novelraw Chapter 168 - 163: A Gathering of Sages; Reflecting the Heavens to Suppress the Seven Stars
Chapter 168 - 163: A Gathering of Sages; Reflecting the Heavens to Suppress the Seven Stars
The next day. Modu Central Park.
Yi Beidou had fought Yuri here just the day before. The plaza ground was still scarred with spiderweb-like cracks and terrifying craters.
And now, this was the chosen site for the battle between Yi Beidou and Devi.
The perimeter of Central Park had been cordoned off, barring ordinary citizens from entry. Despite this, the area surrounding the plaza was still packed to the brim.
These people were almost all figures from the Martial Arts Cultivation Realm. Any expert, domestic or foreign, who happened to be in Modu had come to the scene to witness this momentous duel.
In a bygone era, one would never have had the chance to witness a Magical Combat between individuals of this caliber.
At this very moment, members of various sects from the Han Province Martial Arts Realm were gathered together, among them many familiar figures.
Cyan Wood Heart Intent, Five Fire Refining Truth, Six Yang Qi...
After all, Yi Beidou was a Saint Expert from Han Province and had ties to the Cyan Wood Heart Intent sect. They naturally shared in his glory and wouldn’t miss a battle like this.
In addition to the Sect Leaders of the major sects, disciples from each sect were also present.
There was Wei Ziren, the senior-most disciple of Cyan Wood Heart Intent who had once been sent flying by a single slap from Yi Beidou, as well as Yin Xingjie, the head disciple of the Five Flames Refining Truth Sect...
...and Li Qingdai, who by a fortunate coincidence had once given Yi Beidou a ride, sharing a brief connection with him on the road.
Ever since Cyan Wood Heart Intent Sect Leader Mu Huaidong learned of Li Qingdai’s "connection" to Yi Beidou, she had been given special priority and training within the sect. Now, a mere six months later, she was already showing faint signs of breaking through to the Tonghui Internalization realm.
After all, the contact information in her phone and the promise he had once made could, at a critical moment, be enough to change the entire sect’s destiny.
It was a classic case of the proverb: when one person attains the Dao, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.
"So many experts! Nearly all of the top one hundred from the Martial Hero Conference are here!"
Wei Ziren looked around, spotting many familiar faces.
He had participated in the Martial Hero Conference as well. Unfortunately, having only recently entered the Realm of Mighty Spirit, his foundation was still lacking. He also had a stroke of bad luck, running into Chen Hao of the Soul-Seizing Realm early on, which led to his defeat and cost him a spot in the top hundred.
"It’s more than just the young experts. Practically every prestigious sect in the country has come!"
"I’ve never seen so many sects from the Martial Arts Realm gathered in one place. If I didn’t know this was a duel, I’d almost think it was the legendary Martial Arts Conference."
Mu Huaidong said in a low voice.
"Even the so-called Martial Arts Conference could hardly compare to this magnificent spectacle."
Wu Xianjue shook his head. If they hadn’t arrived so early, their spot would have been so bad they wouldn’t have been able to see the plaza at all. They would have had to copy those fellows in the back rows and climb a tree like a monkey just to get a glimpse.
A commotion suddenly erupted from the crowd.
Just then, Wei Ziren, Li Qingdai, and the others looked back toward the source of the commotion. They saw the normally unruly Martial Artists—men who had nearly come to blows over their positions in the crowd—were now voluntarily parting to form a path.
A tall white man, completely wreathed in golden flames, advanced step by step. His blazing, tyrannical aura was almost suffocating, and the crowd instinctively parted before him.
Blasphemer Moncalis.
A Saint Expert had arrived!
Moncalis’s expression was calm as he strode through the crowd. Despite being a latecomer, he took a position at the very front, which offered the best view.
Under the searing heat of the Holy Flame, no one dared to protest his "line-cutting."
After that, fresh waves of commotion rippled through the crowd.
A streak of blood-red light flashed, and the crowd parted for a tall, stunningly beautiful white woman who approached slowly.
A flash of sword light flared. A person in a Kendo Uniform and a gargantuan, mountain-sized man from Japan arrived in the plaza.
Purple smoke swirled around as a girl with a lollipop dangling from her lips, dressed like a maiden from the Republican era, made her way through the crowd.
The earth trembled violently, causing large swathes of the crowd to sway unsteadily as a South American and a bald white man slowly approached.
...
One by one, the Saints from both home and abroad who were currently in Modu arrived at the scene.
Even the Saints who had been injured in previous duels attended, bearing their wounds.
Zhou Qingchen, dressed in a cyan Martial Arts Uniform, had a cold and transcendent aura. His face was pale, his injuries not yet fully healed. Huang Tianhu was so covered in bandages that his face was hidden, but he stood ramrod straight with his arms crossed...
"The older generation of Saint Experts is here!"
Someone cried out in alarm as Wei Cheng and the other veteran Saint Experts emerged from the crowd.
This time, they hadn’t remained at the main command center. They came to the scene in person, partly to witness the duel firsthand, and partly to prevent any unexpected incidents during the confrontation.
Veteran Saint Experts, the new generation of domestic Saint Martial Artists, foreign Saints...
In ancient times, a Saint-level master might appear only once a century. Yet now, nearly thirty of them were gathered around this plaza!
A congregation of Saints!!
What an incredibly rare and magnificent spectacle! It was practically a gathering of Immortals.
With so many Saint Experts gathered in one place, none of them deliberately concealing their auras, their potent Life Magnetic Fields churned and clashed, creating an almost miraculous effect.
WHOOSH!!
Gusts of wind swept across the plaza. In the air around them, motes of light like rainbow-colored ribbons became visible to the naked eye, flashing past in an instant.
Faced with that immense presence, many Martial Artists who had yet to reach the Realm of Ascension could only take a small step back, giving the gathered Saints a wide berth.
This was the domain of Immortal Gods.
It was an incredibly rare spectacle. Never mind the inexperienced young members of the Martial Arts Realm; even the various Sect Leaders had never witnessed such a scene.
And all these powerful figures had gathered here merely to await the arrival of two people.
Wei Ziren of Han Province was already holding his breath. The two combatants had not even arrived, yet he could already feel the profound meaning of the word "brilliance."
In every era, there are always one or two stars that outshine all others in the sky.
For a martial artist like him, being sent flying by a single slap should have been a lifelong disgrace. But because of who had done it, the memory was now perhaps an honor he would carry for the rest of his life.
Li Qingdai, however, was even more shaken.
’How could she have ever imagined it? That the young man she’d met on the side of a road would, in a mere six months, become the most dazzling star of the era?’
Just then.
VMMMM!!
The world before everyone’s eyes changed dramatically. Amidst a violent tremor, the bright and sunny morning sky suddenly dimmed.
Across one stretch of the sky, the stars of the Big Dipper ignited, one after another.
BOOM!!
At the edge of the plaza, blue-white Demon Flames erupted and shot toward the heavens. A swath of space itself seemed to twist. The crowd fell into an uproar, scattering to either side as they stared at the source of the aura.
A young man, wreathed in Demon Flame and bathed in starlight that fell on him like a spotlight, advanced toward the center of the plaza. His aura was both baleful and chillingly cold.
Wherever he passed, his brilliance obscured all sight, and everything around him—people and objects alike—seemed to lose its color.
Yi Beidou. The Celestial Slaughter Seven Stars. The Beidou Star God.
「On the other side」
In the now-dimmed sky, countless stars twinkled across the boundless expanse. One by one, celestial phenomena resembling clouds of stars began to glow.
Gold, crimson, cyan, umber...
These clouds of light were a kaleidoscope of colors—hazy, ethereal, dreamlike, vast, and mysterious.
They seemed to be filled with the mysterious, fundamental truths of the cosmos.
These were star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.
The most breathtaking radiances one could witness in the cosmos.
A figure appeared from the opposite direction. He was enveloped in a hazy cloud of light, dotted with twinkling stars, as if a brilliant nebula shrouded his very being.
Powerful and mysterious.
As the nebulous clusters grew denser, Devi’s aura swelled, becoming ever more immense.
His Martial Arts Dao no longer seemed to belong to the mortal world.
In his pursuit of a higher realm, to transcend the very sky above, he had traveled to outer space in a spacecraft. He went there to conduct his Cultivation, seeking to better experience the vast power of the cosmos.
For humanity, Earth is an incubator, a cradle. All the various cosmic magnetic fields, energies, and radiation are drastically weakened as they pass through the atmosphere, rendered harmless to the human body.
But in the depths of space, it is completely different. There, one can directly perceive the celestial forces and violent torrents emanating from the boundless Void. That is the "truth."
It was through this True Intent that Devi comprehended the reality of the Void and subtly reshaped his own Life Magnetic Field.
The human body is like a universe; its organs and systems are like galaxies, each hiding infinite mysteries.
Mysterious Starry Sky.
This was the name of the Secret Technique Devi was unleashing.
Their auras clashed as the two men walked into the plaza, the eyes of all upon them.
The expressions of the assembled Saint Experts shifted slightly.
The intertwining auras and True Intents of these two were so powerful that they prevented the magnetic fields of the nearly thirty other Saint Experts from even spreading. The sheer intensity was staggering.
However, the onlookers could still vaguely perceive that while the two seemed evenly matched on the surface, the vast, starry-sky-like magnetic field was undoubtedly superior in terms of sheer scale and oppressive power.
"The God of the Big Dipper?"
Devi looked up at the Beidou Seven Stars in the sky.
"In my presence, no star is permitted to shine."
Devi said coolly.
The next moment.
VMMMM!!
A divine light shot from his eyes. A seven-colored radiance converged between his brows, slowly blossoming forth.
At a glance, it looked as if a radiant, vertical eye had opened on his forehead!
The third eye is a feature of many legends, both ancient and modern, Eastern and Western. It is often considered a symbol of Deities.
Upon seeing this divine phenomenon, the crowd cried out in astonishment. Even the surrounding Saint Experts felt a chill crawl down their spines.
As the vertical eye between Devi’s brows swept over them, they had the unnerving sensation of being stripped bare.
"A Dharma Eye that pierces illusion and reflects the heavens?!"
A veteran Saint Expert murmured in a grave voice.
This was a rare state of the Spiritual Dharma Eye, rumored to possess the Divine Power to see through all things.
At this, Yi Beidou’s brow twitched. Even with his body wreathed in Demon Flame, he felt as if he had no secrets before this man’s gaze.
Devi Punk was born with spiritual perception, a man with a unique mind who possessed a terrifying ability known as "Supersensitive Intuition."
This ability allowed him to perceive magnetic fields and see through the true essence of things. It was even more powerful than the Dharma Eye possessed by Yang Mutong.
For a Martial Artist, one must reach a certain realm to even perceive the mysteries of natural magnetic fields. Only at a higher level still can one begin to manipulate those fields, using them to achieve Harmonized True Qi for one’s own benefit.
But for Devi, the ability to perceive and control magnetic fields was innate.
At the age of six, he could close his eyes and everything within a one-kilometer radius would appear in his mind’s eye as clearly as if he were looking right at it.
This was the result of his Supersensitive Intuition capturing the magnetic fields emanating from his surroundings and naturally forming an image in his mind.
As he grew older and stronger, this ability intensified. Now, he could capture the residual magnetic fluctuations within a thirty-kilometer radius and form an image in his mind.
When this terrifying mental power was applied to combat, he could analyze every change in the magnetic fields of his environment and his opponents, understanding everything as if he were one of the Deities, in complete control.
This was Devi’s "Divine Eye Technique."
"Found it."
A faint smile touched Devi’s lips.
The next moment.
VMMMM!!
The nebula phenomenon suddenly expanded. The light of the Beidou Seven Stars in the sky trembled violently, then dimmed.
Most terrifying of all, the seven stars were being extinguished, one by one!!
The starlight on Yi Beidou’s body vanished. The power of Beidou had been severed from him, and the blazing magnetic field within his body began to rapidly recede.
The Heavenly Slaughter Seven Stars Secret Skill... had seemingly been nullified!
Seeing this, Yuri took a sharp breath from his spot in the distance.
He remembered this. It was the same method Devi had used to defeat him—severing his connection to the earth and dragging him into the "Void" to be struck down.