The unleashing of this half-form Immortal Art shifted the very colors of heaven and earth, summoning raging winds and gathering clouds until the entire world seemed to darken, leaving only the glacial, crystalline Immortal Sword.
As Lan Rou extended a finger, the entire broken Immortal Sword hummed faintly, its vast blade weaving through the sky like a swimming dragon, causing the surrounding space to subtly warp.
The recreation zone.
"What is this!"
"I've never seen Lan Rou use this before. This, this, this is actually a half-form Great Immortal Art!!!"
"In legend, the 9,000 Great Divine Abilities of the Immortal Civilization can be arbitrarily combined; every hundred Great Divine Abilities can merge into one immensely powerful Great Immortal Art!"
"This, Lan Rou can actually barely deploy a half-form Great Immortal Art!!"
"Her strength is definitely not as simple as it appears!"
"Why haven't we seen her use it before? Could it be because this time it involves a stake of nine God Points, making the matter so critical that she had to bring it out?"
Everyone stared at the half-section Great Immortal Sword, a torrent of crystalline energy shooting out on the massive screen, feeling their blood surge and their eyes reflecting profound shock.
Insane!
The reason Immortal Arts are called Immortal Arts is because they contain a sliver of the Dao of Immortality!
This Dao of Immortality is the law of the world!
In other words, this half-form Great Immortal Art contains half a wisp of the power of the Law!
A power of the Law that, legend says, only deities can command!
Everyone watched the Great Immortal Sword blast forth, feeling choked, their breath seeming to seize, struggling to draw air.
Brilliant lights flowed across the vast expanse, and before Ye Chen, the entire world vanished; there was only that sharp-pointed Immortal Sword slicing directly toward him, carrying the aura of piercing through everything and shattering eternity, seemingly sealing off every possible escape route!
Before the Immortal Sword even drew near, Ye Chen felt the bones in his chest creak and grind. Only by facing the Great Immortal Sword head-on could he sense the overwhelming, suffocating pressure it contained—an unmatched, world-defying dominance!
Ye Chen’s crimson hair whipped wildly, and his entire 100,000 years of lifespan exploded instantly, transforming into a thousand-fold amplitude of power for one second only!
In his eyes, this single second stretched out like an eon!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The bodies of the four Nine Palace Guardians violently exploded, and the surging shockwave tore outward, causing the entire mountain battle platform to tremble slightly. The earth roared as if the world were collapsing, and cracks like spiderwebs split across the stage, terrifying to behold.
Ye Chen roared, his blood-red eyes blazing with ferocious light. Like an unmatched demonic fiend, he howled at the sky and reached out, grabbing fiercely at the explosive shockwave. The Devouring Talent within him cycled rapidly, and all the power of the shockwave, like a whale frolicking in the water, was forcibly drawn into his palm, as if he were seizing the entire firmament with one hand and condensing it into a crimson longsword, its blade spitting light and shadow, emanating a chilling, murderous aura!
Ye Chen’s blood-red hair danced backward, his gaze icy cold as he stared intently at the Great Immortal Sword. Suddenly, he took a step forward, circulating the Meteor Mystery in his arm, and cleaved out a fierce sword strike!
This strike replaced the entire world!
The sinister red light, bearing deep, savage violence, grew from small to vast, finally illuminating the entire sky!
Boom!!
A violent explosion ripped through the air, the entire mountain battle platform shook violently, the earth quaked, and the edges of the stage, unable to bear the load, cracked with web-like fissures.
In the entire recreation zone, everyone watched this world-shattering scene in stunned silence, a sense of suffocation hanging in the air.
On the battlefield, Ye Chen felt the web of his sword-wielding hand split open, the bones in his arm fracturing, his meridians thrown into chaos. Every bone in his body felt as if it were being sliced by a thousand knives, the pain unbearable. Battling the gale, he struggled to open his eyes and saw that where the crimson light met the Great Immortal Sword, a strange wisp of power, seeming to flicker between illusion and reality, drifted over.
This wisp of power resembled a white thread, swaying in the wind, tearing space wherever it passed.
Ye Chen’s pupils constricted, every hair on his body standing on end. His body retreated rapidly, but the white thread pursued, aiming precisely for his brow.
Just as it was about to descend, separated by a distance no wider than a sheet of paper.
The entire world seemed to freeze.
The next moment, the white thread shattered violently, and the world snapped back to normal. Simultaneously, the prompt from the intelligent system chimed in Ye Chen’s ear: "Combat, Victory!"
Ye Chen hung suspended in mid-air, his back completely soaked with sweat, cold perspiration drenching him.
Swish!
His figure flashed, vanishing into thin air, returning to his residence.
Ye Chen recovered and immediately checked his account, finding that the original nine God Points had become eighteen!
"What happened?" Ye Chen was shaken inwardly. During that moment of life-and-death crisis, he could practically feel his life force draining away. If that white thread containing mysterious law power had advanced even a hair further, he would have been the one defeated!
"This Lan Rou, with an amplitude of 5.2 million, could actually deploy a half-form Great Immortal Art! This woman must have hidden her strength for a long time, never revealing her true power. Otherwise, with this half-form Great Immortal Art, she could easily rank much higher on the Heavenly Roster!" Ye Chen’s emotions refused to settle; this victory was decided in an instant!
He submitted a request to the virtual system for the combat replay log.
Since he was a participant, obtaining the replay log was not difficult. Soon, a video scroll materialized in his mind, displaying the battle footage: first, the two fighting intensely, and finally, him unleashing the power of the Nine Palace burst, striking out...
The scene suddenly froze.
When Ye Chen’s forehead was only one millimeter from the white thread, on the other side, Lan Rou’s body also disintegrated, utterly annihilated into dust by Ye Chen’s 8-million-fold amplitude power!
"Damn it!"
In an elegant room, a silver-haired, purple-robed girl with wisteria blossoms swaying in the sunlight on the balcony suddenly opened her eyes, a spark of fury glinting in their depths. "Just a little bit short! It was only by that tiny bit!"
She felt an urge to go mad. Nine God Points were nearly equivalent to an opportunity to comprehend the Heavenly Dao Stele, and it was lost just like that! If she had been crushed utterly and completely by overwhelming force, she wouldn't have been this furious, but now, it was only a hair's breadth!
It was like failing an exam with 59 points, hanging on by a thread.
"If I don't avenge this, I swear I won't be human!!" Lan Rou’s eyes shone with icy light. "Spiritual Civilization, Ye Chen! Hmph, just you wait!"
She raised a hand and dialed a number, her tone immediately shifting to one of pitiable weakness as she spoke softly into the communicator: "Cousin, someone bullied me..."
"What?" A deep male voice replied from the communicator, laced with surprise. "In the Second-Rank Genius Hall, who dares bully you? With your strength, in a real fight, generally, no one would pick on you except for a select few. As for those few, I've already spoken to them; they won't provoke you."
"Cousin..." Lan Rou's voice was trembling, on the verge of tears. "A country bumpkin from Spiritual Civilization dared to bully me and won 9 of my God Points!"
"Spiritual Civilization?" The deep voice in the communicator pondered for a moment. "I think I've heard that somewhere, it sounds familiar. How did you lose 9 God Points? Why challenge again if you lost once, and then lose nine times in a row!"
Lan Rou wept softly, her voice delicate. "This was a single loss. I thought that with the half-form Great Immortal Art, I could handle that country bumpkin when he challenged me. Who knew I would lose? That boy hides his strength; his amplitude power must be seven or eight million times!"
"What?" The deep voice in the communicator paused. "Seven or eight million times? Doesn't that meet the admission requirement for the First-Rank Genius Hall? He should have been promoted long ago."
Lan Rou said angrily, "This boy must have never made a move before, hiding his strength, which is why he hasn't been 'eaten' up. He's playing the pig to eat the tiger here."
"There really is such a thing..." The voice in the communicator comforted her. "Cousin, stop crying. That person will be ushered into the First-Rank Genius Hall soon enough. There are many strong experts there, and I'll make sure he suffers a setback; I’ll arrange it."
Lan Rou cried tears of joy, exclaiming happily, "Really, Cousin!"
"Mmm!" The voice in the communicator smiled. "For the next few days, focus on your cultivation. Quickly master the 30 Great Divine Abilities I taught you. Afterwards, I'll teach you four more sets of Great Divine Abilities. Then, you can unleash the complete Great Immortal Art, and with your Half-God realm, you'll exert strength at the level of a Deity, enough to enter the Supreme-Grade Genius Hall!"
Lan Rou’s eyes lit up, and she nodded repeatedly. "Yes, Cousin!"
...
On the other side, Ye Chen leaned back on the sofa, casually holding a glass of red wine, slowly swirling the liquid. His gaze grew slightly distant as he stared at the room's ceiling. After a long silence, he drained the wine in one gulp.
Then, he stood up, preparing to head to the Heavenly Dao Stele.
Last time, comprehending before the Stele, he had taken one step forward. From the outermost edge to the base of the Heavenly Dao Stele was a total of 1,000 Zhang (about 3,300 meters). If one took roughly four steps per Zhang, reaching the Stele required 4,000 steps!
Advancing by 100 Zhang meant comprehending one's own Law, rivaling the combat power of an Elementary Deity! Successfully reaching the base of the Heavenly Dao Stele meant one's strength would be at the peak of a Deity!
"At my current pace, I still need 399 steps before I can comprehend the profound power of the Law and enter the Supreme-Grade Genius Hall, which grants one free viewing opportunity of the Heavenly Dao Stele each month!"
Beep beep!
Just as Ye Chen was yearning for this future, a notification for an incoming email suddenly sounded. He frowned, tapped it open casually, and immediately saw the email's title was simple: Come here!
The content read: This Princess commands you to arrive before me within three seconds of receiving this message. Below is a teleportation array; click confirm to proceed.
Sender: Huohuo!
Ye Chen raised an eyebrow. Beneath the email, there was indeed a prompt: "Proceed?"
"No!" Ye Chen instantly refused.
"What kind of lunatic..." Ye Chen frowned, then directly transmitted himself to the Heavenly Dao Stele. With the powerful functions of the virtual world, he only needed to submit an application to the system to teleport instantly.
As Ye Chen traveled to the Heavenly Dao Stele, on a floating island within the virtual world, thunder coursed around a majestic palace built of white crystal in the center. The interior was lavishly and sumptuously decorated, attended by numerous servants. The plaza was vast, adorned with rainbow bridges, accompanied by cloud-birds, filled with melodious music and murmuring streams—a heavenly edifice of jade and carved beams.
System Prompt: "Hello, the recipient has rejected your invitation!"
The system prompt sounded near the ear of a girl with a waterfall of fiery red hair. The girl's dark, wide eyes slowly filled with dark clouds, and lightning seemed to flash and thunder overhead.
Immediately afterward, a roar echoed from the palace, loud enough for the entire floating island to hear: "Scoundrel!!!"