The Grand Elder, hailed as the foremost beneath the War God, stood upon the snow, fixing his gaze upon Teng Qingshan, his eyes blazing with undisguised intent to battle!
"Begone!" a fierce roar erupted. The savage beast-youth 'Teng Shou,' wielding the Black Flame Cudgel, glared menacingly at the newcomer. Teng Shou’s mind was simple, yet he could discern genuine threat. Like the Second and Sixth Elders of the Rising Sun Merchant Guild before him, those arrivals had been benevolent.
But this Grand Elder radiated powerful fighting spirit. Teng Shou sensed... this person before him was dangerous! Yet, for Teng Qingshan’s sake, he would not retreat an inch!
"Ah Shou." Teng Qingshan sharply chastised him.
"And who is this youth?" The Grand Elder’s gaze swept over, his brow furrowing. At that moment, Li Jun, emerging from the house, rushed over and immediately grabbed Teng Shou's clothes, letting out a series of low growls. She warned Teng Shou against showing disrespect to the visitor. Simultaneously, she looked up and said, "Grand Elder, Ah Shou does not understand human speech; he is wild in temperament. Please forgive his rudeness."
Teng Qingshan also added, "Ah Shou grew up among wild beasts since he was young. Now, he can only speak simple words; his mind is like that of a child."
The Grand Elder understood at once.
Out of respect for Teng Qingshan, the Grand Elder would not make things difficult for the savage beast-youth.
"Haha, enough pleasantries! I have come today precisely because I wish to fight you, Teng Qingshan!" The Grand Elder’s eyes were like lightning, his aura sharp and commanding.
"Teng Qingshan, do you accept this challenge?" The Grand Elder's voice boomed.
A slight smile touched Teng Qingshan’s lips. In his time on the Duanmu Continent, he had yet to encounter an opponent that genuinely excited him. Looking at the Grand Elder before him, recalling the man's known achievements, he mused inwardly, The foremost beneath the War God, are you? I hope you do not disappoint me!
"To fight the Grand Elder? I couldn't ask for anything more!" Teng Qingshan laughed heartily.
"Xiao Jun, bring me my Reincarnation Spear!" Teng Qingshan called out loudly.
Li Jun immediately went inside and retrieved the two sections of the Reincarnation Spear from its sheath. For Li Jun, who had reached the peak of the Post-Natal realm, the hundred-plus jin Reincarnation Spear was not overly heavy.
"Here," Li Jun handed it over, biting her lip, and whispered, "Be careful!"
Teng Qingshan gave Li Jun a reassuring smile before taking the two sections of the Reincarnation Spear.
Li Jun retreated far away, watching with Xiao Ping, Teng Shou, and the coachman, Old Wang. By Crescent Lake, only Teng Qingshan and the Grand Elder remained.
"Truly invigorating!" The Grand Elder also smiled. "Teng Qingshan, my saber technique was learned from the Nine Scrolls of Thunder Saber, left behind by the Celestial Duanmu. Though I have only grasped its surface... it has allowed me to roam the world." As he spoke, the Grand Elder reached out his right hand and gripped the hilt of the massive cleaver strapped to his back.
Clang!
The battle saber was drawn! It was a terrifying cleaver, nearly as tall as a man's neck when held vertically, reflecting a chilling cold light off its surface.
"This blade was forged from 'Silver Snow Gold,' found only in the Cloud Dream Marsh. Countless resources and efforts were spent gathering the individual grains of Silver Snow Gold to finally temper it. This battle saber, forged from 'Silver Snow Gold,' is named 'Blood Drinker.'" The Grand Elder held the saber in his right hand, his left stroking the blade as if caressing a lover's skin.
"Hiss~~"
Teng Qingshan was spinning the two sections of the Reincarnation Spear, connecting them via their screw threads, and remarked, "Grand Elder, my spear technique is the Five Elements Spear, which I began contemplating and practicing since childhood. Although this technique is not yet perfected, below the War God realm, I have yet to meet an opponent equal to me!"
A sharp gleam flashed in the Grand Elder’s eyes! Self-created?
"This spear is named Reincarnation! Its materials are ten-thousand-year Cold Iron and Star-Patterned Steel. I obtained them in my youth, nearly dying nine times, from the cold pool of the Purple Light Flood Dragon. And this Reincarnation Spear was forged by my father and maternal grandfather working tirelessly together!" Teng Qingshan gripped the Reincarnation Spear, his gaze resolute! In Teng Qingshan's heart, the Black Flame Cudgel might have superior materials, but the Reincarnation Spear held far greater importance, for it was forged by his father and grandfather!
The Grand Elder faintly sensed the fighting intent radiating from Teng Qingshan and let out a shout, "Good! Then let me witness your self-created spear technique!"
"And I shall see how well the saber technique created by Celestial Duanmu fares!"
The sound still echoed mid-air. The Grand Elder vanished from his spot. A wisp of cyan electric light traced an ethereal path, and the Blood Drinker saber cleaved down toward Teng Qingshan!
"Whoosh!"
Teng Qingshan held his stance, his eyes like swords. In this moment, within Teng Qingshan's vision, the world held only the Grand Elder wielding the Blood Drinker. "Break!" Teng Qingshan roared. The Reincarnation Spear instantly became a silver meteor. An internal martial energy surge subtly undulated around Teng Qingshan’s body.
Strength exploded to its limit! The combination of physical might and the explosive force of the internal martial energy surpassed 1.2 million jin!
"Scree~~"
The spear tip, carrying a spiraling force, tore the air and clashed with the Blood Drinker!
Boom!
A powerful shockwave rapidly radiated outwards in all directions. Snow billowed up. Crackling sounds— The ice covering Crescent Lake seemed to be churned by a giant. Massive sheets of thick ice cracked into powder, the vibrations spreading like water waves further and further out, causing the entire surface ice of Crescent Lake to shatter into fragments. Vast amounts of snow were tossed into the air by the shock. Some residual force even struck the distant Tufan stone slabs. Fortunately, due to the distance, only two slabs were knocked away, but the Tufan stone, capable of remaining undamaged for five to six thousand years, was not so easily destroyed.
Witnessing this, Teng Qingshan, who had been thrown back five or six steps, frowned: "If we fight here, the Tufan stones might be damaged, potentially endangering Xiao Jun and the others."
"Whoosh!"
The Grand Elder, equally sent reeling back, shot away with even greater speed. He merely stamped once on the trunk of a towering tree and then shot into the air, his voice booming back: "Teng Qingshan, let us go to the empty mountains and fight to our hearts' content!" The Grand Elder, too, realized this location was unsuitable for a proper fight.
"Agreed!" Teng Qingshan laughed loudly, flashing twice to cover a hundred feet of distance. Towering trees filled the forest. Teng Qingshan used the trees as footholds, stomping on several before shooting into the air toward the towering Divine Axe Mountain.
... By Crescent Lake, Li Jun and the others watched in amazement.
"So powerful! Their speed is too fast for the eye to follow," Old Wang shook his head in admiration. "A Rising Sun Martial Saint, hailed as the 'foremost beneath the War God,' fighting against the Young Master—I wonder who is stronger." While praising them, a strange look crossed Old Wang's eyes.
Li Jun and Xiao Ping, holding hands, along with Teng Shou, all looked up toward the direction of Divine Axe Mountain.
Rumble!
A sound like the heavens collapsing and the mountains splitting suddenly erupted from the direction of Divine Axe Mountain, as if the gods were enraged. * Divine Axe Mountain was not a single towering peak but a continuous mountain range, with Divine Axe Mountain being the highest among them. At this moment, on a peak west of Divine Axe Mountain, trees were snapped and toppled. A large, concave stone pit marked the mountaintop, and the surrounding cliff faces were cracked open.
"Hah!" Teng Qingshan suddenly exhaled, stepping out of the stone pit. He looked across at the Grand Elder standing on a nearby boulder. The Grand Elder’s face was also slightly flushed.
"Haha, that move was truly formidable!" Teng Qingshan laughed aloud. If the strike at Crescent Lake was characterized by 'Speed,' then the previous one was characterized by a 'Ferocity' that shook heaven and earth. Even with Teng Qingshan's physical strength, he was thrown back and slammed into the mountain. But mountains versus Teng Qingshan's body... It was like comparing tofu to steel; the impact simply could not damage Teng Qingshan’s physique.
"I have roamed the world for so many years, yet I never thought someone could withstand my Nine Scrolls of Thunder Saber's 'Collapsing Thunder Saber' strike without taking a scratch." The Grand Elder felt admiration for Teng Qingshan, as executing that strike placed an immense physical burden on the Grand Elder himself. It was impossible for him to unleash that move repeatedly.
"Take my third strike!"
The Grand Elder laughed loudly.
Crack!
A streak of electric light slashed down toward Teng Qingshan!
"This—is this real lightning?" Teng Qingshan was startled in his heart. Both previous moves by the Grand Elder, and the attack by the Thunder Saber Martial Saint 'Fu Dao' back then, only looked like lightning; in reality, they were innate True Essence possessing lightning characteristics. However... this streak of electric light coming now... It was true lightning from nature itself!
The Grand Elder was enveloped within this streak of electricity, instantly appearing before Teng Qingshan, bringing his blade down!
"So fast!"
Teng Qingshan gasped in alarm.
"Third Spear of the Five Elements—"
Teng Qingshan dared not hold back. His right arm bulged, and a powerful outward-twisting force was injected into the Reincarnation Spear. In an instant, the spear tip resembled a flood dragon emerging from the water, or a sharp cone piercing through the heavens, accompanied by a piercing shriek. It struck the streak of lightning like a brilliant silver meteor.
"Poison Dragon Drill!!!"
Boom!
Amidst the piercing, frantic noise, the shock-affected, weakened streak of electricity actually followed the Reincarnation Spear and slammed into Teng Qingshan. Teng Qingshan felt his entire body go numb. He was once again thrown violently backward, crashing heavily against the cliff face behind him, creating another terrifying stone pit and causing deep fissures to spiderweb across the surroundings.
Teng Qingshan suffered, but the Grand Elder suffered even more! Teng Qingshan’s raw physical power was stronger than his! The Reincarnation Spear’s force instantly reached its peak! The Blood Drinker saber was violently repelled by the spear and smashed into the Grand Elder’s body. The Grand Elder spat out a mouthful of blood, and his entire form shot backward like a meteorite toward a distant high mountain, smashing a horrifying stone crater into the mountain face before becoming completely embedded within it.
"What a terrifying move." Teng Qingshan emerged from the pit again, gazing toward the crater in the distant cliff face. "This Grand Elder has touched the edge of the 'Dao.' That move already contained the Dao of Lightning!"
Teng Qingshan knew... Without some understanding of the Dao of Lightning, one could not control even a trace of true lightning. While the power of this trace of lightning wasn't overwhelming—the real power lay in that saber strike, which almost completely blocked Teng Qingshan's 'Poison Dragon Drill'—this flicker of lightning revealed the man's true strength.
"Vicious beast!" A furious roar echoed from the stone pit in the mountain face ahead.
The Grand Elder, clothes tattered and looking dishevelled, flew out of the pit, and simultaneously— Roar! A massive triangular golden head violently burst forth from the pit, its fierce, wheel-sized, fragmented golden eyes staring fixedly at the fleeing Grand Elder!