I Can See Your Combat Power

A Zen master once said that the method to eternal happiness is to never argue with foolish people.

Intelligent people are roughly similar, but fools are indeed diverse in their foolishness. However, there is one situation where even the wisest appear exceedingly foolish, and that is during moments of anger—the angrier one gets, the more foolish they become.

Although Tang Luo did not know why the Grandmaster before him suddenly became so emotional, he had no familial or personal ties with the man and saw no reason to engage in an argument over principles with a Grandmaster.

Regardless of winning or losing the argument, there were no benefits. If you won, the only one to profit was him, and yet he would not think well of you. If you lost, that was even more common, because fools are very good at dragging your understanding down to their level, then using their rich experience to defeat you.

Life is too short. Why bother with such pointless disputes, insistent on advising a Grandmaster? Tang Luo felt he was truly acting the fool.

Discarding the paper booklet in his hand, Tang Luo made a respectful bow with his hands together and humbly said, “For a junior with shallow cultivation to speak rashly of profound abilities was indeed wrong. The elder surely has an ample grasp of them. Please consider my earlier words as nothing more than the ignorant jest of a youth, and don’t take them to heart.”

It was as if punching into cotton; Chen Menglu felt decades of pent-up frustration rise to his throat. He could never have imagined that the young man before him would admit his mistake so directly and even agree with him.

For a researcher of the martial path with such astonishing talent, shouldn’t he be defending his own judgments? This made Chen Menglu feel an inexplicable sense of humiliation. After all, it was he who was the Grandmaster, the one who had delved deepest into the study of the Four Imperial Spirit Seals. Yet this young man, in just a short quarter-hour, had managed to stand on higher ground and look down upon him.

The booklet Tang Luo casually tossed aside was not just a collection of pages, but the very embodiment of Chen Menglu’s hundred years of dedication to researching the Four Imperial Spirit Seals and the pride of the entire Four Imperial Spirit Realms.

Without a word, Chen Menglu walked over, bent down, and carefully picked up the paper booklet with both hands, then gently wiped away the dust on its surface before standing upright again.

It was only a thin booklet, yet it felt as heavy as a thousand-pound coffin, held in the hands of the last descendant of the Four Imperial Spirit Realms, with all of the bitter despair resting upon Chen Menglu’s shoulders.

“So, is there truly no path left for the Four Imperial Spirit Seals?”

The Grandmaster, with his back turned to Tang Luo, asked faintly, his trembling silhouette resembling the sobs of a helpless child.

“Elder, your talent is exc…”

“Tell the truth!”

Chen Menglu spun around abruptly, gripping the paper booklet tightly in his hand. The refined middle-aged man now had eyes filled with a wild, man-eating fury. The Spiritual Energy of the world seemed to sense the emotion of the ruler of this illusion, churning violently, transforming into an intense void storm that swept outwards from the altar at its center.

Blue skies and white clouds, city walls and the land, all the citizens of the town—everything was shattered and obliterated, revealing the true form of the Four Imperial Spirit Realms: the fractured earth, the floating ancient fragments, and the desolate void.

“Elder, whether or not there is a path ahead for the Four Imperial Spirit Seals, don’t you already know in your heart?”

Tang Luo stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his face expressionless as he responded coolly. He did not like Chen Menglu’s attitude at this moment at all. It was just an illusion, and did he really think that by being in it, Tang Luo would be at his mercy, that this display would scare anyone?

The power of his soul burst forth, and a black sphere emerged, collapsing the void around it. The entire space shook violently as if it couldn’t bear Tang Luo’s soul, emitting sounds of being overwhelmed.

As the master of the Illusionary Dream Space, Chen Menglu certainly felt that this illusion was on the verge of collapse, about to be completely shattered, and the reason for this was that Tang Luo’s soul was too “real.”

Even the Power of Truth that the Illusionary Dream Space couldn’t bear was becoming heavier with each breath, and within ten more breaths at most, his proud Illusionary Dream Space would be crushed into nothingness by this Power of Truth.

If he was not there, that is.

The Dharma Body manipulated the Spiritual Power within the illusion, conjuring four seals in the void, the Four Imperial Spirit Seals. The four great elements, which were being squeezed and pushed by the Power of Truth, suddenly seemed to find their commander. The originally chaotic space began to evolve, the mixed elements separating neatly under the direction of the Four Imperial Spirit Seals.

Fire caused water to evaporate, forming land; the rising steam then surrounded the fire within a circular mist, creating the sun, moon, and heaven.

Under the influence of the Four Imperial Spirit Seals, the space that was about to shatter was once again stabilized. A floating land appeared, lifting the holy altar and bearing the brunt of the black sphere’s Power of Truth.

Chen Menglu, having just reconstructed the floating land, also pulled himself out of the inexplicable grief and anger, knowing that his overreaction had left a bad impression on the young man before him. He apologized, “Please do not blame me, young friend. I have practiced the Four Imperial Spirit Seals for over one hundred and thirty years, constantly seeking the path forward. But after decades of being trapped on Mount Xumi, besides an increase in Spiritual Power, I saw no way forward. Just now, upon hearing your assertion that the Four Imperial Spirit Seals had no path, I was agitated and behaved discourteously. I hope you can forgive me.”

If apologies were useful, what’s the point of martial arts training? Had it not been for Tang Luo’s sudden eruption of soul power bringing Chen Menglu back to his senses, who knows what a Grandmaster, agitated yet undisciplined, would have done. Such an apology was utterly unnecessary.

“I cannot accept the Grandmaster’s apology,” Tang Luo said coldly. “But there are two issues that need to be resolved. Just now, in your rage, you shattered the illusion into nothingness, not only destroying the city of Hou Tu but also obliterating all the jade coins I had earned in the past two days. This will affect my performance in the second challenge, so I would ask you to return the jade coins. Also, since I have discovered that the trial ground is an illusion and you intervened, does that mean that while others have three days for the trial, mine ends after only two? With one less day to earn jade coins compared to other challengers, how do you plan to compensate me?”

“You are absolutely right, young friend. Please retract your soul power first,” Chen Menglu said with a wry smile. “I will certainly give you a satisfactory explanation.”

“I hope so,” Tang Luo said, his face still void of emotion as he retracted his soul back into his body. Without the formidable Power of Truth, the realm once again became stable.

The Four Imperial Spirit Seals hanging in the void flashed anew, and incredibly, the illusion started to reverse time, returning to the exact state it was when Chen Menglu first encountered Tang Luo, down to the last detail.

Tang Luo was astonished by this mystical technique because he had never imagined that an environment so shattered could be restored to its original state, including every person’s expression and posture, without any discrepancy.

If it had been just the illusion’s own creations, that might have been acceptable, but the blank documents and the inkstone and brushes he had brought from the outside—real objects—were meant to prevent items from the illusion from being taken out, which was why he had the people of the city of Hou Tu record information on them.

Tang Luo had personally witnessed these “real” items being scattered by the tumultuous void storm, but now they too had been perfectly restored, challenging his understanding of the martial path.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!