"This is my general Yu She, who is as brave as ten thousand men!" Yuan Shu said with a smug look on his face.
Wang Xuan listened to this with a strange expression. If he remembered correctly, Yu She was killed by Hua Xiong with a single blow, wasn't he?
As expected, his memory was correct. Not long after Yu She went out, a tremendous surge of spiritual energy erupted outside.
The fluctuation of spiritual energy flashed by in an instant, and soon a messenger ran over: "General Yu She has been slain by Hua Xiong with a single blow!"
"Impossible! Yu She was brave enough to withstand ten thousand men, how could he be killed with a single blow?!" Yuan Shu was stunned. He didn't have many fierce generals under his command to begin with, and now one of them had died here, which made his heart bleed.
He made up his mind that no matter who came to challenge him, he would not let his own generals fight them; he would let other lords fight instead.
In a secluded corner of the military tent, Li Dian whispered to Wang Xuan, "Young Master, Yu She is no pushover. His cultivation has reached the late stage of the Transcendent Realm, not much weaker than mine, yet he was killed by Hua Xiong with a single strike. Hua Xiong is at least at the Perfect Transcendent Realm, and may even have reached the Celestial Realm!"
"The Celestial Realm?" Wang Xuan nodded; that was what he thought too.
As the leader of the allied forces of the warlords, Yuan Shao felt humiliated by Hua Xiong and immediately rebuked him, "Which general is willing to fight and avenge me?!"
The feudal lords weren't fools either. After realizing Hua Xiong's true strength, none of them were willing to step forward without being confident.
However, at this moment, some people remained confident. The Governor of Ji Province, Han Fu, stepped forward and declared, "I have General Pan Feng, who can slay Hua Xiong!"
After Han Fu finished speaking, he looked behind him. Pan Feng, who was enjoying his meal, immediately patted his chest and assured him, "In my eyes, Hua Xiong is nothing more than a scoundrel who sells his head!"
"That's truly a bold and heroic statement, but I wonder just how strong Pan Feng really is," Wang Xuan quickly whispered to Li Dian and Yue Jin beside him.
Li Dian and Yue Jin looked at Pan Feng and replied with some surprise, "This person's cultivation has reached the perfect Transcendent Realm, and he is only one step away from the Celestial Realm. His cultivation is even above ours!"
If Hua Xiong's cultivation level is only at the peak of the Transcendent Realm, his strength should be similar to Pan Feng's, and there should be a very fierce battle.
Thinking of this, Wang Xuan couldn't help himself and quietly stepped out of the military tent to look outside.
Pan Feng and Hua Xiong stood proudly in the void, one holding a long sword and the other a battle axe, clashing against each other.
This exchange clearly showed who was superior. Although Pan Feng was a rare and powerful fighter, he was still far inferior to Hua Xiong.
Hua Xiong unleashed a single slash, which actually drew upon the power of heaven and earth. The sky within a ten-mile radius turned gloomy, transforming into a long dragon of sword energy that devoured Pan Feng.
With a "bang," Pan Feng fell from the void with a slash, his arm severed.
Chapter Sixty: Heavenly Dao Devours Spirits
Pan Feng had one arm severed by Hua Xiong and fell from the sky, severely injured.
But Hua Xiong was still not satisfied and slashed at Pan Feng with his sword again.
Pan Feng had no strength left to resist. His head was severed by this single blow.
After the long dragon of blade energy killed Pan Feng, its residual power continued, slashing towards the vanguard of the feudal lords' army.
However, at this moment, crisscrossing patterns of laws rose above the military camp, like a large net, blocking Hua Xiong's long dragon of sword energy.
These law patterns were set up by powerful cultivators of the Immortal Martial Path to withstand the aftershocks of battles between top-tier experts.
"Report! General Pan Feng has been killed by Hua Xiong again!" The messenger rushed into the military tent in a panic to report.
Wang Xuan had already come out of the military tent, unaware of what had happened inside. Not long after, he saw Guan Yu, carrying the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and wearing a green hat, walk out of the main tent.
"Is it finally Guan Yu's turn to appear?" Wang Xuan was extremely looking forward to the upcoming battle.
Hua Xiong killed Pan Feng, who was at the peak of the Transcendent Realm, in just two moves. This strength must have reached the Celestial Realm.
Guan Yu's strength surpasses that of Hua Xiong, so he must also be at the Celestial Realm.
A battle between two experts at the Celestial Realm level is extremely rare, even in the main world.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Guan Yu, holding the Green Dragon Crescent Blade upside down, charged towards Hua Xiong, stepping through the air.
Hua Xiong was riding high after beheading two generals of the allied forces of the feudal lords when Guan Yu charged at him, but he was not afraid at all.
"Who goes there? State your name! I, Hua Xiong, do not kill nameless ghosts!"
Guan Yu snorted coldly: "I am Guan Yu, Guan Yunchang. Take a blow from my blade first!"
Under Wang Xuan's shocked gaze, Guan Yu's Green Dragon Crescent Blade slashed out rapidly, man and blade becoming one, transforming into a green dragon more than ten feet long, which slapped out at Hua Xiong with a claw!
"Not good! This person is incredibly strong!" Hua Xiong was shocked and immediately drew his sword to strike, the ten-thousand-foot-long sword light clashing repeatedly with the azure dragon that Guan Yu had transformed into.
In each encounter, Hua Xiong had to retreat hundreds of meters, clearly indicating that Guan Yu had gained the upper hand.
After thirty or fifty moves, the Azure Dragon that Guan Yu had transformed into suddenly solidified, and a bright moon flashed through it, slashing a long gash from Hua Xiong's left shoulder to his right abdomen, almost cutting him in two.
At this moment, the Azure Dragon and the bright moon in the sky disappeared, revealing their true forms. It turned out that the Azure Dragon was Guan Yu's true form, while the bright moon was transformed from Guan Yu's Azure Dragon Crescent Blade.
"I never expected that there would be a strongman like you among the allied forces of the feudal lords!" Hua Xiong covered his wound, his voice hoarse and bitter: "I, Hua Xiong, have trained hard for two hundred years and broke through to the early stage of the Celestial Realm in one fell swoop. I thought I was a top-level expert."
"I never imagined that after being defeated by Lü Bu over the years, I would be defeated by you today!"
"Lü Bu?" Guan Yu's eyes flashed with fighting spirit as he asked, "You've also fought Lü Bu. In your opinion, if I were to challenge Lü Bu, would I have a chance of winning?"
"You have no idea how powerful Lü Bu was! Don't be fooled by the fact that you're a bit stronger than me; Lü Bu defeated me in just one move!" Hua Xiong said sarcastically. "If you were to challenge Lü Bu, you would be courting death!"
"Is that so?" Guan Yu was also a very arrogant person. In fact, when he fought Hua Xiong just now, he only used 80% of his strength and still held back some of his power.
Now is not the time to waste words with Hua Xiong. Guan Yu, wielding his Green Dragon Crescent Blade, caused a bright moon to fall from the sky, its dazzling light blinding everyone.
When the light faded, Hua Xiong's head had already been chopped off with a single blow.
After Guan Yu killed Hua Xiong, he calmly walked towards the military tent, leaving behind countless soldiers who worshipped and cheered wildly.
Wang Xuan squinted slightly. With his own eyesight, he wouldn't have been able to discern anything from the battle just now. However, by integrating his spiritual power into the Heavenly Dao Talisman and drawing upon the power of that half-finished Heavenly Dao, his eyesight became comparable to that of an ordinary Celestial-level expert.
"Judging from the strength that Guan Yu and Hua Xiong displayed when they made their move, Hua Xiong should be at the early stage of the Celestial Realm, while Guan Yu is at the middle stage of the Celestial Realm."
Although there is only one minor realm between the early and middle stages of the Celestial Realm, the gap between each realm becomes larger as a martial artist progresses through the later stages of cultivation.
A mid-stage Celestial Realm expert might need to expend more effort to kill an early-stage Celestial Realm expert, but if it's just a simple defeat, a few moves are enough.
It's a pity that Guan Yu held back his strength just now, which means Wang Xuan still can't tell how powerful a mid-stage Celestial Realm expert really is.
Just then, a man who looked like a low-ranking general hurried over. He was carrying a box made of golden nanmu wood, and the direction he was heading was the military tents of the various warlords.
But when the young general passed by Wang Xuan, Wang Xuan suddenly sensed that the Heavenly Dao Talisman he wore close to his body was restless, and he could also sense the yearning intent coming from the unfinished Heavenly Dao.
He couldn't help but walk over and ask, "What's inside this box?"
The other party glanced at Wang Xuan but couldn't discern his identity. Without much thought, he casually replied, "This is naturally the head of the enemy general Hua Xiong! General Guan Yu just killed Hua Xiong and left without taking this head with him. This humble general specially brought this head to present to you gentlemen."
"So this is Hua Xiong's head!" Wang Xuan's eyelids twitched, because in that brief moment, he could sense something being drawn out of the semi-finished Heavenly Dao from inside the golden nanmu box.
If he wasn't mistaken, it should be the remnant of Hua Xiong's soul!
Hua Xiong had just been killed by Guan Yu, and his soul inside his head had not yet completely dissipated. At this moment, it was actually absorbed by the nascent form of the Heavenly Dao on Wang Xuan's body!
What shocked Wang Xuan even more was that the nascent Heavenly Dao actually grew stronger after absorbing Hua Xiong's remaining soul!
"Is this the Heavenly Dao? No, my Heavenly Dao is still just a rudimentary form; it should be called a world will." Wang Xuan felt a chill run down his spine: "I never imagined that the world will could absorb the souls of living beings to strengthen itself. It truly treats all things as ants."
When the general holding Hua Xiong's head saw that Wang Xuan was silent, he ignored him and walked past him, waiting for Hua Xiong's head to be taken into the military tent.
A moment later, a faint sound of amazement came from inside the military tent.
After such a series of changes, Wang Xuan's heart could no longer find peace.
He did not linger there and returned directly to where Liu Bei's army was stationed.
Liu Bei treated Wang Xuan with great courtesy, arranging a separate residence for him and placing guards around the area to protect his safety.
Entering his residence, Wang Xuan immersed himself in the Heavenly Dao Talisman, studying the changes in the nascent form of the Heavenly Dao within it.
Chapter Sixty-One: Beset by Calamity
This unfinished Heavenly Dao was created by Emperor Zhuanxu in ancient times in the Water Margin world.
As the saying goes, "Heaven's will is the will of the people, and Heaven's hearing is the hearing of the people," meaning that the will of the people can influence Heaven's will to a certain extent.
This is especially evident in a world where the Heavenly Dao has not yet been born and the will of the world is still in a state of ambiguity.
Emperor Zhuanxu in the Water Margin world used this to gather the thoughts of all living beings, impact the hazy world will, and thus sever a wisp of the world will, cultivating it into the prototype of the Heavenly Dao.
However, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the Water Margin world was depleted, and the will of the Great World was suppressing it from the outside. Over tens of thousands of years, the nascent form of the Heavenly Dao within the Heavenly Dao Talisman not only failed to grow stronger, but was actually weakened considerably.
When Wang Xuan subdued this nascent Heavenly Dao, he crushed it with the Eternal Tower of Heaven and Earth, so that even when the nascent Heavenly Dao fell into his hands, it could only exert strength comparable to the third level of martial arts - entering the Dao through martial arts.
Now that it has devoured the soul of Hua Xiong, a master of the Celestial Realm, the nascent Heavenly Dao has grown considerably, now comparable to the perfected third rank.
This is because Hua Xiong's soul has not been completely refined yet. Once Hua Xiong's soul is completely refined, his nascent Heavenly Dao form will be comparable to a martial arts expert at the early stage of the fourth rank!
As the nascent form of the Heavenly Dao grew stronger, Wang Xuan, as its master, naturally benefited greatly.
As Wang Xuan integrated his thoughts into the nascent form of the Heavenly Dao, a surge of immense energy flowed back from the nascent form and merged into Wang Xuan's origin.
Wang Xuan's expression changed, and he immediately began to fully activate the "Purple Sun True Explanation," not daring to be negligent for even a moment.
His innate true energy circulated continuously, completing one cycle after another. After completing eighty-one small cycles, a faint crisp sound came from within him, as if some porcelain had been shattered.
That was the bottleneck that had been hindering Wang Xuan's progress in cultivation being shattered!
At this moment, Wang Xuan's cultivation broke through again, reaching the mid-stage of the Innate Realm!
"Indeed, having a Heavenly Dao at home brings endless benefits!" Wang Xuan was very happy, and then he thought of the Old Immortal of Nanhua.
The three Zhang brothers of the Taiping Dao shouted the slogan "The Azure Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall rise," which was most likely at the behest of the Old Immortal of Nanhua.
Could it be that the Old Immortal of Nanhua also created a Heavenly Dao, also known as the "Yellow Heaven"?
As he pondered this, Wang Xuan suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, as if a great calamity was about to befall him.
He quickly activated his Golden Eyes of Luck to observe his own luck.
Upon seeing this, Wang Xuan was terrified. His originally bright red innate luck had dropped two grades, becoming pure white innate luck.
The white cloud of energy that originally surrounded his life contract had dissipated by 99%!
If that were all, Wang Xuan wouldn't be so panicked. It was the black aura of calamity constantly spreading from all directions that terrified him!
This scene looks so familiar. In the Water Margin world, the fate of the Song Dynasty was targeted by the will of the Water Margin world. Isn't this exactly what happened?
The only difference is that the Song Dynasty's fortune is incredibly strong, and it can sustain itself for many years even under the aversion of the world's will in the Water Margin world.
With such meager luck, how could Wang Xuan withstand the torment of the main world hearing about it? He probably wouldn't even have to wait until the next day before a calamity of slaughter was aimed at him!