Chapter 440: The Terrifying Xu Yuan

Li Yuan's outburst truly shocked all the Flying Demi-gods.

Even those who had favored him from the start, such as Demigod Jing Kui and Yueshan, had not expected his killing efficiency to be so astonishing.

"How could Xu Yuan's strength be this great?"

"Just in terms of the time taken to pass the second layer, even I am only slightly faster than him," Demi-god Yueshan said, unable to hide his shock.

"Could it be that his strength rivals yours?" Yang Di couldn't help but ask. "But didn't he just break through to become a Demi-god? His Yuan Force cultivation should be far weaker than ours, and five years ago, his comprehension of the Laws was only at the initial Void God level... Could his comprehension of the Laws have reached the peak Void God level so quickly?"

Just thinking about it, Demi-god Yang Di felt it was impossible.

A bottleneck that many Void Gods struggle to cross for thousands of years—could Xu Yuan break through it in a mere five years?

Is there such a monstrous genius in this world?

"Hard to say. Let's watch." Demi-god Yueshan stared at the light screen in the void.

"This shouldn't be! How could Xu Yuan's strength be this great? It defies reason." Demi-god Bai Feng frowned, his mind in turmoil.

Since he dared to gamble, he had naturally prepared himself to lose.

However, even though he had greatly overestimated Li Yuan, he only believed Li Yuan had a slim hope of breaking into the top hundred of the Demi-god Ranking.

And now?

Even compared to their group of Demi-god Holy Sons, Li Yuan's killing efficiency was not inferior in the slightest.

And how long had they, the Demi-god Holy Sons, been cultivating, and how long had Li Yuan been cultivating?

"Interesting!"

"To have such fast killing efficiency, either his strength is super strong, or he has powerful area-of-effect methods." Demigod Jing Kui stood at the very front of the group, looking very relaxed. A trace of anticipation appeared in his eyes: "But no matter what, Xu Yuan, you are far stronger than you were five years ago."

"Growing so fast."

"Could it be that in the Ancestral Realm Battle six years from now, I will have one more opponent?" Demigod Jing Kui smiled slightly.

His childhood experiences meant he never feared having more opponents.

Any powerful opponent or enemy would only be viewed by him as scenery on his path of growth.

On the high platform of the Divine Hall, seven True Gods could observe Li Yuan's detailed battle scenes.

"Domain!"

"Xu Yuan actually possesses such powerful domain methods; he seems to have also deployed a powerful divine artifact," True God Yue Yi said softly. "Coordinating the two makes his area-of-effect methods extremely astonishing."

"I suspect it is a Nine-Layer Domain Star Technique! And it has already been cultivated to the fourth-stage ultimate," a purple-robed True God said. "This level of domain is something many Void Gods cannot reach."

"Xu Yuan's comprehension of the Laws is not high enough, but just in terms of domain power, looking at the countless geniuses of the Divine Fire Hall, he is enough to compete for the top three," the purple-robed True God said solemnly. "It is clearly because his Star Technique is very formidable."

Aside from Li Yuan, there were only three members in the Divine Fire Hall who had awakened Eight Star Pulses... the rest were only Seven Star Pulse Demi-gods.

Therefore, the number of Divine Fire Hall Demi-gods who could cultivate two Nine-Layer combat Star Techniques could be counted on one's fingers... and among them, not a single one cultivated a Nine-Layer Domain Star Technique.

Like Demigod Jing Kui, he had awakened four Nine-Layer Star Pulses, and the two Nine-Layer combat Star Techniques he cultivated were a Body Refining Star Technique and a Phantom Body Star Technique.

A Nine-Layer Star Technique cultivated to the fourth-stage ultimate is a Level 36 Star Technique!

As for a Seven-Layer Star Technique, a Demi-god cultivating it to the fourth-stage ultimate is only Level 28, and a Void God cultivating it to the fifth-stage ultimate is only Level 35.

The higher the grade of the Star Technique, the greater the difference in power becomes as one progresses.

Li Yuan, even if his comprehension of the Laws was far weaker than those Demi-god Holy Sons, his Yuan Force cultivation was close, and by relying on the "Heaven and Earth River" cultivated to Level 35, combined with the Nine Dragon Profound Armor, his domain killing power was at the very top among the Divine Fire Hall Demi-gods.

"His Yuan Force cultivation should have reached Level 47, stronger than we previously anticipated," another black-armored Deputy Hall Master spoke up.

Before Li Yuan erupted, these True Gods could not see clearly.

But once Li Yuan made a move, with the vision of the True Gods, they could naturally quickly analyze Li Yuan's many methods and background.

"Hmm, what you have deduced is basically all correct," True God Chi Yang said softly. "Let us see how far Xu Yuan can go in the Divine Fire Tower."

The third layer of the Divine Fire Tower.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" One thousand Divine Fire warriors whistled into motion; the power they possessed was no different from the first and second layers.

What changed was their level of Law comprehension, which had all been raised to the Demi-god level.

Naturally, this greatly increased their strength.

These Divine Fire warriors also possessed extremely high intelligence; in groups of ten, they charged toward Li Yuan, covering the sky and earth.

"Strangulate!"

"Go!" Li Yuan's mind stirred, and he once again deployed his domain methods. With nine yellow dragons as the core, those wisps of earthy-yellow airflow acted like blades, crazily striking and cutting at the bodies of these Divine Fire warriors.

However, the difficulty of killing was skyrocketing.

On the second layer, a single yellow dragon could strangle a Divine Fire warrior, but now it could only leave a few scars.

"Relying solely on the domain is not enough." A sharp glint flashed in Li Yuan's eyes, followed by a ripple dispersing.

Soul attack! It directly infiltrated the bodies of those Divine Fire warriors... but these Divine Fire warriors were completely unaffected, still roaring and howling as they killed toward Li Yuan.

"Hmm? So that's how it is."

"If they were puppets, the puppet spirit would have consciousness, and one could use illusions to affect its strength, but these Divine Fire warriors are energy warriors condensed by an array... they only have battle instinct and are instead unaffected by soul attacks." Li Yuan immediately understood that soul attacks were ineffective.

He had to rely on material attacks to break out of the encirclement.

"Kill!"

Li Yuan's figure moved. His speed was far faster than it had been five years ago, everything mysterious and unpredictable, instantly flashing out dozens of phantom bodies within the vast Heaven and Earth River.

Nine-Layer Star Technique "Ten Thousand Shadows Void"!

Although it was still only at the third-stage ultimate, its power was not inferior to the Seven-Layer Star Techniques deployed by the Demi-gods.

For a time, the Divine Fire warriors, whose speed was already greatly reduced under the domain suppression, immediately scattered to chase down those phantom bodies.

"Exterminate!"

Li Yuan's true body was hidden among the many phantom bodies, with only twenty Divine Fire warriors rushing over.

Whoosh!

Li Yuan had already gripped the Dark Star Divine Spear in his hand. The long spear streaked across the sky, its power instantly surging, and with an unrivaled momentum, it directly pierced through the bodies of three Divine Fire warriors.

Bodies torn apart! Die!

Li Yuan, erupting with full force and under the enhancement of the domain, had spear technique attack power that had already reached the Level 52 standard.

"Roar!" "Kill!"

Even though Li Yuan's other phantom bodies had a certain amount of attack power, the other Divine Fire warriors still judged the location of Li Yuan's true body and pounced over like lightning.

"These Divine Fire warriors cannot stop me." Li Yuan walked as if in a leisurely courtyard, a single flash alternating with the many phantom bodies, instantly shaking off the pursuit of over a hundred Divine Fire warriors.

Whether it was "Nine Shadows Clone" or "Ten Thousand Shadows Void," the core lay in the two words "shadow" and "illusion."

In essence, this was a super-high-level phantom body combat technique.

And the point where "Ten Thousand Shadows Void" was stronger than "Nine Shadows Clone" was that it could greatly increase the compatibility between Li Yuan and spatial fluctuations, allowing Li Yuan to form more real phantom bodies under the same Law comprehension.

Phantom bodies also have many levels.

Weak ones can be distinguished by a sweep of divine sense, while powerful ones even contain a certain amount of attack power.

The legendary strongest phantom body is exactly the same as the true body, nearly becoming another avatar; that is what is called terrifying.

Now, Li Yuan could easily form hundreds of phantom bodies in a single thought.

But to make these Divine Fire warriors unable to distinguish, he could maintain at most thirty-six phantom bodies... the more phantom bodies maintained, the greater the consumption of Yuan Force, and the greater the burden on Li Yuan's soul.

Moreover, under the cover of the Heaven and Earth River domain, it also made Li Yuan's phantom bodies harder to distinguish.

"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"

Li Yuan's true body and phantom bodies alternated, the domain covering all directions, continuously slaughtering the Divine Fire warriors.

Finally, after spending quite a while, Li Yuan slaughtered all the Divine Fire warriors on this layer.

"Fourth layer!"

Li Yuan rested for a moment, then turned into a stream of light and entered the fourth layer of the Divine Fire Tower.

At this moment, on the ranking light screen in the Divine Fire Hall, Li Yuan's points ranking had soared to 412th place.

"He entered the fourth layer."

"He broke into the top one thousand; he is qualified to participate in the second round of duels."

"Xu Yuan's speed in passing the third layer was much slower than the other Holy Sons; his killing efficiency has clearly slowed down."

"It seems Xu Yuan's true strength still cannot catch up to the Demi-god Holy Sons after all." Many Demi-gods discussed, and those like Yueshan, Demigod Dong Pan, and Bai Feng all breathed a sigh of relief.

If Xu Yuan had really just broken through to become a Demi-god and his strength had already caught up to them, that would be too heart-trembling.

However.

When they looked up and saw the number on the light screen whose points ranking was still constantly jumping, they still felt some emotion and sighs.

"312th place."

"291st place."

Even though the speed of Li Yuan's points increase had plummeted, it still could not cover up his brilliance; he was, after all, only in his thirties.

"It seems Xu Yuan cannot pass the fourth layer," Demi-god Yueshan said in a low voice. "I estimate that rushing to around 200th place is his limit."

"It is already terrifying enough." Yang Di shook his head and sighed, "He was only attempting it for the first time."

"But he only broke through the Divine Fire Tower to 200th place; in the second round of duels later, it will be extremely difficult for him to rush into the top hundred," Demi-god Yueshan frowned. "Doesn't that mean he will lose the bet?"

Yang Di couldn't help but be stunned, and couldn't help but glance at Bai Feng in the distance.

There was no joy on Bai Feng's face.

On the high platform of the Divine Hall, the seven True Gods had been paying attention to Li Yuan's situation.

"It is very difficult for Xu Yuan to pass the fourth layer."

"His comprehension of the Laws has made great progress compared to five years ago, and for his age, it is already incomparably exaggerated... but compared to Demigod Dong Pan, Yueshan, and the others, there is still a huge gap," True God Yue Yi said. "The mysteries of his spear technique moves have only just entered the mid-level Void God standard."

"The moves of those Demi-god Holy Sons are all at the peak Void God standard in terms of mystery, and those like Demigod Dong Pan and Demigod Jing Kui have even reached the limit Void God standard," True God Yue Yi's eyes were sharp.

"Xu Yuan's strength is approximately equivalent to Level 52, but his domain is extremely strong."

"Hmm."

"Give Xu Yuan a few more decades, and he will be very terrifying, but right now his comprehension of the Laws is not enough. He passed the first and second layers so quickly because his domain is strong enough, and a domain is a sharp weapon for dealing with the weak... but the stronger the enemy, the weaker the effect of the domain," the purple-robed True God also said.

"Relying on domain power, he can rush to about 200th place, but when it comes to real combat, his final ranking will likely slide to around 400th place."

"In life-and-death combat with other Demi-gods, Xu Yuan can probably rank around 300th on the Demi-god Ranking," these True Gods exchanged.

Breaking through the Divine Fire Tower is not entirely fair.

For example, soul attacks cannot be used, mainly because Demi-gods generally do not deliberately study the soul, and the tests are more complex, and Juexing Ancient City has not set up special settings for it.

In a sense, the high-level figures of Juexing Ancient City do not encourage Demi-gods to study the Dao of the soul... after all, for Demi-gods, improving Law comprehension and awakening Life Stars is the most important thing.

After becoming a god, there is plenty of time to ponder the Dao of the soul.

Secondly, those who are good at domain area-of-effect methods also have more advantages in the first five layers of the Divine Fire Tower.

Only when reaching the sixth layer of the Divine Fire Tower will the strongest Divine Fire warriors be born, and one must have absolute strength to pass.

On the fourth layer of the Divine Fire Tower, Li Yuan was fighting with all his might.

"Kill!"

"Kill!" "Kill!" Li Yuan's battle intent soared to the sky, yet deep in his heart, he maintained absolute calmness.

The seven emotions and six desires flowed through his heart, while his inner self remained absolutely tranquil; this was the pursuit of tempering the heart and will in the "Heart Illusion Six Realms."

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Thirty-six phantom bodies alternated and flickered, helping Li Yuan's true body hide among them, avoiding attacks from those Divine Fire warriors.

Spear technique sharp!

Figure ghostly!

"Boom—" The overwhelming Divine Fire warriors attacked frantically. Their auras were robust, and every one of them could already trigger the mysteries of the laws; the power of their weapon attacks was monstrous.

At this moment, the strength of every Divine Fire warrior had already surpassed the limit of a Demi-god and was approaching a true Void God.

Under the joint attack of a large number of Divine Fire warriors, influencing each other, the power of Li Yuan's Heaven and Earth River domain was plummeting, and he could only continuously shrink it, suppressing the Divine Fire warriors at close range with all his might.

Nine yellow dragons? They had already been blasted apart by the joint attacks of the Divine Fire warriors several times.

The most critical point is.

The maximum diameter of the entire hall was only 100 kilometers, leaving too little space for Li Yuan to dodge.

"If my Yuan Force cultivation reached Level 49.9! My strength could be a big chunk stronger in all aspects, and I should be able to pass the fourth layer," Li Yuan thought to himself. "Now? I'm afraid I can't pass it."

The difficulty of each layer of the Divine Fire Tower is constantly skyrocketing.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Hundreds of Divine Fire warriors attacked continuously; even if Li Yuan's movement technique was heaven-defying, he could not avoid being attacked... one mistake, and he would be attacked repeatedly.

This caused the energy contained in Li Yuan's body-protecting spiritual light to plummet.

"Whoosh!" Unable to dodge in time, another fierce blade swept across Li Yuan's true body, followed by the body-protecting spiritual light completely dissipating, and Li Yuan instantly disappeared from the fourth layer of the Divine Fire Tower.

Li Yuan's final points were 3488 points.

Points ranking 214th!

Whoosh!

Li Yuan only felt his vision blur, and he slowly descended from the space vortex filled with flame airflow, returning to the ground.

"Hmm?" Li Yuan immediately felt the gazes in the hall, some envious, some jealous, some admiring.

"Truly fierce!"

"No wonder he can be ranked alongside Demigod Jing Kui; just becoming a Demi-god, he could actually rush to 214th place."

"Indeed exaggerated."

"His strength improved too fast; I really don't know how he cultivates," many Flying Demi-gods transmitted their voices to discuss.

Although Li Yuan's 214th place was still a certain distance from the "one hundredth place" bet with Demi-god Bai Feng... but at the very beginning, no one thought Li Yuan could win.

214th place was enough to shock people's hearts.

Li Yuan returned to the place where Yueshan and Yang Di were; the powerhouses of the Yuan Nation lineage naturally gathered together.

"Brother Xu Yuan, well done," Yueshan smiled. "I was worried before, but I didn't expect your strength to be so formidable; you could rush to 214th place on your first try. In the next ranking battle five years later, you will definitely be able to rush into the top hundred."

"Hmm."

"Although we didn't win the bet this time, no one dares to underestimate you anymore," Yang Di also smiled. "Look, even Bai Feng hasn't made a sound."

In the eyes of the two of them, if Li Yuan hadn't even rushed into the top one thousand, then this bet would be very embarrassing.

But 214th place? Losing the bet was acceptable.

"Brother Yueshan, Brother Yang Di," Li Yuan smiled. "The second stage hasn't started yet; do you assume I'm going to lose?"

Yueshan and Yang Di were both stunned.

Listening to Li Yuan's meaning, could it be that he still had confidence in rushing into the top hundred?

Before they could ask more.

"The first stage of the Demi-god Ranking Battle is completely over," a low voice spread from the high platform, resounding through the hall, causing the hall to instantly quiet down.

True God Chi Yang's gaze swept across the entire venue, and he said slowly: "Those in the top one thousand in points ranking, enter the second round."

"The duel rules are very simple; according to points ranking, randomly divide into ten groups, one hundred people in each group."

"The 100 people in the group will duel in turn; victory earns 1 point, failure earns no points; finally, the top thirty in each group will be the top three hundred on the Demi-god Ranking."

"The top ten in each group will be the top hundred on the Demi-god Ranking."

"The first and second in each group will enter the top twenty to decide the final top ten," True God Chi Yang said in a low voice.

Everyone who entered the top one thousand in points felt their hearts tighten.

Round-robin battles are the most cruel! But extremely fair!

Want to rush into the top hundred or even the top twenty of the Demi-god Ranking? Then defeat most of the Demi-gods in the same group.

Swish~

True God Chi Yang waved his hand, and the huge space vortex in the void dissipated, replaced by dense void arenas, a full one hundred of them.

Enough for all the Demi-god powerhouses of two groups to duel at the same time.

"Whoosh!"

True God Chi Yang waved his hand again, and the huge light screen in the void flickered, quickly dividing into ten groups, with a full one hundred names under each group.

The points after each name were 0.

"Demigod Jing Kui is in the first group."

"Demigod Dong Pan is in the second group."

"Bai Feng's points ranking is in the top ten, also in the second group."

"The top ten in Divine Fire Tower points randomly entered ten groups, and points eleven to twenty were also randomly dispersed into ten groups..." Many Flying Demi-gods couldn't help but look up.

According to points ranking, the strength of each group is very balanced, very fair.

On average, each group has 1-2 Demi-god Holy Sons.

"I am 214th, randomly assigned to the second group," Li Yuan's gaze swept across the huge light screen. "My points ranking in the second group is 22nd... If I want to enter the top two of this group and compete for the final top ten, I must work hard not to lose a single match."

Only by winning all matches can one be foolproof.

But the second group Li Yuan is in has two Demi-god Holy Sons, Demigod Dong Pan and Bai Feng; the difficulty of winning all matches can be imagined.

"Bai Feng." Li Yuan was thoughtful, turned his head to look not far away, and happened to collide with Bai Feng's gaze.

The two people's gazes collided, and both understood what the other was thinking.

"The 200 Demi-god reserve members of the first and second groups, do not resist, prepare to enter the void arena," True God Chi Yang said in a low voice. "The rules are the same as when breaking through the Divine Fire Tower; I emphasize again, it is not allowed to use external objects such as Law secret treasures; once discovered, you will be directly eliminated."

Whoosh!

Suddenly, an invisible force covered the 200 Demi-gods, and they immediately turned into streams of light and were thrown into the void arenas.

Quickly.

All the spectators quickly saw the duel candidates for the one hundred void arenas, and one of the arenas immediately attracted the attention of the vast majority of people.

"It's Xu Yuan and Bai Feng!!"

"Haha, they are both in the second group; they actually met in the first match. Interesting."

"Just now breaking through the Divine Fire Tower, Xu Yuan was in the limelight; I didn't expect him to be tragic in the blink of an eye."

"He is only 214th; he is doomed to lose."

"Let's see if Bai Feng will ravage Xu Yuan," many watching Flying Demi-gods exchanged.

Compared to this battle, even Demigod Jing Kui's battle was not very eye-catching.

All the spectators one-sidedly believed that Xu Yuan would definitely not be Bai Feng's opponent; after all, the huge gap in strength between the two sides could be seen from the points ranking.

"Xu Yuan, relying on his domain, should be able to resist for a while."

"Hmm, although this little guy Bai Feng is arrogant, his strength is indeed not bad; it is not difficult to defeat the current Xu Yuan," the seven True Gods, including True God Chi Yang, all thought so.

On that void arena.

"Hmm? Xu Yuan?" Bai Feng, wearing golden armor, couldn't help but be stunned after seeing Li Yuan.

Li Yuan was also stunned.

The two people met in the first match? Both of them had a feeling, was True God Chi Yang doing this on purpose?

"Brother Xu Yuan, your strength is already very strong; I take back what I said before; I admit I underestimated you," Demi-god Bai Feng said slowly. "However, you will not be my opponent now."

Even though he believed he would win, Demi-god Bai Feng was no longer arrogant, nor did he ridicule Li Yuan.

"Is that so?"

"Brother Bai Feng," Li Yuan revealed a trace of a smile. "Actually, I don't know if I can beat you either, but you had better make a move first, otherwise you might not have a chance to make a move."

"No chance to make a move?" Bai Feng was stunned at first, and a trace of anger flashed in his eyes: "Xu Yuan, I have already respected you enough."

Respect?

"Brother Bai Feng, I didn't say that on purpose," Li Yuan shook his head. "Everything I said was from the heart."

Li Yuan was indeed speaking from the heart.

After all, he had never used soul attacks before; once erupted, how great the power would be, Li Yuan himself had no idea.

"Good!"

"Brother Xu Yuan, then please make your move first, let me learn what is called 'no chance to make a move'," Demi-god Bai Feng's face also turned gloomy, and he was completely angry in his heart.

Even Demigod Jing Kui would not dare to speak to him like this.

"Are you sure?" Li Yuan smiled.

"Sure," Demi-god Bai Feng's eyes were cold: "Brother Xu Yuan, whatever methods you have, deploy them all."

"Good."

Li Yuan nodded, his mind stirred, booming~ the vast Heaven and Earth River domain erupted, instantly covering the entire void arena.

"Domain? Such a strong domain? No wonder he could break through the first and second layers of the Divine Fire Tower so quickly?" A trace of surprise flashed in Demi-god Bai Feng's eyes, and then his eyes turned cold: "But just relying on this domain method, you want to defeat me... Hmm? Not good!"

"It's a soul attack..."

Endless confusion had already flashed in Demi-god Bai Feng's eyes; he only felt his consciousness falling into endless darkness.

The moment he deployed the Heaven and Earth River domain, Li Yuan also directly deployed the second layer method of "Mind Soul"—"Life and Death Scene."

One dream is life, one illusion is death; between life and death, all are illusions.

In an instant.

Based on Li Yuan's Level 54 soul and Level 59 will, and with the "Heart Illusion Six Realms" as the pillar, the terrifying illusion method directly caused Demi-god Bai Feng's consciousness to completely fall.

Booming~

Under the cover of the domain, nine yellow dragons roared, streaking across the sky and directly submerging Demi-god Bai Feng.

In just one second, Demi-god Bai Feng disappeared from the arena.

Li Yuan, wins!

"It seems my soul attack has a great influence on Demi-gods; even Bai Feng could not wake up quickly," Li Yuan immediately had a clear understanding of the power of his soul attack.

In the Divine Fire Hall, the thousands of watching Flying Demi-gods were all incomparably shocked, looking at Li Yuan standing alone in the void arena.

The entire hall was completely quiet.

"It's an illusion!"

"What a terrifying soul attack!" True God Chi Yang's eyes were full of shock: "Even a peak Void God powerhouse might fall into his illusion."

——

PS: There will be another chapter later; I will try to write this plot completely, but it will probably be very late when it is released, brothers, read it tomorrow morning.

Asking for monthly tickets in the middle of the month!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 441 =====