A Chaotic World

Beastial bloodline activation!

Nanshen Qin instantly identified the cause of the change in Lu Tianzi, partially also because this was not the first time that he had squared off against an opponent who possessed a beastial bloodline.

Second on the Heaven's Warrior List – Xicong Bayuen of the White Tiger Immortal Sect – was one of the most famous owners of such a bloodline, and Nanshen Qin had had the opportunity to exchange moves with him before.

Xicong Bayuen's beastial bloodline came from the primal beast Hellborn Grizzly.

Primal beasts were typically far stronger and more dangerous to deal with than regular beasts because they possessed a bloodline that traced back to ancient beasts. By possessing the bloodline of a primal beast, martial artists could erupt with strength far beyond what was originally possible.

Nanshen Qin had been defeated by Xicong Bayuen every time. But at the same time, not once had he ever felt such a pressure coming from Xicong Bayuen during their fights.

This pressure from Lu Tianzi... could it be the bloodline of an ancient beast?

For him to possess such a bloodline, the background that Lu Tianzi came from had to be extraordinary.

With such a bloodline running in their veins, it would be difficult even if such a lineage wanted to lie low. Yet no matter how he thought about it, Nanshen Qin could not recognise Lu Tianzi's beastial bloodline.

Just where did he come from?

On the other end, Lu Tianzi was observing Nanshen Qin as well.

A mere Ninth Cycle Origin Core realm insect has to suppress his strength to the Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm to face me?

... what a joke.

Behind Lu Tianzi, two illusory green vortices shimmered into existence.

With a flick of his finger, the thick layer of snow started to rise from the ground, as though they were trying to escape the grasp of gravity.

Nanshen Qin narrowed his eyes at the rising snow that was quickly transforming from solid to liquid, forming into an almost uncountable amount of water droplets.

At this point, he finally had a good idea of what Lu Tianzi specialised in.

Law of Water!

Without warning, the countless droplets of water shot up towards Nanshen Qin like liquid arrows.

Nanshen Qin instinctively released another level of restraint, allowing his strength level to reach the Eighth Cycle Origin Core realm. Sparks flashed around his battleaxe as he swung the it in a beautiful arc, leaving behind a trail of lightning in its wake, thereby forming a wall of electricity that shielded him from below.

Sizzle-!

Hot steam exploded upon the surface of the lightning wall as the water arrows smashed relentlessly into it.

For a moment, the lightning wall seemed to be a perfect solution to Lu Tianzi's attack, until it started trembling under the sheer might of the assault.

What?!

Nanshen Qin hurriedly retreated even higher as the lightning wall was smashed into pieces, opening a path towards Nanshen Qin for the remaining water arrows. With a powerful swing of the battleaxe, the contained charges fired out like a giant blade of pure electricity.

Heaven's Judgement!

It was the same attack from before, this time executed with a level of strength that was a full boundary higher.

The unstoppable force of nature shot out from Nanshen Qin's battleaxe, wiping away every last bit of water arrows in its way as it headed towards Lu Tianzi.

But Lu Tianzi did not cower.

In fact, he did the exact opposite.

With a flap of his single wing, Lu Tianzi charged forward to meet the incoming lightning blade.

He slashed out with the Fallen Sun, and the resultant sabre light did not pale in comparison to the blade of lightning. It carried the weight of the Overlord rank sabre, as well as the Law of Yin that was embedded within.

These fragments of the world law were not a result of Lu Tianzi's comprehensions, but an innate ability of the Overlord rank sabre. This incredible ability to harness the power of world laws was what set Overlord rank treasures apart from Origin Core rank treasures, making them infinitely more valuable.

Under everyone's look of horror, the sabre light cleanly slashed apart the incoming blade of lightning, opening a path through the electric pillar as it continued unabated towards Nanshen Qin.

An illusory thundercloud shimmered into existence behind Nanshen Qin as he braced himself for impact.

Lightning charges formed around him once more, and his battleaxe rose into the air.

Strength release... Ninth Cycle Origin Core realm!

Bang-!

The battleaxe in his hand smashed the sabre light into pieces, rendering it completely harmless only to reveal Lu Tianzi who had been following right behind it. Still, that was not enough to fluster Nanshen Qin, whose battleaxe moved up swiftly to match Lu Tianzi's Moon Culler.

This time, Nanshen Qin was finally the one to win the exchange as Lu Tianzi was sent flying.

Nanshen Qin did not relax, immediately dodging to the side as a sword light appeared behind him, piercing down mercilessly only to meet with air.

By then, Lu Tianzi was already back in front of him.

A battleaxe against a sabre and a sword.

Wielding these weapons in their hands, the two exchanged what quickly turned into hundreds of moves in the air.

Down on the ground, Nanlian Hui, Nanlan Qianxue, as well as the rest of the hunting group looked on in fascination, especially for those of the Frost Guards.

They understood just how strong Nanshen Qin was, so they had never expected Lu Tianzi to be able to match him to such an extent.

Still, from the onlookers' point of view, Nanshen Qin definitely held the advantage in this fight.

With every clash, Lu Tianzi was sent flying while Nanshen Qin hovered steadily on the spot. However, Lu Tianzi's energy seemed to be inexhaustible as he returned after every hit to resume his offensive barrage.

In fact, Lu Tianzi seemed to be getting better and better at handling the strikes from Nanshen Qin.

Perhaps having realised that he was not a match in a frontal confrontation of strength, Lu Tianzi had started relying on deflecting attacks to minimise the impact and try to create openings.

Nanshen Qin could not properly explain what he was feeling right now.

For a Fourth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist to force him to fight using his true strength, he should be feeling humiliated and embarrassed, but that was not even close to what he was feeling right now.

On the contrary, he actually felt an indescribable sense of excitement.

Was it because his opponent was also the one healing his Overlord realm master?

For an Origin Core realm martial artist to just come along and save an Overlord realm powerhouse, that was something that should not be possible at all. Perhaps this seemingly impossible action was why he had felt that Lu Tianzi was different from the start.

As compared to daringly entering a cave full of what could be potential enemies, and even choosing to save their leader who was an Overlord realm powerhouse, this level of strength was only to be expected.

No, perhaps it was because he possessed such a level of strength that he dared to do as he wished!

Interesting.

Very interesting!

Nanshen Qin could not help but feel like he was watching the rise of a future powerhouse, and one who was on their side to boot!

Speaking of which, what was with his reserve of essence energy?

He could understand the superior skills and techniques, as well as the beastial bloodline helping Lu Tianzi jump ranks to battle. However, martial artists' essence energy reserve was limited by their cultivation level.

No matter how much one excelled at fighting, once their essence energy was expended, they would have no choice but to stop and recover.

Yet before his very eyes, this Fourth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist had already expended so much essence energy, but was still fighting as fiercely as before, as though energy usage was an alien concept to him.

Was this even possible?

Indeed, Lu Tianzi's rate of expending essence energy was far greater than what an ordinary Fourth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist could afford, and it was further exacerbated by maintaining the beastial bloodline activation.

Had he been an ordinary Fourth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist, he would have long been completely drained of energy.

Of course, Lu Tianzi was no ordinary Fourth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist, but even his true origin core was not capable of sustaining his current expenditure of energy for prolonged periods of time.

There was only one reason why he could keep fighting like this – the Shifting Blossoms Sword Art.

Originally meant for Nanlan Qianxue, it was a sword technique from their master Xihuang Yuanfeng that concentrated on speed and agility of the sword, using soft moves to counteract hard moves.

More importantly, one special characteristic of the Shifting Blossoms Sword Art was that it absorbed energy from the opponent with every contact, and this was what provided Lu Tianzi with the energy he needed to keep fighting.

The more they fought, the more fascinated Nanshen Qin felt.

He truly felt like going all out to test the absolute limits of this opponent who, by all logic, should have long been crushed by his superior cultivation level. Yet even if he went all out, Nanshen Qin was unsure if he would be able to defeat his opponent.

What he was sure about, however, was that this situation could not go on forever.

No matter what, they were still in a situation where they were hiding from their true enemies. Even though it was extremely difficult to find them through the natural snowstorms of the Shimmering Plains, the higher the chances of them being discovered would increase as the fight dragged on.

Lu Tianzi was about to make his next attack when he suddenly paused.

That was because in the middle of the fight, Nanshen Qin had suddenly kept away his battleaxe and raised both hands in surrender.

It was an extremely dangerous action to take.

Had Lu Tianzi failed to stop in time, Nanshen Qin would have ended up being heavily injured at least.

In other situations, Nanshen Qin would certainly have thought twice about doing so. But right now, he was not too worried. It was because the opponent was Lu Tianzi.

Someone with such fighting talent at a lower cultivation level must have honed his skills through battle. This would heighten his senses, and there was no way that he would misread Nanshen Qin's intentions.

Seeing that his opponent had no wish to continue the fight, Lu Tianzi instantly lost his interest as well.

A prey that did not try to survive was no fun as a toy after all.

Wait, no, what was he thinking?

Lu Tianzi shook his head to clear his thoughts while cancelling the beastial bloodline activation. He was starting to realise that not only would the beastial bloodline activation place a strain on his body every time, it also seemed to be influencing his thoughts a little.

He really had to set some time aside to contemplate more about this matter.

"I have to admit that you have far exceeded my expectations, Young Sir Lu," Nanshen Qin said with genuine admiration. "Unfortunately, I am still unable to guess your origin, but I am not complaining. What I got to know about you was far more important. With your talent, you probably already qualify to be on the Heaven's Warrior List!"

"Thank you for the compliments, Brother Nanshen," Lu Tianzi clasped his fists towards Nanshen Qin. "But I have a question. Why didn't you activate your domain?"

"My domain?" Nanshen Qin blinked in confusion. "What do you mean? I have yet to break through to the Overlord realm."

"I know that possessing a domain is a defining characteristic of an Overlord powerhouse, but what about your incomplete domain?" Lu Tianzi probed.

Nanshen Qin looked at him blankly for a moment, then let out a bitter smile. "I see what's going on now. You must have fought against one of the top five rankers on the Heaven's Warrior List, haven't you?"

"This... how did you know?" Lu Tianzi was caught by surprise.

"It is not too difficult to guess," Nanshen Qin shrugged. "Since you asked such a strange question, you must have seen someone unleash an incomplete domain at the Ninth Cycle Origin Core realm. At the same time, only the five of them have been capable of doing so."

"I guess I just gave you more clues about myself, didn't I?" Lu Tianzi chuckled helplessly.

"Not nearly as much as you think," Nanshen Qin shook his head.

Indeed, no matter how he thought about it, he could not fathom just what kind of influence would be able to produce a monster like Lu Tianzi.

The only possible candidate was the White Tiger Immortal Sect. But if that was indeed the case, they would have shown Lu Tianzi off to the world long ago.

"Young Sir Lu," Nanshen Qin's tone suddenly turned solemn as he stared into Lu Tianzi's eyes. "Can I ask you for a favour?"

"That depends on what it is," Lu Tianzi said matter-of-factly, conscious about the fact that Nanshen Qin had suddenly changed his tone.

Nanshen Qin took a deep breath to steel his resolve before finally speaking. "Young Sir Lu, will you be willing to aid us in taking back Frostguard Mountain?"