"Holy crap! Is Old Demon Ye this strong? He's actually trading blows with Chairman Gu!"
"This... how is this possible! Chairman Gu is a peak Martial God expert, he..."
"Could it be that the cultivation technique Old Demon Ye spread was not problematic after all! What's being generated in our bodies is really true qi?"
"This... but the Ancient Martial Arts Association said it wasn't true qi! After all..."
"Forget it! After this battle is over! All the truth will be revealed!"
"That's right!"
"..."
As Gu Taiyi and Ye Ming continued to battle in the sky, the public's attitude towards Ye Ming gradually changed.
At the very least!
They had come to acknowledge Ye Ming's strength.
However, they were unaware that Ye Ming, who was currently fighting Gu Taiyi, was not paying full attention to Gu Taiyi at all.
His senses were constantly observing the changes around Taixuan Lake.
Ye Ming wanted to confirm if the people behind Gu Taiyi were also watching.
But after a thorough scan, he was disappointed.
"They're hiding quite deeply!"
Ye Ming thought to himself as he dealt with Gu Taiyi's attacks.
"Since that's the case! There's no need to continue this drawn-out fight."
He withdrew his focus, looked at Gu Taiyi, and said indifferently, "This ancient sword in your hand! I'm taking it!"
I'm taking it?
Gu Taiyi was stunned upon hearing this.
Then, Ye Ming formed his hand into a palm, curled his five fingers inward, and a terrifying suction force acted upon the ancient sword.
"Wh... what?"
Gu Taiyi tightly gripped the sword in his hand, mobilizing all the true qi within him to resist the invisible suction.
Without the assistance of this ancient sword, he would have no chance of winning.
However, as his true qi continued to surge, it was still unable to prevent the ancient sword from being taken by Ye Ming.
Even though he tried his best, it was ultimately in vain.
"Come!"
Ye Ming's eyes narrowed, and with a single beckoning gesture, Gu Taiyi lost all resistance, and the ancient sword in his hand was forcefully snatched away by Ye Ming.
The moment the ancient sword landed in his hand, Ye Ming felt a decaying force attempting to corrode his mind and seize his consciousness.
If an ordinary person held it, they would likely be controlled instantly and become a cold puppet.
Even for ancient martial artists, prolonged contact would lead to corrosion, eventual loss of reason, and a state akin to walking corpses.
Ye Ming guessed that Gu Taiyi was not affected likely because the person behind him had given him a protective artifact.
Otherwise, he would not have been able to unleash the power of this ancient sword.
"Chairman Gu! You have one more chance!"
Ye Ming put away the ancient sword and held up a finger to Gu Taiyi.
Fighting with Gu Taiyi was, in fact, quite boring for him.
After all, the gap in their strength was too vast.
And Ye Ming did not have a penchant for bullying weaker opponents.
Therefore! If he could resolve it sooner, he would be happy to do so.
"One chance?"
Gu Taiyi's expression darkened as he looked at the index finger Ye Ming held up.
At his level of strength, he could naturally discern the difference between himself and the enemy.
During their previous exchange, he had realized that the opponent's attention was not focused on him. In a sense, this was an insult to him.
However!
He was powerless!
The other party's strength was superior, that was a fact.
"Alright! I don't need to struggle anymore!"
Gu Taiyi sighed deeply, appearing to have aged several years.
Before the battle, he had fantasized about defeating the youth in front of him with his own strength. After they had clashed, he had already realized how naive his previous thoughts were.
"Young friend Ye! I have a question, can you satisfy it?"
Gu Taiyi asked softly.
His address to Ye Ming had changed.
"Let's hear it!"
Ye Ming gave the foremost figure in ancient martial arts some respect.
If the question did not involve too much, he was not averse to answering.
"Thank you!"
Gu Taiyi clasped his fists and said, "Are the cultivation techniques you've been spreading harmful to the public?"
Cultivation techniques?
Hearing this question, Ye Ming was somewhat surprised.
After all, based on his guess, the people behind Gu Taiyi were likely immortal cultivators. If that were the case, those immortal cultivators should be able to recognize what kind of techniques Ye Ming was spreading.
Those were all basic immortal dao cultivation techniques.
Logically, they should know.
But if that were the case, why was Gu Taiyi asking this?
Had the people behind him not told him?
"Haven't the people behind you told you?"
Ye Ming's gaze was fixed on Gu Taiyi's every move, not missing a single detail.
"Who knows?"
Gu Taiyi asked, confused.
Through Ye Ming's observation, Gu Taiyi was not lying.
It seemed that Gu Taiyi's position in the eyes of those people was not that high.
But on second thought, Ye Ming could somewhat understand.
No matter what Gu Taiyi was, he was, in the end, just an ancient martial artist.
And ancient martial artists and immortal cultivators were two different tiers. It was reasonable for them to look down on Gu Taiyi.
"No! The cultivation techniques I've spread will not harm the public! On the contrary..." Ye Ming said seriously, "From those techniques, they will benefit immensely!"
This was what Ye Ming could tell Gu Taiyi.
"Good! I understand!"
Having received the answer, Gu Taiyi seemed to have a burden lifted from his mind.
"Young friend Ye! Be careful!"
At this moment, Gu Taiyi formed a strange hand seal.
Simultaneously, at the Ancient Martial Arts Association.
"Chairman Gu has formed a seal!"
"Guards! Prepare to activate the formation!"
"Yes!"
As the hand seal formed in Gu Taiyi's hands, the atmosphere at the Ancient Martial Arts Association instantly changed.
It had come to this point after all.
In the sky, Ye Ming watched Gu Taiyi continuously forming seals with a calm expression, making no move to stop him.
"The Source Severing Immortal Formation! This is quite a grand undertaking!"
Ye Ming's gaze swept across the surroundings of Taixuan Lake, murmuring faintly.
The Source Severing Immortal Formation!
Just by its name, one could roughly guess its purpose.
Source Severing, Source Severing!
Naturally, it severed the origin.
When the formation activates, the origin is extinguished!
As long as one is within this formation, all the Origin Force within the immortal cultivators in the formation will be severed, rendering them completely incapable of fighting.
After the Origin Force is severed, it will then proceed to devour the life force of those within the formation. As their life force is depleted, those within the formation will naturally become cold corpses.
If the person within the formation has not stepped into the Origin Realm, or is an ordinary person, they will not be affected in the slightest.
As for experts in the Origin Heart Realm and Origin Soul Realm, their Origin Force has already become an integral part of their bodies, not merely a free-flowing entity. Therefore, it will not affect them.
Simply put, this formation is only effective against immortal cultivators in the Origin Realm.
It is quite specific.
However, if it traps the right person, it becomes a great killing formation.
The Spirit Devouring Formation previously set up by Su Xin and others with the help of talismans was a segment extracted from the Source Severing Immortal Formation.
At this moment, Gu Taiyi looked at Ye Ming and sighed, "Young friend Ye! Farewell!"