you know about Chaos Beasts?"

Zhu Yi responded. "Not much."

"Many notice it after fighting the first few Chaos Beasts, but a Chaos Beasts strength is completely dependent on its realm, not its level or talent. Every single nascent soul realm Chaos Beast has around the same strength. It is also the same for Chaos Beasts at the soul formation level. It is when a Chaos Beast is born in the void traversing realm that there becomes a possibility of difference. Simply put, there is a chance for a Chaos Beast to gain intelligence. Although so small in the void traversing realm that it is not worth mentioning, it is still possible. Chaos beast born at a higher realm have a higher chance of having intelligence. With intelligence, the threat of a Chaos Beast is variable and can change. Intelligent Chaos Beasts cannot grow their realm like all other Chaos Beasts, but they can increase their power."

Zhu Yi had a question. "So only intelligent Chaos Beast's are a real threat above the soul formation realm?"

"No. You should know that the higher the realm of the Chaos Beast, the stronger it is on the same level. In other words, a genius who can fight a foundation establishment realm Chaos Beast at the same level may not be able to do so against a nascent soul realm Chaos Beast at the same level. This trend continues steadily until the void traversing realm. The strength of a Chaos Beast on the same level is then far, far stronger than before."

The old man paused before once again looking at Zhu Yi. "In the history of our world, there have surely been multiple geniuses that can fight a Chaos Beast at the same level, but only at the Nascent soul realm or below. It is unlikely that there was one who could fight a soul formation realm Chaos Beast at the same level."

"Now, knowing all this, why do you think that even billions of years later, Chen Jie is hailed as the greatest geniuses of our planet?"

Zhu Yi did not know.

"It is because he killed a void traversing realm Chaos Beast at the same level."

After hearing so much from the old man about Chaos Beasts, Zhu Yi was surprised to hear this about Chen Jie.

He also noticed that the old man had said billions of years. In other words, Chen Jie was on this planet at least 2 billion years ago. This was an amount of time that Zhu Yi could hardly believe.

After saying all this, the old man formed a ball of ice in his hand. "I told you all this because you are clearly a genius. It is said that I'm testing you to make sure that you don't disrupt the battle strategy, but I don't want you to die due to arrogance. For this purpose, I will fight you with everything I have."

As the ice ball fully formed, the old man clenched his fist and punched at Zhu Yi from afar.

Condensed icicles shot past Zhu Yi's head as he moved to the side. He put his hand on his sword and spoke

"Thank you for your concern. I truly appreciate it." He spoke both slow and fast. His words were clear, but barely any time was passing as he spoke them.

He began to pull his sword out of his sheath. The sword seemed to disappear as it came farther out.

"But my name is Zhu Yi, disciple of Zhou Fan, and I must never lose."

Formless sword.

Without knowing how, the old man felt his leg get cut. The first cut did not go too deep, testament to his great defense and Zhu Yi holding back, but an instant later, another cut came, deeper and stronger.