Lei Jing made it clear, and Shen Lian did not regret after listening to it. Ever since he came to Diqiu, his divine response to deduce the effect after being told the cause had dwindled down. However, finding a good timing for his rescue plan remained an easy feat.

　　From Guan Longzi’s attitude, the Prefect Grand Usher’s daughter, Lei Jing could tell that the teacher she chose out of a joke was not to be taken lightly.

　　Lei Jing had always been an unusual woman. This was not due to her noble bloodline, but her temperament. Unlike the nobles, she was not conceited and full of herself. Compared to wealth and glory, she preferred being free and unrestrained. Neither the grandeur of the Manor of the Prefect Grand Usher nor the young successors of the noble families could pique her interest.

　　Shen Lian was one of the few young men who caught her eyes. Initially, she was attracted by his unique characteristics. Now, she was curious about his many mysteries.

　　At some point, she obeyed Shen Lian’s instructions and even invited him to mount the pegasus. They were now on the bridge on top of Xia Canal right outside of the school.

　　Shen Lian sat on the pegasus as she led the way for the Pegasus. It was a strange sight. However, Lei Jing insisted on doing it. She claimed that she wanted to be respectful of her teacher, but she was trying to gauge her little teacher’s reaction. She did not expect Shen Lian to mount the pegasus casually and started telling her a story about a prince charming and his white horse.

　　The story was not very interesting, but Shen Lian was truly the prince of a country. Although, it was a small country located at the west of Xirong.

　　Lei Jing saw Wu Ding who was being hunted down – he was a stellar young man. However, he was inferior to Shen Lian.

　　Given Da Xia’s practice of worshipping the strongest, Lei Jing should be more attracted to Shen Lian. However, her previous impression of Shen Lian was better than her current one.

　　She had seen too many strong individuals. Moreover, she was not fond of the way Shen Lian fought. She preferred physical combat, just as how her uncle, Emperor Xia once killed a strong cultivator of Qi with his iron fists. Even his spirit was dispersed and turned into ashes.

　　The Eastern Barbarians assassin stood at a distance. His eye was blood-red, with a hoarse voice, he spoke to Shen Lian, “Oh Great Being, it is not my intention to offend you today. If you could stay out of this matter today, the Eastern Barbarians will be indebted to you.”

　　“What if I insisted on intervening?” Shen Lian’s voice fell like the shooting stars in the sky. It was a great impact on Ling’s heart.

　　Ling spat out fresh blood and seemed to be in a difficult position.

　　After finding out that Shen Lian would not comply with his request, he did not hold back anymore. His resolve to fight was strengthened – he did not plan to come out alive anyway.

　　When faced with a man with a death wish, not even ten thousand men could rival him.

　　A hint of coldness flashed on Ling’s pale face. He struggled to form a mudra with his hands and uttered strange syllables. All his blood seemed to have evaporated at that moment. Shortly after, Ling’s body started collapsing and eventually became a thin sheet of paper. In the end, a stroke of lightning seemed to have flashed past and completely hollowed him out. A giant bow appeared where he once stood. An arrow made out of pure energy hung upon the bow.

　　He had transformed his body into an arrow – a forbidden technique of the Eastern Barbarians. Once used, not even the ghosts or gods could escape from it. Of course, the user of the technique would end up losing his spirit. He would be wiped off from the world completely.

　　Due to the massive sacrifice, not even Shen Lian’s Sky Demon method could restrain it.

　　He had transformed his body into an arrow; on top of that, he emitted an indestructible will to battle. This was not something that could be influenced by demon arts.

　　Lei Jing thought she heard Shen Lian sneer. Time in the entire space seemed to have slowed down.

　　Shen Lian was clearly still on the white horse. However, at the same time, he went in front of Wu Ding and picked him up. Then, he turned to face the overwhelming divine arrow.

　　Wu Ding’s Flying Stars Incantation was affected and started operating at high speed. Four words rang in his heard – ‘Move like Orion and Antares’. This was one of the strange occult techniques recorded in the star steps.

　　The Orion was situated in the West, while the Antares was situated on the East. Each took one direction; as one rose, the other fell, staying out of each other’s path eternally.

　　Just as the flowers and leaves of the Flower of the Other Shore; it bloomed as the leaves fell, and when the flowers wilted, the leaves grew. Both of them could never see each other.

　　However, with just a step, Shen Lian seemed to have appeared on both the Orion and the Antares at the same time.

　　There were two of him within the same space.

　　This was not a shadow clone. Both of them were Shen Lian, appearing at the same time and space. The Flying Stars Incantation magnified the complicated conflict, allowing Wu Ding to experience it clearly.

　　Shen Lian remained impartial and ignored the immensely powerful long arrow. He extended his fist and punched on the long arrow that was the embodiment of Ling’s essence of his spirit.

　　The immense Qi strength shattered the long arrow, affecting even the Xia Canal and the giant bow. Within moments, the three hundred feet long Xia Canal evaporated and the giant bow was shattered to smithereens.

　　Wu Ding could even see the river bed of the Xia Canal – the water that was over thousands of feet deep was disintegrated immediately.

　　The power of Shen Lian’s punch earlier was immeasurable.

　　Lei Jing opened her mouth and found herself speechless.

　　The water from upstream flowed down, and only then the emptied out Xia Canal was filled up.

　　Besides the slightly lowered water level, the experts in the Xia Canal did not notice the battle here. Shen Lian’s in-depth analysis of the time and space made the area within a thousand feet radius his place of enlightenment. The battle that took place earlier seemed to have happened within his body and clothes, and the outsiders were not privy to it.

　　Just as how the Daoist experts used to say, ‘The world is my house, the house is my clothes’. Shen Lian had attained this state. The moment his place of enlightenment appeared, his surroundings were his clothes and the battles that took place around him were inconsequential.

　　Shen Lian was still on the white horse, and his expression remained calm. Wu Ding rested against the bridge barrier in an awkward manner. Shen Lian’s Celestial Arts that made the Orion and the Antares meet were derived from the Ta Gang Steps, and were similar to Wu Ding’s Flying Stars Incantation. On top of that, its sublime quality was one of the reasons why it had such a great impact on Wu Ding.

　　The Flying Stars Incantation was not just any Dao formula. It was a Dao formula that had its own spirituality. It experienced Shen Lian’s skillful operation with the way of the stars and tapped into its profoundness. This had fueled its evolution.

　　Shen Lian’s empowered eyes could see everything and he too felt this. Though, it was the first time that he saw a Dao formula developing spirituality of its own, which opened up a whole new world.

　　Despite the fact that all beings in this world had spirituality, but it was still unthinkable how a martial exercise could manifest spirituality too.

　　Of course, this was not to say that the martial exercise cultivated by Wu Ding was better than Taixu Strategy or The Mastery of Senses, but its unique characteristics gave rise to endless possibilities.

　　Just as how normal humans could not rival the likes of tigers, leopards, and beasts, but with wisdom, humans became the lords of all living beings. When the opportunities knocked on the door, humans stood a much higher chance than animals to attain Dao and be freed of mundanity.

　　Many years ago, Shen Lian was but part of the mundanity. Yet today, how many people could claim that they had attained more than he did?