Chapter 2013 - 1528: Human Emperor Tower Challenge, Manifestations

The blazing sun hung overhead like a piece of iron heated until it glowed red.

Fierce heatwaves and high temperatures roasted the whole stretch of heaven and earth, turning everything around into a sheet of blinding white, the air warping, harshly dazzling.

This was a special environment on the third floor of the Human Emperor Tower—a desolate and scorching desert region that clearly corresponded to one of the Holy Dynasty’s deadly lands, the ’Dry Corpse Desert’, meaning anyone or any living creature that entered this desert would eventually end up as a dried corpse.

After arriving here, the strength Jiang Dali had previously spent due to the Insight State recovered quite a bit, but this place was also closer to the very top where the Emperor was in seclusion.

A terrifying, vast pressure poured down from above endlessly, surging like the Yangtze River, making one feel suffocated. Even he had no choice but to keep his Will Power highly condensed to resist it, which was undoubtedly exhausting.

"Boom—"

At this moment, the desert ground in front of him suddenly surged like waves and roared upward, flinging up a huge spray of sand that shot toward the sky, countless grains of sand flashing with light in midair.

From within the desert an enormous, grotesque giant worm covered in fleshy tumors burst out. The part of its body that broke free of the sea of sand was already dozens of zhang long, its whole body sheathed in thick, glazed shells. The giant maw it opened was like interlocking, staggered gear-teeth, exuding an extremely terrifying aura as it lunged straight for Jiang Dali.

"Awooo—"

A heaven-shaking roar suddenly erupted, rattling one’s brains, and a terrifying Will wave directly surged out toward Jiang Dali. But it was easily blocked by the golden Will radiance released from his eyes; even the soundwaves of the impact were held back outside like tangible ripples.

Yet at the same time, the giant worm drew in a vicious breath; a terrifying suction force suddenly erupted from that enormous maw. In an instant, a Swallowing Heaven, sweeping-especially-the-earth suction rolled toward Jiang Dali, dragging with it over a hundred tons of sand and dust in a surging torrent. Heaven and earth dimmed at once, like the end of the world.

Jiang Dali’s Body was lifted up directly along with hundreds of tons of sand and gravel, sucked into the air and dragged toward that giant maw, rushing at the crazily chewing, meat-grinder-like mouthparts.

Yet even in midair, his arms were still folded across his chest, expression calm, even faintly interested.

"The Exotic beast sand worms of this Dry Corpse Desert are fairly interesting. The terrifying degree of this suction is enough to rival Old Zhu’s suction on the physical level. That Will intensity just now was no small thing either—an ordinary Returning to Truth 8 sub-level encountering this kind of creature would indeed face a life-and-death risk."

In the instant he drew close, his War God Power inside his body suddenly erupted, his whole form instantly shrouded in golden, flame-like War God Power, and he slammed out a fierce punch.

Bang!!——

A ferocious golden Qi wave flashed and vanished.

Countless razor-sharp teeth shattered layer by layer like bamboo tubes exploding, directly bursting into powder.

Wreathed in a halo of golden shockwaves, Jiang Dali’s figure ripped through the thick flesh and shell from the rear half of the sand worm’s body and burst out, hovering in midair.

"Awooo!!"

The sand worm let out a shrill, miserable howl, fresh blood spraying wildly from its mouth. Its massive body, driven by inertia, continued to charge forward, kicking up a violent gale. Wherever it passed, the desert on both sides was squeezed as if struck by thousands of tons of shockwaves, trembling violently, sand and stones exploding and revealing deep ravines.

"Thump——"

"Thump——"

At the same time, huge plumes of sand rose in the distance, and two more sand worms burst out from the desert.

The danger level soared instantly.

Jiang Dali immediately understood a bit more why He Jin had once only managed to reach the third floor of the Human Emperor Tower.

These sand worms possessed inexhaustible brute Strength, coupled with extremely powerful Will. No matter which attack struck you, even a Returning to Truth 9 sub-level powerhouse would be injured, not to mention three sand worms launching attacks together. Truly worthy of being the deadly land the Holy Dynasty defined as an absolute death zone.

"Only, these kinds of sand worms should already have been wiped out. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be not even a trace of Qi Mechanism to sense—they must have long since died under the Emperor’s hand in ages past."

A thought stirred in Jiang Dali’s heart; his Will linked with the Fist Mark deeply imprinted in his mind, and two golden Fist Mark shadows suddenly reflected within his pupils.

He abruptly thrust out his thick fist, slowly pushing a punch toward the two gigantic sand worms that were roaring and charging at him from both sides!

Buzz!——

A vast, majestic, world-dominating Momentum rose at once, as if forming a terrifying force field that suppressed heaven and earth, causing the surrounding gales, and even the sand floating in midair, to completely freeze.

Only one ray of Golden Light remained—a Golden Light composed of a single Fist Mark—shuttling through the heaven and earth of this sealed space. Then, bizarrely, it split into two and imprinted itself onto the bodies of the two sand worms.

Space instantly caved in, and the bodies of the two sand worms caved in and collapsed along with it. In a flash, their massive forms vanished together, and the golden Fist Mark in the space flickered once before slowly dissipating.

"Hoo——"

Jiang Dali suddenly shook off the State of almost being unable to breathe that he’d been in just now, sweat beginning to bead across his whole Body. Both his Body and Will actually felt a kind of drained weakness—the expenditure from that single strike was actually far greater than entering the Near and far State. Shocked despite himself, his brain whirred rapidly, and he quickly summarized the feeling from that punch he had just thrown.

"I used a sledgehammer to kill chickens. The damage that punch unleashed—if someone at Dugu Qiubai’s Level took it head-on, I’m afraid he’d be heavily injured as well..."

"Within that punch should have been a more advanced application of space itself: Space Freeze, Space Folding, collapse and so on. Not only that, the Fist momentum and Fist Intent were highly condensed. The Fist Intent contained in that punch was already so strong that even Will Power refined down to the Proton Level couldn’t shake it. The power was highly focused; unless the enemy’s Will could destroy the Fist Intent, they would have no choice but to take it head-on."