Despite not having become a sage just yet, Qin Zhong was halfway into the Sage Plane. He was literally half a sage at his current level, having developed matured rules and became the number one below the sages in Zhisheng Cliffs because of it. One could have even say that even conventional sages stood no chance against him.

The wings of the Roc appeared and Ye Futian was clad in Divine Ape form. His form was imposing and filled with boundless power. Dazzling lights were unleashed and it seemed as if there were countless beams penetrating his body. There were also beams shooting out from above the Divine Ape, opening up the Seven Star acupoints.

Ye Futian felt himself overflowing with boundless power in an instant. His eyes turned incredibly sharp, shooting out golden beams of light. He activated Freedom Meditation and it boosted his senses to the extreme. He was, after all, fighting the number one figure below sages from Zhisheng Cliffs, and he deemed it necessary to experience all there was to experience from the fight.

He was able to feel the terrifying torrent circling around Qin Zhong. Dazzling golden lights coursed about and flowed to both the heavens and earth. Every streak of the aura made Ye Futian feel incredibly overwhelming power of rules from Qin Zhong, powers that enabled one to easily destroy any type of defense.

Ye Futian had also caught a glimpse of the formless torrent emanating from Qin Zhong's body that seemed to have transformed into a divine eagle, and it was the likes of which he had never seen before. It was probably a Life Spirit that Qin Zhong was able to unleash, yet somehow took form unintentionally through the use of the power of rules. Ye Futian sensed a pair of incredibly sharp eyes in the void, which he felt to be the eyes of the eagle. The eyes seemed to be capable of penetrating everything they saw, just like Qin Zhong's own sharp eyes.

Qin Zhong glanced at Ye Futian and felt the aura around him to indeed be exponentially stronger than Ximen Hanjiang's. n.o.bles who were capable of reaching such levels were near invincible in the Barren State.

Ye Futian's ma.s.sive spectral body lashed out with a punch, filling the air in an instant with thousands of fist will, which felt as if they were comets packed with extremely destructive power. The comet-like fist will in the air was capable of easily destroying everything in its path, and it was his most powerful attack: Comet Punch.

Qin Zhong remained completely unfazed in the face of the tremendously ma.s.sive fist before him. The formless torrent gushed about in the air and turned even more crazed. The shadow of the divine eagle seemed to be blinking in and out of existence. Beams of light punched through the fist heading for him, shattering it bit by bit. He then lashed out with one finger. The move felt as if the eagle swept through the sky as a beam of sparkling light streaked through the air. The Comet Punch that headed for him with impressive force was penetrated in an instant, blowing it up within moments.

Ye Futian gazed at Qin Zhong. He had already figured out which rules Qin Zhong had been using. It was not just some rules belonging to any single element. Like Ye Futian, the rules Qin Zhong wielded were something new that he had comprehended entirely on his own, packing very destructive powers capable of dissolving the attacks and defenses of others easily. It was an overwhelming yet very simple move, as it only took Qin Zhong las.h.i.+ng out with one finger to completely destroy Ye Futian's incredibly overwhelming Comet Punch.

Other than keeping their eyes on the battle between Kong Yao and Yuan Hong, the big shots of the Barren State began to also take notice of the battle between Qin Zhong and Ye Futian. They sighed as they witnessed Qin Zhong's power firsthand, impressed at the fact that he was indeed a genius of the highest order.

Qin Zhong had yet to truly become a sage and was only halfway in, but the powers of rules that he wielded were surprisingly mature. Furthermore, those powers were not derived from rules of just any single element. Such geniuses were truly one in a million. Even if he had actually become a sage, there was no doubt that he would have possessed the power to fight those of higher plane than him.

True top-notch geniuses demonstrated excellence at very early stages. Qin Zhong, who was known to be the number one among all below the sages in Zhisheng Cliffs, would have been invincible among his peers throughout Yu State. It was simply unthinkable to have any n.o.ble there capable of beating the most talented one among the Nine Warriors of Zhisheng Cliffs.

"Your attacks might be powerful, but they are still limited to being powers of the n.o.ble Plane. They might be able to shake those who are newly made sages, but if that is all you got, there is simply no way for you to beat me," Qin Zhong said. His words were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence, making it very clear that even those who had just broken through to the Sage Plane were nowhere near his caliber.

Qin Zhong did not bother waiting for Ye Futian to reply. He took one step forward and golden mirages appeared throughout the air in the very next moment. Qin Zhong's body appeared right before Ye Futian. He lifted his palm and struck Ye Futian. The move seemed to be a simple one, yet it packed stifling pressure within.

Ye Futian's Third Brother had demonstrated to him before that the Sage Plane was one where one saw mountains but did not see them as mountains, and one saw water but did not see it to be water. A leaf falling from a tree could be made to possess the power to cleave rocks. Such was the product through the use of powers of rules. Qin Zhong's palm naturally possessed rules made specifically for destruction.

When Qin Zhong lashed out with his palm, he felt, at the same time, a formless pressure of rules holding his body. It was a heavy, stifling feeling. Qin Zhong frowned slightly. Did he, the number one n.o.ble of the Barren State, figure out a sliver of the powers of rules? Was he trying to set up a trap to have me get close? But Qin Zhong deemed that to be inadequate nonetheless.

A cry was heard as the divine eagle burst into light. An impressively imposing divine eagle appeared right behind Qin Zhong. Its wings flapped and cut all the pressure of rules around Qin Zhong apart. He lashed out with his palm, now imbued with rules of sharpness like no other. The attack grew even more fearsome as his Life Spirit was unleashed.

Ye Futian lashed out with a punch right there and then. It was an incredibly huge fist boosted with the stars. The fist will was turned into stars as soon as he launched the attack, which then clashed with the shadow of the ma.s.sive divine eagle. Terrifying storms whipped about them in that very instant. The stars exploded, throwing Ye Futian and Qin Zhong back.

Qin Zhong stood in the air, the wings of the divine eagle glittering. He looked at Ye Futian with eyes that were still just as sharp. He finally deemed his trip to the Barren State to be less disappointing that he initially thought it would be. His trip to the Holy Zhi Palace before had him meet the so-called proud son of the Holy Zhi Palace, who was disappointingly weak. Ye Futian, on the other hand, had finally stoked his excitement and made him feel like fighting earnestly.

"Are they finally going to go at it for real?" Di Gang, Huang Jiuge, and the rest looked at the duo. They paid more attention to that battle than they did to the clash of the t.i.tans between Kong Yao and Yuan Hong. After all, Kong Yao's plane was too high for them to comprehend, yet the battle between Qin Zhong and Ye Futian was one fought between two of the most gifted genius of their generation. In a sense, it could have been also called the clash of the t.i.tans.

Ye Futian did not disappoint. If he had easily lost to Qin Zhong, it would have appeared as if there were no exceptional people in the Barren State.

Ye Futian's eyes were set on the great divine eagle behind Qin Zhong. Its eyes were sharp enough to pierce everything it saw, its golden claws glittered like that of the Roc, and its wings were spread wide, looking like blades one moment but dragon scales the next. That divine eagle also sported a very long tail. A golden crown was found on its head, making it seem like the king of eagles.

"The Dragon Eagle." Many looked at the manifested divine eagle and found it to be a mutated species. It was said that two figures of legends in the demon world gave birth to the Dragon Eagle, which possessed talents of the highest order. The Dragon Eagle eventually became the new king of the demon world, creating new races of demonic beasts. It was quite a surprise that Qin Zhong's Life Spirit turned out to be such a rare mutated species—the Dragon Eagle.

A high pitched, deafening cry was heard. A ma.s.sive shadow of the Dragon Eagle appeared in the air, encompa.s.sing a wide area and even covering Ye Futian within. The ma.s.sive shadow looked down on Ye Futian. Incredibly destructive light of rules whipped about in the air. Its wings flapped and feathers seemed to begin dancing in the air. Each and every feather was packed with incredible rules of destruction, as they cut through the air with the intention to bury Ye Futian once and for all.

Ye Futian glanced at the air and unleashed a powerful will that covered the s.p.a.ce they were in. A mystical power seemed to have been born between the heavens and the earth. Incredibly dazzling starlight s.h.i.+mmered with Ye Futian at the center, forming absolute defensive powers around him.

The feathers were turned into incredibly terrifying blades as they whipped through the air and headed for Ye Futian. The defensive light screen was cut again and again, and cracks appeared. An incredibly huge divine ape emerged from the screen of light and materialized a staff in its hand, which it then swung at the air. An incredible force was generated as it shot for the heavens. Formless will emerged as the techniques of the staff were at play. The s.p.a.ce around them became incredibly heavy as if it was packed with the will of rules.

A thunderous rumble sounded as Ye Futian whipped his staff about as if there was no one around. The force seemed to have blended with the heavens and the earth like some kind of rule, generating a terrifying storm in its wake.

The incredibly ma.s.sive shadow of the divine eagle cried as it flapped its wings to kill yet again. The attack cut through the air, and two straight lines were seen raining down from above. The air was then filled with shadows of the staff as the power of the surroundings gushed into Ye Futian's body in a crazed manner. His defenses were strengthened further. When the divine eagle managed to cut the screen of light, Ye Futian took one step forward and the divine ape lashed out with one strike of the staff, cleaving the air apart.

Qin Zhong frowned as he was able to feel that while Ye Futian had only begun to comprehend the rules and his use of what he knew was nowhere near that of Qin Zhong's, Ye Futian still possessed overwhelmingly brute force. Boosted by the spectral manifestation he clad himself in, the brute force was magnified exponentially. That, coupled with the force he had been gathering, allowed the power of the rules he had just come to understand to rise sharply. The end result manifested like a torrent which turned increasingly powerful by the second.

Voom. A force of fearsome rules was born as the divine eagle blocked out the sky as it flapped its wings. At the same time, Qin Zhong moved forward. The Dragon Eagle Life Spirit behind him seemed to have melded with the shadows as it lashed out with its claws. The divine ape seemed incredibly miniature in comparison.

Countless destructive rules appeared in the air as the claws were lashed out. The defensive light screen exploded maniacally. Ye Futian was completely exposed as Qin Zhong's attack went straight for him. However, Ye Futian seemed to have not noticed any of that as he went swinging his staff about. The fifth strike of the Nine Heavenly Attacks burst and the divine ape roared. Terrifying powers whipped in the air. The pair of terrifying claws met the staff head on and grabbed onto it. The staff shattered bit by bit, but that pair of claws turned intangible. Countless shadows of the divine eagle appeared as its feathers cleaved through the air, heading for Ye Futian.

Ye Futian's body moved like a bolt of lightning, as fearsome aura built up around him. His flying body continued to gather the force of the world, yet it was still unable to escape the feathers at his tail. The feathers seemed to be boundless as they kept cutting the divine ape, cracking the spectral manifestation Ye Futian clad himself in. However, Ye Futian did not seem to be in any bit of pain. The power he gathered became increasingly strong and the divine ape grew in size in response. A giant ape appeared in the sky.

Voom. A flash of lightning streaked through the air. The giant ape lashed out with its arm from above, as if it had packed all the force of the Nine Heavenly Attacks into that one arm that it brought to bear.

Qin Zhong looked up at the shadow bearing down on him. It was an overwhelming shadow which seemed to have descended in the mortal world like a G.o.d. Stars seemed to have emerged around that arm coming down on him. The rules had finally taken form, turning into overwhelming power.

Qin Zhong extended his hand and lashed out at the hand that Ye Futian had coming down on him. The divine eagle let out a very long streak, melding with that arm he had lashed out in response. Many saw the divine ape that descended from above bombard the Dragon Eagle. The resulting destructive light was unbearably bright. The spectral manifestation began to crumble under the influence of the boundless rules. The very huge divine ape shadow that Ye Futian had been clad in exploded bit by bit and crumbled.

However, that power seemed to have penetrated everything nonetheless. It continued to head for Qin Zhong. Ye Futian's training with Sage Douzhan enabled him to open five of the Seven Star acupoints, allowing him to gather force using Nine Heavenly Attacks and bring the gathered force to bear, imbued with the highest power the rules were able to generate with his spectral being. There was no telling how powerful the end result of all that was. Qin Zhong was probably the only one capable of feeling it firsthand.

Tremendously dazzling light encompa.s.sed Qin Zhong's body as the Dragon Eagle resisted the incoming force in his stead. The devastating light threw both combatants off. Ye Futian was thrown high into the sky. All the manifestations he was clad in were no more. Qin Zhong, however, stood somewhere below without moving an inch. While terrifying light still circled around his body, it was nowhere near as dazzling.

Blood began to show at the corner of Qin Zhong's mouth as he grunted. His organs were severely rattled. The power of his offensive rules was tremendously powerful, yet he was no match for Ye Futian in sheer brute force. With such power coming down straight at him, even if he managed to destroy Ye Futian's manifestations, the recoil had him severely injured nonetheless.

"So that was what the number one below the sages in Zhisheng Cliffs was capable of," Ye Futian said casually. Many looked at him and found themselves speechless.