The essence of a warrior lay in their spirit. Those who reveled in battle had to possess integrity, and from this integrity arose battle force. It grew from within an individual, born of a true heart and rooted in the body’s essence. With it, one could strike or guard, break through limits, crush the heavens, and rend the stars.
Lu Yin had acquired Lifeforce by transforming his battle force. His battle force grew stronger the stronger his opponents were.
But even Gu Yizhi, who had created the path of cultivating battle force, and Jiang Feng, who had reached the Wielder realm by luck, had never transformed it into Lifeforce. It had never happened before Lu Yin, which meant that no one knew what the traits of this Lifeforce that had evolved from battle force might be.
Lu Yin had just found out. Battle. It was just that one word. So long as the will to fight did not die, Lifeforce could appear. His Lifeforce was different from that of other creatures.
That transparent moth needed its flowers and Allsenses to accumulate Lifeforce, while Lu Yin only needed to fight. The fiercer his battle, the deeper his desperation, the more Lifeforce would well forth from him.
While he could not endlessly produce Lifeforce like an Immortal, it was very close.
Lu Yin grinned. “Bug, when it comes to strength, humanity is your ancestor.”
With that, he empowered his attack with Immortal matter and slammed another meteoric punch down, imprinting Chang’s body into the earth. The creature pierced the surface, shaking the entire South Domain. The Mother Tree quivered, and countless leaves fell.
Countless people stared, dumbstruck struck by an instinctive awe. The feeling came from something truly ancient.
In an unenlightened age, ancient humans had fought against beasts in the forests. The instincts of that time had since become suppressed by wisdom. Wisdom had led to many transformations, such as tools, lies, cultivation methods, and the founding of kingdoms. All of those developments had led their primal instincts to be quietly suppressed.
At this moment, everyone felt those instincts reawaken, and they felt a bloodthirsty instinct that came from fighting beasts to the death.
A thunderous roar erupted from beneath the ground, only for it to be cut off before it could finish. “What are you roaring for? Use words!”
“Human, you seek death!”
Bang!
Chang’s body shot up from the ground. It barely managed to steady itself in the sky as its claws ripped into the void. Lu Yin then appeared, throwing a punch right between Chang’s eyes, causing them to shift inwards. Chang’s eyes grew bloodshot, and the creature nearly started weeping tears. Its tail whipped around to strike Lu Yin, but he just laughed and reached out. Lifeforce flowed out, fusing with Immortal matter to further increase the force gathered by Extremes Must Be Reversed. Five fingers sank deep into Chang’s tail, and blood spurted out. With his other hand, Lu Yin swung the tail upwards, hurling Chang away.
The creature flew through the sky, unable to control its own body. Chang was utterly horrified by this point. How could this human possess such overwhelming strength?
It had no idea that Lu Yin had gathered power from Chang itself through Extremes Must Be Reversed. He had to endure several attacks in order to release this level of power. Even so, the sudden release of power shocked Chang, and even more so, the countless people of the Nine Odysseys Megaverse.
Even Greater Sancte Awe Gate froze. This level of physical strength was absolutely absurd.
Master Qing Cao was shaken. Even he would find it difficult to face such immense strength. How had Lu Yin’s power surged so quickly and in such a bizarre manner?
No one could understand what had happened.
Chang was the most bewildered of all. If Lu Yin had possessed such strength earlier, why had he not used it?
Lu Yin was well aware that his Lifeforce would eventually be consumed. Even though he had managed to use Extremes Must Be Reversed to temporarily suppress Chang, once his Lifeforce ran out, the creature would be very difficult to deal with. Additionally, when Luo Chan and Shan Xiao had been present earlier, if Lu Yin had gone all out, he would have depleted his Lifeforce too quickly, which would have made it impossible for him to restrain Chang.
Fighting as he was had only become possible because the sudden surge of Lifeforce was far more than what Lu Yin had possessed before. With both Luo Chan and Shan Xiao gone, the battle against Chang had become the final one.
Chang finally managed to steady itself once more, though it shook its head, still feeling a bit dizzy.
Peering into the distance, it saw white streams of Lifeforce surging across Lu Yin’s body. The sight dazed Chang. “How do you still have any Lifeforce left?”
Lu Yin smiled. “How much do you have left?”
Chang answered out of reflex, “Half.”
“Thirty percent.”
“You still have thirty percent?”
Lu Yin’s eyes glinted sharply. “I’ve consumed thirty percent.”
With that, he shot towards Chang. Behind him, countless Tri-Azure Sword Intents shot out. It was like a rain of swords slashes, each of which was empowered by Immortal matter. Chang hurried to dodge, but Lightstream flickered, reversing time by one second. The creature could not escape, and it was forced to bear the full barrage of sword strikes.
The sound of clashing metal echoed across the entire universe, and blood sprayed across the sky while scales rained down.
Chang’s body twisted, and its five claws tore through the Tri-Azure Sword Intent. Facing the creature directly, Lu Yin grabbed one of its claws with both arms. With a deep growl, he forced Chang to twist around so that its belly was exposed to the descending slashes.
Chang howled in agony. It managed to break free from Lu Yin and tried to flee as far as possible, but Lu Yin threw another powerful punch at Chang’s head, and the creature was slammed into the ground again.
The impact was deafening, and blood spilled out from all across Chang’s body. It was surrounded by the corpses of countless insects, and in the distance, Bai Xia and the other cultivators felt completely suppressed by Chang’s nearby aura. The presence of Lifeforce and Immortal matter suppressed them so much that it felt as though their very souls were being shaken.
But when Lu Yin stomped down, that pressure was reduced to nothingness.
Lu Yin planted his foot on top of Chang’s head, pressing the creature’s skull into the earth.
Chang roared and shot upwards, only for one hammering punch after another to fall onto its back and tear its flesh open. Chang writhed about desperately and started to shrink. In the eyes of the spectators, it looked as though Lu Yin was literally beating the creature smaller.
Ultimately, Chang shrank until it was barely a meter long, which made it even smaller than Lu Yin himself.
Lu Yin grabbed it with one hand. “How much do you have left?”
Blood poured from Chang’s body. Faint white streams of energy seeped out from beneath its scales, but it was far less than before. Chang had almost entirely consumed its Immortal matter.
It slashed its claws at Lu Yin, who allowed the attack to pierce through his body. Withered flesh constantly recovered and withered again. Each recovery built up more power through Extremes Must Be Reversed.
“Save a bit of your strength, or else you’ll lose all value.” Once more, Lu Yin punched Chang right between the eyes. This blow released all of the power that had been gathered through Extremes Must Be Reversed, and the blow caved in the creature’s head, rendering it nearly unconscious for the first time in the fight.
No matter how hard Lu Yin had attacked before, or how many scales had been torn away, he had never succeeded in truly injuring Chang before. This punch was the creature’s first real wound, and it was severe enough to nearly knock it unconscious.
Taking the opportunity, Lu Yin used Word Manifestation to order, “Withdraw your Lifeforce.”
Still dazed, Chang instinctively pulled back its Lifeforce. Lu Yin casually slapped the creature’s head. Without the protection of its Lifeforce, it fell completely unconscious. It was then hurled into Lu Yin’s Champions' Stage Purgatory. No matter what else might happen, strengthening his karma came first.
Lu Yin stood in the sky, completely alone.
His battle with Chang left the Nine Odysseys Megaverse stunned and silent. Countless people were shaken, having witnessed the entirety of the battle. The fight between those two had been even more intense than the attacks to eliminate the swarms of insects. What people found the hardest to wrap their heads around was that Lu Yin had already slain another one of the Insect Lords earlier in the war.
Everyone stared at Lu Yin with awe and other emotions that were too complex for words.
Was he truly just an Ortuser?