2723 Past, present

"It's your Grandpa Dog!" The large black dog immediately darted out, barking. "Kill yourself quickly so that the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable can appear. Otherwise, Grandpa Dog will destroy you!"

Heavenborn crossed his hands behind his back. "Even when I just came to being, I had no fear of you, what more now? Where is Ling Han? Come out!"

He knew that the voice just now had not come from the large black dog.

Ling Han smiled slightly, and appeared on the mountain.

At present, Heavenborn was massive. Even if he was standing in the canyon, he was not much lower than him. He looked at Ling Han coldly. "In the past, the fact that I did not kill you was indeed my greatest miscalculation!"

Ling Han shook his head. "A lot of people have said these words to me before, but their greatest miscalculation should have been meeting me in the first place!"

"What arrogant words!" Heavenborn exclaimed.

"This is confidence." Ling Han was still calm. In the past, even when he had worked together with Ji Wuming, Huo Furong, and the others, they had still been no match for Huo Furong, but now he had already caught up to Heavenborn in terms of cultivation level, and did not have any disadvantage any longer.

"Not being able to devour your bloodline in the past is a great regret of mine. I did not expect that you would deliver yourself into my hands. Very good." Heavenborn nodded, filled with confidence.

"Are you done with the nonsense? Give us back the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable!" The large black dog was the first to make his move.

Heavenborn humphed, delivering a palm strike in response.

Peng!

The two great Ninth Heaven elites exchanged blows once, suddenly causing a great reverberation. However, though the man and dog had both been sent several hundred kilometers backwards, each of them looked like nothing had happened.

"Yi, your physique!" Heavenborn was surprised, and with a thought, he exclaimed, "You have cultivated the Indestructible Divine Metal Physique!" He possessed a sliver of the divine sense of the Karmic Life Heavenly Venerable, so he naturally knew of the existence of the Indestructible Heaven's Scroll.

The large black dog was proud. "It is not just a bastard like you that can possess a Divine Metal-like physique."

Heavenborn frowned slightly, but his frown immediately smoothened out. "Even so, you will only be refined by me!"

He moved again, grabbing out at the large black dog.

However, the large black dog had long since attained peak-stage Ninth Heaven Celestial King Tier, and had also learned various theories with Wally, so he was really just a step away from setting foot in the Pseudo-Heavenly Venerable Tier. His battle prowess was extraordinary, especially when his physique had reached the level of Divine Metal, which naturally made him even more fearless.

Similarly, Heavenborn had always possessed Divine Metal-level defense. Though the two of them were fighting extremely intensely, it was a stalemate, with neither being able to wound the other. It was only excitement for show.

Battle, battle, battle. They battled till the world became dark, but there was still no conclusion.

Weng!

However, Heavenborn's stomach was trembling wildly. There was a Pseudo-Heavenly Venerate imprisoned there. It had great strength, and was capable of dealing impressive damage even to Divine Metal. It was fine if this was under normal conditions, as Heavenborn's own power would be enough to suppress it, but now he had to exchange blows with a peak-stage Ninth Heaven elite. With "enemy on the inside, and an enemy on the outside," this made it slightly unbearable for him.

His stomach split open quite a few times, ripped open by a claw. That giant snow monster very nearly managed to escape, and Heavenborn forcefully suppressed it. However, he was beginning to tire slightly.

Heavenborn looked towards Ling Han. This man had not made his move yet. If he combined forces with the large black dog, there was absolutely no way Heavenborn could digest the thing in his stomach. That would need a very peaceful environment.

Pu! Heavenborn thus decided to just spread out his body, and turned once more into a metallic sheet, "vomiting" the object in his stomach.

The giant snow monster instantly escaped, shrieking loudly.

Heavenborn transformed his body, and returned to his usual size. This could cut down on the surface area on his body that would be exposed to attacks. Otherwise, it would be very disadvantageous in battle.

Peng!

The giant snow monster stomped down on Heavenborn. However, its foot was too big, so even the large black dog was within the range of this attack.

"You ugly giant, why are you stomping down on me as well?" The large black dog dodged hurriedly. Though his physique was akin to Divine Metal, and he would definitely survive this stomp, he would still be stomped flat. That was still very painful!

The giant snow monster ignored him completely, and just continued stomping, treating Heavenborn and the large black dog the same.

...They belonged to two different worlds in the first place.

With the inclusion of the giant snow monster, this battle became even more complicated. This was a battle royale of three different sides, and was extremely lively.

Ling Han unleashed a battle cry, and charged towards that giant snow monster. Peng, peng, peng! He threw a series of punches, every blow incredibly domineering.

This giant snow monster's power was impressive, but its defense was far from reaching the level of the Divine Metal. Under Ling Han's mad barrage of attacks, one of its legs was soon forcefully blasted apart. Peng! Its figure suddenly swayed as it collapsed.

Ling Han gave it another beating. Pa! The giant snow monster's head was also destroyed, and it was now completely dead.

Clean and quick.

Heavenborn's expression instantly changed drastically. This battle prowess was too powerful, wasn't it? This completely exceeded his expectations.

They were both Ninth Heaven Celestial Kings, and Heavenborn was a manifestation of the willpower of the heaven and earth at that, but he was actually inferior to Ling Han?

"I am feeling more and more regretful!" Heavenborn said. "At the time, even if you had been spirited away by the chaotic stream of spatial energy, I should have continued to pursue and kill you completely."

At the time, he had also been affected by the chaotic stream of spatial energy, but if he had been willing to sustain some injury and expend a little life force, he would still have been able to catch up to Ling Han. However, Heavenborn had thought that it would not have been worth it at the time, and that was why he had allowed the chaotic stream of spatial energy to spirit Ling Han away.

As Heavenborn thought about it, there should have been no way for Ling Han to survive. He had not expected that not only had the latter not died, he was presently strong enough to surpass him.

Ling Han smiled slightly. "Now, both of us are at the Ninth Heaven. Come then, let us have a fair fight, and see who is stronger between the two of us."

Heavenborn sneered. "I admit that you are very freakish, but you will never be able to compare with heaven and earth!" He suddenly opened his mouth, which became incredibly colossal, as he tried to swallow Ling Han.

Ling Han had seen this move before. The Pseudo-Heavenly-Venerable-Tier giant snow monster was thus swallowed whole, and it was indeed very powerful.

In this instant, he did not want to take this attack head-on, so he dodged. "Oh, so what if you are a manifestation of the realm?"

"You can guess!" Heavenborn did not answer, and merely continued to bite at Ling Han.

Thoughts were turning over in Ling Han's head, and he said seriously, "Realms can devour one another to improve their own respective levels. Going by that account, it is possible that you, too, possess this kind of ability."

Heavenborn couldn't help but be rendered speechless. He had not thought that Ling Han would really hit the nail on the head.

"You had just eaten a Pseudo-Heavenly Venerate just now, and I assume that you had wanted to digest it, but because of our interference, you had no choice but to stop the process." Ling Han continued his deduction following this line of thought. "Yi, could it be that there would be a day that you could become a second Hysteria?"

This was not an idea that belonged only to Heavenborn. It was the same for He Feng. He had also obtained one of Hysteria's tentacles, and had spent several epochs to study it so that he could be assimilated with Hysteria, and also gain the devouring ability.

Thus, it was very easy for Ling Han to come up with this deduction.

However, Heavenborn did not know this. His eyes were wide and mouth gaping. In his eyes, this was a great secret that only he knew. He had not thought that Ling Han would have guessed it so easily, and at this moment, he did not know how to react at all.

This was just like how someone managed to dig out a precious gem with great difficulty, and was about to show off his feat to his companion, but in the end discovered that the path in his companion's home was completely laid out with these gems. That sudden sense of loss and dejection was really over the moon.

Heavenborn took a deep breath, and only then did he manage to suppress his emotions. He shouted, "So what if you know that? Once I eat you, you will only become my nutrition!"

"Is that right?" Ling Han chuckled, and drew the Divine Demon Sword. "You can try!"