Enlightenment

Abels indifferently commented, "Given all the praise heaped onto Qilin Guards, I'm not impressed."

"Long Zaitian!" cried Emperor Yuansheng.

If only Long Zaitian was able to finally hear Emperor Yuansheng's concern for him…

Sparring with one of the Supreme Ten Saints meant risking one's neck. The only technical difference between it and premeditated murder was that they didn't even need to try in order to harvest the trophy on the shoulders.

"The man I fought previously lasted three exchanges," remarked Abels, referring to Tie Hanyi. "He should've died after the first strike; however, his determination to protect his master kept him going. Out of respect for that, I fought him at only thirty percent of my full power. He passed, so I shall return him to you out of respect for him."

Perhaps it was a positive everyone around Abels was too shaken to initiate an attack since it kept them alive.

"Let's settle our grudges as well as the issues you had with River Monster and Mountain Monster." Abels sneaked a gander over to Ming Feizhen and extended three fingers: "My rule is, I shall spare whoever can survive three exchanges with me. If you fail, you are to be my slave."

Seeing Dugu pull Emperor Yuansheng behind him, Abels chortled: "Is there any difference? You think you're in any position to choose?"

"A master and his subject cannot be held in the same regard."

Abels smiled: "My style is called Evil Eminence Scripture. It consists of seven levels we call layers. There are no techniques taught in the scripture, just an internal strength manual teaching its practitioner how to harness their internal strength and energy."

Evil Eminence Scripture was a secret Tiezhen Kingdom's imperial family kept within their family. Nobody ever mastered up to the seventh layer in history. Even Abels only mastered up to the sixth layer.

Abels raised a fist bolstered with faint blue energy enveloping it. He discharged the blue energy, dropping up to twenty times' the target's body weight onto them. He was able to spread the effect rapidly because he combined his style with his grasp of Divine Realm.

"People know Evil Eminence Scripture as overpoweringly aggressive, but they don't understand the concept of power. I have pitted myself against countless styles and have never encountered any that grasped the concept of power better than Evil Eminence Scripture."

Nobody could punch Abels in the face in spite of the arrogance he just spat. Nonetheless, one of them brayed, "Hey, fight me one on one if you're tough. I'll split your skull in two!"

River Monster: "Deluded prick, try it!"

River Monster zipped over to the pugilist and crushed his skull with a hammer strike using her hand. Though he died straight away, Abels' pressure still controlled his body, pinning it to the ground.

"Don't… Don't hurt them," stammered Ming Feizhen, struggling to prop himself up. "I'm your… target. Don't hurt them."

"Who's speaking?" asked Abels, grinning. "I don't converse with peons. If you're Night Fortress' master, help them. If you're a peon, it'll be your turn soon."

Grimacing, Ming Feizhen pleaded, "If you want someone… you can have my life, but… you must release the others."

Abels mused, "Still feigning, huh? Was I wrong? You're really an ordinary m-"

Abels repelled a blazing spear thrust at his face. He thought he had everyone pinned down, but he was wrong. His opponent's movements didn't show any inhibition. Tang Ye retreated and performed five fast spear flowers.

Abels knife handed the spear, yet Tang Ye continued mounting his attacks, executing swift thrusts as if he was wielding two judge's brush. Abels snickered and shaved off the spear tips. No matter. Tang Ye switched to a dual cudgel style, namely Henan's Zhao Clan's Coiling Dragon Cudgel. Abels was curious how many more styles Tang Ye capable off. Nonetheless, he uncoiled a punch, sending Tang Ye back.

"Not bad. Not bad at all," complimented Abels. "I don't know who you are yet, but you have the greatest potential. What's your name?"

Tang Ye strived for the Supreme Ten Saints' level ever since he heard Shangri-La might not have died due to an epidemic but at the hands of an adept. Apparently, the adept was able to kill all of his victims in a single strike and before the victim could counter a second time. It was a sound suspicion as it explained why no traces were left.

"Did you go to Beihai nine years ago?"

Abels contracted his eyebrows: "Nine years ago? What are you talking about?"

"He doesn't know…? Well, at least I can rule one potential culprit out. Just nine more to go," Tang Ye inwardly said.

"How did you escape my restraints?"

Tang Ye recalled a conversation he had with Ming Feizhen in the past.

"Big Bro, what sort of level is Divine Realm?"

"Why do you care?"

"I want to know how far I am from the so-called peak."

Tang Ye trusted Ming Feizhen's knowledge.

Divine Realm was but a vague term. Just as there was no style called Flowing and Rigid, there was no such thing as a complete style called Divine. They were just adjectives. Every Divine Realm adept had their expertise and unique characteristics. Calling them a Divine Realm adept was a vague classification for mental heuristic purposes. The number of individuals who ever reached the realm were far and few between. There were so few of them that anyone who cultivated a unique ability could label themselves a Divine Realm adept.

The individual who coined the term was a martial artist with a keen eye, taking what he perceived to be attributes present in all of the best adepts and preached them as basic attributes qualifying one as a Divine Realm adept. The most well-known ability a Divine Realm adept required was exerting their true qi as an external force, a concept that eluded many.

Pretty much all Divine Realm adepts' energy took on colours, varying from person to person according to their unique physiology and style. For instance, Abels' was blue as seen when he ensnared the escort. The glow itself was actually internal energy. All that said, there were incidences where people training the same style possessed different glows. Qualifying as a Divine Realm adept was predicated on manifesting one's personal colour, and the ability to manifest the colourful glow was a concept termed Enlightenment.

Unlike "Eclipse", which was about tampering with one's five senses, Enlightenment was for practical combat. One could kill using just their qi if they learnt how to do so. One's strength, speed and attributes were markedly upgraded once they achieved Enlightenment. Because of the distance it put between one who had yet to achieve and one who had in terms of combat, it was used as the benchmark.

"There's no such thing as a Divine Realm adept. Technically, they just haven't grasped Enlightenment. Remember that. Don't hesitate to accept the opponent is in another league. They are one of the strongest around, after all. That's the only way you'll have any chance of surviving," preached Ming Feizhen.

Evil Eminence Scripture's notion of power wasn't strictly limited to rigidity but also the strength to move slow and controlled - otherwise called softness. The latter was rare knowledge.

Tang Ye never intended to resist; he didn't reserve his energy. For that reason, he had energy to resist against Abels' pressure.

"I am liking you more and more. I like that you know how to fight against Divine Realm adepts. I'm curious who taught you because… only another Divine Realm adept would know how to counter us." Abels looked back to Ming Feizhen and taunted, "You exposed yourself, Night Fortress' master."

Standing still, Abels amplified his output a hundred folds, pinning Tang Ye on his belly.

"The kid wouldn't possibly know how to counter Enlightenment. You taught him, didn't you? Why do you keep pretending? Abels hereby issues you a challenge again."

Glossary

Judge's Brush - They're actually the oversized brush you'd see in ancient times and still used in calligraphy these days. This is how the weapon looks https://www.dragonsports.eu/110461-verylarge_default/judges-brush.jpg

Flowering/Flowers - This is an expansion on what I previously showed you, showing you the more advanced version described in this chapter.

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