First Blood

Li Dui sensed a Universe Rank Desolate Beast—called a Cloud Sky Rank beast here—crouching low as it slowly approached the battlefield.

"Pretty sneaky," Li Dui thought. At the fifth order of the Universe Rank, it could have charged in and crushed everyone. Instead, it was creeping closer, preparing to ambush them.

It didn't want to let a single person or beast escape.

Soon, the battle below was nearly over. The Star Rank Desolate Beast was covered in more and more wounds and could barely hold on.

Once it died, the remaining Planet Rank Desolate Beasts would be easy pickings.

Fearing it might lash out in its death throes, the three Star Rank natives focused their attention on the beast. They had no idea that a powerful predator had already taken position at the edge of the battlefield.

"Roar!"

The catlike Desolate Beast struck one last time with its claw, sending the man with the shield spitting blood. Then, its strength spent, it slowly collapsed.

"Woo!"

Several young people who had already finished off their opponents and been watching the fight cheered.

At that very moment, the Star Rank man holding the spear suddenly stiffened and whipped around.

A dark figure shot toward him like a bolt of lightning.

The spear-wielding man stared in terror. Cloud Sky Rank! An Ink Armor Beast!

He didn't even have time to raise his spear. He knew he was done for.

His life flashed before his eyes. He closed them, greedily recalling the moments he treasured most as he waited for death.

He never noticed the faint blade of light that silently swept over his head.

The Ink Armor Beast charging toward him split in two midair, blood spraying everywhere. Its body parted in the middle, each half flying in a different direction.

Li Dui slid his long saber back into the clasp on his back. That kind of killing doesn't really feel like anything.

Is it because a ranged attack doesn't feel real enough? Maybe next time I should charge in and hack it up close, get blood everywhere.

The two halves of the Ink Armor Beast smashed through the trees in their path, then crashed into the distance with a clatter.

The spear-wielding man had waited for death for some time, but it still hadn't come. Hearing the crashes, he opened his eyes in confusion to see what had happened.

The other two Star Rank fighters had also realized something was wrong, though they still had no idea what had happened.

The only one who had some idea was the spear-wielding man. He had seen Li Dui arrive earlier. Since Li Dui hadn't moved, he hadn't paid him much attention. Given what had just happened, Li Dui had to be the one who'd killed the Ink Armor Beast.

Without a second thought, the spear-wielding man flew over to Li Dui and bowed respectfully. "Thank you for saving my life, sir."

Li Dui smiled. He'd seen the man's reaction when he thought he was about to die. His expression had been rather... artistic.

"Could you gather the valuable materials for me? You can keep the rest."

The spear-wielding man hurriedly agreed, then flew off to find the Ink Armor Beast's body, which had been flung who knew where. He didn't dare say he'd only collect the valuable materials and didn't need the rest.

Some powerful people had eccentric temperaments. If they offered you a reward and you refused, they might take it as an insult.

There was a flurry of activity below. The other two Star Rank fighters joined forces and quickly killed the remaining Desolate Beasts.

Then the three Star Rank fighters searched together and soon found the two halves of the Ink Armor Beast. They began stripping them for materials.

"Lao Ying, did that lord really kill it with a single slash from so far away?" The seventh-order Star Rank native spoke to the other two in a transmission. He'd been so focused on the catlike beast that he hadn't seen Li Dui attack.

The spear-wielding man transmitted back angrily, "Obviously. Who else could've done it? If that lord hadn't stepped in, we'd all be dead."

The seventh-order man replied miserably, "I... I warned him off with a look earlier. What do I do?"

"It should be fine. He didn't seem upset. Look, he even rewarded Lao Ying with the Ink Armor Beast's materials. Even just the meat would sell for a fortune." The shield-wielding man struggled to separate the beast's ink-black armor as he spoke.

The spear-wielding man ran his hand over the beast's smooth cut, then sent another furious transmission to the twenty or so young people, ordering them to stop sneaking glances at Li Dui. Then he replied, "Just be careful around him. Don't provoke him. Do whatever he says."

He'd just come within a hair's breadth of death, and now he treasured his life all the more.

The other two nodded vigorously. Provoke him? Were they tired of living?

Afraid Li Dui might grow impatient, the three worked with particular dedication.

After a great deal of effort, they finished. The spear-wielding man took out a space ring and packed the Ink Armor Beast's most valuable parts: its armor, skull, teeth, claws, and several sharp spikes from its tail. Then he brought them over to Li Dui.

"Sir, these are the finest materials from the Ink Armor Beast. We're still processing the rest."

The last sentence left room for him to maneuver. If Li Dui said he didn't want the rest, that would be ideal. If he said nothing, the man would bring it over later.

Li Dui didn't mind. Money in the Xueluo World meant nothing to him. He waved a hand. "You can keep the rest."

The spear-wielding man bowed respectfully. "Thank you for your generosity, sir."

"What territory is this?" Li Dui asked casually.

The spear-wielding man glanced at him in surprise. A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he replied, "Sir, are you a cultivator?"

Realizing he probably shouldn't have asked, he quickly added, "This is Linxi Territory."

Juyi Garden.

A quiet courtyard.

Li Dui leaned back in a recliner and closed the book in his hands.

There were tens of millions of World Cities on Xueluo Continent. Each World City governed a world. Some worlds were hundreds of millions of kilometers across; others were over a billion kilometers in diameter.

Li Dui was currently in Linxi Main City, under Languang World City.

Tens of millions of World Cities meant there were at least tens of millions of World Lords, all of whom had fused with Xueluo Crystals.

That... gave Li Dui some pause. He wasn't particularly concerned about Domain Lords. What did it matter if a Domain Lord had fused with a Xueluo Crystal?

When it came to combat power, if you set aside equipment that clearly exceeded one's own level, Auxiliary Lifeforms, and other special items, then looked only at a person's own abilities...

For instance, if everyone was at the ninth order of the Universe Rank, and one fighter was ordinary while another had a domain, the latter would basically crush the former.

And what kind of combat power did Li Dui have when he used the Giant Axe Third Blade?

The Giant Axe Third Blade could clear the Tenth Layer of the Heavenly Bridge.

Suppose a newly ascended Immortal God with an average physique used that blade. That god would be stronger than an Immortal God who could fight at the Tenth Layer but couldn't clear it.

Li Dui nodded to himself, satisfied that his reasoning made sense.

What if a Peak World Lord used the Giant Axe Third Blade?

His physical strength would be one hundredth that of the Immortal God from the previous example, but his Law Comprehension would be on par.

The difference in physical strength would be too great; he'd surely lose. But he should be about equal to an Immortal God who had stalled at the Tenth Layer of the Heavenly Bridge. Those so-called World Lord Generals on the Extraterritorial Battlefield might be at about that level.

Being one layer higher in Law Comprehension should be far more powerful than being a hundred times stronger physically. And the higher one's Law Comprehension, the greater the gap between each layer.

It probably took reaching the Immortal level and becoming a divine power lifeform for a hundredfold difference in divine body to match the gap of one Heavenly Bridge layer.

That also fit with the Human Race's definition of the strongest Universe Rank geniuses: they had to clear the Original Tongtian Mountain.

To clear the Original Tongtian Mountain, one first had to clear the twelfth layer of the Heavenly Bridge.

What did clearing the twelfth layer mean?

Li Dui figured that a Universe Rank fighter at the thirteenth layer of the Heavenly Bridge should have about the same attack power as a Domain Lord at the twelfth layer. Perhaps a little less.

By the same reasoning, a Domain Lord's attack power at the twelfth layer would probably be only slightly below that of a World Lord at the eleventh.

A World Lord at the eleventh layer could take on the weakest Immortal Gods.

So clearing the Universe Level Original Tongtian Mountain meant that a Universe Rank fighter could go toe to toe with the weakest Immortal Gods in reality. Of course, they couldn't win. Their attack power would only just about measure up. Their defenses would be far too weak.

No wonder this was the standard for geniuses of the Human Race.

Li Dui believed his guess was more or less accurate.

The standards for Domain Lords and World Lords could be used to confirm his reasoning.

Domain Lords had to clear the sixteenth layer of the Heavenly Bridge. World Lords had to clear the twentieth.

If it was a little messy to work things out for Domain Lords by using the power of laws to estimate their average physical strength...

Then World Lords were much easier to calculate.

A Peak World Lord at the twenty-first layer of the Heavenly Bridge had a body a hundred million times weaker than that of the weakest King-level Immortal, but a million times greater power of laws.

This meant that the World Lord standard could completely suppress weaker King-level Immortals and kill Marquis Immortals.

Geniuses like Kedi, who had reached the World Lord standard in history, had indeed done such things.

What about me? What kind of combat power do I have?