The flames dissipated bit by bit, and the colossal mountain phantom behind Duan Muhua was rent asunder by the scorching fire, until both forces dissolved into nothingness and vanished into the air.
Once the shockwave subsided, the surrounding li lay devastated as if struck by a violent earthquake. Gigantic fissures scarred the earth, and every tree within the area had been shattered into countless fragments, scattered across the ground.
The sheer power of mere aftershocks was enough to intimidate Lu Shuang and his allies into inaction; their own cultivation had not yet reached such heights.
Though they had long calculated that Duan Muhua possessed formidable strength, none had imagined he had ascended to the second layer of Spirit Fusion.
They realized that even combined, they would be no match for him. Wisely, they held back their assault, choosing instead to wait and see which of the two combatants would emerge victorious.
Duan Muhua and Huo Wubian exchanged ceaseless blows in the sky, while the others retreated two li away—all save for the black-robed middle-aged man, who lingered within one li of the battlefield.
Fists clashed with legs, and shockwaves rippled through the air, interwoven with flying stone shards and scorching heat.
The stone fragments pierced trees and boulders like bullets, while the searing heat instantly evaporated the moisture from fallen trunks and set them ablaze.
The surrounding li became a domain of fire and stone, where nothing else existed.
Yet this chaos affected neither combatant. A transparent barrier of protective true essence enveloped each of them, deflecting the fiery heat and rocky impacts away from their bodies.
"Suppress!"
Duan Muhua vanished from his position in an instant, reappearing above Huo Wubian. He drove his leg downward from above, unleashing a momentum as heavy and imposing as a mountain range. The earth beneath them was crushed downward by three zhang in an instant, compacted by sheer force.
The air in the void was repeatedly detonated by this momentum, a continuous chain of explosions ringing out. The entire space seemed to be constricted by his momentum; even Lu Shuang and the others, two li away, were pinned down and unable to move.
Only Hu Zi could move freely, for he had attained the realm of Wood Intent, a fledgling artistic conception.
But the ability to move unimpeded was a far cry from defeating Duan Muhua. At most, Hu Zi could endure the pressure for a short while; overcoming the patriarch was utterly out of the question.
Furthermore, Duan Muhua's Mountain Momentum stood but a single step away from evolving into genuine Mountain Intent.
"That is Mountain Momentum—perfected Mountain Momentum!" Gu Manxing murmured from two li away, utterly stunned by the overwhelming aura.
This was a Great Momentum of Heaven and Earth, far different from the partial momentum wielded by Gao Han and the others, who commanded at most thirty percent of their respective forces. Duan Muhua's momentum had reached perfection, needing only one final step to bloom into Mountain Intent.
The Tianwu Continent housed countless forms of artistic conception: Sword Intent that cut through all things, Blade Intent that annihilated creation, Fire Intent that incinerated the world, Earth Intent with unrivaled defensive power, and sheer Force Intent of raw power—to name but a few.
Varied and myriad as they were, advancing from Great Momentum to true artistic conception was an unimaginably arduous feat. Statistically, only one in every thousand warriors who comprehended momentum would ever breakthrough to intent.
Yet once intent was attained, combat power surged to terrifying heights. Within the same cultivation realm, one who wielded intent could completely suppress—even instantly kill—an opponent who did not.
Naturally, some warriors gained a crude form of intent upon reaching the Transcendent Realm, but such passive intent paled in comparison to comprehended intent, both in depth and destructive power.
Momentum merely meant honing one's familiar martial techniques to an extreme level, resonating with the Great Momentum of Heaven and Earth to render all obstacles insurmountable.
Intent was something deeper entirely. It arose from profound familiarity with, or devotion to, a certain principle or art, triggering a resonance between the soul and heaven and earth—a state of unity between man and nature. When unleashed in battle, intent forced one's foe to contend with the weight of the entire world.
Of course, the strength of intent varied by its completeness. Hu Zi's fledgling Wood Intent, for instance, could only restore vitality and block incoming attacks; it was far from capable of suppressing enemies.
"Duan Muhua! Do you think yours is the only perfected momentum? Today, I shall show you my greatly completed Fire Momentum!"
Huo Wubian let out a thunderous roar, unleashing boundless Fire Momentum from his entire being. The air ignited and collapsed into vacuum, and even the earth below showed signs of melting under the intense heat.
He met Duan Muhua's descending leg with an upward palm. Fire Momentum and Mountain Momentum clashed and intertwined, their overwhelming force generating shockwaves that compacted the earth beneath them by ten zhang. Groundwater welled up from the cracks, only to be instantly suppressed by the blast and heated to a scalding temperature.
"A clash between greatly completed Fire Momentum and perfected Mountain Momentum! Huo Wubian and Duan Muhua have grown this powerful!"
"Against them, we not stand no chance of countering at all!" The group glanced at the dumbfounded Hu Zi, who wielded a fledgling intent.
"Hahaha! You two are having such fun—allow me to join in!" The black-robed middle-aged man within one li could hold back no longer. With a loud laugh, he shot into the sky.
As he moved, an unparalleled domineering aura erupted from him, as if he would cleave apart everything in his path.
"Blade Momentum—and greatly completed as well! Who is he?" The same thought flashed through Duan Muhua and Huo Wubian's minds. Before they could dwell on it, a blade qi sliced between them, forcing the two apart.
Both of their auras were shattered, and the Blade Momentum that had separated them crumbled into nothingness inch by inch.
"How about the two of you against me? I ask for nothing more—if I win, the Duan clan's Four Seasons Thunder shall belong to the Lu clan. Do we have a deal?" The black-robed middle-aged man hovered in the void, his endless Blade Momentum surging in all directions and slicing apart everything around him.
Duan Muhua let out a cold sneer. "You speak with astonishing boldness. If you want my clan's secret art, you must earn it with your strength!"
Duan Muhua stomped upon the air, and his perfected Mountain Momentum erupted forth, shaking the space within one li. The oscillating force pressed toward the black-robed middle-aged man.
"Break!"
The middle-aged man threw a single punch, slashing it toward the oncoming Mountain Momentum. A Blade Momentum capable of rending all creation burst forth.
BOOM!
Blade Momentum collided with Mountain Momentum. True to its reputation as one of the most offensively potent forms of momentum, it split the Mountain Momentum in two the moment they made contact, surging forward for a distance before dissipating into the air.
For all its sharpness, however, Duan Muhua's Mountain Momentum was perfected; the Blade Momentum retained little strength after cleaving through it.
Clap-clap-clap! A sharp round of applause rang out. Huo Wubian clapped his hands and spoke. "Impressive. Second-layer Spirit Fusion. The Lu clan hides such a figure—why have you not yet wiped out the Zheng clan? Who are you, really?"
"That is none of your concern. I emerged only to help the Lu clan seize the secret art, with no other motives. If the two of you will not comply, do not blame me for being ruthless." Sensing Huo Wubian's prying into his secrets, his tone turned icy and severe.
With that, a flash of light appeared in his hand, and a sheathed longsword materialized. Its hilt, one chi long, allowed for a two-handed grip.
Shing!
The longsword was unsheathed, and a crimson blade radiance illuminated heaven and earth. The blade itself was blood-red, etched with flowing patterns that resembled running blood—a mid-grade longblade, and not of the low tier.
As the blade cleared its sheath, a sky-raking blade qi shot forth from him, as if intending to split the firmament in two. He fixed Huo Wubian and Duan Muhua with a murderous gaze; should either refuse, he would attack at once.
"For all your strength, what of it? This old man will not be slaughtered like a lamb!" With that, an oscillating force burst from his leg, and the fabric covering his limb was instantly shattered into powder and scattered.
Beneath his robes, Duan Muhua wore a pair of silver-white leg guards studded with barbs that glinted with cold light—clearly another pair of mid-grade weapons.
Huo Wubian stood to the side, motionless, watching the two men's movements.
The moment Duan Muhua moved, the black-robed middle-aged man swung his longsword, and a blood-red blade qi shot forth toward Duan Muhua at lightning speed.
Duan Muhua quickly lifted his right leg to block the blade qi.
BOOM!
A thunderous detonation echoed. Duan Muhua was sent flying two li away, crashing into the earth and sinking one zhang deep before finally coming to a halt.
Behind him, the ground was split open by a long, jagged fissure. Thanks to his protective true essence, he avoided severe injury.
Before he could recover, a figure flashed before him. A crimson blade shadow sliced downward, and Duan Muhua immediately slapped the blade aside with both palms. A colossal shockwave rippled outward, and from the point where the two men stood, several fissures spread outward—two chi wide, a hundred zhang long, and bottomless.
Blood streamed down Duan Muhua's palms, lacerated by the sharp Blade Momentum. The man's blade continued to edge forward, as if intending to slice Duan Muhua in two.
PENG!
Just as the blade was a finger's breadth from Duan Muhua's body, a figure appeared beside the two men and kicked the black-robed man three li away.
That single strike shattered the man's protective true essence. Fortunately, all obstacles in the path had been cleared by the earlier battle; otherwise, the black-robed man would have been killed on the spot.
The figure gestured with one hand, and Duan Muhua rose into the air and landed gently on the ground.
"Telekinetic manipulation… force condensed to a point… fourth-layer Spirit Fusion!" The black-robed middle-aged man spat up blood and spoke with immense difficulty.
Huo Wubian abandoned his plan to watch from the sidelines and murmured in shock: "The Duan clan's ancestral patriarch… Duan Chenyi!"