Chapter 183: Cardan, Die!

On the bronze giant peak bathed in heavenly light, Lin Qing flew toward the fleeing figure in the distance at maximum speed.

At the same time, the Eternal Gate in his mind began to slowly rotate, its central light-gate subtly rippling like a screen, revealing a single pinpoint of light.

After careful perception, Lin Qing saw that this nearest light point took the form of an old man with silver hair on the gate.

Simultaneously, a piece of information surfaced in his mind.

"High-level primal lifeform, soul of the Life lineage."

Lin Qing's heart stirred, "So this is Cardan's true life form?"

The Eternal Gate could reflect the true life forms and soul lineages of nearby lifeforms whose level did not exceed his own.

Initially limited to a few hundred meters, after his lifeform evolved into a high-level primal lifeform, the Eternal Gate could now reflect lifeforms within hundreds of kilometers.

If he evolved into a stellar lifeform, perhaps the entire Earth would lie within his reflection.

"Capture."

Lin Qing immediately shifted his intent.

At this moment, Cardan was locked by the Eternal Gate.

Should Cardan die, his soul would be directly sucked into the Eternal Gate and become Lin Qing's second avatar.

Of course, only after death.

"Now, I just need to kill Cardan."

Lin Qing slightly narrowed his eyes, "But… a scholar-type Stellar Divine Officer, after dropping two levels, still has a threat level comparable to the Council Chairman?"

Each Council Chairman possesses strength sufficient to pass the sixth layer of the Yu Xingyuan—either exceptional offensive power, defensive power, speed… or strength across multiple areas.

Yet this Cardan, a researcher, is weak in combat—how could his threat level be so high?

"Then let's test him first…"

Lin Qing's mind stirred, and immediately streams of light shot from his body, circling around him, ready to transform into Star-Swirling Divine Techniques.

If he unleashed the World Divine Technique right away and failed to kill him, Cardan might flee in terror—if he escaped the ruins' space, Lin Qing would be exposed.

Even if he had asked Chairman Yan for help via the Second Cosmic Network beforehand, if Cardan's escape methods were too strong, Yan might not stop him.

"If all else fails, use Chu Hongjun's method…"

As his thoughts shifted, the distance between Lin Qing and Cardan shrank rapidly, now only several kilometers apart.

Even though the bronze demon mountain's gravity was immense—only Yu Xingyuan Layer Two cultivators could barely walk—Lin Qing's speed in flight was naturally far greater.

Cardan, too, fled without hesitation toward areas far from the mountain path, dragging Lin Qing along.

Lin Qing could tell: the man was trying to distance himself from Chairman Yan.

But Lin Qing didn't care—so long as Chairman Yan guarded the space gate atop the peak, it was enough.

Just as Lin Qing neared Cardan—

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

With a terrifying aura bursting forth, three blood-red afterimages shot from Cardan's body, all hurtling toward Lin Qing!

A flicker of anticipation surfaced in Cardan's eyes.

No matter how fast a Divine Technique, it still requires initiation time—so close, if caught off-guard and unable to form the technique, one might be struck! "Ambush?"

Lin Qing's gaze turned icy, and the streams of light circling his body instantly interwove in strange rhythms and trajectories, transforming into a wildly spinning orb of light!

Star-Swirling!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The three blood-red afterimages struck the Star-Swirling Divine Technique simultaneously—but not a single one could shake the spinning miniature star; all were deflected and instantly shattered.

"Hmph."

Lin Qing further activated the Star-Swirling Divine Technique, turning it into a rolling star that crushed forward.

Along its path, the ambient energy in the void surged wildly, yet the surface of the bronze giant peak remained utterly unharmed—unbreakably solid.

"Quick reaction—or were you already wary of me all along?"

A mental force struck, carrying both illusionary seduction and soul assault, accompanied by telepathic words.

Lin Qing, expressionless, drove the Star-Swirling Divine Technique straight into it.

Letting his Source Soul and Mirror of Pain block the soul assault and illusionary seduction, he absorbed only minor life force loss and slight soul pain—no real impact on him.

"So comprehensive?"

Cardan's expression didn't change; facing the rolling star's impact, he made no attempt to dodge—only extended his hands!

In that instant, his arms erupted with crimson scales, and his palms rapidly elongated and expanded, his ten fingers transforming into ten crimson-scaled serpents, each dozens of meters long, coiling tightly around the Star-Swirling orb!

The miniature star, like a trapped creature, spun furiously trying to break free—but the ten serpent-like fingers twisted together, forming an unyielding net that held it fast.

Cardan couldn't help smiling, "Young man, do you think one Divine Technique makes you invincible? You're still too…"

At that moment, the wildly spinning orb suddenly began expanding rapidly—from six meters in diameter, growing to ten, then twenty meters…

"Huh?" Cardan's face changed.

In the blink of an eye, the ten crimson-serpent fingers could no longer contain the expanding star—they were forcibly pried open! Cardan found it unbelievable: "The energy cost to form a Divine Technique must be enormous—just maintaining it is impressive, but how does he have enough energy to expand its range?"

He didn't need to think: a Divine Technique with such defense must consume colossal energy.

Forcibly expanding its defensive range would require even more staggering energy! "Boom—"

The miniature star, now twenty meters in diameter, rolled forward again!

Inside the star, Lin Qing maintained the Star-Swirling Divine Technique while simultaneously absorbing energy to recover.

The Cosmic Ruin Colossus Blood had increased his energy reserves dozens of times over—so even maintaining a twenty-meter Star-Swirling Divine Technique, compared to…

Lin Qing continued guiding the star's crushing advance, his mind ever alert.

Whether the ambush technique or the fingers-turning-into-snakes move—though impressive, they could at most threaten Yu Xingyuan Layer Five.

Judging by his threat level, Cardan certainly couldn't have only these tricks.

"Hmm?"

Just as the miniature star was about to collide with Kadoan, Lin Qing suddenly felt a terrifying aura erupt violently, forcing the Spinning Star Divine Art to deviate from its trajectory and crash into the mountain wall to the side.

He immediately halted the Spinning Star Divine Art.

"Just now, he..."

Lin Qing found it hard to believe: "He pushed back the Spinning Star Divine Art with just his bare hands?"

At this moment, Kadoan had already regained the appearance of the silver-haired old man, an intelligent being. His expression was somewhat sighing: "I never expected... a little kid who doesn't even have a Primordial Divine Office to force me to this extent?"

As he spoke, the wrinkles on his originally aged face began to vanish continuously, and his slightly dim eyes became bright and spirited, as if time were reversing, constantly restoring youth and vitality!

At the same time, his entire body began to grow and stretch at an astonishing speed, swelling up as if inflated!

In the blink of an eye, Kadoan transformed from a normal human height of less than two meters into a giant fully eighty meters tall!

That barbaric and terrifying aura spread out.

"Everyone who has seen me in this form before has been a Star Divine Office holder. Earthling... you are the first."

Kadoan's personality also seemed affected; a bit of ferocity appeared in his eyes. He took several sudden strides forward and immediately grabbed the crazily spinning light ball with both hands.

This light ball, expanded to a diameter of twenty meters, was like a basketball in the hands of an ordinary person in his grasp.

"Sssss—!"

The light ball also spun crazily in his hands, friction generating countless energy sparks like fire.

"Little kid, quite sturdy?" Kadoan let out a wild laugh, and his hands began to squeeze the light ball formed by the Spinning Star Divine Art frantically.

Relying on this body that consumed his lifespan, he could barely keep up with those Combat-type Divine Office holders. Even though the strongest aspect of this body was defense, its strength had already reached the threshold of the Yu Xingyuan Sixth Layer.

As a scholar, he possessed no Divine Office abilities for combat, but after inadvertently studying a terrifying life form, he improved his own life form structure through imitation, thereby compensating for this shortcoming! He had no special abilities, only an extremely powerful physical body!

"Crack... crack..."

At this moment, the light ball began to twist and deform in Kadoan's hands, seeming ready to shatter completely at any moment! Kadoan's eyes lit up with joy, and he immediately squeezed the light ball even harder.

This indicated that his brute force eruption had already exceeded the defensive limit of Lin Qing's Divine Art!

Just then—

"Boom!"

At this moment, the free-floating energy in the nearby void seemed to receive a summons; countless energies, like a tsunami, swept in and began to gather at a terrifying speed!

Kadoan couldn't help but pause: "What's going on?"

He suddenly snapped to his senses.

The center of this tsunami-like storm of countless energy convergences was the light ball in his hands! "What are you doing?" A bad premonition arose in Kadoan's heart, and he squeezed the light ball in his hands even more frantically, trying to crush it.

But this light ball was like a piece of plasticine; not only was its defensive strength extremely high, but its toughness also surpassed his imagination!

No matter how hard he exerted force to knead it, it seemed ready to be crushed at any moment, yet it was always just a little short! He did not know...

Inside the Spinning Star Divine Art, a membrane-like wall that seemed to divide the world was tightly adhering to the Spinning Star Divine Art from within, and there was also dark golden, flesh-like substance attached inside the membrane!

Inside the Spinning Star Divine Art was a layer of World Skin; inside the World Skin was the Ten Thousand Spirits Flesh that supported it.

Even though his physical strength was extremely terrifying, it was impossible to break through the layered defenses of the Three Great Divine Arts with brute force alone! The sky was dim, and the howling energy storm emitted a thunderous roar that shook heaven and earth.

At this moment, surging, tide-like terrifying energy continued to sweep in, gathering like a whirlpool, and the center of this massive energy storm was the light ball in the giant's hands!

"Why hasn't it broken yet?" Kadoan grew increasingly anxious, even grabbing the light ball with both hands and smashing it frantically against the bronze ground, but the result was the same.

At this time, waves of energy began to condense, forming dark golden lights like sky pillars.

"Could it also be a Divine Art? What kind of Divine Art is this?"

Kadoan simply could not understand; powerful Divine Arts were already universally recognized as invincible forces, so how could there be an even stronger Divine Art?

But just from the scene of the sky and earth changing color and the massive convergence of free-floating energy, he knew he could not let Lin Qing succeed!

"Disperse these energies first!"

Kadoan immediately expanded his Domain and, through his understanding of various energies, forcibly dispersed the continuously gathering energy.

It was the same Sixth Energy Level Domain, but he possessed a Star-level Divine Office; to study life, over these hundred thousand years, he had come to understand the essence of countless types of energy!

At this moment, a large amount of energy began to be continuously dispersed; even though it was still gathering, it could not keep up with the dispersion speed of the Star-level Divine Office ability.

The dark golden lights, like sky pillars, began to dissipate as soon as they formed.

"That scared me..."

Kadoan felt the energy within a range of hundreds of kilometers around him begin to chaotically scatter, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief: "No matter what tricks you have, if you can't use them, it's futile..."

Inside the light ball of the Spinning Star Divine Art.

"As expected..."

Lin Qing's expression did not change at all; only a crack opened in his brow, revealing a vertical eye glowing with silver light.

"Truly a Star Divine Office holder; even if he is just a scholar, he cannot be underestimated..."

Since he intended to deal with a Star Divine Office holder, he had naturally thought of this point long ago.

He didn't even have a Primordial Divine Office; trying to forcibly gather such massive energy in front of a Star Divine Office holder was simply a dream.

But he had another method.

"Fortunately, I have the ability Zhao Jiayi gave me..."

With a thought in Lin Qing's heart, the vertical eye in his brow immediately burst forth with a ray of light, instantly opening the alternate space it was connected to!

"Boom!!"

At this moment, within the invisible spatial channel, streams of energy currents condensed to the extreme began to surge out from the spatial channel, like floodwaters breaching a dam and pouring out, rushing wildly toward Lin Qing in the outside world. This was energy he had prepared in advance; all the various energies required to condense a World God had been sucked into this alternate space by him.

The alternate space, originally a vacuum containing no energy or matter, could store items, so naturally, it could also store energy! With the help of this alternate space, he did not need to gather energy at all; he only needed to directly form the Divine Art!

In an instant, the massive energy currents merged into Lin Qing's pseudo-god body, and immediately, streams of dark golden light condensed, directly transforming into sky pillars! Afterwards, a large amount of dark golden strange substance condensed and emerged, filling and attaching to the skeleton at an astonishing speed, while muscles, blood vessels, eyeballs, and other structures continued to form.

There was also surging energy transforming into vast rivers, rapidly traversing between the massive body structures formed by the Ten Thousand Spirits Flesh, pouring into the heart and transporting to all parts of the body, constantly circulating within this massive body.

Finally, an energy field like a Light World, resembling a membrane dividing the world, spread out, covering the surface of this massive god body, contracting and fusing to form the skin membrane of this god body, completely stabilizing the energy.

"Boom!"

The instant this colossal divine body formed, a surging, majestic aura spread out; the mere pressure made the nearby free-floating energy tremble.

Sky-Pillar Bone! Ten-Thousand-Spirit Flesh! Mother-River Blood!

World-Skin! A towering World God stood thus atop this bronze giant peak.

And Kadon, merely eighty meters tall, looked up like an ant at the World God, thousands of meters high, his eyes blank with stupor.

【One version with no errors!】

"Little one."

Lin Qing looked down at the insect-like, tiny Kadon below and immediately stomped down.

"Boom!"

That colossal foot, hundreds of meters long, came straight down; under the terrifying power unleashed, Kadon had no time to dodge and was crushed beneath the foot! Blood sprayed out.

Kadon felt his mind go blank; the terrifying force compressed his body, leaving him utterly stunned. His relatively fragile internal organs were damaged instantly, and he suddenly spat out a huge mouthful of blood.

If this were on Earth, stepping on him would only sink him into the ground; his extremely tough physical body would not even suffer heavy damage.

But the solidity of this bronze giant peak, with Yu Xingyuan Layer Six power, could not shake it in the slightest!

This caused his body to fully bear the terrifying force of that stomp! "Oh?"

After moving his foot away, Lin Qing couldn't help but raise an eyebrow slightly. "So sturdy?"

Kadon's giant-form body was indeed extraordinary; although his internal organs suffered heavy damage, his exterior was extremely tough and was still recovering at high speed.

Moreover, for this kind of life form, such injuries could not possibly be fatal.

"I don't believe it."

Lin Qing lifted his foot again and began stomping wildly and continuously.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—!!"

After hundreds of consecutive stomps, Kadon was already in a semi-comatose state, and blood seeped from his entire body; yet not a single bone was broken, and his tough exterior showed little injury.

"Oh?"

Lin Qing slowly crouched down; the massive airflow and energy storm caused merely by the movement seemed to form a sky-filling howling hurricane, and the bronze trees on nearby Shanfeng shook along with it.

At this moment, Kadon regained a sliver of consciousness, struggled to open his eyes, and felt only that the sky-light above was blocked out, a massive shadow enveloping him.

"Tsk..."

Lin Qing looked down at the extremely wretched-looking Kadon and sighed, "Tsk, tsk. You really are sturdy..."

"Die!"

Kadon suddenly raised his arm; a scarlet-red blood stream, several meters thick, erupted violently, transforming into a gale that surged toward Lin Qing!

Lin Qing did not dodge, letting that blood gale strike his forehead.

"Sizzle, sizzle..."

This blood stream seemed to possess astonishing corrosive power, yet the skin formed from World-Skin remained completely undamaged.

It was like a drop of water falling on skin, with no effect whatsoever.

"How is this possible..." Kadon froze.

Lin Qing looked down at him with slight mockery. "Is this your final move?"

He himself could only unleash one or two tenths of the World God Body's power, so he could not harm himself; how could Kadon's meager moves possibly injure him?

But...

He had heard Chu Hongjun say that Kadon had once killed Star Deities from other universe civilizations, and those were pillar-level strong ones who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years; relying solely on this physical body, he couldn't have done it, could he? "You... what kind of monster are you..."

Kadon looked up, trembling, at this towering Lin Qing, thousands of meters high, his heart filled with shock and disbelief.

In his understanding, no matter how terrifying an unparalleled genius, at most he would be slightly stronger than Qi Lingxiao.

Before achieving the Primordial Deity position, mastering a few Divine Skills and sweeping through Yu Xingyuan Layer Five—that was the limit.

He had never dared to underestimate anyone and had already regarded this Earth genius Lin Qing as highly as possible.

But...

This terror, completely beyond comprehension, left him utterly unable to understand.

"This monster isn't even a Primordial Deity; if he continues to grow like this, my Yuanchen civilization... will surely be exterminated by him!"

"No... absolutely not..."

At this moment, alongside boundless despair, Kadon's heart gave birth to a resolute will: "I must kill him right here! I must!"

At the same time, a dark-red metal token hidden deep within his body slowly lit up.

He began to furiously pour his own life force into it.

This was the greatest gain of his hundred-thousand-year life; when he had inadvertently obtained that terrifying life form, he had also received this strange metal token.

He, a Star Deity specializing in scholarship, could not possibly have killed those combat-type Star Deities who lived for hundreds of thousands of years relying solely on this physical body.

—The key lay in this strange metal token.

Or rather, he could only kill those old fellows who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years.

"I still have over one hundred and eighty thousand years of lifespan; leaving one thousand years to handle affairs is enough; everything else will be used to activate this Life Token's 'Life Deprivation'!"

"His life level is comparable to mine; his gene optimization index is surely lower than mine; even if his lifespan is longer, I can surely deprive him of all his lifespan!"

Though spoken slowly, in the blink of an instant, Kadon's heart was already filled with a resolute will to perish together with the enemy.

"Earthling."

Kadon let out a helpless, bitter laugh. "Do you know what I regret most?"

Lin Qing did not want to know; he simply punched Kadon again, preparing to knock him completely unconscious, then use the method Chu Hongjun had mentioned.

Just then—

"Die together!"

A scarlet light suddenly erupted from within Kadoan's body, moving at the speed of light, instantly piercing through the void and plunging directly into Lin Qing's body!

Life Deprivation!

"Hmm?"

Lin Qing narrowed his eyes slightly. "Another trump card? Is this the legendary method Kadoan used to kill Star Divine Officials?"

In an instant, that scarlet light had drilled into his body, beginning to frantically annihilate and consume his life force, causing his lifespan to plummet wildly! Before coming here, he had specifically revived his original body, restoring his lifespan to a peak of 250,000 years, yet now it was dropping at an astonishing rate!

240,000 years, 230,000 years, 220,000 years...

Almost every second, his lifespan decreased by tens of thousands of years.

About nine seconds later.

Lin Qing sensed his life force had dropped by thirty to forty percent, losing over 90,000 years of lifespan! "It's over?" Lin Qing was slightly stunned.

He had already prepared for the worst, overestimating a Star Divine Official who had lived for over a hundred thousand years as much as possible.

The Black Flame Clone had also prepared to revive the original body; he never expected the enemy not to be dead! "You..."

Meanwhile, Kadoan was dumbfounded, staring at Lin Qing in near stupor. "How is this possible... how is it possible you aren't dead..."

The physical body he cultivated, though capable of wielding only Sixth-Level power, boasted a gene optimization index of 1100% thanks to his methods for developing his own genes.

If facing an enemy of the same life level with an identical gene optimization index, consuming his own life to activate the metal token and use Life Deprivation would result in a one-to-one cancellation of life with the opponent!

According to his calculations, the Life Deprivation he unleashed by spending 180,000 years of his lifespan should have instantly killed Lin Qing on the spot! But...

The opponent only consumed 90,000 years of lifespan?

"Over 2000% gene optimization... a monster..."

Kadoan's fear grew, his heart trembling. "No! Even if I must die, I must notify the clan!"

He had only 1,000 years of lifespan left, barely surviving by relying on this physical body, and maintaining this body also consumed life; if this continued, the opponent could simply outlast him! Just then—

"Boom!!"

Lin Qing suddenly punched him, unleashing terrifying power completely, followed by punch after punch, a massive fist with a diameter of one or two hundred meters frantically hammering into Kadoan's body.

Kadoan's consciousness immediately fell into a coma, barely maintaining this physical body through his remaining consciousness and instincts.

Without this physical body, he couldn't withstand a single punch! "Comatose?"

Lin Qing stopped, glanced at the comatose Kadoan, and while the opponent was still unconscious, the vertical eye on his brow suddenly lit up, using a spatial channel to suck the enemy inside.

If Kadoan hadn't been unable to resist, mere suction from an extra-dimensional channel wouldn't have been enough to forcibly pull him in.

In an instant, Kadoan appeared within that extra-dimensional space spanning over a hundred kilometers.

This extra-dimensional space was empty, nearly a vacuum.

The energy originally used to form a World God had all been released, leaving only a small residue.

As for matter—

Within this vast extra-dimensional space, only a palm-sized silver-white sphere floated in this zero-gravity environment.

To be precise, it was a 1024-hedron.

—This was a gift from Chu Hongjun.

A Zero-Point Energy Bomb.

This Zero-Point Energy Bomb could not be used in the terrifying high-gravity environment of the Bronze Demon Mountain; even if brought out, there wouldn't be time to activate it, so it could only be used inside an extra-dimensional space.

But now, it was perfect.

Lin Qing permeated his telekinesis into the extra-dimensional space, immediately controlling this nearly spherical Zero-Point Energy Bomb to fly toward Kadoan's massive body, drilling into him through his nostrils.

"It could kill the Chairman even at close range; I don't believe you can survive an internal explosion!"

Lin Qing's eyes grew cold, and he immediately triggered it via telekinetic waves.

After a brief silence.

"Mm..."

Kadoan opened his eyes groggily.

Just then, the telekinesis he constantly used to sense his own body suddenly detected a faint light quietly igniting within him, which in an instant turned into boundless light, surging out from within his body.

"This is..."

In that instant, he regretted even more that during the Council of Elders, he hadn't insisted on turning all Earthlings into experimental materials.

If only he had done it sooner...

"Boom!"

In an instant, a terrifyingly immense explosion engulfed everything.

In that purely dark extra-dimensional space, it was like a brilliant star, before completely annihilating.

(End of Chapter)