Chapter 49: The Path of Awakening

The Nine Heavens Rod descended, with each strike actually representing the accumulation of ninety-nine strikes. In each of these ninety-nine strikes, five million Gold, Wood, Water, and Spirit entities were unleashed, so the power gathered from these ninety-nine strikes amounted to over forty-seven million such entities.
Wu Tanxin never expected that the Five Elements warrior he encountered possessed such a sophisticated combat technique—by stacking these spirit entities, the power increased by ninety-nine times, which was truly extreme.
As for Wu Tanxin himself, he only had thirty million Gold, Wood, and Earth spirit entities, putting him at a significant disadvantage in terms of quantity. Yet, he appeared completely relaxed.
“Not bad combat technique, but it won’t work against me. Bring out the Mountain-Shifting Armor,” Wu Tanxin said with a smile, and a yellow dragon-scale armor appeared on his body.
The Mountain-Shifting Armor was a famous defensive armor from the Mountain Gen Divine Realm, crafted from the scales of a divine dragon that was about to transform into a human before being killed by a divine king of that realm.
The Nine Heavens Rod struck the Mountain-Shifting Armor, but it didn’t damage it at all; instead, it triggered a dragon’s roar that shook the soul.
Wu Yuan quickly retreated and watched Wu Tanxin from afar, his expression worried.
The “Ninety-Nine into One Strike” technique was a combat skill developed by Wu Yuan himself. Over the years, he had further refined it in team battles, enabling him to unleash five million spirit entities with each strike. He had thought that such power would be enough to overwhelm any Divine General-level cultivator.
But this time, Wu Yuan failed in his attack.
Of course, if Wu Yuan were stronger, with one million spirit entities per strike, the combined power of ninety-nine strikes would be overwhelming for any Divine General-level cultivator.
“Wu Tanxin, you were very low-key in the Divine Realm—seems you intended to hide your strength. But today, since we’re in the same space, one of us must die before the other can leave. So, I must kill you,” Wu Yuan said with a smile as his mood returned to normal.
Hearing Wu Yuan’s words, Wu Tanxin smiled calmly and then took out a yellow long spear, its tip extremely sharp and its edge gleaming menacingly.
“Qu Yi—his strength must also be concealed. I’ll kill you first, then confront that Qu Yi who’s been a legend in the Divine Realm,” Wu Tanxin said with a smile before vanishing in a flash.

Wu Tanchin’s speed was even slightly faster than Wu Yuan’s. Suddenly, he appeared beside Wu Yuan. Amidst the fierce wind, he thrust his spear forward, aiming straight at Wu Yuan’s heart. His terrifying might was fully embodied in the tip of the spear.

Wu Yuan tried to dodge, but it was too late. A yellow defensive armor appeared in front of him—it was the Golden Radiance Armor that Qu Yi had obtained from Gongye Bo. When the spear tip touched the Golden Radiance Armor, countless golden, wooden, and earth spirit entities surged forth, numbering as many as 30 million. They emitted two yellow beams, seemingly intent on cutting through the armor before attacking Wu Yuan again.

“How long can you withstand this?” Wu Tanchin kept his spear pressed against the Golden Radiance Armor, his body moving alongside Wu Yuan, as he sneered coldly.

Realizing his own movement speed was slower than Wu Tanchin’s, Wu Yuan knew that if things continued like this, his divine essence would be exhausted by Wu Tanchin. Filled with rage, he suddenly thought of a plan.

“Wu Tanchin, if you want to kill me, it won’t be that easy. Let’s see who exhausts the other’s divine essence first!” Wu Yuan shouted fiercely.

Suddenly, Wu Yuan absorbed Jiu Kong into his body and took out twenty divine artifacts at the Divine General level from his hands. He threw them left and right at Wu Tanchin, detonating all twenty artifacts in an instant.

“You’re ruthless!” Wu Tanchin reacted extremely quickly. Seeing Wu Yuan’s move, he immediately abandoned his attack and flew back swiftly.

As the twenty artifacts exploded, a massive wave of chaotic energy surged out, devouring all the energy in the surrounding space before disappearing quickly.

Wu Yuan and Wu Tanchin stood facing each other once again.

“How many more divine artifacts do you have?” Wu Tanchin asked with a faint smile, his eyes filled with mockery. Clearly, having been forced back by Wu Yuan’s tactics, he now looked down on him.

Wu Yuan stared coldly at Wu Tanchin without answering. Suddenly, he darted in front of Wu Tanchin and swung his staff at him.

The Nine-Nine Unity Staff Technique was used once more. This time, the number of spirit entities emitted with each swing seemed even greater than before. Clearly, facing such a powerful opponent like Wu Tanchin, Wu Yuan’s fighting spirit soared, and his understanding of the technique deepened.

Wu Yuan was born for battle; he could improve rapidly only through fighting. He was now in such a state of focus. As long as Wu Tanchin remained as his opponent, his Nine-Nine Unity Staff Technique would continue to improve swiftly.

Wu Tanchin clearly sensed Wu Yuan’s progress. His eyes turned cold, and he no longer dared to underestimate him. He concentrated his mind, causing the Mountain-Shifting Armor to appear on his body. Then, he shook his spear violently and charged forward.

Jiǔkōng’s staff struck Wu Tānxīn’s body, but it failed to break through the defense of the Mountain-Shifting Armor. Meanwhile, Wǔ Yuán immediately felt the sharpness of the long spear and was forced to bring out the Golden Radiance Armor once again, taking out twenty divine artifacts from his hands.

“You’re using this trick again,” Wu Tānxīn snapped in anger, but he had no choice but to fly away.

It was helpless. Even with the Mountain-Shifting Armor’s defense, it couldn’t withstand the chaotic energy unleashed by the explosion of those twenty divine artifacts. Wu Tānxīn could only retreat to avoid severe injury.

Wǔ Yuán was immersed in the art of staff combat, completely ignoring the chaotic energy swirling around him. He pursued Wu Tānxīn relentlessly, delivering fierce blows after fierce blows with his staff.

“This guy’s movement skills have suddenly improved too,” Wu Tānxīn was puzzled. He hadn’t expected Wǔ Yuán to have reached a state of pure focus, dedicated solely to fighting and ignoring everything else.

With the Mountain-Shifting Armor protecting him, Wu Tānxīn didn’t have to worry about his life, but he was unable to counterattack due to Wǔ Yuán’s relentless attacks, forcing him to keep retreating and dodging. Wǔ Yuán, on the other hand, continued to attack fervently, completely absorbed in battle, with nothing but fighting spirit in mind.

The Jiǔjiǔyīhé Staff Technique was improving significantly. The power of a single strike now equaled six hundred thousand Golden, Wood, Water, and Spirit entities. With ninety-nine such strikes, the total number reached nearly sixty million spirit entities, far exceeding Wu Tānxīn’s thirty million.

While defending, Wu Tānxīn sensed a severe threat and grew anxious. He immediately made a ruthless decision.

“It seems I still need to use the Heart-Piercing Cone. I really can’t bear to kill this guy without relying on my own strength,” Wu Tānxīn thought, then took out a finger-long, golden cone that emitted blinding light.

The Heart-Piercing Cone turned out to be a mid-grade innate spiritual treasure.

Wǔ Yuán, in his state of pure focus, had extremely sharp senses and immediately sensed the danger posed by the Heart-Piercing Cone. At that moment, the three soul orbs in his soul space, which had always been in a state of clarity, suddenly became joyful.

In an instant, besides the Soul Golden Orb, Soul Green Orb, and Soul Blue Orb, a new soul orb appeared—the Soul Red Orb.

The Path of Awakening, the cultivation method Wǔ Yuán practiced, awakened another soul orb in the face of Wu Tānxīn’s threat.

Four soul orbs meant the cultivation level of the Divine Marshal stage.

During this battle, Wǔ Yuán actually broke through his cultivation level, rising directly to the Divine Marshal stage.

Immediately thereafter, Wu Yuan became completely silent. The entire space was enveloped by the primordial energy of fire, giving rise to a vast realm of flames that surrounded Wu Yuan entirely. In no time, all the flames disappeared, as if they had been completely absorbed by Wu Yuan. The next moment, the aggregated spiritual entities within Wu Yuan transformed into unified spiritual entities—namely, the spiritual entities of metal, wood, water, and fire. The number of these spiritual entities reached 15 million. “What? He actually reached a higher cultivation level at this moment?” Wu Tanxin shouted loudly, his Heart-Piercing Cone flying straight out. By then, Wu Yuan’s figure had already vanished. The central island served as the battleground for cultivators at the Divine General stage, and since Wu Yuan had advanced to the Divine Marshal stage, he naturally lost his eligibility and was immediately expelled by the spatial rules. Wu Yuan returned to Nan Yin Island. The Heart-Piercing Cone traced a yellow line but found nothing, returning to Wu Tanxin’s hands before disappearing back into his body. “You’re lucky to have reached the Divine Marshal stage at this time; otherwise, you would have died at my hands. But next time you encounter me, I won’t give you another chance—I’ll kill you right away,” Wu Tanxin said indifferently. Just as he finished speaking, the space changed, and the earth trembled, giving way to another realm. Fifteen transparent bubbles, each ten thousand meters in size, appeared in the air, with one person inside each. Qu Yi, Qing Wu Gui, Ling Xu, Gong Ye Chen, Wu Tanxin, and others were all in one bubble. The ground was a vast grassland, with a multicolored stone at its center—the Star-Creating Stone. It turned out that the battles in the previous spaces had already ended, with fifteen people disappearing. Then, the spatial realm transformed, bringing all the survivors to the central core, near the Star-Creating Stone. All fifteen of them were confused at first, then looked at each other in surprise, eventually focusing their eyes on the Star-Creating Stone. Silence reigned! After glancing at the Star-Creating Stone, Qu Yi saw nothing unusual in the air and remained puzzled, choosing to wait patiently. Meanwhile, the bubble carrying Gong Ye Chen, driven by him, flew toward another bubble nearby. The person inside that bubble was Ling Xu, ranked first on the Earth List. Upon seeing Gong Ye Chen’s challenging gaze, Ling Xu smiled. Abandoning his idea of fighting Qu Yi, he also used his divine energy to move his bubble toward Gong Ye Chen. The others watched calmly as the two bubbles moved.

Before long, the two bubbles collided head-on, and suddenly they merged into one, forming a bubble space twenty thousand meters in size. Naturally, Gongye Chen and Ling Xu faced each other within this space.
A battle between the two immediately broke out.