Chapter 748 — Shaking the Heavenly Court

"Niu Ben is this strong..."

Beside Yu Tianzun, Yin Tianzi's eyes went wide; he stared blankly at Niu Sanduo, whose head was thrust up into the clouds, his eyeballs on the verge of bursting from their sockets.

He had known that this fellow called 'Niu Ben' was strong — the man had nearly crushed the great Kun into a fall the moment he appeared — but he had never imagined that this unremarkable-looking Niu Ben could be this strong!

So strong that even the sky could not bear his aura; so strong that with his very first move he had cowed the entire Jade Pool Grand Gathering!

In the Jade Pool, those giant turtles that bore sea islands on their backs as they swam were demigods too, born of mighty bloodlines, descendants of the ancient gods, and full-grown besides, their strength immense. Yet before Niu Ben's aura these great turtles did not dare so much as show their heads; they drew in their limbs and their heads and sank into the sea, leaving only the divine-power wielders on the islands to scramble madly for the summits, lest they drown within the Jade Pool.

"As strong as an ancient god..."

Yu Tianzun and several other Tianzuns went pale, raising their heads to gaze up at this wrathful god-devil, a hundred feelings churning in their hearts.

Yu Tianzun especially found the taste in his heart hard to swallow.

For the sake of this Jade Pool Grand Gathering he had run everywhere, greasing every level of the Heavenly Court, conferring with the Empress, and bribing those close to the Tongtian Emperor who had a voice, so that they might put in a good word for him before the Heavenly Emperor.

Nor was that all: he had needed to build great momentum, to draw young talents from every heaven and every world of the lower realm, great and small, to come and take part in this Jade Pool Grand Gathering.

Only by borrowing the force of the Heavenly Court Grand Gathering had he been able to stage the Jade Pool Grand Gathering at all, and make it a roaring, bustling affair.

And this time, he meant likewise to use the great matter he was to announce to gather every eye upon himself, and by that opportunity to become at a stroke the leader of all divine-power wielders — even of the demigods.

He would draw every race under heaven, the descendants of the ancient gods included, into his own camp!

Thus half the fruits of the Heavenly Court Grand Gathering would fall into his hands and become the capital for his rise.

Yet never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that at this Jade Pool Grand Gathering two young men would suddenly appear and fall to fighting, displaying a peerless brilliance that left the divine-power wielders who had come to the gathering stunned beyond measure — and stole his own thunder.

And what he had imagined even less was that now, from who knew where, a powerhouse to rival an ancient god had leaped forth. Whether the Jade Pool Grand Gathering could still go on, he had no idea at all.

If this powerhouse lost his temper and smashed the Jade Pool to bits, would not all his own toil be poured away like water?

Niu Sanduo revealed his incomparably mighty, sinew-knotted body, smoke jetting from his nostrils and fire from his eyes. He raised a palm and pressed it down upon the empty air; before it had even touched Shen Mu and Kaihuang, the two of them felt a terrifying pressure bearing down on them!

Bang. Bang.

Two muffled reports rang out; the divine abilities of Shen Mu and Kaihuang collapsed of themselves, and their bodies fell from midair, pinned dead to the ground by the invisible pressure.

The earth rumbled and sank; the two were flattened spread-eagled, sinking deeper and deeper, unable to move, both appalled to the core.

"You dare hit him?"

Shen Mu, shocked and furious, strained to lift his head. "You hit him, you hit me — you dead ox..."

Niu Sanduo's furious voice came down from midair. "Making trouble! Making trouble! How many times did I tell you two on the road to hold yourselves in check, not to stir up trouble — and trouble is exactly what you stir up! Do you really think Old Ox has no temper? When my ox temper rises, I don't care who you are..."

"Stop pressing!"

Ling Tianzun stood beside his ox leg, watching in terror the place where Shen Mu and Kaihuang had fallen — a great pit a hundred zhang deep had already been pressed out there — and hastily raised her head. "Press any harder and you will crush them to death!"

But Niu Sanduo's body was too tall; her voice could not reach him up there.

Just then a clarion voice rang out, like the cry of a goshawk. "Who dares make trouble in the Heavenly Court?"

Swift fire like a meteor: a streak of flame came hurtling, growing larger and larger, like a sun smashing toward Niu Sanduo!

Niu Sanduo reached out and seized it, crushing that sun to powder, then suddenly let out a great roar.

Mooo—

The roar rolled on and on; the Great Sun Star Lord who had come flying, though a born divinity, was struck by the savage sound waves and could not keep his footing, hurtling backward.

He was, after all, not the counterfeit Great Sun Star Lord of later ages. In an instant he shook his wings, transformed, and revealed his true body: pinions spread in layer upon layer, fiery feathers linking with the sky, wings a hundred li long, three sharp claws glinting cold. A beat of those wings and the claws were above the Jade Pool, claws to split skull and brain, reaching for Niu Sanduo's head.

Niu Sanduo hurled a punch; the sky gave a muffled thud; the Great Sun Star Lord shrieked and went tumbling far away. A burst of fire flared on a sun in the distance — he had been smashed into that sun and for a long while could not rise.

Elsewhere, from one heavenly palace after another of the Heavenly Court, ancient gods and demigods rose into the air one after another and hurried toward the Jade Pool. The aura of the gods of remote antiquity shrouded heaven and earth and twisted space itself, and someone was heard crying aloud, "Where does this vermin come from, that he dares run wild in the Heavenly Court?"

Niu Sanduo's ox nature had taken hold of his head; he paid it no mind. He leaped, sprang into the sky, and let fly with fists and feet, laying bare every scrap of his martial Dao cultivation and unleashing it in full, glorious flow.

He cared nothing for divine abilities; he simply blasted through with fist and foot. One punch ground out the divine abilities of these ancient gods and demigods — sheer force crushing all, heedless of the power of their arts. Even ancient gods such as the sun, the moon, and the Five Luminaries had no strength to resist before him; their divine abilities were simply blasted apart!

Niu Sanduo's attainments in the martial Dao were exceedingly high and his speed extreme. The running speed of a martial Dao powerhouse is beyond the reach of any divine-power wielder, and he was moreover a powerhouse of the Lingxiao realm, second only to the Emperor's Throne. To catch his figure with the eye alone was all but impossible!

In the sky an ancient god grunted, took a punch to the face, and plunged down headfirst, his great head stuck in the Jade Pool and his body and legs standing straight up, dead or alive unknown.

Another ancient god was struck down into the Heavenly River, smashing up waves that reared to the heavens and tossed the painted pleasure boats one after another, to ride upon wave crests ten thousand zhang high, drawing a chorus of screams.

Still other ancient gods, in the blink of an eye, took more punches, palms, and kicks than could be counted; with every blow their bodies bent, their faces twisted, their minds went blank.

By the time they came to their senses, they were lying in a great pit, beneath them the palace they had crushed in their fall.

Niu Sanduo laid about him with all his might, venting the grievances he had suffered these past two days.