Chapter 356: Terrifying Strike!

"Another low-level chaotic being—he still hasn't given up?"

"Could this man actually pass the preliminary selection?"

"How could someone targeted by Xiao Ying Bo possibly be weak?"

"Why are all these low-level chaotic beings so freakishly strong…"

The numerous high-level chaotic beings in the waiting area couldn't help but sigh.

Meanwhile, Jiu Jian Bo silently pondered: "If Brother Jialin wants to avoid Xiao Ying Bo, he should lose the preliminary selection, wait until Xiao Ying Bo joins the trial, then find a chance to escape."

Yet, he couldn't see any sign that Lin Qing would willingly surrender.

Xiao Ying Bo watched coldly from the side.

"This boy knows the Illusory World Annihilation—he likely has a good chance of passing the preliminary selection based on how he fought…"

"If he's faking defeat to dodge me, I'll let my avatar join the trial, then seize the chance to seal Lin Qing and turn him into a Divine Servant—that would complete the task, though I must be cautious of the aftermath…"

Xiao Ying Bo slightly narrowed his eyes.

He must find an opportunity to seal Lin Qing as plausibly as possible.

Otherwise, if he draws the attention of the Light King Your Majesty, who could suppress him with a mere thought from afar, he'd have no chance to seal him at all!

Even though Like Yu Gong gave him a feather from a Current-Realm Divine, that feather was meant for Eternal Divine Blood—to completely evade the Light King's observation and use the feather's faint power to briefly hinder the Light King's arrival, creating the window needed to turn Lin Qing into a Divine Servant.

Therefore, he must make his actions as reasonable as possible to avoid being preemptively suppressed by the Light King.

"Sealing Lin Qing is simple enough…"

Xiao Ying Bo silently mused, "The trouble is dealing with the Light King afterward… I'll probably have to beg my grandfather for help."

His grandfather was the master of the Lord of the Ten Thousand Seas Divine Nation!

Though his grandfather's power was inferior to the Lord of the Ten Thousand Seas Divine Nation, their master-disciple bond made it easy to ask the Lord to intervene.

The three Divine Nation Lords, as leaders of the Lie Wang Realm, each had their own ambitions—like the Three-Eras Divine of the Void Divine Clan, they each controlled one of the three primordial cosmic forces—past, future, and present—and stood as equals.

If the Lord of the Ten Thousand Seas Divine Nation agreed, even if he killed the Light King Your Majesty's direct disciple, he could still protect him.

Just like Like Yu Gong.

But Like Yu Gong's background was the Yuanchu Shen Di of the Yuanchu Divine Nation.

The Yuanchu Shen Di had long clashed with the Light King Your Majesty; though both were civilizational leaders, the three leaders seemed to harbor an innate, irreconcilable conflict that had festered for ages.

"Regardless, I'll cripple Lin Qing first—even if the Light King Your Majesty flies into a rage and kills me, my grandfather can resurrect me."

Xiao Ying Bo coldly watched Lin Qing step onto the battlefield. "Still, he's just a brat from the Void Sea, not even a high-level chaotic being, and he hasn't even taken a master yet—the Light King Your Majesty probably doesn't value him much…"

Hundreds of billions of miles away, atop the colossal Shi Zhu that pierced the heavens, a figure stood on the head of a crimson serpent coiled around it.

It was Xing Lian Hou and Tun Yan Mang.

He gazed distantly at the battlefield and murmured, "This Brother Jialin has mastered the Illusory World Annihilation—so talented, I wonder which ultimate being is his master."

"He seems to cultivate the rules of the future," the crimson serpent, stretching hundreds of billions of miles, transmitted mentally. "If he has a master, it must be either the Light King Your Majesty or some ultimate being from another civilization—neither of whom you can afford to provoke."

Xing Lian Hou understood its meaning.

Among the Lie Wang Realm, only the Light King Your Majesty cultivated the rules of the future.

Or else, only ultimate beings from other civilizations did.

"This Xiao Ying Bo seems to want to kill him."

Xing Lian Hou rubbed his temples. "If Brother Jialin fails the preliminary selection, I can still protect him under Xing Lian Army rules—but if he enters the trial and Xiao Ying Bo kills him there, it'll be a mess, as if I gave Xiao Ying Bo the opportunity."

"Relax," the immense Tun Yan Mang transmitted mentally. "This Brother Jialin might not even pass the preliminary selection—"

"Think about it—he's only used the Illusory World Annihilation to kill the weak Yan Xue Bo, and he's never fought a high-level chaotic being. His only recorded combat was against Yan Xue Bo's junior brother—his strength seems average at best."

It chuckled, transmitting: "If he were truly strong himself, why reveal the Illusory World Annihilation as his trump card? If he showed enough power, Yan Xue Bo wouldn't dare touch him."

Xing Lian Hou frowned. "But once the Tianqiong Wuying Puppet is hit by a will-based technique, its power is severely weakened."

The crimson serpent transmitted: "No one has ever used a will-based technique before—no one knows the Tianqiong Wuying Puppet is vulnerable to it. Let me secretly send a sliver of my will to possess the puppet—it'll be easy. With my will, deeply rooted in the River of Time and Space, his Illusory World Annihilation won't affect me in the slightest."

"Alright."

Xing Lian Hou nodded slightly. "Try your best to make sure he doesn't pass the preliminary selection—I can still protect him for a while and give him a chance to avoid Xiao Ying Bo."

The crimson serpent slithered around the Shi Zhu and immediately transmitted: "Watch me."

…

After Lin Qing flew into the battlefield's spacetime, the world before him suddenly opened up—the hundred-million-mile arena was more than enough for combat.

At that moment, endless thick mist surged forth, rapidly coalescing into a single crystal-clear droplet.

Then, midair, it transformed into a hazy humanoid form of flowing water.

"Shhh!!"

The humanoid water form instantly shot toward Lin Qing at terrifying speed, becoming a near-invisible thread of water-light.

"Illusory World Annihilation!"

Lin Qing's mind activated, and a vast, illusory world instantly formed, crushing straight toward the water-thread.

Yet—

The water-thread showed no sign of slowing; the Illusory World Annihilation seemed to have no effect whatsoever.

"No effect?"

Lin Qing raised an eyebrow. "Don't puppet beings have autonomous will? How can a puppet's will be this strong?"

He had originally planned to merely weaken the Tianqiong Wuying Puppet with the Illusory World Annihilation, then easily destroy it to pass the preliminary selection.

Now, it seemed he'd have to reveal a bit more of his strength.

"Perfect—I'll test my newly created World Divine technique…"

Lin Qing stood motionless, watching the lightning-fast water-thread approach, then casually extended one hand and swatted downward, as if shooing away a fly—

"Boom!!!"

A dazzling golden light suddenly bloomed, and the very fabric of space-time trembled and warped. A colossal palm, tens of thousands of miles in length, condensed out of nothingness, carrying with it the vast space-time forces within the battle stage, and slammed down with a thunderous crash!

That thread of water-light seemed to sense the great crisis.

In an instant, the flow of time within the battle stage began to slow, but faced with such overwhelming power, the space-time influence became negligible — the temporal flow only slowed by a tiny fraction.

And as that massive, towering palm descended, space itself seemed to transform into layer upon layer of whirlpools, completely sealing off every escape route for that thread of water-light.

The water-light immediately transformed into a mist form, attempting to merge into the depths of space-time.

But under the deliberate influence of that giant palm, space-time kept solidifying, making it difficult for this mist-formed puppet to merge into it.

Immediately after, the giant palm had already come crashing down!

"Boom!!"

In but an instant, within the battle stage's space-time, everything except Lin Qing was utterly annihilated.

Lin Qing retracted his palm, and the giant palm that had blotted out a hundred-thousand-mile range vanished along with it. All returned to silence.

The celestial mist-shadow had already completely dissolved into nothingness.

Under gazes that were nearly stupefied, Lin Qing drifted away from the battle stage.