A Martial Odyssey

Yi Ping shouted coarsely, "Lele, let them go and I mean now! Or you will surely die!"

He could barely stand but his eyes were firm and fierce!

Yixian, Lingfeng and Lie Qing were startled for they had never seen Yi Ping with such a fierce expression before!

Lele muttered as she looked at Lord Tian Zhong, Reverend Du Fa and Reverend Du Shang, "But we still have strong foes ahead of us…"

But nevertheless she had suddenly released her hold on the Goddess Asura and the Goddess of Mercy who immediately crumbled to the ground!

As Lele released her hold on the Goddess Asura and the Goddess of Mercy, everyone could see that her golden eyes had turned a deep golden and a golden aura seemed be radiating around her!

Even her Heaven Eyes seemed to be flickering!

A golden sun had suddenly appeared in the white skies and the entire vicinity was suddenly filled with a warm golden light before it disappeared all of a sudden!

Yi Ping heaved a soft sigh of relief, "Lucky!"

The Goddess Aiel, the Goddess Isa, Lord Tian Zhong, Reverend Du Shang and Reverend Du Shang all had a stunned expression!

Lord Tian Zhong muttered, "How is it possible? She is an immortal practitioner now…"

The Goddess Isa gasped, "It didn't descend…the…"

She was soon coughing weakly but the Goddess Aiel continued for her, "The Heaven Sundering Divine Calamity did not descend!"

The Goddess Isa continued, "Before a celestial practitioner can ascend to be an immortal practitioner, they have to first overcome the Heaven Sundering Divine Calamity…"

The Goddess Isa looked at Yi Ping shockingly as she asked weakly, "You know this will happen, didn't you?"

Yi Ping said simply as he shook his head, "I only know that if Lele continues to drain their internal strength to a certain limit, she will surely suffer a backlash. I didn't know about the Heaven Sundering Divine Calamity. But if things go to the extreme, it will surely suffer a reversal!"

That was why Yi Ping had to stop Lele!

That was why he was warning her fiercely because he cared for her!

Lele had a tiny tear droplet in her eyes as she muttered, "Thank you, Ping'Er…"

But she quickly said hurriedly as she flushed, "So you do care about me. I am flattered!"

Lingfeng and the Universal Old Man began to listen with interest!

The Universal Old Man stammered, "I have never heard of this divine calamity before. So this is the divine calamity that we are seeking for in all these years…"

Shi Shi nodded quietly as she muttered, "Yes it is…"

Yang Min said, "We all know that there is the Immortal Realm after the Celestial Realm and that are there immortals but no one has ever ascended to the Immortal Realm except for the Dark Chaos Lord. That is why we are all here in the Stellar Sanctuary so that we can seek the elusive Immortal Practice to further our enlightenment."

She stole a look at the Goddess Aiel before asking, "But it seems that the Immortal Realm is as disorderly as the Celestial Realm."

The Goddess Aiel muttered quietly, "But even then, don't give up trying. I can only say to you that it is true that the Immortal Realm has no Divine Calamity. When you have gone through the Nine Heavenly Wrath Tribulations, you can awake your Heaven Eyes and one day you will find the path to the First Heaven of the Immortal Realm."

Lingfeng the Heaveness was startled as she asked, "What do you mean? You mean that the purpose of the Nine Heavenly Wrath Tribulations for the Ancient Celestials is just to open the Heaven Eyes?!"

The Goddess Aiel nodded, "Why do you think my Heaven Eyes is sealed? The Immortal Realm is an invisible realm and only visible to the most enlightened practitioners."

She looked quietly at the Heaveness and at the Celestial Fairy before saying, "You are lucky that you can prematurely open your Heaven Eyes without losing your life. That can only happen if the practitioner is extremely lucky or enlightened. That is all that I can say to you."

Lingfeng muttered, "The First Heavens of the Immortal Realm…where is it?"

The Goddess Aiel smiled weakly, "You don't have to worry about that first. The Stellar Sanctuary has numerous secrets and knowledge that even the Immortals thirst for but is forbidden to them. It is because the Great God Pangu decreed that the Stellar Sanctuary can only descend to the Celestial Realm."

Youxue asked curiously, "Why can't the Immortals descend to the Celestial Realm? Isn't it such a simple thing?"

The Goddess Aiel smiled gently, "It is not because they did not want to but they can't!"

Youxue said, "Oh?"

The Goddess Aiel explained, "Firstly, they can't descend to the Celestial Realm. Just like you can't return to the Mortal Realm anymore, the Immortals in the Immortal Realm are unable to descend to the Celestial Realm. But of course, there are many means to move between the three realms but there is an exacting price to pay for it. Unless it is necessary, even the Goddess Celestial Alice is reluctant to descend to the lower realms."

She paused briefly before continuing, "Secondly, no one knows for sure where the Stellar Sanctuary will be descending next. Thirdly, the Pangu Immortal Formation that surrounds the Stellar Sanctuary hides it from the prying eyes of even the most powerful immortal practitioners."

Youxue muttered anxiously, "That means that these immortal practitioners that are in the Stellar Sanctuary are either the most powerful Immortals or those with the most resources at their disposal…"

The Goddess Aiel nodded quietly, "That is right."

In the meantime, the Goddess Asura had sat in a meditation position with her eyes closed as she muttered softly to Lele, "Thank you…"

The Goddess of Mercy was also in a meditation position but with her right hand touching her bended forehead, "You don't have to be grateful to her. After all, she has stolen our precious internal strength."

There were tears on the cheek of the Goddess Asura as she whispered softly, "This is all pre-destiny. Why should I be bothered?"

The Goddess of Mercy said melancholy, "Then why are you crying?"

The Goddess Asura replied coldly, "The dust has got into my eyes."

The Goddess of Mercy asked again, "You have lost a lot of your internal strength?"

The Goddess Asura replied coldly, "Not a lot. Just one tenth! What about you?"

Actually she had lost one fifth of her internal strength but she refused to admit it!

The Goddess of Mercy opened her eyes to look at the Goddess Asura before saying, "I didn't lose a lot either. It is just one tenth too."

Actually she had lost a fifth of her internal strength too!

Lele was amused as she said, "I am just next to you but the two of you are chatting as though I am invisible!"

The Goddess Asura replied quietly, "We have lost to you. There is nothing left for me to say. I was too careless and underestimate you."

The Goddess of Mercy took a look at Yi Ping before saying melancholy, "We shouldn't have crossed palms with you. Alas! Do you know that given our martial strength, the Boundless Celestial Absorbing Skill won't work on us for we will certainly be able to free ourselves in a nick of time! But you have taken advantage of us and used the Boundless Celestial Absorbing Skill when we are least suspecting…"

All of a sudden the Goddess Isa said panicky, "Lele, kill them now! They are just dragging the time. In no time, they will be able to recover their martial strength!"

Lele was startled as she muttered, "Kill them? They are defenseless now…"

All of a sudden Lord Tian Zhong leapt into the air with his palm with a great martial shout toward the Goddess Asura and the Goddess of Mercy, "If you are too soft hearted then let me help you!"

Lord Zhong Tian had wanted to use the opportunity to seize the Celestial Alice from Yi Ping but he had noticed that the Goddess Aiel, the Celeste Wind Maiden, Han Lin, Yixian and Lie Qing had formed a defensive circle around Yi Ping!

However he had noticed that the Symphony of Destiny and the Heavens Sundering Mirror were lying temptingly on the ground!

These two were immortal weapons of the most powerful class!

If he could seize it then he would be able to increase his level of enlightenment and also gained for himself a formidable immortal weapon!

The bloodied Reverend Du Fa also made a leapt toward the Goddess Asura and the Goddess of Mercy as he shouted, "Protégé Brother, let me help you. Junior Protégé Brother, go and seize the Celestial Alice!"

Reverend Du Shang cursed softly, "What a good deal that I got here. While the two of you are seizing the immortal weapons for yourself, I got to seize the Celestial Alice which is a public property…"

Yi Ping had suddenly leapt forward to intercept Lord Tian Zhong and Reverend Du Fa as he coughed weakly to the Celeste Wind Maiden, "Maiden Xiao Qian, can you hold off Reverend Du Shang for just a while?"

In a blink of an eye, the Celeste Wind Maiden had already raised her Celeste Wind Divine Sword to intercept Reverend Du Shang!

Reverend Du Shang was startled at the ferocious speed of the Celeste Wind Maiden as multiple sword strokes appeared in front of him. He was forced to take a step back even as he sent explosive palm forces of the Big Dipper Hand toward her!

Lie Qing raised her Perpetual Darkness as she sent a piercing cold sword energy toward Reverend Du Shang, "Maiden Xiao Qian, let me help you!"

The Goddess Aiel had also raised her hands to send fluttering windforce around her as she displayed her Inverting Universe, "I am not afraid of you. With or without my martial strength!"

Han Lin said coolly as she jumped up, "Don't forget about me as well!"

Immediately there were several shockwaves that exuded from the ground!

Reverend Du Shang was startled when the shockwaves negated the effects of his Big Dipper Hands as he took another step backward, "What is that?"

Han Lin replied coldly as she raised her hand into a cutting stroke, "I am not afraid of you either!"

Lingfeng was also beside Han Lin as she hit the palm of the Reverend Du Shang, "Don't forget about me too!"

Because Reverend Du Shang had found himself fighting against so many opponents at the same time, he was not able to use his full strength against Lingfeng or else he would surely be able to send her flying backward.

Yixian had also displayed several sword strokes with the Heavenly Earth Sword at the Reverend Du Shang as she said coldly, "I especially dislike foes that take advantage of others when they are down."

The Goddess Isa saw a shimmer of hope as she muttered, "Everyone…"

At the same time Yi Ping had raised the Celestial Alice at Lord Tian Zhong as he intercepted him!

There was a bursting martial impact when swords and staff had crossed paths!

Lord Tian Zhong was startled as he hummed coldly, "I didn't expect that you still have this much strength but you will soon realize that your actions will be futile!"

He did not know that Yi Ping had been through many arduous fights and had by several lucky encounters had also consumed many miraculous things. So what seemed to be extremely draining to the others may not be the case for Yi Ping!

Reverend Du Fa was about to seize the opportunity to strike Yi Ping when Youxue had suddenly repulsed him with the Divine Emerald Force!

Reverend Du Fa was startled as he raised the Big Dipper Hands with all his might against her but Youxue had raised her hands to receive his blow!

There was a thunderous impact and Reverend Du Fa found himself taking three steps backward as he coughed out blood while Youxue remained where she was serenely!

He was stunned as he coughed out more blood, "My Big Dipper Hands will lose to you?! That is impossible!"

Youxue said coldly, "Not everyone is as weary as from the earlier battles. Not everyone is impressive by your show of martial powers."

Reverend Du Fa was startled when he saw that Youxue had a golden aura around her, "The Golden Invincible Body!"

She had the right to say so because her internal strength foundation was as unfathomable as Yi Ping!

By now Lele had recovered her wits and had raised her Divine Echo against Lord Tian Zhong as she said coldly, "Don't you dare!"

Lord Tian Zhong had raised his long scepter as he shouted, "Two versus one is still futile. This time I won't be merciful. The Dragon Subduing Demon Destroyer Stroke!"

Yi Ping had raised the Celestial Synonym Alice with his left hand as he shouted, "Asper Divinity!"

Three rings of explosive martial force had burst around Yi Ping as they clashed against each other with a thunderous impact!

Lord Tian Zhong shouted, "Your martial strength is still not enough…"

All of a sudden Yi Ping had raised the Celestial Antonym Alice with his right hand to display the Heavens Encompassing Stroke as he struck the divine staff of Lord Tian Zhong with yet another thunderous impact!

At this happened in the same instant when he had just executed the Asper Divinity.

Lord Tian Zhong was startled that Yi Ping was able to use two techniques simultaneous but he remained composed as he shouted, "You are just wasting your faltering strength…"

As he retaliated against Yi Ping after displaying the Dragon Subduing Demon Destroyer Stroke, he had raised his left hand toward the head of Yi Ping with the Big Dipper Hand in an explosive display of his martial power!

"Mortal, you have overestimated yourself. Do you think that the Immortals are a bunch of monks and priests that meditate all day in the Immortal Realm? Let me tell you this, we…"

Lele gasped out, "Ping'Er, be careful!"

But to the utter surprise of Lord Tian Zhong, Yi Ping had swirled the two Celestial Alices as he retracted and slashed and defend against him!

Everyone could see that Yi Ping had suddenly picked up speed as he made dozens of perfectly executed sword slashes at the same time!

Lord Tian Zhong was gasping with shock, "Impossible you have actually incorporated palm attacks into your swordplay…"

Lord Tian Zhong had been right. Yi Ping had used the Asper Continuum Horizon Hand into his perfect swordplay. But what shock him was that Yi Ping could actually bend the disorderly principles of palm strokes into the orderly principles sword strokes without losing the imbued martial power. He could scarcely believe that this Yi Ping was not even fighting at his full martial strength!

Before he could barely react against these powerful slashes, the two Celestial Alices that were in Yi Ping's hands had impaled through his defenses with the explosive might of two Ultrapowerful Forces!

Lord Tian Zhong however did not fall as he grabbed the two Celestial Alices with his bare hands, "Who…are you…"

As he turned his head to look at Reverend Du Fa and Reverend Du Shang, he was startled to realize that he was now being surrounded by a group of unfriendly stares!

Where had happened to Reverend Du Fa and Reverend Du Shang?

At the same time when Yi Ping had impaled Lord Tian Zhong, Lingfeng the Heaveness had struck down Reverend Du Shang with a hidden short sword that was in her sleeve!

And she still got the beaming short sword in her right hand that seemed to be transparent in the bright light!

That was the Heaveness' hidden divine weapon, the Allusion Divine Sword!

Lingfeng coughed out a bout of blood as she quickly displayed the Divine Invigorate Force to recuperate. It was because she had deliberately allowed Reverend Du Shang to hit her so that she could surprise him with her hidden divine sword!

As Du Shang fell onto the ground, he still could not believe his eyes!

Finally his last words were that muttered were, "…you…the…Celestium…Silk…"

Indeed!

Lingfeng was protected by the Celestium Silk and it was the Celestium Silk that had dissipated the bulk of his martial power when he had struck her!

The Goddess Aiel quickly come to the aid of Lingfeng as she jabbed her back with her fingers as she said softly, "That must have hurt. I do have a divine pill with me that may be useful for you…"

Lingfeng was startled at the gesture of the Goddess Aiel as she asked, "You…you are not upset with me anymore?"

The Goddess Aiel smiled gently, "As long as you keep my secrets when we are out, I will not."

As for Reverend Du Fa, he was lying still on the ground in front of Youxue with his eyes wide-opened in disbelief!

Youxue said softly, "Maybe you have the Heaven Eyes to manifold your martial strength but you shouldn't have underestimated your opponent. Compare to the best fighters of the lower realm, you are still far from it!"

Yi Ping looked at Youxue before asking weakly, "The Dominating Force and the Eighteen Hands? Xue'Er, it seems that your martial skills have improved again."

Youxue looked at Yi Ping mesmerizingly, "You are not the only one improving, you know. If he was not in a hurry to disengage from me to seize the immortal weapons, I won't have much of a chance. But he was not focusing at all."

That was indeed Reverend Du Fa's greatest mistake for he had allowed himself to be distracted when he was fighting a dangerous opponent such as Youxue and for belittling her!

Lord Tian Zhong began to laugh aloud even as blood began to foam from his mouth, "We have…all met…our demises…but rest assured that…my fellow immortal practitioners will seek vendetta for us…"

All of a sudden Lord Tian Zhong had breathed his last!

Yi Ping said quietly, "Rest in peace."

"Good! These troublesome monks are gone now. But there are still the two of us here!" It was the voice of the Goddess Asura!

Everyone quickly turned around and was startled that the Goddess Asura and the Goddess of Mercy were on their feet and they were looking as lively as before. It was as though as nothing had happened to them!

They immediately turned pale!

How did they make such a quick recovery?

The Goddess Isa said weakly, "Too late…"

The Goddess Asura fingered her Symphony of Destiny as she looked at the Goddess of Mercy and at Lele, "It seems that we have an unfinished fight?"

Lele smiled weakly as she looked sheepish, "What do you want? You can't expect me to return you your internal strength? It is irreversible."

The Goddess Asura said coldly, "I can capture you and force you to teach me the Celestial Force. Then I will make you return my internal strength to me."

Yi Ping staggered forward as he gasped his divine swords tightly, "Don't hurt Lele!"

The Goddess Asura said coldly, "After what she has done? Surely you know that it is a taboo to drain the internal strength of others. Moreover the Immortal Realm has an edict to eradicate all the practitioners of the Celestial Force."

The Goddess of Mercy interrupted coldly, "So you are planning to learn the Celestial Force to regain your internal strength? Did you say that it is all predestined earlier? If your intention is to practice the Celestial Force then I should remove you first."

The Goddess Asura smiled coldly, "You should be standing on my side. After all, your precious internal strength was also stolen from you. Moreover the Celestial Alice that you have been coveting is right in front of you."

The Goddess of Mercy smiled coldly as she said, "That is when you are wrong. I am not only on their side now but I will help them to get rid of you!"

Everyone was startled by her sudden proclamations!

The Goddess Asura was startled, "What do you mean?"

Yi Ping was also bewildered by the Goddess of Mercy. It was because she was the one that had started the offensive first and now she was saying that she was on his side?

The Goddess Isa warned Yi Ping, "Don't fall for her tricks!"

The Goddess Aiel was also saying the same, "It may be a trick to lure us to group against the Goddess Asura and then when she has done with her, the next target will be us!"

Lie Qing hummed coldly while Shi Shi said, "Let them fight among themselves first. We mustn't believe a single word from any of them!"

The Goddess of Mercy heaved a soft sigh as she looked shyly at Yi Ping, "You have just saved my life twice. You must know that in the Immortal Realm, I am renowned for my beauty and I have plenty of suitors. However I am disdainful of them. Therefore I had made a vow to pledge myself to the man that is destined to save my life twice. You must know that I have few worthy opponents even in the Immortal Realm and those who can best me are often those that others dare not offend. Therefore to this day, I am still single."

Everyone including Yi Ping was stunned!

She had already made it so plain obvious that even if Yi Ping was a wooden block, he would be able to understand it!

The Goddess Isa, the Goddess Aiel and the Goddess Asura were all speechless!

It was because the Goddess of Mercy had indeed made such a vow and she famously would never retract her vows!

Yi Ping had a spinning headache as he asked, "Twice? When did I save your life?"

The Goddess of Mercy replied shyly as she looked at him, "The first time was when you had stopped the Joyful Goddess from draining my internal strength further and the second time was when that Lord Tian Zhong had the intention to seize my Heavens Sundering Mirror."

Yi Ping quickly said, "This is nothing at all. Anyone will have done the same too."

The Goddess of Mercy hummed coldly, "Anyone will have done the same? You are wrong."

The Goddess Asura sighed softly, "So you are really on their side…"

The Goddess of Mercy answered coldly, "Then you should leave now. The sooner it is the better!"

The Goddess Asura broke into a sly smile as she said, "I am afraid that you will be disappointed. Do you think that I will be afraid of you now?"

The Goddess of Mercy asked, "What do you mean?"

The Goddess Asura replied coldly, "In your current state, you may not be able to utilize the full potential of the Heavens Sundering Mirror anymore. Therefore why should I be afraid of you?"

The Goddess of Mercy remained composed as she answered coldly, "You can try."

The Goddess Asura fingered the Symphony of Destiny as she said coldly, "I don't like to repeat myself. Any immortal practitioners that are found in the Stellar Sanctuary must be eliminated. That is the edict of the Goddess Celestial Alice…"

All of a sudden there was a small gentle roar as a small golden Kirin cub appeared from nowhere!

To the utter surprise of everyone, the small golden Kirin cub began to jump jovially around Yi Ping!

Yi Ping was startled, "Where did it come from?"

Lele immediately replied, "Maybe it likes you!"

The Goddess Asura had turned pale immediately as she said, "I got to go now. Farewell!"

And in a blink of a few eyes, she had vanished from view!

Everyone was stunned!

Lele was the first to regain her wits as she said, "We should hurry and go too. Maybe the mother of this baby cub is right behind us!"