Chapter 228: I Will Kill You

Chapter 227

"What the hell..." For what seemed like the hundredth time in one day, Liyu cursed once more. He had been cursing so much during his last two matches that he was beginning to wonder if he had cursed more in these two battles than he had in his entire life, and honestly, he couldn’t even be blamed.

His opponents were the ones who were far from normal. Guan Haoran was a freak... a real freak. Liyu knew very well that if he hadn’t used Berserker to take him out, he would have clearly and surely lost that battle.

And now... after finally thinking that he had taken out Shi Tian as well, the bastard had actually stood back up. He had removed the Void Piercer from his chest, tossed it aside, swallowed something strange that looked more like a miniature egg than a pill, and then... everything had changed.

But what did that even matter? What mattered was what happened after Shi Tian swallowed it. Liyu’s eyes widened. The aura surrounding Shi Tian, which had already reached the peak of the Qi Refining Realm, suddenly began to advance.

One step. Then another. It continued climbing... higher, stronger, more oppressive. It kept rising until it reached the absolute climax of the realm. Then... it broke through straight into the next realm: Foundation Realm.

Shi Tian had broken through to the Foundation Realm, or rather... he had temporarily broken through to the Foundation Realm. And with that temporary breakthrough, his already oppressive presence became even more daunting, even more terrifying.

The very air around him seemed to come alive... dangerous, sharp, lethal.

Liyu was still trying to catch up with what was happening when he sensed it once more. His expression changed, and his leg almost felt weak at the knee because Shi Tian’s aura... was climbing again.

It kept climbing... higher and higher. The pressure surrounding him continued to increase until it finally reached the climax of the first stage of the Foundation Realm.

Liyu’s heart sank. Then... it broke through again: Second Stage of the Foundation Realm!

"What the..." Liyu’s eyes twitched. But it wasn’t over... not even close. Shi Tian’s aura continued climbing higher and higher once more, the oppressive pressure surrounding him becoming increasingly terrifying until finally... the aura reached the peak of the Second Stage.

For a brief moment, it seemed as though it would stop there. It didn’t. BOOM! The pressure erupted once more.

Shi Tian’s aura broke straight through the bottleneck and entered the Third Stage of the Foundation Realm. And finally... it stopped. Silence.

For a brief moment, Liyu simply stared. He couldn’t believe what he was sensing. If Shi Tian’s aura at the First Stage of the Foundation Realm had already been enough to make Liyu’s body shudder and tremble, causing his sense of danger to reach a staggering height... then Shi Tian at the Third Stage was something else entirely... completely different.

The difference was terrifying. Just standing close to him made Liyu’s instincts scream at him to turn around and run, run as far away as possible.

The air surrounding Shi Tian rippled with such terrifying sharpness that even actual blades would probably pale in comparison. It was as if getting too close to him alone would cause one’s body to be shredded apart.

Liyu’s sense of danger went completely haywire. This feeling... it was exactly like when Shi Tian had been preparing to unleash his killing move earlier... that same terrifying feeling of imminent death, except now, it was even stronger.

Much stronger. And the most terrifying part was that Shi Tian hadn’t even decided to launch an offense yet. He was simply standing there.

His aura alone was already enough to make the air tremble and Liyu’s instincts scream.

Liyu’s mind immediately entered overdrive. His thoughts moved at frightening speed as he analyzed the situation. He was in deep danger.

The battle against the devil wasn’t over... not even close. He was still in danger. No, he was in even greater danger than before.

Every instinct inside his body was sending him the clearest warning possible: danger, extreme danger, death.

Liyu didn’t dare take any chances. He immediately decided to resummon the Celestial Battle Skin onto his body.

With the Celestial Battle Skin beneath the Dead Eye Rayden Combat Suit, Liyu now had two layers of defense covering his body. The first layer alone granted a staggering amount of defense, and the inner layer had an even more exaggerated defensive capability.

The Celestial Battle Skin, just like the Void Piercer and Inferno Gauntlet, possessed similar properties. That was probably because all of them were weapons and items he had obtained from the System Shop.

When damaged, they possessed a self-restoration ability, and as long as they weren’t being used, they would gradually heal themselves over time.

And the Celestial Battle Skin hadn’t been in use for almost two hours now. That meant that when Liyu resummoned it... it had already returned to full health... completely restored.

Which also meant that Liyu’s defense had become even more insane than before. The additional boosts granted by the suit were also reapplied.

His physical attributes surged, his aura became even more daunting, the pressure surrounding his body increased, and the very ground beneath him began to crack under the force of his power.

Liyu’s eyes widened. "Wait a minute." His eyes twitched as he looked down. The floor beneath him was cracking.

For a split second, he thought it was because of his own power, but then he realized something: the ground wasn’t breaking because of him; it was breaking because of Shi Tian.

Shi Tian was walking directly toward him. Step by step. Every time his foot landed on the ground... Crack! The floor creaked, then shattered.

Another step. Crack! More fractures spread across the ground. Shi Tian’s mere movement was enough to cause the sturdy floor beneath him to collapse under the pressure of his terrifying aura.

Liyu’s expression became increasingly serious. "This is still not enough." He searched through his skills, and thankfully... two of his skill cooldowns had finally ended.

His eyes flashed. That meant he could use them again. He didn’t hesitate.

"Ding! Momentum has been activated."

"Your base speed has increased sixfold."

Liyu’s pupils contracted. Then another notification sounded.

"Ding! Perfect Efficiency has been activated."

Liyu’s aura surged again. And then...

"Ding! Origin Eyes has been activated."

The moment the Origin Eyes activated, a red-hot pain shot straight through Liyu’s skull. His expression twisted slightly. His head felt as though someone had driven a burning blade directly into his brain.

The pain was intense... almost unbearable. Liyu had been using the Origin Eyes far too much. His body was already paying the price.

But he really had no choice... not anymore. Against the monster Shi Tian had currently become, holding anything back was no different from seeking death.

If he didn’t give it his all... Liyu seriously doubted that he would even survive a single attack from this monster.

His eyes hardened. The pain didn’t matter, the exhaustion didn’t matter, the danger didn’t matter. Right now, there was only one thing that mattered: surviving.

With all the boosts Liyu had received, he was able to salvage his overall power, and it had been further boosted by almost thirty percent. Almost thirty percent.

That was an enormous number... a truly ridiculous increase when one considered just how powerful Liyu already was.

At this moment, he was teeming with power... real power. His body was filled with an overwhelming amount of energy, his muscles were brimming with strength, and his aura had risen to a level that would have made any ordinary cultivator tremble.

And yet... and yet... why were all the hairs on his body still standing on end? Why was every instinct inside him screaming?

Why was his mind continuously telling him to turn tail and flee? Run. Run as far away from this place as possible.

Liyu’s expression became solemn. He had more power than ever before. He had stacked almost every advantage he could possibly use.

His defenses had been reinforced, his speed had increased, his Origin Eyes were active, his entire body was practically overflowing with strength.

And still, his instincts were telling him that none of it was enough. That alone told him just how terrifying Shi Tian had become.

Within the dark space... All three people were under immense pressure: Liyu, King Rayden, and Dead Eye Rayden.

Because the three of them were currently in their fused state, they were all able to feel exactly how deadly and dangerous the situation had become. There was no separation between their senses, no hiding from the pressure.

They could all feel it. They could all sense the terrifying aura coming from Shi Tian. And that aura made even their instincts scream at them to abandon everything and flee.

But they wouldn’t. They couldn’t. There was no choice. Liyu took a breath.

"There is no choice, guys. We have to give it our all." He paused, his expression becoming serious. "We might die..."

Another brief silence followed. "But we will keep pushing forward."

King Rayden’s eyes twitched. "You suck at motivation, you know."

Liyu grinned. "Well, whatever." His grin widened slightly. "Let’s all give it our all and take this bastard Shi Tian down."

King Rayden and Dead Eye Rayden both nodded. There was no need for any further discussion. They understood.

They had reached the point where holding anything back was no longer an option. With that, the three took their respective positions.

Dead Eye Rayden focused on his guns. The moment he did, more weapons began materializing in midair... one after another.

Machine guns. Shotguns. Rifles. And many other firearms. They appeared around him, filling the surrounding space with an overwhelming arsenal.

The weapons floated in the air, their metallic bodies reflecting the surrounding light as Dead Eye Rayden took control of them one after another.

He was giving it his all now. There was no hesitation. After all, no one needed to tell him that holding anything back was pointless.

This final battle was already hanging on the edge of execution. One wrong move. One moment of hesitation. And someone would die.

And throughout all of Dead Eye Rayden’s lifetime, he had always been the one carrying out the execution... not the other way around.

He wouldn’t hesitate now. He wouldn’t pause. He wouldn’t allow himself to be drowned out by fear.

His gaze sharpened as he manned his post properly. Every firearm around him was prepared, every weapon was ready, every barrel was waiting for the slightest command.

He was ready to unleash everything.

On the other other side, King Rayden rubbed his sore head. Things had clearly gotten out of hand. There was no denying it.

Anyone with eyes could see that their opponent had become an entirely new breed of monster. And now that Shi Tian seemed to have crossed into a level far beyond them, wielding so much more power than they could ever have expected from him, the battle had become much worse, much more difficult, much more dangerous.

But King Rayden wasn’t the type to flee simply because a battle became difficult. He was a warrior king, after all.

He had faced difficult battles before, he had stood against powerful enemies before, and he had never been one to turn his back simply because the odds were unfavorable.

No matter what happened... with the three of them working together, they should be able to push through this force. They had to.

King Rayden’s gaze focused. The relaxed expression he usually wore slowly returned to his face. He became his usual relaxed self again.

Then he took control of all the lightning-forged weapons. The lightning immediately surged around Liyu.

Just like before, King Rayden transformed the lightning into a weapon and armor around Liyu’s body. But this time... it was different.

The lightning being generated and manipulated was far more powerful... denser, hotter, more violent.

The bolts of lightning crackled intensely as they wrapped around Liyu. The destructive energy contained within them was far greater than before.

Usually, this technique consumed a rather high amount of Qi to pull off, but in their current situation... trying to preserve energy would prove to be a rather stupid thing to do.

There was no point in saving power if they ended up dead before they could use it. They needed everything: every ounce of strength, every technique, every advantage, everything they had.

Liyu also manned his own post. His position was the most important one... the main fused state.

His eyes were opened wide. The white rings around his pupils made it completely obvious. His most powerful ocular ability... the Origin Eyes... was fully active.

Along with his other skills, Liyu was as ready as he could possibly be. There was nothing else he could hold back. Nothing else he could prepare.

He had reached his limit, and he intended to use every bit of it. Liyu raised his arms. He smashed his Inferno Gauntlets against each other.

BOOM! Flames instantly engulfed his fists. At the same time, the lightning around his body crackled loudly.

The sound of electricity tearing through the air mixed with the roaring flames, and beside him, the countless metallic rifles and firearms controlled by Dead Eye Rayden hummed with lethality and power.

Three forces. Three different powers. All gathered around one target. The atmosphere itself seemed to become suffocating.

Then... Shi Tian took another step. One step. That was all.

Yet in the next instant, he was already standing directly in front of Liyu. His movement was so fast that even the surrounding air seemed to struggle to catch up.

Shi Tian’s emotionless gaze slowly peeled away, and beneath it... there was nothing but pure resentment, hatred, anger, and a killing intent so cold that it seemed capable of freezing the blood inside someone’s veins.

"Liyu." His voice was cold and brisk as he called his name. Liyu looked up at him. He raised an eyebrow.

The two stared directly at each other. Neither moved. Neither backed down. The air between them seemed to become heavier with every passing second.

Then Shi Tian spoke. "I would end you." His cold voice carried no hesitation, no doubt, no emotion.

Yet anyone who heard those words would feel chills crawling up their spine. It wasn’t a declaration made out of anger. It wasn’t a threat made to intimidate him.

Shi Tian genuinely believed it. He was going to kill Liyu.

Liyu only smiled after hearing it... a calm smile, a fearless smile. Then he gave his own answer.

"Well..." His smile widened slightly. "That makes two of us."