She was the one and only palace lord of the Altering Heaven Palace!
Ning Fan stashed his ancient sword away and stood above the sea of clouds, looking at the cloud mountain below him with a frown. He seemed to have discovered something which prevented him from advancing.
The moment he arrived, an uproar erupted across the entire cloud mountain!
"White-Robed Marquis has arrived! This is his fifth battle in his mission to challenge the other eight palaces in the Heavenly Cloud Country. Can he actually come out victorious in the end?!"
Palace Lord Yun Zhi patted her storage pouch and took out a formation token. In an instant, layers of cloud light began spreading from the cloud mountain.
When the formation light passed by, each of the cultivators felt that their body had been weakened and they found it extremely difficult to regulate their magic power. One after another, they cried in surprise.
"This is a magic-disabling grand formation! It’s a unique grand formation that restricts the circulation of a cultivator’s magic power!"
"From its formation light, I’m afraid it has already reached the Peak Mortal Void Realm. Even an Absolute Void Stage expert will find it hard to use their magic power if they accidentally get trapped in the formation... Is it possible that Palace Lord Yun Zhi is planning on engaging White-Robed Marquis in close combat within the formation?!"
"From the information I gathered, White-Robed Marquis is an ancient devil. He can be peerless among Void Inquiry Stage experts with just his physical strength. When it comes to physical strength, however, Palace Lord Yun Zhi is much stronger. She can even defeat experts at the Void Pierce Stage. If White-Robed Marquis enters the grand formation and fights her in hand-to-hand combat, his chances of winning are quite slim..."
Ning Fan merely casted a quick glance at the grand formation and then said with a clear voice.
"The only reason I came here is the rain stele!"
"I’ve heard about the strength of White-Robed Marquis’ ancient devil body. I invite White-Robed Marquis to enter the formation and fight against me. If you can defeat me with your physical strength, I will naturally bring you to the rain stele of my Altering Heaven Palace! So, do you dare to step into the formation?!"
When Yun Zhi took a lotus step, she was already standing above the sea of clouds. Standing within the layers of formations, her beautiful eyes flashed with battle intent.
Ning Fan did not say anything and made his decision clear through his actions as he also jumped into the formation light.
Since the formation light restricted one’s magic power, he would just engage Yun Zhi in hand-to-hand combat. He was not afraid of her at all.
"Since White-Robed Marquis has entered the formation, I won’t pull my punches. Void Technique, Cloud Phoenix!"
Yun Zhi’s body brightly shone with golden light and her gentle fist seemed to have turned pure gold. Standing far away from Ning Fan, she threw a punch toward him.
As soon as she hurled her punch, the shadow of a white phoenix appeared behind her arm.
The sea of clouds within the vicinity of three hundred thousand li* (500m per li) turned into countless shadows of snow-white phoenix.
Each of the phoenix shadows shattered and disintegrated one after another, transforming into an unimaginable force which condensed into twenty-one gigantic cloud fists which rushed at Ning Fan at high speed.
Each of the gigantic fists was comparable to a Void Glimpse Stage attack.
When the force of twenty-one fists combines into one, even a common Void Pierce Stage expert might not necessarily be able to withstand it.
"This is my strongest attack. Even an ordinary expert at the Void Pierce Stage..."
She said with a confident smile on her face. At the next moment, however, her expression froze.
Ning Fan’s body gave off a dark golden light while exuding immensely thick devil qi. In an instant, he transformed into a six thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall giant in black armor!
The black-armored giant threw out twenty-one consecutive punches, breaking every single one of the cloud phoenix fists. Then, he let out a roar that was as deafening as thunder!
It was a Reckless Devil!
The giant then released an extremely frightening qi which suddenly instilled fear in Yun Zhi.
It was the feeling of being weaker! Yun Zhi’s body refining realm was not weak but when she was faced against a true ancient devil, she was intimidated by the devil might of the Reckless Devil, making her breathless!
"This is... the might of an ancient devil!?"
Yun Zhi’s face turned pale. She hurriedly raised her head and bit the tip of her tongue to suppress her fear. Right afterward, she also shook her body and transformed into a six thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall female giant that was clad in blood-red armor.
The female giant’s body glowed with golden light. In the next instant, she pounced on her opponent and struck him continuously with her punches. The force behind her attacks broke the mountains and rivers in the area!
The Reckless Devil did not take a single step back at all. He suddenly raised his hands and started throwing punches at the female giant. One punch, ten punches, one hundred punches!
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
After exchanging one hundred blows, the bones of the female giant’s fists were completely shattered and she suffered extremely serious injuries. She was already at a disadvantage. Fresh blood flowed from her body whereas the Reckless Devil remained unscathed!
After making a loud sigh, Yun Zhi got out of her giant form and immediately took a pill to suppress her internal injuries. Then, she cupped her fists toward the Reckless Devil and said with a self-deprecating tone.
"I am not White-Robed Marquis’ match. Thank you for showing mercy to me just now..."
As the Altering Heaven Palace Lord, she still lost to Ning Fan even after she had activated the magic-disabling formation and fought him using just their body refining techniques which was an area she was the most proficient in!
All she could do was surrender!
...
In the ninth realm of the Heavenly Cloud Country – Great Heaven Realm!
The palace lord of the Great Heaven Palace, Lu Yu, was a sword cultivator that was unrivalled at the Void Pierce Stage.
He had cultivated the Dao for nine thousand years, putting all of his effort into cultivating sword techniques. He even had the chance to learn from Yun Tianjue personally several times. With his skills in sword techniques, he could even put up a fight against Absolute Void Stage experts!
It had already been three days since he stood at the summit of the cloud mountain of the Great Heaven Palace!
His white hair flew in the air while his gray robes fluttered. He carried a purple sandalwood sword box on his back while his eyes were closed. Each of them had a scary sword cut.
He was a blind sword cultivator!
When the sea of clouds began to rumble, he already sensed the hidden sword intent from Ning Fan without even the need to look at him and knew that his opponent had arrived.
"You are White-Robed Marquis, huh! A mere young man like you can actually cultivate to this level at the age of nine hundred years old. You’re truly extraordinary." Lu Yu’s voice was rough and deep but it was imbued with a sword intent that was as calm as the clouds.
As soon as he finished speaking, the cloud light within several hundred thousand li* (500m per li) turned into sword shadows and faintly disappeared.
"So you are the Great Heaven Palace Lord... You destroyed your own eyes just to comprehend the sword. You really are obsessed with the Dao of Swords. Others comprehend swords using their eyes and control their swords using their senses. You, on the other hand, comprehend the sword with your heart and wield your swords using clouds. Wherever your heart goes, the clouds will follow. There is nothing you can’t turn into swords. Even if it’s a piece of cloud or a droplet of rain, you can even turn them into flying swords and kill your opponent..."