Chapter 140: Peak Marquis — Lu Qingshan, Who Returns to the Ordinary

"What terrifying burst speed — truly worthy of a peak Marquis whose life gene has reached twelve times!"

Seeing Kleist's astonishing instantaneous burst speed, Lu Qingshan could not help sighing inwardly.

One had to know that Lu Qingshan had already been roaming the extraterritorial battlefield for over a hundred thousand years; he had personally slain more than two hundred peak Marquis-level powerhouses, and even counting those peak Marquis experts who had escaped his grasp, none of them had ever erupted with such a terrifying instantaneous burst speed.

Still, this was perfectly normal — instantaneous burst speed generally depended on movement-technique auxiliary treasures, movement-type secret arts, and one's own base strength.

Although Kleist's movement technique was not particularly brilliant and he possessed no auxiliary flight-type treasures, his base strength was incomparably terrifying; even without employing any amplification secret art, he was already approaching the level of a peak King-tier powerhouse, so such a startling instantaneous burst speed was hardly surprising.

"Even if I were to go all-out with a top-tier movement technique, my instantaneous burst speed probably still wouldn't match Kleist's right now!"

Lu Qingshan thought to himself: "However, a fast instantaneous burst speed doesn't necessarily mean his movement technique is also brilliant!"

Thinking of this, Lu Qingshan's mind stirred; a top-tier movement technique was instantly deployed, and his entire being vanished from the spot like an illusory bubble.

At that very moment, Kleist's massive serpent tail swept violently through the area where Lu Qingshan had just been; wherever the tail's tip passed, the surrounding space instantly shattered, and countless spatial fragments scattered in all directions.

"He dodged it?"

Kleist was briefly stunned, then his figure flickered once more as he rapidly pursued in the direction Lu Qingshan had gone.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Yet Lu Qingshan's figure simply streaked through one after another of ghostly afterimages, continuously evading Kleist's attacks.

And although Kleist's instantaneous burst speed was incomparably astonishing, he still could never catch up to Lu Qingshan's figure.

"This is the benefit of having a movement technique that has stepped into the top tier!"

Lu Qingshan thought to himself: "Kleist's burst speed really is fast — it's already on par with a King-tier Undying — but his movement technique is comparatively weak, so his ability to change direction on the instant is indeed far inferior to a King-tier Undying's; he can't even catch up to my figure!"

After confirming his advantage in movement technique, Lu Qingshan's long sword instantly leapt from its sheath, and he crashed it head-on into Kleist's serpent tail, which carried terrifying might.

Boom-boom-boom!

The long sword and the serpent tail collided viciously, instantly erupting with incomparably terrifying might; patches of surrounding space were crushed and exploded one after another, completely reduced to the most fundamental particle streams.

The violent collision caused Lu Qingshan considerable discomfort; he had a premonition that if that strike had been even slightly stronger, then even with his armor's defense, his Undying Divine Body would have shattered on the spot!

Of course, he now possessed an Undying Body, so his divine body was naturally no longer as fragile as it had been during his Military Commander days; even if it were completely pulverized, he would not lose even the tiniest bit!

Meanwhile, Kleist was also secretly shocked in his heart.

"With my strength, even if Master could block this strike of mine, my divine body should still have been blasted apart by it!"

After being soul-enslaved by Lu Qingshan earlier, Kleist had already learned that Lu Qingshan's realm was still only high-tier Marquis, and that he was merely extremely skilled in soul attacks — that was how he had been able to enslave him.

Precisely because of this, Kleist felt that, going all-out now, there was a chance he could actually harm Lu Qingshan.

After all, a high-tier King, even without burning Undying Divine Power, could still inflict effective damage on a high-tier Marquis!

But he hadn't expected that, despite already employing his strongest method short of an amplification secret art, he still couldn't even shatter Lu Qingshan's divine body.

"It's because of Master's sword art!"

Kleist had, after all, once been a super genius of the Meng Yao Zu, so after a moment's thought he discovered the crux of the matter: "Master's sword art is far more exquisite than my secret art — it should already be comparable to those true King-tier Undying — so when blocking my attack, it weakened a very large portion of the attack's might!"

"Master, please be careful!"

Seeing that he couldn't harm Lu Qingshan, Kleist was considerably relieved, and quickly transmitted his voice: "I'm about to employ my amplification secret art and go all-out; if you can't hold on any longer, you must tell me right away!"

"Oh?"

Lu Qingshan looked at Kleist, endless battle intent likewise burning in his eyes: "Bring it on — let me see your limit!"

At this moment, Lu Qingshan was, for once, feeling tremendous pressure under Kleist's attacks — in fact, he was in better shape than when he had been slaying those Marquis-tier Undying before — so naturally he wanted the other party to push even harder.

With his current strength, he naturally couldn't do anything to Kleist, but as long as he could withstand the other's frenzied attacks, that in itself would be a success for him!

Boom!

On the other side, as the amplification secret art was deployed, Kleist's aura surged once more — it had even surpassed the peak King-tier Undying that Lu Qingshan had ever encountered!

Whoosh!

After his aura surged again, Kleist's burst speed likewise climbed once more, and he instantly shot toward Lu Qingshan like a bolt.

"Not good!"

Sensing Kleist's terrifying burst speed, Lu Qingshan's heart jolted!

As the saying goes, 'absolute force subdues all skill' — Lu Qingshan had previously been able to easily evade Kleist's attacks thanks to the exquisite subtlety of his top-tier movement technique, but now that the other's speed had increased again, evading continuously was no longer as effortless as before!

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Lu Qingshan pushed his movement technique to its absolute limit, weaving and darting ceaselessly through the surrounding space, even leaving behind countless afterimages.

But at this moment, Kleist's serpent tail seemed to cling to him like a shadow, always staying right behind Lu Qingshan.

As the saying goes, 'a defense held too long will eventually break'!

Although Kleist's movement technique was somewhat inferior to Lu Qingshan's, the base strength unleashed by his all-out burst was simply too overwhelming — it even exceeded that of a peak King-tier by a notch.

Therefore, after only a brief moment, Lu Qingshan finally had nowhere left to dodge!

Bang!

Kleist's serpent tail viciously lashed Lu Qingshan's back, and Lu Qingshan's body instantly exploded apart, transforming into countless fragments of divine power.

Hum!

Lu Qingshan's divine power quickly reconstituted itself, yet he sensed that his own divine power had already lost 0.5%!

"Kleist's strength after his breakthrough really is formidable!"

Sensing the loss of divine power, Lu Qingshan could not help sighing again: "Even without employing sword art to block the attack, relying on my body-amplification secret art and precious defensive armor, my defensive capability is already comparable to a peak Marquis; logically speaking, a high-tier King, without burning divine power, shouldn't be able to inflict effective damage on me!"

"But although Kleist's attack is rather crude, because of his powerful foundation, the burst actually surpasses an ordinary high-tier King by a notch, which is why it could damage my divine power — but that's all it amounts to!"

On the other side, seeing Lu Qingshan's divine body blasted apart, Kleist quickly came to a halt.

And just then, Lu Qingshan's voice once again sounded in his mind: "Keep attacking me at full strength — don't stop!"

After hearing this order from Lu Qingshan, although Kleist was somewhat puzzled in his heart, he still continued to act, attacking Lu Qingshan with full force.

The reason Lu Qingshan had given such an order was naturally not because he wanted to be abused; rather, at the moment his divine body had just shattered, he had sensed a faint opportunity for breakthrough.

One had to know that, over the past hundred-plus thousand years, although Lu Qingshan had been constantly trying to create a top-tier soul attack method, he had also never slackened in the slightest when it came to comprehending the origin law of time.

Added to the years of tempering on the Extraterrestrial Battlefield, he was now only a single step away from clearing the seventeenth level of the Tongtian Bridge.

And this Kleist had broken through to immortality precisely by using the time origin law at the peak Marquis level, so it was perfectly normal that sparring with him could bring him a touch of inspiration!

Just like that, under Kleist's continuous attacks, Lu Qingshan did not choose to keep using movement techniques to dodge, but began to rely on sword techniques to take the hits head-on.

Although his divine body was still shattered by Kleist every time, after the attacks were weakened by his sword techniques, they could no longer inflict any real harm on him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Lu Qingshan's divine body kept shattering, then reassembling again and again.

While desperately resisting Kleist's attacks, Lu Qingshan kept comprehending the time origin law.

His thoughts were spinning at top speed, and at the same time his true body quickly activated the Dao-Elder Gan Wu Blessing function within the chat group.

Just like that, under the immense pressure brought by Kleist and the help of the Dao-Elder Gan Wu Blessing function, Lu Qingshan's comprehension of the time origin law began to deepen more and more.

And so, time kept flowing on!

The powerful experts Lu Qingshan had encountered on the Extraterrestrial Battlefield in the past could never have fed him moves like this.

But this Kleist was Lu Qingshan's soul servant, so under Lu Qingshan's orders he naturally gave it his all with extreme dedication.

Under his relentless attacks, a flash of enlightenment finally appeared in Lu Qingshan's mind.

"Hahaha!"

After yet another shattering of his divine body, excitement finally showed on Lu Qingshan's face.

"Kleist, stop!"

After giving his soul servant a word, Lu Qingshan quickly began to sense a minor branch of the time origin law he had just comprehended through.

What he had comprehended this time was still a minor branch under one of the three major branches of the time origin law, 'Time Stop,' and comprehending this minor branch also marked that his grasp of the time origin law had reached the peak Marquis level!

"Looks like this truly is a double blessing!"

Lu Qingshan sensed the newly comprehended branch of the time origin law, then thought to himself: "The final step from here is to fully comprehend the sixth picture on the Heavenly Thunder Chaos Stele!"

"Of course, the most important thing for me right now is still to reassemble my divine power as quickly as possible!"

Thinking of this, Lu Qingshan paid no heed to Kleist beside him and directly began reassembling his own divine power.

Previously his divine power had already risen to three thousand times the Realm-Lord level, and now that he had stepped into the peak Marquis level, it could already break through to six thousand times the Realm-Lord level.

From high Marquis to peak Marquis, the base only seemed to double, but the actual increase in strength was far more than that, because there was also the improvement in the comprehension of origin laws in between.

Just as, with the same physical constitution, there is still an enormous gap in strength between an expert who has cleared the sixteenth level of the Tongtian Bridge and one who has cleared the seventeenth level!

Just as a peak King expert with no amplification secret arts, an ordinary life-gene level, and ordinary self-created secret arts, once breaking straight through to the Venerable Realm, can see his strength instantly soar by more than ten thousand times.

Because besides the hundredfold increase in divine power, the rest comes from the improvement in law comprehension.

The process of reassembling divine power held no danger, so Lu Qingshan quickly completed the reassembly of his divine power, and the same went for his true body and the Endless Divine Sea avatar!

The only thing that left him feeling depressed was that the volume of the Endless Divine Sea avatar shrank again after reassembling divine power, its diameter reduced to barely more than twenty meters!

Fortunately, compared to Lu Qingshan's true body and second avatar, whose heights were less than two meters, it still counted as a colossal creature, so it quickly replenished the divine power the true body and second avatar had lost from the reassembly!

On the other side...

"It's actually an avatar technique!"

Watching a stream of divine power sharing the same origin as Lu Qingshan's flow through the temporary divine kingdom transmission channel to replenish Lu Qingshan, Kleist beside him could not help but feel a bit stunned.

After all, among the sixteen imperial clans of the Meng Yao Zu there were still a few clans that possessed innate avatar techniques, so of course Kleist knew exactly what everything unfolding before his eyes represented!

But precisely because of this, he found it all the more inconceivable!

After all, even he, as the most talented genius of this era's Reincarnation Cong-Eye Serpent lineage, had failed to obtain an avatar technique.

Yet Lu Qingshan looked like nothing more than an ordinary person with a bit of talent in the soul, and he actually possessed an avatar technique!

"Could it be that Master once seized the body of some powerful being in the universe who possessed an innate avatar secret art?" Kleist could not help but wonder secretly.

And at this moment, having reassembled and replenished his divine power, Lu Qingshan, sensing his own formidable strength, quickly looked at Kleist again: "Kleist, let's continue sparring for a bit!"

The moment his words fell, Lu Qingshan no longer dodged and blocked as before, but directly gripped his long sword and shot toward Kleist as a streak of flowing light.

Seeing this, Kleist felt no worry whatsoever in his heart.

After all, in his view, even if Lu Qingshan had broken through to peak Marquis, it would still be very hard for him to pose any threat!

And at this moment, Lu Qingshan had already unleashed his full strength.

Top-tier movement technique, top-tier sword technique, fourfold body amplification secret art...

After going all out, Lu Qingshan could even gain a slight edge in movement technique, so after a few shifts of position he quickly landed a sword slash on Kleist's massive forehead.

Rumble rumble rumble!

An incomparably terrifying shockwave exploded outward in an instant, and both Lu Qingshan's and Kleist's figures instantly blasted backward.

But unfortunately, there was not the slightest sign of Kleist's divine body shattering!

But Kleist did not look down on Lu Qingshan in the slightest either, and quickly said: "Master, your strength has indeed improved a great deal this time; I'd estimate you can already rival a relatively weak early-stage King!"

"Only a relatively weak early-stage King?" Lu Qingshan sighed inwardly, though he did not pay it too much mind.

After all, his strongest trump card was still soul attack; back when he was at high Marquis he could already slay peak Marquis, and now that he had broken through to peak Marquis, he might very well be able to slay early-stage King!

Thinking of this, Lu Qingshan immediately transmitted his voice again: "Kleist, try this move of mine!"

With that, Lu Qingshan's will stirred, and he quickly unleashed the top-tier soul attack secret art 'Soul-Slaying Sword'!

Hum!

Invisible, formless, etherealized divine power instantly seeped toward the inside of Kleist's body.

"It's Master's soul attack!"

Sensing Lu Qingshan's etherealized immortal divine power, a trace of vigilance also rose in Kleist's heart.

Just then, after seeping into Kleist's body, Lu Qingshan's etherealized immortal divine power quickly transformed into a swarm of etherealized small swords, attempting to attack his essential soul.

But inside Kleist's body, a strange transparent crystal radiated boundless light, directly greatly weakening the might of Lu Qingshan's soul attack; the Soul-Slaying Sword he had unleashed merely struck the high tower formed by Kleist's soul defense before completely annihilating itself, and that tower only trembled slightly, its foundation completely undamaged.

"Just as expected!"

Seeing that he had easily blocked Lu Qingshan's soul attack, Klayster sighed inwardly once more: "If I were an Immortal back then, the master's soul attack wouldn't have been able to harm me at all!"

Seeing that the soul attack had no effect whatsoever, Lu Qingshan felt a bit helpless.

He had to admit that even though he had broken through to the peak of Marquis, his strength was still somewhat inferior to Klayster's at this moment!

And the greatest gap between them was the gap in the level of life genes!

"Klayster!" Lu Qingshan quickly stopped his attack.

And Klayster directly prostrated himself at Lu Qingshan's feet, respectfully greeting: "Master!"

"Why is your soul defense so strong?" Lu Qingshan couldn't help but ask.

"Reporting to master!"

Klayster quickly answered: "Our Samsara Cong-eyed Serpent lineage is already extremely adept in the soul aspect, so when I was at World Master level, my will had already risen to the elementary level of Fengwang! Although my current comprehension of laws is a bit weaker than that of an Immortal at Fengwang level, my life gene level is extremely high, and combined with the augmentation of a soul-amplification secret art and the Soul-Calming Crystal, my current soul defense is even enough to rival the advanced level of Fengwang. Master, although your soul attack is quite formidable, it cannot do anything to me!"

"Then how do you think the might of my soul attack is?" Lu Qingshan asked again.

"Reporting to master!"

Klayster quickly replied once more: "Your soul attack should be enough to kill the vast majority of peak Marquis-level powerhouses, and even enough to affect the actions of elementary Fengwang-level powerhouses, but it poses no threat to advanced Fengwang-level ones!"

"Only affecting their actions?" Lu Qingshan felt a sense of loss in his heart.

One must know that soul attack had always been his trump card, but he hadn't expected that after his breakthrough now, it still hadn't reached the might he had anticipated in his heart!

However, this could also be considered quite normal!

After all, those who could step into the Fengwang level, even if they were martial artists, had probably created top-tier defensive secret arts. And in a situation where the level of secret arts was comparable, Lu Qingshan now only occupied a slight advantage in will, while being weaker than elementary Fengwang in foundation and comprehension of laws. Being able to kill an elementary Fengwang would be a ghost story!

If things continued in this state, even if he successfully broke through to the elementary Fengwang realm, it would probably be very difficult to directly kill an elementary Fengwang through soul attack!

Thinking of this, Lu Qingshan quickly began to plan in his heart: "If I want to maintain my advantage in soul attack after stepping into the Fengwang level, I must cultivate a soul-amplification secret art, or raise my will to the Zifeng Zunzhe level, or obtain a soul-type heavy treasure that can assist in unleashing soul attacks!"

Although Lu Qingshan currently had a soul-type heavy treasure, it was purely for defense and couldn't assist in attacks at all!

And among these three, cultivating a soul-type amplification secret art was undoubtedly the simplest option!

(End of this chapter)