Now Zhang Fan was already a first-grade top-quality Golden Core powerhouse who cultivated the way of thunder, reaching an incredible speed. In just a few breaths, he soared thousands of meters into the sky.
He looked down at Xue Jing below, who was as small as an ant, and couldn't help but curve his lips into a smile. Such speed far surpassed ordinary Nascent Soul stage experts, not only greatly increasing his combat power but also elevating his survivability to a terrifying level.
Then, Zhang Fan once again transformed into a bolt of lightning, charging straight towards the heavens, piercing the Earth's atmosphere and arriving in outer space.
After cultivating two first-grade top-quality Golden Cores, Zhang Fan found it increasingly difficult to gauge his own combat power. For caution's sake, he still felt it more appropriate to spar with Xue Jing in outer space.
Several minutes after Zhang Fan reached outer space, Xue Jing arrived belatedly. He saw Zhang Fan standing alone in the void, his posture upright like an unparalleled divine sword. At times, thunder roared in Xue Jing's mind, causing his will to briefly falter.
"Hoo!"
Xue Jing's powerful divine sense surged out, resisting this wave of spiritual erosion. After his will cleared, cold sweat broke out all over his body.
"What a strange Dao technique."
Two astonishing great Dao powers lingered in his mind, capable of affecting his will.
Xue Jing was secretly astonished. Before the battle even began, he had a premonition that this spar would not be as easy as he imagined.
"Come, let me see how far you have cultivated your Blood Sea Dao."
Zhang Fan looked at Xue Jing not far away and spoke through divine sense transmission.
Xue Jing nodded with a solemn expression, a faint blood mist emanating from around his body.
"Blood Sea Domain!"
Xue Jing softly chanted, and the blood mist spread rapidly like ripples, forming a Blood Sea Domain that enveloped Zhang Fan.
After forming a Nascent Soul, a cultivator's domain power would be greatly enhanced. Nascent Soul stage cultivators could fully integrate their comprehended Daos into their domains, which could be called the Domain of Dao.
"For a cultivator who has formed a Golden Nascent Soul, this Domain of Dao is indeed extraordinary."
Feeling the powerful restraining force on his body, Zhang Fan couldn't help but praise inwardly. Under such a powerful domain, an ordinary Golden Core stage cultivator would have no power to resist at all.
"Kill!"
Xue Jing held a large blood axe, transforming into a streak of blood light, and charged towards Zhang Fan. He did not believe that his domain could completely restrain Zhang Fan.
"Disintegration Domain!"
"Endless Sword Domain!"
"Heavenly Thunder Domain!"
Zhang Fan's body remained still, but the moment Xue Jing moved, an incomparably powerful domain force spread outwards from Zhang Fan as the center.
The Blood Sea Domain, which originally covered an area of tens of kilometers, began to disintegrate like fractured earth under the effect of these three domain powers.
Disintegration Domain was a domain born from Zhang Fan's cultivation of the Myriad Domains Suppressing Divine Body. After achieving minor success, the power of Disintegration Domain had reached a terrifying level.
Endless Sword Domain and Heavenly Thunder Domain were both emanated from the first-grade top-quality Golden Cores, and were powerful domains comparable to Disintegration Domain.
With the combination of the three domains, even Xue Jing's Domain of Dao was suppressed, its range continuously shrinking. In the end, it could only maintain a range of dozens of feet, enclosing him within to resist the influence of the three domains.
Although Xue Jing had been mentally prepared for this scene, he was still shocked by how severely his Domain of Dao was instantly suppressed.
"Break!"
Xue Jing tightly gripped the blood axe with both hands, raised it above his head, and cleaved down with all his might.
A blood mark, as if substantial, extended from the blood axe, slicing through the domain blocking his path and heading straight for Zhang Fan.
Zhang Fan casually summoned his bronze ancient sword and simultaneously activated his thunder Golden Core. The bronze ancient sword was instantly surrounded by streaks of heavenly thunder, emitting a dazzling thunderous light!
"Go!"
With a single sweep of his hand, a sword qi mixed with heavenly thunder was unleashed, cutting through the void and colliding violently with the blood mark.
Invisible ripples of energy permeated and spread through the void. Before Xue Jing could react, Zhang Fan had transformed into a thunderous bolt of light, appearing less than ten feet away from him.
"Heavenly Thunder Sword!"
Combining the way of the sword and the way of thunder, Zhang Fan fiercely unleashed a sword strike. With the frenzied operation of his two first-grade top-quality Golden Cores, vast Dao power and surging magical power surged forth, transforming into a gigantic sword qi, laden with dazzling heavenly thunder, that crushed towards Xue Jing.
"Nine Forms of Blood Axe, Blood Abyss Form!"
Xue Jing, who had been extremely cautious from the very beginning, had always made the worst-case scenario his plan. Therefore, although Zhang Fan's sword strike was sudden and fierce, Xue Jing still implemented his countermeasure immediately.
The Nine Forms of Blood Axe were nine axe techniques self-created by Xue Jing after reaching the Nascent Soul stage, combining his profound understanding of the Blood Sea Dao with his practiced supreme arts.
The Blood Abyss Form was the move with the strongest penetrative power among them. With this single move, it was enough to cleave a blood abyss tens of thousands of feet long and dozens of kilometers wide in the void, which would linger for a long time.
The Heavenly Thunder sword qi and the Blood Abyss collided violently. Powerful waves of energy spread out, shaking both of them back for several kilometers.
Xue Jing, relying on the power of his domain, managed to stop himself with great difficulty. He lightly wiped away a trace of crimson blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, his face filled with shock.
In a head-on, pure clash, he, a Golden Nascent Soul cultivator, had fought an evenly matched battle against a Golden Core stage cultivator.
After all, even peak cultivators who had condensed a first-grade top-quality Golden Core had little power to resist against those who had formed a Golden Nascent Soul.
"Master's strength is immense. Xue Jing admits defeat."
Xue Jing rapidly glided from the distant void to Zhang Fan's front, cupping his fists with both hands, and said with heartfelt submission.
Although he had sustained some minor injuries in the fierce collision just now, as an immortal blood race with pure blood, his vitality was extremely powerful, and the injuries were almost negligible.
If that had been Zhang Fan's strongest attack, Xue Jing did not believe he would have lost. However, having followed Zhang Fan for these years, he had some understanding of Zhang Fan's trump cards.
Not to mention those two divine abilities that could evolve into chaotic fierce beasts, just the fact that Zhang Fan could fight on par with his high-grade Heavenly Treasure with a supreme-grade spiritual artifact was enough for him to lose.
Furthermore, Zhang Fan still had a high-grade spiritual treasure, the Mountain and River Seal, which he had not used. His powerful physical strength had also not been utilized, and there were even some unknown trump cards he possessed.
Although he also had his own trump cards that had not been used, compared to Zhang Fan's, the gap was too vast.
Therefore, after a full-power clash, Xue Jing instantly understood that there was still a significant gap between him and his master. He immediately surrendered on the spot, not wanting to continue fighting and seeking abuse.
"To possess such strength so soon after breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, and before even undergoing the first Nascent Soul tribulation, is very good."
Zhang Fan nodded. This time, he had sought out Xue Jing for sparring not only to understand his current strength but also to see how much his combat power had reached after breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage.
As it stood, Zhang Fan was quite satisfied. If Xue Jing were to unleash his Blood Demon True Body, his strength could still increase by a large margin.
...