"Immortality?" Zhang Wannian froze, his eyes widening in disbelief. "You actually possess immortality? No, that’s not right. I extracted the gravity ability from your body... could it be that you have dual extraordinary essences?"
"Take a guess," Li Xiaofei replied, a faint smirk on his face.
After all, he did have a fox’s tail. When he reflected on the days spent training with Principal Hu, the results were indeed extraordinary. His so-called gravity ability had been gifted to him when his aunt stripped the Eden God Warriors of their celestial energy arts.
Back then, he had thought this ability was incompatible with traditional martial arts. Now, he realized it was identical to the extraordinary abilities on this apocalyptic Earth. Could it be that the celestial energy arts mastered by the Xie family patriarch and the others were actually the same as this world’s extraordinary abilities? The connection was undeniable.
Li Xiaofei threw a punch.
The force of his punch roared like a dragon. Zhang Wannian roared back, holding his palm up to meet the strike head-on.
"Be careful! That old dog possesses strength-based extraordinary abilities as well!" Zhang Mingjun shouted in warning.
But before Li Xiaofei could heed his shout, the fist and palm collided.
Zhang Mingjun felt icy despair creep over him. He had witnessed Li Xiaofei’s swordsmanship before and knew the young man was skilled at combining gravity abilities with close combat techniques. Perhaps he was even bolstered by his so-called immortality.
But comparing brute strength against an ancient monster like Zhang Wannian seemed impossible. Surely, this would end badly. And yet—
The sound of bone snapping echoed in the air.
"Ahhh—!" A scream followed, but it didn’t come from the person Zhang Mingjun had expected.
The one screaming was Zhang Wannian. The chief’s arm was bent at an unnatural ninety-degree angle, as the sharp white ends of his bones pierced through his flesh, stained in blood.
Zhang Mingjun’s face was a mask of shock. Li Xiaofei glanced at him and playfully winked.
"You... strength-type?" Zhang Wannian stammered as he staggered backward, disbelief written all over his face. "Your extraordinary essence... isn’t it immortality?"
"Oh, I lied about that," Li Xiaofei smirked.
He didn’t give Zhang Wannian any time to react as he surged forward, launching an unrelenting barrage of punches. The force of his blows roared like dragons, each strike aimed with precise, deadly intent.
"I’ll kill you!" Zhang Wannian roared furiously. His figure flickered like a phantom, teleporting to evade Li Xiaofei’s attacks.
"Gravity Technique!" Zhang Wannian activated his ability again. "Let’s see how you counter your own extraordinary ability!"
A sudden surge of overwhelming gravity crashed down on Li Xiaofei, intent on pinning him to the ground. But Li Xiaofei simply smirked as he moved unimpeded.
"Did you forget something, old dog?" Li Xiaofei said calmly as he took another step forward, the gravity around him distorting the ground but failing to halt his advance. "This ability was mine. You think I’d be trapped by it?"
"Haha, fool!" Li Xiaofei laughed loudly, unleashing his raw strength to its fullest. Ignoring the effects of the Gravity Technique, he sped up as he appeared before Zhang Wannian in an instant.
Zhang Wannian’s eyes widened in shock. He spat out, "Blink!"
His figure blurred and began to vanish.
"Gotcha," Li Xiaofei grinned.
Li Xiaofei spun like a top and reached out behind him. At first glance, there was nothing in that direction. But as he reached out, ripples shimmered in the void.
Zhang Wannian emerged from that very spot as if by sheer misfortune. His expression froze in disbelief as he materialized directly into Li Xiaofei’s waiting hand, as if delivering himself into a trap.
"Your blinking pattern is far too predictable," Li Xiaofei said as his hand closed around Zhang Wannian’s neck. "So, what else have you got? Show me all your tricks."
Zhang Wannian sneered, "Old fools like me have plenty of tricks up their sleeves."
As soon as he finished speaking, his neck suddenly shrank unnaturally. His entire body became slippery as he slipped out of Li Xiaofei’s grasp. The ability he used was Rubber Morph.
Li Xiaofei froze momentarily, startled by the strange escape. Zhang Wannian’s back sprouted a pair of radiant wings, and he took to the sky, soaring a hundred meters into the air. His body radiated divine light, radiating overwhelming power as he hovered above.
"Thunderbolt!" Zhang Wannian commanded sharply.
In an instant, countless bolts of lightning descended from the sky to strike Li Xiaofei.
"Pathetic," Li Xiaofei sneered as he ascended into the air. "This level of energy isn’t even enough to tickle me."
Enraged, Zhang Wannian’s eyes erupted with searing laser beams, slicing toward Li Xiaofei like twin swords.
"Are you putting on a magic show or something?" asked Li Xiaofei as he casually raised his hand and released a burst of sword qi. The laser beams were instantly obliterated, dissipating into nothingness.
"What?!" Zhang Wannian exclaimed, his face etched with shock.
He unleashed a barrage of extraordinary abilities one after the other. Air blades, sonic booms, toxic gas, flames, fragmentation strikes, and other devastating techniques appeared from his hands in rapid succession.
The flurry of attacks dazzled and overwhelmed those watching below. Zhang Mingjun and Pu Juan could only stare, their eyes wide with astonishment.
"That old dog," Zhang Mingjun muttered under his breath, "must have slaughtered countless Extraordinary Ones to accumulate this monstrous arsenal of abilities."
A visibly tense Pu Juan asked nervously, "Do you think Li Xiaofei can beat Zhang Wannian?"
"It’s hard to say," Zhang Mingjun replied with a furrowed brow. "That old dog has too many trump cards, and since he’s aligned with Eden, there’s no telling what other aces he has up his sleeve."
High in the sky, Zhang Wannian grew more and more alarmed as the fight continued. He had spent years secretly hunting Extraordinary Ones and consuming their extraordinary essences. He had even resorted to abducting infants with strong innate essences from the camp, devouring their potential to strengthen himself.
The vast collection of abilities and defenses he had amassed was unparalleled. He had believed that with his immense reservoir of essence and the arsenal of abilities he had devoured, he could dominate Earth.
Apart from the God Warriors of Eden and a handful of ancient monsters from his own generation, he had thought himself invincible. Yet today, against a young man not even a tenth his age, he found himself utterly suppressed at every turn.
"You little bastard, what kind of ability are you using?" Zhang Wannian was beginning to realize something was wrong. "This isn’t an ordinary extraordinary ability. Who... what are you?"
"I’m your daddy," Li Xiaofei sneered coldly.
In truth, he had been holding back as he studied Zhang Wannian’s extraordinary abilities in detail. If he hadn’t restrained himself, he could have ended the fight in a single blow.
Explosions of energy echoed through the sky as violent shockwaves swept outward, tearing through the air.
After another ten minutes of combat, Zhang Wannian’s heart sank lower and lower. He had already begun to burn his own life force, yet he still couldn’t gain the upper hand over Li Xiaofei.
This isn’t working. I can’t keep this up.
Panic was beginning to flash in Zhang Wannian’s eyes.
I’ve devoured too many extraordinary essences over the years without fully integrating them. My body’s hidden injuries have flared up. I can’t last much longer...
I need to end this quickly. I must devour his bloodline essence to fully rejuvenate myself and gain a true second life."
Resolving himself, Zhang Wannian decided to unleash his final, desperate trump card.
He sacrificed his entire right arm.
"Come forth, tyrant from beyond the stars, the Great Devourer of the Cosmos!"
A thick and ominous blood mist spread through the air. Ripples of invisible energy spread outward in the void.
A massive, dark red creature emerged from the blood-streaked spatial ripples. Its icy, contemptuous roar reverberated through the heavens, filled with disdain for all living things. Its towering form loomed like a nightmare, radiating an aura of destruction and chaos.
"What?!" Zhang Mingjun exclaimed in shock.
It was the monstrous being that had appeared in Grandpa Lake the previous night. The apocalyptic entity whose mere presence had driven everyone into despair. It was now clear that the monster was actually Zhang Wannian’s summoned creature. The beast roared as it struggled to squeeze into the world.
Thousands of people both inside and outside the camp felt despair. It was as if they were helpless pups caught in the gaze of a merciless dragon. They trembled uncontrollably, too terrified even to lift their heads.
Even the expressions of Ye Liuying, Li Junjie, and the others changed. They could feel that this creature was something far beyond what Earth’s martial arts or extraordinary abilities could contend with.
The projection in Grandpa Lake last night had been nothing more than a shadow of its true strength. If this being fully descended into the world, who on Earth could possibly stop it?
"Li Xiaofei, you didn’t expect this, did you?" Zhang Wannian’s face was pale, but he laughed wildly. "This is my ultimate trump card. A gift from Eden! An extraterrestrial being unmatched on Earth—my summoning creature! Summoning is one of my extraordinary abilities as well!"
"So you finally admit it," Li Xiaofei said, his voice calm yet piercing. "You’re nothing but Eden’s lapdog."
Li Xiaofei was steady and composed as he stood in the sky. His clothes fluttered gracefully in the wind, his long hair flowing like a dark river in the sky.
"Why wouldn’t I admit it?" Zhang Wannian laughed hysterically, his voice filled with madness. "Earth is finished! No one wants to perish with it. If you desire immortality, you must step into Eden!"
As his laughter subsided, his tone softened, as if trying to console himself.
"I was once a hero who protected this planet. But now, I’m powerless. Let this dying world contribute to my survival. Hahaha... Absorb!"
Countless strands of blood mist were drawn out from the bodies of the camp’s warriors, women, children, and even infants below as Zhang Wannian unleashed a thunderous shout. The crimson threads then surged into Zhang Wannian’s body.
The people whose life force was extracted withered instantly, their bodies collapsing like dried, shriveled eggplants. Meanwhile, Zhang Wannian, replenished by the stolen vitality, felt his aura explode with newfound strength. The blood-red summoning gate grew several times over as it opened even wider.
The colossal extraterrestrial creature pushed another two-thirds of its form into this world.
Li Xiaofei sighed deeply. He could see that those whose life force was stolen had long since signed the Death Contract. They were already dead. There was no way to save them.
Only a few people in the camp had managed to survive. Li Xiaofei extended his hand into the void and clenched it tightly.
A flaming saber materialized in his grasp. This was the flame saber that could incinerate all creation. When he felt his inner qi surging, fueled by the severed fox tail, Li Xiaofei held the saber firmly and shook it slightly. The flaming saber roared to life, its blaze illuminating the darkened sky.
Li Xiaofei slashed down once.
"Let me invite you to walk the Naihe Bridge," said Li Xiaofei.
The saber technique, Naihe Bridge, was unleashed for the very first time since Li Xiaofei comprehended it.
The saber’s energy vanished in a flash of golden flames. An eerie stillness fell over heaven and earth. The wind blew past a silent night. The sudden silence made it feel as though something had disappeared.
The terrifying roars of the extraterrestrial monster had ceased entirely after that single slash, as if they had been wiped away.
Zhang Wannian suddenly realized something. His face filled with disbelief as he slowly raised his head to look toward the sky. He saw that the Star Tier creature, the terrifying Devourer of Stars, had frozen in place within the summoning gate.
Before the words left his mouth—
The massive head of the creature fell from the sky. The head of the once fearsome Devourer crashed heavily onto the hillside outside the camp and rolled downward.
Blood poured from the sky like a torrential flood. Crimson drops that were as viscous as molten lava gushed out from the cleanly cut neck of the Devourer.
It was as if the heavens themselves were bleeding. Zhang Wannian stood rooted in place, staring at the sky in a daze.