A World-Shaking Battle

Time passed quickly.

Lu Yun stood motionless on the eighth floor, his eyes tightly shut as he focused completely on sensing the changes around him.

Suddenly.

In the air above his head, a spatial rift dozens of meters wide appeared without any warning.

Immediately after...

With a crack, a man in black swiftly stepped out of the rift.

Lu Yun, who had been utterly still, abruptly opened his eyes, and an incomparably terrifying aura erupted from his body.

"You are quite impressive!"

"To have reached the Star-Gathering Complete Realm—over all these years, apart from the Martial God of your human race, no one else has ever managed it."

The man in black spoke slowly, his tone carrying a trace of wistfulness, as though he were merely chatting with an old friend he had not seen in a long time.

"The feeling is mutual!"

"Compared to me, you are a cut above. I have only condensed two spiritual power stars within me, while you have condensed at least three."

Lu Yun spoke calmly.

A hint of surprise appeared on the black-clothed man's face. Clearly, he had not expected Lu Yun to be so perceptive, to have already sensed the exact gap between their strengths so quickly.

"No wonder you managed to come this far. You truly do have something exceptional about you."

"If you can pass this trial today, perhaps you really can reach that realm..."

As for whether a higher realm existed beyond the Star-Gathering Realm, Lu Yun had long had his suspicions. Yet hearing the man in black mention it with his own ears still stirred his curiosity.

He truly wanted to know just how many spiritual power stars had to be condensed within the sea of qi before one could finally break through and reach that mysterious realm.

The man in black seemed to have guessed his doubts. He merely smiled faintly and did not continue the topic.

"If you can defeat me, everything will naturally be revealed once you reach the ninth floor."

Lu Yun nodded. "That is exactly my intention! If my guess is correct, this is your strongest avatar as well, isn't it?!"

The man in black smiled. "The last person who spoke to me like that was a youth named Baili Yuchen. I never expected that after so many years, another interesting person would finally appear."

"However..."

"We will only know after a fight!!!"

As he spoke.

A sharp gleam suddenly burst from his eyes. His body became like a bolt of lightning, appearing before Lu Yun in an instant.

Seven Absolute Sword

In the blink of an eye, seven flying swords appeared floating around his body. Every one of them radiated a terrifying bloodthirsty intent. After spinning swiftly once, they howled toward Lu Yun.

"Good timing!"

Lu Yun did not choose to evade. Instead, gripping the Ancient Moon Elephant-Trunk Saber, he charged forward to meet the attack head-on.

Having advanced to the Star-Gathering Complete Realm, he also wanted to test just how far his martial path had truly reached.

The deafening collision made the space on the eighth floor tremble. Even cracks appeared across the surrounding tower walls.

When the dust dispersed, Lu Yun had been blasted back dozens of meters, while the man in black had not retreated in the slightest. He had merely swayed once.

"Though you and I are both at the Star-Gathering Complete Realm, this is the difference between two stars and three stars!" the man in black said indifferently.

"Is that so?!"

Lu Yun narrowed his eyes. "Take this!"

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

The Ancient Moon Elephant-Trunk Saber swung repeatedly. In an instant, seventeen or eighteen saber phantoms slashed toward the man in black.

Yet the man in black merely shook his head with a smile. Then, with a leap, he directly evaded those saber phantoms.

However, Lu Yun seemed to have anticipated his movements long ago, and the long saber in his hand swung again.

In an instant...

Another sheet of saber light flashed forth.

This time, however, there were clearly far more saber phantoms.

Evidently, in the course of this brief exchange, his cultivation had surged once more.

The man in black noticed the change in Lu Yun's cultivation, but he was not overly concerned. He still wore a relaxed expression, his movement technique flashing like lightning as he weaved through the saber phantoms.

Judging from the strength they had displayed so far, the man in black remained a notch above Lu Yun in both power and speed.

But Lu Yun had no intention of giving up.

Like a tireless perpetual-motion machine, after pausing for several seconds, he sent wave after wave of saber phantoms raining densely upon his opponent once more.

And this time, they were much faster than before.

The man in black refused to be outdone. He likewise unleashed his signature martial technique, colliding with Lu Yun's saber light.

Boom!

At that moment, the deafening sound spread throughout the entire Unfixed Pagoda. Yet Lu Yun's offensive showed no sign of stopping, and he continued slashing relentlessly at the man in black.

"This is becoming rather troublesome!!!" The black-clothed man's expression shifted slightly as he sensed that Lu Yun was gradually beginning to suppress him.

"So there really is something to you!"

"Heh heh... If this continues, I really might lose! Since that is the case, then I would like to see who will be the final victor!"

A cold smile appeared at the corner of the man in black's lips. His eyes slowly closed, and waves of black mist instantly rose from his entire body, strands of eerie black fog spilling out from him.

"What is this?!"

Lu Yun's pupils suddenly contracted as he sensed a dangerous aura that made his hair stand on end.

Falling Star Sword!

The man in black formed hand seals with both hands and pointed at Lu Yun from afar. The black mist that had been surrounding him immediately transformed into countless sharp swords, then formed an enormous, dark sword net.

In an instant.

Lu Yun felt as if his body had been shackled by some mysterious force.

His body simply would not obey him. He could not move even half a step, and could only watch helplessly as countless densely packed swords assaulted him.

"No!"

Lu Yun knew that if he allowed those countless swords to strike, he would surely be smashed to pieces. A fierce glint flashed through his eyes, and every acupoint in his body instantly opened.

"Explode for me!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Amid a string of earth-shattering explosions, the violent impact of his self-detonating acupoints allowed him to swiftly break free from the restraints on his body.

In the space of a breath.

His figure retreated rapidly at the same time, instantly opening up distance between himself and the countless swords.

"Whew!"

Lu Yun let out a sigh of relief.

Just now, he had actually...

Almost died!!!

He watched the countless swords disappear and inwardly sighed. Good thing I reacted quickly. Otherwise, I would have already been pierced through by those swords.

Just as he was secretly rejoicing, the system notification sounded in his mind once more.

[Ding! Detected that the host is using Primordial Fist...]

[Fist technique experience +10, triggering a 2000x critical hit, experience +20000!]

[Congratulations, Host! Primordial Fist has risen from lv225 29% to lv237 32%!]

At the same time.

He felt that the spiritual power within his body had clearly become far more vast than before, while the two spiritual power stars that had originally remained motionless in his qi sea dantian suddenly emitted an intense radiance.

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