Chapter 17

After clearing the 16th level, the Heavenly Bridge had left that burning star behind, the vast grand bridge leading toward the even more boundless starry sky.

Until a certain moment, Li Che felt the resistance from the virtual space once again, and that majestic voice sounded once more, echoing in Li Che's ear.

"Choose your opponent. You can choose a brawler, a mentalist controller, or a mentalist illusionist. Choose any opponent you like. Defeat your opponent, and you will pass the 17th level."

"A brawler!" Li Che still answered without any hesitation.

"Whoosh!"

As the words fell, in the void not far away, faint starlight flickered and gathered, forming a figure wearing a Flame Crystal Battle Armor with a face covered by a dark golden mask in front of Li Che. He stood suspended in mid-air, arms crossed over his chest, looking down at Li Che.

"To be able to pass the 16th level means that your comprehension of the laws and secret methods are already quite consummate. Unfortunately, judging by your performance on the 16th level, it is still not enough to defeat me."

The battle armor he wore was also that fierce and savage Flame Crystal Battle Armor. With the armor upon him, his entire person resembled a fierce beast tempered in a star for countless times-scorching, ferocious, and with a monstrous might.

The Black Hole Evolution; the creator of this secret method had a very different way of understanding black holes compared to Li Che.

Li Che's line of thought started from the gravity part of the Earth Origin Law, gradually finding the legal essence of gravitation, and then continuously studying and strengthening it in the direction of gravitation, directly arriving at a black hole perspective of nearly infinite gravity.

On the other hand, the path recorded in the Black Hole Evolution was more like a linear study of those terrifying celestial bodies in the universe. A significant portion of its secret methods mainly studied stars, and based on stars, it proposed the concept of the so-called "flame crystal", with black holes being something studied only at a later stage.

Just like the opponent before him, his body did not exude too much of a black hole demeanor, leaning instead toward the "flame crystal" direction centered around stars.

Moreover, his aura was indeed a large chunk fiercer than that of the opponent on the 16th level.

"Clang!"

Li Che flipped his hand, and the pitch-black Dark Sea Battle Spear appeared in his grip once more. He hoisted this heavy battle spear onto his shoulder, kicked off the ground with his feet, and abruptly stepped toward that scorching figure in the distance.

"Guixu: Suppression!"

Surging World Force stirred, enveloping a spherical space around Li Che at an extremely fast speed. Within it, the mighty power of the spatial origin laws surged, making every movement of the 17th-level opponent a hundred million times heavier.

One of the two strongest secret methods of Mountain Sea Realm Li Che was called Star Suppression. It was a mentalist controller secret method researched and created by Li Che based on a supreme treasure inside the Star Tower-the Suppressing Seal Star, and it could already be considered an outstanding work in the direction of spatial lockdown.

Over the past fifty years, however, Li Che had already converted many ideas of this move into brawler methods. Although it still fell short of the true Star Suppression secret method, its suppression force was still full of might.

"Roar!"

A low roar came from the throat of the mysterious figure. He was like a beast god standing upright on two legs, and boundless legal might burst forth from the Flame Crystal Core on his chest, actually holding the lockdown method of Li Che in check as he lashed out at Li Che with the huge tail behind him once again.

"Guixu: Annihilation!"

Seeing this, the Dark Sea Battle Spear in Li Che's hand shook. The heavy battle spear was immediately imbued with Li Che's Guixu secret method, and at the same time, layers of spatial origin power erupted from the spear tip, revealing the legal might of tearing space apart.

This was a major completion move of Li Che's self-created secret method in the direction of Spatial Annihilation.

Two completely different legal powers collided. Li Che's Dark Sea Battle Spear clashed with his opponent's fists, claws, tail, and other body parts, and the two fought to a standstill for a time.

Under the operation of Ba Fen, the Heavenly Bridge administrator, the scene of their battle was transmitted at an extremely fast speed to quite a few Undying Deities and Universe Venerables in the Giant Axe Battle Arena, drawing a considerable number of spectators.

"Hah! This junior martial uncle is indeed extraordinary. He can already be considered proficient in both directions of spatial law lockdown and annihilation. Mastering all of them in the future is just a matter of time."

In the Giant Axe Space-Time of the Virtual Universe, an Undying covered in the light of laws and resembling a crimson-scaled dragonman raised his head to gaze at the virtual screen. What it displayed was precisely Li Che's battle on the 17th level of the Heavenly Bridge.

Beside him, a full seven or eight Undying Deities had gathered, likewise gazing at that struggle.

Their strengths were all extremely formidable, and the weakest among them were powerful Undying Deities at the high-level King-level level, holding extraordinary status within the Giant Axe Battle Arena.

At the same time, these Undying existences also shared a common trait: their teachers or grand-teachers were all disciples of Void Gold Master.

After all, as the number two figure of the Giant Axe Battle Arena, the great Void Gold Master had quite a few disciples sitting under his tutelage over the long epochs. Aside from Li Che, whom he had recently accepted, all the ones who had survived to the present had already reached the level of Universe Venerables.

As for those Universe Venerables, they basically each had a batch of King-level Immortal-tier disciples under their tutelage, and many disciples had talented disciples under them as well...

Surrounding Void Gold Master, these Venerables and Immortals naturally formed a powerful faction relying on their sect ties, constituting a formidable force within the Giant Axe Battle Arena and even inside the human race.

Now, the great Void Gold Master had taken in another named disciple and had already opened the personal disciple trial, so the disciples and grand-disciples of Void Gold Master naturally would not ignore it.

The battle between Li Che and the 17th-level opponent lasted for tens of thousands of rounds, and in the end, it was Li Che who erupted, successfully piercing the head of the 17th-level opponent with a well-timed Guixu: Annihilation.

Seeing this, the group of second- and third-generation grand-disciples of Void Gold Master all wore smiles on their faces.

"What's even more terrifying is that Junior Martial Uncle has only lived for a little over five epochs so far, and previously he was just a tiny wild World Lord, having never received any decent inheritance at all."

Another Undying Deity, exceptionally slender in build and with skin across his entire body exhibiting a deep blue hue, whispered, his voice carrying a trace of emotion.

Five epochs-this age was simply too young in their eyes.

One had to know that the theoretical expected lifespan of a human World Lord was a full 1,000 epochs. Those top core members like the Virtual Universe Primal Secret Realm and the Giant Axe Battle Arena Giant Axe Secret Realm were veteran World Lords who had lived for at least hundreds of epochs.

Take the current number one person of the Giant Axe Battle Arena for instance; that was a genius who had nearly broken through the 19th level of the Heavenly Bridge, with a cultivation time as long as over two hundred epochs.

Compared to them, calling the current Li Che a babbling toddler was not an exaggeration at all.

"Tell me, is there any possibility for Junior Martial Uncle to become the next Martial Uncle Shi Huo? Breaking through the 20th level of the Heavenly Bridge at the World Master Level?"

Suddenly, a female Undying Deity of the snake-person race born with four arms chuckled softly and spoke.

The many King-level Immortals present were all slightly startled upon hearing this.

The Martial Uncle Shi Huo they spoke of was naturally the other disciple under Void Gold Master, Venerable Shi Huo. That was a monument of the human race from long, long ago, hailed as a genius seen once in ten million epochs by humankind.

"It's hard, isn't it? The 20th level of the Heavenly Bridge... I've lived for forty million epochs and haven't broken through it..."

That dragonman Undying covered in crimson scales all over his body swung the long tail behind him, initially wanting to retort, but then he suddenly choked on his words.

After all, Li Che was currently only a little over 50,000 years old. This age was truly much too young. With a World Lord's affinity for the origin laws, Li Che at the present stage was right in the middle of an explosive period of strength.

And with the Black Hole Evolution and the lavish conditions of the Initial Universe, the standard that Li Che could elevate himself to during this explosive period would undoubtedly be even more exaggerated.