Chapter 785: Chapter 785
A burly figure slowly stepped forward, roaring, "Li Pin!"
It was Zhan Tianxiu. He was a top-tier prodigy carefully nurtured by the Myriad Astral God Hall, specifically for this era's Ten Thousand Tribes Dominion War.
Nearly a full epoch ago, he and tens of thousands of other prodigies from around the world were summoned together, undergoing rigorous training and numerous rounds of selection. Through test after test, trial after trial, he stood out and became one of the most outstanding.
During that time, he had performed countless miracles, turning the impossible into possible, defeating one rival after another. Each step of growth and every victory helped establish his formidable reputation.
Among the thirty-odd contestants, his ranking was second only to Di'Ara, Yue Shu, and Xuan Chengming—placing him fourth.
He had prepared for the Ten Thousand Tribes Dominion War for a long, long time. It felt as though his entire life had been devoted to this tournament. That's how important it was to him. In his heart, the prestige of the Ten Thousand Tribes Dominion War was sacred. He would not tolerate anyone undermining it.
So, when the formidable Li Pin appeared and seemed likely to disrupt the unity and harmony of the competitors, Zhan Tianxiu felt he had no choice but to step forward and speak.
"You owe everyone an apology for what you just said," Zhan Tianxiu challenged slowly. "Maybe, in your eyes, you're powerful beyond measure. Maybe you know exactly what level your divine weapon is. But... don't overestimate how much others care about you. Not everyone watched your fight with Luo Wuji with rapt attention, analyzing every detail. If someone didn't notice the flaw in your divine weapon and simply judged it as a Supreme one based on the time-space power it emitted, what's wrong with that?"
"How amusing." Li Pin gave a faint smile. "So you're saying I was wrong?"
"I'm just stating a fact," Zhan Tianxiu replied. "Others may not be as invested in your details as you think. So don't be so self-righteous to assume that the moment you draw your sword, everyone should instantly recognize it's not a complete Sovereign Divine Weapon. After all... that sword in your hand is part of a Sovereign Divine Weapon."
"In that case, can I put it another way..." Li Pin said calmly. "I have enough confidence in my strength that I don't need to gauge how strong you are. At least from what I've seen so far, you're not worth worrying about."
"Li Pin!" Zhan Tianxiu shouted sharply, eyes fierce. "So you think that just because you beat Zi Zaitian and Luo Wuji, you can talk down to me ? Who do you think you are? Not worth worrying about?"
"No! You misunderstood." Li Pin's tone remained calm. "I'm not mocking you. I'm just stating a fact. And this fact doesn't apply to you alone."
His gaze swept across the crowd. "It applies to all of you."
"Outrageous!" Several Tyrants, ranked higher than Wu Meng, Zi Zaitian, and Luo Wuji, shouted in fury. "Li Pin! You're too arrogant!"
A tall, slender figure suddenly stepped out and leapt into the air. "Let me teach you a lesson!"
It was Yu Shenghui, ranked seventh among the contestants. He was two places higher than Wu Meng.
It wasn't just him. Zhan Tianxiu, Yan Sheng, and several others almost made a move as well. Yu Shenghui was just the fastest, thanks to his expertise in movement techniques.
Li Pin let out a long roar as he stared at Yu Shenghui rising into the sky. His energy gathered, and the Quantum Sword Intent ignited.
As Yu Shenghui leaped toward the battlefield, the violent shifts in matter and energy made it seem like an entire universe was crashing down from the heavens.
With the acceleration of spacetime power, the descent happened so fast it left no time for reaction.
Before Yu Shenghui could even set foot on the battlefield, the Quantum Sword Intent had already erupted, tearing space apart as it smashed into him.
Yu Shenghui reacted instantly, redirecting his power and raising his sword to block. But the energy within the Quantum Sword Intent, like the birth and collapse of countless stars, raged through space and tore through his defenses. The force slammed into him, sending him crashing down at a speed not much slower than when he had flown up.
To avoid being killed outright, he was forced to unleash power beyond his control, forcibly drawing upon the Eternal Oblivion Force.
It wasn't much, but in a match that was merely a test of strength, not a life-or-death battle, it was already considered a loss.
This outcome made the seventh-ranked contender of the Ten Thousand Tribes Dominion War look utterly grim.
This Quantum Sword Intent shouldn't have such power. Even if it's being augmented by a Sovereign Divine Weapon, it should never reach this level.
Li Pin laughed loudly. "Haha! Come on! Every last one of you! All at once!"
Sword intent roared into the sky, weaving matter, energy, and space together. The terrifying fluctuations surged out in all directions, nearly bursting through the confines of the Divine Martial Battlefield.
If not for the forces of time and space slightly holding him back, everyone present might have mistaken this for witnessing the creation of a universe.
The Divine Martial Emperor stared in shock. "This is..."
He instantly thought of something. "Did Li Pin use the Gate of Time and Space? These abilities... he grasped them from within the gate!?"
Mo Xuan gave a faint nod. "He used it."
Then he added, "I know what you're thinking. It's true."
The Divine Martial Emperor's pupils dilated.
The two spoke almost in unison, "Supreme potential!"
On the battlefield, as Li Pin unleashed his Overlord Quantum Sword Intent with full force, his Sword Intent pierced the skies. The remaining contestants were left in a position where retreating was no longer an option.
No. This wasn't a case of being forced into a fight they couldn't back out of. Every contestant here carried absolute confidence. All participants of this era, whether Tyrants or cultivators at the Cosmic Radiance Realm, would yield to no one but Emperor Ara.
Even now, as Li Pin's terrifying pressure soared to new heights, not a single one of them backed down. Because, at this point, there was no way back.
Zhan Tianxiu, who had moved just a step slower than Yu Shenghui earlier, let out a furious roar as he soared into the air, shouting, "Li Pin!"
Though he stood on the same tier as Yan Sheng and Yu Shenghui, he was considered the most outstanding among them.
He had already deduced that Li Pin's Quantum Sword Intent required a moment to charge, and he had no intention of giving Li Pin the chance to reach its peak. The instant he leaped into the sky, a longbow appeared in his hand. Get full chapters from novel·fıre·net
The bow itself was only a Pinnacle Cosmic Radiance Divine Weapon, but when paired with his near-perfect mastery of archery, it fired over a dozen arrows in the blink of an eye.
Each arrow seemed capable of tearing through the void, slicing through the stars, completely engulfing Li Pin's figure.
Yet, just as those arrows were about to strike, the Grand Oblivion Art activated.
Li Pin slipped into a layer of the void itself, passing silently and undisturbed through the dense rain of arrows.
Those last few arrows seemed utterly inescapable, but... the Quantum Sword Intent had already fully taken shape.
The Quantum Sword Intent at the Overload stage bypassed the so-called four fundamental laws, drawing energy directly from matter. It used space to exponentially amplify that energy, then compressed and transmitted it through time, unleashing a fatal sword strike that could not be defended against.
Where the sword pointed, the very space around it seemed to solidify. Then, it came crashing down.
The dozens of arrows that should have been unavoidable shattered and disintegrated layer by layer under that near-solid pressure of space.
The force of that sword didn't stop. It slammed into Zhan Tianxiu, obliterating even the brilliant arcs of saber light he swung upward in defiance.
As the saying goes, "Pure force overcomes all techniques."
At this moment, Li Pin's Quantum Sword Intent vividly demonstrated to the world what it meant to shatter all techniques with sheer power alone.
Just like how Emperor Ara had once believed that against Li Pin, there was no need for fancy secret arts or refined techniques, sheer power was enough to crush everything.
Now, with his Quantum Sword Intent, Li Pin was utterly dominating Luo Wuji, Yu Shenghui, and now Zhan Tianxiu.
The space flattened and then shattered in the next instant.
Zhan Tianxiu, who fully understood how terrifying this sword was, immediately unleashed a movement technique that rivaled Li Pin's Grand Oblivion Art. Like a phantom, he darted through the collapsing space and vanished without a trace.
But the Li Pin now was not the same man who had once fought the Void Clan's Tyrant. With the Endless Reincarnation Secret Art peering into the workings of fate and Primordial Qi-Seeking Art tracing his opponent's presence, he caught Zhan Tianxiu the moment he vanished.
Another wave of Quantum Sword Intent blasted forward.
It didn't even need precise targeting. Wherever the Quantum Sword Intent passed, space, and all matter and energy within that space, began to violently tremble. Yet this tremor resembled a natural reaction within the Astral World. At most, his sword merely acted as a trigger.
The resulting tremors and rumblings forced Zhan Tianxiu out of hiding. In the next moment, he slashed across the void with his saber, its brilliant, condensed blade light crashing into the fractured space torn apart by the Quantum Sword Intent. The force, far beyond his control, surged from the collapsing space, rushing forward with his blade.
Like cleaving through a sea of fire, he used sheer blade energy to carve out a path of survival.
It was spectacular, awe-inspiring even, but the energy it consumed was immense.
Realizing now that Li Pin had a way to break through his stealth techniques, Zhan Tianxiu no longer attempted to dodge. He faced the threat head-on, rushing forward to counterattack!
Just like Luo Wuji before him, he launched a flurry of dazzling saber strikes, each one powerful enough to tear apart the heavens and split the stars.
Even as each Quantum Sword Intent came crashing down with collapsing space behind it, forcing him to deliver ten, sometimes dozens of saber strikes just to break through, he endured.
He held on far longer than Luo Wuji had, but in the end, he could only hold on for so long.
No defense lasts forever.
As Li Pin's control over the Quantum Sword Intent grew sharper and more ferocious, Zhan Tianxiu finally reached his limit. Swallowed by the collapsing space of the Sword Intent, he was forcibly removed from the Divine Martial Battlefield.
Li Pin didn't pursue.
He simply swung the Ruoxi Sword in his hand, with ripples of invisible space spreading out from the blade. "Who's next?"