Yang Zhao’s expression was plain as he looked at Yang Tie and said quietly, "Let’s begin . "
He was not too convinced about what Guo Chaoyang said to him before this, but Guo Chaoyang’s observation that his level of mastery was not only stagnant, it was starting to show signs of regression . Yang Zhao was acutely aware about this problem .
He was very clear about his own problems, and even though he was unwilling to admit it, Yang Zhao knew that the rise to power of the disciples of the Celestial Sect of Wonders distressed him a little . This problem of regression was purely psychological and on an emotional level .
The antagonistic attitude he possessed towards the Celestial Sect of Wonders, his insatiable need to eliminate them, and the sense of humiliation he felt when the disciples of the Celestial Sect of Wonders gave him help – everything stemmed from his own confusion and came from the doubts he had about himself, and led to the erosion of his Daoist heart .
Before this, his subconscious mind told him that the way to correct his state of mind was by slaying outer demons and proceed to delete his own inner demons and the ones in his heart .
However, after his conversation with Guo Chaoyang, his mentality was different now and he resolved to openly challenging the disciples of the Celestial Sect of Wonders to see who was stronger .
Zhou Yuncong’s eyes turned ice cold as he watched Yang Zhao’s every move . His body quivered but Yang Tie raised his hand to stop him and said softly, "Senior Zhou, let me take this round . We need you to anchor our lineup . "
Li Xingfei passed a voice-projected message and said, "Speaking of anchoring down the formation, you’re more suitable for this job . "
Yang Tie answered, "I’m not as passive as Senior Zhou . "
Liu Xiafeng giggled and said, "Both you and Yuncong should wait, and let me handle this round instead . "
Li Xingfei disagreed . "You just battled with Wan Zhenglun, and they’re a lot more familiar with you . Let me take this round . "
"It doesn’t matter . So what if they’re more familiar with me?" Liu Xiafeng stretched his fingers and said, "I don’t have enough confidence against the nascent soul stage disciples of the Great Void Sect, but anybody below will be no match for me . "
Li Xingfei laughed at his comment and said nothing else . Yang Tie chuckled as well and nodded his head . "Good luck, Senior Liu . "
Zhou Yuncong glanced at Liu Xiafeng . Of the second generation of disciples from the Celestial Sect of Wonders, his personality was the most withdrawn and didn’t typically interact or socialize with others . He only usually conversed with Liu Xiafeng and Yan Wuwei .
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out in the end and he simply nodded his head solemnly towards Liu Xiafeng .
"I’m not worried as I have you guys around . " Liu Xiafeng smiled enchantingly . He understood what Zhou Yuncong wanted to express – Zhou Yuncong wanted him to do everything in his ability against Yang Zhao, and he did not have to worry about anything else . If Mu Xuan, Chen Xingyu and Guo Chaoyang wanted to interfere, Zhou Yuncong himself would step forward as well .
Liu Xiafeng flicked his collar, stepped out and arrived before Yang Zhao . He clasped his hands together in greeting and said, "Liu Xiafeng of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, and you are Yang Zhao of the Great Void Sect – let’s battle . "
He paused for a while before he said plainly, "Are magic items and talismans allowed in our battle?"
It was better to resolve this point before anything else . Typically, in a relatively equal and just contest, both parties only used their respective mantras and mana, and left out their magic items and other possessions .
Using magic items and whatnot, and not limiting the battle typically suggested that the contest was more like a showdown to the death .
When magic items were used, the determinant of victory was no longer reliant on the strength of the battling parties’ respective mantras and mana .
This fact was a lot more obvious the lower the level of mastery . In the end, for aurous core stage cultivators, a single magic item could determine the outcome of the battle . Even nascent soul stage magic items and talismans could turn the tides of battle in an instant .
Even for people like Liu Xiafeng and Yang Zhao, who came out from the Celestial Sect of Wonders and the Great Void Sect, were like that .
A single nascent soul stage magic item and a single nascent soul stage talisman may not be able to determine the victor – but what about a few?
"We’ll only use our mana and mantras, nothing else . " Yang Zhao was decisive .
Once this was said, Mu Xuan’s brows creased a bit but she released them in the next moment . Chen Xingyu’s face was unchanged, but his eyes thinned a little and the sparkle in his eyes dimmed as well .
Guo Chaoyang’s expression grew cold and hard, and shook his head faintly .
He was extremely aware that Yang Zhao was not unwilling to fight Liu Xiafeng to the grave . If he could defeat and kill Liu Xiafeng, Yang Zhao would be more than happy to do so .
From Yang Zhao’s recount of their experience with Tang Jun, Guo Chaoyang knew that Yang Zhao’s rationale for choosing this method of not using other possessions came from his fear that Liu Xiafeng had a host of magic items just like Tang Jun did .
Tang Jun held off both Shan Xiang and Yang Zhao and eventually murdered Wan Zhenglun . Besides the strength of his mantras and his mana, an aurous core stage cultivator had three nascent soul stage magic items in his possession and his financial background was astounding .
Furthermore, the three nascent soul stage magic items in his possession were all high-quality ones – the Grand Sun Crown, the Ksitigarbha Pure Yang Mirror and the Pure Yang Daoist Robe .
The backing he had from his family and sect was even more lavish than more nascent soul stage cultivators, and amazed people like Yang Zhao and the others .
The magic items that the disciples from the Great Void Sect had in possession were naturally above-average . Besides Shan Xiang, who was already in the nascent soul intermediate stage, both Yang Zhao and Wan Zhenglun were only in the aurous core stage and they already had nascent soul stage magic items to protect themselves . Compared to the other powerful sects outside, they could be considered the local tycoon .
However, everything was relative . When they stood beside Tang Jun, Yang Zhao and the others felt as poor as ever .
The Great Void Sect had a long history and enjoyed a sprawling establishment . The resources and magic treasures they had stored and prepared were voluminous, and the idea of fully equipping all of their disciples was not something entirely impossible .
However, even though the Great Void Sect wanted to ensure the fundamental safety of their disciples in their adventures in the outside world, they were unwilling to bestow too many magic treasures, as they wanted to prevent their disciples from being too reliant on magic items and hindered their own masteries .
The treasure room of the Great Void Sect had a great many nascent soul stage magic items in store, but the ones that were comparable to the Grand Sun Crown, the Ksitigarbha Pure Yang Mirror and the Shield of Turning Heaven’s Will were a lot rarer .
The reason was because, even though the Grand Sun Crown and the other items were still nascent soul stage items, they were forged by Xiao Yan, who was already in the immortal soul stage, thus it was naturally different from magic items forged by nascent soul stage cultivators .
There were a lot of immortal soul stage cultivators inside the Great Void Sect . Not only were there a lot of them, the Great Void Sect had the most immortal soul stage cultivators in the Divine Lands compared to any other place .
However, immortal soul stage cultivators spent the majority of their time cultivating their own mantras and forging and nurturing their own magic treasures . Nobody would bother creating nascent soul stage magic items as this was effectively a waste of their time .
Typically, when people like Xiao Yan reached the immortal soul stage, their situation should be similar to the aforementioned, but it could not be helped that they were even richer than Tang Jun…
Some immortal soul stage cultivators didn’t even have magic items of their own . However, the gifts bestowed upon Xiao Yan and the others by Lin Feng, the magic items that they picked up for themselves along the way, along with the ones they looted from their enemies – everything added up .
This gave them time to forge some magic items for their respective disciples, and they even had the spare time to help Yang Qing, Yue Hongyan and the others who were not yet at the immortal soul stage .
Of course, this wasn’t known to the world . If not, they would have been labelled shameless everyone else .
Not that Lin Feng and his disciples were too particular about these kind of things, as long as they were happy . Besides, it was not the first time that they were called names and scolded by the outside world .
Furthermore, besides forging these magic items themselves, Xiao Yan and the others were used to picking up useful magic treasures and all kinds of exotic items, and they were not about to let powerful nascent soul stage magic items slip through their fingers either…
Over the years, they would return from their travels with full backpacks from the various harvests . Many of these magic treasures were no longer useful, and it was only natural that they would give them to their respective disciples .
On the other hand, due to the existence of Lin Feng’s Talent Analysis Device, while disciples that were substandard in the measures of Innate Ability, Intelligence, Luck and Determination were still allowed to join the sect, they would never let go of those who had off-the-charts values for these statistics . Many of the younger generation of disciples had a great future ahead of them…
In reality, the Celestial Sect of Wonders had their own rules about bestowing magic treasures to its disciples . A good balance was important as they wanted to avoid their disciples developing an overreliance on exterior items, and ended up overlooking personal mantra and mastery .
What was happening now was already the after-effects of these controls…
Sometimes, Lin Feng would laugh at himself as his disciples were using outrageously high statistics to plug the gap between the Celestial Sect of Wonders and the other established powers who had the benefit of being around for a long time .
Therefore, even though they were not as ‘rich’ as Tang Jun, Yang Tie and the other first disciples were outfitted by their respective masters like local tycoons as well . Even Liu Xiafeng, Li Xingfei and the others were not that far behind, and if magic treasures were thrown into the mix, Yang Zhao may not even be able to keep up .
However, both Guo Chaoyang and Yang Zhao found it unfathomable that every single aurous core stage cultivator in the Celestial Sect of Wonders were as ‘rich’ as Tang Jun, but Yang Zhao was still unwilling to take that risk .
Everything fell into Guo Chaoyang’s eyes . He could tell that even though Yang Zhao was the one that initiated the challenge, he wasn’t emboldened enough and still carried several psychological burdens .
There was nothing wrong in trying to increase his chances of victory . However, the problem was that Yang Zhao knew almost nothing about the background of his opponent, and yet he chose the most conservative response . This meant that instead of trying for victory, he was trying his best to prevent defeat – Guo Chaoyang was naturally displeased by this attitude .
After all, the opponent he was facing right now wasn’t Zhou Yuncong or Yang Tie, both of whom were in the aurous core advanced stage – Yang Zhao was battling Liu Xiafeng, who was one level lower .
While it was true that Liu Xiafeng defeated Wan Zhenglun before, Yang Zhao’s battle prowess was similarly stronger than Wan Zhenglun as well .
The method chosen by Yang Zhao, to avoid the usage of exterior items, also momentarily astonished Liu Xiafeng and Yang Tie and the others .
Liu Xiafeng checked out Yang Zhao and felt a little puzzled by his reaction, but wasn’t too concerned as he nodded his head decisively and said, "Alright . "
With that, their mana pools started rippling from their bodies as Liu Xiafeng’s body began to glow with dazzling golden light .
Radiant golden light flickered all around his body and was blinding to the naked eye, and caused Yang Zhao to squint his eyes unwittingly . "Grand Sun Primordial Fire?"
The golden light around Liu Xiafeng’s body appeared like sharp spikes as they condensed together to form a pure-golden ball of flame . It was, of course, the Grand Sun Primordial Fire, and was also known as the Great Heaven-Illuminating Sunfire .
He was Xiao Yan’s disciples and practiced the Heavenly Classic of the Way’s Virtues as well as the Burning Heavens Mantra . Using that as the outline, he dabbled in the Scripture of the Great Heaven-Illuminating Sun and managed to assimilate a little bit of the primordial fires and eventually cultivated the Great Heaven-Illuminating Sunfire .
His body glowed like a tiny Sun within the sphere of golden flames .
Yang Zhao watched him calmly and asked, "According to my knowledge, Liu Xiafeng, you are one of the earliest ones of the second-generation disciples from the Celestial Sect of Wonders? You should be the first disciple of Elder Xiao Yan, am I right?"
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