Defeating a Marquis

Under the eyes of Hufeng, Rong Bing, Hu Yanbo, and the other Undying Deities, the battle between Li Che and Iron Sword Marquis, one of Hu Yanbo's subordinates, remained deadlocked for a surprisingly long time.

What the many Immortal Military Lord-level beings found difficult to imagine was that Li Che, a mere World Lord, fought with far greater finesse than Iron Sword Marquis, a beginner Marquis-level being.

Whether it was the depth of his comprehension of the earth and space laws or the sophistication of his secret techniques, his methods were beyond the understanding of ordinary Immortal Military Lords.

As a result, even though the Divine Amplification Armor only raised Li Che's base strength to around 300 times that of a peak World Lord, leaving an enormous gap compared with Iron Sword Marquis's more than 1,000 times, he could still fight the marquis to a standstill.

After unleashing the black hole secret technique named "Guixu," Li Che completely overwhelmed Iron Sword Marquis. No matter what secret techniques the marquis used, he could not suppress Li Che at all.

This combat performance was terrifying. Although they had all heard that top-tier World Lords could rival Undying Deities, they had never seen one this extraordinary.

As one of the central figures in this battle, however, Li Che understood their respective situations very well.

Although he had not possessed the legacy of the Mountain Sea Realm's Li Che for long, Li Che's original body had already incorporated some of the mysteries of spatial lockdown into his self-created secret technique, "Guixu," and further developed "Guixu: Suppression."

It was only a rudimentary version, but it had still raised his combat prowess another notch.

Once the move was unleashed, its terrifying spatial restraints left Iron Sword Marquis nowhere to dodge, given the depth of his comprehension of the space laws.

By contrast, compared with the virtual undying he had simulated in the Slaughter Space back then, Iron Sword Marquis's burst attack power was not as formidable as he had expected.

As Hu Yanbo's Soul Servant, the man possessed no treasures worth taking seriously. A dignified marquis-level Undying Deity was actually using nothing more than the most ordinary Standard Divine Weapon and Immortal Armor.

Consequently, even when he unleashed his secret techniques at full power, he remained considerably weaker than that virtual undying.

Still, Li Che had to admit that Iron Sword Marquis's mastery of his undying body was impressive.

He had withstood Li Che's "Guixu: Suppression" head-on without relying on any treasures, yet had lost none of his divine power.

This made Li Che fully appreciate just how difficult it was for a World Lord to kill a marquis-level Undying Deity.

If the Immortal Military Lords who had yet to master an undying body were World Lords strengthened many, many times over, then undyings who possessed one were practically a different kind of monster.

Their combat finesse might fall short of those genius World Lords who had cleared the higher levels of the Heavenly Bridge, but their undying bodies made them almost inherently invincible.

Moreover, these Undying Deities could burn their divine power to amplify their combat prowess many times over. That sudden burst of strength posed an enormous threat to World Lords.

In truth, Li Che was extremely wary of Iron Sword Marquis's ability to burn divine power. Even burning only around 3% would probably have been enough to severely injure Li Che.

That was why Li Che had already put Isaac Venom to use at the very start of their battle.

His divine weapon, the Dark Sea Battle Spear, had long since been coated with this divine-power venom. Whenever the spear broke through Iron Sword Marquis's divine body, it introduced a small amount of venom into him.

The venom was highly insidious. Even a marquis-level Undying Deity like Iron Sword Marquis failed to notice anything wrong in the early stages of poisoning.

Then, at a certain point, when Li Che clashed with Iron Sword Marquis again, he distinctly felt that the marquis's strength had dropped.

It's finally taking effect!

An excited smile immediately appeared on Li Che's face. Light flickered over the Dark Sea Battle Spear in his hands as he unleashed his self-created secret technique, "Guixu: Suppression," once more, driving it toward Iron Sword Marquis's chest.

Thunk!

The overwhelming force of the spatial lockdown descended. Even as an Undying Deity, Iron Sword Marquis felt there was nowhere to evade it. He could only watch as Li Che's spear pierced his armor and punched through his chest.

Initially, Iron Sword Marquis had not been particularly concerned. His undying body was powerful enough that, unless Li Che's burst power reached a certain threshold, he could not effectively annihilate his divine body at all.

But when Iron Sword Marquis prepared to counterattack again, he finally experienced a weakness that seemed to rise from his very soul.

It felt as though all the marrow had been drawn from his bones. Every measure of divine power, every cell in his body, was falling dormant, and his strength was nowhere near what it had been.

"Divine-power poison!?"

Iron Sword Marquis realized it instantly, but by the time he reacted, the dormancy of his divine power had already set in. His base burst power had fallen by at least 30%, and his condition was steadily worsening.

Once this became apparent, Li Che stopped pretending as well. He openly took the bottle containing Isaac Venom out of his inner world and used World Force to spread the venom evenly over the Dark Sea Battle Spear.

Divine-power poison truly targeted only divine bodies. It had no effect whatsoever on flesh-and-blood lifeforms. Even if Li Che drank that entire bottle of poison, he would not develop any symptoms.

For Undying Deities, however, the poison's effects were virtually immediate.

"Damn it!"

At the sight, anger finally appeared on Iron Sword Marquis's previously placid face. He tried to use his divine power to eradicate the poison, only to discover that it was completely useless. Isaac Venom rapidly seeped into every cell of his divine body, sending its once-abundant strength into dormancy at tremendous speed.

He tried to forcibly burn his divine power, but the dormancy induced by the poison prevented him from consuming it normally.

"Guixu: Suppression!"

Just as Iron Sword Marquis was about to act, Li Che's venom-coated Dark Sea Battle Spear descended again. Its surging power broke through his armor, driving the spearhead into his divine body.

With the blow landed, Li Che shook the spear in his hands. Using World Force to control the Isaac Venom coating its surface, he injected more than ten grams of it into Iron Sword Marquis's divine body.

Bang!

Immediately afterward, Li Che kicked out, sending Iron Sword Marquis's divine body flying sideways to slam heavily into the surface of a planet on the outskirts of the Binary Star System.

"Iron Sword Marquis, you've lost!"

At this sight, a smile finally appeared on Li Che's face. He surged forward and thrust the Dark Sea Battle Spear in his hands, stabbing Iron Sword Marquis's divine body dozens more times in an instant.

To be safe, he had injected seventy grams of Isaac Venom into Iron Sword Marquis. As the poison gradually took effect, the marquis's total divine power remained intact, but his base strength had dropped by more than 95%. The dormancy of his divine power left him unable even to burn it.

In this state, any mid-level Immortal Military Lord or stronger could overpower and crush Iron Sword Marquis through sheer strength.

Yet neither Li Che nor Rong Bing and Divine Master Qiyao, who were watching nearby, intended to pursue the attack and finish Iron Sword Marquis off.

After all, this was merely a conflict driven by interests within the rules of the cosmic nation. There was no need to fall out completely with the Master of Yunmo Star over it.

"Iron Sword has lost!"

A moment later, a Virtual Reality projection suddenly appeared from a distant spacecraft, placing itself between Li Che and Iron Sword Marquis.

Li Che looked at the man.

He was a handsome young human man less than two meters tall, with narrow eyes. An Intelligent Lifeform resembling a demonic child stood on his shoulder.

"I am Iron Sword's master, Hu Yanbo, the Meteorite Star Master."

Only after studying Li Che for a long time did he introduce himself.

Although he was unwilling to accept it, Hu Yanbo had to admit that this insignificant World Lord before him was a notch above him in direct combat prowess.

Perhaps out of a soul master's habit, the possibility of enslaving this terrifying World Lord's soul instantly flashed through Hu Yanbo's mind.

But considering this World Lord's exceptionally formidable direct combat prowess and the top-tier power that might stand behind him, Hu Yanbo decisively extinguished the thought.

"World Master of Guixu, I acknowledge your strength. The Meteorite Star Lineage will no longer interfere with Marquis Yuchen's legacy."