I Lost

In an instant.

Darkness swallowed everything within several hundred meters of Hong. Not a single ray of light remained.

And he was the god of this dark domain.

"This is the Darkness Domain I reached after breaking through to the Unity of Flesh and Human realm of Huaxia Internal Martial Arts."

Hong chuckled, his gaze fixed behind Li Qingxu.

A figure materialized within that golden light, almost like another Li Qingxu.

He sat high above the nine heavens, surrounded by Mysterious Yellow Qi as he looked down upon Heaven and Earth, like an Immortal King come into the world.

"I'm different from you. This is a manifestation unique to my lineage."

"Immortal King Descends Upon the Nine Heavens."

Golden light shimmered across Li Qingxu's body, and chaotic mist swirled around him. He looked almost identical to the figure behind him.

At that moment, he appeared solemn and majestic, like an eternal Immortal King looking down upon all living beings.

This was merely a Sacred Body vision he had manifested with his Life Spring Realm cultivation, not the true Immortal King Descends Upon the Nine Heavens.

If he had been using a fully realized Sacred Body, its aura alone would have ground Earth to dust in an instant.

Of course, he had only manifested the vision; he hadn't used any other techniques or secret arts.

"Want to try?"

"Come on."

As soon as the words left his mouth,

Hong waved a hand, and a beam of black light shot toward Li Qingxu.

Li Qingxu stirred his divine sense. Behind him, the Immortal King figure hovering in the void extended a finger, like a pillar holding up the sky, and brought it down upon Hong in the dark domain.

"Boom!"

A thunderous explosion rang out across the sky.

"It can actually withstand that?"

Hong's eyes widened in surprise.

The enormous figure hovering in the sky was far sturdier than he had expected.

What was more, his domain attack seemed to have been affected by some unknown magnetic field, its power gradually weakening.

Li Qingxu wasn't even at the Planetary Level yet, but that so-called vision had boosted his strength by that much.

Feeling the enormous finger bearing down on him, Hong stopped holding back.

He had deliberately kept his power below the Planetary Level, only to find that he couldn't even break through its defenses.

In an instant,

Hong's aura changed. He became like an unparalleled spear poised to pierce the firmament.

The Darkness Domain spreading hundreds of meters around him seemed to transform into a spearhead.

Whoosh!

A black spear collided with the finger, which was like a pillar holding up the sky.

The instant they struck, a terrifying surge of energy erupted from the point of impact.

Rumble!

The skyscraper a hundred meters below them collapsed with a thunderous crash.

When the shockwaves subsided,

Hong's aura remained undiminished, and he stood clad in black.

Li Qingxu was still standing in midair where he had been, but the Sacred Body vision behind him had vanished.

"That strike was already as strong as the third layer of the Dao Palace Realm. The boost his domain gives him really is immense."

Li Qingxu silently gauged the power he had just felt.

Without secret arts to enhance it, his Life Spring Realm cultivation wasn't enough to drive his Sacred Body vision to match Hong.

By his reckoning, if he relied on cultivation alone to manifest the vision,

he would need to reach the Other Shore Realm at the very least to suppress Hong, and Hong hadn't even gone all out.

A desperate strike should be about as strong as the fifth layer of the Dao Palace Realm.

"I suppose I've lost this time,"

Hong said.

He had suppressed his strength below the Planetary Level, yet no matter what he tried, he couldn't break through the Immortal King vision.

If anything, he had been suppressed by it.

Only when he unified his domain with his body and unleashed a Planetary Level attack could he stand against it and disperse the figure.

"You haven't lost. You're just missing systematic training."

Li Qingxu shook his head.

Hong's comprehension was extraordinary. Without a master to guide him or good genes, he had relied on his own understanding to reach the domain stage—a level that even some Universe Level fighters might not possess.

And through Hong's domain, he had also figured out what a domain was.

When one's power, will, and Origin Energy stirred Heaven and Earth, they produced an effect much like a field. But this was merely a by-product of entering the domain stage.

When Hong had gathered his strength to fight just now, his will, power, and Origin Energy had resonated with Heaven and Earth, creating an oppressive force that formed a Darkness Domain spanning five hundred meters.

Within this domain, his attack power increased tremendously, and the pressure he exerted left low-level fighters utterly helpless.

But that pressure was useless against high-level fighters.

Still, those who entered the domain stage could control their power well enough to resonate with Heaven and Earth, making them exceptionally formidable in battle and their attacks terrifying.

Beyond the ninth level of the domain stage lay the world stage.

Those who entered the world stage could directly alter their surroundings.

To Li Qingxu, this was an unexpected delight: learning from the strengths of a hundred schools of thought, unifying them, and forging his own path.

"That's true."

Hong nodded with a sigh.

Over the years, he had acquired knowledge and inheritances from various Ancient Civilization Ruins. Naturally, he knew how dazzling the universe beyond Earth could be.

The vast universe was home to countless powerful nations. The Milky Way Galaxy where Earth lay was only one part of the Silver Blue Empire.

One could imagine how powerful the fighters of the Silver Blue Empire must be.

"I'll give you a supreme secret art to study. Our systems are different, but it might help you if you can understand it."

Li Qingxu offered.

He didn't think much of Earth's manuals, nor did he intend to study them for reference.

Besides, Earth's so-called Force Application Technique seemed to have taken a wrong turn.

What he valued most were the 52 Chaos Tablets in Chaos City, created by the greatest beings of the Human Race over countless eras,

as well as the secret arts left behind by the Void True God who had braved reincarnation in the Universe Ocean.

"Is that allowed?"

A look of surprise crossed Hong's face.

From Li Qingxu's vision, he could already guess that Li Qingxu had likely obtained the Core Inheritance of some faction in the universe.

But now he was offering to give him a supreme secret art. Wasn't the faction behind him likely to have rules against that?

Their manuals, for example, couldn't be sold or passed on in secret. Anyone who broke those rules was put to death.

"It's fine."

Li Qingxu smiled and nodded.

He liked Hong, especially his mindset: an Infinite Heart, able to embrace everything.

Besides, he'd already given away the secret art. It wasn't as if Old Ye would come after him for it.

"But you can't exactly study it here."

Li Qingxu gestured around them.

"Haha, true."

"Come on, let's head back to headquarters."

Three hours later.

In Hongning Base City, the Limit Dojo Global Headquarters was a colossal, ten-thousand-meter-long building shaped like a spaceship, standing about a hundred meters tall.

The building had a huge hatch, dozens of meters wide, large enough for people to enter.

A large military force was stationed all around the spaceship-like building, making the place seem heavily guarded.

Just then, a Blood-Red Triangular Fighter Jet slowly descended from above the headquarters.

Two figures stepped out of the fighter jet, then quickly disappeared.

Only a handful of people saw the young man walking beside Hong.

They had their suspicions, but the Dojo Master hadn't said anything, so they didn't dare approach and ask.