From the day Lin Xun had begun his seclusion, ten years had flown by.

Today, Xia Zhi awoke from her long dormancy in the Limitless Abyss Sword Cauldron, marking a joyous event for him. He got busy cooking up all kinds of delicacies for her and accompanied her for a satisfying meal.

During the meal, Lin Xun noticed the obvious and complete change in Xia Zhi’s aura. He couldn't help from asking curiously. “What realm have you reached?”

Xia Zhi got up and looked at him with her clear eyes. “Wanna find out for yourself?”

Lin Xun was stumped.

Clang!

The bone spear materialized in Xia Zhi's fair and delicate hand. Lin Xun's cheeks twitched a little as he wanted to slap his own mouth. Why could he just not help bringing up this kind of topic?

“Come, let me see if you have improved during these years.” Xia Zhi's voice sounded like heavenly music, but the words she uttered were full of provocation.

Lin Xun was unable to sit still. What kind of man would wimp out on this? In the past ten years, his fusion with the Nirvana law had reached the seventy percent mark, and his cultivation had also shown faint signs of breaking into the perfection stage.

Even his mastery of the Blade of Time had reached a level where he could deploy it comfortably at a whim, like it had become a part of him. It was also then that he finally realized how terrifyingly strong this innate talent could be.

Once it was executed, the law of time between heaven and earth would be reversed, as if coming to a standstill. It was extremely similar to Time Stopping, but the difference was that it was like a weapon that could be used in battle for a long time!

Lin Xun had tested the Blade of Time using his maximum power, and it had lasted for roughly fifteen minutes. That was to say, as long as he managed to get its power to sweep through the enemy within fifteen minutes, their longevity and cultivation would be instantly stripped away.

In short, it was reversing time and severing one's dao from them!

Of course, Lin Xun wouldn't use this kind of tactic on Xia Zhi. He stood up and reminded her, “Xia Zhi, let's not get excessive, we should stop when...”

Before he finished speaking, the spear in Xia Zhi's grip had already stabbed out without a shred of hesitation. Apparently, she thought that he was spewing too much nonsense...

Boom!

The thrust was simple, direct, and brimming with an obscure atmosphere. It looked like it was stabbing straight, but it felt omnipresent and impossible to figure out. The creepiest thing was that the spear was filled with a peculiar power, as if upon a slightest taint from it, one would be pulled into a bizarre torrent and trapped forever.

Lin Xun's pupils shank. How could he dare react slowly? He responded immediately and with his full strength.

Boom!

He made a seal with his fingers, taking the thrust head-on, but a strange scene followed. The spear was clearly right in front of him, but it suddenly disappeared, causing his strike to miss.

This isn't good!

Lin Xun instinctively dodged.

Rip!

The clothes at his shoulder were shredded and fluttered like butterflies. The white spear made of bone scraped past the skin.

Lin Xun broke out in a cold sweat. If he hadn't evaded in time, this strike could have blown a hole through his chest!

“What kind of grand dao power was it?” he asked.

“The power of karma, the power of fate.” replied Xia Zhi in her clear voice. As she spoke, she shook her wrist, sending her weapon stabbing out again.

Lin Xun didn't even have time to think. Focusing his mind, spirit, and qi, he ran his Immortal law to the extreme.

At that instant, a vast and long river filled his senses. It poured out of nothingness and ran into infinite unknown depths. Countless esoteric power fluctuations tumbled and rushed in this river, a power that felt impossible to understand.

Lin Xun instantly knew that this was the aura of fate! Condensed by the dao of karma and executed by Xia Zhi with a spear, the seemingly simple strike was as unfathomable as heavenly predestination.

Boom!

While perceiving this, Lin Xun didn't slow down. He coalesced his Immortal law into a qi sword and slashed it down from above.

CLANG!

The qi sword collided with the bone spear, and in Lin Xun's senses, the river of fate shook violently and collapsed.

“You’ve made good progress, being able to block this kind of power.” Xia Zhi seemed a little surprised as she swung her spear and attacked again.

Lin Xun, on the other hand, had regained his calm. The power of fate was indeed abstruse and mysterious. When applied in combat, it was even more difficult to guard against, and ordinary experts were bound to be powerless before it.

However, the solution was also very simple: use force to fight force. There was no other way around it. This was like fighting the invisible heaven, like cultivators crossing their tribulations. It was impossible to figure out, impossible to run from. It must be confronted. Fail to overcome it, and one would be doomed to die!

Such an experience was indescribably strange and also dangerous beyond imagination. Fortunately, Lin Xun could feel that fighting with his Immortal law was enough to deal with the attack from Xia Zhi.

The dao of karma, in the final analysis, was a grand dao. The profound mysteries of the Nirvana law were sufficient to handle and nullify it!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Lin Xun's abode was comparable to a small world, so the two didn't feel cramped when they sparred. The sound of collisions constantly resounded, but fortunately they tried to contain the power fluctuations and avoided causing damage to the cave haven.

A few moments later, Xia Zhi’s attacks suddenly changed as her spear became filled with the force of time. The means she used also shifted.

However, Lin Xun's Grand Abyss Heaven Devourer was originally an innate talent that used the power of time, so he was not afraid of its invasion.

Seeing that she couldn't cause any damage to him after such a long time, Xia Zhi suddenly took a deep breath and said, “Lin Xun, I recently made a breakthrough and grasped a forbidden art related to fate called Mortal Calamity. Do you want to give it a go?”

A forbidden art concerning fate!

Lin Xun shook his head right away. What kind of joke was this? Fate was a supreme dao that all cultivators treated most cautiously. Even Eternal figures wouldn't recklessly declare that they had full control over their destiny!

Seeing his reaction, Xia Zhi directly put away her spear and said, “If so, then I have no way to beat you.”

Obviously, Mortal Calamity was her strongest move. Unless she used it, she couldn't do anything to him with her current cultivation.

However, Lin Xun was already plenty shaken. He was now unrivaled on the Immortal path, on a level where even Eternal Will Dharma Forms could no longer pose a threat to him. Despite that, Xia Zhi had just displayed fighting prowess that was not much inferior to his!

True, he hadn't used any of his innate abilities or even his dao bodies, but Xia Zhi also had a trump card she hadn't used either—one related to the dao of fate at that! How could this not surprise him?

At the end of the day, he knew very well that rather than saying she had been cultivating, it was more like she had been refining the power sealed inside her by her original self.

To her, the cultivation levels no longer mattered. She only needed to absorb her own past power, and her battle strength would continue to rise until it returned to the heights she had once reached!

Similarly, the reason for Xia Zhi's heaven-defying fighting prowess wasn't in the strength of her foundation, but in the unrivaled daos that she had mastered. Such as time, karma, and...fate!

The power of supreme daos like them, when used in battle, erupted with a might that was simply inconceivably terrifying. If Lin Xun didn't grasp the Nirvana law, even he would be hard-pressed to resist her attacks!

“Xia Zhi, for the next period of time, I still need to dive into cultivation.” Ending the battle, Lin Xun talked about business, “If you get bored, just take a walk outside, as long as you don't leave the Origin World.”

Xia Zhi did not think twice. “I'll stay with you.”

Lin Xun was stunned for a moment, then said, “Alright, then.”

Other than him, Xia Zhi never cared about anything in this world.

“By the way, I took in a disciple ten years ago. I haven't checked on her since, so do you want to accompany me to see her?” suggested Lin Xun.

Xia Zhi naturally had no objection.

......

On the training platform of the Ninth Peak, a black-clothed young girl was practicing martial arts. She looked to be around fifteen to sixteen years of age. Her skin was snow white and smooth, her small face was defined and beautiful, her black hair was tied into a ponytail, and her eyes were bright as stars.

She was holding a bronze spear, her movements sharp and swift. She radiated the aura belonging to the Saint Stage.

The young girl was none other than Tang Jiang. Ten years was a snap of the fingers for Lin Xun, but for Tang Jiang, it had allowed her to grow from a child with pigtails into a graceful young girl with a valiant and charming air.

Not far away, a crowd of Ninth Peak disciples were watching her. From time to time, they would cheer and applaud.

Most of these disciples had watched Tang Jiang grow up and loved her like a little sister. Over the years, they had worked together to teach her about cultivation and point her to the correct path.

Thanks to that coupled with the unsparing cultivation resources Mo Lanshan had piled on her, in just ten years, Tang Jiang went from a clueless little girl to a Saint-King with an incomparably solid foundation.

This was already after Mo Lanshan had deliberately suppressed her speed. Otherwise, her breakthroughs would have been even faster.

After all, this was the Origin Sect, one of the Four Great Ancestral Courts of supreme status in the Eternal Stage. Anyone under the heavens dreamed of cultivating in this sacred paradise.

In order to join the Origin Sect, one needed to first reach the bare minimum by attaining the Supreme Emperor Ancestor Stage, then one would have to wait for the disciple selection and pass it to successfully become a member. Therefore, Tang Jiang was undoubtedly a special case.

With the company of these Ninth Peak disciples, where the weakest were still supreme Emperor Ancestors, as well as a peak master like Mo Lanshan taking care of her, it would be strange if her cultivation didn't improve at a leaping pace.

When Lin Xun saw Tang Jiang from afar, whose appearance had changed so much, a hint of reminiscence surfaced in his eyes. Ten years had undoubtedly changed her greatly.

“Greetings, Deputy Pavilion Master Lin!”

Many of the disciples around the platform noticed Lin Xun and solemnly bowed and saluted. Everyone's face was filled with awe and heartfelt respect.

Tang Jiang stopped in the middle of her move and turned around abruptly. Seeing the familiar figure in the distance, her beautiful eyes widened. Only after a long daze did she hastily salute, “Disciple Tang Jiang greets Master!”