The First Drop of Blood

In Li Dui's perception, a Desolate Beast at the Cosmic Rank—called Cloud Sky Rank here—was creeping low, slowly approaching the battlefield.

"Truly insidious," Li Dui mused. A Cloud Sky Rank fifth-stage beast could easily charge in and dominate the whole scene, yet it chose to sneak in so cautiously, poised to ambush.

It wanted to spare neither human nor beast.

Before long, the battle below was nearing its end. The Stellar Rank Desolate Beast was covered in wounds, barely holding on.

Once it fell, the remaining Planetary Rank Desolate Beasts would be nothing but meat on the chopping block.

Fearing a deathbed counterattack, the three Stellar Rank native experts focused entirely on the beast. They had no idea that a powerful predator had already taken position on the periphery.

"Roar!"

The Civet Cat-shaped Desolate Beast's final claw sent the shield-wielding man spitting blood. Then, spent, it slowly collapsed.

"Ohhh!"

Several young people who had long finished their own opponents and were watching this fight cheered.

In that moment of joy, the Stellar Rank spearman suddenly jolted, whipping his head around.

In his sight, a pitch-black figure shot toward him like lightning.

The spearman's eyes filled with terror. Cloud Sky Rank! Ink Armor Beast!

He didn't even raise his spear. He knew he was finished.

His life flashed before his eyes. He closed them, greedily recalling his most cherished moments, waiting for death to claim him.

He never noticed a faint blade arc silently passing over his head.

The charging Ink Armor Beast split in two midair, blood bursting forth. Its rushing body separated into two halves, each flying in opposite directions.

Li Dui clicked his long blade back into the clasp on his back. He thought to himself, this kind of killing didn't really feel like anything.

Maybe ranged attacks lacked visual impact? Should I charge in next time and hack it to a bloody pulp?

The two halves of the Ink Armor Beast smashed through trees in their path, clattering and crashing into the distance.

The spearman waited a long time but didn't die. Hearing the impact sounds, he opened his eyes in surprise to check what was happening.

By then, the other two Stellar Rank experts had also sensed something wrong, though they didn't yet know what.

Only the spearman had a rough idea. He had seen Li Dui when he arrived. Since Li Dui just stood there without moving, he hadn't paid much attention. Now, the only explanation was that Li Dui had acted and killed the Ink Armor Beast.

Forgetting everything else, the spearman quickly flew over, bowed before Li Dui, and said respectfully, "Thank you, sir, for saving my life."

Li Dui smiled. This man, watching his reaction at death's door—especially his expression—was quite... well, artistic.

"Go collect the important materials for me, alright? The rest is yours."

The spearman hurriedly agreed and flew off to find the Ink Armor Beast's body, which had been sent flying somewhere. He didn't dare assume he could just take the materials without earning the reward.

Some experts had strange temperaments. If they offered you a reward and you refused, that was an insult to them.

Below, chaos erupted. The other two Stellar Rank experts joined forces, swiftly killing the remaining Desolate Beasts.

Then the three Stellar Rank experts worked together, quickly locating the two halves of the Ink Armor Beast and began dismantling the materials there.

"Lao Ying, is this... really that sir killing it with one slash from so far away?" the Stellar Rank seventh-stage native transmitted to the other two. His mind had been on the Civet Cat beast earlier, so he hadn't seen Li Dui strike.

The spearman transmitted back, cursing, "What else could it be? If not for that sir, we'd all be dead."

The seventh-stage man transmitted mournfully, "I... I warned him with my eyes earlier. What do I do?"

"Should be fine. He didn't seem upset. Look, he even rewarded Lao Ying with the Ink Armor Beast's materials. Just selling the meat alone would fetch a fortune," the shield-wielding man said, struggling to separate the Ink Armor Beast's armor.

The spearman stroked the smooth cut surface of the Ink Armor Beast, then transmitted again, angrily scolding the twenty or so young people for constantly sneaking glances at Li Dui. Only then did he reply, "Anyway, just be careful. Don't provoke him. Do whatever he says."

Having just brushed death, the spearman now treasured life more than ever.

The other two naturally nodded vigorously. Provoke him? Tired of living?

Afraid Li Dui might grow impatient waiting, the three worked with extra effort.

After finally getting it done, the spearman pulled out a spatial ring, packed the Ink Armor Beast's most valuable parts—its armor, skull, teeth, claws, and a few spikes from its tail—and brought them to Li Dui.

"Sir. The first-grade materials from the Ink Armor Beast are all here. The rest are still being processed."

That last sentence was to leave himself an out. If Li Dui said he didn't want them, great. If Li Dui said nothing, he'd bring the rest later.

Li Dui didn't care. Wealth in the Xueluo World was nothing but floating clouds to him. Casually, he said, "Pack those up for yourselves."

The spearman bowed respectfully. "Thank you, sir, for the reward."

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

The spearman shot Li Dui a surprised glance. Then a word flashed through his mind, and he replied, "Sir is a hermit cultivator?"

Realizing he might have asked too much, he quickly added, "This is Linxi Territory."

Juyi Garden.

A secluded small courtyard.

Li Dui leaned back in a lounge chair, closing the book in his hands.

Xueluo Continent had tens of millions of world cities. Each world city governed one world. A single world could be as small as hundreds of millions of kilometers in diameter, or as large as over a billion.

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

Tens of millions of world cities meant at least tens of millions of World Lords. And all of them had fused with Xueluo Crystals.

This... Li Dui felt a bit uncertain in his heart. Domain Lords, he didn't care much about. Even Domain Lords who had fused Xueluo Crystals—so what?

When it came to combat power, if you set aside equipment, auxiliary lifeforms, or special items that clearly exceeded one's own realm, and only looked at the individual themselves...

For example, if everyone was at Cosmic Level Nine, one was ordinary while the other had a domain. That was basically a stomp.

And take Li Dui himself—when he used the Giant Axe Third Blade, what level of combat power did he have?

The Giant Axe Third Blade could pass the tenth floor of the Heavenly Bridge.

If a newly ascended Immortal with normal physical stats used such a strike, his strength would surpass an Immortal who could only fight on the tenth floor of the Heavenly Bridge but couldn't pass it.

Li Dui nodded silently, feeling his deduction was correct.

But what if a peak World Lord used the Giant Axe Third Blade?

His physical stats were one percent of that Immortal's, while his law comprehension was equal.

The gap in physical stats was too large—he definitely couldn't win. But he should be on par with those Immortals stuck at the tenth floor of the Heavenly Bridge. The so-called World Lord battle generals in the outer domain battlefield were probably at this level.

A single layer of law comprehension should be far more valuable than a hundredfold difference in physical stats. And the higher the law comprehension, the more powerful it became.

It should only be at the Immortal level, when one became a divine power lifeform, that a hundredfold divine body gap would equal a one-floor gap on the Heavenly Bridge.

Combining this with the human race's definition of the strongest genius at the Cosmic Level—passing the Primal Heavenly Mountain.

The prerequisite for passing the Primal Heavenly Mountain was being able to pass the twelfth floor of the Heavenly Bridge.

What did passing the twelfth floor mean?

Li Dui felt that a Cosmic Level standing on the thirteenth floor of the Heavenly Bridge, purely in terms of attack power, should be about the same as a Domain Lord standing on the twelfth floor. Maybe slightly weaker.

Similarly, the attack power of a Domain Lord at the twelfth floor was probably just a bit less than a World Lord at the eleventh floor.

A World Lord at the eleventh floor could trade blows with the most ordinary Immortal.

So, being able to pass the Cosmic Level Primal Heavenly Mountain meant that this Cosmic Level could, in reality, go toe-to-toe with the most ordinary Immortal. Of course, winning was impossible—it only meant their attack power barely reached that level. Their defense was far too lacking.

This requirement truly lived up to the human race's benchmark for geniuses.

Li Dui believed his guess was basically in line with the facts.

This could be corroborated by the benchmark requirements for Domain Lords and World Lords.

Domain Lords needed to clear the sixteenth floor of the Heavenly Bridge. World Lords needed to clear the twentieth floor.

If the Domain Lord benchmark, using law power to pull up the average of physical power, seemed a bit messy...

Then the World Lord benchmark was easy to calculate.

A peak World Lord at the twenty-first floor of the Heavenly Bridge, compared to the most ordinary King-level Immortal, had physical power ten thousand times weaker, but law power a million times stronger.

This meant a World Lord benchmark could suppress weaker Kings and kill Marquis-level Immortals with ease.

In history, benchmark-level World Lord geniuses like Kedi had indeed accomplished such feats.

So, what about me? What level of combat power am I?

Li Dui asked himself.