With Ye Chen's current potential, he could summon a maximum of three Guardians; this was already his limit! If he tried to summon another, he would collapse before it even fully materialized.
Ye Chen soared above the Nine Palaces Divine Temple, his eyes blazing with sharp light. With a mere thought, the three Guardians charged toward Samshit.
“What is this!” Samshit exclaimed in shock, observing the three monstrous beings radiating immense auras. Based on his perception of Ghost Qi, he knew all three were entities at the fifth tier of the Ghost God realm. Combined with Ye Chen’s own power, their total Ghost Qi was comparable to a seventh-tier Ghost God!
Whoosh!
One Guardian, possessing the head of a dragon and the body of a serpent, wielded a Demonic Flame Black Fork and struck down at Samshit’s head. Along its path, many rocks withered and dissolved.
Samshit moved swiftly, retreating rapidly.
Just then, “Explode!” Ye Chen whispered calmly, his expression as tranquil as still water.
The dragon eyes of that Nine Palaces Guardian instantly turned blood-red. Its body swelled, and in less than 0.01 seconds, it detonated with a thunderous roar!
Boom—
Violent energy spread outwards in a shockwave. When a living being self-destructs, it can unleash an impact ten times its normal power. Before the corrosive Ghost Qi shockwave, the surrounding rocky ground rapidly decayed, melting into black magma.
Samshit, who was closest to the Nine Palaces Guardian, widened his eyes and was instantly engulfed by the shockwave…
A long, long moment passed…
When all trembling subsided, squadrons of Doomsday Fighters appeared, streaking across the distant sky. These were secret weapons built by the United States back in 1982, specifically designed to counter the 2012 apocalypse, each costing $120 million to construct!
Watching the countless fighters, tanks, and armies surround him from a distance, Ye Chen remained unperturbed, seemingly ignoring them. His gaze remained fixed on the epicenter of the explosion, where the dust and mist were slowly beginning to clear…
A wretched voice scraped through the dirt as someone climbed out, coughing lightly and spitting up a mouthful of blood. Then, they raised their head. Their previously neat hairstyle was now disheveled, falling wildly across their face, making them look utterly savage.
“Bastard!!” Samshit wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, glaring venomously at Ye Chen. If he hadn’t been standing on the outer edge of the blast zone, slightly further away, reducing the ten-times self-detonation force to nine times, and if his ‘Pseudo-Epic Divine Armor’—a peak Ghost Treasure—didn't weaken all Ghost Qi attacks below the tenth layer of the Ghost God realm by ninety percent, he would already be dead!
Even with layers of weakening, the 900-point Ghost Qi shockwave still managed to injure him internally, costing him over 1,000 points of his own Ghost Qi just to barely withstand it!
“Thank goodness for the Pseudo-Epic Divine Armor,” Samshit muttered, looking at the massive crater around him with lingering fear. He looked up, his resentment toward Ye Chen intensifying. His figure suddenly shot out, bursting from the underground world into the open air. He immediately spotted a ship hovering kilometers away near the edge of the base city—it was Mu Wen’s spacecraft.
He glanced at it with a hint of apprehension before pulling his gaze back, coldly facing Ye Chen. He gripped the long spear in his hand, recalling the inheritance he had once obtained from that ruin… “Nine Absolute Spears!”
Samshit slowly raised his arm. The spear in his palm left trails of afterimages. Suddenly, his mind became as still as water. Faintly, he could still hear the old man’s voice instructing him as he acquired this spear technique.
“The Nine Absolute Spears: each strike is stronger than the last. Do not deploy them lightly; this is a technique that gains a thousand kills while costing the user eight hundred,” the old man’s words echoed lightly in his memory…
Samshit tightened his grip on the spear shaft, his gaze sharp as a knife, fixed directly on Ye Chen opposite him.
“The first spear…”
His entire body’s Ghost Qi surged mightily, and he rushed toward Ye Chen.
Ye Chen’s expression remained cold. The Ghost Qi of each of the three Guardians was equivalent to one-third of the Ghost Qi within his body. Self-detonating one had generated a 16,000-point Ghost Qi shockwave, enough to annihilate an ordinary ninth-layer Ghost God expert. However, judging by the situation, the opponent seemed to possess a powerful Ghost Treasure that absorbed the majority of the shockwave, meaning he hadn't suffered much damage.
Losing one Nine Palaces Guardian instantly depleted over 500 points of Ye Chen’s Ghost Qi, leaving him with only about 1,000 points remaining.
Facing the charging Samshit, Ye Chen stood his ground, controlling the Nine Palaces Guardian to meet the attack.
Clang!
Samshit’s entire body collided head-on with the Demonic Flame Black Fork of one Nine Palaces Guardian.
The Guardian’s body paused momentarily, its Ghost Qi rapidly shrinking. It roared in anger and pressed down with immense force.
“The second spear…” Samshit’s eyes flashed with madness. His entire Ghost Qi seemed to boil like a vigorous flame, burning fiercely. Using his Ghost Qi as fire, he unleashed the second form of the strongest attack he had never used before!
As this spear thrust out, his internal Ghost Qi instantly dropped by a quarter!
Using his 6,400 points of Ghost Qi: The first spear consumed one-ninth of his Ghost Qi, or about 700 points! The second spear consumed 1,600 points! The third spear would require 2,100 points… And so on!
Each subsequent strike would be fiercer, and after nine strikes, his internal Ghost Qi would be entirely depleted!
The greatest mystery of this secret technique was that every strike could unleash his peak combat power! The first spear, launched with 700 points of Ghost Qi, was amplified by the technique to carry the force of a full-power strike from his main body—equivalent to 6,400 points of Ghost Qi! The second spear was equivalent to 12,800 points of Ghost Qi! The third spear would double that again! By the ninth spear, having exhausted himself, the power unleashed by the final strike would be nine times his base strength!
This secret technique, the Nine Absolute Spears, like Ye Chen’s Nine Palaces, transcended the Ghost God realm. Not even Half-God experts possessed it; it was a Divine-tier secret art!
Divine signified heaven-defying power!
Both men were unrivaled existences within the Ghost God realm. With the Nine Absolute Spears, Samshit could completely dominate the Ghost God realm. He was dazzlingly talented, eclipsing all ages; even when he eventually stepped into the Half-God realm, he could remain utterly invincible using this technique!
However, Ye Chen was no weaker. Both possessed heaven-defying secret arts and peak Ghost Treasures, allowing them to easily defeat ordinary tenth-layer Ghost God experts.
Ye Chen felt the supreme majesty of that spear strike and was secretly astonished. He hadn't expected Samshit to possess such terrifying offensive power. It explained how he could become the founder of the base city that governed several nations under the Heaven Alliance, aspiring to be the ruler of Earth—he truly had significant capital!
Without hesitation, he raised his hand and tapped, shouting coldly: “Explode!”
Boom!
That Guardian instantly exploded, and the violent shockwave swept outwards, entirely unleashed upon Samshit. Despite the ninety percent weakening from the ‘Pseudo-Epic Divine Armor,’ 1,600 points of Ghost Qi still pierced through, annihilating 1,300 to 1,400 points of his internal Ghost Qi before the remaining energy was dealt with by his other forces.
However, the second spear broke through the residual shockwave. With lightning speed, as if piercing through eternity, it struck directly into Ye Chen’s chest!
Boom!
Ye Chen’s body shuddered, flying backward like a cannonball. He tore through four or five layers of buildings before stopping, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
That single spear carried the might of 12,800 points of Ghost Qi. Although weakened by ninety percent from the Holy Flame Armor, 1,280 points still managed to penetrate his body!
Keep in mind, Ye Chen’s own reserves were only 1,600 points! Detonating two Guardians had consumed over 1,000 points, leaving him with only about 500 points of Ghost Qi! This spear strike should have instantly ended him, but fortunately, Ye Chen possessed the Stellar Profundity, which could double his defensive capabilities, reducing the 1,280 points of Ghost Qi to 640 points! Even so, this residual energy surged into his body, shaking his own Ghost Qi, and ultimately, both reserves were completely depleted.
Now, Ye Chen had absolutely no Ghost Qi left; he had reverted to being an ordinary person, unable even to enter Ghost God Mode!
On the other side, Samshit spat out a mouthful of blood. His face was covered in gore, appearing terrifyingly ghastly. From being chased all the way to the base city, he had recovered his Ghost Qi from 5,000 points (after consuming Ghost Stones) back up to 6,000 points! Accounting for travel consumption, he had about 5,800 points left.
After unleashing two spears… He instantly burned through 2,100 points of Ghost Qi. Combined with sustaining two direct hits—the first causing around 1,000 points of damage, the second 1,600 points—his internal Ghost Qi had dropped to about 1,800 points.
Whoosh!
In the sky, the majestic palace radiating ghostly menace slowly dissipated, along with the last remaining Nine Palaces Guardian, vanishing into thin air.
A weight settled in Ye Chen’s heart.
“Hahahaha…” Samshit let out a wild laugh, his eyes blazing with arrogant defiance. “In terms of Ghost Treasures, I have them! In terms of secret techniques, I have them too! Let’s see how you die!!”
Ye Chen’s expression was as dark as still water. He gripped the divine sword in his hand and slowly stood up. He hadn't anticipated that Samshit possessed such a terrifying offensive secret art, one almost comparable to his own Nine Palaces.
Ye Chen turned his head. If he were to retreat into the Rune Spaceship, the enemy would certainly focus concentrated fire on it. Given the Heaven Alliance's foundations, they definitely possessed large-scale weaponry capable of destroying a Rune Spaceship!
Whoosh!
Samshit, disheveled and wild-haired, charged forward with his spear.
On the streets below, all civilians and soldiers who witnessed this earth-shattering battle were utterly stunned.
Many high-ranking officials of the base city observed the scene through binoculars and detectors from a distance, inwardly shocked. They hadn't expected the founder of the invading Bright Base City to possess such terrifying strength, capable of forcing the usually composed Samshit into such a predicament!
Everyone understood this was a battle between the two strongest beings on Earth; outsiders simply couldn't intervene.
“Die!” Samshit screamed maniacally.
Ye Chen’s eyes turned icy. Suddenly, his figure spun, and he dashed rapidly toward the distance, instantly appearing within the base city below. A murderous glint flashed deep in his eyes as he descended. As his divine sword danced, he instantly reaped a dozen lives!
Slaughter!
It was complete, overwhelming massacre!
At this moment, Ye Chen seemed transformed into an Asura, wielding his divine sword while clad in the first form of the Light God Armor, the Holy Flame Armor, carving a path through the ordinary army. With every swing of the divine sword, lives were reaped like sheaves of wheat.
“What!” “Agh…”
The onlookers nearby instantly devolved into chaos, countless people fleeing in panic, losing all interest in who was winning or losing.
Samshit, watching from afar, paused, momentarily bewildered as to why Ye Chen was slaughtering these people at such a critical juncture. A thought crossed his mind, and a cold sneer curved his lips, “Trying to drag a few more down with you before you die? Hmph!” He gripped his spear and charged forward furiously.