On the trial platform, Gu Qingfeng said nothing more. He casually picked up one of the Immortal Art Secret Manuals and began to flip through it.
On the high platform, the various managing elders of Yunxia Sect watched Gu Qingfeng intently. Seeing him flip through the secret manual at an astonishing speed, page after page, they thought that at such a pace, he wouldn't even be able to remember the words on each page, let alone comprehend them.
Comprehend them thoroughly?
And perform them at Great Perfection?
Probably not even a God possessed such ability.
Beside them, Elder Rende watched cautiously. He knew that the ten Immortal Arts Mu De had replaced were all 'useless arts'—arts whose profound mysteries were excessively arcane and profound, yet whose power was negligible. Especially the 'Azure Nether Wind Vortex' in Gu Qingfeng's hands.
This art had been created by the founding patriarch of Yunxia Sect. For thousands of years, no one had ever cultivated it to Great Perfection, including Rende himself. He had once attempted to comprehend it, but it took him a full three to four hundred years just to reach the five-nine realm. The profound mysteries of the Azure Nether Wind were too difficult to grasp, belonging to a very obscure and cold aspect of nature. After reaching the five-nine realm and finding it had little effect, he had abandoned it.
On the high platform, the group of managing elders watched Gu Qingfeng flipping through the manual, their expressions serious and brows deeply furrowed. They couldn't help but reveal looks of joy, already eagerly anticipating claiming the Fragment of Purple-Gold Heavenly Illumination Crystal for themselves.
"This Azure Nether Wind Vortex was created by our sect's founding patriarch. Aside from the patriarch, no one in thousands of years has ever cultivated it to Great Perfection," Elder Mu De said, stroking his beard, his expression still laced with anger as he stared disdainfully at Gu Qingfeng. "This old man has spent centuries comprehending it and still hasn't grasped it thoroughly. How could an arrogant fool like you, who doesn't know his own limits, possibly perform it at Great Perfection with just a glance?
Forget performing it at Great Perfection. If you can merely comprehend the eighty-one layers of Azure Nether Wind mysteries contained within it today, I'll consider you the winner!"
"Mu De, for a stubborn and foolish person like you, not even giving you hundreds of years would suffice. Even if I gave you a thousand years, ten thousand years, you still wouldn't comprehend it."
On the trial platform, Gu Qingfeng closed the manual for Azure Nether Wind Vortex, looked up, and said indifferently, "You've spent centuries failing to comprehend it thoroughly, and you still have the face to say it out loud?
If you aren't ashamed, I'm ashamed for you!"
"You arrogant brat! What did you say!"
Elder Mu De stood up, his face flushed crimson, fists clenched tight in rage. Gnashing his teeth, he sneered coldly, "Since you've closed the manual, have you comprehended it thoroughly?"
"Open your dog eyes and see clearly!"
As his words fell, Gu Qingfeng slightly raised his arm. Spiritual Power circulated within his body as his five fingers formed a Spiritual Art. A turbid radiance flickered, interspersed with crackling sounds. With a sweep of his arm and a push-pull motion of his palm, whoosh!
A turbid vortex materialized.
The vortex was about a meter wide, spinning wildly like a wind tunnel. As it rotated, a fierce gale erupted within the arena, howling and roaring.
"You..." On the high platform, everyone was shocked pale, for they could all see that the vortex in Gu Qingfeng's palm contained a full eighty-one layers of Azure Nether Wind mysteries.
Great Perfection!
He really had comprehended this Azure Nether Wind Vortex thoroughly with just one glance, and he really had...
He really had performed it at Great Perfection!
By the heavens!
"You... Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
On the high platform, Elder Mu De's face was ashen, his eyes wide as if seeing a ghost or deity. Pointing at Gu Qingfeng, even his voice trembled. "You... You must have practiced this before. You must have..."
Without another word, Gu Qingfeng picked up the second Immortal Art Secret Manual, glanced at it, then raised his hand, his five fingers forming a Spiritual Art. In the air above, a vivid crimson lotus flower abruptly appeared.
This was the Crimson Flame Lotus Art. Great Perfection!
"What do you, a frog in a well, know about Profound Mysteries!"
As his words fell, Gu Qingfeng picked up the third Immortal Art Secret Manual, swept his eyes over it, raised his hand, and formed a seal with his fingers. Bang!
Great Perfection!
"In your eyes, all you know are Spiritual Roots. What could you possibly understand about the word 'comprehension'?"
Gu Qingfeng picked up the fourth Immortal Art Secret Manual, gave it a casual glance, raised his hand to form a Spiritual Art. Bang!
Another Great Perfection!
"The heavens and earth hold billions of Profound Mysteries, mysteries within mysteries, wonders within wonders. That you don't understand them only proves your stupidity!"
The fifth Immortal Art Secret Manual. One glance, another Great Perfection.
"Five hundred years ago you were stupid. Five hundred years later today, you're even stupider!"
The sixth Immortal Art Secret Manual. One glance, Great Perfection.
"Mu De, open your dog eyes and see clearly!"
Gu Qingfeng picked up another Immortal Art Secret Manual. Another glance, another Great Perfection. He continued like this—picking up a manual, glancing at it, then raising his hand to form a Spiritual Art, each time unleashing a Great Perfection performance that displayed all eighty-one layers of mysteries contained within the art.
The arena fell into utter silence. At this moment, everyone stood frozen like statues, eyes wide, mouths agape, expressions as if beholding ghosts or deities. Their eyes held endless shock, endless disbelief, and endless incredulity.
This was true for inner and outer sect disciples, for the chiefs of the twelve courtyards, for the personal disciples of the nine halls, for the managing elders, for the guest elders—every single person in the arena, without exception, was the same.
All ten Immortal Arts had been thoroughly comprehended and performed at Great Perfection by him, all within the span of a few breaths.
On the trial platform, Gu Qingfeng stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his white robes pristine, his expression indifferent, his dark eyes fixed on Elder Mu De on the high platform. In a stern, fierce voice, he demanded, "Well? Did you see clearly?"
Elder Mu De stood on the high platform, shocked, horrified, pointing, his mouth opening and closing but unable to utter a single word. Because at this moment, his mind was completely blank. He felt dizzy, the world spinning around him, barely able to stand steady, feeling as if he couldn't even breathe.
He was like this, and so were Guang Yuan and Feixue beside him, their faces deathly pale, expressions extremely ugly. Not far away, Ouyang Feiyue also watched with a terrified expression, not daring to breathe, having forgotten to breathe, staring as if her soul had left her body.
"If you didn't see clearly, then I'll give you another chance!"
Without any visible movement from Gu Qingfeng, a turbid radiance suddenly coalesced around him, blazing like raging flames, intermixed with thunder and lightning. He raised both arms, his hands forming seals before his body, his ten fingers dancing wildly, thunderous light crackling between them. One Spiritual Art, ten, a hundred—in an instant, he formed over a thousand Spiritual Arts.
Heavens!
Seeing this scene, Ouyang Feiyue felt her scalp go numb. Not only did her breathing stop, but her heart also ceased to tremble at this moment, because it was simply too insane!
"Open your dog eyes and see clearly!"
Gu Qingfeng spread his arms wide, and ten beams of radiance shot skyward.
One transformed into terrifying waves.
One transformed into monstrous swells!
One became like a mountain peak, one like raging sand, one like a tiger's roar, one like flying feathers...
These were ten Immortal Arts: Terrifying Wave Art, Monstrous Swell Art, Mountain Peak Fist, Raging Sand Sword Art...
These were the ten Immortal Arts that Elder Mu De had originally prepared for Gu Qingfeng before changing them. He had actually performed them all, and each art contained a full eighty-one layers of mysteries, all at Great Perfection. Most terrifying of all, he had...
He had performed all ten of these Immortal Arts in a single instant.
Yes.
A single instant!
No one knew how he had done it.
Just as no one knew how he had comprehended ten Immortal Arts thoroughly with a single glance, or how he had performed all ten at Great Perfection with a single glance.
No one knew. They couldn't fathom it, couldn't understand it.
Because this wasn't a matter of knowing or not knowing. It wasn't even a matter of thinking or not thinking.
It was an impossibility!
Such an impossibility wasn't just unheard of or unseen—even in the legendary tales of the ancient era, there had never been anything so insane!
That was twenty Immortal Arts! An ordinary person, let alone cultivating them, would need centuries just to comprehend them. Yet he comprehended them thoroughly with a single glance, and could perform them at Great Perfection with a single glance!
By the heavens!
Was he even human?
If he was, how could he possibly be so terrifying!