Breaking Through

The Abyss Mech stands 40 meters tall, its entire body a gradient of black with an incredibly smooth outer casing.

White light from the dome above reflects off it, giving it an extraordinary air of nobility.

Its torso and limbs are slender and well-proportioned, making it quite aesthetically pleasing.

Among all the Divine Mechs Li Yi had seen so far, this one ranked in the top three for aesthetics.

As for first place, that naturally belonged to his Pluto Mech.

It possessed both beauty and dominance, flexibility and power.

At this moment.

Seeing Qian Tongyue successfully activate the Abyss Mech, Li Yi showed a rare look of solemnity.

Although Qian Tongyue's current ranking was only 31st.

Li Yi was certain, after reviewing everyone's past records and combat videos, that this person posed a greater threat than Zhang Xiao and Chen Liji, who were ranked higher.

His 31st ranking was mainly due to his evolutionary stage, only slightly better than Zhang Qingjian.

In contrast, his past battles consistently showcased brilliance in awareness, technique, and Divinity Techniques.

Facing this opponent, Li Yi knew he would need to plan his strategy carefully.

At Chen Qiong Zhi's command, the two massive mechs began to accelerate and charge.

As the Abyss Mech sprinted, its arms suddenly reached back towards its humps in an extremely peculiar posture.

As its hands grasped, dark beams of light pierced through its fingers and shot out.

"With that starting move, his Divinity Technique is coming."

A thought flashed through Li Yi's mind. He maneuvered the Pluto Mech into a sudden stop just before colliding with the Abyss Mech, then spun 270 degrees in place. Simultaneously, his soles vibrated, generating immense power.

The massive load transferred to his knees, causing sharp, burning pain.

Li Yi's brow didn't even furrow.

BOOM!!!

A shockwave of air spread out like an explosion.

The moment the Pluto Mech leaped into the air under the immense force from its soles, a fierce dark beam narrowly missed it, tearing through the air with an ear-splitting shriek.

Among the spectators below, the weaker ones immediately experienced ringing ears and dizziness.

But the action on the field wasn't over yet.

As the Pluto Mech leaped, its body, carried by the momentum of its rotation, delivered a kick directly to the Abyss Mech's shoulder.

CLANG!!!

A loud metallic clang echoed. The Abyss Mech withstood the blow head-on and simultaneously swung its arms, unleashing two semi-circular dark beams aimed at the Pluto Mech.

The Pluto Mech's attack missed, and it rapidly retreated, narrowly dodging the Abyss Mech's arc-shaped dark beam slashes.

This was the Divinity Technique mastered by Qian Tongyue: Yin-Gui Wind Blade.

In the combat videos Li Yi had seen, Qian Tongyue's use of this Divinity Technique could cut through almost anything.

It even had a record of slicing through the outer armor of an E-class Divine Mech, which was quite astonishing.

The reason for his low ranking was purely due to his physical constitution holding him back.

Upon landing, the Pluto Mech didn't immediately attack but began circling its opponent.

The Abyss Mech, meanwhile, swung its arms like lightning, pursuing.

With this shift in offense and defense, Li Yi appeared to be at a disadvantage on the field.

Zhang Wuqiang smiled and said:

"It seems Li Yi's arrogance will only last until he faces Tongyue."

"Li Yi's previous battles were all overwhelming victories, but now that he's up against Tongyue-ge's Divinity Technique, he's just flailing."

The few participants who hadn't fought yet felt a sense of relief.

Thank goodness, it ends here!

But just as they relaxed, an unexpected turn of events occurred in the fighting arena!

During the chase, the Pluto Mech used its foot-based Layered Vibration technique to execute an incredible emergency stop, evading the wind blade slashing from the left.

Then, it combined the Vortex-Word Technique with the Pierce-Word Technique, building momentum for a double burst, and struck the Abyss Mech's right arm, which was slashing horizontally.

BOOM!!!

Amidst the thunderous sound, a massive gash appeared on the Abyss Mech's right arm at the shoulder joint, revealing the dense, deep red connective tissue beneath the hard outer armor.

The gash was enormous, leaving only a small portion of the bone structure and the skin and nerve layers on the back connecting the Abyss Mech's arm to its shoulder.

It was truly a shocking sight.

Immediately after, the Pluto Mech pressed its advantage, landing a Layered Vibration strike on the unbalanced Abyss Mech's head.

BOOM!!!

The Abyss Mech staggered, falling forward.

The Insertion Pod carrying Qian Tongyue was also forced to eject, crashing to the ground simultaneously.

Zhang Xuqiang's mouth twitched violently.

On the live stream page, a flood of comments instantly appeared.

"???"

"Both are D-class mechs, and he not only broke through its defense but also caused a fracture with his fist?"

"Holy crap, I, Yu Ji, declare Li Yi the strongest fighter on the Jade Pool!"

"Looks like Class 3 shouldn't be underestimated this year. Guys, stop watching, hurry up and join me for extra practice."

At this moment, Cai Xiaodong received a notification on his communicator and discovered a massive tip of 200,000 Star Credits on his live stream account.

"Holy cow, thank you to this lady with the ID 'Jade Pool's Richest' for the tip, thank you, thank you."

Zhang Xuqiang looked at Chen Qiong Zhi:

"Instructor, Li Yi intentionally damaged a Divine Mech, causing immeasurable harm to Qian Tongyue's subsequent use. What do you say about that?"

Chen Qiong Zhi's brow furrowed slightly, then smoothed out. She spoke:

"Real mech combat is encouraged on board. Minor damage isn't a big problem. It didn't damage the core, and it will automatically repair itself in ten days to half a month."

"For the next few days, have Qian Tongyue focus on other subjects. Real mech combat will be suspended for now."

Zhang Xuqiang could see that Chen Qiong Zhi had already decided to favor Li Yi, his eye corners almost reaching his temples.

With a dark expression, he said no more.

The others rushed forward to check on Qian Tongyue's condition inside the Insertion Pod.

Chen Qiong Zhi looked at the Pluto Mech and asked, "How are you? Do you need to rest?"

"No, let's move on to the next opponent. I'm still exhilarated from that last match."

Li Yi hadn't actually expected his Vortex-Word Technique combined with the Pierce-Word Technique to have such a significant breaking effect.

He estimated it was likely due to Qian Tongyue charging forward at high speed, adding an extra acceleration.

Combined with his own habit of targeting joint connections, this resulted in such astonishing performance.

"It seems I'll need to be careful next time I use my mech techniques, lest I accidentally shock the pilot in the cockpit to death. That wouldn't look good."

The next match was against Chen Liji.

However, the guy suddenly claimed he was unaware of the bet beforehand and requested to have the bet nullified, refusing to participate in the match.

Considering there were debatable points, Zhang Xuqiang grudgingly agreed to Chen Liji's withdrawal.

Li Yi didn't mind, as Chen Liji's Divine Mech was also an E-class Wind God Series, which he didn't particularly need at the moment.

So, the next opponent was Zhang Xiao, ranked 28th.

This brother had it even worse.

He only lasted seven collisions against Li Yi before being directly blasted out of the cockpit, falling into a coma.

Facing a series of different Divinity Techniques and opponents, Li Yi felt his application of mech techniques and combat skills becoming more and more proficient, gaining a lot. He was quite looking forward to the next match.

"Zhang Xuqiang, hurry up and arrange the next person. We'll finish this within ten minutes, and we can still go grab the last of the Xeno-Beast Meat."

As soon as he said this, a string of "hahahahaha" flashed across the comment section.

A lively atmosphere filled the entire venue.

"Is the final opponent that scumbag Zhang Xuqiang? Good, very good."

"Support Li Yi to take down the Zhangs 1v8!"