The two watched as Nezha and Jin Ling Saint Mother exchanged one final blow, retreating afterward, ending in a draw. Yang Jian, as someone born of the Chan Sect, had his etiquette deeply ingrained. He immediately bowed and said, "Disciple Yang Jian greets Senior Jin Ling."

Although the Jie Sect had lost greatly during the Divine Enthronement Battle, it hadn't reached the same disgraceful state as in the original timeline. Jin Ling Saint Mother nodded slightly and earnestly gave Yang Jian a few pointers, pointing out some missteps in his cultivation.

"Divine Skills are merely for protection; for us Daoist disciples, cultivation must always come first."

Yang Jian thanked her again. A good teacher raises great disciples—his master, True Master Yu Ding, couldn't even best him in combat nowadays, let alone offer much guidance.

Yu Yuan and Yang Jian stepped aside, allowing Jin Ling and Nezha to enter directly. Jin Ling Saint Mother formed several Dharma Seals with her hands and activated the protective array around the Martial Arts Arena to its maximum level.

Yang Jian and Yu Yuan, who had originally been ready to sit aside and drink, immediately stopped in their tracks.

Despite being a Jie Sect disciple fond of combat, Jin Ling's skill with arrays was far from lacking. The arena's protective array was likely capable of withstanding attacks of the Daluo Golden Immortal level. Anything stronger wasn't necessary—Quasi-Saints were already akin to ancestral figures; nobody at their level would come here to spar.

She clearly had high expectations of Nezha as well. With the array activated, her fists began to shimmer with dazzling golden light.

"Are you ready?"

Nezha couldn't hide his excitement, and observing Jin Ling's enthusiasm only deepened his suspicion that she might have a penchant for domestic violence.

"Bring it on!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a white glow wrapped around his body. His strength began multiplying as he charged forward. Jin Ling didn't bother with anything flashy and immediately launched a punch in return.

Golden light collided with white light. Nezha only felt one thing—it was hard, ridiculously hard. To him, even Divine Iron Immortal Gold felt no sturdier than tofu, yet he couldn't break through the golden light enveloping Jin Ling's fist.

Nezha wasn't faring well, but JIn Ling was equally surprised. She was a Quasi-Saint, and in terms of Mana alone, she was hundreds of times stronger than Nezha. Even without using her full strength, she could easily flatten a Daluo Golden Immortal.

Yet Nezha managed to hold his ground against her.

She'd already promised not to hold back, so holding back was not an option. Her fist glimmered with an even brighter golden light. At the same time, her other fist swung toward Nezha.

With a wave of his hand, Nezha instantly erected more than thirty layers of spatial barriers in front of him. Jin Ling's fist crashed down, the barriers shattering one by one. Though her attack penetrated his defenses, much of its force was expended. Familiar with Nezha's techniques due to their close relationship, Jin Ling wasn't caught off guard.

But Nezha took advantage of the blow's dissipating force, detonating the energy on his own fist and retreating swiftly. After a brief exchange, Nezha was at a clear disadvantage, but he remained undeterred.

Forming seals with both hands, the power of the Infinite Dao Domain suddenly expanded before contracting abruptly. Enigmatic Divine Runes manifested on Nezha's skin, his figure growing taller as a gray mist coiled around him.

The wave of ferocious energy wasn't just felt by Jin Ling within the array; Yang Jian and Yu Yuan outside could sense it as well.

This was the latest variation of Nezha's Infinite Dao Domain—he could emulate the Twelve Duterrestrial Gods Evil Formation within the domain and later compress the domain's power onto himself to obtain a controlled fragment of Pangu's Power.

Though the projection formed within the domain was false, the strength it conferred was terrifying even to most Immortals.

Jin Ling Saint Mother clearly noticed this too. Her elegant features turned serious. To her, winning was essential, a sentiment she and Nezha shared with surprising camaraderie.

In a flash, her figure split into six-armed form, initiating the attack instead of waiting.

As a Dharma Cultivator rather than a Body Cultivator, Jin Ling relied on the Great Dao and Mana she'd cultivated over the years to sustain her close combat. If all her Mana were exhausted, the relative frailty of her physical body would be exposed—but that was provided someone could deplete all her Mana.

Nezha's physical body was already comparable to the top-tier Great Witches of the Witch Clan. Combined with his mastery of the Power Dao and the addition of Pangu's Power through his domain projection, he might have lacked Jin Ling's Mana reserves but boasted superior defensive abilities and stamina, making frontal combat viable.

The two deliberately restrained their battle's impact, abstaining from using Magical Treasures. They entered a pure hand-to-hand mode, relying solely on their might, techniques, and comprehension of the Great Dao.

Jin Ling's foundation was truly formidable. Despite the layers of buffs Nezha had stacked upon himself, the vast gap in cultivation levels couldn't sustain him over time. What's more, without Magical Treasures, he stood no chance of breaking through the impenetrable golden glow protecting Jin Ling.

At the outset, the fight seemed relatively even. But as time passed and Nezha's emulated Pangu's Power began to fade, Jin Ling fully regained the upper hand.

With a golden, gleaming fist striking Nezha's chest, she slammed him into the ground with a force that shattered the tiled floor of the arena. The protective array trembled briefly before completely deactivating.

Despite Nezha's struggles to get back on his feet, he ultimately lost. Jin Ling retracted her fist with a slight sense of unfulfilled excitement. Ordinary duels between Immortals rarely adhered to notions of martial honor—Magical Treasures, subterfuge, and sneak attacks were all fair game if they secured a win. A straightforward, hard-fought battle like this one hadn't happened in ages.

Nezha twitched the corners of his mouth. He joked inwardly that the Primordial World's first men's domestic violence shelter might as well be established on Golden Turtle Island.

Of course, he never truly expected to defeat Jin Ling Saint Mother. This match was merely to test the gap between himself and a Quasi-Saint. He figured with the addition of Magical Treasures, he could probably hold his ground against a Quasi-Saint who hadn't gone through Corpse Cutting.

Although being defeated so decisively felt somewhat humiliating, it was his two companions below who appeared utterly dumbfounded.

Yu Yuan, who considered himself one of the earliest Immortals to interact with Nezha, recalled the child as merely six or seven years old, just beginning his journey on the Immortal path. Merely a few centuries had passed, yet Nezha could now measure up against the very master Yu Yuan held in the highest regard. What in the world was happening?

In all of Jie Sect, the only person who could indisputably defeat his master was Senior Duobao Daoist.

Yang Jian, less familiar with Jin Ling Saint Mother's standing within Jie Sect, knew she was formidable but lacked a concrete sense of how strong. Regardless, seeing the disparity was still an overwhelming experience. He vividly remembered when he could spar evenly with Nezha, but now? Forget it.

He even began worrying about his sister's future!

You thought the audience was just these two? Absolutely not. Another watcher had been observing the entire time—Tongtian Sect Master.

All of East Sea lay under the watchful eyes of Tongtian Sect Master. Since Nezha arrived, Tongtian had kept an eye on him, fearing lest Nezha spout nonsense on Golden Turtle Island that would tarnish his reputation. Yet, as he watched Jin Ling pummel Nezha, Tongtian nearly wanted to jump in himself.

He thought only one thing: She's hitting him well! Just not hard enough. This thick-skinned rascal should've been pummeled even more!

Though Nezha appeared severely battered, he wasn't actually injured. His Mana had merely been depleted—all of it converted into Pangu's Power and used up.

"I feel like, just give me another ten thousand—no, five thousand—"

Jin Ling Saint Mother wouldn't let Nezha babble nonsense in front of juniors. She raised a finger, transforming golden light into chains that bound Nezha tightly, then turned and left, dragging him by the head without so much as a backward glance.

As she walked off, she left one final instruction.

"I'm taking my junior brother to recover. Yu Yuan, see to our guests."

Yu Yuan and Yang Jian exchanged bewildered glances. Yang Jian felt something was off, but surely the gap couldn't be that wide?

He hesitantly asked Yu Yuan, "Brother Yu, about Junior Master and Senior Jin Ling, they..."

Yu Yuan, oblivious to Yang Jian's thoughts, tugged him along to drink and casually answered, "Haha, they're on great terms! Last time, when Senior Hao Tian got lost in Chaos, the disciples of the Three Sects went to rescue him. It was our Junior Master who saved my master from danger."

Yang Jian glanced at Yu Yuan, feeling even more puzzled. Did this make sense? Absolutely not. This made even less sense!

Was he being overly sensitive, or was Brother Yu just completely oblivious?

Inside the hall, Jin Ling Saint Mother placed Nezha on the platform where she usually meditated. As an Innate Spirit, she had no need for sleep—any spare time was better spent refining her Mana.

Undoing the chains, Jin Ling scolded him irritably, "What were you even rambling about in front of the juniors?"

Nezha didn't think it was anything shameful, but he was considerate of Jin Ling's feelings.

"I wasn't rambling! I just saw hope, that's all."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.