Chapter 32

Once they saw the clothing and accessories of the Sacred Sun Clan disciples, also having heard what the other side had said, the faces of the crowd of Broad Creed Mountain disciples immediately filled with anger.

As that bearded white-robed man walked closer, his line of sight turned to look in another direction, "People ah, should still live in the moment."

In that direction was actually yet another stage.

"The Sacred Sun Saint, thus, in broad daylight, turned into a rainbow and soared, illuminating the heavens and the earth…" Behind the stage, a voice recited, raising, lowering, stopping and changing its tone along as appropriately needed to fit the flow of the tale.

Broad Creed Mountain was not the only major power that had laid its roots in Overlooking Abyss City; the Sacred Sun Clan had similarly taken up residence here, where it also held considerable sway.

Thus, there were naturally storytellers or stage actors spreading around the legends of the Sacred Sun Clan here.

Most of these people did not possess any special thoughts or inclinations towards the two powers. They just provided the commoners here with whatever kind of story they liked in order to make a living.

The Sacred Sun Clan's most famous legend that was popular among the commoners was related to their first Clan Chief, that legendary figure.

It was said in the world of commoners that this exalted man had ascended under the bright rays of the sun; amongst the martial practitioners of this world, a great many of versions of this story had spread.

Some said that he had attained an even higher cultivation realm, thus breaking through this mortal plane and ascending.

Some said that he still lived within some secret, forbidden ground of the Sacred Sun Clan, where he remained in secluded cultivation.

There were also rumours that he had fallen in the midst of secluded death cultivation long ago, etcetera.

What could only be said for certain was that he had not been seen in a long time; all of these various versions, lacked substance.

Under the leadership of this person, the Sacred Sun Clan, following the fall of Zhan Dongge, began its unstoppable rise, finally ascending to the position of the most powerful of the new generation of Sacred Grounds.

The white-robed man's gaze had fallen on that stage; the meaning of his words, did not have to be explained.

The Broad Creed Mountain disciples fell into a dejected state.

"Xiao Shen, what's with that large beard of yours?" Yan Zhaoge was the sole exception, looking rather bemused on top of the somewhat amused expression on his face as he looked at Xiao Shen.

Xiao Shen didn't answer, however. Instead, he twitched his ears as if listening for something, at the same time staring at Yan Zhaoge.

"The flow of blood and also the pulse are virtually inaudible, solemn yet smooth…the blood resembles mercury. You have reached the outer aura Martial Scholar realm? And also finished the second cleansing of the marrows within the bones so quickly?"

"Still, that's unimportant," Xiao Shen made no further comment as he appraised Yan Zhaoge all over,

"Yan Zhaoge, you beat up members of my Sacred Sun Clan in the Sealing Dragon Abyss; did you think that would be the end of that?"

Yan Zhaoge laughed, "You want to stand up for Chao Yuanlong and the others?"

Xiao Shen strode forward, coming to stand in front of Yan Zhaoge, "What else?"

The group from Broad Creed Mountain had not recognised the other party initially. After hearing Xiao Shen's name, however, they instantly realised who the person before them was.

He was the grandson of the Sacred Sun Clan's Grand Elder, and at the same time, a member of the Sacred Sun Clan's Four Rising Suns, alongside Chao Yuanlong. Having cultivated for longer, though, his cultivation realm was even higher than Chao Yuanlong's.

"Late outer aura Martial Scholar," Sikong Qing frowned, looking at Yan Zhaoge and Xiao Shen.

Like the earlier Chao Yuanlong who had been undefeated amongst late inner aura Martial Scholars, along his road of martial cultivation, Xiao Shen had also been one of the top few amongst those of the same stage; in fact, his achievements in battle were even more glorious than that of Chao Yuanlong.

As compared to Chao Yuanlong who had forsaken the sword for some non-mainstream martial arts, Xiao Shen had all along been acting according to convention and cultivating in the Sacred Sun Clan's most orthodox martial arts.

Despite that, he had still been able to outshine all those other young geniuses of the Sacred Sun Clan.

While at the early outer aura Martial Scholar stage in the past, he had defeated opponents of the mid outer aura Martial Scholar stage, his name thus coming to shake the entire world.

While the crowd of Broad Creed Mountain disciples had confidence in Yan Zhaoge, with Xiao Shen's current cultivation realm, as well as the huge gulf in experience between them, they could not help but be shaken.

Xiao Shen's voice was rough, but his words were slow and ordered, "What you did to Chao Yuanlong and the others previously; I will pay you back in full today."

"Other than Chao Yuanlong, you also hit some of my other junior apprentice-brothers. Today, other than you, I will also choose some of those people standing behind you to accompany you."

At Xiao Shen bullying people with his cultivation realm like this, the disciples couldn't help but have dissatisfaction well up within their hearts, "You think my Broad Creed Mountain has no late outer aura Martial Scholars?"

Yan Zhaoge, though, had his expression unchanged, "Martial practitioners with a forty-year age difference, perhaps with three to five years of leeway given, are divided into different age categories."

"You and I have too huge a difference in age. Still, I'm fine with that; we'll all just take it that we're in the same age category then."

"Ah Hu, you don't have to participate."

Ah Hu glared at Xiao Shen with an unfriendly look on his face. Hearing Yan Zhaoge's instructions, he nodded, and retreated.

Xiao Shen stared at Yan Zhaoge, "Skill aside, you do indeed have some courage, at least."

"I will also not bully you based on our gap in cultivation. Your sword having broken Chao Yuanlong's Piercing Sun Needle Art and Heaven Striking Palm, I guess your sword arts must have something special about them. I'll just compete with you in that area then." Saying thus, Xiao Shen's pair of hands grabbed at the distant air.

From far away, the two artistes acting out "Mr Dong slays the Fire Demon King" and the "The Sacred Sun Saint Ascends in Daylight" suddenly felt their hands lighten.

Then, they found that the two wooden puppets which individually represented Mr Dong and the Sacred Sun Saint had completely disappeared from their hands.

The audience was in an uproar as they looked around in all directions, looking for the wooden puppets. Yet no one knew where the puppets had gone, or how they had vanished.

The two wooden puppets had both ended up in Xiao Shen's hands, grasping the cross which firmly kept locked in place the string with which they were controlled.

"I heard that you used a bamboo as a sword, wielding it skilfully; looks like you should be somewhat proficient in controlling over your aura-qi, and have the qualifications to be playing this little game with me."

Xiao Shen laughed, "While this little thing is somewhat hardier than a stick of bamboo, it is still very weak; if aura-qi that were too strong were to be infused within in, it would just explode.

Therefore, you don't have to worry about me bullying you with my higher level of cultivation, because using this plaything is equivalent to having restricted the amount of aura-qi we can use."

"In the area of the amount of aura-qi we can draw on, both sides are the same. To obtain victory, we will have to compete in whose martial skills are more superior, and who is more proficient in controlling their aura-qi." Saying thus, Xiao Shen threw the Mr Dong puppet towards Yan Zhaoge.

As Yan Zhaoge caught ahold of it, he suddenly laughed, "If I do not remember wrongly, the founder of your clan was chased into the mouth of a volcano by our clan's founder exalted Hantian, not daring to emerge for a good half of his life."

"Only when the fire demons invaded and he received our founder's express permission, did he slowly crawl out from within?"

Xiao Shen looked at Yan Zhaoge and said coldly, "The people of Broad Creed Mountain only know how to talk about the past. People who like to live in the past, should just turn into dust along with history."

Saying thus, he flipped his palm, releasing his aura to surround his body.

The strings holding the puppet broke apart, but the puppet remained hovering in mid-air rather than dropping to the ground, as a faint metallic radiance suddenly began circulating around the surface of its body.

Under the effects of the released aura, the wooden puppet of inferior make began glowing with a brilliant light, as if it possessed a life of its own.

The four limbs of that wooden puppet moved about, directly striking a palm out at the Mr Dong puppet in Yan Zhaoge's hands!

At the tiny, intricate puppet's palm strike, a biting cold wind blew!

An explosion even resounded within the air, as if the air itself had been blown apart!

Seeing this, the hearts of the Broad Creed Mountain disciples all shivered, "No wonder despite knowing how senior apprentice-brother Yan defeated Chao Yuanlong, he still dares to issue this sort of challenge!"

Yan Zhaoge, on the other hand, laughed, as, with a flip of his palm, he also snapped the string connected to his wooden puppet.

With the infusion of his aura-qi, the eyes of the Mr Dong puppet seemed to have a light flickering within.

Instantly, Mr Dong transformed into the Exalted Hantian, as his aura blazed out awe-inspiringly in an instant.

The wooden short sword within the hands of the wooden puppet shook, then cut a line in the air, actually leaving in its wake temporary, suspended scars that were clearly visible to the naked eye.

"Perform well, Yan Zhaoge, at least let me have a little fun ah."

At this moment, a cold, dark gaze resembling that of a snake resided within Xiao Shen's eyes.

Under his control, the twin palms of the Sacred Sun Saint puppet attacked, going straight for the wooden puppet under Yan Zhaoge's control!