Chapter 1900: The Disciples' Weakness

“Lord Xu Yang, what you might not know is that although all seven of us have reached the Martial God realm, we are only in the early stage. Within the entire Ancient Martial God Path, while becoming a Martial God is the peak realm every martial artist dreams of, there are actually more detailed divisions of realms and power levels once you enter it. Even among Martial Gods, the power possessed by someone in the late stage, or even a peak Martial God, is far beyond what those of us in the early stage can compare to. The individual hidden behind that ancient formation, controlling our souls, is likely the same person, and their power should have reached the late-stage Martial God level.”

Upon hearing these crucial details from Nangong, Xu Yang immediately conjured the image of that arrogant priest from his memory. “Take a good look—is it this person?” When Nangong saw the illusion materialize before him, he immediately began to search his memories. However, the more he tried to recall details about the figure in the illusion, the more his head throbbed with splitting pain, and he instinctively clutched his head.

“No, I can’t remember!” Nangong cried, clutching his head. “My head feels like it’s going to split open!” Xu Yang immediately realized that Nangong’s negative reaction was due to a part of his memory having been forcefully altered by the one controlling his soul; all information related to the priest had completely vanished from the depths of his memory.

“Hahaha, Lord Xu Yang, we meet again!” a voice boomed. “Don’t trouble him any further; he won’t find anything about me in his memories. If you hadn’t kindly intervened to help him, he would have already turned to ash.” Just then, an incredibly powerful spiritual force appeared at the edge of the dream battlefield. Because of this force’s forceful intervention, the dream battlefield began to show signs of collapse.

The reason was simple: the combined soul pressure from Xu Yang's soul origin and the newly intruding powerful spiritual force was too immense. Nangong, caught in the middle, would have been instantly crushed by the might unleashed by these two spiritual powers if not for Xu Yang's Law of Light protecting him. Therefore, at Xu Yang's direct instruction, Nangong immediately withdrew all his released spiritual energy, causing the surrounding dream space to rapidly collapse.

Soon after, the souls of everyone involved in the dream battle returned to their respective physical bodies. In the real world, a Martial God-level devotee in golden robes stood suspended in the void. This was the individual who had previously used the power of the formation to invade Nangong's soul world and control his consciousness. However, Xu Yang could tell at a glance that this Martial God-level devotee did not inherently possess the power to suppress Nangong’s soul; his ability to do so must have been largely due to the power source of the so-called ancient formation. It was likely the same for everyone else affected.

After recovering, Nangong immediately went to Lan Ling'er's side. The reunion between uncle and niece lifted a huge burden from both their hearts. Seeing Nangong return to normal, Lan Ling'er then turned her gaze to Xu Yang, who was standing nearby. “Uncle Nangong, how do you feel now?” she asked. “Did that guy Xu Yang save you?”

Nangong nodded gently. “Silly girl, don’t worry. Seeing that you’re safe puts your uncle’s mind at ease. However, the other six elders of the council are currently trapped in the imperial palace, and their only hope of rescue depends on Lord Xu Yang’s intervention. Oh! And by the way, I almost forgot to ask, who was that arrogant fool who dared to abduct you? Tell Uncle Nangong, and I’ll go get revenge for you right away.”

Lan Ling’er sheepishly stuck out her tongue, then, with a helpless expression, pointed her finger at Xu Yang’s back. Nangong chuckled.

“Alright, pretend I didn't say that,” Nangong said. “Lord Xu Yang’s power is simply not comparable to that of old-timers like us from the Changyun Heavenly Sect. Even if your father, the Sect Master himself, were to come, he would be no match for Lord Xu Yang. Unless you’ve truly fought him, you’ll never understand just how powerful he is.”

At this moment, Xu Yang was already engaged in battle with the golden-robed Martial God-level devotee nearby. The subtle reverence in Nangong’s eyes when describing Xu Yang was impossible to hide, and the clever Lan Ling'er noticed it clearly. “But you are all Martial God-level experts, considered among the strongest martial artists within the Ancient Martial God Path,” Lan Ling'er mused. “I don't understand, no matter how strong Xu Yang is, can he truly surpass all of you Martial Gods?”

Nangong sighed with a wry smile. “Your current realm is far from this level, so you don’t understand that there are vast differences even among Martial Gods. What’s more important is that I could feel Xu Yang was far from using his true strength when he fought me. At most, he only used about thirty percent of his real power, yet he gained an absolute advantage against me, an early-stage Martial God. Now, dare to imagine what he would be like if he used a hundred percent of his strength.”

Lan Ling'er fell completely silent. She didn’t want to discuss anything further about Xu Yang’s power, as doing so only made her feel increasingly insignificant.

Boom! Just as the two were discussing this heated topic, Xu Yang struck out with a palm, instantly shattering the golden-robed Martial God-level devotee into dust!

It wasn't for any other reason, but simply because Xu Yang was growing tired. Each golden-robed Martial God-level devotee was a top-tier individual, one in ten thousand. Yet, once they encountered Xu Yang, it was akin to putting a premature end to their life’s journey. No one was an exception.

Having dealt with many disciples of these dark forces, Xu Yang was well aware of their weakness: the single mark on their bodies.

That mark was the condensation of their life essence and the core from which all their martial power originated. As long as that mark was shattered, their identity as a disciple would vanish, and they would naturally lose the formidable power originally granted to them by the dark forces.

This was also the single most fatal weakness of these powerful disciples, and the insurmountable gap between them and true human Martial God-level experts.

Even though these golden-robed devotees possessed Martial God-level power, once their mark was shattered, they would lose everything they originally had.

Simply put, these so-called disciples or devotees were all war puppets hatched by the dark forces.

Their power was not inherently their own; they merely possessed it temporarily as part of a transaction. The moment they were defeated on the battlefield, these pathetic war machines would become utterly worthless.