Chapter 457 - 225: Returning to the Northern Border

"Don’t be so tense! Let’s fight first and talk later!"

The man in black smiled faintly, raised his right hand, and sent a palm strike toward Yanxing.

Yanxing scrambled to block with his own palm. One moment they were allies fighting a common foe, and the next, they had turned on each other.

"Who the hell are you? Are you insane?"

"How do you know the Snowy Frost Palm? No, that’s not right... You’re Zhao Rui!"

Yanxing finally put the pieces together, but he still couldn’t understand why Zhao Rui hadn’t just ambushed him.

Instead, he was fighting him openly, head-to-head.

"Is the Snowy Frost Palm the only thing you know?"

"The Great Snow Mountain Ming King Palace isn’t so impressive after all! If you have any other tricks up your sleeve, use them. Don’t bring shame to your Palace Master’s name."

Zhao Rui’s casually executed Snowy Frost Palm was leagues beyond Yanxing’s. Within just a few exchanges, Yanxing was already in grave danger.

He didn’t know why Zhao Rui was so proficient with the Snowy Frost Palm, but right now, that didn’t matter.

All he knew was that if he kept using the Snowy Frost Palm, Zhao Rui would defeat him in less than ten moves.

"How dare you look down on me! Go to hell!"

Yanxing, in his own right, was a man who had once been a commanding figure in the Jianghu. Though he had pledged allegiance to the Great Snow Mountain Ming King Palace, his pride was still very much alive.

He would not tolerate being mocked and belittled by a newly-ascended Dharma Master like Zhao Rui.

He spun around, his hands fanning out front and back like wings. An endless, raging tide of True Qi suddenly surged toward Zhao Rui.

The immense force uprooted all the surrounding trees as a storm of sand and stone instantly filled the air, obscuring all vision.

’Replicable Martial Arts detected: Vast Sea Infinite Divine Skill! Do you wish to replicate?’

’Replicate!’

Zhao Rui chose to replicate without the slightest hesitation. After all this trouble, this was the entire point.

’There’s no shame in earning points.’

"Now this is interesting!"

With a low shout, Zhao Rui instantly manifested his Purple Mansion Primordial Venerable Body. The massive figure stood tall in the mountain pass, immovably withstanding the impact of the Vast Sea Divine Skill.

’The Vast Sea Divine Skill truly is a worthy trump card for a True Dharma Master. It can actually draw upon the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, forming a tidal wave of Spiritual Qi to batter an opponent’s body.’

’This is hundreds of times more powerful than a simple shockwave of qi.’

’This so-called tide of True Qi converts all the True Qi within the technique’s range into clusters of rapidly moving particles.’

’These high-speed particle clusters not only possess immense impact force, but they also can’t be absorbed.’

’Because they are so volatile and move so quickly, a Martial Artist has no way to directly absorb them.’

’Unleashing this Martial Arts technique creates a unique kind of "vacuum zone."’

’Within this zone, a Martial Artist cannot draw True Qi into their body and must instead withstand the immense impact force.’

’The difficulty increases exponentially.’

This move might have been devastatingly effective against others, but for Zhao Rui, it posed no challenge at all.

The moment his True Dharma Body emerged, his resistances increased exponentially. Simultaneously, his Ice Domain activated. The so-called True Qi vacuum and high-speed particles were instantly brought to a state of absolute stillness, a ’heat death’ of sorts.

Everything was at his mercy.

’But ending it too quickly would be anticlimactic, and it wouldn’t serve his purpose.’

Zhao Rui only brought out his True Dharma Body, putting on a show of desperately resisting the assault.

"Vast Sea Infinite!"

Yanxing, oblivious to the deception, saw Zhao Rui’s massive True Dharma Body teetering on the brink of collapse. Its surrounding True Qi was dissipating, and it seemed to be resisting with extreme difficulty.

He instinctively quickened the execution of his Vast Sea Infinite, sending wave after wave of surging True Qi crashing toward Zhao Rui.

The entire landscape was left in shambles. The ground itself had been scoured away by several meters, creating a rare, wind-eroded terrain.

A True Dharma Master wields the Majestic Power of Heaven and Earth and can cause permanent geological damage. At a minimum, they can shatter boulders and crack cliffs; at their most powerful, they can move mountains and fill seas—far more destructive than an entire fleet of heavy construction machinery.

"Let’s see how much True Qi you have to burn. You can consider it an honor to be defeated by my Infinite Divine Skill, Zhao Rui."

Yanxing roared with laughter. This Infinite Divine Skill wasn’t a Martial Art from the Great Snow Mountain Ming King Palace. It was the ultimate technique he had relied upon to run rampant through the Jianghu before defecting from the Song Realm.

"Is that so?"

Zhao Rui’s eyes fluttered open. He abruptly dispelled his True Dharma Body, and his whole body moved like a slippery fish. In a bizarre display of movement, he shot directly against the tide of True Qi, speeding toward Yanxing.

"How is that possible?"

Yanxing’s pupils instantly dilated, his face a mask of pure horror.

"A little lesson in fluid dynamics wouldn’t hurt, you know."

Zhao Rui scoffed. In a flash, he was in front of Yanxing, unleashing a thunderous Dragon-Slaying Palm Force.

The mighty roar of a dragon echoed throughout the mountains.

Stunned, Yanxing frantically circulated all his True Qi, pouring it into his arms and thrusting both palms forward with all his might.

A surging wave of Ice Palm Force met Zhao Rui’s Dragon-Slaying Palm Force head-on.

With two loud thuds, Yanxing’s body was sent flying backward like a discarded sack of rags.

He crashed through countless trees before slamming violently into the face of a cliff.

The tremendous impact caused the cliff face to spiderweb with cracks, and moments later, rocks began to CRUMBLE and fall from the mountainside.

Yanxing struggled to pull himself out of the rock face, his eyes glaring furiously at Zhao Rui. His hair and beard stood on end, and Powerful Qi swirled around his body.

He looked as though a Demon God had awakened, as a boundless, icy aura began to emanate from his body, gradually sweeping across the entire mountain wilderness.

Vegetation froze solid on contact, and any wild animals too slow to escape were instantly frozen stiff.

The entire wilderness looked like the end of the world.

Zhao Rui’s eyes narrowed. "Ice Domain!" he said in a cold voice.

"You forced my hand."

Yanxing’s eyes were filled with a chill that seemed even colder than the icy qi itself.

"I didn’t force you. Your mom did!"

Zhao Rui’s eyes snapped open, and his Ice Domain erupted instantly. The Domain Power of the two men collided with a visible impact.