The Strength of Ai Chen

Ai Chen, one of the top five finalists in the Peak Genius Competition, was among the most exceptionally gifted individuals in the human race. To think he would actually run into her here in the Suonsai Secret Realm.

Luo Zhiyuan could only shake his head and marvel at the wonders of fate; he had traveled all the way to another universe sector, yet he still managed to encounter a character from the original story.

As he looked over the heroic and spirited beauty once more, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, wondering if he was about to alter someone's historical trajectory yet again.

He could recall the name Ai Chen primarily due to two descriptions from the original work: "a girl of peerless beauty" and "untainted by the dust of the mortal world."

Because Ai Chen did not appear often in the original story and there were no direct descriptions of her combat scenes, he truly couldn't remember what her ultimate fate had been.

If she hadn't reached the Immortal level, it would be fine, but what if she were a powerhouse above the Immortal level? Should he... should he stay as far away from her as possible?

Ai Chen watched the man named Zhiyuan, whose expression kept shifting, and not knowing what it meant, she tilted her head in confusion as the crystal between her brows flickered twice.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Luo Zhiyuan snapped back to reality and said vaguely, "Oh, nothing. I was just... um, right, can your consciousness intensity maintain clarity in reality while logged into the Battle Space?"

Nodding her small head as if it were a matter of course, Ai Chen looked at Luo Zhiyuan with a skeptical gaze and said, "I can. Can you not?"

With an awkward laugh, Luo Zhiyuan didn't say anything more. He logged directly into the Virtual Universe Killing Field and challenged Ai Chen to a duel in the Battle Space, only to discover that, like his new identity, she had no combat records in the Battle Space.

The two "pure rookies" of the Battle Space appeared together outside a black metal arena ten kilometers in length and width. Luo Zhiyuan still chose the Lightning Shuttle and a Tier 2 battle suit.

Seeing that Luo Zhiyuan had chosen a Tier 2 spiritual weapon, Ai Chen swapped out the Tier 5 force weapon she had originally been holding, selecting a Tier 2 force weapon and a Tier 2 battle suit instead.

The two stepped onto opposite sides of the arena, and Luo Zhiyuan said to Ai Chen, "Be careful. Since you want to experience the power of my combat secret techniques, don't go down too easily."

Upon hearing this, Ai Chen turned sideways, gripped her Tier 2 weapon in her right hand, held her sword pointed toward her opponent with her left hand in front, and assumed a combat stance. Without another word, she dashed forward in a lightning-fast straight line.

Luo Zhiyuan leaped lightly, stepped onto his Lightning Shuttle, and unleashed his Godly Evasion movement technique. To avoid bullying Ai Chen, he kept his spiritual force amplitude within a range he deemed reasonable.

In an instant, 100 figures of Luo Zhiyuan appeared on the arena, occupying the entire space and launching a fierce assault on Ai Chen.

Each of these 100 figures possessed a different attack posture; some manipulated the Lightning Shuttle to split off a one-meter-long Light Shuttle for long-range piercing, while others intercepted Ai Chen's path in groups of three.

Luo Zhiyuan's true body moved and lingered among these figures, taking every opportunity to land precise strikes on Ai Chen.

Ai Chen stopped her dash and, holding her sword, released her Light Domain, directly dispersing the few figures of Luo Zhiyuan around her and preventing the illusory images from getting close.

Holding her long sword, she narrowed her eyes and scanned her surroundings. She had already discovered Luo Zhiyuan's true body; after all, her comprehension of the Law of Light was not weak, and she could still slightly distinguish the real from the fake among these phantoms.

Ai Chen dashed left and right across the arena, swinging her sword to hack or thrust from time to time. Every strike produced the crisp sound of weapons clashing—the sound of her finding Luo Zhiyuan's true body or blocking his Light Shuttle.

Light and shadow intertwined on the arena, and the sounds of battle were constant. Bright rays of light flashed and vanished, including the streaks from Luo Zhiyuan's Lightning Shuttle and the traces of the long sword in Ai Chen's hand.

Several minutes passed. Ai Chen stopped at one side of the arena, pouting with a furrowed brow. The crystal between her brows emitted a series of white flashes, and she looked quite displeased.

"Hey, these tricks of yours are useless against me. This is a complete waste of time. Use the combat secret technique you used outside just now!"

Luo Zhiyuan stopped on the other side of the arena and put away his Godly Evasion.

He also realized that this movement technique, performed purely through the Law of Light, could not defeat a genius like Ai Chen, so he decided to change his approach and continue the fight.

Luo Zhiyuan shifted to the side and unleashed his entry-level Time Flow, causing a historical shadow to appear beside him.

Seeing that Luo Zhiyuan had finally used this combat secret technique she had never seen before, Ai Chen stared unblinkingly at the two figures with her large eyes. She still couldn't tell which was real and which was fake; it felt as if both were his true body.

But looking alone revealed nothing, so Ai Chen once again launched a rapid dash toward Luo Zhiyuan.

Luo Zhiyuan manipulated his true body and the historical shadow to simultaneously wield the Lightning Shuttle, each manifesting a one-meter-long Light Shuttle that shot forward.

Not knowing the secrets of this combat technique, she had no way to distinguish the real from the fake. Therefore, as Ai Chen rushed forward at high speed, she gripped her sword in her right hand and slashed fiercely to both sides of her body.

A bright, semi-circular white shield appeared on both her left and right sides, and she charged forward without slowing down in the slightest.

Seeing those two white shields, Luo Zhiyuan guessed it must be some kind of defensive combat secret technique. He cautiously manipulated his true body and the historical shadow to dodge to the sides, while controlling the two Light Shuttles to try and pass through the gaps in the shields to attack Ai Chen's main body.

However, when the Light Shuttles reached Ai Chen, the two shields began to rotate rapidly. With two clinking sounds, they not only deflected the Light Shuttles directly away, but Ai Chen also swung her long sword from within the shields, shattering them into eight white fragments that shot toward Luo Zhiyuan's two figures.

This was actually a combat secret technique that combined offense and defense, rather than a purely defensive one, which was an eye-opener for Luo Zhiyuan.

Luo Zhiyuan, having dodged in advance, was not affected by the eight white fragments. Instead, he pushed the Lightning Shuttle to its third-stage form, with two three-meter-long large Light Shuttles, each carrying 18 guard blades, attacking Ai Chen one after the other.

In fact, after fighting Luo Zhiyuan's 100 figures earlier, Ai Chen had already felt the immense power carried by those white Light Shuttles.

This power was much stronger than the attacks she received from spiritual masters of the same level when training in her clan, but those attacks were usually unleashed by Tier 3 spiritual weapons, whereas these white Light Shuttles were clearly only Tier 2.

She realized it must be because the man named Zhiyuan had a very high spiritual force amplitude.

If she hadn't mastered this combat secret technique of the Light Law to the Great Completion stage, she likely wouldn't have been able to deflect those two Light Shuttles just now.

Therefore, upon seeing two even larger Light Shuttles attacking her, Ai Chen immediately unleashed the strongest movement technique she could currently use; she dared not take the attacks of these large Light Shuttles head-on.

When the Lightning Shuttle attacked within 50 meters of Ai Chen, Luo Zhiyuan felt a disturbance in the Law of Time, which actually caused his control over the Lightning Shuttle to falter.

If his comprehension of the Law of Time hadn't improved significantly in the Time Chamber, making him very familiar with such disturbances, his Lightning Shuttle would certainly have veered off target and become uncontrollable.

Even so, he couldn't complete the attack as he had envisioned. Luo Zhiyuan had no choice but to control the guard blades to split off from the tips of the Light Shuttles, launching an area-of-effect attack to restrict her movement space.

The two large Light Shuttles constantly darted back and forth around Ai Chen, while the 36 guard blades launched unexpected attacks from different angles. Soon, a white cocoon of light completely enveloped Ai Chen.

Inside the white cocoon, dense clanging sounds rang out incessantly—the sound of Ai Chen continuously knocking away the Light Shuttles and blades attacking her. Gradually, faint, labored breathing could be heard from within the cocoon.

Ai Chen knew that if she didn't find a way to break out of this cocoon, she would soon be defeated. The power of the opponent's Light Shuttles was too great, their speed too fast, and their angles too bizarre.

At this moment, Ai Chen felt deep regret.

If she hadn't been so arrogant when choosing her weapon at the start—insisting on using a Tier 2 weapon to match her opponent instead of the Tier 5 force weapon she had mastered—she could have easily broken through the encirclement by now. This Tier 2 weapon had severely limited her strength.

No, I can't delay any longer!

Ai Chen frowned slightly, and the crystal at the center of her brow emitted a pale red glow. She then unleashed her full comprehension of the laws, suddenly erupting her domain and rapidly waving and thrusting the Tier 2 Force weapon in her hand.

After a continuous series of sharp clinking sounds, Ai Chen struck and deflected all the guardian blades, rushing out of the Lightning Shuttle's attack range.

At this moment, Ai Chen's battle suit was somewhat damaged, and beads of sweat had broken out on her forehead. The light from the crystal at her brow gradually dimmed, and a few strands of short hair swayed gently by her ears.

Just a moment ago, a blade had nearly struck her head; at the very last second, she had barely managed to deflect it, using her maximum speed to rush backward out of the white cocoon of light.

Stopping about two kilometers away from Luo Zhiyuan, Ai Chen began to calmly consider how she could break through the distance restriction and land an attack on her opponent.

Seeing that his control over the two three-meter-long Light Shuttles was unable to completely suppress Ai Chen, Luo Zhiyuan couldn't help but sigh. She was truly worthy of being one of the top geniuses of the human race in the universe; she was far beyond what ordinary adventurers could compare to.

Luo Zhiyuan retracted his historical shadows and said to Ai Chen, "Beauty, you are the most formidable opponent I have ever encountered. Since neither of us can do anything to the other for now, how about we end this match here?"

Frowning, Ai Chen stared at Luo Zhiyuan and said, "Call me Ai Chen. Also, bring out your full strength. Didn't you say you were more talented than me? Then defeat me. I want to see exactly how much stronger you are than me!"

Looking at Ai Chen's very serious expression, a trace of respect rose in Luo Zhiyuan. She was no mere vase; she was a warrior with a powerful sense of self-respect!

It seemed he would have to show some respect in return.

Nodding, Luo Zhiyuan said with a solemn expression, "Alright, Ai Chen. I cannot defeat you with ordinary methods, and if I use soul secret techniques, I believe you have soul defense arts, so they wouldn't be of much use."

"However, to pay my respects to you, I will use my full strength to defeat you, even if it might be considered bullying, haha."

"The combat secret technique you saw just now is called Time Flow. Be careful, you are about to witness a higher level of this technique!"

After speaking, Luo Zhiyuan quickly took nine steps forward; with every step he took, another historical shadow appeared behind him.

Subsequently, a total of 10 Luo Zhiyuans faced Ai Chen simultaneously, all of them summoning three-meter-long shuttles.

Ai Chen's eyes widened instantly, and she looked at the 10 figures opposite her in disbelief.

PS: Brothers, what's going on today? The favorites count only went up by 30, and the recommendation votes aren't high either. Do you all not like pretty young ladies?

Come on, don't be shy—let's get those favorites and votes up!

I hope you all show some pity, thank you!