Chapter 155 - 154: The Six Peerless Geniuses (2)
The instant his skill brushed against the boy’s body, however, a sharp, warning spike of pain shot through Lin Yuan’s Spiritual Sea. His expression changed slightly, and he immediately withdrew his divine sense.
What in the heavens is that? Lin Yuan thought, his eyes widening a fraction.
Feng Yao’s physical body was practically irrelevant. Floating inside the sixteen-year-old boy’s Sea of Consciousness was not a Nascent Soul. It was a fully formed, terrifyingly dense Primordial Spirit.
Lin Yuan quickly pieced together the impossibly surrounding the boy. Unknown to Lin yuan, Feng Yao was the victim—or the beneficiary—of a bizarre phenomenon known as the Birth of Primordial Spirit.
He had been born with it, completely bypassing all realms! Because he possessed a Primordial Spirit from birth, his cultivation had naturally reached the Half-Step Soul Transformation realm. Yet his mind and Dao Heart remained those of a teenager. He possessed the engine of a god, but lacked the steering wheel to control it. All he needed was to mature his Dao Resolve through time and experience, and once that final gap was bridged, he would become a true Soul Transformation expert.
And finally, descending from the jagged island of black iron, was the undisputed king of the Upper Division.
Xuan Mingzhe of the Xuan Province.
He was a tall, imposing man with long black hair that seemed to absorb the light around him. He was a rare Tri-Dao cultivator, having comprehended the Daos of Annihilation, Space, and Gravity. More terrifyingly, he had not merely cultivated the three Daos independently. He had begun merging them into a single, unified Dao, combining the destructive force of Annihilation, the mysterious profundity of Space, and the overwhelming control of Gravity into a power uniquely his own. He was an undefeated legend who had never once tasted the bitterness of defeat.
As Xuan Mingzhe touched down, the surrounding laws of Heaven and Earth seemed to warp around him, bending instinctively beneath his presence. He had reached the Half-Step Soul Transformation realm, and with his merged Dao, his true combat power was far beyond what his cultivation realm alone could describe.
But the truth was that Xuan Mingzhe had successfully reached the Tenth Step. Heaven had opened the crack. But Xuan Mingzhe’s ambition had been too vast. His tri-Dao Nascent Soul was so incredibly dense and hungry that the brief window of Origin Qi had not been enough to fully transform it into a Primordial Spirit before the crack snapped shut.
Now, he possessed a half-formed Primordial Spirit. To complete the transformation and step into the true Soul Transformation realm, he no longer needed to perfect his Dao Resolve. That foundation had already been established. What he lacked was an enormous, almost impossible infusion of Origin Qi, enough to complete the final transformation of his Primordial Spirit.
As the Six Peerless Geniuses assembled on the grand landing platform, their combined auras threatened to sink the Celestial Summit Palace out of the sky.
Lord Zhao Shenming, suppressing his dread, stepped forward. As the host and the absolute ruler of the Zhao Province, protocol demanded he greet the Upper Division champions. He composed himself, and offered a deep, formal bow.
"The Zhao Province welcomes the exalted champions of the Central Continent," Lord Zhao’s voice echoed across the jade expanse. "The Celestial Summit Palace is honored to host your brilliance before the tournament commences."
A heavy, suffocating silence followed the greeting.
Chu Kuang leaned on his massive rusted halberd, tilting his head as he looked down at the Provincial Lord.
"Was that the wind speaking?" Chu Kuang mocked openly, his voice dripping with venomous disdain. "Or did a stray dog just bark? A mere Resolute stage cultivator dares to address us directly? In the Chu Province, someone of your cultivation would not even be qualified to look upon my path."
Lord Zhao’s face tightened, a flash of profound humiliation coloring his cheeks, but he remained bowed, completely unable to retaliate against a Peerless stage monster backed by an Upper Division province.
Ye Ao snorted in disgust. "Don’t waste your breath on the dirt, Chu Kuang. The Lower Division is merely a formality. Let us get inside before this stagnant Qi completely ruins my robes."
Jiang Wan, the sword genius, didn’t even open his eyes or acknowledge Lord Zhao’s existence. The sixteen-year-old anomaly, Feng Yao, stared blankly into the sky, seemingly lost in a conversation with voices no one else could hear. Ling Chuan, the honorable exception, offered a polite but deeply pitying nod to the humiliated Lord Zhao before following the others.
But it was Xuan Mingzhe who delivered the most devastating blow.
The undefeated legend stepped forward. He did not insult Lord Zhao, nor did he mock his cultivation. He simply walked past the bowed Provincial Lord, his indifferent gaze passing straight through Zhao Shenming as though he were nothing more than empty air. There was no contempt in his expression, because contempt would have required him to acknowledge the man’s existence in the first place. It was the absolute, crushing indifference of a higher lifeform walking past an ant.
From the viewing pavilion, watching the entire exchange, Lin Yuan stood with his arms crossed.
He felt Bai Chen beside him bristling with outrage on Lord Zhao’s behalf, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword. Even Bai Qingyue’s eyes narrowed in cold distaste at the sheer arrogance on display.
But Lin Yuan did not feel anger. He did not feel the sting of pride.
As Lin Yuan looked at the Six Peerless Geniuses, he could clearly sense the vast gulf between them and himself. Among them were cultivators at the Sovereign Stage, the Peerless Stage, and even the Half-Step Soul Transformation realm, while he was only at the Early Stage of Spirit Severing. In terms of cultivation and Dao Resolve alone, he was undoubtedly the weakest person in the room by a staggering margin.
Yet as Lin Yuan watched the six Upper Division monsters stride into the palace, treating the cultivators of the Lower Division as though they were nothing more than stepping stones beneath their feet, a slow smile spread across his face.