Monsters Beyond Comprehension

Zuo Qiu Lun felt the pressure of Soul Saint-level Soul Power surging toward him from Lie Hongchen like a tidal wave. Each wave of pressure struck his body like a heavy hammer. Yet there wasn't the slightest trace of fear in his eyes; instead, a blazing fighting spirit ignited within them.

As soon as he finished speaking, a burly figure that looked remarkably like him appeared behind him. At the same time, four soul rings rose from beneath Zuo Qiu Lun's feet.

"Black! Black! Black! Black!"

Hovering around him were four ancient-looking black ten-thousand-year soul rings!

"That's..." Mu Ye, who had been watching the match, seemed to sense something and abruptly rose to his feet.

Black soul rings were certainly rare and powerful, but they weren't enough to make the master of the Body Sect lose his composure. What truly shocked him was the terrifying Bloodline Power erupting afterward!

Suddenly, Zuo Qiu Lun let out a roar that seemed capable of piercing the clouds and shattering the heavens. The blood in his body instantly boiled like a blazing fire set alight, raging wildly around him.

Immediately afterward, a faint red glow began to emanate from his body. It was the manifestation of Bloodline Power condensed to an extreme degree.

As his blood surged without end, a powerful force erupted from within him. It transformed into a Bloodline Smoke Beacon that shot into the sky. The beacon was a vivid blood-red, dazzling beneath the sunlight. It rolled and twisted through the air, and wherever it passed, the air itself seemed to ignite, letting out sizzling sounds.

At the center of the arena, he endured Lie Hongchen's Soul Power pressure and bore down on him with an overwhelming force, crushing the Soul Power aura brought by his Battle Armor into pieces!

"His blood is so vast that it forms a smoke beacon! I wasn't mistaken! That's a Bloodline Smoke Beacon!"

Mu Ye took several steps forward as though he had discovered an incomparable treasure, his face filled with wild delight.

"An innate Body Martial Soul, plus a Bloodline Smoke Beacon! I'm taking this kid as my disciple for sure!"

Seeing Mu Ye's sudden change in attitude, Li Ziming couldn't help smiling.

I wonder who was trying to keep up appearances just now? And now he's completely won over?!

Naturally, he couldn't say that aloud, or he'd be asking for a beating.

Seeing Lie Hongchen's aura collapse, Zuo Qiu Lun drew the blood back around his body. He then took off his coat, revealing the weighted vest he wore. One by one, he pulled two obviously refined four-sided steel pillars from the vest, removed them, and tossed them onto the ground.

Lie Hongchen hadn't thought much of it at first, until the weighted vest struck the ground with a heavy thud—"THUD!!!"

Even the arena floor shook, making Lie Hongchen glance over involuntarily.

"!!!"

However, he quickly remembered that he was still in the middle of a match. Lie Hongchen hurriedly shifted his gaze, trying to focus on Zuo Qiu Lun again.

Just as expected, Zuo Qiu Lun had already vanished from where he had been standing.

The next second, the Soul Tool cannons that Lie Hongchen had suspended across the arena began exploding one after another. Lie Hongchen immediately realized Zuo Qiu Lun was behind it, but he couldn't find him at all. After each gust of wind, several Soul Tool cannons would explode.

Unable to simply wait for death, he had no choice but to order the Soul Tool cannons to launch indiscriminate attacks. In an instant, the arena was filled with artillery fire.

Yet it didn't seem to accomplish anything. After activating his Battle Armor, Lie Hongchen's control over metal had increased dramatically.

If not for the match rules, he could have used sixth-grade Soul Tool cannons. Even so, with the enhancement of his Battle Armor, the firing speed and power of the cannons on the field were already fully comparable to sixth-grade Soul Tools. Yet they still couldn't so much as touch Zuo Qiu Lun.

In less than twenty seconds, more than a hundred Soul Tool cannons had been reduced to just over forty. Even some of the cannons he had kept by his side had been destroyed.

Looking at the pitiful number remaining, Lie Hongchen realized he couldn't keep dispersing his strength. To guard against Zuo Qiu Lun's attack, which could arrive at any moment, he could only hurriedly gather all his remaining Soul Tool cannons around himself and deploy a Soul Tool shield.

Sure enough, in the next instant, cracking sounds came from all three layers of Soul Tool shields Lie Hongchen had deployed. The last instant-cast protective shield he carried rapidly unfolded as well, blocking the incoming strike.

As a Soul Engineer who dealt with Rare Metals year-round, Lie Hongchen recognized the steel pillar in Zuo Qiu Lun's hand in an instant.

"Fuck! Nethersea Steel!!!" Even Lie Hongchen, a scion of a prominent family who normally had to mind his public image, couldn't stop himself from swearing.

Nethersea Steel was a Rare Metal found only beneath the abyssal depths of the sea. It was incredibly hard—so hard that even fixed-installation Soul Tool shells might not be able to blast it apart. Logically, it should have been an excellent material for defensive Soul Tools and Battle Armor, yet not a single Soul Master would add it to their Battle Armor.

There was no other reason: it was simply too heavy. A fist-sized piece of Nethersea Steel weighed several tons. If it were made into Battle Armor, a Soul Master would struggle just to walk, let alone support it in battle.

Thus, the Federation generally used it for fortress defenses or as ballast for transport ships.

But the two steel pillars in Zuo Qiu Lun's hands were far larger than a fist. They were clearly refined Nethersea Steel, which would only be heavier than ordinary Nethersea Steel. Yet Zuo Qiu Lun swung them as though they were nothing more than ordinary wooden sticks.

Seeing Zuo Qiu Lun's next strike about to descend, Lie Hongchen hurriedly activated his fourth soul ring.

"Fourth Soul Skill! Golden Sacrifice!"

The soul skill activated, instantly detonating all the Soul Tools around him. Flames erupted across the arena, and the shockwave from the explosion directly blasted the referee off the stage. The Soul Tool defensive array established by the event organizers activated, rose, and covered the entire spectator stands, yet it still couldn't fully block the blast. Cracks began appearing in the barrier as well.

The next second, four figures shot out from the VIP seats. Seven soul rings revolved around each of them—they were clearly seven-ringed Soul Saints. The four stationed themselves at the four sides of the arena and released their Soul Power to shield the audience, finally stopping the explosion from harming the spectators.

When the smoke and dust cleared, all the audience could see where the arena had once stood was a massive crater.

Just as the audience began searching for the competitors, they saw a golden liquid flow from the bottom of the crater to its edge, gathering and reforming into a human figure.

It was Lie Hongchen. While detonating the Soul Tools, he had activated the Three-Legged Golden Toad's fifth soul skill—Golden Attachment—turning himself into liquid metal and rapidly fleeing the center of the explosion.

Even so, he had been severely injured. He stood there, gasping heavily.

I activated my fifth soul skill while wearing Battle Armor. Even that monster should've been seriously injured by now, right?

As for killing him, Lie Hongchen had never entertained that thought. Given the physical strength and speed with which Zuo Qiu Lun had ignored the Soul Tool cannon fire earlier, blowing him to death was simply unrealistic.

"Are you looking for me?"

Suddenly, a teasing voice sounded from behind Lie Hongchen, causing his body to stiffen. He instinctively wanted to react, but feeling the terrifying force from the hand on his shoulder, he had no choice but to abandon that idea.

He also realized that he no longer had any chance of winning.

After pondering for a moment, Lie Hongchen raised his right hand and said,

"I surrender!"

Seeing this, the chief referee immediately came down from the referee's stand and separated the two. He then turned to Zuo Qiu Lun and announced his victory.

"Contestant Lie Hongchen has surrendered! Therefore, contestant Zuo Qiu Lun wins and advances to the finals!"

In the first round of the semifinals, Zuo Qiu Lun won!

Against Lie Hongchen, Zuo Qiu Lun hadn't even used a soul skill. He had simply charged in with his physical body, then won...

"Mm... it's finally over."

Zuo Qiu Lun glanced at Lie Hongchen, then turned and prepared to leave.

However, just as he turned to step off the stage, Lie Hongchen spoke behind him.

"I want to know... did I make you use your full strength?"

Zuo Qiu Lun ignored him, quickened his pace, and walked straight off the stage, disappearing into the crowd.

Lie Hongchen also returned directly to his waiting room. At the door, he saw a middle-aged man standing there. When the man saw the youth appear,

he looked at him, sighed, and said, "I watched the match. You already performed very well. Don't take it too much to heart."

Thinking of Zuo Qiu Lun's body, which had barely been injured when he left, Lie Hongchen couldn't help recalling something an elder of his clan had once told him.

"Little Lie, you've inherited the Three-Legged Golden Toad Martial Soul our family takes pride in, and you also have great talent for Soul Tools. That's good. You have every right to be proud, but never become complacent.

Go out and see the world, because there will always be monsters in this world beyond your comprehension. I hope you never encounter such people, because they'll crush you until you can barely breathe.

But I also hope you do encounter them, because living in the same era as them means you'll never feel that there is no road ahead. You'll always have the courage to keep moving forward."

Even now, he remembered the expression on the elder's face when he said those words. It had been an extremely complicated expression, carrying a trace of loneliness mixed with a hint of pride, and it had remained etched in his memory ever since.

"Father, next, I plan to travel across the continent properly."

The middle-aged man's body, turned away from Lie Hongchen, merely paused. He turned around and looked at the youth, as though he wanted to say something.

But when he saw the stubbornness in the youth's eyes, exactly like his own in his younger days, he merely replied,

"Mm."