Just as Du Gang and the others were preparing to leave the communication space and return to their own team space, the sleazy man they had traded with earlier approached them.
“Is there something you need?”
The sleazy man gave a sly smile, glanced left and right to make sure no one was paying attention, and covertly said, “I have a Recording Stone showing Wu Yang in action. Are you guys interested?!”
“Boom!”
Immediately, Du Gang’s eyes turned sharp. An invisible aura began to form and rolled toward the sleazy man.
However, the sleazy man wasn’t the least bit intimidated, completely ignoring Du Gang’s aura. “Young man, don’t flare up so easily. I have seen it all...”
Respected elder...
Looking at his indifferent demeanor and his nickname filled with the spirit of a wanderer, Du Gang slowly retracted his aura and revealed a slight smile.
“Respected elder, how much do you want for that recording stone?”
Upon hearing the question, the man’s face turned sleazy again, and he stretched out two fingers, “Twenty merits!”
With a slightly furrowed brow, Du Gang squinted at him.
After a series of enhancements, Du Gang was left with 18 merits. The other three had 2 merits each which totaled to 22 merits. And this elder demanded 20 merits straight away.
Was it a coincidence, or did he know how many merits they had left?!
Du Gang wasn’t sure.
On the other hand, he wasn’t bothered to ask because even if he did, it wouldn’t matter.
“Deal!”
After agreeing, Du Gang added, “Give us some information we don’t know for two additional merits.”
In his mind, whether it was 20 or 22 merits did not make a difference.
However, he wanted to figure out if this respected elder had certain channels unknown to him according to how the elder would react toward these two extra merits.
“Hehe!”
The sleazy man revealed a brilliant smile, “No problem, young man, you are quite overbearing!”
He quickly handed over the stone while gesturing with his hand that it was a straightforward cash-and-carry deal.
Seeing this, Du Gang stepped forward to make the transaction and received the Recording Stone.
Without any hesitation, he opened the Recording Stone silently at the center of the four people and started to play it.
The recording showed a hidden shot with a man, who resembled Wu Long, standing arrogantly. Opposite him were dozens of True God Level powerhouses, and among them, there were also powerhouses of the True God Apex level.
“A bunch of losers!”
Wu Yang spat out four words disdainfully, which triggered the anger of the dozen strong men facing him. As a swarm, they charged at him.
“Sword swallows the world!”
At the moment when everyone launched their attacks, Wu Yang made a sword move that was impossible to see clearly.
At that moment, the entire Recording Stone was as if enveloped in sword shadows. By the time everyone could see clearly, the scene had been wiped clean.
A dozen True God Apex powerhouses had disappeared. What replaced them was a flying sword hovering in mid-air and a fog-like bloody rain scattering around.
“This is...”
The four of them widened their eyes instantly, staring at the scene in disbelief.
“In just one move, he killed dozens of True God Apex powerhouses...”
“That power...is no weaker than Sun Wukong’s!”
“He is at the Celestial God level! Or even stronger!”
All their faces turned serious. Sun Wukong, initially, did not show such a powerful strength and clearly, from Wu Yang’s performance, it was evident that he had not used his full power yet.
“Hehe!”
The old pervert chuckled again, “Since you gave me extra, I will give you an extra piece of information!”
Upon hearing his words, everyone quickly composed themselves, reoriented their minds, and looked over at him.
The respected elder was quite satisfied with their attitudes. Looking mysterious, he stroked his beard before casually saying:
“Do you all think that Wu Yang’s power is only at the half-step Celestial God level?”
Their eyebrows furrowed, not understanding what he meant. Wasn’t Wu Yang just that powerful?
If he were of the Celestial God Level, he wouldn’t be able to stay in the True God space...
The respected elder smirked with satisfaction: “Wu Yang could have easily advanced to the Celestial God level but he chose to suppress it, primarily because of his brother, Wu Long...”
“Now that his brother is dead, he naturally doesn’t need to suppress himself...”
“From what I know, not all mission worlds have an upper limit of strength equal to ours!”
The corner of his mouth curved slightly upwards: “There are many Mission Worlds with a higher level of strength limitation.”
That’s for the better, he’ll also know if these eighteen old ancestors hold secret techniques of the Ancient God he does not know about.
After about a pot of time, Xiang Xinjian finally rejoined the conversation.
“I’ve checked the ancient books and found something that suits your current situation...”
As he spoke, he slowly unfolded a jade slip that looked very ancient.
“Ancient God’s Power”
“This is a book that will allow you to use your power better...”
Xiang Xinjian paused, then said, “Before I give this to you, let me explain the divisions of power at the True God level!”
“True Gods, based on the Original Way as the standard for ranking, one hundred meters of the Original Way is equivalent to level one True God. Everything else, whether it’s the progress of cultivation or secret arts, are simply additional increases in combat power and can’t last. What one truly relies on is the length of the Original Way...”
“You probably can’t understand; at the God Spirit Level, there are secret arts that can multiply one’s power two, five, eight, even ten times. Yet at the True God Level, although you can exhibit these secret arts, you can’t simply annihilate a True God with them...”
“The main reason for this is that, at the True God Stage, the True Spirit is sustained by the Heavenly Dao, and the Original Way is actually within another space, immune to ordinary power...”
“You might not understand this, so let me translate it for you!”
“At the True God Level, one meter of the Original Way can be converted to one hundred thousand combat power!”
Du Gang was stunned, “A hundred thousand combat power?!”
He, at the God Spirit Level, can only just reach over seven hundred thousand combat power after a mad increase. But at the True God level, it was this absurd?
If one meter of the Original Way equates to a hundred thousand combat power, then doesn’t that mean with the initial one hundred meters of the Original Way when you first ascend, your combat power would reach ten million?
Xiang Xinjian chuckled, “That’s right, you must think a hundred meters of the Original Way equals ten million combat power?”
“Yes and no!”
He shook his head, “Once you become a True God, it’s simply not on the same level as the God Spirit Level!”
“These two cultivation levels are more like two species, two insurpassable species!”
“A God Spirit Level, no matter how against the heavens a person is, cannot defeat a True God. But a True God, even at the weakest, can easily slaughter a God Spirit Level!”
“Moreover, at this stage, one can’t kill a peer simply relying on combat power!”
“Just like I said before, at this level, the Original Way is what truly matters. Real strength still depends on the length of each person’s Original Way. Even if you have ten times the combat power, but can’t maintain it for long enough to completely break the Original Way...”
“Your opponent can simply wait for your secret art to run out of time!”
Du Gang roughly understood; secret arts multiply combat power, but combat power can’t inflict lethal wounds on True Gods and above, which means...
“To kill a True God and above, you still have to crush them with the Original Way?!”
“Correct!”
Xiang Xinjian nodded, “Under normal circumstances, that’s the case, but there is one abnormal situation!”
At first, Du Gang frowned, but quickly realized and thought of his bout with Sun Wukong.
“You mean... physique?!”
“Exactly!”
Xiang Xinjian laughed, “You must have wondered why all the great clans, despite caring so much about physique, seem to utilize so little of it at the God Spirit Level!”
“The main reason is that the God Spirit Level cannot utilize the potential of physique. Only when one becomes a True God or higher, does the full potential of physique slowly came into play...”
“Moreover, secret arts have become outdated...”
Xiang Xinjian shook his head and sighed, “This world... isn’t the same as it was a million years ago...”
His face was filled with melancholy, “A million years ago, secret arts were the trump cards. But now, they’re nothing more than tools for the God Spirit Level!”
“As for the Nine Mysteries...”
“Hehe!”
Xiang Xinjian chuckled, “I know you possess the Nine Mysteries, but this, already been phased out by the times, doesn’t belong to this era!”
Du Gang fell silent.
This was the first time he had heard of this rumor.
After a while, he lifted his head and asked, “Does the change in the world have to do with the things resisting the Heavenly Dao?”
Xiang Xinjian nodded, “Pretty much. The Heavenly Dao has always been changing, otherwise, it couldn’t possibly have lasted until now...”
“In any case, you need to remember this — the strength of the Ancient God is something that breaks laws with strength. It will push your physique to its limit, and it’s significantly more effective than those Nine Mysteries left from the last era!”
As he said this, he seemed hesitant as if something he had said was questionable.
“Proving oneself with strength, indeed powerful, but the Ancient City wants you to simultaneously cultivate the divine body, divine power and divine soul...”
Du Gang recalled what Tao Xuanzhu said, he could establish himself as the Supreme by proving himself with strength.
If he didn’t just prove himself with strength, but instead cultivated all three aspects, would he achieve even greater success? Could he solve the crisis of this universe?!
These questions seemed too distant for him, but no matter what, at the very least, his strength was about to become even more formidable!