Up ahead, Xu Yuan Huai, who had been shielding his sister from the blade energy, suddenly turned around. Seeing his father’s arrival, he was both shocked and delighted.

“Father, why have you come?”

The cold-faced youth hurriedly went to greet him.

Only Ji Xuan smiled and called out “State Preceptor,” showing no surprise as if he had known he would come.

Xu Ping Feng examined his second son and smiled:

“Not bad, your cultivation has progressed again. Entering Fourth Rank is just around the corner.”

Receiving his father’s praise, Xu Yuan Huai’s stern face broke into a smile, satisfied like a child.

Clear light flickered in Xu Yuan Shuang’s eyes as she observed the white-robed figure, and said in surprise:

“Father, this isn’t your true body…”

The fate lines around the father before her were strange, not what a normal person should have.

“Just a puppet avatar. The Supervisor is watching outside Cloud Province, so my true body couldn’t come. Using the companion artifact left by the Insect Elder, I used the ‘Star Shift’ technique to deceive Teacher Supervisor’s fate-viewing arts.”

Xu Ping Feng explained briefly, his gaze passing over Xu Yuan Shuang to look at Ji Xuan:

“Are you ready?”

So that’s it… Xu Yuan Shuang suddenly understood. At her father’s and the Supervisor’s level, the artifacts and techniques in the technician system for concealing heavenly secrets were no longer effective against them.

To deceive the Supervisor, one had to use methods from other systems.

But if Father’s true body hadn’t come, didn’t that mean the Supervisor had already locked onto him, and even the Insect Elder’s techniques couldn’t slip past heaven’s notice?

Ji Xuan didn’t answer immediately. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, seeming to use this to calm his emotions.

“Ready at any time, State Preceptor.”

The siblings Xu Yuan Shuang and Xu Yuan Huai curiously observed their father and Ji Xuan.

Xu Ping Feng nodded in satisfaction and rapidly drew with his finger in the air. One by one, formation patterns containing heaven and earth principles appeared, orderly falling onto various parts of the wind-riding boat, attaching to the deck, masts, and railings.

In the blink of an eye, the entire wind-riding boat was covered with information patterns.

Xu Yuan Shuang opened her beautiful eyes wide, trying hard to memorize those incomprehensible symbols. For a technician, these seemingly meaningless symbols were the greatest treasure.

After Xu Ping Feng finished laying the formation, Xu Yuan Shuang couldn’t help but ask:

“Father, what formation is this?”

That it would require him to personally draw it…

Before advancing to the Fourth Rank, technicians would go through a long process of “memorizing formations.”

This “memorizing formations” meant imprinting all controllable formations in their minds. After advancing to the Fourth Rank, those formations branded in their minds would become instinct.

When deployed, they would form naturally with a mere thought.

The Bureau of Astronomy had two great formation classics, “Heaven’s Array” and “Earth’s Array,” totaling one hundred and eight great formations. Each great formation was further divided into dozens of smaller formations.

At seventeen years old, Xu Yuan Shuang could remember two great formations, which had nearly caused her hairline to recede.

But she knew that technicians of her father’s rank had long since memorized “Heaven’s Array” and “Earth’s Array” by heart, deploying formations at will.

A formation that required him to personally inscribe must be of the most profound type.

“What formation?” Xu Ping Feng looked at his daughter and smiled:

“This is the formation your father used to steal Great Tang’s national fortune back then. Of course, compared to that world-shocking great formation, this formation is simplified many times over.

“It has only one function—to gather fortune.”

[Continued in next section…]

The old man transformed into a “blade” and struck the surface of the golden bell, the piercing sound echoing through the heavens.

Xu Qi An was not far from the battlefield and was first to be affected, instantly losing his hearing, his ears ringing incessantly.

The people on South Peak’s summit similarly suffered from the ringing in their ears, covering them in pain, having no energy to consider the battle’s next direction or situation changes.

“Crack!”

After a brief stalemate of about ten seconds, a crack appeared on the golden bell’s surface.

At the same time, the old man’s “single blade force” was exhausted.

The majestic and towering golden body didn’t give him a chance to strike a second blade. The arm holding the golden divine sword swung, bringing the divine sword slashing down.

The warrior’s crisis sense gave a dodge prompt, and the old man turned into an afterimage, avoiding to one side.

Crash!

Amid the sound of the mountain collapsing, the divine sword cut down massive amounts of rolling stones. This sword had no qi fluctuations, but before it, Dog Rong Mountain’s main peak was like a pile of sand.

Easily toppled.

At this moment, Vajra Asura seized the opportunity to retreat to the Vajra Avatar’s shoulder.

No place was safer than here.

The sword strike missed, and before it could be withdrawn, a golden staff came crashing down from above.

“Boom!”

Countless rock fragments exploded as Dog Rong Mountain’s main peak was thoroughly blasted, becoming shorter by a section.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The old man relied on his warrior’s crisis sense, moving like an agile cockroach, sometimes left, sometimes right, appearing and disappearing.

The Vajra Avatar’s twenty-four arms moved in unison, continuously bringing down knives, swords, staffs, and clubs.

The strikes sent rocks flying through the air as Dog Rong Mountain’s main peak cracked again and again, thousands of tons of earth and rock blasting away.

Boom!

The golden staff struck down, and the old man’s figure shattered, his true body appearing on the tree-trunk-thick staff.

Thump thump thump… He ran along the staff toward the avatar that was taller than the mountain peak.

He ran faster and faster, like a howling blade, the air around him distorting.

The blade edge pointed directly at the Vajra Avatar’s brow.

Clap!

The Vajra Avatar’s two giant palms clapped together as if swatting a fly, catching the old man between them.

The next moment, the palms began shaking violently, unable to close completely.

After several seconds of stalemate, amid a muffled explosion, the palms were forced apart as the old man broke through, covered in blood, his limbs twisted unnaturally, and his chest caved in.

The Second Rank warrior’s body had been broken by the avatar’s single strike.

The Vajra Avatar gave him no chance to catch his breath, knowing such attacks were unlikely to kill a transcendent warrior with tenacious vitality, and fierce attacks continued in succession.

The golden body, hundreds of zhang tall, radiated myriad rays of Buddhist light, turning Dog Rong Mountain’s surroundings for dozens of li golden.

Its presence was more terrifying than the abyss, causing all living beings within range of the Buddhist light to tremble and prostrate themselves.

“Alliance… Alliance Leader Cao, what’s happening…”

Fu Jing Men knelt on both knees, his whole body trembling as he lowered his head.

Sweat rolled down Cao Qing Yang’s forehead as he similarly prostrated himself in an undignified posture.

Originally, with his half-step transcendent cultivation, he shouldn’t have been so helpless. But heavily injured and after a great battle, his condition was extremely poor—at this moment, he wasn’t much better than Fu Jing Men and the others.

“Is… is this a legendary Arhat? Bodhisattva?”

The Sword Province Chamber of Commerce Chairman, Old Man Qiao’s thick lips trembled as he squeezed out his guess haltingly.

The Ancestral Patriarch was already a Second Rank warrior and could suppress him to a disadvantage. This avatar must be some Arhat or Bodhisattva. Vajras were Third Rank, and Third Rank couldn’t suppress a Second Rank warrior—this was simple logic.

It would have been better if he hadn’t spoken, but once he did, it ignited the panic in the Martial Alliance members’ hearts.

Why would an Arhat or Bodhisattva appear here?

Why would Buddhism invest such resources to deal with the Martial Alliance?

Silver Badge Xu was heavily injured and couldn’t fight anymore, the Ancestral Patriarch couldn’t support alone—could they win?

Question after question arose in everyone’s hearts, bringing anxiety and tension, fear and unease.

Cao Qing Yang remained silent, his expression grave, his eyes showing traces of agitation.

From when the two Vajras appeared, he had known Sun Xuan Ji was hiding something from him, blurring the enemy’s intelligence.

But because Silver Badge Xu had fought one against three, took down the Witch God Cult’s Rain Master, showing super strong battle power, and then the Ancestral Patriarch broke through to Second Rank, perfectly handling the situation.

He hadn’t taken this matter to heart.

He had only thought his status wasn’t enough, that Sun Xuan Ji didn’t have the patience to tell him in detail.

Until now, seeing this terrifyingly peerless avatar descend, Cao Qing Yang couldn’t help but begin to doubt—perhaps Sun Xuan Ji’s deliberate concealment wasn’t out of disdain, but because even this second disciple of the Supervisor lacked confidence in certain victory.

Revealing true intelligence would only be spreading defeatism.

This mountain assault battle had reached this point, with both sides revealing trump cards endlessly, back and forth, completely exceeding Cao Qing Yang’s imagined limits.

He even feared the enemy might have even stronger backup plans.

Speak of the devil—suddenly Xiao Yue Nu’s surprised cry rang out:

“Who is that!”

Cao Qing Yang and others barely raised their heads to look. In the distance, the Ancestral Patriarch was still entangled with the avatar, showing nothing unusual.

A second later, everyone realized Xiao Yue Nu was pointing toward Xu Qi An’s direction.

[Final section follows…]

Having received Buddhist intelligence from Bai Ji, Xu Qi An was intimately familiar with the avatars controlled by existing First Rank Bodhisattvas and had a vague guess in his heart.

But without verification, he couldn’t be certain.

“This is the Vajra Avatar!”

A gentle, familiar voice came from not far behind.

In an instant, Xu Qi An had a startled reaction like his hair standing on end—turn and strike, unleash a full-power normal attack!

But he forcefully suppressed this impulse because he sensed no hostility or killing intent from the other party.

Therefore his warrior’s crisis sense gave no feedback.

Xu Qi An turned around “unhurriedly” to see a white-robed figure standing with hands behind his back, floating in the void, looking at him with gentle eyes.

This person’s features somewhat resembled his own and his second uncle’s.

Xu Ping Feng!

After seeing it wasn’t his true body, Xu Qi An relaxed inwardly and sneered:

“Mere avatar, you dare to bluster before me.”

Don’t panic, don’t panic, his true body is being watched by the Supervisor, he can’t come… Xu Qi An focused his senses on his surroundings, not letting down his guard at all.

“It’s precisely because this is an avatar that I could suppress my hostility toward you just now and come to speak with you for a moment.”

Xu Ping Feng kept his hands behind his back, smiling gently.

His tone was also gentle and calm as if the relationship between them wasn’t that of an estranged father and son, but rather a loving father and son.

“We have nothing to discuss.”

Xu Qi An gripped the Great Peace Blade in his left hand and the Nation Stabilizing Sword in his right.

Xu Ping Feng tilted his head to look at the old man being pushed back in the distance and smiled:

“The Vajra Avatar is unmatched in both attack and defense. A single drop of essence blood contains Bodhisattva Kalavruksa’s power and his insights into the Vajra Avatar. You should know that the reason Kalavruksa could become Buddhism’s number one combat Bodhisattva was because of this Vajra Avatar.

“Why is Shen Shu so powerful? Also because of the Vajra Avatar.

“This isn’t something an old man who just entered Second Rank can defeat.”

He’s indirectly telling me that the avatar Shen Shu revealed is the Vajra Avatar! Just that it underwent some mutation… Xu Qi An remained silent, his mind spinning rapidly as he pondered Xu Ping Feng’s purpose in appearing.

After this brief commentary, Xu Ping Feng withdrew his gaze, no longer paying attention to the battle, and said:

“Ning Yan, as father and son, I’ll give you one last chance.

“I’m willing to accept you. Come back with me to Cloud Province, and all past grievances will be written off. I’ll find a way to help you remove the Demon Sealing Nail.

“As for the royal clan’s side, you need not worry. As long as you make a heavenly oath not to claim the throne, they will be delighted to have you join.

“You know that reclaiming the national fortune doesn’t necessarily require extraction. Recruiting you under our banner would similarly strengthen Potential Dragon City’s fortune.”

Xu Qi An stared at him for several seconds, then smiled:

“If recruiting me would be equally effective, why did you try to kill me that day?”

Xu Ping Feng sighed:

“You grew too quickly. From your rise until now, it’s only been a bit over a year. Recruiting you carried too much risk, especially with your character—you would rather break than bend. Would you have been willing to betray Great Tang?”

Xu Qi An looked at him like an idiot:

“And now I would be willing?”

Xu Ping Feng said:

“Great Tang’s foundations are shaking in the wind and rain, the common people can barely survive—you’ve seen all this. I’m coming to you today also because of your character.

“Soon I will rise. With Buddhism’s aid, Teacher Supervisor’s mountain can no longer remain unmoved. Join Potential Dragon City, and help overthrow this corrupt dynasty, and only then can the common people live good lives.

“Ning Yan, this is also what you want to see, what you’ve been striving for all along. Your shared fate with the Great Tang can also be easily resolved.

“After dual cultivation with Luo Yu Heng, you’re already at mid-Third Rank. Peak Third Rank is just around the corner. When the time comes, you can take Mo Nan Chi’s spirit essence and step into Second Rank.

“Remember what I told you that day in the capital? If you can achieve Unity with the Dao, you won’t die from having the national fortune extracted.”

Xu Qi An gave no response, remaining silent.

Xu Ping Feng continued:

“Your mother betrayed her family to save your life, secretly going to the capital to give birth to you.

“These twenty years, she’s been under house arrest in Potential Dragon City, unable to take a single step away. Though she never said it, I know she misses you greatly, secretly inquiring about news of you through Yuan Shuang.

“Watching you grow step by step, achieving fame and glory, this past year and more, the smile on her face has grown increasingly frequent.

“Yuan Shuang and Yuan Huai are your siblings. Because of me, they harbor some hostility toward you, but even Yuan Huai merely can’t accept you. He bears no true hatred.

“If you’re willing to let go of the conflict between us and submit to Potential Dragon City, everything you currently have won’t change. You’ll gain a mother, a sister, a brother, and Cloud Province.

“After completing the great enterprise of dominating the Central Plains, Cloud Province will be renamed Xu Province. You are my eldest son—Xu Province will be yours in the future, belonging to your line.”

And then raise descendants who lie on their ancestors’ merit books, picking up their bowls to eat while putting them down to curse?

Xu Qi An said flatly:

“And if I disagree?”

Xu Ping Feng slowly withdrew his smile, looking down from above:

“You fear me so much you cannot sleep at night.”

He disdained petty mockery, yet these words carried the most biting sarcasm in the world.

You’re so terrified of me that you can’t eat or sleep properly. Here I am, extending an olive branch from a position of strength – shouldn’t you, the weaker party, feel honored, feel fortunate, feel relieved?