Chapter 70: Duel of Divine Instruments

  Under the gaze of countless people, the man came to the front of the stone platform and lightly jumped up onto it.

  He was a very tall man, about two meters in height, wearing a pair of faded jeans and a denim jacket, with bulging muscles under his clothes, as if proclaiming his strength to the world.

  The man stood quietly there, the astonishing oppressive feeling emanating from his body had not weakened in the slightest. The cultivators on the stone platform all changed color and struggled to support themselves, several of those with lower cultivation having already hidden under the platform. On the entire stone platform, only Tianxingzi and I looked like we were still at ease.

  The cultivators below the stage looked at him with eager eyes, wanting to see how he would compete with the arrogant human on the stage. But the man's gaze didn't fall on me, only sweeping a glance over me, a flash of frenzy in his eyes, and then his line of sight fell on Dongfang Xue's head, or rather, it fell on the divine sword spinning around Dongfang Xue's head.

  "Magic artifact? How interesting, it's been a long time since I've seen one of those!" The man grinned widely, his voice sounding silly, "Let's have some fun then!" As soon as he finished speaking, a white light burst out from his waist, and a small hammer the size of a fist appeared. Its entire body was silver-white, and it shone with dazzling white light on top of his head.

  "I...I..." Dongfang Xue was shocked, because she knew the identity of this man. He was the one called "Old Ancestor" by the cultivators in the Cultivation Alliance, with the highest seniority and status among all cultivators in the alliance. He was a cultivator who had transcended the middle stage of tribulation. It's just that no one knew his origin.

  Although Dongfang Xue now has the confidence to challenge those cultivators who are stronger than her after obtaining the immortal artifact, she still has a clear understanding of herself. The cultivation of this cultivator in front of her is not something she can compare with, let alone that he also has an immortal artifact, so wouldn't it be self-inflicted humiliation if she were to engage in combat with him?

  "What's wrong? Let's get started!" The man seemed to have not noticed Dongfang Xue's distress, and said with great enthusiasm. The small hammer hovering above his head suddenly expanded into a gigantic hammer.

  "They're just afraid of losing to you and getting hurt, how can you bully your junior like that?"

  I suddenly said to the side, Dongfang Xue looked at me with a strange expression, wondering why I would use this tone of joking with friends to talk to the cultivator in front of me. However, he unexpectedly discovered that my mouth corners rose with a warm smile.

  "Alright, you see my brain!" The man still didn't realize anything was wrong, patted his head and said to Dongfang Xue: "Then I'll restrict my power to a similar level as yours, we can play around a bit, right?"

  Since there was no danger, Dongfang Xue seemed to be slightly moved.

  As soon as he saw Dongfang Xue, the man smiled slightly and then suddenly swung the large hammer on his head towards Dongfang Xue. The hammer had not yet arrived, but the force of the wind it brought with it was already blowing so hard that Dongfang Xue could not open her eyes.

  Dongfang Xue was shocked and hastily jumped back, the large hammer heavily smashing onto the stone pedestal. The pedestal shook violently, forcing everyone on it to jump down in a fluster.

  When the dust that had been stirred up dispersed, everyone saw clearly that the poor fellow's High Stone Platform had already turned into dozens of stone blocks of varying sizes, leaving the cultivators below speechless.

  To know that all the buildings in this space are protected by the space, and this granite stone platform is dozens of times harder than ordinary rocks. At first, these cultivators worked hard to build this stone platform, but they didn't expect it to be crushed so easily.

  Seeing the power of this giant hammer, Dongfang Xue was secretly shocked and worried that his slender sword could withstand such a heavy blow.

  "Hey, watch out!"

  The sound coming from the side broke Dongfang Xue's thoughts, and when she raised her head, she found that the big hammer was smashing towards herself again, and it was already close to her own head. In extreme surprise, nothing else mattered, and with a thought in mind, the immortal sword that had been circling around her immediately transformed into a cold light to meet the attack.

  A crisp, metallic sound rang out, and a burst of intense light exploded in mid-air. Two celestial artifacts collided in the air, then rebounded, paused for a moment, and clashed again, ringing out with a series of clear, metallic tones as they fought fiercely together.

  The Eastern official's eyes widened in surprise, it seemed that her immortal sword was not as useless as she thought, but rather had a draw with the giant hammer, looking like they were evenly matched. Thinking that her own immortal artifact had such power, she felt extremely excited.

  "Ah, it's been a long time since I've felt this good! It's been hundreds of years since I've had such a thrill!" The man laughed loudly and suddenly shouted: "Little one, come here!"

  Suddenly, the flying big hammer flashed and turned into two, in the blink of an eye, one became two, two became four, and the top of their heads was densely packed with sparkling white light clusters.

  Dongfang Xue sucked in a breath of cold air, still unable to react, when the giant hammers filling the sky came crashing down on her amidst the man's laughter.

  "Ah!" Dongfang Xue let out a miserable cry, biting her tongue and spitting out a mouthful of blood onto the flying sword. With the help of her fresh blood, the sword's radiance suddenly intensified, moving at an incredible speed that was impossible to follow with the naked eye, dancing in mid-air and deflecting the heavy hammers that were smashing down one after another.

  The cultivators around were staring with their eyes wide open, their eyeballs almost popping out. After all, this was a battle between divine artifacts, and a cultivator might not even see one divine artifact in his lifetime, let alone witness a battle between them.

  Seeing Dongfang Xue and Lao Zu Zong fighting evenly, without falling into a disadvantageous position, the surrounding cultivators have already begun to wonder if they should try to curry favor with me in order to obtain a magical artifact. At this time, I also discovered that the gaze of those who were watching me no longer contained much hostility.

  Dongfang Xue's flying sword, although temporarily held off the man's attack with her fresh blood, was ultimately only one sword and gradually became unable to withstand it. Under continuous blows, it finally slowed down.

  Dongfang Xue was anxious in her heart, but she had no way to deal with it. After all, she had only obtained the immortal sword for half a day, and her compatibility with the immortal artifact was not very good yet. Many special abilities of the immortal artifact could not be used either. At this point, the current situation was already her limit.

  "Not bad, to be able to withstand me for so long with your current cultivation, you're indeed a top-notch peer!" The man praised, stretching out his hand to grab at the air, and the flying hammers in the sky transformed back into one hammer that fell into his palm. "Take another look at this move of mine!" He said, the white light emanating from the large hammer in his hand growing stronger and stronger, with threads of electric light faintly visible surrounding it.

  "If you think you can't take it, get out of the way immediately, or you'll get hurt." The man laughed and saw that Dongfang Xue didn't dodge, he stopped talking and threw the big hammer in his hand into the sky.

  The giant hammer hovered in the air for a moment, then suddenly sank heavily towards the east, with snow piling up on its head. The hammer had not yet arrived, but the strong wind it brought had already blown the surrounding crowd to unsteady footing, showing the power of this strike.

  Dongfang Xue's face turned deathly pale, and seeing the momentum of this strike, he knew that with his current strength, it was absolutely impossible to block, but now it was too late for regrets. He could only force himself to muster up his spirit and let out a loud roar, urging the Xianjian Hanxuan to flash forward like lightning and meet the attack head-on.

  A loud crash, the two colliding artifacts burst out with dazzling strong light, forcing all the cultivators to turn their heads away. When the strong light disappeared, everyone saw a white light streaking out in an arc, falling to the ground far away, it was Dongfang Xue's sword, Hanxuan, apparently her sword was no match for this giant hammer and was knocked flying.

  The giant hammer in the air did not diminish its light, but only paused for a moment before continuing to smash down towards Dongfang Xue, who still stood motionless on the ground.

  The sword that had collided with Da Hui earlier was indeed her Xian Jian, but she had also been affected to some extent, and now she was completely powerless, even moving had become a problem, let alone dodging.

  As the Eastern Snow was about to be destroyed, the surrounding cultivators let out a collective cry of shock. Unfortunately, due to their insufficient cultivation, they were powerless to save her. Some cultivators even turned away, unable to bear the sight of their fellow practitioner being reduced to a bloody pulp.

  Just as the giant hammer was about to hit Dongfang Xue, it suddenly stopped and changed direction with a whooshing sound, landing in someone's hand beside him. Dongfang Xue breathed a sigh of relief, only then did he see clearly that the person who had made the move was me standing beside him.

  "Hey, hey, I was just trying to scare her, why did you have to ruin my fun?" The man jumped up and shouted, his face looking as if he had just seen his favorite toy being taken away from him.

  I chuckled and looked at the man with a calm tone: "Wu Chenzi, it's been hundreds of years since we last met. Your mind is still so simple, do you still enjoy playing pranks?"

  As soon as he heard what I said, the man immediately stopped all his movements and asked with a guarded expression: "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

  "You really are forgetful!" I tossed the large hammer in my hand into the air and caught it again, smiling: "Your name was given to you by Grandfather, and this Heaven Splitting Hammer of yours was also specially made for you by me asking Grandfather, now tell me who I am?"

  "He... he..." The man's face was shocked, pointing at me stuttering for a long time without saying anything, and the people around him were extremely surprised, not knowing what made him so excited.

  "You're the invincible Big Brother!" The man named Bao Wu Chen finally managed to blurt out the whole sentence, pointing at me with a mixture of shock and suspicion. Seeing me smile and nod my head, he let out a loud whoop and rushed over, suddenly embracing me tightly and bursting into loud sobs.

  I ignored the many cultivators surrounding me and smiled as I patted his head, saying: "Good boy, don't cry. You tell me, where are Wu Lei and Wu Yuan? Why did I only see you?"

  "Wuuu......" Wú Chénzi heard this and cried even harder, sobbing: "They all don't want me anymore, they're playing on their own, wuuu......"

  "Wait!" I saw Wú Chén Zǐ still hugging himself and crying uncontrollably, while the cultivators beside him sent over strange and uniform glances, which made my head ache. I hastily turned to Wú Chén Zǐ and scolded: "What are you crying about? Stand up straight, don't cry!"

  Wu Chen seemed to listen to me and immediately stood up straight, wiping away her tears.

  It was then that everyone realized he was a whole head taller than me and his build was also bigger than mine by a circle.

  Seeing him in this majestic appearance, and recalling his earlier tearful embrace with me, the crowd's faces became even more bizarre.

  "Hmm, that's more like it." I walked around him in satisfaction and said seriously: "Now you tell me what's going on with Wú Lèi Zǐ and Wú Yuán Zǐ?" Seeing Wú Chén Zǐ about to rush over again, I hastily shouted: "Stand there and answer honestly, no crying allowed and don't come any closer!"

  Everyone present was speechless. How could I look at their expressions and actions as if they were talking to a pet?

  Wú chén zǐ yě jiù gāi gāi zhàn hǎo, kāi shǐ huí dá wǒ de wèn huà: "wú lèi zǐ hé wú chén zǐ tāmen sān bǎi nián qián jiù fēi shēng, rēng xià wǒ yī gè rén bù guǎn le!" Shuō wán, zuǐ yī biǎn sì hū yòu xiǎng dà kū yī chǎng, bú guò què bèi wǒ yán lì de mù guāng dèng le huí qù.

  "Wudengzi and Wuleizi have ascended to the immortal realm already?" I muttered to myself, suddenly feeling a wave of confusion in my heart. My former companions had all ascended long ago, but what about me? Was I still stuck in the mortal world because of the responsibilities on my shoulders? Not even having avenged Grandfather's grudge yet.

  Wu Chenzi, Wu Leizi and Wu Yuanzi, these three cultivators had sought my grandfather, Xī Yóuzǐ, for guidance on their cultivation experiences 1,300 years ago. At that time, I was still young and lived with these three cultivators in the deep mountains for several years. Among them, I had the best relationship with Wu Chenzi.

  Wú chén zǐ, wú lèi zǐ, wú yuán zǐ were originally three orphans in the Xiūzhēn realm. Later on, they somehow obtained a cultivation manual and thus began their Xiūzhēn journey.

  Among the three, Wu Lei was clever and resourceful, Wu Yuan had a steady personality, while Wu Chen was simple-minded and liked to fight. In modern terms, his mental age was only eleven or twelve years old, but he got along best with me when I was a child.

  During my spare time in cultivation, I pestered Grandfather to refine a magical artifact for Wu Chenzi. Grandfather had no choice but to spend half a year creating the Heaven Splitting Mallet and gave it to Wu Chenzi. Because of me, Grandfather added Nine Heavens Profound Iron and other materials, so the Heaven Splitting Mallet became a top-grade artifact, although not perfect, but still considered a first-rate artifact due to the Nine Heavens Profound Iron.

  Wuchengzi, who unexpectedly received such a gift from me, was even more grateful and obedient to the point where he would listen to whatever I said.

  So, during the years of our cultivation, I and Wú Chén Zǐ traversed every nook and cranny of the deep mountains, turning the entire mountain upside down. Countless rare birds and strange beasts fell into our hands, becoming food for our stomachs. After several years of such turmoil, the friendship between us two became even more solid.

  But this carefree life soon came to an end, as the three cultivators needed to find a place to retreat and cultivate in seclusion. Grandfather also forbade me from causing any more trouble, since I was almost eighteen years old. So, Wu Chenzi and I could only hold each other and cry, then bid each other farewell with reluctance. We thought we would never see each other again in this lifetime, but unexpectedly, we met here.

  "Brother Ao Tian, I didn't think I'd see you again!" Wuchenzu said softly as he hugged me tightly.

  A warmth rose in my heart, and instead of scolding him, I gently patted his back to comfort him, then handed his Heaven-Shattering Hammer back to him. Only then did I turn to the Star Master, who was standing by with a stunned expression, and ask: "Master, have you made things clear with Star about what happened? If there's nothing else, we should head back now. I'd like to catch up with some friends."

  "Alright, alright, I'm going to reunite with Ao Tian big brother, anyone who doesn't want me to will be smashed to death by me!" Wu Chenzi opened his mouth wide in laughter, threateningly waving the Heaven Splitting Mallet in his hand.

  "Ancestor, how dare we stop you!" Tianxingzi said with a bitter smile to Wuchenzhi, then turned to me and bowed, "Dragon senior, this matter has been investigated and it's clear that it has nothing to do with you. We won't make things difficult for you, but please condescend to stay for a few days, so we can show some hospitality as hosts."

  He was quite clever, and when he saw me calling the oldest ancestor in the Xiu Zhen Alliance "brother" and "younger brother", and seeing the expression on the old ancestor's face, just like a small dog seeing its master, for a while he didn't dare to call me "Dragon Brother" as before. It was really strange to see an old man with white hair calling a young boy "senior".

  "You can still call me Long Ge, calling me Senior sounds weird." I waved my hand and smiled: "And you don't have to stay behind, I want to go out with Wu Chenzi to find a place to spar and exercise our bodies, and take the opportunity to see if his cultivation has improved in the past few hundred years."

  When I said that, Tiān Xīng Zǐ naturally didn't dare to persist anymore. Otherwise, if Wú Chén Zǐ and I couldn't hold back and opened it here, it would be a disaster. Although the headquarters of the Xiū Zhēn Alliance is a fairly large space, it can't withstand a mid-stage Jì Jié cultivator and an unknown high-level expert going all out. If this place were to be destroyed, would those few thousand Xiū Zhēn practitioners have to go sleep on the streets?

  Thinking of this, Tiān Xīng Zǐ naturally no longer insisted, and respectfully sent me, Wú Chén Zǐ, and Wú Qíng out.

  Dongfang Xue originally wanted to leave with us, but Tianxing Zi said there were still things to entrust her with, so she could only bid farewell and stay behind. However, when I left, I found Dongfang Xue looking at me with complex emotions in her eyes, wondering what she was thinking about. I shook my head, thinking that it seemed like another woman who admired the strong, sighing inwardly because I had already lost her.

  I and Wu Qing returned to the airport, took a plane back to H City. At this time it was already nightfall, after a brief conversation, Wu Qing directly went back to school to report to the vice principal, while I went out with Wu Chenzi to find a place to spar and understand his strength.

  But at this time, another thing was happening in Gong City.