Chương 360: Earth stabilizing mountain

"I really don't know what to call you, an overconfident fool or a fearless idiot." Zhou Zheng sneered and began to circulate his energy.

"I no longer wish to waste my time on you. Rest assured, I'll make sure you don't die quickly at all."

"I prefer to call myself a confident person. I've honestly waited for this day when I get to experience the strength of a top deity for myself. I just didn't expect it would come so soon." Long Feng slowly descended to the same height as Zhou Zheng.

"You know, we've actually met before. Twice actually, not including this time." He continued casually, not bothered by the brewing energy around Zhou Zheng.

"The first time we met, or should I say, I met you was in the Dao Heaven Hall. Back then, the difference between us was extremely wide. You could kill me with a single touch, and I wasn't worth your attention at all." Zhou Zheng paused and stared at Long Feng solemnly without attacking just yet.

"The second time we met was just days ago, by the spitting dragon fountain. I had my eyes on the true essence pills which you took, but I was unable to do anything about it as you sauntered away with them. Although I had greatly lessened the gap between us, I still wasn't your match, and still wasn't worth your glance." Zhou Zheng's eyelids began to twitch.

He clearly recalled when he forcefully took three true essence pills from the spitting dragon fountain just days ago and even killed some disciples in an overwhelming display of strength, but he couldn't recall seeing Long Feng's face at all. Long Feng smiled thinly.

"Don't waste your time thinking. This actually counts as the first time you've actually seen me as worth your attention. For you, it means nothing. But for me, I can confirm one thing… I've become much stronger than before. Strong enough to make you and all the other deities to view me in a new light… strong enough to close the gap between us. Now… I'm afraid you're no longer able to threaten me." Zhou Zheng's nostrils flared as he glared at Long Feng.

"What bold words! Looks like no one ever told you what the deity realm means and how vast the gap between you weaklings and us deities really is. As long as you're still an Imperial, you'll always be an insignificant brat and I can kill you anytime!" After saying that, Zhou Zheng took a heavy step forward and hurled a fist straight at Long Feng. A column of extremely dense brown energy swept towards Long Feng, sweeping up a powerful gust of wind that disrupted the surroundings.

Zhou Zheng's aura was fully released the moment he attacked, surging into the sky and alerting many others nearby. Just this punch was enough to defeat a peak Imperial and even kill them, and it contained no profound skill or technique. Long Feng's smile didn't fade in the face of the attack.

"I haven't used this in a while… let's see how it is when used with an intent." He thought and extended an arm at the quick approaching column of energy.

"Three layered waves demon annihilation." He muttered softly. Great clouds of roiling demon energy bellowed out of his body and blanketed the area around him in soul chilling darkness that seemed able to devour life. Zhou Zheng's lips twitched as he sensed the power of the demon energy.

"This brat… he actually comprehended the Demon Intent as an Imperial! I only recently comprehended the earth intent…" he couldn't help but feel envious in his heart.

"Hmph. Even if he has great comprehension abilities, he would still die today. I will be eliminating a future threat by killing him today!" The roiling demon energy rapidly condensed and manifested a pitch black towering figure roaring at the sky. A dense wave of berserk energy swept out of the figure and dispersed the clouds in the sky including most of the energy behind Zhou Zheng's punch.

Two scarlet eyes opened on the face of the figure and what appeared to be a large mouth occupied nearly the entirety of the face. The figure roared once more and punched out a clenched fist that utterly destroyed Zhou Zheng's column of fist energy. The demon figure only faded a little bit in the process. Zhou Zheng's eyes flashed as genuine shock filled his heart for the first time. That was just a casual fist, but this brat was merely a rank six Imperial.

He should've died instantly without leaving even a proper corpse! How could he unleash such shocking energy to block the fist? The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Zhou Zheng began to realize that he had underestimated Long Feng a bit too much. Perhaps he would have to get slightly serious to overwhelm the latter. Snorting, he took another step forward.

"Palty tricks! Watch me destroy your move easily!" He punched out once more, unleashing a greater amount of energy. A massive boulder manifested in the air, appearing extremely realistic and almost no different from a real boulder. Merely the pressure it emanated would be enough to make some peak Imperials to lose their will to fight entirely. Long Feng's eyes glimmered faintly. He naturally recognized this move.

This was the second move Zhou Zheng had used against those three peak Imperials he killed back at the spitting dragon fountain. It had reduced them to an extremely pitiful state even though they managed to withstand it at the cost of burning their life sources.

"Good. Show me exactly how you'll destroy my skill with your move." He smiled and made a seal, causing the demon figure to roar a third time while unleashing a frighteningly dense amount of demon energy surging all around. The figure lifted both it's huge arms and brought them down on the boulder which was descending towards Long Feng with the intent of crushing him. The boulder shook fiercely and began to crumble, but it didn't break apart instantly. The rebound force faded the demon figure significantly as well.

The figure didn't relent. It began to unleash a barrage of punches on the boulder untill it crumbled to pieces and dispersed. By then, the demon figure was already transparent and had lost a great deal of energy. Long Feng was still indifferent. He could easily replenish the demon figure's energy, but he didn't bother to do so. Instead, he casually dispersed the figure and withdrew his demon energy completely while staring at Zhou Zheng lazily.

"I must admit, I am disappointed. If you keep holding back, then you'll lose miserably. I haven't even began to warm up yet." Zhou Zheng's heart was really shaking in disbelief at this point. Nothing was making sense. A strange sense of danger had even began to brew in his mind; something he hadn't sensed in a long time. He was now beginning to realize that Long Feng wasn't just some tiny anomaly. Instead, he was the original anomaly among Imperials!

His strength completely defied everything Zhou Zheng already knew. Zhou Zheng was forced to admit that he would need to use his real strength to defeat Long Feng. Untill now, he didn't harbor even the slightest thought that Long Feng might defeat him. It simply wasn't possible and could never be. Anything could happen but an Imperial, a rank six Imperial at that could never threaten a deity.

"You're right. I need to get more serious if I want to kill you. You'll be the very first Imperial to ever witness my Earth Stabilizing technique… you can be proud of yourself." He acknowledged with a nod.

"Your demon energy is strong, but you lack the skills to unleash it's true power. Let me allow you to witness the true strength of a deity." A dense aura began to seep out of his body as he prepared to use his real strength. By now, the wanton spread of his energy had already drew several nearby disciples. They kept their distance to avoid being drawn into the fray while staring in shock as Zhou Zheng fully released his strength.

"That's definitely Zhou Zheng! The aura of earth is extremely thick even from here. Only he has such high attainments in the earth Dao."

"But who is he be fighting? I know it's definitely one of the other deities. Could it be Yang Qian?"

"I'm not sure. We're too far away and the other person hasn't released their aura so we can't guess who it is. Let's wait and see for now."

"Hey, did you guys hear about the new deity that recently broke through?"

"Che! So lucky! I guess the top ten geniuses will now become eleven."

"Says who? He's a new deity, far from being comparable to the top ten. Any of them can beat him in under five moves. Besides, they'll be becoming inner peak disciples soon."

"Right… look, Zhou Zheng has attacked!" The scattered discussions instantly ceased as everyone focused on sensing the distant battle. Zhou Zheng's aura had gradually become extremely heavy, slightly affecting the gravity around them. With a confident smile on his face, he approached Long Feng slowly, each step seemingly as heavy as a rock.

"This is my earth stabilizing technique. I can manipulate the earth Dao to unleash the full power of the earth and mountains." He was moving slowly, but each step covered several meters and he stood mere meters away from Long Feng after a few steps.

"Eat my fist! Falling boulder fist!" His clenched fist swept towards Long Feng, releasing a heavy force that was no doubt as heavy as a huge boulder tumbling down from the sky. The air between Long Feng and the approaching fist was compressed repeatedly until it exploded, increasing the power and speed of the fist. Long Feng tried to retreat backward only to discover that his body weight had increased drastically, affecting his agility.

Within the short span of a few milliseconds, he crossed his arms before his chest just as the fist slammed into him. A powerful wave of energy spread out after the impact and Long Feng was blown far away. The strength of the fist was incomparable to anything he had faced head on before and it sent him spinning for several dozen meters before he stabilized himself and dispersed the force.

"Strong! I don't think I can take a few more of his direct hits on my body." He glanced at his shivering arms and assessed. His body was still at the Imperial realm. Even if he reinforced himself with his powerful energy, it still wouldn't be enough to tank several attacks from a powerful early stage deity.

"Huh? You actually blocked that?" Zhou Zheng frowned deeply as he stared at Long Feng. Although his attack actually overwhelmed Long Feng this time, it wasn't the result Zhou Zheng was hoping for. If he was holding back greatly before, then this attack was him genuinely using his strength excluding his true essence. That was something even weaker deities would find hard to withstand unharmed.

"What in the world are you?" He muttered while holding his breath. The foreboding feeling which he suppressed in his heart began to reappear once more. Long Feng loosened his arms and flew over once more, closing the distance between them.

"Say, did that attack include your true essence? It didn't feel as powerful as I expected." He was genuinely curious. The attack was powerful, but anyone could tell that he wasn't even serious at all, which meant it hadn't managed to shake him. Zhou Zheng's eyes blazed with rage.

"Hmph! You think you're worthy of me using my true essence against you? Quit overestimating yourself!" Long Feng paused and raised his right arm to touch his void ring.

"I'm not worthy? Very well. Let's see how long you can last without using your precious true essence." His act of touching his void ring instantly sent chills up Zhou Zheng's spine for no reason. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt compelled to attack right now before Long Feng made a move. Having no time to think, Zhou Zheng stretched both of his arms and clasped them together heavily.

"Earth Stabilizing Mountain! First form!" A burst of brown earth energy swept up a storm in the area as a tall mountain manifested in the air above both Long Feng and Zhou Zheng. The mountain was massive, twice the size and grandeur of the mountain he unleashed back at the spitting dragon fountain. This was among the true essence of the earth stabilizing technique, the real earth stabilizing mountain! The earth below seemed to cave in slightly from the weight of the mountain even before it began it's descent.

Gravity nearly doubled, forcing Long Feng to decrease his height in the air.

"Diee!" Zhou Zheng roared and brought his clasped arms down. A low rumble echoed as the mountain pressed down. The tiny movement compressed the air beneath it greatly and caused great explosions that echoed through a great deal of the mystic realm. Those watching were forced to retreat again and stare dumbfounded as the huge mountain pressed down. Even with it's size, the Mountain's descent was anything but slow. Within seconds, it would impact against the ground.

The earth caved in dramatically as the mountain finally crushed down, sending minor quakes through nearly half of the realm. Spider web like cracks extended rapidly from the point of impact and spread out, completely destroying all vegetation and life in a few mile radius.