The Modern Martial Immortal

Chapter 115: Victory and Defeat

”What will I be to you?” A flicker of distortion crossed Leng Tianfeng’s eyes. These words from Yaoguang seemed to stir some long-buried memories within him.

How many years has it been! Since I cultivated this primordial psyche, no one has dared to speak to me in such a manner for years. But now... This person of unknown origin, perhaps a descended being, perhaps a local rogue cultivator, or perhaps a native who has stumbled upon some legacy, actually dares to humiliate me like this?! Does he really think that I, Leng Tianfeng, am incapable of killing him?!

”Today, I will show you exactly who I am!” Leng Tianfeng slammed his hands together. Behind him, a towering, majestic figure seemed to manifest.

It was an image of a man. The face was different from the body he currently inhabited; it was a sculpture of his true self.

The figure stood a full ten meters tall. At first glance, it appeared transparent, but as he flung his arms open, a terrifying power began to condense above him. It was a force so vast it would make any martial paragon, psychic-will martial paragon, or unified martial paragon tremble with fear.

As Leng Tianfeng raised his hands high and formed a divine seal, the power gathered by the ten-meter-tall phantom merged with the seal held in his uplifted hands. He then struck down violently at Yaoguang, who was charging toward him.

”Dauntless Divine Moon Fiend-Suppressing Seal!” Leng Tianfeng roared.

The phantom manifested by Leng Tianfeng’s primordial psyche stood ten meters high. Combined with his own physical strength, the joint attack felt as though a towering giant were smashing down upon Yaoguang, who stood less than 1.8 meters tall.

Ten meters was immense. It was taller than a three-story building. The colossal force contained within such a giant’s strike would not only pulverize human flesh and bone but would instantaneously crush a heavy-duty truck into scrap metal. In fact, that was exactly what happened.

The moment the two forces collided, a sound like a thunderclap erupted in the void. A visible wave of air shattered between the two men, transforming into a shockwave that swept across dozens, even hundreds of meters in every direction.

Countless leaves and blades of grass were swept into the sky at that moment. Countless branches and thorns were snapped clean off by the exploding force. Even Xie Yushu and those fiends who were standing relatively close could not help but retreat repeatedly to avoid the buffeting of the gale, despite their formidable combat power

One unlucky soul failed to escape in time. It was Mo Guang, the president of the Rebirth Society. His burly frame was lifted and thrown over a dozen meters before slamming heavily onto the ground.

He spat out a mouthful of blood. Already on the verge of death and severely injured, he had no chance of survival left. Life rapidly drained from his body. The president of the Rebirth Society, who had posed such a massive threat to both the World-Saving Society and the Crimson Star Empire, died in a manner that could hardly be called glorious. It was, in fact, quite pathetic.

At the center of the dissipating hurricane, the two figures recoiled once more. However, Leng Tianfeng retreated significantly further than Yaoguang. The qi and blood throughout his body surged and churned. Clearly, he had sustained heavier damage than Yaoguang, yet there was not a trace of fear in the eyes of this Soul Manipulator.

He knew very well that Yaoguang relied on adrenaline and gene liberation methods to burst forth with power greater than his own. Such power was not sustainable; on the contrary, it placed an immense burden on his physical body. Once his physical vessel could no longer support that power, Leng Tianfeng wouldn’t even need to strike. Yaoguang’s body would collapse, and he would die on the spot.

”Good! Now this is more like it! Come, fight me again!” Yaoguang stabilized his body after being blown backward and lunged forward again without hesitation, his sword in front of him.

The force of the mountains channeled into his blade was grand and relentless, like a landslide or an earthquake rolling in. He gave Leng Tianfeng no room to breathe.

”If you want to die, I will grant your wish!” Leng Tianfeng had no intention of dodging either. He roared, fully excavating and stimulating every bit of potential within his body as he met Yaoguang’s onslaught once more.

Above him, the primordial psyche that resembled his true self also drew upon an even more majestic and heavy force of heaven and earth. It merged with his attack, ensuring that even against Yaoguang, who was bolstered by Stars’ Child, he was not weakened in the slightest.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The two collided repeatedly!

Two cultivators, whose strength was so great that even those who had truly cultivated a heavenly being’s body might not have fared better, clashed head-on in the void without any trickery.

The power contained in their attacks would have flattened armored tanks on the spot. Shockwaves were released with every impact, strong enough to tear every flower, plant, and tree within a hundred-meter radius to shreds.

Fortunately, the few observers present were, without exception, martial-paragon-tier existences who had broken the limits of the human body. Had they been ordinary people, or even martial masters who had not yet completed internal refinement of their organs, venturing within dozens of meters would have resulted in their internal organs being shattered by the shockwaves originating from the collisions.

In other words, if the two had fought on a busy street instead of this mountain forest, these successive exchanges would have leveled the entire block. If they had moved while fighting, they could have killed thousands of people within minutes. There’d have been no need for direct hits, as just the intense vibrations from the fight would’ve killed them.

The mere aftershocks could cause thousands of casualties. This alone demonstrated the extent of a heavenly being’s destructive power! Destroying cities and toppling nations was just a matter of time.

However, through the repeated exchanges, Leng Tianfeng gradually noticed a problem! Yaoguang is getting stronger! It isn’t getting stronger in the conventional sense, but rather, some of his memories are resurfacing!

Initially, while his explosive attacks were powerful and his techniques were considered outstanding, they were still a step away from being truly transcendent or miraculous. But as the battle with Leng Tianfeng continued, Yaoguang seemed to become more proficient in these techniques, learning exactly how to engage in a life-or-death struggle with someone of his current caliber.

It was like a veteran driver who hadn’t touched a car in months; he needed a moment to adapt upon getting back behind the wheel. But once that adaptation was complete, he could drive so fast that others wouldn’t even see his wheels. This was the feeling Yaoguang gave Leng Tianfeng.

This was because he was currently digesting the information previously obtained from the ancient tree and converting it into actual combat effectiveness. He was putting theory into practice.

But in Leng Tianfeng’s eyes, it looked as though Yaoguang was reclaiming his former combat instincts. Moreover, he could see that while he himself was a pure psyche cultivator, Yaoguang was different.

Yaoguang not only possessed immense achievements in the Psyche Dao but also held an understanding of the Martial Dao that reached a level comparable to a star lord.

Currently, the vessel Leng Tianfeng had seized was only a Seventh-Heavenly-Realm martial artist, not a Seventh-Heavenly-Realm psyche cultivator. If he truly allowed Yaoguang to fully master star-lord-tier combat experience...

At this thought, Leng Tianfeng reached a decision. If this vessel was destroyed, he could simply find another. But if he were defeated and captured by this person before him, the consequences would be unthinkable.

As his thoughts raced, he suddenly turned a vibrant crimson, and the qi and blood throughout his frame seemed to ignite. Simultaneously, his essence, qi, and psyche were set ablaze.

In this state of combustion, the phantom above his head let out a silent, heaven-shaking roar. Countless flames condensed in the air above him, burning violently until they finally formed a blazing sun! It was a sun that radiated a searing heat capable of scorching the very soul.

Those on the field who had not even cultivated psychic will felt an uncontrollable burning sensation deep within their minds just by glancing at it, as if their own bodies were being set on fire. Even powerful figures like Xie Yushu, who had already condensed their psychic wills, felt a parching heat, wishing they could instantly find a pool of icy water to submerge themselves in to resist the intensity.

As the sun fully condensed, Leng Tianfeng raised his right hand once more. The burning qi and blood within him resonated with a hand seal he formed. Using his own qi and blood as a medium, he allowed the ten-meter-tall phantom to merge the blazing sun into his seal.

The moment the seal was formed, a sound like a great bronze bell echoed through the void. It was as if a towering, sacred, and magnificent being was chanting a Buddhist mantra. It was the True Vairocana Seal![1]

As the seal pressed down, it appeared to everyone’s mental world as if a sun had truly descended. Within that sun, a giant hand reached out, one large enough to blot out the sky, striking down toward Yaoguang’s position.

In the face of such power, let alone the power of the majestic mountain Yaoguang had summoned, even a real star would be crushed.

Yaoguang seemed to sense the finality in Leng Tianfeng’s strike. He pushed the power of Heavenly Fiend Disintegration and Star Ignition to their absolute limits. Leveraging his state of transcended essence, qi, and psyche, he overloaded his Life Force Field, supplemented by Stars’ Child and Great Earth Furnace.

Finally, he truly seemed to transform into a star, a terrifying celestial body of boundless proportions, spanning thousands or even tens of thousands of kilometers. Crucially, compared to the sky-blotting hand of Leng Tianfeng’s True Vairocana Seal, which felt like a rootless weed, the star-transformed Yaoguang was far more grounded.

This was because he was channeling the power of the earth beneath his feet, the power of the planet itself.

In a daze, Xie Yushu and the others felt as though they had been transported back to Cangwu, witnessing the legends and myths of supreme battles. It was like the scene of ancient gods and buddhas, plucking stars and moons, and traversing the nine heavens.

Before them was a user of divine ability so powerful he could seemingly pluck the stars and moons, attempting to cover the sky with a single hand and seize the planet they stood upon. How could the scene not bring to mind the ancient legends?!

But the ancient era was the ancient era! Gods and buddhas were gods and buddhas! Compared to a true ancient god or buddha, the current Leng Tianfeng was far from the mark. As he attempted to emulate an ancient deity plucking a star, the impact triggered a backlash from the stellar force field.

The stellar force field, far too powerful for any flesh-and-blood body to withstand, instantly reversed its flow and surged upward, coiling around Leng Tianfeng’s body.

Although Leng Tianfeng immediately sensed the backlash of the stellar power, or rather, felt the counter-shock force formed by the head-on collision of divine abilities and retreated at once, the overwhelming impact of the jin continued to grind against his body, causing it to crack inch by inch. It was beyond what he could endure!

Even though he had cultivated a heavenly being’s body, he was being overwhelmed at this moment and was almost on the verge of collapse!

Fortunately, Yaoguang’s situation is no better than my own; he... Leng Tianfeng’s thoughts froze in utter shock as he turned to look at his enemy! Yaoguang appeared completely unharmed. After clashing head-on with the True Vairocana Seal, he didn’t pause for a single second before charging forward again!

”How is this possible?!” Leng Tianfeng’s eyes were filled with disbelief.

He could see that Yaoguang’s physical injuries were extremely severe, yet he was still able to maintain a combat strength nearly at its peak.

W-What kind of technique is this? Regardless of the technique... Leng Tianfeng remained in shock.

The victor had been decided.

”Go!” Terrified, he did not dare to hesitate for a second and immediately retreated at full speed.

But at the very moment his psychic mind wavered, and he turned to flee, a sword light shot out from the nearby woods with incredible speed, instantly piercing through his skull.

This is a flying sword! As this thought appeared in his mind, Leng Tianfeng’s body came to an abrupt halt mid-retreat.

1. Vairocana, also known as Mahāvairocana, is a major Buddha from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. He is often compared to the Sun, because both bestow their light impartially upon all beings. ☜