Chapter 753: Strength

Buzz, buzz!

In the blink of an eye, Li Pin vanished, reappearing directly on the eightieth step of the Supreme Ladder.

The trial had begun.

Almost everyone had rushed over to the Supreme Ladder. Among them were Luo Shenxi; Wang Fuyun and Yun Lai, both acquainted with Li Pin; the leading figures of the Sanctum, like Thousand Dust, Sheng Xu, and Lin Tianhuang; as well as countless Cosmic Radiance and Tyrants. For the moment, they all stood frozen at the sight before them.

Even Heavenly Emperor Mo Xuan himself was no exception.

The crowd's faces were a portrait of disbelief—some stunned, some bewildered, others utterly speechless.

If someone had captured the expressions of all the Astral Gods present, it would've made for a chaotic collage of pure astonishment.

For a long time, it felt as if the crowd had exploded.

An uncontrollable wave of shock surged like a rising tide, roaring into the sky.

The entire Supreme Ladder trembled beneath the uproar.

Cries of disbelief, confusion, and wild speculation echoed from every corner.

"The eightieth step!? Did I see that right? Dao Child Li... did he just land directly on the eightieth step!?"

"Hold on, let me think—isn't the eightieth step meant for a Cosmic Tyrant!? Not a Cosmic Radiance, not an Eternal Solar Flare—but a Tyrant!?"

"What the hell is going on!? The eightieth step!? How could it possibly be the eightieth!? Even if he's confident, shouldn't he have started at the seventy-first at most? Why skip everything below and leap straight to the eightieth!?"

Only a handful of Astral Gods truly lost their composure, but with so many gathered, even that small fraction amounted to a sizable number, making it impossible to ignore.

Shock rippled through the crowd, resonating and growing stronger until it engulfed the entire outer region of the Supreme Ladder in a wave of disbelief that refused to fade.

"Li Pin... he's on the eightieth step!?"

Amid the crowd of Astral Gods, Luo Shenxi, who had originally planned to openly challenge Li Pin on the Supreme Ladder, now stood frozen, her expression visibly twisted.

She gritted her teeth, eyes wide with disbelief. "How dare he! How could he!"

The eightieth step. Not the seventy-fourth. Not even a record-breaking seventy-fifth. He had jumped straight to the eightieth!

The gap between them wasn't just wide, it was astronomical.

Had it been the seventy-fourth, she could've gritted her teeth and chased him down. If it were the seventy-fifth, she might've felt discouraged, admitted she'd fallen behind for now, but she wouldn't have given up. But the eightieth...

***

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

At that moment, Shi Xingzun spoke in a chillingly calm voice, "There's no way Li Pin can clear the eightieth step of the Supreme Ladder. He's just putting on a show!"

His words drew the attention of many Cosmic Radiance and Eternal Solar Flares nearby. Additionally, they found themselves agreeing with him.

A Cosmic Radiance offered his opinion, "A few high-level Solar Flares might be able to push up to the seventieth or seventy-first step with their exceptional talent. If they happen to wield a Top-Tier Cosmic Radiance Divine Weapon, they might even manage the seventy-second or seventy-third.

"'Cultivators do not need to worry about the Eternal Oblivion Force on the Supreme Ladder, which allows them to unleash their full strength. But the eightieth step!? That's beyond reach!"

He suddenly raised his voice. "The eightieth step belongs entirely to the realm of the Cosmic Tyrants! It's not something that can be crossed simply with secret arts, higher cultivation realms, or powerful Cosmic Radiance Weapons!

"Forget about Li Pin being a Solar Flare. Even those powerful Cosmic Radiances, those who've spent countless eras at this stage and earned fame on alien battlefields, none of them could step onto the eightieth step!"

Shi Xingzun spoke with absolute certainty., "Exactly. Forget about Cosmic Radiances. Even some Tyrants who've begun to manifest the cosmos, but whose energy level hasn't yet caught up, might still fail to ascend the eightieth step!

"Unless Li Pin has already achieved Cosmic Radiance and condensed a True Spirit, there's not even the slightest chance he could pass the eightieth step.

"Even if he perfected the Supreme and Highlord Secret Arts, even if he could wield a portion of time-space mystique, it wouldn't matter! At this stage, no amount of external force or technique can bridge the gap!"

Listening to Shi Xingzun's words, one of the Tyrants seemed to remember something. "Cosmic Radiance..."

When he had "looked" at Li Pin earlier, something about him had indeed felt different from an ordinary Solar Flare.

However, he ultimately refrained after considering several factors, such as the distance between them, the rumor of Li Pin being a Highlord's personal disciple, and the powerful protector, Sasha, by his side.

If he had dared to use the True Spirit Radiance to scan Li Pin, Sasha would surely sense it.

For cultivators above the Cosmic Radiance realm, such an action would be considered a grave offense—perhaps even an act of provocation.

Despite his doubts about Li Pin, he hadn't dared to go that far

Even Heavenly Emperor Mo Xuan had withdrawn the divine radiance of his True Spirit out of respect. If Mo Xuan was being so cautious, how could a mere Tyrant dare to act so recklessly?

Did he still have any regard for Sasha, the child of the Ocean of Time?

Did he still have any regard for the Black Abyss Highlord backing Li Pin?

Given all this, he had no choice but to suppress his doubts.

Yet now, seeing Li Pin now standing on the eightieth step, those doubts resurfaced.

"Could it be...?" The Tyrant spoke hesitantly, "Has Li Pin... already ascended to Cosmic Radiance?"

As soon as the words left his lips, the air seemed to freeze.

A Cosmic Radiance!? Thirty years of seclusion—and he jumped straight from Solar Flare to Cosmic Radiance!?

He had only been an Astral God for a hundred years, yet he had already moved from Starshine to Solar Flare, then condensed his True Spirit and broke through to the Cosmic Radiance Realm!?

Is that even possible!?

Under the circumstances where "achieving Cosmic Radiance within an epoch" is still a slogan, to attain it in a mere hundred years...

Is he really planning to crush his entire generation underfoot, even those hailed as supreme prodigies?

After a long while, the highest-ranking figure present, Mo Xuan, who held dual responsibilities as both the Vice Hall Master of the Sacred Flame Hall and the Hall Master of the Humanity Sanctum, finally spoke, "Let's wait and see."

He looked up, eyes fixed on Li Pin's fading figure at the eightieth step of the Supreme Ladder. No one could tell what was going through his mind.

"Yes, yes, let's wait and see," Yuan Guang quickly added. "Maybe Li Pin got nervous and mistook the eightieth step for the seventieth..."

Yet deep down, even he himself didn't believe a word of it.

A peak Solar Flare cultivator making such a mistake? And if it wasn't a mistake...

All eyes involuntarily shifted back to the Supreme Ladder.

That would mean Li Pin truly had some degree of confidence in challenging the eightieth step.

As absurd as it sounded, this was the eighth step, the one meant to challenge even Tyrants. And if he really made it through...

***

On the eightieth step of the Supreme Ladder, the world materialized at an astonishing speed.

At the instant it formed, an invisible light erupted. It was as brilliant as a star, as scorching as the sun, flooding the surroundings and rushing toward Li Pin's inner spirit.

He recognized it immediately. It was an inner spirit secret art.

At the Cosmic Radiance level, everyone possessed True Spirits that shone with dazzling brilliance. Under such circumstances, it became nearly impossible to sense the fluctuations of another's inner spirit.

To counter this, one had to use inner spirit secret arts to suppress the radiance of their opponent's True Spirit.

Whoever could suppress the other's True Spirit would usually decide the outcome in an instant.

In battles where there was no realm disparity, clashes between True Spirits often meant victory or death.

Whoever wielded the stronger inner spirit secret art would be the last one standing.

Confronted by this blazing, sun-like inner spirit power bearing down on him, Li Pin activated his Endless Reincarnation Secret Art, letting it flow continuously.

The perfected form of this secret art had already merged with the concept of his past. Past and present became one, and a power unlike any before enveloped his inner spirit.

Under that force, his gaze transformed into a divine sword, capable of tearing through all creation. It struck into the blazing sun created by his opponent's inner spirit secret art.

In that instant, his piercing aura dimmed the sun entirely. The impact at its core sent tremors through the entire construct, shaking the fiery sphere conjured by the secret art.

The outer radiance quickly faded with the tremors, threatening to expose the True Spirit hidden within and revealing every trace of its inner spirit fluctuations.

But Li Pin lacked the ability to "peer into" the inner spirit.

And the opponent, simulated by the Supreme Ladder, would never allow him to glimpse it.

Sensing his inner spirit secret art losing ground, the opponent acted decisively.

Li Pin vaguely saw a galaxy forming before his eyes. It was extremely unstable, brimming with an aura of destruction.

It looked like the end of the universe itself, the twilight of all existence. The oppressive force of annihilation...

"A Tyrant-level technique," Li Pin murmured, his voice tinged with genuine admiration. A trace of satisfaction colored his tone.

This was the kind of opponent worthy of the eightieth step of the Supreme Ladder.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Only such a challenger could compel him to give everything he had, without reservation.

His True Spirit, if it could even be called that, flared brilliantly from deep within his inner spirit.

That brilliance spread rapidly in all directions, freezing everything it touched. Time itself seemed suspended.

In this strange time freeze, Li Pin looked up, calmly studying the destructive force halted before him, mere inches away, as well as his opponent, simulated by the Supreme Ladder, at the heart of it all.

An... Astral Spirit Clansman?

Li Pin recognized the technique instantly. "He's using the Supreme Technique of All Things."

He had seen this technique before in the Heavenly Prison World and had even studied it, but the depth of his research didn't even begin to compare with the mastery the simulated Astral Spirit Clan's Tyrant had over it.

Still... in the face of this collapsing universe of destruction, within the stillness that enveloped him, Li Pin observed and analyzed—again and again.

Once. Twice. Three times. Five times. Ten times...

Until his True Spirit was nearly drained, struggling to maintain this "past-state" any longer.

But it was enough.

Cosmic Tyrants were known for one thing—powerful offense and weak defense.

Their greatest strength was also their most dangerous flaw.

The Ruoxi Sword appeared in Li Pin's hand.

He drew it and struck.

Boundless sword qi surged into the galaxy.

The sword's power to twist space and time was pushed to its limit.

The singularity formed from the Quantum Sword Intent pierced through everything.

That single strike pierced straight into the heart of the blazing destruction and detonated at its core.

But unlike previous explosions that merely fractured space like shattered glass, this time, an entire universe burst forth from the impact.

It formed in a flash, blooming into existence, only to collapse just as quickly, cycling through creation and annihilation in an instant.

Rumble, rumble!

The moment that universe-ending force erupted, it tore through the collapsing energy of the simulated cosmos, ripping it apart.

Every ounce of the Ruoxi Sword's Quantum Sword Intent hit with pinpoint precision—opening, unraveling, and obliterating the opponent's power.

Even the residual shockwave, still surging with terrifying force, swept over the Astral Spirit Clan's Tyrant—his face frozen in disbelief, despite being only a simulation.

And in the next instant, both the Tyrant and the starry universe simulated by the eightieth step were completely swallowed by that vast, all-consuming torrent of destruction.