Amidst the Chaos, a massive world-class Imperial Palace emitted a soft glow, which served as its protective barrier. Even a Heavenly Venerable would struggle to break through this exceptionally strong defensive shield in a short time.
This Imperial Palace was none other than the Myriad Journeys Palace, which had been forced to halt in this location.
Outside the palace, two figures exchanged a brief question before instantly charging at each other with lethal intent.
One was Han Yi, who had just left the palace and was preparing to return to the Primordial World. The other was Daoist Suxi, who had awakened the Great True Saint Sword and followed a special guidance method to track him down.
The moment combat began, both unleashed their full power.
Both combatants were highly experienced in battle and made no attempt at probing or giving their opponent extra time to react.
Daoist Suxi's expression remained cold, but inwardly, her estimation of Han Yi had risen to its highest point. She couldn't comprehend how a cultivator who had just broken through to the First Step of the Dao Realm could have advanced to the Third Step of the Dao Realm—the External Dao Realm—in just four thousand years.
Even she herself had taken seventy thousand years to traverse this path.
And her seventy-thousand-year advancement rate placed her second in the entire history of the True Saint Palace.
Compared to Han Yi's progress, her own cultivation was truly inferior, to the point of being almost negligible.
This fueled her determination to deal Han Yi a decisive, crushing blow. She aimed to strike with overwhelming force, leaving him no chance to react, reducing him to dust and erasing him completely, thereby eliminating a future formidable enemy for the True Saint Palace.
Thus, she unleashed the crimson longsword at her back—the Great True Saint Sword.
Originally, her primary purpose in summoning the Great True Saint Sword had been to divert the Celestial Venerable Suizhu. This would allow her to easily locate and subdue Han Yi, then escape. After drawing away the Celestial Venerable Suizhu, the Holy Sword would automatically return to her.
However, now that she was intercepting Han Yi in the Chaos, and sensing no aura of a Heavenly Venerable in the surroundings, coupled with Han Yi's unusually rapid advancement in cultivation, she chose not to rely solely on her own strength. Instead, she opted to harness the power of an Ancient Artifact.
Gripping the Great True Saint Sword, she leaped forward and thrust it out.
The crimson sword light erupted with overwhelming killing intent. Wherever the sword light passed, time and space froze, everything being subsumed by its power.
Meanwhile, on the other side...
Han Yi resolved to give his all, spurred by Taiyuan's warning. The True Saint Palace's External Dao female cultivator wielded a longsword—an artifact of the Heavenly Venerable Ancient Artifact. This compelled Han Yi to commit fully from the start, even deploying the Yueguang Divine Spear.
Had she been merely an External Dao Cultivator, he wouldn't have worried. With his combined mastery of the External Dao and the High-Tier Immeasurable Realm, he was nearly invincible below the Heavenly Venerable level, fearing no opponent.
But with a Heavenly Venerable Ancient Artifact in play, the situation changed dramatically. This could be the decisive factor in the battle.
As he lunged forward, a crimson-golden longspear materialized in his hand: Yueguang.
This marked the first time Han Yi had unleashed the Yueguang Divine Spear since ascending to the High-Rank Immeasurable Realm. Even when facing the Great Priest of Purgatory Island, or when he slaughtered three Harmony with the Dao cultivators in Imperial Water Dao City, he had relied solely on the Taosi Divine Axe, never deploying Yueguang.
Moreover, for this battle, he had even elevated his Immortal Dao cultivation to the External Dao realm.
As a result, Han Yi could now channel nearly eighty percent of the Yueguang Divine Spear's full power.
This was a scenario he had originally envisioned encountering only a Heavenly Venerable, as no cultivator below that level had ever warranted the use of Yueguang.
This situation was extraordinary, as the opponent had come armed with an Ancient Artifact, and only another Ancient Artifact could counter it.
Whoosh!
Crimson-golden light erupted, overwhelming the heavens and earth as divine power coalesced into the long spear in his hand. With a thrust, the spear pierced through the Chaos, annihilating the Void and sweeping across tens of millions of miles.
Boom!
Spear met sword, causing the Chaos Power to violently oscillate, fragmenting swathes of space into nothingness.
The two figures clashed briefly before retreating, blood spraying across the sky.
Near the Myriad Journeys Palace, Han Yi managed to halt his momentum only tens of miles from the protective barrier.
The Yueguang Longspear had been fully awakened, its concentric rings of Divine Light radiating outward in all directions.
The arm wielding the Yueguang coursed with burning golden Divine Blood, streaks of crimson spreading from his wrist to his shoulder, staining half his body.
Divine Blood trickled from the corner of Han Yi's mouth, but he ignored it, his gaze fixed on the opponent at the other end of the Annihilated Chaos.
"That deep crimson Ancient Sword... its slaughterous aura is overwhelming."
"It's a pity that the Spirit of the Yueguang Divine Spear was extinguished in ancient times. The newly awakened Spirit is simply not strong enough."
"In overall power, the Yueguang falls short of that Ancient Sword."
"However, beyond the Ancient Artifacts themselves, this battle ultimately hinges on the cultivators wielding them."
On the other side, Daoist Suxi's condition was even worse. Her face was as pale as paper, and the arm holding the Great True Saint Sword had lost all its flesh, leaving only cold, white bone.
The collision of the two Ancient Artifacts sent shockwaves back to their wielders. Han Yi, with his High-Rank Immeasurable Divine Race physical body, could withstand ninety percent of the recoil. Daoist Suxi, however, despite her formidable physical body honed through Immortal Dao cultivation, still fell far short of the High-Rank Immeasurable realm.
The fact that this strike hadn't completely shattered her, and she had only lost the flesh of her arm, was solely due to the protective power of the Great True Saint Sword.
"Innate Chaos Ancient God!"
"Han Yi has been concealing his true strength."
Internally, she was deeply shaken. Though the exchange had lasted only a fleeting moment, both had unleashed their full power in that single strike. From it, she had glimpsed the hidden strength of Han Yi's Divine Race heritage.
"A physical body like this must be at the peak of the Immeasurable realm, just below the God Sovereign level."
"Moreover, he wields an Ancient Artifact, likely bestowed by the Celestial Venerable Suizhu."
"Combined with his External Dao cultivation and mastery of the Ancient Artifact, he is slightly weaker than a Heavenly Venerable but far surpasses me in power."
"However, the might of the Holy Sword far surpasses that of his mysterious Ancient Artifact."
Within the Chaos, both Han Yi and Daoist Suxi gained further insights into each other's capabilities from their initial clash. They would now adjust their subsequent attacks accordingly.
The Chaos Space between them seethed with a destructive storm, its energy surging and crashing.
Behind Han Yi, within the Myriad Journeys Palace, the cultivators witnessing this scene were left speechless, their astonishment overwhelming.
Among these shocked observers were over a dozen cultivators at the External Dao and Harmonization with the Dao realms.
"Two Ancient Artifacts... This, this, this..."
"Hiss... Daoist Suxi's Ancient Sword must be the True Saint Palace's Palace-Protecting Artifact, the Great True Saint Sword. And that other cultivator—what faction does he belong to? To possess another Ancient Artifact..."
"It's not just the Ancient Artifacts. That cultivator cultivates both the Immortal Path and the Divine Race's Immeasurable Path. He's not just an Outer Dao cultivator—he's at the peak of the Immeasurable realm."
"Terrifying... Absolutely terrifying. His combat power far surpasses Harmonization with the Dao. Even if he hasn't reached the Heavenly Venerable realm, he's at least a Half-Step Heavenly Venerable."
"Who exactly is this man?"
Amidst the stunned silence, the two combatants, having retreated a distance from each other within the Chaos, paused briefly before lunging back towards each other with renewed ferocity.
The crimson sword radiance tore through the Chaos, shattering the fabric of spacetime.
The scarlet-golden spear shadow, awakened by an ancient battle will, slashed through the void with unchecked dominance, its path leaving behind an endless aura of Divine Might.
This was less a clash between two cultivators and more a collision between two Ancient Artifacts.
For the cultivators serving as mere "vessels" in this battle, the pressure they bore was unimaginable.
Moreover, this battle was extraordinary.
Had they been Heavenly Venerables, they could have unleashed their ancient techniques for long-range attacks. But as they were not, their greatest strength lay in the Ancient Artifacts they wielded. Yet, unable to unleash the ancient techniques contained within these artifacts, they were forced to close the distance to deliver powerful strikes.
This close-quarters combat style was deeply uncomfortable for Daoist Suxi, but Han Yi found it perfectly natural. This was because he possessed another identity: he was a member of the Innate Primordial Chaos Divine Clan.
The combat style of the Divine Race favored close-quarters, brutal clashes.
As time passed, the balance of victory gradually shifted in Han Yi's favor.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Amidst the Chaos, the two Ancient Artifacts clashed dozens of times in each fleeting kshana. With each collision, the cultivators wielding them endured increasingly severe impacts and backlash.
The overwhelming aura of destruction spread endlessly, while their relentless battle gradually drew them away from the Myriad Journeys Palace, deeper into the Chaos.
However, within the Myriad Journeys Palace, numerous cultivators employed escape techniques to pursue the escalating conflict.
These pursuers included not only travelers coincidentally present in the palace but also many cultivators affiliated with the Myriad Journeys Palace itself.
While they would merely gaze in awe at a Heavenly Venerable, showing neither curiosity nor covetousness, the sight of an External Dao or Dao Harmonization cultivator stirred peculiar thoughts in their minds.
Given the opportunity, they might even risk their lives to intercept the severely injured combatants and seize the Ancient Artifacts.
That was an Ancient Artifact, a symbol of the power of a Heavenly Venerable or God Sovereign.
Possessing such an artifact and channeling it with Harmonization with the Dao would make one virtually invincible below the level of a Heavenly Venerable.
Necessary risks were inevitable.
However, if the timing wasn't right, they would only observe from afar, refraining from action. The sheer might they had just witnessed would leave them no chance of escape if it fell upon them.
Within the Chaos, two streams of golden and crimson light clashed fiercely, their intensity unrelenting.
At a critical moment, a cold command and a frenzied roar erupted simultaneously.
The two beams collided with even greater resolve, explosiveness, and madness, then recoiled at a speed far surpassing any previous encounter, streaking apart in opposite directions.
In the wake of their passage, a straight, half-golden, half-crimson line was etched through the Chaos. The Chaos Power at the heart of this line was completely incinerated, while the power on either side was violently flung outward.
At one end of the line, Han Yi was a pitiful sight.
Not a single patch of unscathed flesh remained on his body. His golden bones were charred, and his Divine Blood burned fiercely.
Han Yi's right hand, along with half his arm, had completely vanished, leaving only exposed Divine Meridians radiating divine power. This barely suppressed the deep crimson killing aura clinging to the stump.
His other hand, its bones starkly visible, clutched the Yueguang Divine Spear.
The Divine Light of the Yueguang Divine Spear was now scattered and fading, teetering on the brink of dissipating entirely.
Their final strike had been a desperate, all-or-nothing move. The terrifying recoil had obliterated half of Han Yi's arm, a brutal outcome.
Now, he could barely make out the far end of the Chaos. Gasping for breath, he dragged the Yueguang and fled into the distance.
Unbeknownst to him, Daoist Suxi's condition at the opposite end of the Chaos was even worse.
Not only had her Dao Body been completely annihilated, but her Dao Soul had also suffered catastrophic damage. The fragmented soul had been absorbed into the body of the Great True Saint Sword.
The sword trembled slightly, but instead of pursuing Han Yi, it turned and fled in the opposite direction.
The battle had pushed the Ancient Artifact, the Great True Saint Sword, to its absolute limits.
"What a truly exhilarating fight," it mused.
"That fellow isn't weak. We'll need Moon Blossom's help to make this more interesting."
"It's a pity that spear lost its spirituality, and I severely damaged its body. I hope for a new surprise next time we meet."
The Holy Sword pierced through the Chaos and vanished.
Near the Holy Sword, several powerful Dao Harmonization cultivators closed in to intercept it. But as soon as they touched the deep crimson Sword Intent surrounding the blade, they hastily retreated.
The murderous aura within that Sword Intent made their hearts tremble. If they were caught in its full force, they would undoubtedly suffer minor injuries.
Therefore, they could only watch as the Holy Sword faded into the distance.
Then, they turned and pursued Han Yi, who had fled.
With their keen senses, they could clearly discern that although both weapons in the recent battle were Ancient Artifacts, the golden longspear was slightly inferior.
Perhaps intercepting that golden longspear and ambushing the young man would be easier for them.
Meanwhile, Han Yi, fleeing through the Chaos, sensed that the terrifying Sword Intent behind him had not pursued. Though he breathed a slight sigh of relief, he simultaneously detected faint auras closing in from behind.
He frowned and let out a cold snort:
"A path to death!"
Instead of continuing to flee, he turned and charged back toward the approaching figures.
His sudden charge left the dozen or so cultivators pursuing him pale with shock. But escape was impossible; Han Yi's speed far surpassed that of a Dao Harmonization Realm cultivator. Though severely injured and missing an arm, he remained a formidable combatant.
Swinging the Yueguang Ancient Artifact, Divine Light flashed, transforming into a colossal spectral form that split the Chaos and swept forward in a fan-like arc.
The five cultivators closest to him, unable to evade in time, were instantly reduced to dust by the Divine Light. Among them was even a Dao Harmonization Realm cultivator.
After unleashing this attack, Han Yi coughed violently, spitting blood. His divine power and aura plummeted dramatically, and the Divine Light of Yueguang dissipated, its restraint shattered.
Witnessing this, the surviving cultivators paled, fleeing for their lives.
Han Yi ignored them, wiping the Divine Blood from the corner of his mouth. Gripping Yueguang, he resumed his escape into the distance, making no effort to conceal his grievous injuries. His earlier attack served as a warning to nearby cultivators: to pursue him now would be to gamble with their lives. And if he still possessed combat strength, any who followed would surely perish.
This display of extreme ruthlessness chilled the hearts of the cultivators, deterring them from any further pursuit.
As the cultivators dispersed, Han Yi fled deeper into the Chaos, the Great True Saint Sword employing its Escape Technique. With this, the battle near the Myriad Journeys Palace finally came to an end.