History's Number 1 Founder

Inside the Hidden Dragon Gorge facing Mu Jihai's Icy Blaze Abhijna, Xiao Budian dealt with the assault calmly. The forces of wind and thunder surged through his entire body, and as his fists bumped together, the wind and thunder fused with his body, and he morphed into a spectral avatar over two meters tall.

Xiao Budian was enveloped by savage lightning bolts and howling cyclones. The ravaging force swept through the entire surrounding space, and even halted the advance of Mu Jihai's Icy Blaze.

Looking at his size, Xiao Budian was now larger and brawnier than before, albeit still much smaller than Song Qingyuan's size during the Two Bodies of Ice and Fire spell.

But the overpowering pressure and the staggering power it emanated was even stronger than Song Qingyuan's spell.

Based on physical strength alone, only Dou Kun could rival Xiao Budian among all the Aurous Core cultivators present there.

At the Sword of Radiance Sect's delegation, Tao Yaoyao's heroic and elegant face cracked a mischievous smirk, and she glanced at Zhan Yan from the corner of her eye, "He's improved since that time on Xingyun Peak, hasn't he? If he duels you with that level of mastery, you'd be pulverized in no time."

Zhao Yan laughed bitterly and couldn't help but nod in agreement, "He may be much smaller than me, but he used his powers of wind and thunder to increase his size to over three meters in height. Although his size is smaller than before, but his power now is more concentrated and his strength is more formidable."

He gazed at Xiao Budian, "To show such an outstanding improvement in the span of just one month, the Celestial Sect of Wonders is truly a bunch of freaks."

Inside the Gorge, Xiao Budian stomped his foot and his entire body morphed into a bolt of lightning, and he charged ferociously towards Mu Jihai. In his wake, he almost cleared out an entire corridor of space, with the cackling of the ruptured air reverberating everywhere.

When they actually started to battle each other full-on, Mu Jihai looked solemn. Under his manipulation, changes began occurring to the Icy Blaze.

Both the hot blazing snow and the freezing flames appeared simultaneously and blended with each other. The two states of the Icy Blaze were coexisting perfectly under Mu Jihai's control.

The two diametrically opposite bizarre forces swirled continuously around Mu Jihai, like an enormous monstrous disc that would crush any trespassers that dared to step foot into it.

Xiao Budian sliced his way in, and instantly felt the fearsome forces of the Icy Blaze gushing towards him from all directions, and the further he dived in, the more immense the pressure.

"Even the most ordinary and basic spells can unleash enormous amounts of power if comprehended and internalized fully. And the Icy Blaze is still the formidable signature abhijna of the Heaven Lake Sect." Xiao Budian nodded to himself, "But, it still can't stop me."

The nine holes of the Nine-holed Aurous Core simultaneously produced a deafening burst, and mass amounts of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy spat forth. Xiao Budian's body shuddered, and the ferocious powers directly tore apart Mu Jihai's Icy Blaze ocean.

This severely overbearing scene stunned the audience. Seeing someone use a beginner Aurous Core level of mastery to wrestle down an opponent in the advanced Aurous Core stage was truly an astounding sight, which subverted the preconceptions of many.

Back at the Celestial Sect of Wonders' delegation, Yue Hongyan and Yang Qing looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time. The magnificence of their junior's mana was really beyond logical comprehension. He truly lived up to his nickname as the Human Beast.

Zhu Yi was concentrating on Xiao Budian's performance too. Since the first day he entered the sect, he knew that although Xiao Budian was called 'Little Junior', he was actually the disciple that entered Lin Feng's sect the earliest. If he had not decided otherwise, Zhu Yi, Yue Hongyan, Yang Qing, Wang Lin and Xiao Yan would all be addressing this child just over ten years of age as 'Big Senior'.

Xiao Budian's existence was also spurring others to train harder to a great extent, or else how could they be worthy of having this rascal call them his seniors?

And what made people especially uneasy was that, Xiao Budian was both the first to achieve the Foundation Establishment and to form his Aurous Core among all of Lin Feng's disciples.

Zhu Yi calmed himself down, and watched the battle within the Hidden Dragon Gorge closely. The more he watched, the more he frowned.

In the end, Zhu Yi could not stand it anymore, and turned to look at Lin Feng. "Master, Little Junior is ..."

Lin Feng smiled, "No need to worry. Tian Hao has a plan."

A realization dawned upon Zhu Yi, and his face cracked a smile as well. "I understand. Little Junior is really ..." Zhu Yi couldn't even complete his sentence, and just shook his head and laughed.

Back inside the Hidden Dragon Gorge, Xiao Budian was inching deeper step by step, relying on his slightly superior strength to forcefully tear apart Mu Jihai's Icy Blaze, and was closing in on Mu Jihai's actual body inside.

Mu Jihai glared at the approaching Xiao Budian, and with a flick of his hand, he suddenly altered his spell.

The two states of the original Icy Blaze - both the blistering snow and the frigid flames - started to change simultaneously.

The scorching ice suddenly cooled, seemingly turning into real ice, chilling to the bone. The freezing flames also mutated, gradually morphing into ice with no change in temperature.

The state and intensity of the ice and fire instantly changed, with no sign of weakening but rather appearing even more nimble than before, radiating with the fluidity of flowing clouds and water.

With this move alone, all the spectators began seeing Mu Jihai in a better light.

Even the Immortal Soul cultivators outside the Hidden Dragon Gorge nodded to themselves after witnessing that sight. "His understanding of the mantra and his control of its power are top-notch. With such a sturdy and well-rounded foundation, his future training path would be smoother with less bottlenecks."

Lin Feng smiled, "No wonder he dared to eye Song Qingyuan's position. He's pretty impressive himself."

Only when the distance between two people is shorter, or at least not a demoralizingly large gap, would the one struggling behind start feeling jealous of the one leading in front, and wish to take his place.

When the gap is so huge that it makes one feel totally despondent, the one in the dust would be incapable of feeling jealous, which would instead result in admiration, worship or emotional dependence. He just becomes a follower tailing behind the one leading in front.

Many disciples in the Heaven Lake Sect who were Song Qingyuan's peers were also in the same situation, but the only one with the courage and confidence to challenge Song Qingyuan's position was Mu Jihai.

And now, Mu Jihai demonstrated the strength he dared to challenge Song Qingyuan with.

The Icy Blaze instantly evolved into frigid ice, freezing Xiao Budian in a glacier. The interior of the Hidden Dragon Gorge completely transformed into a world of ice.

It was no longer the combination of ice and fire, the balance between the two opposing forces in the Icy Blaze. Instead, it completely abandoned the power of fire and plunged into the frozen extreme.

Mu Jihai has unleashed the power of ice within the Dark Polar Blaze Mantra to the extreme, wanting to freeze Xiao Budian entirely.

The piercing chilling air actually froze Xiao Budian, who was still enveloped by swirling wind and thunder, inside a thick layer of ice.

Xiao Budian's figure still seemed highly agile, even the wind and thunder that encircled him did not dissipate. Raging thunderstorms and swirling cyclones could be clearly seen through the layer of ice.

But everything then came to a still. Xiao Budian became like an insect preserved in amber.

Upon witnessing this sight, the spectators outside the Hidden Dragon Gorge instantly riled up a commotion, and some were getting fired up. "Is the Celestial Sect of Wonders' disciple going to lose the match?"

"I never knew, never knew, that the Heaven Lake Sect was so strong. Aside from Song Qingyuan, Mu Jihai's strength is also terrifying."

"This way, the sect that shines the brightest during this Spiritual Conference would undeniably be the Heaven Lake Sect."

As someone who had personally crossed swords with Xiao Budian before, Zhao Yan's expression turned incredibly serious, and he said solemnly, "It's still too early to form a conclusion."

Beside him, Tao Yaoyao twitched the corners of her mouth. "That's true, because Mu Jihai never intended to use this trick to secure his win."

"If he still thinks that he can win just with this spell after witnessing that rascal's strength, then he would be hopelessly naive." Tao Yaoyao's eyelids drooped. "So, the key now is whether that rascal can handle Mu Jihai's real ace in the hole."

Zhao Yan's face turned green from shock. He wanted to say something but then heard a deafening sound.

"Crack!"

Inside the Hidden Dragon Gorge, a huge crack abruptly ruptured through the thick layer of ice that sealed Xiao Budian inside. The source of the crack was indeed Xiao Budian who was frozen in the centre of the glacier.

His body was cloaked in tempestuous wind and thunder, and his power kept increasing. The Nine-holed Aurous Core released vast amounts of spiritual energy, which transformed into boundless mana.

The thunderous sound of crushing ice reverberated everywhere.

Numerous new fissures extended out from the initial crack, ultimately forming a dense, intricate network of fractures like a spider web.

The more cracks there were, the weaker the chill of the glacier. Conversely, within the breaking ice, there was a terrifying swell of power that was becoming more and more prominent, as if there was a dormant ancient deity awakening inside the glacier.

Mu Jihai looked on with an expressionless face, and he clasped his hands again to alter his spell.

All of a sudden, the sound of cracking ice disappeared, not because Xiao Budian could not destroy the glacier, but because the entire glacier had vanished into thin air.

The frigid, piercing frost that transformed hundreds of meters of space around it into a world of ice and snow just abruptly disappeared.

The world of white instantly became red!

It was as if the deepest winter turned into the peak of summer in the blink of an eye. The interior of the Hidden Dragon Gorge instantly transformed from a white world of ice and snow into a red world of fire.

Xiao Budian just escaped his icy prison, but before he could get back on his feet, the freezing glacier that trapped him had already morphed into endless, blistering lava that surrounded him completely. The scorching heat was about to melt his entire body.

After emerging from the glacier, Xiao Budian seemed to have missed his step, falling straight into the mouth of a volcano.

Having already exhausted large amounts of energy after attempting to escape from the glacier, the Thunderstorm Avatar, now met with explosive flaming magma, immediately showed signs of collapsing, and was about to break into many tiny fragments!

Mu Jihai's face finally cracked a sinister grin.

The audience outside the Hidden Dragon Gorge burst with excitement. The strength that Mu Jihai displayed, morphing a freezing glacier into the diametrically opposite force of raging fire in a mere instant and manipulating these two extremes with ease, shocked every single spectator.

At the Purple Clouds Sect, Li Kuiyin watched as Xiao Budian was being engulfed in flames, looking on worryingly. "That brat ..."

Facing Mu Jihai's formidable chain attack, those supporting Xiao Budian were losing faith even with the strength that he had demonstrated before.

The smile on Gu Lei's face vanished. He also looked extremely serious as he squeezed a word out through the gaps of his clenched teeth, "Danger!"