Grinding Cultivation Toward Martial Saint

On the eastern side of the Imperial Palace, in the martial arts arena, the ground paved with Green Steel Rock gleamed with luster.

Eighteen coiling dragon stone pillars surrounded the area, standing silently. On the ground, dim, reinforcement array patterns sprawled disorderly, dividing the arena into several irregular sections.

In the center, a distance of ten zhang.

Jiang Ning, clad in a black robe with a seal hanging at his waist, stood tall like a pine tree.

Opposite him, Master Ku Hai’s emaciated body draped in a cassock, his eyes and brows lowered, resembling an ancient Buddha in meditation.

The breeze that swept through the arena suddenly halted at that moment, as if the space had become frozen.

"Amitabha." Ku Hai slowly spoke, his voice calm, "Marquis, in our sparring, let’s limit it to three moves, how about that?"

With his words, the frozen arena resumed its flow.

At this moment, Jiang Ning nodded slightly: "Agreed!"

"Good." Ku Hai also nodded slightly.

He then lifted his gaze, and in those seemingly gentle eyes flowed a faint golden light of Buddha.

"I heard that the Marquis also studied Vajra Temple’s supreme technique, Vajra Immortal Body, and has even paved your own path with it?"

"Indeed!" Jiang Ning nodded.

"Then for the first move, I invite the Marquis to make the move. I shall only defend and not attack, using the Vajra Immortal Body to test the Marquis’s Immortal prowess. Let’s see if my Vajra Immortal Body still holds up?"

As his words fell, Ku Hai’s aura around him suddenly retracted, and the previously vast and majestic presence, as deep as the sea and sturdy as a Divine Mountain, became entirely internalized.

His emaciated figure erupted with billions of golden lights from his pores.

The cassock he wore seemed to be supported by an invisible force, loosening and slowly floating up and unfolding.

The cassock floated gently, coming to rest before Jin Chan outside the coiling dragon stone pillars, who raised a hand to receive it.

At this moment, in the center of the arena, Ku Hai’s body had already transformed from being emaciated to increasingly full, smoothing out the wrinkles on his skin.

Underneath his skin, streaks of glazed golden light flashed by, and from his pores, countless golden Buddhist lights burst forth like sword beams.

In this moment, Ku Hai’s expression lost some kindness and gained a measure of majesty.

Less human, more Buddha.

On the sidelines, Qingxu Temple Master had a glint of admiration in his eye: "Master Ku Hai’s Golden Body art is no longer just a physical cultivation technique, but a resonance of heart and spirit with Buddha. Body like vajra, mind like vajra. This realm surpasses skill and approaches the Dao. With such a Golden Body, he stands innately invincible! Unless that one takes action!"

Hearing these words, Su Qingying, Shen Xiao, Xiang Yuan, and others also looked solemn.

Though they hadn’t faced Ku Hai in combat and never experienced his Golden Body’s indestructible power, they didn’t doubt the judgment of the Qingxu Temple Master.

After all, he is truly the second in the world, a power far above theirs.

"Please, Marquis!" Ku Hai’s tone was calm, devoid of any emotion.

"Then I shall display my humble skills." Jiang Ning spoke.

The next moment, his gaze shifted.

His left eye shone brightly, as if a Great Sun resided in it.

His right eye was deep, as if containing a Taiyin.

Buzz——

Ripples spread through the void, and the formless aura extended.

On the ground, the previously dim array patterns instantly brightened, countless streams of light traversing along their predetermined paths.

Simultaneously, Ku Hai’s body was stimulated by some force.

The golden Buddhist light manifested as a great bell, seemingly stimulated by an invisible force.

Dong dong dong——

Deep bell chimes rang out continuously, reverberating above the arena.

At this moment, the onlookers around the arena appeared tense, their eyes fixed intently on the center.

A battle between the old and the newly ranked second in the world.

They too wished to know whether Jiang Ning truly possessed the strength approaching, or even matching, the second in the world.

Jiang Ning, being a Primordial Spirit Immortal, in the long span of several hundred years, there were only a handful of explicitly recorded and confirmed Primordial Spirit Immortals.

Among them, few had witnessed the abilities of a Primordial Spirit Immortal with their own eyes.

In that battle on that day, the number of witnesses, aside from the Forbidden Army and Mystic Sky Army, was similarly few.

Neither Xiang Yuan nor Xiao Wuque had seen it personally.

At this moment, Jiang Ning slowly raised his right hand, spreading his five fingers apart.

In an instant, the sky above the martial arts arena silently divided!

Half of it turned suddenly dark, deep as ink, with Taiyin energy cascading down from the void, transforming into a cool moonlight, intertwining in strands, merging together.

Half of it turned suddenly bright, blazing as if on fire, with solar energy drawn down from the nine heavens, transforming into scorching golden light, surging and gathering like a tide.

"Sun and moon shine together... inducing the Origin!" On the sidelines, Qingxu Temple Master’s pupils contracted slightly, murmuring to himself.

He had comprehended Yin and Yang for decades, fully aware of the difficulty of inducing the direct Origin power of Taiyin and solar.

This was no ordinary divine skill, but an invocation touching the level of rules!

Jiang Ning’s display at this moment clearly wasn’t full effort, yet the purity and vastness of the Origin aura already shook his heart.

"Is this the divine skill accomplished by an Immortal through Yin and Yang as the foundation?" he murmured in his heart, filled with yearning.

Shen Xiao and others held their breath, filled with anticipation.

"Marquis, please control your power a bit when making your move, the arena’s array patterns might not be able to withstand your antics." Xiang Yuan, witnessing the scene at the arena’s center, hastily reminded.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning in the center of the arena nodded slightly, then spread his right-hand fingers apart again.

In an instant, the moonlight descending and the surging golden radiance suddenly converged!

Not a simple fusion, but under the guidance of his Primordial Spirit’s power, transformed into a black-and-white intertwined spiral torrent.

At the center of the torrent, where the black and white whirlpool merged, a point of Taiyin appeared within the solar, and a point of solar appeared within the Taiyin.

The Yin and Yang intermingled and pressed slowly towards Master Ku Hai.