"Think putting on a turtle shell will let you get away?"
Li Qingxu's icy voice rang out.
His steps were unhurried, and not even a sonic boom sounded.
Yet with every step he took, the scenery around him seemed to recede behind him, as if he were using the Daoist art of shrinking the distance between heaven and earth.
That black battle suit the guy was wearing had to be the Black God Set.
Otherwise, given the force behind his punch, he'd already smashed that long sword to pieces. There was no reason he couldn't break the guy's body, too.
Wu Tutian had clearly figured it out as well. Like a wounded beast, he charged wildly through the city of steel and concrete.
One skyscraper after another came crashing down. Wall fragments and stones rained from above, while countless packs of monsters howled and stampeded in every direction.
But Li Qingxu seemed to have him locked on. His figure moved at an unhurried pace, yet stayed right behind him, only ten meters away.
The main district of City 026 seemed blanketed in a thick layer of dusty ash, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.
The other warrior teams hunting monsters there were fleeing the main district in droves.
They had no idea what was going on, but the sight of that enormous monster horde alone made their hearts pound with fear.
There was only one fate for anyone who stayed: death.
"Damn it, I shouldn't have come here."
As he fled, Wu Tutian couldn't stop berating himself. All this, just because of a councilor's nephew in the Alliance. He'd wound up provoking a monster like this. He wanted to die.
Just as he darted out of a skyscraper and appeared on a street packed with monsters,
"Vmmm."
The void above his head suddenly shuddered, as if it were about to shatter!
"What is this?!"
Wu Tutian glanced up, and his eyes nearly split with terror.
A gigantic black hand came crashing down, blotting out the sky!
"Roar!"
The monsters in the street seemed to sense death approaching and howled frantically.
"Smack!"
Wu Tutian was an Intermediate War God with incredible speed, but he was still struck.
He and the surrounding monsters were smashed into the concrete road.
"Boom!"
Beast blood erupted from the ground like a waterfall, staining everything nearby crimson.
A breath later, the black hand vanished.
A gigantic handprint several meters deep had been gouged into the ground.
Li Qingxu's figure appeared above the street, standing in midair.
"Cough, cough... P-please, spare me."
At the bottom of the handprint's crater, a red-clad figure lay spread-eagled, panting weakly.
That secret technique was nothing like anything a human could perform. The black hand had appeared out of nowhere, leaving him no chance to fight back.
The instant it made contact, Wu Tutian knew he was finished.
The terrifying force had struck him into the ground as effortlessly as if he were an ant, without the slightest pause.
If not for the Black God Set's defensive power, he'd have been no different from the bits of shredded monster meat around him.
Wu Tutian had relied on the Black God Set to break into the lair of a King-level monster. He'd even taken two hits and survived, then escaped.
But...
Never before had Wu Tutian been this pathetic, or so close to death.
The power of that black hand was worlds apart from the golden fist he'd faced earlier.
"Heh. Spare you?"
Li Qingxu gave a soft laugh.
Why was this guy just like that white warrior? The moment he realized he couldn't win, he started begging. Did he think Li Qingxu would be easy to deal with just because he looked young?
Never mind that the guy had attacked him from behind. That kick alone had already earned him a death sentence in Li Qingxu's mind.
You could use your strength to crush me head-on, but you actually resorted to a dirty move like kicking me in the groin.
Now you were saying you didn't want to die and wanted to live?
"Vmmm!"
Li Qingxu's awareness stirred, and divine power surged from the source within his Bitter Sea.
Another gigantic black hand took shape in the void, then came crashing down, blotting out the sky!
"Boom!"
The enormous handprint in the street, already five meters deep, sank another four.
Yet as soon as that black hand dissipated, another came crashing down.
The Black God Set offered powerful protection, but it was far less effective against pure gravitational attacks. It couldn't withstand the impact very well.
Eight consecutive strikes of the Void Great Hand Seal—forget Wu Tutian, an Intermediate War God in the Black God Set.
Even a first-level Planetary powerhouse would be left gravely injured after taking eight blows with their bare body, if they survived at all.
"Phew."
Li Qingxu let out a breath. His Bitter Sea settled, the golden light around his body faded, and he drifted naturally down toward the crater.
Using the weakened Void Great Hand Seal eight times in a row had left him feeling as if his divine power had run dry.
It was the first time he'd felt that way since opening his Bitter Sea.
If he used the full Void Great Hand Seal, even draining all his divine power wouldn't be enough.
It was a killing technique from the Void Emperor Scripture. When unleashed in full, the Void Great Hand Seal carried the Void Great Dao, turning everything into nothingness. Space would twist, and Heaven and Earth would sink under its weight.
"The Black God Set really is tough."
Li Qingxu looked at a black object buried in the dirt, shaped like a bracer, and praised it with a gleam in his eyes as he picked it up.
Beside it was a pool of bloody pulp.
With the Black God Set's protection, combined with the resilience of his Desolate Ancient Sacred Body, he could take ordinary Planetary-level attacks without a second thought.
Li Qingxu leaped out of the crater and landed in the street.
"If you don't want to leave, then stay."
Li Qingxu looked toward the end of the street. Beneath the dust and fog, a pair of crimson eyes stared back at him.
"Roar!"
A growl rang out, and the dust and fog parted.
An eight-meter-tall black bear stood upright on its hind legs, its crimson eyes gleaming with the desire to feed.
It had been lurking nearly a thousand meters away, watching him with predatory intent.
"You like peeking that much?"
The instant the words left his mouth, Li Qingxu stepped forward. His figure became a streak of golden light as he charged the black bear.
His golden fist, trembling like Thor's hammer, slammed with pinpoint accuracy into the black bear's chest.
"Pfft!"
The muffled sound was like a watermelon bursting inside its rind.
The gigantic beast's chest caved in by thirty centimeters, while a ten-centimeter bulge of flesh protruded from its back.
Boom!
The towering black bear crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Didn't you know? I don't eat bear paws."
As his voice faded, Li Qingxu's figure disappeared into the thick haze of dust.
The bright moon hung high above. The main district of City 026 was silent, as if not a single monster remained.
Li Qingxu sat cross-legged on the rooftop of a relatively intact skyscraper.
After that battle, the cells in his Sacred Body had grown even more active.
As he drew in wisps of cosmic energy, the cells in his body devoured it frantically, generating an immense amount of vital essence.
The Dao Scripture chanted within his Bitter Sea. At its center, his Life Spring gushed forth, and the source of divine power boiled.
Golden waves surged skyward from the Bitter Sea, divine radiance flashed, and thunder roared.
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