The Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization boomed, his hand shooting out into the void to seize his Tyrannical Axe. The moment this axe appeared, the fabric of heaven and space seemed to faintly splinter. The Tyrannical Axe inherently possessed the power of vast destruction, and as the Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization channeled its energy, he invoked the Heaven-Splitting Axe Technique, a move steeped in the secrets of the eon.
Simultaneously, he activated the core cultivation method for his magical power.
The Pangu Golden Body!
Indeed, his cultivation method was called the Pangu Golden Body. The Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization was already immense in stature, but his Pangu Golden Body had condensed to a height of twenty zhang, far surpassing the ten-zhang Golden Body wielded by the Saint of Force Civilization’s Vice-Chief in the past. His entire body shimmered with a dazzling, almost aggressive golden hue. Furthermore, behind him, the faint silhouette of Pangu, spanning ten thousand zhang, seemed to coalesce.
When the Pangu Golden Body reaches the intermediate stage of mastery, the Pangu Phantom begins to manifest.
It was true; the Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization was only one eon above the Saint of Force Civilization’s Vice-Chief whom Lu Yuan had faced previously in terms of magical power. However, the disparity in their battles was immense. The reason was simple: the ultimate power of the Force Civilization and the Axe Civilization lay in the Pangu Golden Body technique, which provided an extraordinarily high level of combat capability.
The Pangu Golden Body was divided into minor, intermediate, and grand mastery.
Minor mastery, as seen in the Saint of Force Civilization’s Vice-Chief, manifested as a ten-zhang Golden Body, rendering the entire form incredibly resilient.
Intermediate mastery, like that of the Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization, not only featured a twenty-zhang Golden Body but also the subtle appearance of the Pangu Phantom behind him. Once augmented by this phantom, the combat power could genuinely explode beyond measure!
As for grand mastery, it was even more terrifying. It was rumored that both the Vice-Chief of the Force Civilization and the Vice-Chief of the Axe Civilization had achieved this level. When they clashed, even those at the Civilization Realm would perceive the destructive power as utterly terrifying.
It was precisely due to the differing levels of Pangu Golden Body mastery that the Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization so overwhelmingly surpassed the Vice-Chief of the Saint of Force Civilization.
Now, the Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization manifested his intermediate Pangu Golden Body technique; a faint Pangu Phantom shimmered behind him. Upon this phantom rested the absolute limit of force, the sheer power, the invincibility of might. Pangu himself was a being who walked the very extreme of force; at the level of Civilization Lords, no one’s power could match Pangu—not even the Ancestral Dragon.
The Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization raised the Tyrannical Axe in his hand, channeling the ultimate degree of force. Though not yet swung, the heavens implicitly trembled.
And the Pangu Phantom behind him also subtly lifted the phantom axe within its grasp—that very axe Pangu had once used, named the Heaven-Splitting Axe.
The Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization and the Pangu Phantom moved in unison.
The Tyrannical Axe in the sky, and the Heaven-Splitting Axe within the phantom, cleaved downwards in a single strike.
This was the supreme might of the Force Civilization and the Axe Civilization combined. Even if a Four-Eon entity were present, the Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization dared to challenge them.
Lu Yuan, seeing this, remained utterly unfazed. This opponent was far stronger than the Saint of Force Civilization’s Vice-Chief he had faced before, but so what? Lu Yuan raised his hand and unleashed the Divine Book of Orthodoxy, simultaneously summoning a writing brush. Upon the book, he furiously inscribed the same four characters over and over: "Utmost Greatness, Utmost Rigidity."
Yes, Lu Yuan intended to meet the Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization head-on!
Inscribing repeatedly: Utmost Greatness, Utmost Rigidity.
Li Taishi, a gentle and elegant scholar worthy of jade, should rely on finesse. To clash directly with the brute force of the Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization was sheer madness! At this moment, several key figures from the Heavenly Principle Civilization had emerged. The Heavenly Principle Civilization was a remarkably solemn world; lower-ranking individuals dared not act rashly, but for those at the Heavenly Venerate level, the constraints were significantly looser. These Heavenly Venerates quickly grasped the unfolding situation, and upon seeing Li Taishi dare to engage the Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization in a direct confrontation, they could not help but inwardly smirk.
Boom!
Book against Axe.
The axe was violently repelled backward. The Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization tumbled away, for engaging absolute rigidity with absolute rigidity meant the loser suffered grievous harm. The Pangu Phantom behind him wavered erratically. The Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization was utterly stunned; he, Li Taishi—such a pretty boy—had sent him flying! The Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization detested pretty boys most in his life, having slain countless such figures, yet he was wounded by this pretty boy Li Taishi in a single move. Moreover, he realized that his own Minor World of Forceful Destruction had been destroyed by about ten percent.
"Nothing more than that," Lu Yuan sneered coldly.
Although the Vice-Chief of the Thunderous Civilization was startled, his ultimate technique, Thunderous World Overthrow, was already prepared. The Force Civilization and the Thunder Civilization shared common ground: both were civilizations renowned for offensive power. However, the Force Civilization specialized in physical attacks, while the Thunder Civilization focused on spells.
The Thunderous World Overthrow technique unleashed by the Vice-Chief of the Thunderous Civilization engulfed the surrounding heaven and earth in lightning. In an instant, Lu Yuan felt submerged in a world of electricity, as billions of lightning bolts, coiling like dragons and serpents, struck him all at once. This was Thunderous World Overthrow. Lu Yuan merely let out a cold laugh: "You court death. Break for me."
The Divine Book of Orthodoxy struck out in the void with a move called "A Thousand Scrolls Read," and immense, roaring magical power collided in the void. The Minor World abruptly shattered. The result of this exchange was Lu Yuan standing coolly, while the Vice-Chief of the Thunderous Civilization was smashed far into the distance by Lu Yuan's single move. Clearly, he was no match for Li Taishi either, and he had sustained a non-trivial injury. Ten percent of his own Thunderous Minor World was ruined. Destroying a Minor World entirely meant death, and to destroy even ten percent in a normal engagement was extremely difficult. The Vice-Chief of the Thunderous Civilization was genuinely terrified that Li Taishi had destroyed a tenth of it with casual ease.
"Who else dares to step forward?" Lu Yuan roared.
"Truly formidable. I shall be the one to test you," declared the Vice-Chief of the Poisoned Me Civilization, a Four-Eon entity. Seeing Li Taishi’s shocking might, he showed no sign of fear. His own magical power surpassed that of the dual-Vice-Chiefs of Force and Thunder. Furthermore, he wielded poison. The Poison Civilization was vastly different from others; poison was an insidious thing, and many in the Civilization Realm disliked fighting those from the Poison Civilization—and for good reason.
The Vice-Chief of the Poisoned Me Civilization instantly unleashed his toxin: the Bookworm Poison! He was a man dedicated to research; indeed, every Vice-Chief of the Poison Civilization and the Medicine Civilization possessed a strong research orientation. Such individuals would never cling only to the poisons used by their ancient predecessors. If they did, others would have long since deciphered the antidotes. The Vice-Chief of the Poisoned Me Civilization had researched many poisons, including his recently developed Bookworm Poison. This toxin was inspired by the bookworm’s habit of consuming paper. He realized it was the perfect poison against those who used books as weapons, so he employed it now. In fact, the Vice-Chief of the Poisoned Me Civilization had come hoping to exchange the antidote for this poison with the Vice-Chief of the Heavenly Principle Civilization for certain benefits, as this poison could also counter the Heavenly Principle Civilization. At the Civilization Realm, everyone's schemes were deep as the sea; none were easy to handle.
The Bookworm Poison burrowed into Li Taishi’s Divine Book of Orthodoxy and was about to begin its destructive feast. Indeed, the poison began to corrode it, and it also started infesting Li Taishi's entire body. Li Taishi's pure white robes immediately darkened by a layer; this poison had a severe inhibitory effect on the Confucian Civilization.
If the dual powerhouses of Force and Thunder failed, then it was the turn of the Vice-Chief of the Poisoned Me Civilization!
Li Taishi was now poisoned. The Vice-Chief of the Poisoned Me Civilization inwardly resolved to use this toxin to slowly torture Li Taishi to death. Just then, a sudden change occurred. Li Taishi, who should have been incapacitated by the poison, instantly shook off the Bookworm Poison, cleansing himself, and rapidly closed the distance to the Vice-Chief of the Poisoned Me Civilization. The Vice-Chief manifested a layer of poison armor; this armor was formidable, but Li Taishi, using some unknown means, easily shattered it. In close combat, the Vice-Chief of the Poisoned Me Civilization’s melee skills were sorely lacking. Against an expert like Li Taishi, he was no match. In just a few moves, Li Taishi’s left palm struck the Vice-Chief’s left shoulder, and his right palm hammered his chest. Instantly, two-tenths of the Vice-Chief’s Poisoned Me Minor World was pulverized.
Lu Yuan shifted his focus and attacked Gu Shi. Gu Shi fled in terror, but Lu Yuan’s strike was like lightning, and the River of Justice heavily impacted him. Combined with his previous injuries, Gu Shi's Primordial Minor World was now eighty percent destroyed, leaving him fundamentally incapacitated.
This! This! This! This! This! This! This!
Terrifying! This was too terrifying!
Li Taishi had only used a few moves!
His first move had decisively defeated Gu Shi.
His second move, meeting rigidity with rigidity and breaking hardness with hardness, defeated the Vice-Chief of the Force Civilization. The Pangu Phantom was nearly scattered directly by Li Taishi’s blow.
His third move crushed the Thunderous World Overthrow unleashed by the Vice-Chief of the Thunderous Civilization, sending him tumbling far away.
Against the Vice-Chief of the Poisoned Me Civilization, it was slightly more troublesome, but it took only two moves to secure the victory.
In other words, Li Taishi used a total of five moves to defeat four Civilization Realm entities.
These four included Gu Shi, once ranked first on the Original Heaven List, the Vice-Chief of the Forceful Civilization, the Vice-Chief of the Thunderous Civilization, and the Vice-Chief of the Poisoned Me Civilization—all were defeated effortlessly by Li Taishi. This level of strength was truly heaven-defying! How could Li Taishi be this powerful when he was merely someone who had just entered the Civilization Realm?
The many Heavenly Venerates from the Heavenly Principle Civilization, along with the subordinates brought by the other Vice-Chiefs, like Lei Siwen, were all dumbfounded. No one had anticipated Li Taishi being this ferocious; everyone had initially assumed he would be instantly crushed, yet Li Taishi had easily annihilated the other four Civilization Realm masters.
This was true instantaneous defeat, and it was the instant defeat of Civilization Realm masters.
Defeating one was one thing, but adding the title "Civilization Realm Master" after the instant defeat made it utterly horrifying!
(Second update delivered. Seeking monthly tickets, seeking monthly tickets, seeking monthly tickets. Seriously asking for monthly tickets. Where are the monthly tickets?)