Chapter 509: Value

Li Pin controlled the battlefield from a thousand miles away. "I know too little."

Watching the Heavenly Demon Clan and pioneers evade his strikes, he fell into a brief moment of contemplation.

He had lately been observing the Moon Demon Domain and conducting in-depth research into the power of space. This had allowed him to gain a complete understanding of the attack methods most Heavenly Demons, Myths, and God Kings used.

He could effortlessly perceive their vulnerabilities, skillfully counter them, and utterly vanquish them.

However, he struggled to adapt to some of the secret arts developed by the pioneers based on their unique cultivation systems. This was why two members of the Dragon Hawk Squad had managed to escape despite his efforts.

Li Pin reflected.

Truly worthy of the title of pioneer! Every pioneer is at least a Tier Four Legend. The more seasoned Silver Pioneers often achieve Tier Five, completing their inner spirit cycles.

Their spiritual essence becomes whole, leaving no weakness. Every movement embodies unparalleled precision, making their techniques almost invincible.

It was this perfect spiritual unity that granted Tier Five Legends unparalleled stability and allowed them to wield stronger domains. They could even shake planets up to twenty thousand kilometers in diameter.

Like a bridge built across vast chasms, the same materials could support different lengths depending on the design. A Tier Five Legend's completed inner spirit cycle optimized their structure to its limits.

If quantified, a Tier Four Legend's combined mass, energy, and mental spirit would total around 200 each. Those were optimized values, of course.

Using the same measurement system I used back on Gaia, their mental spirit would be around the 2,000 mark. But for simplicity, we'll scale it down by a factor of ten.

By now, Li Pin had begun to understand the widespread Power Level combat system of the Astral World, prevalent across the universe.

A Tier Four Legend's Power Level could be calculated by summing mass, energy, and mental spirit, then multiplying it by the inner spirit coefficient.

With the measurement system of his days on Gaia, their total would be 4,000. An inner spirit coefficient of 2 would raise the Power Level to 8,000.

That was approaching planet pulverizer levels.

With mastery of explosive secret arts or the possession of quasi-divine equipment, this Power Level could surpass 10,000, achieving planetary annihilation capabilities. Advancing to a completed inner spirit cycle could raise this multiplier to 3 or more.

A higher coefficient would further enhance their mass, energy, and mental spirit, reaching values of 8,000 each and yielding a Power Level of 24,000.

"Power Levels are merely a system devised from observed combat performance, meant for those who cannot precisely control their own attributes. They hold little meaning to me," Li Pin mused. "Even attributes and Power Levels are merely references. In true life-and-death battles, there are too many variables at play."

He smiled faintly.

The path he followed aimed to control every uncertainty—turning favorable factors into power boosts and using unfavorable ones to weaken the enemy.

It effectively provided him with a consistent 10% boost in his Power Level during combat while his opponents suffered a corresponding 10% reduction.

"Perhaps it's more than 10%," Li Pin murmured. "It all depends on the degree of control I have over my power."

A sudden thought struck him.

Si Xing once said that for Astral Gods and beings in the Astral World, precise control over their own power and real-time monitoring of their opponent's state are crucial.

Only this way could they avoid the Astral World's senses, circumventing the burden of the Eternal Oblivion.

This realization made him think of how Astral Gods would be compelled to walk the path of omniscience and omnipotence.

Perhaps, in ancient times, this path was the norm.

But in the current age, putting aside great Cosmic Radiance Astral Gods capable of illuminating entire galaxies with their own energy, even entities like Eternal Solar Flare and Brilliant Starshine possessed excessive destructive power and could effortlessly destroy star systems, causing severe disruption to the universe's operation...

Could it be that this disruption shattered the universe's ecological balance, consequently impacting the Astral World, leading to its collapse and the resurgence of the power of Eternal Oblivion, which then attempted species extinction?

At that moment, Li Pin seemed to sense something and glanced behind him.

The Moon Goddess, emanating divine nature, was overwhelmed by intense emotional fluctuations, struggling to maintain her absolute rationality.

"You..." She stared at Li Pin. "Myths killing God Kings, encircling God Monarchs!? How did you achieve it?"

Li Pin smiled. "Do you want to learn?"

The Moon Goddess nodded firmly.

"If you wish to learn, I'll teach you," Li Pin replied.

He had gained enlightenment on this path partly because of the Moon Goddess's assistance. Moreover, he never concealed his martial path. If others grew stronger by learning his ways, even surpassing him, it would only bring him pride and joy.

Unfortunately, as Li Pin glanced at the Moon Goddess, he couldn't help but feel pity. The real her no longer existed. No matter how dedicated his teaching, she would never fully master this path, let alone surpass him in the future.

***

In Starshine City.

Sword qi pierced through space, transmitted via spatial power. Like a strike crossing space and time, it mercilessly eliminated the Pioneers, God King and Myth Realms alike.

Over thirty Pioneers led by Fang Chunyang and Xu Anping faced the unilateral slaughter brought by the Netherlord.

Diplomacy? Persuasion? Proving potential? All of it was meaningless.

The Netherlord's sharp perception of morality and emotions allowed him to discern that the Supreme Demonic Sword was what they were truly after.

Against the dozen God Kings and over twenty Myths, the Netherlord wasted no words and unleashed his strongest form.

Whenever he needed to traverse space, a weak point in the spatial fabric appeared at the perfect moment.

Whenever his strikes descended upon someone, interference would arise nearby, drawing a God King who might have avoided the attack into spatial turbulence, forcibly delivering them before him to be slain with a single strike.

As the saying goes, "When fortune aligns, even the forces of nature lend their aid."

In that moment, the God Kings and Myths fully grasped the meaning of invincibility. Facing the Netherlord, already an overwhelmingly powerful God Monarch, they also had to endure the universe's malice targeting them.

As the thirty-plus God Kings and Myths were cut down one by one, Fang Chunyang and Xu Anping, despite their unwillingness, had to concede—they had failed.

Demonstrating their potential to subdue the Supreme Demonic Sword? If they continued to do so, they would be completely wiped out by the Netherlord wielding its power.

"Retreat!"

"Fall back!"

At their command, the surviving dozen or so God Kings and Myths scattered, fleeing in all directions.

The Netherlord, wary of overusing the Supreme Demonic Sword's power, chose not to pursue them to the end.

***

In Fang Zhiqian's martial arts hall, the surviving God Kings and Myths gathered, their faces filled with bitterness.

Xu Anping, in his second cycle, let out a long sigh. "Invincible... Invincible... Now I finally understand what true invincibility means."

Fang Zhiqian wasn't surprised. "We're not facing the Netherlord, but Cosmic Radiance Mara. She is attacking our inner spirit, and the form it takes is the hostility of the entire world toward us."

He seemed unfazed, having spent a long time in this world and endured countless failures. Another one hardly mattered.

Chao Yu, a Gold Pioneer, added, "The Supreme Demonic Sword... It's terrifying. Without it, even with invincibility, the Netherlord wouldn't find it easy to kill us.

"At least we could retreat if we couldn't fight back. But with that sword, not only has he maxed out his agility, but his attack power is also pushed to the extreme. There's no way to win."

Her voice carried a note of grief—her brother, Chao Yang, also a Gold Pioneer, had fallen to the Supreme Demonic Sword.

"It's not even at full power yet," a pioneer who had gone through over a hundred cycles further remarked. "When it reaches the third or fourth phase, you'll understand what 'the power of the Supreme Demonic Sword is unstoppable' means."

His expression was somewhat melancholic. "At this point, I don't care about gaining anything from this world. I just want to leave."

His sentiment resonated with others who had been trapped for dozens of cycles, and they nodded in agreement.

"Whether we can escape is another question. The first group of Pioneers to enter here have already died of old age. We might face the same fate."

Another Silver Pioneer, trapped for over a century, said wearily, "As pioneers, we've long prepared ourselves to die in the divine treasure world. But now that the day is near, it's still hard to accept.

"If I could leave, I'd repay the debts I owe to the Divine Treasury Hall, quit it all, and find a place to live peacefully. After so many years of cultivation and struggle in the cosmos... I'm exhausted."

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Xu Anping and Fang Chunyang, newcomers to this world, exchanged a glance but remained silent. They, too, had sensed how formidable this divine treasure world was. Simpler rules often meant harsher challenges.

"Breaking through this world..." Lie Qingqing, one of their team's core members, suddenly spoke. "While we were trying to negotiate with the Netherlord, something major happened in Mara World."

"Something major?"

Most showed little reaction, but Fang Chunyang raised his head. "I'm only interested in how to break out of this place."

Lie Qingqing shared, "Do you remember Long Ying? He entered this world over ten stellar years ago. He led a team and gathered dozens of God Kings and Myths, but apart from Bai Lu, they were all annihilated. Long Ying himself was sent into reincarnation."

"Annihilated?" Xu Anping was stunned. "Who could do that, other than the Netherlord with the Supreme Demonic Sword?"

"According to Bai Lu..." Lie Qingqing paused, her tone heavy. "It was a God Emperor."

Her gaze swept across the group. "A pioneer has found a new key—one that breaks the power cap of this world."