"Eat us? Such arrogant boasting!"
The Second Master was furious, yet her heart pounded with apprehension.
For some unknown reason, despite having cultivated under the Red Dust Immortal for tens of thousands of years, she still felt a lingering dread originating from Li Zhiheng.
When Li Zhiheng said 'eat them,' he didn't just mean her or the Martial Academy, but the entirety of Grandhaven Prefecture!
The arrival of the Third and Sixth Masters behind her brought her significant relief.
Li Zhiheng merely glanced at the two newly arrived masters, making no move.
He continued his standoff with the Second Master, uttering not a single word.
In an instant.
Dust and sand swirled through Grandhaven City, and the earth, previously cracked by Li Tianming's talismans, began to tremble violently.
Banshu Qingping's expression instantly turned grave. His white bead Dharma Treasure glowed brilliantly. Staring at the two approaching masters, his hair stood on end.
"What are you panicking for?"
As the sky changed color within the city, dust billowed, and shattered stones floated in the air, Li Tianming frowned slightly.
The numerous personalities within him were eager to fight, incredibly interested in the rule power the three masters were exuding at this moment.
But to Banshu Qingping, coercive pressure radiated from all directions.
He looked at the two approaching masters in horror and exclaimed, "The Martial Academy has an ancient inheritance, educating Grandhaven Prefecture for tens of thousands of years to achieve its current glory.
Jade Mist Valley's reputation precedes the Martial Academy, but when it comes to the true inheritance of Grandhaven Prefecture, they fall far behind the Martial Academy!"
"The six Masters of the Martial Academy never make a move; they exist only in legends. They are the most mysterious entities in Grandhaven Prefecture."
"The First Master imparted the Dao to Grandhaven; zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting all originated from him.
With over four thousand seven hundred classical texts, his mastery of the Scholarly Dao is unparalleled in the world."
"The Second Master educates on propriety and music, imparting the rules and boundaries of Grandhaven, ensuring everyone in the prefecture strictly abides by the rules.
The Third Master imparts martial arts, allowing the common people of Grandhaven to strengthen their bodies and prolong their lives."
"The Fourth Master upholds integrity and morality, and establishes the boundaries of hierarchy and respect.
The Fifth Master teaches and resolves doubts, enlightening the minds of the people.
The Sixth Master imparts the cultivation methods and techniques of Grandhaven; he is the ancient preacher of Grandhaven!"
Li Tianming stared intently at the trio that had gathered.
One was a fierce, nine-foot-tall brute, a physique even more imposing than the elders back home; this was the Third Master.
The other was an old man with white hair but a youthful, compassionate face.
The aura of these three was far beyond that of ordinary Void Refinement cultivators.
Now floating side-by-side in the air, they exuded an awe-inspiring, righteous aura.
Banshu Qingping's face turned pale.
He said resolutely, "In all my years as Prefecture Lord of Grandhaven, this is the first time I have seen them make a move, and three have come at once.
My young friend, call for reinforcements. Let us just hope the three of us can hold out until they arrive. Do not hold back your trump cards."
Hearing this, Li Tianming was actually surprised. "You still have trump cards?"
For this guy, who had just been trailing behind him to survive, to actually know about 'trump cards'—he truly wasn't simple.
"At a time like this, stop joking around, my young friend." Banshu Qingping glared dissatisfiedly at Li Tianming, preparing himself for a desperate fight.
His divine soul was vigilant to the extreme, observing the enemy's movements while saying,
"Based on what young friend Zhiheng said, the Martial Academy has an immortal. I'm afraid these six rely on the immortal to educate Grandhaven."
"They are Grandhaven itself!"
Boom!
As Banshu Qingping's words fell, the spiritual power of the three masters linked together.
The world mutated, and within an instant, the entire surrounding area was engulfed in a Void Refinement space.
The rule power was monstrous.
The ruined Grandhaven Prefecture suddenly manifested scenes of the mortal world:
The smoke of cooking fires within the city, bustling streets filled with people, and the scent of incense from countless homes.
This instantaneous move, gathering rules from all directions, seemingly formed an independent world within the Void Refinement space.
"Old Ancestor Banshu Ao's Void Refinement rules..."
Banshu Qingping's eyes widened perfectly round, finding it utterly unbelievable.
After a brief observation, he exclaimed in shock,
"No, it's even more profound than my Old Ancestor's 'World' rules.
My Old Ancestor's rules contained no living people, but the rules of these three can already allow a piece of heaven and earth to operate on its own!"
How could Banshu Qingping not despair? His Old Ancestor Banshu Ao's 'World' rules had made him the absolute number one below the Body Integration realm.
Yet, compared to this Spiritual power that formed its own heaven and earth, his Old Ancestor's abilities were merely scratching the surface!
"It's over. Now it's truly over."
Banshu Qingping quickly went through his trump cards.
They were items left behind by Old Ancestor Banshu Ao when he headed for Azure Cloud Prefecture.
But if even the Old Ancestor was inferior, what use were the trump cards he left behind?
He looked at Li Tianming.
Even if this bizarre young friend exhausted all his talismans and fought with the same power he used against the Lord of Thunder, they had absolutely no chance of winning.
Unexpectedly, Li Tianming still maintained his cynical and playful posture, merely saying, "No matter how powerful they are, it has nothing to do with you or me."
"Hm?"
Before he could process this, Banshu Qingping found himself hoisted by his back collar once again.
As Li Tianming formed hand seals, talisman papers swirled around the two of them, and in an instant, they arrived at the very edge of the Void Refinement space.
Looking back, the three masters of the Martial Academy frowned at them, making no move to stop them; their expressions were filled mostly with confusion.
In the distance, the slightly lonely young Daoist within this Void Refinement space exchanged a glance with Li Tianming, then nodded in understanding.
It seemed everything was under control.
It was just that...
"Are we... are we fleeing? What about him?" Banshu Qingping was utterly stunned.
Fleeing made sense, but Li Zhiheng was still engaged in a standoff with the three masters.
No matter how you looked at it, he seemed prepared to fight them to the death, which was completely unrealistic.
Given the posture of the three masters, even someone at the Dao-Glimpsing realm could only stall them for a while, or at best, remain undefeated.
"What do you think?" Li Tianming retorted.
Looking at the three silent masters, he suddenly recalled the noisy banter of his own three brothers.
Lowering his eyes for a moment, he took advantage of the enemy ignoring them and led Banshu Qingping away. "You and I are ill-suited for this kind of battle."
"Ill-suited?" Banshu Qingping was still confused.
As the ruined Grandhaven Prefecture reappeared, and they moved further and further away from the fluctuating rules in the cloudy sky, he was filled with doubts and asked apprehensively,
"Are we really just abandoning young friend Zhiheng like this? And those three masters came so aggressively; are they really just letting us leave?"
Li Tianming didn't turn his head, smiling faintly into the wind. "It's not that they're letting us leave. It's that those three..."
"Can't leave."
Banshu Qingping was stunned. His heart skipped a beat, causing him to stutter, "C-can't leave? Im... Impossible, right?"
The image of young friend Zhiheng resurfaced in his mind; since appearing, apart from being handsome, he had shown no other extraordinary traits.
Furthermore...
How old was he? Stopping three masters all by himself, without making a sound?!!