Battle on the Heavenly Bridge Again

"Li Dui is here."

"Li Dui."

A group of a dozen or so people, both men and women, greeted Li Dui, some speaking up and others nodding.

After responding to them one by one, Li Dui asked, "Jie Kui, did you pass?"

Jie Kui was the name of the man with three eyes and long arms.

"Pass? My foot," Jie Kui flicked his head and continued, "On average, only about four people from each batch manage to pass the third level. I'm from the War Axe Secret Realm. How many batches does it take before someone manages to clear the third level within thirty years?"

A woman nearby, nearly three meters tall with a row of air vents on both cheeks, chimed in, "What's this, Li Dui? Are you confident you can pass the third level?"

Li Dui laughed and replied, "Heh, confidence? I have a little. But I'll have to fight to know for sure."

The woman with the air vents had only meant it as a joke, and no one had taken it seriously.

They hadn't expected Li Dui to answer like that.

Li Dui and the others hadn't lowered their voices while speaking.

The expressions of many people nearby shifted. Some were surprised, some were disdainful, and naturally, most were skeptical.

Some even began to "tsk" in derision.

It was exactly as Jie Kui had said. Every ten thousand years, a batch of geniuses arrived in Chaos City. Those who could pass the third level of the Heavenly Bridge within thirty years could be counted on one hand.

The only ones guaranteed to pass the third level were the top-ranked individuals of each batch. Even the nine people from the second-tier realm, the Mad Axe Secret Realm, wouldn't dare make such bold claims.

Their current batch of geniuses was considered relatively mediocre. So far, only two had passed the third level of the Heavenly Bridge.

Just as the various small groups were reacting in different ways, Bafen's voice rang out.

"God Origin Secret Realm member, Du Ke, has passed the fourth level of the Heavenly Void Bridge."

"Buzz~"

Instantly, the discussions in the plaza grew heated.

"That's good, that's good. At least someone in our batch passed the fourth level. Otherwise, it would be embarrassing to tell anyone," Jie Kui clapped his hands and immediately moved on to the new topic.

"Exactly. In a thousand batches, at most one-tenth fail to produce someone who can pass the fourth level. It's a good thing Du Ke pulled through. Otherwise, we'd really have no face," a man with blue hair who looked like an Earthling chimed in.

This inexplicable sense of collective honor. If I unleashed my full power, wouldn't you all be blown away? Li Dui laughed inwardly.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten about Li Dui's earlier comment, chatting away with one another.

Soon, Bafen brought more news: another genius had cleared the third level of the Heavenly Bridge.

The current tally for this batch of geniuses was one person at the fourth level and two at the third.

The plaza was becoming increasingly crowded, with nearly all 877 geniuses present.

"Li Dui, you may enter the Giant Axe Heavenly Bridge," the voice of the Guardian, Bafen, echoed.

The area around Li Dui and his group fell silent. Many eyes revealed a look of anticipation, waiting to see a show.

Without a word, Li Dui stepped into the Giant Axe Heavenly Bridge.

A troublemaker shouted, "Guardian, can you broadcast the footage of Li Dui's attempt?"

Bafen nodded in agreement. With a wave of his hand, a virtual screen appeared in mid-air, live-streaming Li Dui's real-time progress.

At the end of the third level of the Giant Axe Heavenly Bridge.

The white mist emitted a sound.

"Choose your opponent. You may choose a Fighter, a Spirit Reader Controller, or a Spirit Reader Illusionist. Defeat your opponent to pass the third level of the Heavenly Bridge."

"Fighter," Li Dui said, sparing no extra words.

The black liquid transformed into a man in black.

"Only those who pass the third level can be considered qualified Universe Rank geniuses. Come, defeat me and prove you are worthy of being called a genius," the man in black said sharply.

"Whoosh!" Li Dui swung his blade, the sound of it cutting through the air serving as his response.

The man in black charged forward, his giant axe swinging down in a rage.

Li Dui stepped forward and twisted his body, his long blade flashing with a dazzling light as he met the attack head-on.

"Clang!" With a thunderous boom, the man in black was sent flying backward by the strike. Li Dui also retreated more than ten steps.

"Wow!"

"Oh~"

"Hm?"

At that moment, various sounds of surprise, exclamation, and the like erupted in the plaza almost simultaneously.

Just by watching that head-on collision, the geniuses present understood. Li Dui's comprehension of the laws was undoubtedly at the peak of the third level.

In other words, he had already cleared this third level. Even if he were to fail due to a mistake in the heat of battle, he would certainly pass it within a try or two.

Li Dui did not know he was being broadcast. Even if he did, he wouldn't care. After passing the second level of the Heavenly Bridge over a decade ago, he had once again meditated on the Giant Axe Chaos Stele.

He was now very clear on what level of law comprehension the first three diagrams of the Giant Axe Chaos Stele should correspond to.

The level of laws he was currently displaying was neither more nor less than an exact match for the black-clad man.

The power of laws surged across the Heavenly Bridge. Blade and axe collided again and again.

The Heavenly Bridge was rigorous. The law comprehension, secret techniques, skills, and experience of the Gatekeeper on each level were all pre-set. Precise and stable.

To pass, one could only rely on raw strength—either higher laws, fiercer secret techniques, or stronger consciousness; there were no shortcuts.

This raw strength even excluded physical fitness. Even if you possessed ten thousand times the gene potential in reality, you couldn't use it here. You were only granted standard physical attributes.

Above the island, behind a bank of mist, a petite female powerhouse who radiated an inexplicable aura of slaughter was also watching the live broadcast.

On the screen, Li Dui suddenly erupted, unleashing an incredibly sharp blade technique. The black-clad man struggled to parry, but his arms were shattered by the strike. Li Dui then closed the distance and severed him at the waist with a single slash.

Heavenly Bridge, third level: cleared.

The petite female powerhouse nodded slightly, then shook her head just as slightly.

Below, those who had a friendship with Li Dui began to cheer.

The others all cast sidelong glances. Even Du Ke, who had just passed the fourth level, was quite astonished. He had not expected such a figure to emerge from the outermost Battle Axe Secret Realm.

The white mist on the Heavenly Bridge dissipated. Li Dui continued upward.

On the Heavenly Bridge, every three levels counted as a threshold.

On the fourth level, the scenery on the bridge had changed. It was no longer shrouded in white mist, but filled with drifting flames.

Reaching the end, a massive flame pulsed, emitting a crackling sound.

"Choose your opponent. You may choose a warrior, a spirit reader controller, or a spirit reader illusionist. Defeat him, and you shall pass the fourth level of the Heavenly Bridge."

"Warrior."

A spark flew out from the giant flame, slowly morphing into a figure wearing red battle armor and a mask.

The red-clad man's voice was slightly sharp: "You are quite good. But this is as far as you go."

Li Dui had no interest in chatting with a temporary virtual construct. He attacked immediately, opening with the very same blade technique that had just defeated the third-level Gatekeeper.

This secret technique was actually derived from the crack in the first diagram of the Giant Axe Chaos Stele. In terms of this single strike alone, if fully unleashed, it could clear the fourth level of the Heavenly Bridge.

However, he could not pass this fourth level; it would be too high-profile. Thus, Li Dui suppressed the power of the blade technique to a level where he could merely trade blows with the fourth-level Gatekeeper.

As for the ten-fold points, Li Dui didn't care much. Even if he cleared ten levels in a row and obtained over a million points, what of it?

Why were points important? Because secret manuals that accelerated law comprehension were exorbitantly expensive.

But Li Dui had no need for such things at all.

Beyond that, whether it was physical items, secret techniques, or auxiliary life forms, as long as you didn't try to enjoy things two or three levels above your station, the prices were actually quite reasonable.

Li Dui's strength far exceeded his apparent realm. If he truly needed points in the future, he could simply make a trip to the Xueluo World. Following Luo Feng's example, he could hunt down Domain Level city lords everywhere.

One Xueluo Crystal was worth 600 points. If he gathered thousands or tens of thousands of them, wouldn't that be equivalent to having millions of points in his pocket? Whenever he needed to spend money, he could just take a portion out and sell them to the Martial Arena.

Li Dui reckoned that in terms of absolute strength, he was already significantly stronger than Luo Feng had been at that time. What Luo Feng could do, he should be able to do as well.

The blade light was cold and sharp. Li Dui's blade technique had a wide range and high speed, appearing very fluid. It possessed a unique, aesthetic beauty.

For a time, it seemed as if he had forced the red-clad man into a purely defensive state.

Many geniuses in the plaza had a thought cross their minds: "Could it be that he might actually pass the fourth level?"

While everyone stared intently at the virtual screen, intense discussions broke out among the various small cliques.

"Ah!" The red-clad man let out a roar and abruptly knocked Li Dui back with an axe strike.

"It ends here. Witness this move." The red-clad man swung his battle axe.

This was it. Li Dui widened his eyes, wanting to see if there was any difference between the move the red-clad man used and what he had comprehended.

Blade and axe clashed, and Li Dui retreated rapidly.

"Not bad, that's it. The execution is slightly different, but the power is the same." Having received the blow, Li Dui immediately understood.

In other words, his line of thought in creating this secret technique was correct. Of course, this blade technique couldn't really be considered a secret technique he had created himself; it was more accurate to say he had learned it.

It was just that his way of learning was more open-minded. It wasn't the type of learning where one studied a secret manual tome.

But it gave him the confidence to create more, even more suitable secret techniques for himself in the future.

After "strenuously" resisting seven or eight axe strikes, Li Dui was "finally" cleaved to death by the red-clad man.

"Whew."

Many people in the plaza breathed a sigh of relief. It was true that not everyone wished for others to succeed.

"Resurrecting" in the center of the plaza, Li Dui was, at this moment, the center of everyone's attention.