Chapter 122: The Star Palace

Milk-white and dark-gold radiance continued to run rampant. Within a radius of several hundred meters, nearly every tree was destroyed in the blink of an eye.

Shockwaves spread in all directions like surging tides. Even the members of the Heavenly King Alliance below could barely keep their footing, tumbling and sprawling in disarray.

In the void, Ye Feng stood motionless, gazing at the young man opposite him. His expression remained calm, but his heart was in turmoil.

At last, he could be certain that the young expert before him was a powerhouse with one foot already across the threshold of the Spirit Emperor realm.

The Spirit Emperor realm appeared to be only one stage above the Spirit Sovereign realm, yet the difference in strength between them was like that between heaven and earth. Once one entered the Spirit Emperor realm, all living beings truly became no more than ants.

Some exceptionally gifted Spirit King experts might be able to defeat ordinary Spirit Sovereigns across a major realm. Yet never had a Spirit Sovereign defeated a Spirit Emperor.

No matter how heaven-defying one’s talent was, merely surviving beneath the hand of a Spirit Emperor was already an extraordinary achievement.

“Who exactly are you? As far as the Holy Land is concerned, I’ve never heard of anyone who had one foot in the Spirit Emperor realm.” Ye Feng stared at him expressionlessly.

The young man gradually calmed down. “Who I am is unimportant. What matters is whether you truly are that seed.”

A chilling, soul-shaking glint flashed through his eyes as he stared at Ye Feng. “In ancient times, the Guardians possessed unrivaled combat strength. If you truly are that heaven-defying seed, how could you be so useless?”

A storm surged within Ye Feng’s heart. He was utterly shocked. Apart from a few ancient monsters, no one among those of the same generation should have known this earth-shattering secret. Yet this man had exposed it in a single sentence. Ye Feng nearly cried out in alarm.

He stared coldly at his opponent and realized how passive his position was—not merely in terms of strength. The young man before him seemed to know about Ye Feng’s past, while Ye Feng knew nothing about him.

The young man calmly observed his reaction. “Are you truly that heaven-defying seed?”

Ye Feng’s heart pounded violently, and cold sweat had already soaked through his clothes. A certain possibility suddenly occurred to him.

There was absolutely no way the Holy Land could possess such a heaven-defying young expert. Then this man…

With that thought in mind, Ye Feng slowly raised his head and gazed toward the highest heavens.

Seeing his reaction, the young man’s expression became somewhat complicated. He looked at Ye Feng and remained silent for a long while.

After quite some time, two icy rays suddenly shot from his eyes. A bone-chilling aura enveloped Ye Feng, while invisible killing intent spread throughout the area.

“You’re very clever. You managed to guess my origins so quickly. That only further proves that you are indeed that heaven-defying seed.” The young man once again became haughty and self-assured. With an arrogant air, he said, “Remember this: the one who kills you is the Seventh Son of the Star Palace—Star Cloud.”

Guessing was one thing, but when the man truly revealed his identity, Ye Feng’s heart gave a violent spasm.

The Star Palace of the Heavenly Realm—a lofty existence above all others. An existence whose every word became law and whose every action set the standard. An existence at the very pinnacle of the pyramid of the Martial Soul Continent. An existence comparable to the ancient Guardians.

“The Star Palace, which has not shown itself in the mortal world for centuries, has actually made a move. Could it be that your Star Palace was involved in the ancient cataclysm as well?” Ye Feng asked coldly, staring at Star Cloud.

“No matter how glib your tongue is, you cannot escape death today. I’ll tell you the truth: I descended to the lower realm for the sole purpose of killing you. The balance of the continent has endured for ten thousand years. It cannot be disrupted.” Star Cloud was extremely arrogant, his every word carrying the air of one who stood above all others.

Ye Feng naturally noticed his expression, but he could not understand when the Ye Family had offended such a formidable enemy. Logically speaking, no matter how powerful the Ye Family was, it should have been merely on par with—or even inferior to—the Holy Land. How could it have drawn out the Star Palace of the Heavenly Realm, a powerful force that had vanished from the mortal world?

From his initial crushing defeat to the stalemate after activating the Heavenly King Reversal, the situation had left Ye Feng deeply bewildered. The only way to describe his opponent was unfathomable.

This was truly a terrifying young man. Since embarking upon the path of cultivation, Ye Feng had never encountered a young expert with one foot in the Spirit Emperor realm. Even the former number-one expert of the Tianwu Empire had not possessed such cultivation.

At present, the strongest young experts on the continent had, at most, reached the high stage of the Spirit Sovereign realm. If such a young expert suddenly emerged from the Holy Land, the Tianwu Empire would likely be in grave danger.

“What an impressive Star Palace. What an impressive arbiter. Today, I’ll see for myself just what sort of experts the Star Palace, which has always proclaimed itself a divine land, is capable of producing!”

Ye Feng said no more. He raised his hand and struck forward with tremendous force.

A gigantic dark-purple palm emerged. Dust and sand surged across the earth, while the void trembled faintly. The palm force roared forward like a mighty river in flood, surging toward Star Cloud.

After reversing the Heavenly King Art and borrowing the power of the Dragon Serpent Demon King, Ye Feng believed that his purely mystical Dragon-Seizing Hand could stand against the man before him.

The grass, trees, and stones scattered across the ground between them were instantly swept into the air, surging toward Star Cloud in a vast, overwhelming torrent.

“The Guardian’s Heaven-Destroying Hand? It seems incomplete. I’ll let you witness the true divine technique of the Star Palace.”

Opposite him, Star Cloud lowered his sword and stood upright, forming a spell seal with one hand. In the next instant, a sacred palm force filled the heavens and earth.

A violently domineering palm force and a holy palm force collided at high speed. At last, they canceled each other out. Amid deafening thunder, the dark-purple and milk-white radiance gradually faded away.

In the clash, Ye Feng staggered backward several steps. Star Cloud, by contrast, remained standing firm and unmoving.

“If you were a few years older, you might be able to fight me. But now, death is your only path. Rest assured—you will not be alone on the road to the underworld.” Star Cloud sneered as he glanced at the members of the Heavenly King Alliance below.

“You’re courting death?” Ye Feng’s expression turned icy.

If Star Cloud had come only for him, Ye Feng would not have been so enraged. They would merely have been serving different masters. But now Star Cloud had chosen to threaten him through the Heavenly King Alliance, awakening within Ye Feng the resolve to kill him at all costs.

“Arrogant fool! If I’m not mistaken, your current cultivation is merely at the initial stage of the middle Spirit Sovereign realm. The increase you gained just now came from forcibly reversing your technique. As for the additional amplification, you probably borrowed the strength of something else, didn’t you? Heh… I’ll show you now the difference between borrowed power and your own.”

Star Cloud shook his head, his face filled with pride. Yet compared with his earlier disdain, he now appeared far more serious.

Ye Feng was truly furious, but he did not lose his reason. The young man before him was far too terrifying. He could reveal so many hidden secrets. Before today, even Ye Feng himself had not known of the Heavenly King Reversal. Yet after Ye Feng merely performed it, Star Cloud immediately recognized that he was reversing the Heavenly King Art, leaving Ye Feng in an extremely passive position.

But if Ye Feng believed that meant he would surrender, then he was being hopelessly naive.

In the next instant, Ye Feng suddenly moved, striking first.

“If you dare touch my brothers, then even if you are heaven itself, I will defy the skies and kill you today!”