Chapter 834: You Xu

You Xu's voice echoed quietly across the battlefield. "I saw the movement technique you used to dominate the Prodigy Competition. They were agile and ethereal, elusive beyond grasp. I also witnessed the sword techniques you used to slay one alien Cosmic Radiance after another, manipulating time and space. You were impossible to defend against."

This was clearly a critical moment in the Ten Thousand Tribes Dominion War. Every participant should have been racing against time to ascend the Pillars of Supremacy and contend for one of the thirty-three spots in the semifinals. Yet the words from his mouth were unhurried and calm.

When they realized Li Pin and You Xu had crossed paths, even Scorching Flame Divine Lord, Shimo, and Tyrant Wu Jin, who had been flying at full speed toward the Pillars of Supremacy, shifted their gaze toward them while maintaining their trajectory.

They weren't worried someone might take the opportunity to ambush them while they were distracted. After all, who would dare? They believed no one would have the courage to strike at those standing at the pinnacle of the Ten Thousand Tribes Dominion War.

"Then, I hope in our upcoming exchange, you will go all out and fully demonstrate the might of a Sacred Monarch, as well as the Sky Clan's mastery over space," Li Pin responded solemnly.

But his serious demeanor made You Xu laugh involuntarily.

"

Heh

." You Xu let out a smirk, though his expression remained cool and indifferent. "Who do you think you are? Just because I commented on your skills, you believe you can stand against me? Your movement technique may be decent, but in all existence, what technique could compare to our Sky Clan's Phantom Strider?"

Sky Clan's Sacred Monarch twirled the completely transparent blade in his hand. "As for your sword technique... your understanding of space doesn't even count as scratching the surface. If it weren't for that Sovereign Divine Weapon infused with the wonders of time and space, you wouldn't be able to unleash such inescapable sword light.

"As long as I dismantle your total reliance on that divine weapon's spacetime power... even if I don't fight back, you couldn't land a scratch on me in a year."

Li Pin did not explain further but simply replied, "Want to give it a try?"

"Come," You Xu answered coolly.

Swoosh!

In the next instant, Li Pin drew his sword and sprang forward.

At that very moment, the headband on You Xu's head, stimulated by his mastery of space, emitted a ripple visible to the naked eye.

Within this ripple, Li Pin's sword, which transcended time and crossed space, was immediately revealed. With a slight shift of his body, the sword light grazed right past You Xu and shot into the void.

Li Pin instantly recognized the headband's grade.

Sovereign Divine Weapon....

It was a Sovereign Divine Weapon, and it was one that greatly enhanced You Xu's control over space.

Seeing that his Eternal Swordlight had failed to injure You Xu, Li Pin stepped forward.

In the Astral World's core layer, in the absence of Eternal Oblivion power, sword qi and sword light were not truly considered pure energy transmissions. To some extent, they were like the wind generated by a powerful punch.

If the gap in strength was immense, even that wind could destroy the opponent. However, if their power was close, only direct, blow-for-blow combat would matter.

Li Pin was still a distance away from You Xu, but using the Lesser Oblivion Art, he was able to traverse the void quickly. Man and sword struck directly at You Xu's front.

Yet just as he was about to strike, Li Pin sharply sensed that his sword had entered a massive web. It was a web spread out like a spider's, where no one who entered could remain hidden. Using this big web-like void perception, You Xu clearly saw through the sword light coming at him.

Even though the spacetime power of the Eternal Swordlight on the Ruo Xi Sword's edge rendered it swift and mysterious to the extreme, You Xu still easily dodged the strike.

Dodging the strike, You Xu commented blandly, "You can go faster."

Buzz, buzz!

The blade spun sharply, and as the spacetime power flared on the Ruo Xi Sword, both Li Pin and his weapon seemed to vanish from perception, as though removed from this time and space.

But like a fly on a spider's web, no matter when Li Pin chose to strike, the web was always there, and the moment he stepped into it, he became prey awaiting the kill.

Thus, after vanishing, he reappeared a second later, and the sword light he unleashed was again easily dodged by You Xu.

"Faster," You Xu urged.

Li Pin's figure shifted unpredictably, appearing and disappearing as if existing in different time periods simultaneously. Yet every sword strike was sensed by You Xu in advance and effortlessly dodged.

"Faster! Even faster!" You Xu's voice echoed in Li Pin's ears.

The Eternal Swordlight that Li Pin unleashed became increasingly subtle and swift. However, no matter how mystical or time-transcending his sword light was, it remained like fish on a chopping board, utterly ineffective in shifting the situation.

Finally, after dodging more than ten of Li Pin's strikes, just as a new one was about to pierce out, You Xu seized an opening; his blade slashed through the air first.

"Reversal!"

Where the blade's light struck, all time and space seemed to be completely disrupted in that instant, like a tranquil lake suddenly struck by a giant boulder.

The giant boulder posed no threat to the lake's surface, but it would give rise to tumultuous waves. If someone happened to be swimming in the lake, the waves would pose great trouble. And if the swimmer's skills were mediocre, it would almost certainly spell deadly danger for that swimmer.

In terms of mastering space, Li Pin was no different from such an unskilled swimmer. Or rather, it might be more appropriate to say that he didn't know how to swim at all. He was merely floating on a swim ring.

You Xu's slashing blade directly tore apart the swim ring, disrupted time and space, and slashed toward Li Pin in an instant, its speed leaving almost no time to react.

Heavenly Fate Art.

As the Heavenly Fate Light was released, the surrounding space seemed to freeze.

His gaze swept across You Xu's slashing blade and, to his shock, he discovered that the use of space in this strike had reached an unprecedented level. As the blade fell, space itself seemed to collapse toward its edge.

Or rather, what he slashed down wasn't just a blade. It was a gravitational source.

All living beings would be pulled toward this gravitational center due to spatial distortion and transformation. No matter how he dodged or evaded, he would eventually crash into this strike and be severely wounded or even killed on the spot.

"This perfect fusion of spatial power and blade technique..." Li Pin admired the spatial mastery within that strike, his eyes filled with uncontrollable awe.

As his spiritual realm continued to rise, the duration he could maintain the time-freezing state of Heavenly Fate Light had greatly extended, but it still had a limit.

Especially because he had fully understood the brilliance and intricacy of that strike and transformed it into accumulated insights on the way of space.

Thus, in the next instant, the Heavenly Fate Light dissipated. The condensed spacetime began to flow again, as if returning from a memory-like past.

The Ruoxi Sword in Li Pin's hand erupted with full force, in terms of both energy and mass, crashing down upon that dazzling strike—Reversal.

As the sword light burst forth, the inner spirit-based secret art, Galactic Starburst, also exploded outward.

Buzz buzz!

The power of the Galactic Starburst caused a slight disturbance to You Xu.

It was just a slight one, nothing more. It wasn't even enough to shake that blade light capable of collapsing space. At best, it ensured that his sword wouldn't be diverted by the spatial distortion of the opponent's blade light, enabling the first direct clash between blade and sword since the battle began.

Bang!

Visible ripples of space exploded outward at the instant blade met sword. The once tranquil space resembled a sea struck by a sudden shell, erupting into massive waves that surged in all directions.

Amid the violent tremors, even as You Xu's blade aura disintegrated, it turned into sharp edges that sliced through space and tore at Li Pin.

These shattered blades came so fast that he didn't even have time to activate his Infinite Star Abyss Body. Visible cracks formed across his divine body.

Had he not promptly used the Grand Oblivion Art to escape from those spatial blades, his divine body would have been gravely damaged.

***

"Excellent!"

This scene drew praises from the Sky Clan and the Divine Race's Heavenly Emperors.

"I knew he was courting death the moment he challenged You Xu."

"Ridiculous! Did they really think You Xu abandoned martial techniques and inner spirit secret arts for spatial law? His mastery in these areas is no less than any of our Sky Clan's Sacred Monarchs!"

Several Sky Clan's Heavenly Emperors smiled, feeling thoroughly pleased by the scene before them.

They already envisioned You Xu standing atop Li Pin, gathering the fortune of thousands.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

However, the pupils of the Human Race's Divine Martial Emperor and others suddenly shrank.

"Damn it!"

"This level of spatial power... is considered top-tier even among Sacred Monarchs! With the aid of a Sovereign Divine Weapon, he could rival even a peak Sacred Monarch. Didn't they say he's only been a Monarch for less than ten thousand years? How could he raise his spatial mastery so far in such little time?"

"The Sky Clan's spatial talent... is too strong! Li Pin's in trouble!"

"Don't panic. Li Pin was probably just caught off guard. He has the Infinite Star Abyss Body and isn't that easy to bring down. As long as Yue Shu and Xuan Chengming act quickly, they can still win us a spot in the semifinals and finish the prelims."

The Human Race's Heavenly Emperors grew tense with worry. Some even began to resent Li Pin inwardly, wondering why he had even provoked You Xu in the first place. It seemed that he had kicked an iron wall.

On the Weeping Emperor Battlefield, the Scorching Flame Divine Lord, Shimo, Wu Jin, and several others had parted some of their attention toward Li Pin and You Xu's battle. Their expressions turned more serious.

You Xu... seemed even stronger than they had expected?

Even the Scorching Flame Divine Lord wasn't fully confident he could evade it unscathed upon recalling that strike from You Xu.

"The Sky Clan's true trump card?"

The Divine Race's supreme prodigy murmured those words, then revealed a faint smile. "Looks like the semifinals won't be so boring after all."