Chapter 154: Three Gifts

“Watch closely. I shall pass on only one divine art to you.”

Mo Xie’s entire body shone as though he were a god. His eyes blazed with such brilliance that even the sun high in the heavens seemed dimmed by comparison.

His hand swept across the sky, blotting out the firmament. A terrifying aura spread in every direction, while endless divine patterns covered heaven and earth, as though they meant to refine the entire world into nothingness.

“Time in the right hand, space in the left. What a terrifying divine art. Even the Three Thousand Great Dao may fall short of it. As expected of an immortal—you have already surpassed the level of the Great Dao.”

Lin Fan stared without blinking. With the aid of his Art of Observing Qi and the Bodhi Seed, he could faintly make out traces of the technique. Though exceedingly blurred, they were priceless to him at his current level.

“This technique is called the Great Heaven-Covering Hand. It contains the transformations of both time and space. Once cultivated to its utmost depths, a single palm can slay every enemy beneath the heavens, leaving none who can stand against it.”

Mo Xie spoke as his palm stretched across the sky, five fingers spread wide. The entire Asura Realm began to tremble as though struck by a mighty earthquake.

“Roar!”

A roar shook the heavens. The beings within the high platforms awakened and bellowed without end. Even the gods sleeping within several of the largest platforms stirred, and wave after wave of terrifying aura swept outward.

“What powerful beings. Could they be those fallen Great Emperors?”

Lin Fan’s heart trembled as he gazed into the distance. An instinctive dread filled him. It felt as though they belonged to two entirely different levels—one a god, the other no more than an ant.

“You have already fallen, and brought it upon yourselves. How dare you awaken before me?”

Mo Xie snorted coldly. Two beams of light shot from his eyes, sweeping across a vast expanse. The largest platforms shattered at once, and the beings upon them perished utterly.

The Asura Realm trembled in Mo Xie’s grasp. One small world after another collapsed and vanished from heaven and earth.

With a supreme divine art, Mo Xie erased everything within the Asura Realm. He intended to reduce this fragment of a great world to its most primordial state, for only then could Lin Fan devour it.

The beings on the high platforms awoke like moths rushing into flames and struck at the heavens. Yet they were on an entirely different level from Mo Xie. A single glance from him was enough to extinguish the souls of those beings who had once been Great Emperors, consigning them forever to the past.

At last, Lin Fan discovered that the Asura Realm had disappeared. Darkness surrounded him. Only one peerless figure remained, standing proudly between heaven and earth, beyond the present age and striding freely through past and future.

“Did you see it?”

Mo Xie turned around, a blue-green bead in his hand. This was the seed of a great world, a seed capable of allowing Lin Fan to step effortlessly into the Titled Realm.

“Not much. I couldn’t understand the Dao and laws within it.”

After pondering for a moment, Lin Fan spoke, his expression utterly unchanged.

He was not pretending to be modest. Mo Xie’s level was simply too high; Lin Fan at his current stage could not compare with him. Even with the Art of Observing Qi and a divine object such as the Bodhi Seed, he still could not comprehend Mo Xie’s Dao. Everything appeared shrouded in mist.

“That is only natural. The Great Heaven-Covering Hand was originally taught to me by my master. It contains seventy-two transformations, its very essence being the ability to cover the heavens with a single hand. Among the countless divine arts of the myriad heavens, it ranks near the very top. It is more than enough for you to dominate the world.”

Mo Xie smiled faintly. He had never expected Lin Fan to gain much insight from it. Even he had exhausted every hardship before comprehending a mere trace of its mysteries.

Lin Fan did not deny it. The Great Heaven-Covering Hand was the most powerful divine art he had ever seen. A single move was enough to suppress any opponent.

“Besides the Great Heaven-Covering Hand, I shall also teach you the Great Slaughter Art, ranked fifth among the Three Thousand Great Dao. In truth, you have already obtained part of it—the Creation Divine Fist. You should have guessed that by now.”

Mo Xie knew everything about Lin Fan. His cultivation was simply too profound; with a single glance, he could see through everything. Even if Lin Fan wished to conceal something, he was incapable of doing so.

“The Great Slaughter Art?!”

A trace of delight appeared on Lin Fan’s face. The Great Slaughter Art was renowned throughout the world and ranked among the Three Thousand Great Dao that everyone most desired to obtain.

“You need not be so excited. The Three Thousand Great Dao are merely paths. A true powerhouse must transcend them. Once one reaches the realm of the Great Emperor, the Three Thousand Great Dao generally lose their usefulness and become hardly worth mentioning.”

Mo Xie poured cold water over him, but it did little to dampen Lin Fan’s spirits. The realm of the Great Emperor was still far beyond his reach, and he had no idea when he might attain it. Before then, the Three Thousand Great Dao remained of immense importance.

Mo Xie extended one finger and transmitted the Great Slaughter Art directly into Lin Fan’s mind. The entire process was swift, ending in the blink of an eye.

Mo Xie might not have cared about the Great Slaughter Art, but Lin Fan valued it greatly. It would become one of his future trump cards.

“Besides that, I have one more thing to give you. Come inside.”

Mo Xie did not look back at Lin Fan. He entered the tomb first. At the moment he transmitted the Great Slaughter Art, the seed of the great-world fragment had also merged into Lin Fan’s dantian.

The white mist dispersed, revealing an altar before them.

The altar shimmered with five-colored light and appeared ancient beyond measure. Lin Fan’s expression changed, for the Imperial Saint Statue within his heart had begun to pulse once more.

“What is this? A stone sword? Why would it cause such a reaction from the Imperial Saint Statue?”

Lin Fan looked toward the center of the altar. A palm-sized stone sword appeared before his eyes. It was utterly ordinary and gave off no aura, as though it were nothing more than a common stone sword.

“This was left behind by my master for you. The origins of this stone sword are mysterious. Even I do not understand them. Perhaps only my master knows the truth.”

Mo Xie let out a long sigh. With a wave of his hand, the stone sword flew from the altar as though drawn by an unseen force, moving so swiftly that the naked eye could not follow it.

“This stone sword is the final thing I shall give you.”

Looking into Mo Xie’s sincere eyes, Lin Fan reached out and accepted the sword. He focused his mind and tried to sense its mysteries, but gained nothing. Strangely, however, the moment the stone sword came into his possession, the Imperial Saint Statue fell completely silent. Lin Fan was utterly unable to make sense of it.

“Now that everything here is concluded, I have settled one of my long-standing concerns. I cannot remain in this world for long and must depart. I hope that one day we may meet again in another world. Only there will you learn more secrets and come into contact with the true mysteries of antiquity.”

Mo Xie gazed into the distance. Time and space shifted, revealing a chaotic expanse filled with all manner of cracks. Yet living beings existed within that space, each incomparably powerful and looking down upon the Nine Heavens.

Lin Fan felt his body begin to fly uncontrollably toward the outside of the tomb. Mo Xie must have been using some technique. After the Asura Realm had been refined, the area outside the tomb was pitch-black, resembling a black hole.

Then Lin Fan saw the entire tomb slowly rise. It pierced through illusion, and a great river of time manifested, extending toward an unknown world. The enormous tomb departed along that river of time, moving with astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, it vanished as though it had never existed.

Gazing in the direction the tomb had gone, Lin Fan felt a surge of emotion. He had truly seen a living immortal. If word of this spread, who knew how many people would be frightened out of their wits?

Yet his emotion soon faded, for he had received a voice transmission from Mo Xie…

To be continued.