In Elder Mu’s mind, Shen Bai was indeed incredibly strong. He was capable of Overcoming Adversity and Attacking Upward—a true genius among geniuses.

Elder Mu had never denied this; in fact, he even thought he had a good eye for talent.

But he never expected Shen Bai to have achieved another round of improvements in such a short amount of time.

Elder Mu suddenly felt that this guy, Shen Bai, was like a monster. His rate of improvement could only be described as advancing by leaps and bounds.

’I was hoping to save some face as a senior in front of this kid, but now it looks like that’s not going to happen,’ Elder Mu thought.

He had tried to put on a show in front of Shen Bai several times before, but Elder Mu always felt that the kid was even better at posturing than he was, which left him feeling quite vexed.

After all, everyone in the Observatory knew that he, Mu Jianlin, had been the best at posturing among the younger generation of his time.

Now that someone even better at it had appeared, Elder Mu naturally had to reclaim his reputation in this particular arena.

But now, it seemed his plan was doomed to fail.

’No, I absolutely cannot fail.’ Elder Mu gripped the sword in his hand.

Then, he thrust his sword straight at Shen Bai’s attack.

The thrust was unsteady, almost clumsy, looking like an ordinary strike. The blade even trembled slightly, as if wielded by a commoner.

Yet everyone present could feel the terror contained within Elder Mu’s strike.

The trembling blade stirred up a distortion in space, making the surrounding area unstable.

At the same time, invisible Sword Qi reverberated and swirled around the blade.

Every strand of Sword Qi was suffocating, as if a mountain range was bearing down on them.

A thought surfaced in the minds of the many Observatory members.

’If I were to face this strike, could I possibly block it?’

The answer was no. Whether they were from the Jia Division or the Yi Division, not even the veteran masters who had been immersed in the Meridian Realm for years had any confidence they could receive Elder Mu’s strike.

’Can Shen Bai block it?’ Another thought appeared in their minds.

They looked at Shen Bai with a hint of anticipation in their eyes.

In their view, Shen Bai had always been a legendary figure.

His initial rise from Shengyun County and his special recruitment by Liu Wufeng had already attracted a great deal of attention.

Of course, at the end of the day, they still saw Shen Bai as just a young man.

Some of the older members of the Jia Division had thought, ’Even if he was specially recruited by Liu Wufeng, a young man must have his limits.’

But the events that followed, including the destruction of the Upper Evil Sect and the recent Nightmare incident, gave everyone a much clearer understanding of Shen Bai.

This was a young man who could hunt them down and beat them with ease.

So, as they faced Elder Mu’s terrifying strike, while many Observatory members wondered if Shen Bai could block it, another portion of them already had an answer in their hearts.

’Perhaps Shen Bai can block this strike.’

That was their answer.

Shen Bai didn’t know what they were thinking. His expression was solemn as he watched Elder Mu’s sword thrust forward.

He had already launched his own attack; there was no turning back.

And from Elder Mu’s longsword, he could feel the terror of one of Fenglin State’s top-tier combatants.

The pressure, like a mountain collapsing or a sea overturning, was so immense that even Shen Bai felt he was suffocating.

’So this is Elder Mu’s true strength. As expected of the Sword King of Fenglin State.’

Shen Bai thought to himself.

As he dismissed the thought, the two attacks finally collided.

The Sword Qi from Elder Mu’s hand seemed capable of slicing through space itself as it met Shen Bai’s Blood Red Sword Qi and golden Fist Gang.

In an instant, it sliced right through Shen Bai’s Divine Powers.

The rest of the scattered Blood Red Sword Qi had no chance of getting close, for an invisible barrier surrounded Elder Mu’s body.

It was a barrier formed from Sword Qi.

Watching the unsteady strike, Shen Bai took a deep breath, stepped back, and unleashed his Explosive Speed Attribute.

The unique Burst Speed from Divine Hundred Miles allowed Shen Bai to launch a brand new strike.

And this strike was imbued with the Soul Absorption of the Spirit Casting Technique, as well as all of his Blood Red Sword Qi.

The coalesced Blood Red Sword Qi vibrated slightly, also causing the surrounding space to distort.

This spatial distortion was the result of the terrifying cutting power generated by compressing all of the Sword Qi together.

Elder Mu’s longsword was still thrusting forward, but a hint of astonishment appeared in his eyes.

He had thought that Shen Bai would surely evade the brunt of his attack, but he never expected him to meet it head-on with such force.

This clash had actually erased half the power of his own strike.

’Just how many abilities does he have? And he’s trained every single one to such a high level... what a freakish talent,’ Elder Mu thought.

After all, it was common knowledge that practicing too many different things would only lead to mediocrity.

A person’s energy was finite; it was impossible to divide it endlessly to cultivate new Cultivation Techniques.

But Shen Bai was, once again, a special case.

Not only was each of his abilities extremely powerful, but he also had a startling number of them.

’Still, this kid’s strength should have reached its limit by now,’ Elder Mu thought again.

Blocking his strike was indeed impressive, but he felt this had to be Shen Bai’s limit.

With this in mind, Elder Mu didn’t hesitate, pressing his longsword forward.

At that exact moment, Shen Bai’s Cold Moon also thrust forward.