Chapter 468: Eternal Light

"First, have a plan, a direction, and a goal. Then, follow that goal and leverage the advantages of the Clairvoyance to optimize, improve, and perfect it step by step."

Li Pin slightly sensed the direction of his improvements.

The Cosmic River Sword Attack had transformed into an elite soldier-cleansing divine skill. The next direction for improvement was to maintain the area of effect characteristic of the technique while increasing the hit rate.

The other combat technique he had developed involved continuously compressing power by burning the inner spirit and unleashing it explosively within his body.

"This is a purely offensive technique, focused on lethality and destructive power. It's different from the Atomic Disintegration Technique, which specifically focuses on atom cracking and destroying Starlight Bodies. To some extent, I intend for it to be an advanced skill of attacks like the Great Sun Golden Crow and the Great Sun Infinite...."

Li Pin pondered for a moment. "This technique shall be called the Eternal Light Overlord."

The sun itself was a source of light.

Additionally, the Eternal Light Overlord borrowed inspiration from the name of the Stars Overlord Secret Art.

The Stars Overlord Secret Art was the cornerstone of his cultivation system. However, in the future, the Eternal Light Overlord would inevitably become a mainstream offensive technique, much like the Eight Enormities True Fire Force. Any new moves or tactics would also be developed based on this system. Therefore, adopting part of the Stars Overlord name was a form of homage to it.

"Ultimately, techniques are about enhancing attack, speed, and defense," pondered Li Pin.

Li Pin set goals for himself. Then he contemplated, searching for feasible approaches.

He followed this direction, using his Clairvoyance gift to refine it step by step until achieving his goal.

"Then, let's set three initial goals."

Li Pin briefly organized his thoughts and brought out his statistics window.

[Eternal Light, Thunder God: 1/100]

[Eternal Light, Fleeting Gleam: 1/100]

[Eternal Light, Absolute Darkness: 0/100]

Thunder God focused on offense, burning the inner spirit to ignite the power of the Celestial Magnetic Field. This created intense shockwaves, compressing the Celestial Magnetic Field to unleash his most devastating strike in his standard form.

Fleeting Gleam used a similar method, except that explosive force was utilized for flickering and teleportation.

Since the Celestial Magnetic Field emitted a large amount of lightning flashes during its eruption, Li Pin had decided on the name Fleeting Gleam.

The last one, Absolute Darkness Form, was a defensive concept.

The Atomic Disintegration Technique could collapse all atoms, depriving matter and energy of their conductive medium.

His idea was to instantaneously collapse the Celestial Magnetic Field when faced with attacks he couldn't avoid or block, causing atomic disintegration and forming an absolute vacuum. This vacuum, devoid of the atomic medium, would render the attack unsustainable, thus defending against a fatal blow.

A defensive method like this required the utmost control over one's power. Nevertheless, Li Pin wanted to give it a try.

It was precisely because this was just a concept that the initial proficiency of this defensive technique was set at zero.

"Every improvement, every optimization is like accumulating proficiency bit by bit," muttered Li Pin. "When the proficiency is maxed, it would signify that my battle techniques will stand out among Tier Three Legends."

Sensing the statistics window entirely conceived by himself, Li Pin smiled faintly.

This could be considered a pastime during his cultivation breaks.

Unfortunately, both the Cosmic True Dragon Secret Art and Heaven-Subjugating Technique lacked detailed depictions of Tier Three Legend prowess. Even if Li Pin maxed out the stats he had set, his battle prowess would only slightly surpass peak Tier Three Legend equivalent Legend Celestial Martial Artists.

That was the level of geniuses.

Beyond that...the battle techniques and cultivation methods of those peerless geniuses and supreme talents were beyond his reach, things he couldn't even imagine. Thus, even if his three ultimate moves reached full proficiency at a hundred, he would only be considered among the best of Tier Three Legends.

Against those unrivaled Tier Three geniuses, or even supreme talents capable of fighting beyond their rank, he would still be slightly lacking.

I just wonder if the Limit Break state can make up for this flaw,

Li Pin thought.

While he had the explosive secret art, the Limit Break state, he wouldn't rule out the possibility that peerless geniuses and supreme talents also possessed similar methods. In a real fight, it would still be insufficient.

At that moment, something seemed to occur to him.

Wait, is my combat system close to taking shape!?

Li Pin immediately fell into deep thought.

The combat system was only in its initial form, yet his combat power might have perhaps... already surpassed the peak of Tier Two Legend? Possibly even reached the initial level of a Tier Three Legend?

Has it been a long time?

No! That wasn't it! It had only been half a month since I issued the challenge. Yet... my combat system was strangely already taking shape?

Would Yan Zun feel that he was insincere when faced with his Tier Three Legend combat power after another eleven and a half months?

Li Pin immediately dismissed such thoughts.

Who could predict breakthroughs in cultivation? Perhaps Yan Zun himself would experience a breakthrough within the year under the pressure of Li Pin's challenge.

By then, he and Yan Zun, a martial artist whose combat system had just taken shape and a newly ascended Tier Three Legend, could have an epic Tier Three Legend battle.

It was a perfect scenario.

"If I had known, I would have said during the challenge that breakthroughs could take one to ten years at the earliest or ten to a hundred years at the slowest. After all, for Legends, breaking through a realm in ten to a hundred years is normal and even considered fast."

Li Pin decided to learn a lesson from this.

In the future, he would adapt to the time perspective of Legends, where major events often spanned decades or centuries.

***

As Li Pin was advancing his combat system on the satellite, a meeting was taking place at the former Great Shang's imperial capital, now a branch of the Celestial Martial God Hall.

At Gaia Alliance's headquarters.

At this moment, Yuan Zhenchuan, though not the president of the Gaia Alliance, was acting on behalf of Li Pin to handle various matters in the meeting.

Xie Longcheng and Xing Ying were present as well, assisting him.

After ending the call with the Celestial Dragonians, Qiao Baishi walked in again. "Burning Sun Nation has sent a message. They are hoping to establish diplomatic relations with us to promote better exchange and trade between the two civilizations."

"Burning Sun Nation too?" Yuan Zhenchuan was a bit surprised. "I thought countries like Burning Sun Nation would wait until Gaia and the Divine Dragon Empire had determined a victor before taking a stance."

Xie Longcheng replied, "They are taking a stance now and want to establish diplomatic relations with us, but for the two nations to establish relations, they would first need to build an Astral Gate, right? An Astral Gate directly connecting to Gaia, built by other countries with technology inferior to the Divine Dragon Empire's, would take at least half a year. If they delay with meetings, completing the Astral Gate in a year would be entirely normal."

He had a clear understanding of the situation. "A year later, if we lose, building the Astral Gate would naturally be a joke. But if we win, his early decision to establish relations with us would be seen as the foresight of a ruler."

Yuan Zhenchuan nodded, though such matters could be agreed upon first without issue.

Li Pin's public challenge to Yan Zun was equivalent to Gaia directly initiating a challenge against the hegemony of the Divine Dragon Empire.

The swiftness of Li Pin's methods and the intensity of his counterattack had exceeded everyone's expectations, including those of Gaia's Heavenly Realm Experts. However, all they could do at this point was gather more allies and reduce enemies to ensure that no one would interfere with Li Pin and Yan Zun's battle when the day arrived.

"We will hold a meeting shortly. We need to discuss whether to accept the help of that stellar-class warship from the Flaming Dragon Empire," Yuan Zhenchuan said.

"It doesn't mean much." In another room, the Solar Radiance Sovereign walked over with some data. "We've estimated that while a stellar-class warship might be useful in outer space, it becomes nearly useless under the interference of Atomic Will in the Yin Luo Galaxy."

Yuan Zhenchuan said, "According to the Flaming Dragon Empire, we can set the battlefield for Hall Master Li and Yan Zun on a dead planet. By targeting the planet itself rather than Yan Zun, we can rely on the main cannon of the warship to destroy the planet. The shockwave from the planet's destruction would be enough to disrupt their battle, even if it might not be able to harm Yan Zun. This would provide a fallback option in case the situation turns unfavorable."

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"I have confidence in the Hall Master," Xie Longcheng said calmly, "Since he chose to challenge Yan Zun, he must be confident of winning."

"I know," Yuan Zhenchuan replied.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Li Pin. His confidence in Li Pin surpassed that of all other Heavenly Realm Experts of Gaia. However, his duty to the Gaians compelled him to prioritize the safest and most reliable solutions.

Yuan Zhenchuan added, "We must prepare contingency plans to be fully prepared. It's never a bad thing to have one more option."

Solar Radiance Sovereign did not insist. "Then let's call for a meeting."

Ever since the truth of the Cosmic True Dragon Secret Art incident was revealed, he no longer had the ambition he once had. He just tried to shoulder the responsibility of being a Heavenly Realm Gaian, doing everything in his power to find a way out for all Gaians before the grand cosmic era arrived.

Yuan Zhenchuan said, "After this meeting, we must enhance our monitoring of all alternate dimensions to prevent the Divine Dragon Empire from catching us off guard. Also... during our communications with the Celestial Dragonians, they provided us with intelligence.

The Divine Dragon Empire has been communicating very closely and frequently with their allies recently. We must be cautious that they may use the strength of their allies to overwhelm us."

"Can we not receive help from other civilizations hostile to the Divine Dragon Empire?" Xing Ying asked.

Yuan Zhenchuan responded, "Gaia is, after all, making its first appearance before other civilizations from the Dragon Swamp Nebula. They know too little about us. Even if they have great animosity toward the Divine Dragon Empire, how could they dare place their hopes on Gaia?"

He regretfully added, "Even the Celestial Dragonians only dare to offer us some intelligence support. The Flaming Dragon Empire, who are willing to help us, are also being very cautious. As for the Golden Glory... they aren't even worth mentioning, they can barely protect themselves."

He slightly adjusted his posture. "The only one we can truly rely on is Hall Master Li."

Qiao Baishi nodded in agreement.

At this moment, Yuan Zhenchuan's communication bracelet vibrated. As he connected, Ling Qingfeng's panicked voice soon came through.

"The Death Valley alternate dimension! New intelligence just came in from the Holy Dragon Clan's Mai Jia! The Divine Dragon Empire has long controlled all of their external passageways. This time, they did not enter Gaia through their national Astral Gate, but instead crossed into our realm through a passage dug by the Holy Dragon Clan from the Death Valley alternate dimension!"

He said urgently, then took a deep breath before continuing."The Divine Dragon Empire never planned for a life-and-death duel with Hall Master Li a year from now. Their full-scale counterattack has already begun!"