The oppressive, suffocating weight of the Soul Formation expert’s aura and the crushing pressure of the man’s unsheathed soul had brought the battle to a standstill. Spine and Cyra were locked in place, their own powerful spirits trembling before a being of a higher order. The cloaked man stood in perfect, absolute control of the battlefield, a god descended upon the mortal world. He looked down at the two powerful demonic beasts, now completely at his mercy, a faint, almost academic curiosity in his hidden gaze.

It was this oppressive silence that was shattered by Li Yu’s thunderous roar.

“Khaos! Protect them!”

The cloaked man’s head snapped up, his attention drawn to the ragged, black wound Khaos had torn in the sky. He watched, stunned, as a streak of opalescent energy plummeted towards him at a speed that was simply, unbelievably fast for a Core Formation cultivator. The raw, unrestrained fury radiating from the descending figure was so potent that it momentarily contested his own spiritual pressure.

Li Yu hit the ground with the force of a meteor, his landing cracking the very bedrock of the forest floor and sending a spiderweb of fissures radiating outwards. He landed in a low crouch, his opalescent Koi Qi swirling around him like a miniature hurricane, his eyes burning with a cold, murderous light. He quickly rose to his full height, his gaze locking onto the cloaked figure, a predator that had just found its prey.

Li Yu saw and felt that the man had his soul out, suppressing the area, he could feel the pressure pushing down on him but his leviathan’s soul was stronger, it made the suppression from the man’s soul useless to Li Yu.

The cloaked man stared at the newcomer, his mind reeling with a sense of profound disbelief. He had felt the boy’s cultivation level as he descended—a mere 2nd level Core Formation, a realm so far beneath his own it was laughable. Yet, this boy stood before him completely unaffected by his Soul Formation cultivation or his soul’s suppression.

The crushing pressure that had paralyzed two powerful, late-stage Core Formation equivalent beasts didn’t even seem to register on this young man. He stood there, breathing easily, his will an unshakeable mountain against the tsunami of the man’s spiritual might. This was not just unusual; it was impossible.

Even more shocking was the boy’s soul. The man’s own powerful, unsheathed 2nd level Soul Formation soul was a radiant sun of spiritual pressure. Yet, when its light fell upon the boy, his own soul instinctively recoiled from it. He could feel the presence of a soul within the boy, but it was a thing of such immense, ancient, and terrifying depth that his own powerful spirit shied away from it like a mouse from a dragon.

Both thoughts happened in seconds and finally, “Who are you?” the cloaked man asked, his voice losing its casual confidence for the first time, replaced by a note of sharp, cautious intrigue.

Li Yu did not answer with words. His answer was a declaration of war.

With a flick of his wrist, five javelins materialized in the air beside him. Void-like black, condensed from his Koi Qi but imbued with a chilling touch of the void’s power. They were long, elegant, and radiated a power that was utterly disproportionate to his supposed cultivation level. Without a moment’s hesitation, he launched them.

The javelins tore through the air, moving with an extreme speed that a Core Formation cultivator should not be able to produce. The cloaked man’s eyes widened beneath his hood. He had underestimated the boy’s offensive capabilities. He brought up a hand, and a shield of swirling, white spiritual energy materialized before him just in time.

The first black javelin struck the shield. The sound was a deep, resonant BOOM that shook the entire forest. The man’s powerful shield shuddered violently. Where the javelin hit, a corrosive, black energy spread out like ink in water, actively eroding the shield’s power along with its destructive power. The second javelin struck the same spot a fraction of a second later, and a network of cracks spread across the shield’s surface, the void energy eating away at its structure. The third, fourth, and fifth javelins struck in a perfect, rapid-fire succession.

The shield shattered even with the man continuously reinforcing it. The man was driven back more than a dozen steps, his boots carving deep gouges in the earth as he struggled to dissipate the terrifying kinetic force and the corrosive void energy now swirling around him. A wave of pure, unadulterated shock washed over him.

It wasn’t just the power; it was the combination. Who was this boy? A Core Formation cultivator with a soul that dwarfed his own and could somehow also command the power of the void? Such a combination should not exist.

Li Yu did not give him time to ponder. The moment the shield shattered, he was already in motion, his heavy, black Condensed Sea Iron Ore staff now held in a two-handed grip. He closed the distance in an instant, his movement a blur of opalescent light. He was enraged, his heart a storm of cold fury at the sight of his retainers who were like friends to him being harmed. That fury was now channeled into a single, devastating blow. He raised his staff high and brought it down in a crushing, overhead smash.

The cloaked man, his instincts screaming danger, summoned a magnificent, rune-etched longsword into his hand and brought it up to block. This was a true, high-grade spiritual weapon.

The impact of staff against sword was apocalyptic. A deafening sonic boom erupted from the point of contact, a wave of pure force that tore up the ground for a hundred feet in every direction, uprooting ancient trees and turning the forest floor into a crater.

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The man’s arms trembled violently from the sheer, monstrous force of the blow. The steel of his blade groaned under the strain. He felt a shockwave travel up his arms and into his chest, a brutal, concussive force that made his internal organs ache. His mind, which had been filled with a sense of superior, academic curiosity, was now filled with a single, horrifying thought: He’s also a body refiner! A monster of a body refiner!

He pushed back with a surge of his Soul Formation Qi, forcing a separation. He retreated, trying to create distance to reassess this impossible foe. But Li Yu gave him no quarter.

The moment a gap opened between them, Li Yu’s Koi Qi flared, and a dozen thick, powerful tendrils of water erupted from the ground, snaking towards the man, trying to bind his legs and arms. The man had to waste precious spiritual energy blasting the durable, persistent tendrils away.

As he did, a sharp, piercing pain stabbed into his mind, a dizzying, disorienting sensation that made the world tilt on its axis. Leviathan’s Strike! It was a soul attack, a focused, strike of spiritual force that had bypassed his defenses and stabbed directly at his soul. He cried out in pain, stumbling, his own unsheathed soul flickering violently as it repelled the invasion. He stared at Li Yu in renewed horror. The boy’s soul was unquestionably stronger than his own and how does he have a soul attack in core formation!?

And in that moment of disorientation, five more black javelins were already screaming towards him.

The man was now on the back foot, completely and utterly. He was caught in a horrifying, perfectly executed cycle of violence. In close range, he had to contend with the boy’s monstrous, staff-wielding physical strength. The moment he created distance, he was assaulted by binding water techniques, disorienting soul attacks, and impossibly powerful ranged projectiles.

He was a mighty Soul Formation expert, a genius from his homeland who had never been truly challenged by anyone in the same realm. Yet here he was, losing, being completely dominated by someone from a realm far below his own. The sheer illogicality of it was almost as damaging as the attacks themselves.

But true to his genius, he was fighting on, against all these attacks, all the unexpectedness of this whole situation he was holding on.

“Insolent whelp!” the man roared, his calm facade finally shattering, replaced by a mixture of fury and humiliation. He could not allow this to continue. He poured his spiritual energy into his sword, and a brilliant, blinding light erupted from it. “You think these parlor tricks can defeat me? I will show you the true power of a martial spirit!”

A phantom image, that of a majestic, winged sword, appeared behind him. A wave of incredibly sharp, potent sword aura and sword qi flooded the battlefield. “Take this! Myriad Heavenly Swordfall!”

He slashed his sword through the air, and a thousand smaller swords of pure, white-hot energy materialized, forming a storm of blades that screamed towards Li Yu from every direction, a wide-area attack designed to annihilate everything in its path.

Li Yu’s response was simple and direct. He began to spin his Condensed Sea Iron Ore staff, his movements creating an impenetrable sphere of opalescent energy around him. The thousand energy swords slammed into the spinning vortex and were deflected, shattered, or simply disintegrated against the sheer, overwhelming power of the Koi Qi and its density.

And through the dissipating storm of light, Li Yu charged.

The man’s eyes widened. “Foolish!” he snarled, a savage, triumphant grin spreading across his face. This was what he had been waiting for. The wide-area attack was merely a feint, designed to force his opponent to defend and create this exact opening.

He poured the entirety of his remaining power, the full might of his martial spirit, into his longsword. The blade swelled with an explosive, terrifying light, the sword aura and qi compressing into a single, unstoppable point. “You have fallen into my trap! This is my ultimate strike! Die!” the man thought.

He lunged forward, his sword a comet of pure, world-ending power, aimed directly at Li Yu’s heart.

Li Yu, charging directly into the face of this ultimate attack, remained completely calm. As the sword of light was about to impale him, a new, even more profound power erupted from within him. He merged his soul with his body.

A divine, crimson-gold aura exploded outwards from him. His eyes, once filled with anger now blazed with the same, ancient, crimson-gold light. The Koi Qi swirling around him seemed to solidify, to take on an almost tangible, draconic pressure. The aura he exuded was no longer that of a Core Formation cultivator; it was something far older, far more powerful, a presence that made the Soul Formation expert’s martial spirit seem weak in comparison.

He did not dodge. He did not retreat. He met the ultimate attack head-on, his heavy, black staff now glowing with the same, soul-infused crimson-gold light as his eyes.

Staff met sword.

The sound that followed was not an explosion. It was a single, high-pitched CRACK, like a world breaking.

The man’s high-grade spiritual sword, empowered by his martial spirit and his ultimate technique, shattered. It didn’t just break; it disintegrated into a billion motes of fading light.

Li Yu’s staff, its momentum barely diminished, continued on its path, aimed directly at the man’s now-unprotected face.

The man’s mind went completely blank with terror. He was going to die.

“Peace! Wait!” he screamed, the words a desperate, instinctual plea.

The staff smashed into the emergency protective talisman he wore around his neck. The ancient, priceless talisman, a treasure that could have withstood a full-power blow from a mid-level Soul Formation expert, exploded in a shower of golden light and fractured runes. It held for a fraction of a second, just long enough for the man to bring up the hilt of his now-shattered sword in a desperate, last-ditch block.

The remaining force of the blow slammed into him. He felt his arms shatter, his ribs crack. His body was launched backwards like a cannonball, a streak of black against the green forest. He flew for a hundred yards before slamming into the side of a massive cliff face with a sickening, final CRUNCH.

The forest fell silent once more. Li Yu stood in the center of the crater, his staff held loosely in one hand, the crimson-gold light in his eyes slowly fading back to their normal black. The man was embedded in the cliff face, a broken, bleeding figure, his fate unknown. But Li Yu was taking no chances. With a cold, murderous look in his eyes, he began to charge towards the cliff, ready to finish him off.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep