The Prodigies War

Mist Spirit King!

Tushan Leng and the others sucked in a sharp breath. Long ago, they had witnessed the terror of this ferocious being. They knew well that unless an Immeasurable Dao Lord descended, no one could hope to suppress it.

Almost instinctively, they turned and fled, not daring to linger for even a heartbeat. However, as he retreated, Tushan Leng suddenly realized that Lin Xun and the woman had not moved. What followed left him utterly stunned.

Lin Xun rose into the air and charged straight toward the Mist Spirit King.

“He...”

Tushan Leng and the others froze mid-flight, shock written across their faces.

“Has he lost his mind?” someone blurted out.

Everyone’s expressions changed. Moments earlier, they had tried to lure Lin Xun here, intending to use the Mist Spirit King as a borrowed blade. However, they had never imagined that even hundreds of mist spirits would fail to trap him. Their carefully laid scheme had collapsed on the spot, declared a complete failure.

They had assumed that under such circumstances, their target would choose to retreat. Who could have expected that he would instead take the initiative and charge straight at the Mist Spirit King?

It was so far beyond their expectations that it left them unsettled.

“I’ve seen people courting death,” Youjiang sneered coldly, “but never like this. He’s practically doing us a favor.”

At that point, they were no longer in any hurry to flee.

Boom!

In the distance, Lin Xun was already engaged in a fierce battle with the Mist Spirit King. The heavens and the earth roared as dao lights tore across the nine heavens. It was a clash worthy of legend.

Radiant dao light wreathed Lin Xun, ethereal and transcendent. With every gesture, every movement, and every strike, he seemed like a supreme sovereign commanding the myriad daos of all heavens. His power surged vast and boundless, shaking the firmament.

Of course, the Mist Spirit King was by no means to be underestimated. Its ten-thousand-foot tall figure stood like a primordial mountain. Torrents of primal chaos flowed across it, evolving into unfathomable law power that churned and destabilized the surrounding world.

“Good!”

In the midst of battle, Lin Xun’s eyes blazed. There was not a trace of fear within them, only the exhilaration of finally meeting a worthy opponent. From that moment on, he held nothing back, clashing with the Mist Spirit King in full force.

Since entering the Mortal Transformation Zone, he had undergone transformation after transformation. He had broken through repeatedly in cultivation. He had obtained primal chaos origin power twice. He had battled the dao manifestation of his own master, the Lord of Fangchun Mountain, tempering his mind until it achieved the state of roaming ten thousand fathoms and spanning countless ages.

He had crossed blades with supreme geniuses in the Great Dao Contest, discerning and comprehending the ultimate dao path each of them embodied. Each transformation had elevated his combat strength again and again.

Now, even he himself was no longer certain just how far his power had reached. After all, since entering the Dark Zone, he had not encountered a single opponent worthy of a true contest.

However, with the appearance of the Mist Spirit King, a formidable opponent had finally appeared! Especially in direct confrontation, Lin Xun sensed something extraordinary. Within the Mist Spirit King flowed a mysterious origin power. Furthermore, it was precisely this force that made its strength fundamentally different and unimaginably formidable.

Lin Xun even suspected that even an Immeasurable Dao Lord might be slightly inferior to this Mist Spirit King. The reason was simple. At the level of an Immeasurable Dao Lord, one wielded the might of ‘all daos converge into one, and from one arise all daos.’

Just as with the five dao manifestations jointly ranked first within the Heavenly Cycle Dao Laws of the Mortal Transformation Zone, they too had stood at this level. Of note, back in the Mortal Transformation Zone, Lin Xun had already defeated them one by one!

In comparison, the power the Mist Spirit King now unleashed was clearly on an entirely higher tier. This power did not stem from the Mist Spirit King’s own cultivation alone, but from the origin power flowing within it. In other words, the Mist Spirit King was drawing upon a form of origin power!

However, the more this became apparent, the more satisfied Lin Xun felt. What ordinary opponent could possibly possess such strength?

Rumble—

The battle grew ever more terrifying. The heavens and earth descended into chaos, as though the entire world were being overturned. Seeing that Lin Xun could contend with the Mist Spirit King to such an extent, Tushan Leng and the others felt a chill seep into their bones, as if they had fallen into an icy abyss.

Had they known Lin Xun was this powerful, would they ever have dared to provoke him so recklessly? In fact, many of them felt a grim sense of relief. Fortunately, they had not confronted Lin Xun head-on earlier. Otherwise, the consequences would have been catastrophic.

“Retreat! We must leave at once. Once Lin Xun regains the upper hand, we won’t be able to escape even if we try.” Tushan Leng turned and fled without hesitation, not daring to watch another moment of the battle.

The others followed immediately, scattering into the mist like startled birds. Xia Zhi saw everything, but she did not pursue them. Compared to those enemies, Lin Xun’s safety mattered far more to her. Besides, in this Dark Zone, there would be no shortage of chances to settle accounts in the future.

Boom!

A full quarter of an hour later, the towering Mist Spirit King could no longer hold on. With a thunderous collapse, its colossal body disintegrated, torrents of primal chaos surging skyward like shattered waterfalls.

“Stop! Stop! I surrender!”

A child’s clear, innocent voice suddenly rang out from the rolling fog. Lin Xun halted mid-stride and looked up. Where the Mist Spirit King had fallen, a fist-sized droplet of water hovered in midair, crystal clear, luminous, and wreathed in strands of obscure aura.

The child’s voice came from within it. Lin Xun stepped forward and appeared before the droplet in an instant. His eyes gleamed with curiosity. “What are you?”

He had not expected the terrifying Mist Spirit King to be nothing more than a transformation of a single water droplet. What was its origin?

“I am not a thing,” the child’s voice replied softly. “I am a spirit.”

“I was nurtured by the primal chaos origin of this realm. I wield the complete Chaos Principle, Darkness.”

“Something like a law spirit?” Lin Xun asked, slightly taken aback.

He knew that laws could give birth to innate spiritual entities, but he had never imagined that even the primal chaos origin of the All-Wonder Dominion could give rise to a spirit embodying Chaos Principle!

“You may understand it that way,” the voice replied, “but I am the primordial spirit of a principle itself. I can evolve into an eternal realm, or transform into the primal chaos origin of a great world. From me, the myriad dao powers of that world may unfold and all forces of law and order may arise because of me. Most importantly, I possess intelligence.”

The droplet spun lightly as it hovered in midair, its clear voice carrying a distinctive rhythm. Lin Xun was inwardly startled. If what it claimed was true, then the power contained within this tiny droplet was extraordinary, far beyond anything a law spirit could compare to.

“Then tell me,” Lin Xun asked, unable to restrain his curiosity. “Can you create a dao that has never existed in this world?”

The droplet replied without hesitation, “No, I am a spirit born of primal chaos origin. The creation of dao belongs to the primal chaos origin itself.”

Lin Xun understood at once. This droplet and the Chaos Dao Fruit were both nurtured from the primal chaos origin of the All-Wonder Dominion. The difference was that the Chaos Dao Fruit embodied a complete Chaos Principle, while this droplet was the spirit-form of a Chaos Principle!

It was akin to the difference between law power and law spirit.

“Do you have a name?” Xia Zhi approached from afar, her clear eyes fixed on the water droplet with undisguised curiosity. Even she had never encountered such a mysterious spirit.

“Of course,” the droplet replied. “Long ago...a swordsman once came to this world.”

As it spoke, the droplet spun lightly. A ripple of radiant light blossomed outward, unfolding into a series of shifting scenes suspended in the air.

Within those visions, a man crouched before a quiet spring, smiling faintly. His gaze was fixed on a motionless droplet within the water, clear as crystal, like a tiny sphere of glass. He looked at it as though he had discovered the most fascinating secret in all the world, delight written plainly across his face.

The man wore a simple brown cloth robe. His long hair was loosely gathered into a bun, secured with a three-inch wooden sword. His features were refined and gentle, and his eyes clear and luminous. An air of carefree elegance and unrestrained freedom surrounded him.

He remained crouched there casually, blinking as he gazed at the droplet with a faint smile. After a while, he let out a soft chuckle, “Little fellow, though your spirituality has yet to truly awaken, you must already be able to sense me. If I’m right...come here”

He extended his right hand. The tiny droplet trembled faintly, then, with a light leap, it hopped straight into his palm.

The man couldn’t help but laugh softly. “How interesting. What a pity...If I were to take you away now, I’d disrupt your chance to undergo transformation and awaken.”

He paused, smiling. “How about this...I’ll give you a name. When you awaken your spirituality in the future, if we are destined to meet again, just speak that name and I’ll know it’s you.”

The tiny water droplet rolled about in this palm as though delighted.

“How about...I call you ‘Roll’?” the man teased.

The tiny droplet shuddered and bounced up and down in his palm as though protesting.

The sight made the man burst into laughter. “So spirited already? You are born with such spirituality and born of this Dark Zone. When you awaken one day, you will surely dazzle the world. Since fate allowed me to encounter you today. Very well, I shall call you Lingyuan...born with spirit and with fate formed by heaven. I only hope that in the future our fates will cross again.”

Buzz—

The tiny water droplet rolled happily in the man’s palm. Clearly, it approved of the name.

The man fell silent for a moment. Then he reached up and drew the wooden sword that had been slanted through his hair bun. With a casual flick of his finger, the blade slipped from his grasp and shot into the depths of the spring below.

He pointed toward the submerged wooden sword. “If one day someone is able to draw this sword,” he said lightly, “go with them. Let them take you away from this All-Wonder Dominion.”

With that, he lifted the tiny droplet and gently placed it back into the spring. Then he rose to his feet and waved with a smile. “As for me...I’m off to rebuild my great dao. Farewell, little friend.”

Laughing softly, he strode away. His tall figure drifted between heaven and earth, growing more indistinct with every step until he disappeared entirely from sight. With him, the visions dissolved, vanishing without a trace.

Lin Xun stood in silence, his heart surging like a restless tide. He knew exactly who that man was. However, he had never imagined that long ago, in this very place, that legendary swordsman had once formed a bond with this water droplet and even bestowed upon it a name.

“Temper the heart as smooth as jade...sharpen your heart like a blade,” Lin Xun murmured inwardly. “The bearing of that swordsman truly stands unrivalled beneath the heavens...”

Back then, in the void above the firmament of the Mortal Transformation Zone, he had caught a glimpse of that swordsman. His sleeves billowed freely. His body mirrored the turning cycle of reincarnation. Beneath his feet, an immeasurable sea of ​​swords surged forth, vast and endless like a rising tide.

That swordsman was an unparalleled legend, a supreme figure who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Alpha Origin and Chen Xi!

“Hey, will you take me with you?” The clear, childlike voice rang out from within the water droplet, tinged with longing.

“If you do,” it continued softly, “I will tell you the greatest secret of the Dark Spring.”

Lin Xun blinked in surprise. “Why are you so eager to leave?”

The droplet’s voice softened. “I wish to find that swordsman. He was the one who gave me my name. It was his wooden sword that sealed the origin power of the Dark Spring, allowing my spirituality to awaken. To me, it was the grace of awakening, and I must one day repay it.”