A Genius from a Thousand Years Ago

"This is impossible?!"

Golden Light Hou stumbled back three steps, his voice distorted and shrill from shock. Roaring from a body a hundred feet tall, he looked utterly ridiculous.

But Golden Light Hou did not feel ridiculous at all. He was shocked—extremely shocked.

He had expected to easily slaughter a genius, but he had instead encountered a Saint who viewed all living beings as ants. The sheer disparity left Golden Light Hou bordering on madness.

"This is impossible! An illusion! It must be an illusion! You can't fool me!"

"Ah! Vajra Might! Vajra Might! Nothing can withstand it! Die!"

Golden Light Hou threw a violent punch, shattering the void, but while his fist was fast, Lin Huang's was faster.

At this moment, Lin Huang unleashed his full strength. His Saint-level soul surged, grasping all manner of profound mysteries. Before Golden Light Hou's punch had even fully extended, Lin Huang's fist had already slammed into his body.

One fist to suppress the earth, one fist to turn the heavens; it was tyrannical and overbearing.

Golden Light Hou stumbled back three steps, his gaze fierce. "So what if you are a Saint?! I refuse to accept this! Today, I shall slay a Saint! Die!"

As he spoke, Golden Light Hou's body suddenly expanded to ten thousand feet, towering between heaven and earth, and he stomped a foot down toward Lin Huang.

Lin Huang remained expressionless, sighing faintly, "Beneath the Saint realm, all are ants. You do not understand, you do not understand, you do not understand."

Three sighs, and a single punch to extinguish all life.

Lin Huang's body did not grow in size, but as he threw this punch, it seemed to shroud the entire world. It was as if only this fist existed in the universe—brilliant divine light encompassing all, like the falling of the starry sky. It was a world-ending punch, a cataclysmic tribulation; no one could escape, and no one could flee.

Under this punch, Golden Light Hou's ten-thousand-foot body was instantly suppressed, shrinking from ten thousand feet to a thousand, then a hundred, ten, and finally three feet, until he was no larger than an ant, clawing and screeching in disbelief.

Lin Huang's body swayed, returning to its normal size, and he reached out to catch the ant-sized Golden Light Hou in his palm.

"Th-this... what kind of divine technique is this?! You turned such a huge monster into an ant with one punch?!" Tunbao jumped up, her face full of shock.

Xue Linglong was also deeply stunned, sighing only after a long while, "Beneath the Saint realm, all are ants. So that is what it means."

After a pause, Xue Linglong continued with admiration, "It is also because that Golden Light Hou's Vajra Divine Body had reached perfection, attaining the state of Vajra Indestructibility. If it were you or me, it wouldn't have been as simple as turning into an ant; under that punch, our vitality would have been erased, our souls scattered, and we would have been blown to pieces."

"Ah, what kind of divine ability are you using! Don't think that just because you can manifest a giant form, you have truly become the heavens. Even if you really were the heavens, I would destroy them today!" Golden Light Hou did not yet realize he had been reduced to the size of an ant; he assumed Lin Huang was using a manifestation technique to become the world itself in an attempt to refine him. He roared and unleashed his divine fist, but the technique, which was normally enough to shatter the void, could not even break through Lin Huang's palm.

Lin Huang remained expressionless, watching the Golden Light Hou in his palm. He took a deep breath, and the essence of earth, water, fire, wind, Yin, and Yang vibrated. The origin of the six paths descended, drilling into Lin Huang's body to repair his fractured divine form at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Damn it. A Saint is truly formidable; I cannot resist. I had better escape first." Golden Light Hou threw punch after punch but could not shatter the void to escape. Shocked, he began to consider fleeing.

"I never imagined that after being trapped here for a thousand years, such a terrifying genius would appear in the outside world. Go, go, go. Avoid this person, hunt enough offerings, and then escape this hellhole. With my thousand years of accumulation, I will surely be able to trigger the three tribulations and become a Saint on the spot. Then, I will come back and fight this guy to the death!"

With a thought, Golden Light Hou flashed with golden light, tearing through the void like a rainbow, traveling ten thousand miles in an instant.

"Golden Light Traverse!" Tunbao leaned in toward Lin Huang, curiously watching the Golden Light Hou in his palm. Seeing him move, she immediately recognized the innate ability of the Golden Light Hou clan, which allowed for instantaneous travel across ten thousand miles. It was a path of extreme speed, and few things in the world could outpace this Golden Light Traverse.

"Good grief, this Golden Light Hou seems to be a true genius of his clan. I wonder how long he has been cultivating to be this powerful. It's a pity he ended up in your hands, unable to live and unable to die."

Tunbao looked at Lin Huang and suddenly burst into laughter.

"This guy looks so formidable, but who would have thought he's such a fool? Does he still not realize that even though he's been running for so long, he's actually been in your palm the whole time?"

Golden Light Hou truly did not know that the world he thought he was traversing was merely Lin Huang's palm. With his ability fully activated, he felt he had run hundreds of millions of miles, crossing the void, and that Lin Huang could never catch him. He finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked around, suddenly feeling very strange. "Where have I ended up?"

"I've spent a thousand years in this God-Fallen Battlefield and know it well. Since when were there five heavenly pillars here?"

Watching Golden Light Hou's performance, Tunbao laughed until her stomach hurt. "Oh my, I'm dying of laughter. Xue Linglong, is this Golden Light Hou a clown you invited?"

Xue Linglong was not as carefree as Tunbao; she was also shocked by Lin Huang's methods, and her tone was strained and bitter. "Could this be the legendary Divine Kingdom in the Palm?"

Lin Huang nodded, clearly somewhat pleased. "Just a sudden realization. But it cannot compare to a true deity's Divine Kingdom in the Palm. That is the power to create all things with a single palm, and to govern the birth and destruction of all existence."

Lin Huang sighed, losing the desire to show off. He flipped his hand, and Golden Light Hou screamed as he tumbled onto the ground.

"Oh no, the heavens have turned? Is this God-Fallen Battlefield collapsing? Run!"

Golden Light Hou shrieked, and the moment he landed, he activated Golden Light Traverse, desperate to escape.

But Lin Huang reached out and tapped the air, knocking Golden Light Hou down with a surge of overwhelming power that pinned him to the ground.

Golden Light Hou was startled. He turned his head and, being a genius himself, realized the truth upon seeing Lin Huang and the others. His face turned pale with disbelief. "Could it be that everything just now was an illusion?"

Tunbao laughed so hard she couldn't stand straight. "You idiot. You were running back and forth in Lin Huang's palm the whole time. It was hilarious."

"Impossible!" Golden Light Hou still refused to believe it. "My clan's Golden Light Traverse pierces the void, traveling hundreds of millions of miles in an instant. How could it be... how could it only be in his palm?"

His voice grew lower and lower. As he spoke, his face turned paler, and he stumbled back, his voice bitter. "Divine Kingdom in the Palm?"

Lin Huang remained expressionless, glancing at Golden Light Hou coldly. "Useful, you live. Useless, you die."

His voice was icy, making Golden Light Hou's scalp tingle. He hurriedly said, "Useful! Useful! I am very useful!"

"Speak." Lin Huang waved his hand, and the ground beneath his feet rose, transforming into a chair. Lin Huang sat down with a bold, imposing posture, simple yet possessing the aura of one who surveys the world.

"This God-Fallen Battlefield was once a gladiatorial arena for deities. You must have enough sacrifices to get out."

Golden Light Hou spoke honestly, revealing everything he knew.

Lin Huang nodded, feeling a sense of realization. Beneath the deities, all are ants. The God-Fallen Battlefield, which made countless geniuses and even Saints green with envy, was nothing more than a gladiatorial arena for the amusement of deities. The truth was truly sobering.

Golden Light Hou had been trapped here for a thousand years, and perhaps having gone too long without speaking to anyone, he opened the floodgates and chattered incessantly.

Tunbao suddenly cried out, "I remember now! You are Jin Guangba, the number one genius of the Golden Light Hou clan from a thousand years ago! They said you and several other geniuses from the Demon Race were lost in the outer starry sky and never heard from again. I never expected you were trapped here."

Golden Light Hou nodded. "That's right, it is me. There were thirteen of us who went to explore the outer starry sky, and we were all trapped here for a thousand years. Now, besides me, only three others survived; the rest died in the struggles over the last millennium."