Both these Light Titan Apes were at the Upper Level Heavenly Emperor stage. Although they might not be able to compare with the human Heavenly Emperor Jewel Masters, their strength was undoubtedly terrifying.
In fact, the main difference of power between Heavenly Beasts and human Heavenly Jewel Masters was in their Consolidated Equipment and the restrictions of Skills. Long Shiya had fought with these two Light Titan Apes several times before, the first time when he had first reached the Heavenly Emperor Stage. At that time, Xue AoTian had not reached the Heavenly God Stage as well. Although these two Light Titan Apes did not have any Consolidated Equipment, they were a pair of twins which could work together very well. During that fight, Long Shiya had barely won by a hair. It was only in the future as he finally completed his ‘Hate Sky No Handle’ Legendary Set, and his cultivation level increased, that he could finally guarantee defeating them in a fight.
Heavenly God Tier Heavenly Beasts could not possibly be controlled or commandeered by others, not even the Heavenly Snow Mountain. As such, it was already the absolute limit to command Heavenly Emperor Stage Heavenly Beasts. Furthermore, only a Heavenly God Tier powerhouse like Xue AoTian could fully convince such powerful Heavenly Beasts. These two Light Titan Apes could be said to be a core backbone of the Heavenly Snow Mountain power base, and whenever Xue AoTian entered closed door cultivation, they would personally guard him.
Currently, for them to be invited to test Zhou Weiqing and Gu Yingbing, it was no wonder that Long Shiya was so astonished.
Xue AoTian’s originally impassive face finally revealed a faint smile as he nodded towards the two Light Titan Apes, making an inviting gesture towards the two youths. This was a treatment that not even the two Snow Lord Mammoths had gotten.
Gu Yingbing’s eyes showed some clear nervous tension. He was not foolish enough to think that these Heavenly Snow Mountain Guardians would take it easy on him. These two Light Titan Apes only listened to Xue AoTian alone.
“This time, you both only need to withstand their pressure for 2.5 minutes to pass this round.” Xue AoTian told Zhou Weiqing and Gu Yingbing.
A thick gold light sprang forth the moment the words ended. The entire cavern was surrounded with ice, and in the sudden brilliant light, it painted a miraculous picture of astounding beauty.
In the midst of the pure gold light, the two Light Titan Apes’ bodies shimmered and slowly became transparent. Their aura and pressure did not seem like the Snow Lord Mammoths, compared to the massive mountains pressuring down, it was more like an intangible yet all-encompassing environmental energy. That did not mean it was any weaker, as terrifying pressure swelled around the two youths from all directions. Behind the two Light Titan Apes, a huge, illusory image of themselves appeared.
Looking at that, Long Shiya, the Lion and Tiger Kings, all of them suddenly realised that these two Light Titan Apes had strengthened once more, now only a step away from reaching the Max Level Heavenly Emperor Stage. On the surface, their aura and pressure was more ‘gentle’ than the Snow Lord Mammoths, but it was strengthening at a frightening pace, far faster than the Mammoths earlier. More so, it was a pervasive pressure that came from everywhere, invaded everywhere.
It was as if all the Light Attribute Energy in the world was focused here in that instant, fully pressuring against Zhou Weiqing and Gu Yingbing. What was in front of them did not seem like two Heavenly Beasts, but two bright suns shining with radiant light.
Such pressure was not just on their spiritual energy anymore, the pressure almost like a solid presence, actually oppressing their bodies. If their cultivation level was insufficient, such a pressure alone would be able to crush them into dust, vanishing from this world forever.
Without any delay, the gold Divine Flames blazed forth around Gu Yingbing’s body. Facing the Light Titan Ape, he dared not hold back at all, circulating all of his Heavenly Energy, bloodline power as well as all his Attributes at once, fully powering his Divine Flames which burned and rose in the middle of all the incoming pressure. Even so, the Divine Flames that blazed so strongly momentarily was quickly pressured back in all the way to a tiny area surrounding his body.
Looking at the situation, the Lion King Gu Site was no longer frowning, instead feeling joy. The reason was simple – the Attributes of the Light Titan Apes!
The Light Attribute was the natural counter to the Darkness Attribute. At least, Gu Yingbing had the Divine Attribute, which could be in a certain way described as an sublimed upper state of the Light Attribute. At least, it had a natural resistance towards the Light Attribute. Yet, the Darkness and Demonic Attributes of Zhou Weiqing were naturally countered by the Light Attribute of the Light Titan Ape. As such, even facing the same amount of pressure, Zhou Weiqing should fare much worse. Seeing his son having such difficulty, he expected that Zhou Weiqing would be in dire straits.
Alas, the truth of the matter that happened next surprised all the watching powerhouses.
With a low tiger’s howl, the grey-black swirling mist around Zhou Weiqing’s body grew thicker, the wings around his back flapping gently rhythmically, causing his entire person to seem to be wrapped in layer of thick black mist. At the same time, within the mist, arcs of bluish purple electricity flashed about erratically. The most surprising thing was that the large layer of black mist was somehow being suppressed at a slower rate than Gu Yingbing’s Divine Flames!
His bloodline actually had some other hidden powers that hadn’t been released up to now? Both the Lion and Tiger Kings were taken aback. What kind of bloodline power was that? It was no lower than even the Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger!
Indeed, the Light Attribute was a natural counter for the Darkness Attribute, and they were on the same level. However, if one counted the Demonic Attribute, how could the Light Attribute alone possibly counter it fully?
Furthermore, Dragons had the Light and Fire Attribute. While Zhou Weiqing’s Light Attribute resistance was far lower than his Fire Attribute resistance, it was definitely not as weak as Gu Site had estimated. Hidden deep within the black mist, Zhou Weiqing’s eyes had turned from the deep red to a purple. In order to withstand the Light Titan Ape, he had already started entering the Dragon-Tiger Transformation.
After all, this was just pressure from aura and presence, not Heavenly Energy. The main fighting was bloodline power. It was without question that Zhou Weiqing’s bloodline was far superior to Gu Yingbing.
The Light Titan Ape in front of Zhou Weiqing revealed a hint of surprise in his eyes. He could clearly sense Zhou Weiqing’s cultivation level, and for a mere six-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master to withstand his own pressure, even giving him an indistinct hint of a threat. That sense of danger came from the bloodline power of Zhou Weiqing, and was definitely not obvious, but the occasional twinge in his heart made the Light Titan Ape unwilling to push his own aura and pressure to the maximum.
—Roar—!
At the other side, Gu Yingbing was no longer able to hold on. Abruptly, the gold flames around his body burst out in a sudden rise. The next moment, his entire body seemed to drop to the ground, and in the middle of the thick gold light, he turned into a massive four metres long gold lion. The circle of blood red fur around his neck obvious.
Under the sheer pressure of the Light Titan Ape, Gu Yingbing had no choice but to release his original Heavenly Beast form. In his Heavenly Divine Earth Spirit Lion form, his bloodline power was greatly boosted, a similar case to Zhou Weiqing’s Demonic Change State. Once again, both youths entered a sort of equilibrium state; both holding on with all their might, both refusing to fall.
Sweat poured down from their bodies, only to evaporate a few moments later to disappear into the air. Their breathing grew heavy and ragged; with such pressure beating down upon them, their sweat soon turned to fine blood droplets appearing along their skin.
At this moment, Zhou Weiqing felt like his entire body was being squeezed to the limit, as if he were about to explode at any moment. Yet, under such pressure, his twenty four energy whirlpools at the Death Acupuncture Points somehow broke through their previous limitations, speeding up at least fifty percent of their previous maximum speed. His body had already far surpassed his limit, and the suffocating feeling made him feel like he was about to be destroyed at any moment.
In truth, perhaps Zhou Weiqing was in a lot more trouble than Gu Yingbing. However, in terms of withstanding pain and suffering, Gu Yingbing was no match for Zhou Weiqing. Just his Immortal Deity Technique alone had given him a massive experience in withstanding pain, let alone the period of time he had spent immersed in lava while at the Fire Spirit Mountain. Having gone through the spiritual suffering during the merger of the Solidified Dragon Spirit and his Dark Demon God Tiger bloodline, his nerves were now unbelievably steely and his resistance to pain was unparalleled. Even a Heavenly Emperor powerhouse might not be able to match him in that regard. Right now, this level of pain was nothing, definitely within his limits. With that, he forcefully did not fully enter the Dragon-Tiger Transformation. After all, this was only the ninth test, and there was one final one. He was certain that the final round of test would be a Max Level Heavenly Emperor Beast. If he revealed all of his Dragon-Tiger Transformation now, it would be difficult to achieve victory later.
Even so, Zhou Weiqing’s potential was being fully pressed out of him. At that moment, behind his back, an illusory light appeared abruptly.
The figure of light was not clear at all, but it vaguely seemed to be a huge black tiger, wings spread out behind his back, just like the ones on Zhou Weiqing’s back.
This is his bloodline lineage! Xue AoTian thought to himself. In a certain perspective, this little brat can be considered a beastman, with such powerful Heavenly Beast bloodline within him. The Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger bloodline was already considered the top in the entire world, king of all Beasts. Could this unknown Dark Demon God Tiger’s bloodline actually be superior to his own Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger?!
Towards this, Xue AoTian was not willing to admit it, but the facts in front of him were almost too much to ignore.
2.5 minutes was half the time of the previous round. However, to Gu Yingbing and Zhou Weiqing, that time was like an eternity. By the time the two Light Titan Apes halted and left stealthily, the two could not control their own bodies, flopping down onto the ground panting and gasping for breath.
Long Shiya had his hands behind his back, a huge smug smile on his face. Zhou Weiqing had managed to reach this point, and he was extremely proud. Having gone through this entire test this time in the Heavenly Snow Mountain, no matter the final result, it was already a cleansing and possible evolving for Zhou Weiqing in all matters. He now truly had the power to protect himself.
Xue AoTian’s gaze swept across Zhou Weiqing and Gu Yingbing, a hint of appreciation in his eyes. Gu Yingbing was his disciple, his pride, and he was not too surprised that he had managed to succeed. After all, he had spent a lot of time on effort on developing Gu Yingbing.
From Xue AoTian’s status and perspective, he could see things from a whole different level from the Tiger King Xue Aoying. He had long grown past the restrictions of tribe or race, and could look down at the bigger picture from his stage up above.