The Second Battle

"Brother Zi Wu, have you received the announcement from the Virtual Universe? There's a contestant in this round of battles you might be interested in..."

Purple Eyes received a message sent by Jian Bi.

With a stir in his heart, he opened his message list and, sure enough, saw the list of life-and-death battles for the next seven days sent by the Giant Axe Arena.

Among the most anticipated matches, there was the contestant he had been highly interested in last time—Luoluobai Muye.

"Let's see how strong his opponent is this time..."

Zi Wu opened the list and pulled up the detailed information for this upcoming battle.

Luoluobai Muye's opponent for this match was named Nan Qi, an outer member of a mid-tier organization from the Wild Peak Universe Kingdom.

The leader of this mid-tier organization was at the peak of the World Lord rank, and the organization included several other World Lords and dozens of Domain Lord Rank members. While the organization's overall strength wasn't massive, every member was exceptionally skilled in combat.

The leader himself had been a Universe Rank "Giant Axe Warrior" and a Domain Lord Rank "Giant Axe Warrior." Such a person was undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with, rarely meeting an equal at the same stage during their Universe Rank and Domain Lord Rank phases.

After breaking through to the World Lord rank, he began building his organization, and he had only one rule for the subordinates he recruited: they must be Giant Axe Warriors!

No matter how strong others might be, if they wanted to become core members of this organization, they first had to participate in the life-and-death battles of the Giant Axe Arena and earn the title of "Giant Axe Warrior"; otherwise, they could only serve as outer members.

Nan Qi's father was a core member of this organization. Influenced by his father from a young age, he aspired to join the same group. Therefore, after reaching the Universe Rank and undergoing a period of rigorous training, he resolutely signed up for the life-and-death battles.

905 wins in life-and-death battles, a Universe Rank level 5 warrior, and a level 5 domain.

This was the extent of Nan Qi's strength.

"It seems the closer one gets to a thousand wins, the stronger the opponents become..." Zi Wu pondered. He had previously considered participating in the life-and-death battles himself, but after passing the assessment of the Universe Mercenary Alliance, he ultimately abandoned the idea. At this moment, he couldn't help but feel a sense of relief mixed with lingering fear.

Although he didn't end up participating in the life-and-death battles, he remained extremely attentive to the "Duel Live Broadcast" of the Giant Axe Arena, watching every single match whenever he had the time.

And by watching the "Duel Live Broadcast," he had indeed gained quite a lot.

Having watched so many live streams, he knew his own limits. With his strength, the first five hundred matches would likely be fine, but from five hundred to eight hundred, it would be a toss-up, with the constant danger of defeat and death. As for opponents beyond eight hundred wins, he felt he probably wouldn't be able to win a single one.

"The time is in one day. I'll be watching. Shall we go together, Brother Jian Bi?"

Jian Bi replied quickly: Let's go together.

A day later, the two met in the Virtual Universe and entered the plane space specifically created for the Duel Live Broadcast.

"Last time, that Luoluobai Muye used a technique to turn his domain into a whip," Zi Wu transmitted his voice, sighing slightly, "I haven't been able to succeed at that even once after all this time..."

"Me neither!" Jian Bi shook his head with a wry smile, "I haven't even succeeded in the Virtual Universe, let alone in reality..."

"I wonder if he'll give us another surprise this time?" Zi Wu said with a sense of inexplicable anticipation.

"Wait and see," Jian Bi shrugged indifferently.

By now, the two had walked into the spectator stands. As he looked up, he said in surprise: "The arena this time is interesting; it's actually a White Dwarf Star!"

In a desolate region of the Wild Peak Universe Kingdom, a solitary, incandescent star was rotating alone. All other celestial bodies in the star system where it once existed as a sun had already been torn apart and destroyed by its immense gravity.

The spaceships of both combatants were parked tens of thousands of kilometers away. The participants flew toward the White Dwarf Star alone, while the Domain Lord Rank supervisor had already taken their position on the star.

Landing on the White Dwarf Star, Muye felt the immense gravity beneath his feet. Although Universe Rank fighters could battle on a White Dwarf Star, the extreme gravity did have some impact on their movement speed.

The entire White Dwarf Star was only a few thousand kilometers in diameter, appearing as a near-perfect "sphere."

He raised his eyes to look at his opponent several hundred kilometers away. It was a burly man wearing white battle armor, extremely robust, and nearly two and a half meters tall.

His face was covered in a thick beard, and his two eyes were bright and piercing, looking like two small light bulbs.

He held a long spear in his hand, which swayed slowly as he walked. As the sharp blade of the spear glinted, it looked as if even one's line of sight would be sliced apart.

Watching the slightly rippling domain secret patterns at his side, Muye felt a chill in his heart: Light Domain, level 5!

The two sides selected by the Giant Axe Arena for life-and-death battles did not necessarily have identical cultivation levels; they weighed various factors to ensure that both sides were roughly equal in strength.

Just as sometimes a Psychic's cultivation level might be slightly lower than a warrior's, because Psychics usually have the advantage when facing warriors of the same rank.

Neither side was moving very fast, and it took nearly a minute to cover the distance of several hundred kilometers.

"I am Nan Qi. You will be the 906th opponent I have killed since I started participating in the life-and-death battles, becoming yet another stepping stone for me to obtain the title of Giant Axe Warrior..."

The rough voice came through the vibration of Origin Force.

Nan Qi took a step at a time. Although his speed wasn't fast, his momentum was constantly rising.

After the last life-and-death battle, Muye had finally fully absorbed and digested the combat instincts within his body. All his combat experience had turned into instinct, so he could naturally see Nan Qi's intentions at this moment. How could he let him build his momentum to its peak?

When they were still ten kilometers apart, he stomped his foot and charged toward his opponent.

How fast was the speed of a Universe Rank fighter? Even on a White Dwarf Star with astonishing gravity, the ten-kilometer distance was crossed in an instant. His long staff, carrying the force of ten thousand jun, slashed down toward Nan Qi's head.

Although Nan Qi's momentum building was interrupted, he didn't panic at all.

In life-and-death battles, there might be rookies in the early stages, but by the later stages, every opponent was extremely experienced in combat, and it was almost impossible to give him the chance to build his momentum to the maximum.

He held his long spear diagonally, deflecting the thunderous strike of the staff, and immediately unfolded his spear technique, thrusting one spear strike after another toward his opponent.

Amidst the clash of spear and staff, their domains were also colliding.

After exchanging blows, Muye finally understood why the Giant Axe Arena considered this person's strength to be similar to his own—

Nan Qi was at the fifth level of the Domain, but his force amplitude was slightly inferior, sitting at only a little over thirty. After Bai Muye integrated the memories of Sweep, he had improved in every aspect, and his force amplitude had already broken through fifty. Since both were martial artists, in close-quarters combat, a force amplitude difference of over a dozen times was more than enough to compensate for a one-level gap in the Domain.

Nan Qi knew his force amplitude was not as good as his opponent's, so he tried his best to avoid a head-on collision, hoping instead to use his superior Nan Qi Spear Technique to establish an advantage. However, he was shocked to discover that his opponent's staff technique was not the slightest bit inferior to his own spear technique, and was even faintly superior.

What made his heart sink even further was that despite his Domain being clearly one level higher than his opponent's, he could not gain any advantage in their Domain clash. His fifth-level Light Domain was evenly matched against his opponent's fourth-level Lightning Domain.

After exchanging over a dozen moves, Nan Qi's spear technique was like a dragon, but Bai Muye's staff technique was perfectly natural. Every move was heavy and powerful, and despite the wide-open, sweeping style, there were no flaws to be found.

Both sides kept their feet firmly on the ground because, due to the super-strong gravity, rising into the air would require diverting a sliver of Origin Energy to resist the gravitational pull. In a fierce battle, wasting even a tiny bit of extra Origin Energy could cause one to fall into a disadvantage, leading to an irreversible defeat like a dam collapsing from an ant hole.