When the two Domains withdrew, rain began to fall over Redjade Plaza once more and cooled the heat left behind by their clash. Though no weapons had been drawn, the tension still lingered in the air.

Resonant Jade looked at Luo Chen with concern, though he could not hide the astonishment in his eyes. "Fellow Daoist, are you alright?"

He had never imagined that the rogue cultivator he had encountered by chance would possess such strength. Despite being only at the first stage, Luo Chen had completely overwhelmed a third-stage Sage in a direct clash of Domains.

By everything Resonant Jade understood about cultivation, that should have been impossible. A Nascent Soul Domain was, at its core, nothing more than a cultivator resonating with heaven and earth through their Nascent Soul to command the natural spirit energy corresponding to their own affinity. A stronger Nascent Soul would naturally draw upon far more of that energy, and the difference in cultivation usually determined the outcome. For countless years, this had been the unquestionable truth.

Yet...