Thunder exploded. A bolt seven or eight meters thick, trailing a wisp of red flame, struck the burly man. Yet his body was like an impregnable wall. The lightning hammered down without leaving a scratch, and instead shattered against him into countless streams of flowing plasma.
With a roar, the burly man raised the enormous warhammer in his hand and smashed it toward Yi Chen's skull.
Yi Chen let out a piercing cry. A searing halo flickered over his arm, and the Blood Sword in his hand seemed to come alive. The patterns on its blade shone with an eerie red light. The blade quivered, knocking the warhammer aside with a clang, and its tip traced a dazzling red streak as it pierced straight through the burly man's left shoulder blade.
The burly man roared in fury, his right fist whistling toward Yi Chen's head. Yi Chen swayed, deftly evading the attack, then kicked the man in the abdomen. Using the force of the kick, he flew backward several meters and landed heavily on the ground.
The burly man stared blankly at the inch-long bloody hole in his left shoulder. His nerves had gone completely numb. This should have been a fatal strike, yet he had come through unscathed.
Yi Chen rose and drew a strange short blade from his waist. He swept it in several circles across the burly man's chest, sending a cloud of blood mist into the air.
The burly man stared blankly at his severed arm. Then he erupted into a frenzied roar, crossing a thousand zhang in a single stride. Trailing afterimages, he charged up to Yi Chen and swung his massive fist down at him.
Yi Chen twisted his body into a bizarre pose, avoiding the fist. He drove his clawed hand into the burly man's calf and tore away a layer of skin.
The burly man screamed in agony and smashed his right fist toward Yi Chen again.
Yi Chen gave a cold shout, seized the man's arm with both hands, and bent it forcefully. At the same time, he spun like a top and slapped the burly man across the cheek, knocking him to the ground.
Yi Chen pressed forward without pause and drove a fist into the man's head, pounding it into pulp.
Yi Chen released his grip and was about to put away the dagger when he discovered, to his horror, that the strange weapon had turned scarlet. A layer of flame seemed to coil ceaselessly around it.
A faint, elusive ripple of strange energy spread from within the dagger.
Yi Chen frowned at the dagger and pondered for a long while. Finally, he gritted his teeth. His heart gave a violent beat, ejecting a drop of blood essence from its vessels, which merged into the dagger.
The dagger gave a clear chime. Its blood-red color slowly faded until it returned to the appearance of pitch-black iron, resting dully in Yi Chen's hand.
Yi Chen paused, then carefully examined the dagger in his hand. It looked utterly ordinary, without a single distinguishing feature.
Yet Yi Chen knew it was an extraordinary treasure. Just an instant earlier, he had clearly sensed a trace of wondrous energy, a fluctuation that had sent a shudder through his very soul.
It was a formidable power rarely seen even on the Douluo Continent-law power.
Once one touched upon the laws, one would possess the might to destroy all things.
Yi Chen believed that, with his current strength, even if he encountered Peak Douluos, none would dare claim they could withstand such terrifying laws.
"Heh, I understand now."
Yi Chen muttered to himself. A glimmer of deep blue light flashed over his fingernail as he hooked it lightly into the burly man's helmet and effortlessly pried out a perfectly round bead.
The bead was about the size of an egg, black all over, with densely packed runes shifting across its surface. What startled Yi Chen even more was that its aura was almost identical to that of the one he had just absorbed.
The only difference was that the previous one had brimmed with vitality, as though it held a new life within.
This bead, however, was filled with savagery and malice, as though something evil lurked inside, ready to devour someone at any moment.
Yi Chen drew a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "What... is this thing? It can provide a trace of law power. Even an insignificant trace is frightening enough. What exactly are Fallen Ones?!"
Shaking his head, Yi Chen leaned lazily against a rock and murmured, "Whatever the case, I had a way to deal with him in the end. I really was lucky this time."
Wisps of dark soul power rose from beneath the ground, gradually covering the corpse.
The corpse rapidly withered and shriveled, then regained its vitality, becoming lifelike once more.
A dried corpse floated before Yi Chen. He beckoned, and it settled into his hand. He let it rest quietly in his palm, sensing that familiar, chilling power.
Yi Chen sighed. "Although I hate Fallen Ones, I have to admit, if I could master such tremendous power..."
Yi Chen suddenly laughed. "Perhaps comprehending the laws would become very simple?"
Yi Chen took out a set of black robes, draped them over himself, and walked into the valley on the other side.
Everything around him was silent. Apart from Yi Chen's footsteps, there was not a sound.
Yi Chen suddenly stopped. An immense pressure enveloped his entire body, and the surrounding space seemed to freeze, leaving him rigid from head to toe.
"Damn it..." Yi Chen clenched his teeth. He sensed an extraordinarily dangerous presence lurking nearby, ready to ambush him at any moment.
Yi Chen even suspected that this enemy was no illusion, but a physical being.
Among all the enemies he had encountered, he had never heard of anyone whose cultivation had reached such heights.
"Who is it...?" Yi Chen asked cautiously.
An ethereal voice rang out, seeming to drift down from the edge of the heavens, its source impossible to pin down. "Young man, you have slaughtered too many. You must pay the price... I will give you three minutes to consider. Either submit to me, or I will devour your soul and seize every secret you possess."
Yi Chen gazed coldly at the sky. His spiritual power had already locked fully onto this mysterious enemy, but he dared not act rashly. His opponent's power was simply too strange and unfathomable.
Yi Chen fell silent for a moment, then snorted coldly. "I will not submit. Since you refuse to reveal yourself, please disappear."
A mass of purple-gold lightning condensed in Yi Chen's hand. With a flick of his wrist, it took shape, becoming a lightning serpent ten zhang long that coiled in his hand.
"Oh?" The mysterious presence sounded briefly surprised. Then a low shout rang out, and Yi Chen felt the scene before him change. He found himself amid the boundless, star-filled cosmos.