Kaden continued to get pushed back forcefully. Every time he tried to stop, Alex's giant fist would punch him in the chest, forcing him to retreat further. Eventually, he was forced back miles.
Everyone was shocked, especially Kelsey, who started pacing nervously.
Kaden's expression was grave. An imprint of Alex's enormous fist appeared on the left side of his chest, and it emitted a golden light. If Kaden hadn't been so powerful, and hadn't been wearing special protective clothing, then just one punch from Alex's fist would have been enough to destroy him.
Alex moved toward Kaden. The light from his fist grew luminescent and drew an arch in the sky, passing over the peak of the mountain. It was so intense that everyone could see it from the foot of the mountain.
Once Alex shot through the archway and reached Kaden, he threw a powerful punch, which made the air vibrate.
Kaden glared at Alex for a few moments. Then he chanted a spell, and two swords emerged from his eyes. Made from divine light, the swords were three feet long, and they were translucent. As soon as they emerged from Kaden's eyes, the two swords shot out, tore through the void, and charged at Alex.
Everyone at the foot of the mountain watched in shock.
"Those are the heavenly swords!" said one person.
"What are they?" asked his companion.
"They are believed to be Kaden's special technique, but no one has ever seen him do it before," explained one of the Crimson sect. "Even his most powerful opponents in the past couldn't force him to use this technique. I never thought that he would have to use it on Alex."
Some of the immortals looked back at the screen in awe.
This divine ability only belonged to a select few. It was thought that in the last thousand years, other than the founder of the Crimson sect, no one else had managed to master this technique. Once it had been successfully cultivated, it could turn one's gaze into divine swords that could cut through heaven and earth. Who would have thought that Kaden had mastered it?
The sound of metal clashing rang through the air as Alex used his fist to strike the heavenly swords.
His entire body was bathed in a golden light, and light emanated from his eyes. The two heavenly swords were unable to break through his protective light, but they forced him to retreat, and he couldn't advance any further.
Just as Kaden let out a sigh of relief, he heard Alex roar.
Alex's pupils suddenly dilated, and two golden flames appeared in his eyes. Then two weapons surged out of the flames. The flame in his left eye turned into a golden spear, and the flame in his right eye turned into a purple dagger.
The golden spear shone brightly like the sun, and the purple dagger glistened like the sea.
When this weapon technique had been fully mastered, then someone could make each flame in his eyes turn into a different weapon.
The two divine weapons swept through the air and rushed toward Kaden, whose two heavenly swords collided with them.
The golden spear pulsed with light as it crushed the heavenly sword in front of it, while on the other side, the purple dagger cut through the other heavenly sword. Then, in front of Kaden's shocked gaze, the golden spear and the purple dagger soared into the sky.
Kaden felt a chill down his back, and then he fell backward and crashed into the Dark River.
But Alex didn't stop there. He turned the golden spear into a golden dragon and the purple dagger into a purple dragon. Then the two gigantic dragons chased after Kaden and rushed into the Dark River.
Everyone covered their mouths in shock. They couldn't believe that Kaden might be defeated.
Several moments later, a roar came from the Dark River.
"Alex, I'm not finished with you yet," Kaden shouted.
A tall fountain suddenly shot up into the sky, and Kaden, dressed in a black robe, walked out of it. Although his clothes were damaged, and he had bruises all over his body, his power increased with every step he took.
After taking nine consecutive steps, Kaden seemed to have unlocked a hidden power. His energy soared until it condensed into a tornado and pierced through the heavens.
Kaden stood with the world beneath his feet. His clothes fluttered, making him look larger than life, and his eyes scanned the world beneath him.
All the immortals felt very uncomfortable when confronted by that level of power.
Barney and the others widened their eyes in disbelief.
"He must have used his ultimate power," said the leader of the Mountain sect. "He's so far beyond us."
Kaden's strength had been at a tremendous level, like that of the seven great sect leaders. Although his sword techniques were stronger, there hadn't been a fundamental difference between him and them, so no one had expected that Kaden would now surpass them.
Kaden looked at Alex with scorn. "It looks like all my previous efforts were in vain," he said. "You shouldn't have forced me to use my ultimate power. Now you're going to regret it."
As he spoke, his power continued to increase. Soon, an enormous bubble of energy floated above his head. An endless amount of energy started to gather in the bubble from all directions, making Kaden ten times stronger than before.
"You've already begun to condense your power to a core?" Alex asked, frowning.
Before entering the golden core realm, a warrior had to condense their power into a core, and then pass the tribulation. After going through nine cycles of condensing their power and then transcending the tribulation, they would be able to enter the golden core realm.
Those in the innate realm would have to cultivate their power for a hundred years to be able to start the core-formation level. As for those on Earth, most would never get the chance to enter the golden core realm.
The condensed core would contain energy that had been cultivated for several hundred years. Once someone's power was condensed, they would have the power of a golden core warrior for a short time, but then the condensed core would start to disperse, and they would have to begin again.
It was clear that Kaden had been forced into a desperate situation, leaving him no choice but to begin this process.
Kaden glared at Alex. "Yes," he replied. "Now watch me destroy you with it."
But Alex wasn't worried. The golden flames in his eyes were raging, and his urge to defeat Kaden increased.
The two of them collided once again, and the battle resumed.
Everyone in the divine realm was in awe of Kaden. As the fight shook the surrounding area, they started to become restless, and many of the weaker warriors began to tremble. Some of them felt as if they were facing a primeval beast and started to panic.
But Alex wasn't afraid at all.
The distance between the core-formation level and the golden core level was like the difference between heaven and earth. Now that Kaden had condensed his energy into a core, he could only use it once. Then he would fall back to the innate realm and have to work for another hundred years to get back to the same level.
As a result, Kaden now despised Alex and was determined to annihilate him. At his age, he didn't have another hundred years to spare, so he had no hope of ever reaching the golden core realm.
"Fight!" shouted Alex as he soared into the sky, his gold flames shining brightly.
As for Kaden, he only stretched out his hand and lightly waved them, causing the world to tremble yet again.