The sky and the earth were long since choked with sheets of ice, freezing anyone instantly. A Half-Step Grandmaster was indeed a Half-Step Grandmaster, possessing power that far surpassed the fifth level of the Great Dao Realm. Though Lu Yuan appeared as divine or demonic, Fang Xie was the one who slayed gods and slaughtered demons, watching the unfolding situation with detached calm.

To Fang Xie, crushing Lu Yuan would be only slightly more difficult than crushing an ant.

“A pity, you were a step too late,” Lu Yuan said with casual indifference. “Soon, it will be I who crushes you.” What arrogance! Even after displaying such might, Lu Yuan still claimed he would crush Fang Xie immediately—how utterly conceited.

In that instant, the Ice Jiao was merely three feet above Lu Yuan’s head, close enough to take his life in less time than it takes to snap one's fingers. Yet, above Lu Yuan’s head, dozens of beams of light were already manifesting—these were Ancient Talismans!

Ancient Talismans! One Ancient Talisman, one beam of light—how could there be so many beams now!

The Ancient Talisman of Wind, the Ancient Talisman of Rain, the Ancient Talisman of Water, the Ancient Talisman of Lake—how many were there? Layer upon layer of Ancient Talismans clustered together, overlapping in dense stacks. Most people at the third level of the Great Dao Realm wielded barely ten Ancient Talismans. This battle had already become the absolute focus of attention, compelling observers to try and count them, but the sheer density of the overlapping talismans made counting nearly impossible.

Cloud, Lake, Water, Sea, Wine, Ice, Snow, Mist, Rain, Morning Sun, Great Sun, Lava, Blaze, Joy, Fire, Fire, Curtain, Gold, Solemnity, Autumn, Sorrow, Speed, Slowness, Wind, Wrath, Thunder, Softness, Grass, Thought, Earth, Stone, Mountain, Guard, Mud, Sand, Moon, Star.

Counting them one by one, the number kept growing.

The more they counted, the more astonished they became; the more they counted, the more terrifying it seemed.

“So many—how many Ancient Talismans are there?”

“Thirty-six!”

“What? Thirty-six Ancient Talismans!”

“Isn't it said that having just ten Ancient Talismans already marks a genius? Isn't fifteen considered exceptional?”

“Thirty-six Ancient Talismans…”

“How can there be thirty-six?”

“Even for a peerless genius, thirty-six Ancient Talismans is far too many.”

“Indeed. In our Jin Kingdom, perhaps no super-genius of this caliber has appeared in ten thousand years.” Some people were even shocked into collapsing onto the ground. It wasn't just the shock of the thirty-six Ancient Talismans; those from Mount Hua and the Heaven-Defying Alliance watching nearby noticed that the thirty-six talismans above Lu Yuan’s head were continuously gathering, becoming denser and larger, seemingly on the verge of fusing into one. This was the collision of the myriad laws of the Great Dao Realm’s third level, violently pushing toward the Unification of Laws of the fourth level.

“Isn't it rumored that even with the best ten Ancient Talismans, breaking through to the Unification of Laws of the Great Dao Realm’s fourth level is incredibly difficult, and fifteen is a near impossibility? With twenty Ancient Talismans, it’s basically insurmountable. With twenty-five or more, is it fundamentally impossible for so many Ancient Talismans to unify?”

“How could thirty-six Ancient Talismans possibly achieve unification?”

“He can achieve the Unification of Laws?”

“How is he doing this?”

“This……” On the side of Mount Hua, and within the Heaven-Defying Alliance, those who had truly experienced this hurdle were shaken to the deepest core of their souls. Some of them had gone through this Unification of Laws and knew its difficulty intimately. The greater the number of Ancient Talismans, the more exaggeratedly the difficulty escalated. This hurdle was not just a few times harder for them; it was more than ten times, perhaps over a dozen times harder than their own attempts to breach that level.

From any angle one viewed it, this was incredible.

Fang Xie was also shaken to his soul’s depths. Although he was a Half-Step Grandmaster with extensive experience, he had never witnessed anything so terrifying. Even the seasoned experts and Grandmasters among the Seven Kingdoms were stunned by this display, let alone Fang Xie, whose focus was largely confined to the domain of the Jin Kingdom. However, Fang Xie also knew that such a peerless genius had to be eradicated immediately, lest the Demonic Path be utterly destroyed by Lu Yuan alone.

Fang Xie coldly roared, “You dare attempt a breakthrough before this Emperor? Watch as I slay you!” With his fierce shout, the Ice Jiao lunged, its massive maw biting down with crushing force, unleashing the full power of the Jiao. A tremendous burst of energy erupted, but with a resounding bang, the Ice Jiao was violently repelled, while Lu Yuan met the attack with a cold smirk.

In truth, everything was within Lu Yuan’s expectations. He had attempted the breakthrough to the Unification of Laws many times and deeply understood the difficulty of this stage. The recoil force generated by unifying those thirty-six Ancient Talismans was enough to shake the heavens. No Half-Step Grandmaster could break through that defense. Otherwise, how would Lu Yuan dare attempt his breakthrough right in front of Fang Xie? It immediately brought to mind the overwhelmingly dominant, resounding words he had just spoken: “Fang Xie, soon, it will be I who crushes you.”

The words still echoed in the air.