Chapter 168: Realm of the Overturning Cosmos

When Qin Xiang's fist touched the ground, Wang Wu almost thought the entire world had vanished.

The earth beneath his feet was torn open by countless fissures, radiating outward in all directions from Qin Xiang's fist.

Wang Wu had previously watched some movies depicting the apocalypse, and in those films, the world's destruction always accompanied the earth's cracking.

And now, such a scene was unfolding right before Wang Wu's eyes.

At first, watching the massive chasms ripped open by tremendous energy, Wang Wu felt nothing.

Because it was ordinary—how to put it— it felt just like the scenes he had seen in those sci‑fi movies.

It was nothing more than cracked earth and shattered plates, and, oh right, his master's attack added some extra golden light effects on top of that.

Golden‑style techniques, after all—without golden visual effects, how could one tell they belong to the metal element?

Perhaps a strongman's attack is like that, the effects being more primal. That's what Wang Wu thought at the outset.

But that notion vanished the moment he realized the world before his eyes had disappeared.

The golden light surging from the countless fissures on the ground engulfed the entire world; when it faded, only a void remained before Wang Wu.

Wang Wu had previously encountered many descriptions of the "void"; in the novels he read, portrayals of the void were varied and stylistically diverse.

An interstellar expanse devoid of stars can sometimes be called a "void," but most often in fiction the void refers to a place where nothing exists—only pure nothingness.

And today, the space appearing before Wang Wu was exactly that.

Yet Wang Wu found it hard to describe it in words; like those oddities, he could not find any expression for the space in his mind.

It had no appearance, no shape—just nothingness.

Although Wang Wu could not define what it was, one thing was clear: this place was the void.

It was pure nothingness, the most primal form of "space" after everything had been annihilated.

And this is the power possessed by the elite above the third‑rank warriors, the strong ones called the Overturning Cosmos.

The third‑rank and above wield the annihilation power, and the Overturning Cosmos realm represents masterful application of that force.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of light‑years away, at the center of this galaxy.

Within the Four Heavens of the Sacred Realm lies the Tusita Heavenly Palace.

A Daoist sat cross‑legged on a mat; when Qin Xiang unleashed that annihilating strike, the Daoist opened his eyes at the same moment.

Unlike the wandering demonic corpses outside the Tusita Heavenly Palace at this moment, this Daoist appeared indistinguishable from ordinary humans of the Tianyuan Realm.

The only possible difference was that he possessed a pair of deep‑blue eyes, whereas humans of the Tianyuan civilization mostly had brown eyes.

"This galaxy actually harbors someone capable of destroying the true realm?"

The Daoist murmured while gently stroking the skull in his hand.

It was a skull as white as jade, exuding a vast, majestic divinity.

And this skull seemed faintly linked to the palace the Daoist occupied.

Each gentle caress of the skull caused invisible energy ripples to spread outward from the palace where the Daoist stood.

"Now that I'm already dead, why resist?" At that moment, the Daoist lowered his head, gazed at the skull in his hand, and chuckled:

"Better to let me use it; that would be a kind of repayment to this world."

Finishing his words, the Daoist's hand snapped shut, and a continuous stream of eerie energy surged instantly from his palm into the skull.

Simultaneously, a deep‑blue vertical pupil opened in the Daoist's forehead.

The eye was profound and far‑reaching, as if it could pierce the edge of the universe and the corner of the cosmos.

The Four Heavens of the Sacred Realm are the seat of the Tusita Heavenly Palace of the Heavenly Court, and also, in the distant past, the location of the Golden Palace of Mi Luo belonging to the Heavenly Sovereign Haotian Emperor.

And this place is the Jade Pure Realm's Qingwei Heaven, situated within the Four Heavens of the Sacred Realm.

The Tusita Heavenly Palace is the training ground of the Heavenly Court's Daoist Supreme Virtue.

In front of the Daoist's meditation mat stood a colossal alchemical furnace over 90,000 meters tall; the Daoist beneath it was like a tiny grain of sand compared to the furnace.

"Heavenly Court, Heavenly Court, ha…"

The Daoist, with a third eye sprouting on his forehead, chuckled, "A false Daoist, a pretended immortal, daring to call itself the Heavenly Court?"

"Utterly laughable."

He shook his head, and blue light flashed in the cultivator's forehead eye.

At that moment, although his body remained where it was, his spirit had already traveled tens of thousands of light‑years away.

In an instant, he crossed tens of thousands of light‑years, even piercing the boundary between the material universe and the immaterial universe.

A blue eye appeared in the firmament, and within the indescribable void, a massive eyeball manifested there.

And the moment he appeared, an immensely powerful information flow surged toward everyone still at the original spot.

That information flow alone was enough to burst the brains of Wang Wu and the remaining four cultivators.

Indeed, even Wang Wu could not withstand it; he would die as well.

Unfortunately, Wang Wu was overpowered, hired a substitute—ah no, got a big‑shot guide.

So he was completely unaffected.

And at the instant the massive eyeball appeared, Qin Xiang, who had intended to escort his disciple onto the vehicle, also vanished from the spot.

The next moment, he reappeared before the eye, the two now within arm's reach.

Qin Xiang had no intention of communicating with the other side; facing the eye, he did only one thing:

"Throw a punch."

True Warrior, Battle God—those are the strongest strikes he, as the Overturning Cosmos Martial God and peerless strongman, can unleash.

It was plain and simple, with no technique at all.

It was just a single punch—simply a punch.

The Battle God is not only usable as a secondary transformation of True Warrior; it can also trigger localized eruptions.

When the fist was thrown, the Battle God aspect awakened, solely to amplify this attack.

The Four Sacred Heavens lie at the center of the galaxy, beyond the massive black hole that replaces the stars' function in the stellar system.

Here, even light is bent and captured, and time has no meaning.

And that punch is the same.

Yet it is entirely different.

Because it moves slowly, unable to exceed light speed, reaching only 0.9 times it.

But it is steadfast, unblocked by any means, unaltered by any force; even the massive black hole at the galactic core cannot capture it.

The black hole cannot seize the light atop this golden fist, so the "Great Dark Heaven," shrouded in darkness for nearly ten billion years, is illuminated.

Within the Tusita Palace, the Daoist's shattered, vanished eyes contain only endless golden light.

This is the only image in the brain before and after the divine eye of "Heavenly Abyss" was destroyed.

Only light, only golden light that covers, burns, and annihilates everything.

It is merely a single punch.

The so‑called "Universe‑Overturning" name is somewhat exaggerated, yet it truly represents the pinnacle of Earth's martial arts.

Qin Xiang's normal speed is only 0.6 times light speed; even when assuming the True Warrior stance, it reaches merely 0.7 times.

Nevertheless, his attacks, even physical ones, are astonishingly fast.

Because it touches the "Light".

Inside the Tusita Palace, blue blood splatters onto the ground that has lain idle for millions of years, and onto the alchemical furnace that has been extinguished for the same span.

"Ah!!! Aaaah!!!!!"

Within this palace as massive as a celestial body, the Daoist's mournful cries echo through every corner of the heavenly palace.

"Kid, I've remembered you."

Amid the soul‑rending agony and terror, even though his mind is still engulfed by golden light, that voice rings clearly within Heavenly Abyss's mind:

"Hehe, Jie Jie Jie."

"Kid, I've already remembered you."

"Now, begin to flee for your life."

"But I will certainly find you, Jie Jie Jie, and then kill you, and you…"

"…shatter your body into ten thousand pieces…"

Fear.

This is the moment, after an unknown number of years, that Heavenly Abyss feels this emotion again.

Under this punch, annihilating everything, it wields enough power to destroy all matter within the material universe.

It was also the fundamental military power once held by the Human Empire in the distant past.

The civilization history of the New Humans spans roughly five thousand years; at least within the Solar System it is so, and earlier records are nonexistent.

Cloud Light City is even younger; although itself ancient, from the arrival of the first New Human it has only just over two thousand years.

Even though martial arts have developed over several millennia, New Humans remain far from their creator.

For a city, its greatest military strength is naturally its built‑in defense system and the warships left by the former Human Empire.

"Work's done," Qin Xiang withdrew his hand, wiped his clothes, and said to Wang Wu.

There was no exaggerated lightning or thunder, no earth‑shaking effects, yet this simple punch left four cultivators with their jaws dropped.

"WTF, Master, that was way too fierce???"

Wang Wu knew his master was fierce, unbelievably so, but he hadn't expected his master could be this extreme.

For a First‑Rank Warrior and above, there are videos, yet his masters never showed him what they look like at full power.

Let alone full‑force attacks, they have never displayed star‑shattering strikes before him.

And Qin Xiang's recent strike, though a single punch, was solidly enough to utterly destroy a planet.

As for that eye, Wang Wu actually didn't see the thing, because Qin Xiang's protection allowed him and a few other cultivators to escape.

Even though it appeared right before his eyes, and he saw it clearly.

But due to Qin Xiang's shielding and his brain's self‑protection, Wang Wu actually sees nothing.

His brain has already ignored it.

Thus, what Wang Wu now marvels at is not his master's full‑power punch, but the one that shattered this true realm.

A punch capable of annihilating stars.

No, a single planet doesn't require that much energy.

It concentrates a star's energy into a point, slams it onto the ground, then splits it.

The massive energy it unleashes can erase an entire star system from the universe.

For civilizations just emerging from their star system and beginning to stand out in their local cluster, this is probably the earliest attack they can unlock, capable of flattening a star system.

'Dyson Focused Beam'

A Dyson Sphere is a megastructure designed to capture all the energy emitted by a star.

Relying on such a structure, it would grant humanity inexhaustible energy.

If employed for warfare, it becomes a terrifying weapon capable of completely leveling a star system.

It draws the entire power of a star, focusing it to a point, like a convex lens concentrating sunlight.

It gathers and condenses, then converts the star's total power into an unmatched high‑energy beam, firing at its enemy.

It will destroy everything in its path; no planet can survive such a powerful beam.

This is the simplest superweapon a civilization can build after entering the interstellar age. The principle is simple, and the construction sounds fairly straightforward.

It merely captures all a star's energy and then fires it out.

Although it can annihilate an entire star system, it is surprisingly easy to make—like a skilled lathe worker in Wang Wu's hometown turning seamless steel pipe.

Well, it might be a bit exaggerated, but it's essentially correct.

After all, for a civilization to leave its star system and reach farther into the cosmos, besides the lifespan issue they also need to solve the energy problem.

Nuclear fusion is the first step, and also the first kind of "infinite energy" that the vast majority of civilizations point to.

After all, up there a super‑fusion reactor that has been running smoothly for billions of years hangs in the sky, and it also gave birth to all life in its star system.

"Master, with that—this move of yours, I'm afraid you could pierce an entire planet, right?"

Facing the terrifying power displayed by his master, although Wang Wu didn't have his jaw dropping to the floor or his eyeballs about to pop out like those four cultivators, he was still extremely shocked.

"A planet?" Qin Xiang glanced at his disciple. "You're being way too dismissive of me, your master, and of this place, aren't you?"

"This place?" Wang Wu was startled. "Could it be…"

"No, it's already gone." Qin Xiang waved his hand, then walked toward his taxi and opened the door.

"Let's go, get in, we'll chat while driving."

"Okay." Wang Wu turned his head, glanced at the cultivators, waved at them, "Sorry, I wasn't strong enough to protect everyone."

Fortunately, aside from that male cultivator, the other four cultivators were still alive. After his sole companion died, this cultivator who had entered the Law Realm became the only remaining male among the four.

Of course, with Wang Wu and Qin Xiang present, the gender ratio was still fairly balanced at this moment.

The several cultivators said nothing, merely nodding mechanically.

The group quickly boarded the car; although the vehicle wasn't large, one could sit in the front passenger seat and three in the back, which was certainly fine.

As for who sat in the front passenger seat, of course it was that male cultivator who had entered the Law Realm.

Wang Wu sat in the rear seat together with the girls.

"When I just destroyed this world, an eye appeared in the sky."

At that moment, prompted by his master's reminder, Wang Wu's brain‑protection mechanism kicked in, and he immediately recalled.

After that first punch, Master Qin Xiang delivered a second punch.

It was truly, in the literal sense, a punch capable of destroying heaven and earth, burning the galaxy.

(End of chapter)