Upon the eighth martial platform, designated as the ‘A’ platform, unfurled the first challenge of this Grand Tournament of the Six Great Strong Nations. The opening bout of the unrestricted selection field for those under thirty years of age featured none other than Count Zhao Nan of the flourishing Qi Kingdom, pitted against Flourishing Snow Embracing.

For the foremost talents, the scions of Heaven like Murong Long and Night Lan Child, the following selection fields held little interest. However, a clash involving Count Zhao Nan was a spectacle they could not afford to miss. The six great strong nations of the world were, and had always been, rivals.

Count Zhao Nan, unburdened by armor, was clad in a stark frost-colored martial attire that accentuated the honed contours of his physique. Broad-shouldered and long-legged, with the arms of an ape and the waist of a bee, he held a snow-white long spear that flowed in his grasp like a ribbon of moonlight. Merely standing upon the platform, he became the focal point of the entire arena, a figure of unparalleled grace and presence.

The two faced each other, unspoken challenge hanging in the air.

Xian Nan Kui announced the commencement of the duel.

And in that very instant, a pinpoint of snow-white brilliance exploded in the center of the martial platform!

It was not merely the tip of a spear.

It was the unfolding process of a snow-white light exploding outwards.

Everything transpired with blinding speed, yet the way that light point infinitely extended in all directions, bursting into the vision of every observer, was so startlingly clear, so vividly distinct. This was a clarity that was sharp, tangible, and pointed directly to the ultimate end of life. It was as if reminding you just how fleeting your existence truly was.

The entire audience gasped.

A single spear thrust, already so close to the Dao!

The battle, from its very inception, had ascended to its zenith.

How could such a spear be withstood?

Flourishing Snow Embracing raised his head. Being of short stature, he had to look up to meet Count Zhao Nan’s gaze. This unassuming figure, in the simple act of raising his head, suddenly became a beacon of soaring spirit! A shimmering, ethereal light coalesced into the shape of immortal cranes, swirling and dancing around him. Flourishing Snow Embracing was transformed, like an immortal descending to the mortal realm, temporarily cleansed of the dust of the mundane. There exists a certain kind of character and elegance that transcends the perception of the five senses.

A song emerged.

A figure leisurely began to chant.

His voice declared—

“Above the heavens, the White Jade Capital, twelve layers of towers and five cities.”
“Immortal beings touch my crown, binding my hair for eternal life!”

Upon the viewing platform, Jiang Wang’s eyebrows twitched. This divine ability, he had witnessed before. And Chong Xuan Zun, seated beside him on the same platform, would be even more familiar with it. This was the Mad Song divine ability, one that Xie Bao Tree had displayed before the Temple of the Dao. By leveraging this ability to control Dao techniques, everything produced was of the super grade, possessing immense momentum.

Divine abilities are intrinsic to a cultivator, born of opportunity and varying from person to person. One who studies Confucianism becomes a Confucian; one who cultivates the Dao transforms into the Dao. In Xie Bao Tree, it manifested as literary spirit soaring to the heavens, a mad scholar singing aloud. In Flourishing Snow Embracing, the ‘madness’ of the Mad Song had shifted from indignant scorn and self-conceit to a transcendence of the mundane world. One was arrogant towards people, the other towards the world itself.

Jiang Wang had always known that the divine ability seed suspended within the dome of the inner mansion, after careful nurturing by the cultivator, would eventually blossom and bear fruit. But this was the first time he had so concretely witnessed the transformation after a divine ability seed flowered. The same divine ability, in the hands of two different individuals, took on entirely different appearances.

Amidst the leisurely long song, a colossal hand of condensed clear light descended, stirring the dust and wind, like something reaching from beyond the heavens, to cover Count Zhao Nan’s head. This was the “immortal being touching the crown,” yet it offered not longevity, but destruction!

The Mad Song was originally a divine ability that amplified the power of Dao techniques. In Xie Bao Tree’s hands, it made any casual Dao technique he employed possess super-grade power. However, Flourishing Snow Embracing, in displaying it, directly manifested Dao techniques with the divine ability’s light, intending to crush his opponent. It was impossible to distinguish which was the divine ability and which was the Dao technique, or perhaps they were originally one and the same, inseparable.

This palm was immense. Had the martial platform not been subject to special prohibitions, the space upon it, though vast, would have been utterly incapable of accommodating this immortal being’s hand. Yet, as this hand descended, clearly aimed only at Count Zhao Nan’s head, it seemed to encompass the entire martial platform. This was the momentum of a collapsing heaven, utterly unavoidable. This was a fighting method of mutual destruction!

Flourishing Snow Embracing disregarded the spear hurtling towards him, instead directly attacking Count Zhao Nan, assailing his vital point, forcing him to withdraw his spear. If Count Zhao Nan did not withdraw, they would both perish together. From this, it was evident that while Flourishing Snow Embracing bravely challenged Count Zhao Nan, he was neither arrogant nor ignorant. He was keenly aware of the disparity between himself and Count Zhao Nan, and thus absolutely refused to be drawn into Count Zhao Nan’s rhythm. Instead, from the very beginning, he chose an exceedingly fierce, life-or-death struggle, employing this desperate fighting method to seize a chance at victory.

Comparing divine abilities, comparing combat skills… he might be at a disadvantage in everything, but only in life and death were all equal. For the weaker party, “equality” was a form of seizing momentum. This was not the recklessness of a brute, but the wisdom of a Heaven’s favored one. He was not hot-headed, blindly rushing to his death, but calmly assessing the situation, seeking the location of his chance for victory. Once determined, life and death were irrelevant.

And Count Zhao Nan…

He did not withdraw his spear!

He thrust his spear forward with his right hand, his body moving like a flood dragon entering the sea. The fierce wind from the descending immortal hand had already whipped his long hair into disarray. His eyes, like cold stars, remained fixed solely on Flourishing Snow Embracing’s throat, not even blinking once. That descending palm would kill him too. But he still pressed forward. And his movement was swifter, his spear faster.

There was only one path—forward!

Flourishing Snow Embracing desired mutual destruction.

Then he would embrace mutual destruction!

Everyone knew that Count Zhao Nan was the stronger, the one with more options. He originally had no need to resort to this. He absolutely should not have!

But he chose this path nonetheless.

“No, not mutual destruction,” Chong Xuan Zun said from the viewing platform, a hint of shock in his voice. Jiang Wang, seated beside him, also felt this deeply. Although the situation on the platform appeared to be mutual destruction, Count Zhao Nan was stronger. Therefore, even in death, he would be the one to die later. On a martial platform, dying later simply meant victory. Thus, Count Zhao Nan’s choice was not mutual destruction, but a pursuit of victory!

Perhaps some, when they are stronger, would pursue a more dignified victory. But Count Zhao Nan was different. He pursued only victory. The fastest, most direct, most straightforward victory.

Without a doubt, Flourishing Snow Embracing had made a wrong decision. Or perhaps, his decision wasn’t wrong in itself; in every sense, it was a performance that shocked the audience. But Count Zhao Nan made it wrong. Flourishing Snow Embracing had not used his courage in a death struggle to carve out a chance for victory; instead, he had himself increased the stakes for Count Zhao Nan’s win. He was not afraid of death, but he did not want to lose just like this, so he had to change his move.

The leisurely long song shifted in rhythm, now chanting—

“The monarch abandons the North Sea, sweeping the ground with a long whale!”

The immortal hand suddenly scattered, transforming into flowing light. The divine ability’s light poured down, stirring up angry waves, and from those waves leaped a giant whale. This whale opened its enormous mouth, seemingly capable of swallowing the world. It also intended to swallow that single point of cold light that had stabbed towards it. The sea exists only in the east. Where in the world is there a North Sea?

Truly, a mad song!

The ‘mad’ aspect signifies delusion, often an impossibility. And the Mad Song divine ability, in Flourishing Snow Embracing’s hands, blossomed and bore fruit, arbitrarily manifesting super-grade Dao techniques, actually possessing the ability to nearly turn delusional words into reality!

That giant whale, merely flicking its head and tail, if not for the martial platform’s special space prohibitions, could have escaped with its true body, a leviathan capable of filling the entire platform, or even the world…

A pinpoint of snow-white light penetrated through its body. That was an irresistible, unblockable light. It was Count Zhao Nan’s unique edge, the unique sharpness of the Shao Hua Spear. When this pinpoint of light fully shone forth, the entire giant whale manifested by the divine ability’s light, this super-grade Dao technique possessing peak-tier power, actually fragmented and collapsed. Like a mere bubble, it was so fragile before Count Zhao Nan’s spear edge.

Another mad song emerged—

“Say I am not guilty to the monarch, the bluebird with a bright red heart.”

A figure gave a long whistle—

“Between the five-colored clouds, the magpie, flies and cries from above the heavens come.”

From Flourishing Snow Embracing’s heart, a bluebird of brilliant color and three-foot green feathers emerged. From the ethereal clouds of the void, a five-colored cloud-magpie soared down, singing. Flourishing Snow Embracing’s Dao techniques were beyond mortal skill, bordering on the divine, simply fit for a canonical text. These two Dao techniques, both possessing peak-tier power, were utterly impossible to ignore.

And within that hazy, indistinct clear light of the divine ability, a pinpoint of snow light suddenly appeared. The five-colored cloud-magpie in mid-air fragmented and extinguished. Cloud extinguished, magpie extinguished, space extinguished, distance extinguished, the divine ability’s clear light extinguished. Count Zhao Nan’s figure, spear held vertically, reappeared, already close to Flourishing Snow Embracing!

All defenses, all obstructions, were merely illusions. How could such a spear be blocked?

The snow light touched the bluebird’s beak. The Shao Hua Spear drove straight in, piercing the bluebird and then stabbing into Flourishing Snow Embracing’s heart. Count Zhao Nan thrust his spear with a single hand, bringing it down vertically in the air, pinning Flourishing Snow Embracing to the ground. The snow-white spear shaft drilled through Flourishing Snow Embracing’s heart, piercing the solid ground of the martial platform.

This spear thrust appeared so simple, so straightforward, so direct.

But one could only hear—

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

That was the countless collisions, occurring in an instant, between the spear light and the martial platform’s prohibition. It was the sound of this ancient, inherited martial platform groaning under the pressure of the Shao Hua Spear, the sound of unbearable burden!

“Above the heavens, the White Jade Capital, twelve layers of towers and five cities.”
“Immortal beings touch my crown, binding my hair for eternal life!”
“The monarch abandons the North Sea, sweeping the ground with a long whale!”
“Say I am not guilty to the monarch, the bluebird with a bright red heart.”
“Between the five-colored clouds, the magpie, flies and cries from above the heavens come.”

All came from Li Bai’s “After the chaos, the emperor’s grace flows; recounting old travels in Yelang, writing down my thoughts to gift to Jiang Xia Governor Wei Liang Zai.”