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Chapter 1144: Progenitor Chen
Unseen Light did not understand the Mavis family very well, and although Yuhua Mavis might look gentle, beautiful, and rational, she was still a Mavis at her core. And therefore, she was incredibly strong. There was a savage ferocity ingrained into the very bones of this family, and they were not accustomed to losing. The more they were suppressed, the harsher their ferocity would rage.
She moved past Unseen Light, and a green light blossomed over her fist as she punched out yet again. Death energy twined around Beast, and the corpse king punched back at her.
“Limitless strength!” Yuhua Mavis shouted as her fist collided with Beast’s.
A bang shook the air as the void shattered. An unstoppable shockwave blasted Unseen Light, Ling Gong, and all the others back.
Beast remained standing in place, but Yuhua Mavis had been sent flying away.
The strength of the Mavis family’s Treeheart Descendant was truly terrifying; if Beast’s physical strength had not been boosted a thousandfold by its third transformation, it would have never been able to withstand such an attack. However, no matter how great the creature’s strength was, there would always be a limit. Otherwise, corpse kings would truly be unrivaled.
In previous generations, the Mavis family’s Treeheart Descendants had never encountered an expert in the same generation whose strength surpassed theirs. In some sense, Yuhua Mavis could be seen as unlucky.
After Beast knocked Yuhua Mavis back, it raised both of its hands and unleashed a second attack of pure strength that targeted Qiu Shi and the others.
With sheer force, the corpse king forced Qiu Shi, Unseen Light, Ling Gong, and Xia Jiuyou all back. Nobody dared to resist, because at this moment, the corpse king was truly unrivaled.
Another expert suddenly appeared atop the golden screens; Yōu Qi rode his warhorse as he grasped a spear in his hands and charged at Beast.
Beast raised its hands and slapped out in response, but the wind from its attack passed through Yōu Qi and slammed into Qiu Shi and the others instead. At the same time, Yōu Qi’s spear stabbed at Beast’s head.
Beast hesitated for a moment before raising a hand to grab the black spear and then wrestling Yōu Qi down from the warhorse. The warhorse immediately reared up and slammed its hooves down onto Beast, but the corpse king did not even move. With another slap, it smacked the warhorse off of the golden screen.
Yōu Qi stared at Beast in shock. This was a terrifying level of physical power! Then, a book appeared above Yōu Qi’s head. “There was once an ancient powerhouse known as Liu Guai who used the Eleventh Sword: Particle Diffusion.”
Sword light shot out. As usual, Beast showed no intention of evading, and the Eleventh Sword left behind a massive wound on its body that quickly recovered.
Corpse Beast lifted its right hand and slapped out. The wind from its attack passed through Yōu Qi once again, which forced Qiu Shi and the others to keep retreating.
Yōu Qi stared at Beast in disbelief. “A corpse king that’s undergone the third transformation. With our strength, we can’t overcome this.”
Qiu Shi moved forward. “I’ll use a Teleportation Formation to throw it away.”
Yōu Qi replied in a low voice, “Even if you throw it away, it will quickly return.”
Beast snarled and raised both of its hands to slap out. Just the wind from its hand movements were enough to overpower the crowd, and they could not even receive the shockwaves of the corpse king’s attacks. Yōu Qi was the only one able to disregard the attacks, but he could not find any means of actually defeating Beast.
Off in the distance, Silver was similarly unable to deal with Shang Qing. Even though Shang Qing could not move, his Tri-Yang Technique meant that he was unapproachable.
Silver was incredibly frustrated, as the Neohuman Alliance had made what they thought to be a generous estimate of the Tri-Yang Technique’s capabilities. However, in the end, they had still underestimated this technique. Silver’s death energy was being suppressed by just a single one of the three ancestral qi strands, and he was also unable to destroy Shang Qing’s body from within. Otherwise, the battle would have ended long ago.
“I can’t deal with you, so the only thing I can do is grab some of the others and report back. Fortunately, the Thirteen Swords are enough to take back.” Silver dodged the Tri-Yang Technique and raised a hand to grab Liu Tianmu.
Liu Tianmu still could not move.
Shang Qing’s eyes went wide, and a qi flow moved out to defend Liu Tianmu. “It looks like there are only two of you here from the Neohuman Alliance.”
Silver dodged an attack and looked over at Shang Qing in surprise. “How many did you think would come?”
Shang Qing let out a long breath. “You guys are very confident, but you’ve still underestimated the Tri-Yang Technique.”
Silver’s expression grew sharp as he stared at Shang Qing.
Liu Tianmu also turned to look at Shang Qing.
One of the Tri-Yang Technique’s qi strands was swirling around Shang Qing’s body, another was suppressing the death energy, and the last one was protecting Liu Tianmu. However, at this moment, the last one started to slowly change, and it transformed from a strand of qi into a humanoid shape. A nose formed, and then eyes, arms, and legs until the qi strand finally took on the shape of a dashing man, albeit one with a cold demeanor. He actually looked almost identical to Xia Jiuyou.
Silver stared in astonishment; just what was happening?
Shang Qing calmly looked over at Silver. “Since ancient times, those who cultivate the Tri-Yang Technique have always become must-kill targets of your Neohuman Alliance. You guys have sought all kinds of methods to kill users of the Tri-Yang Technique, but have you people ever actually seen the Tri-Yang Technique? Do you dare to allow a user of the Tri-Yang Technique to cultivate?”
Silver’s eyes flashed.
Indeed, the Tri-Yang Technique was mainly well known for being the most miraculous technique in the universe. Anyone who managed to successfully cultivate it would become a must-kill target for the Neohuman Alliance, and they had never ever considered giving those people any hint of an opportunity to develop.
It was precisely because of this that Shang Qing had not made an appearance when the Sixth Mainland invaded. He had always remained under the Hall of Honor’s protection, and it was so extreme that he had never even had a chance to hone himself. It had all been done to avoid an assassination from the Neohuman Alliance.
There were both pros and cons to this method, as it had preserved Shang Qing’s life and allowed him to cultivate in peace. But on the other hand, it had also stopped him from obtaining almost any practical experience at all.
Still, to some of the top powerhouses in the Hall of Honor, as long as Shang Qing managed to successfully cultivate the Tri-Yang Technique, something like worldly experience would not matter as he would still be absolutely peerless.
Historically, there had been many top geniuses who cultivated the Tri-Yang Technique that had died after being ambushed by the Neohuman Alliance. Naturally, the Hall of Honor did not want to risk such a loss.
During the contest in the Mountain and Seas Zone, Shang Qing had stood above all others, and everyone had assumed that they had seen the extent of the Tri-Yang Technique’s unrivaled power. However, in truth, they had only scratched the surface of the technique, and only one person had experienced the true might of the Tri-Yang Technique among them: Xie Xiaoxian. The Xie Secret Art that she used was able to copy  the Tri-Yang Technique and use it against Shang Qing, and as a result, she had managed to force out the true power of Shang Qing’s Tri-Yang Technique.
After witnessing the full might of the Tri-Yang Technique, Xie Xiaoxian fully believed that Shang Qing was without equal, and she was sure that nobody was capable of defeating him.
At this moment, the true power of the Tri-Yang Technique had appeared once again.
Off in the distance, Xia Jiuyou’s third will blade sliced down at Beast, but it only left a shallow mark on the corpse king’s body. It had about as much of an effect as Yōu Qi’s Eleventh Sword, though not much more than that.
The shockwave from Beast’s attack swept across the field, and Xia Jiuyou dodged it as he looked into the distance, past Beast, and at where the Tri-Yang Technique had transformed in front of Liu Tianmu’s body. Xia Jiuyou’s gaze trembled, and his face betrayed his disbelief as he had just witnessed something that he could not understand.
The qi strand of the Tri-Yang Technique had taken on a form nearly identical to Xia Jiuyou’s, and the figure stood in front of Liu Tianmu, expressionlessly staring at Silver.
The scene was a little strange, and even Silver felt that it was rather odd.
Shang Qing arrogantly asked, “Have you ever seen Progenitor Chen before?”
Silver did not understand, but the next moment, the figure formed by the Tri-Yang Technique suddenly vanished only to reappear in front of Silver. The figure then raised a hand immolated in flames that burned the void. It looked very similar to the flames from Burial Garden’s Yōu Qi, and the hand slapped at Silver.
The death energy around Silver’s body blocked the attack, but the palm of the figure passed straight through the death energy and smacked against Silver’s chest. Silver felt stifled, and he almost spat out a mouthful of blood as he looked up, overwhelmed.
Just what was this thing?
The figure attacked him again and again. It would also occasionally vanish, only to reappear and slap a hand at Silver’s head.
Silver frowned as his butterfly knife danced about, slashing everywhere.
The butterfly knife streaked past the figure and cut through the void, but at the same time, the figure’s palm struck Silver’s shoulder, knocking Silver back.
Silver managed to stabilize himself with great difficulty, and he looked down at his shoulder in bewilderment. The illusory black flames were still burning him, and an intense pain was wracking his body. This attack had to have come from a real, physical hand, so why had his own attacks simply phased through it?
Silver’s eyes snapped over to look at Burial Garden’s Yōu Qi.
At this moment, Yōu Qi was also watching the strange figure, as it was using a technique identical to his own; it was turning immaterial to disregard the opponent’s attack, and it also wielded those illusory black flames.
Suddenly plunged into an unknown situation, Silver could only dodge around, and he did not dare to confront the figure in a head-on battle.
However, the figure was extremely fast, and illusion mixed with reality in a manner that instantly suppressed Silver.
Off in the distance, Yōu Qi suddenly thought of something, and he turned to stare at Shang Qing in shock.
There was a smile on Shang Qing’s lips, and he was exuding an invincible aura. Ever since he had first started cultivating the Tri-Yang Technique, he knew that he would not ever be defeated, as it was simply impossible. He had expected no one in the Mountain and Seas Zone to be able to force out his true strength, and he had never imagined that he would end up fighting against the Neohuman Alliance here. In his view, using the Neohuman Alliance as a stepping stone was a good start to his road to becoming a Progenitor.
Silver continuously dodged the figure’s attacks, and although the figure had been formed from a qi strand of the Tri-Yang Technique, it seemed to have its own consciousness. Every attack seemed to seal off another one of Silver’s escape routes, and if not for Silver’s strength having reached a certain level, he would already have been defeated.
These attacks were not mechanical or repetitive, and instead, they seemed to come from a talented, Enlighter realm expert, such as Yōu Qi.
Helpless, Silver moved over next to Beast, and the corpse king waved a hand at the figure.
The hand streaked past the figure while one of the figure’s palms landed on Beast’s chest. There was a thump, and Beast trembled, but it was not harmed.
In the distance, Shang Qing’s gaze trembled. He saw Yuhua Mavis and the others prepare to launch an attack at Silver, and he hurriedly shouted at them, “Move aside!”
Another qi strand of the Tri-Yang Technique shot away from his body, and this one also transformed into a humanoid figure that stood in mid air. There was a gloomy light over its palm, and it formed a long blade that sliced out.
Xia Jiuyou’s expression sharpened, as this was the Xia family’s Triple Blade Will.
The first will blade passed through the void to slice Beast’s body, leaving behind a gaping wound on the creature’s body. Beast snarled and swatted a palm at the figure before it, but the figure simply turned immaterial once again as it phased through Beast to attack Silver.
From the second figure, the second will blade appeared, and it sliced across Beast’s shoulder, nearly crippling the corpse king’s right arm as it tore through the void.
This sight shocked everyone, as they could not understand what was happening. These two figures had been formed from Shang Qing’s Tri-Yang Technique. Even more shocking was the fact that the strength of these figures were definitely not above Shang Qing’s own level, which was the Enlighter realm.
Since the others were also Enlighters, they could not understand how these figures were able to injure Beast.
Beast was without equal at this moment, and not even Shang Qing was guaranteed to emerge victorious, even with his Tri-Yang Technique. However, at this moment, the transformed corpse king was being sliced apart by a flow of qi.
Xia Jiuyou was shocked. “Ancestor.”
Next to him, Yōu Qi was similarly stunned. “Progenitor Chen.”
The others could not understand.
Inside the space within the giant eyes, Xie Xiaoxian was witnessing a certain scene take place for the second time. She let out a slow breath, her eyes still showing signs of shock. “This is the true power of the Tri-Yang Technique—it can take the form of Progenitors in the same cultivation realm as the user to fight. Those two figures, judging by their appearances, should be Progenitor Chen’s clones. Do you guys want to compete with Progenitor Chen when he was an Enlighter? How could you ever compare? Since ancient times, who was ever able to defeat Progenitor Chen?”
Progenitor Chen was synonymous with being invincible throughout time immemorial. He had been the one to create the Nine Clones Secret Technique, the Cosmic Art, the Xia family’s secret art, the Triple Blade Will, and more. Each of his clones during his prime had been able to fight against a Progenitor on their own, and each clone had created their own Progenitor’s battle technique. As he could essentially fight nine against one, the Sixth Mainland had not even dared to leave behind any records of him. That was Progenitor Chen.
Shang Qing might be unrivaled within the Mountain and Seas Zone at this moment, but who dared to claim that he was guaranteed to become a Progenitor?