"Hmph!" The black-armored Xiang Wei let out a cold snort.

In a flash, he too flew into the grotto-heaven world.

The world carved out by Overlord Xin Ya's casual gesture spanned ten million li. It was more than enough space for them to determine a victor.

Wu Yuan and Xiang Wei stood millions of li apart, facing each other from afar. Though their forms appeared tiny, they appeared to blaze like burning stars in each other’s perception.

When cultivators fought, they never cared about physical size, but rather vital aura. Only vital aura truly represented the might of a living being.

Overlord Xin Ya watched the two with an ambiguous smile, his voice echoing in both their ears: "This is just a duel, no external items allowed. Keep the fight within reason - I'll step in to stop you at the critical moment."

As an Overlord, his divine abilities were endless. Stopping a fight between Astral Monarchs was naturally effortless.

"Can Xiang Wei win?"

"Hard to say. Xiang Wei's strength is around the median among us. His comprehension of the Law of Earth grants him formidable defense, comparable to Hu Biao."

"Ming Jian's reputation is impressive. They say many considered him first in natural talent across the universe before Wu Yuan’s rise."

"Talent is talent, strength is strength. How long has he been cultivating?"

"According to my intelligence, he previously fought an early-stage Astral Monarch powerhouse from the Spacetime Dao Realm and emerged unscathed. He can't be weak."

"The Overlord won’t make baseless claims. If he says that Ming Jian is the strongest, there should be a reason."

"Let's watch and see." The other eleven geniuses discussed among themselves.

Some believed Wu Yuan would prove stronger, given the Overlord's words. But others felt Ming Jian lacked a sufficiently well-established battle record and was still too young. Defeating the defense-oriented Xiang Wei would be very difficult.

"It's starting." The purple-robed young woman at the front suddenly said: "Enough talk, let's watch carefully. If Ming Jian truly proves to be that strong, it benefits our Taiyuan Divine Court as well."

The gathered geniuses fell silent and focused on observing.

…

Inside the grotto-heaven world.

"Ming Jian, you aren’t sending your mana body out?" Xiang Wei said in a deep voice. "You're just a qi refiner. Aren’t you afraid your true self might perish?"

Xiang Wei was a High Deity. From his perspective, both Wu Yuan’s true self and mana body should have joined the fight.

"Thank you for the reminder, Brother Xiang Wei. This seems to be your true self as well, so naturally my true self will fight too," Wu Yuan smiled. "Don't worry, with the Overlord watching, I won't use my mana body's power."

Firstly, with the Overlord as the referee, the chances of anything going wrong were extremely low. Secondly, Wu Yuan had absolute confidence in his own strength.

"Fine." Xiang Wei couldn't be bothered to say more and immediately sprang into action.

Though his words were dismissive, he went all out in actual combat, not daring to be the least bit careless. Even a lion used full strength to catch a rabbit.

Boom!

Xiang Wei's form instantly grew to ten thousand zhangs tall, clad in heavy battle armor. Nine arms sprouted from his body - six wielding staves and three holding shields. His vital aura surged dramatically.

In the blink of an eye, his ether reached the seventh-stage Archimmortal level. Like an imposing mountain peak, he rapidly closed in on Wu Yuan.

Kicking it off with a supreme burst secret art right away?

Wu Yuan mused to himself.

Without supreme secret arts, High Immortals and High Deities with late-stage Astral Monarch comprehension generally only had late-stage Astral Lord-level strength.

Back then, Master Dong Yang was at this level when he slew an Archimmortal in the Redmoon Immortal Continent.

But once they employed supreme burst secret arts, their base power would increase dramatically. The strength of these peerless geniuses would naturally rise by a large margin.

By Wu Yuan's estimate, Xiang Wei should be able to unleash third-stage Astral Monarch combat power. Of course, that was just his estimate.

"They say you excel at Spacetime. Since the Overlord values you so highly, let me test your mettle." Each step Xiang Wei took caused space to tremble.

By now, he had drawn near Wu Yuan. Streams of earthy-yellow qi materialized around him, enveloping everything in a hundred million li. He had completed his defensive preparations.

Still not attacking? Are you already admitting defeat?

Xiang Wei's eyes locked onto Wu Yuan, confusion flashing through his mind.

From his perspective, Wu Yuan was just a qi refiner. Even if he were powerful, he should have deployed artifacts early on.

Never mind then. If you're courting death, I'll grant your wish.

Icy intent flashed in Xiang Wei's eyes as he swung his six staves simultaneously, making the void itself quake.

All six staves smashed viciously toward Wu Yuan with heaven-shaking might. Having comprehended the Law of Earth, his strikes were all imbued with immense power

Yet from start to finish, Wu Yuan's body hadn't moved an inch. But whether it was Xiang Wei or the group of observing geniuses, their eyes were filled with shock.

Just as those staves were about to touch Wu Yuan, he vanished into thin air.

Indeed! Under the oscillation of energies violent enough to affect higher spatial dimensions, he simply disappeared.

Whoosh!

Wu Yuan reappeared millions of li away, exactly where Xiang Wei had first stood in the grotto-heaven battlefield.

Wu Yuan smiled at the dumbfounded Xiang Wei. There was only one small difference - Wu Yuan's vital aura had also grown, clearly having employed ‘Genesis Law Sacrifice’. His mana power now reached the seventh-stage Archimmortal level.

As expected of a top genius of the Taiyuan Divine Court. That attack just now was likely no weaker than High Immortal Nan Yin’s.

Wu Yuan thought to himself.

High Immortal Nan Yin commanded great respect even in the distant Eldritch Court Universe. Xiang Wei's strength should be about equal to High Immortal Nan Yin’s.

"Impossible! This... you can actually enter the Vacuum Spatial Layer?" Xiang Wei stared at Wu Yuan, eyes rounded in disbelief.

"The Vacuum Spatial Layer."

"This!"

"Even with supreme burst secret arts, Ming Jian only has seventh-stage Archimmortal mana." Outside the battlefield, several geniuses had fully confirmed this.

Material Spatial Layer, Fragmentary Spatial Layer, Turbulent Spatial Layer, Vacuum Spatial Layer, Spacetime Intersection Layer. These were the five spatial dimensions known to countless immortals and deities.

Entering the Turbulent Spatial Layer was already extremely difficult. One would have to be an Astral Monarch to break into it with raw power, or an Astral Lord of Space.

Entering higher spatial dimensions required both deep Dao comprehension and sufficiently powerful mana.

Among these geniuses, none could enter the Turbulent Spatial Layer without employing supreme burst secret arts.

As for the Vacuum Spatial Layer, one either needed Sovereign strength to enter it; or had to be an Astral Monarch of Space.

"Even for an Astral Monarch of Space to enter, they need both Astral Monarch-level mana and comprehension of the Law of Qiankun," the purple-robed maiden softly said. "Ming Jian's burst art grants him mana far below the Astral Monarch level. This shows his comprehension of Space is extremely deep.

“He has likely either fully comprehended the Law of Qiankun, or reached the ninth-level True Intent stage of Spacetime.

“With near-Sovereign level Spacetime comprehension, combined with Astral Lord level mana, he could then enter the Vacuum Spatial Layer.

“Being one spatial dimension higher puts him in an unassailable position." The purple-robed maiden shook her head. "Xiang Wei has definitely lost. Even if I or Hu Biao fought, we couldn't possibly defeat Ming Jian."

Silence fell.

Upon hearing this, all eyes turned to Wu Yuan.

…

Within the grotto-heaven world.

Vacuum Spatial Layer?

A chill seeped through Xiang Wei's heart.

He hadn't heard the purple-robed maiden's analysis. But with his strength and knowledge, he could roughly analyze that defeating Wu Yuan was now basically a pipe dream unless Wu Yuan deliberately impaled himself on his weapons.

This was the terror of those who excelled in Space, especially those who had fully comprehended the Law of Qiankun. The ability to enter a spatial dimension higher than one’s opponent made one practically undefeatable.

"Ming Jian, I cannot defeat you." Xiang Wei said in a low voice. "However, in the Megaverse Crossroads, just being good at evasion won’t cut it. You must also excel in direct combat."

“Come, defeat me if you can."

He waved his hand, and his six staves transformed into six shields. He now wielded nine shields in total. At the same time, rolling earthy-yellow qi streams surged around his body, almost perfectly merging with the nine shields.

For a moment, space itself seemed to congeal. However, his own movements also slowed. It was clearly a very special defensive secret art.

If Xiang Wei was like a mountain peak before, now he resembled a vast continent. Toppling a mountain peak wasn't hard, but shattering an entire continent?

"Xiang Wei still won't admit defeat?"

“He must be unwilling to accept it, charging headfirst into a fight only to end up like this." The observing geniuses all muttered to themselves, understanding Xiang Wei's thoughts.

In a sparring match, being forced to defend with all his might meant he had essentially already lost.

But Xiang Wei couldn't let go of his pride, likely wanting to withstand several more attacks to prove his strength before conceding.

Regarding this, Overlord Xin Ya didn't speak at all. Xiang Wei and Wu Yuan hadn't actually clashed yet, their vital auras still at their peak.

But in the next instant, a flash of pleasant surprise crossed the ever-composed Overlord Xin Ya's eyes. "Oh?"

"What?"

"This!"

"Ming Jian!" The purple-robed maiden, tiger-headed youth, and other geniuses stared slack-jawed at the scene unfolding in the grotto-heaven world.

At this moment, celestial swords began materializing one after another around Ming Jian, each emanating a terrifyingly powerful aura.

Nearly a thousand celestial swords linked together to form a sword array, their combined might coalescing into an overwhelmingly fearsome sword intent.

Nine lifebound flying swords as the core. 720 mid-grade celestial artifacts as support, forming the Thousand Swords Array - truly formidable indeed.

Wu Yuan observed the sword array he had summoned.

Immortal deities rarely employed many artifacts in combat, mainly because controlling them consumed tremendous mental energy, making prolonged battles difficult.

Even with Wu Yuan's Apotheosis Yuan Soul and late-stage Astral Monarch level of Dao comprehension, simultaneously controlling so many flying swords was extremely challenging, and he felt immense pressure.

In a life-or-death battle, my opponent won’t give me time to deploy such a massive sword array at a critical moment.

Wu Yuan smiled faintly, looking toward Xiang Wei in the distance.

His opponent had given up the initiative to attack, choosing to remain stationary? That just made him a sitting target.

Boom!

The massive Thousand Swords Array fully assembled. Streams of sword lights converged, and with Wu Yuan infusion of mana, it finally formed into a near-transparent divine sword of Spacetime stretching ten thousand zhangs long.

"Go!" Wu Yuan pointed. The divine sword of Spacetime erupted with power, transforming into a streak of rainbow light that merged into the higher spatial dimension, appearing before Xiang Wei in the next moment.

It was so fast that Xiang Wei only saw a flash of light before the divine sword of Spacetime arrived before him.