Chapter 700: Eliminate

The deeper one fell under the influence of inner spirit secret arts, the harder it became to escape.

The Sword of Great Sun Mystic Flame Xi Xuanyan had unleashed was a perfect example of this. The more Li Pin was overwhelmed by the terrifying might contained within the massive sword, the more real its flames became, and the larger it grew in size.

If he failed to resist and break free in time, the sword would soon become larger than a star, expanding to millions of miles, even tens of thousands or hundreds of millions of light-years.

This was a magnitude unreachable even by the Supreme, the Transcendent, or the Highlord, one that evoked sheer despair.

The flames engulfing the sword would grow increasingly vivid, their heat intensifying until they consumed him entirely.

This was a battle on the spiritual plane. The moment Li Pin believed this force was unbeatable, he would never overcome it. The instant he thought he had been set ablaze, his mind would truly burn, and he would be refined to death on the spot.

Even if the Sword of Great Sun Mystic Flame, forged from a star and wielding endless flames, shook him for only a split second, that brief moment of vulnerability would be enough to expose a flaw in his defense.

Any hesitation would allow the inner spirit secret art's physical and energy-based attacks to erase him entirely.

Fortunately, Li Pin's willpower had never been stronger. Moreover, his opponent was merely a combat-specialized avatar, not an Astral God's true form.

As the brilliance of the Great Dao Radiance washed over him, it not only cleansed and purified his inner spirit but also dispelled most of the sword's power. Eventually, with his mastery over space, he firmly locked the sword in place with his grip.

Even someone as formidable as Xi Xuanyan was momentarily shaken. "You..."

My inner spirit secret art has failed to affect Li Pin even slightly!?

In the next instant, space trembled as matter and energy shifted wildly within Li Pin's palm, their transformation accelerated to the extreme under the influence of time itself.

Buzz, buzz!

A brilliant radiance erupted in the cosmic vacuum.

Without a sound, the massive sword was crushed in his five-fingered grip, shattering instantly.

Firelight exploded from where Li Pin had shattered the sword, stretching tens of thousands of meters.

The energy and light released in that moment rivaled the total energy a small sun would unleash over billions of years. Even the surrounding Astral Gods instinctively withdrew, unable to withstand the sheer force of the explosion.

"Not good!" exclaimed Xi Xuanyan, quickly clenching his hand into a fist.

A vortex resembling a black hole formed in his palm, rapidly pulling in the surrounding energy.

Even the eruption of energy akin to a solar explosion was drawn toward his hand, neutralized and absorbed before it could impact the nearby spherical warship hovering over Planet Black Phoenix.

"Leave this sector of space!"

Xi Xuanyan's mental spirit trembled as the power he had gathered was about to be unleashed again.

However, at that moment, Li Pin took a step forward. Bathed in the Great Dao Radiance, he seemed to merge with space itself, vanishing in an instant.

Before Xi Xuanyan could release his gathered energy, Li Pin struck. He condensed all four fundamental forces into a singularity in his palm, then pressed it toward the cosmic being already within reach.

Buzz, buzz!

The energy Xi Xuanyan had gathered, along with his own form, rapidly crumbled and disintegrated under the immense energy intensity concentrated into a single point.

Just as the destructive power was about to engulf him, a golden suit of armor emerged from within him, transforming into a towering golden figure that stood in the way of Li Pin's attack.

Although the golden giant lasted only a brief moment before being obliterated by the collapsing singularity, it bought Xi Xuanyan enough time to retreat, swiftly escaping beyond the range of Li Pin's strike.

Li Pin's expression remained calm. "A Solar Flare Divine Weapon?"

For an Astral God of Xi Xuanyan's stature, possessing several Solar Flare Divine Weapons was hardly surprising. If not for the exorbitant value of Cosmic Radiance Divine Weapon, Li Pin wouldn't have been shocked even if Xi Xuanyan had revealed one or two of those.

Space twisted beneath Li Pin's feet.

At that moment, memories of Sasha guiding him through the Astral World flooded his mind.

Among the four fundamental forces derived from the Great Dao Radiance, his understanding of space grew increasingly refined.

Like a Sky Clan being naturally gifted with spatial abilities, or as if wielding a Cosmic Radiance Divine Weapon forged by a Sacred Monarch’s full power, Li Pin bent space beneath his feet, weaving it into bridges that rapidly closed the distance between him and Xi Xuanyan.

Xi Xuanyan had barely regained his composure from the previous strike when another singularity began to form at Li Pin's fingertips .

The ease on Xi Xuanyan's face vanished completely. "My True Spirit's reflections weren't wrong... You're wielding a force I can't comprehend!?"

There was no difference between something that couldn't be understood and something that couldn't be reflected. Without the guidance of his True Spirit's light, the inherent suppression of a Cosmic Radiance being over a non-Cosmic Radiance being was significantly weakened.

This power, this incomprehensible force...

Buzz, buzz!

His True Spirit ignited.

Vaguely, a towering figure of flames seemed to form within the Great Sun, leaping forward with a blazing sword aimed directly at Li Pin.

This was... the Sword of Great Sun Mystic Flame.

"Is this all you've got? The same Cosmic Radiance Secret Art over and over again?"

Bathed in the dazzling brilliance of the Great Dao Radiance, Li Pin charged straight into the fiery giant, its sword blazing with the might of a star. The giant shattered the moment their bodies collided.

Such was the nature of inner spirit secret arts. If they failed to shake the opponent's inner spirit, their power became negligible.

Having passed through the shattered flame giant, Li Pin twisted space once more.

With his profound grasp of matter and energy, he bypassed the four fundamental forces and the Grand Unification phase entirely. A new collapsing singularity coalesced in an instant, and he pressed it toward Xi Xuanyan once more.

Xi Xuanyan's mind reeled in disbelief. "How is this possible!?"

A wave of heat burned across his face, humiliation searing into his very soul.

However... he had to retreat. Even if his True Spirit couldn't reflect Li Pin's own, he could still leverage his surroundings to narrowly evade the strike.

As he withdrew, the singularity struck where he had just stood, triggering an eruption that birthed a miniature black hole in the void.

The terrifying devouring force tugged at the surrounding warships, the spherical battleships, numerous satellites of Planet Black Phoenix, and even the planet itself.

Had this miniature black hole persisted any longer, the entire planetary region—including the entire stellar system—would have already descended into utter chaos.

Clashes beyond the imagination of any Eternal Solar Flare erupted ceaselessly across the starry sky.

Whether it was Li Pin or Xi Xuanyan, every technique they unleashed sent shockwaves through Zi Zhongtian, Yuan Xiangguang, Shang Jinzhao, Ji Fenglei, as well as Yan Qing and Wang Chuan, leaving their minds in turmoil and their thoughts momentarily frozen.

Zi Zhongtian and the others, in particular, were struck with horror and disbelief.

This was a Cosmic Radiance! A mighty Cosmic Radiance's combat-specialized avatar had descended, yet instead of crushing Li Pin, a Divine Being, with overwhelming force, it... had fallen into a disadvantage!

Anyone with the slightest discernment could see it. On this battlefield, Xi Xuanyan had been thoroughly suppressed, reduced to a purely defensive state with no ability to counterattack.

Faced with such a terrifying sight, none dared make a sound, fearful that the slightest disturbance might distract Xi Xuanyan, the Cosmic Radiance who had once filled them with boundless hope, and push him further toward inevitable defeat.

Yan Qing finally snapped out of her shock. "It's a limit-breaking battle! This is truly a limit-breaking battle!"

A Cosmic Radiance's True Spirit is an existence capable of overwhelming all beings below its level.

But Li Pin... isn’t he doing exactly the same thing!?

By distorting space, Li Pin could appear anywhere around Xi Xuanyan in an instant.

By manipulating time, every strike seemed to bypass the process of motion entirely, reaching its target and erupting upon impact without the slightest delay.

Both wielded abilities far beyond conventional limits.

With his True Spirit as a lens, Cosmic Radiance could see everything he wished to see.

It was like taking a test with the answers right before you.

Yet, what you expected to be a simple equation of one plus one equals two... was in reality an indecipherable mess of mathematical symbols.

And even a slight change in perspective could completely alter their meaning.

***

Li Pin's gaze once again locked onto Xi Xuanyan, who had been forced to retreat. "This is it?"

"Li Pin!" Xi Xuanyan took a deep breath, trying to calm his turbulent mind, which had grown erratic from repeatedly using his inner spirit secret arts. "What will it take for you to withdraw from the contest to become the successor of Astral God Yin Luo? We can negotiate."

"Negotiate?" Li Pin showed no interest in responding, only disappointment. "So you're resorting to words now. It seems you have really run out of options."

Xi Xuanyan pressed on, "The Astral World is fraught with dangers. Having one more friend means one more path to survival."

But Li Pin had no intention of engaging in further conversation. He raised a single finger, and the Great Dao Radiance coiled around its tip. "One last strike. If you can't withstand it—then face destruction."

In the next moment, the Great Dao Radiance condensed into matter and energy, rapidly evolving into the four fundamental forces before collapsing inward at extreme speed, forming a singularity.

However, this time, the collapse was not the end. An incomparably chaotic and violent force, far more frenzied than the singularity itself, began to spread.

With just a brief moment of sensing this raw, destructive power, Xi Xuanyan's expression changed drastically. "Li Pin, stop! Do you really intend to make an enemy of a Cosmic Radiance-level—"

Before he could finish, Li Pin pointed his finger toward Xi Xuanyan's position.

At that instant, Yan Qing, Wang Chuan, Zi Zhongtian, and all the others witnessing the battle beheld the most dazzling spectacle imaginable.

The singularity erupted at an unfathomable speed, releasing boundless energy. Matter, energy, space—even time itself—expanded in an instant, transforming from finite to infinite.

Infinite light, infinite heat, infinite brilliance, infinite matter, infinite energy, infinite time, infinite space—all unfolded without restraint.

"Li Pin—"

Xi Xuanyan, the Light of Mystic Flame, only had time to let out an enraged roar before he was completely engulfed by this explosion—an explosion that turned the finite into the infinite—and vanished into nothingness.

The residual force of the explosion continued surging toward the depths of the starry sky. Not far behind Xi Xuanyan, Zi Zhongtian, Yuan Xiangguang, Shang Jinzhao, Ji Fenglei, and Wang Chuan—who had been guarding the spherical battleships—paled in alarm.

"Not good!"

"Withdraw your avatars!"

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Retreat—"

Before they could act, the devastating shockwave, transcending both time and space, had already engulfed them, sweeping through the warships and spherical vessels beyond.

The vast astral energy that had been gathering suddenly came to a halt.

Only when it scattered once more did Yan Qing and the countless Astral Gods—who had arrived from afar but dared not interfere in this peak-level battle—realize what they were witnessing.

This radiant explosion, this unparalleled brilliance... it bore an uncanny resemblance to the primordial explosion that gave birth to the universe itself.

And the ability to birth a universe... was a power only a Cosmic Tyrant could wield.