Chapter 644: Tragic Battle!!

Once the seed of doubt was planted, it was difficult to erase.

The Black Box looked at the Old Man beside it. The more it thought about the situation, the more amiss it felt.

From the beginning of the fight until now, it had already unleashed two strikes.

If its first strike could be considered casual, the second absolutely was not.

With an attack of that magnitude, the backlash it would suffer was easily imagined.

When that time came, the Old Man would be the only one present not suffering from any backlash.

Advent Day was approaching...

Could it and the heavily injured man withstand the Old Man's attacks then?

It highly doubted it.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—

The released weird energy resembled a meteor shower, bombarding the hemispherical light membrane of weird energy that Yan Jing had erected opposite them.

Huu—

Yan Jing let out a long breath. Despite his calm gaze, it was clear he was not having an easy time.

But the actual situation was much worse than it looked.

His insides were churning, his blood and qi constantly surging and rushing to his head.

This was a full-power strike from an expert of the Demigod Realm—and one exceptionally skilled at attacking at that.

Originally, this strike was meant to scatter in all directions, but Yan Jing had taken it all on alone.

The severity of the impact was obvious.

Even though Yan Jing currently possessed the number one physique beneath the Demigod Realm, even though he was in the Fear Stance Third Layer State, and even though he had utilized the Power of the Fear Bird and the Power of the White Stone...

He still couldn't completely shrug off such an attack.

A few seconds later, Yan Jing finally reached his limit and spat out a large mouthful of blood.

It was dark gold.

His blood had long since lost the color of a normal human's. The intense weird energy and the power of various pathways had blended together to form this incredibly surreal hue.

Every drop that fell through the air manifested as an intensely powerful node of weird energy, causing the surrounding space to tremble. Countless cracks spread outward before finally shattering, transforming into dark golden vortexes.

Fortunately...

The Black Box's attack finally stopped.

Yan Jing managed to catch his breath as countless threads emerged from his wounds to begin mending his body.

"..."

The Old Man beside it frowned.

"Why did you stop?"

He looked at the Black Box, only to be met with a burst of eerie, mocking laughter.

"We can't be the only ones making a move all the time, can we?"

"Shouldn't you show us what you can do?"

The Old Man's frown deepened.

"You suspect me?"

"What else?"

The Black Box had quite a bad temper.

"Tell me yourself, are you acting in good faith here?"

"Waiting to make your move until I suffer the backlash—do you take me for a fucking idiot?!"

"..."

Hearing such offensive words for the first time in a long while, the Old Man's expression darkened. Finally, he let out a long breath.

"Fine. I will handle him, but don't push your luck!"

As his voice fell, a violent gale rose from nowhere, buffeting the Black Box and the man trapped in the time domain so hard they swayed.

Then... the sound of ocean waves emerged.

It was as loud as the roar of an engine.

And like a windmill spinning right next to their ears.

Faintly, a lighthouse seemed to rise abruptly from the ground, piercing straight into the clouds. Its radiance broke through the cloud cover, scattering in all directions.

The original solid ground transformed into a rippling ocean surface.

A damp aura rushed at their faces as sea foam churned and splashed toward the sky.

The boundless Plains had now turned into a vast, limitless sea.

A massive dark silhouette surfaced beneath Old Sin City in the distance.

From the visible portion of its outline, the shadow took the shape of a fish.

But it was simply too enormous.

An immensity beyond the description of words.

Its shadow alone eclipsed the entirety of Old Sin City.

Spanning at least a hundred kilometers, it looked exactly like a cloud blanketing the earth.

Then...

The shadow moved.

Judging by its outline, it seemed to open its maw wide.

It was going to swallow Old Sin City whole in a single bite!!!

At this critical juncture, the Old Man's eyes narrowed, and he immediately exploded backward in retreat.

A fist materialized right in front of him.

Sweeping upward!!!

A sound akin to solid ice shattering rang out.

Riiiip—

The wind of the punch brushed past the Old Man's lapel as it shot upward, tearing the clothing on his chest wide open.

The flesh and skin it grazed vanished instantly. A massive wound appeared on his body, stretching all the way from his abdomen to his collarbone, and azure blood gushed out.

The dark silhouette beneath Old Sin City halted its movements because of this strike. The Old Man's eyes turned red; he glanced in all directions and retreated once again.

Yan Jing had seized the moment when the Old Man was talking with the Black Box to unleash the ability of the time pathway.

The Old Man knew this and had anticipated it, yet his prediction had still been slightly off.

Normally, he wouldn't care about such a tiny margin of error.

As long as he wasn't hit directly, with his abilities, there was no way he would be caught in a chain of attacks like the man.

But the power the opponent unleashed far exceeded his imagination!!!

What kind of punch was that? It felt like a planet had detonated right in front of him. It absolutely surpassed the level of an average expert in the Demigod Realm. Just thinking about it now sent chills down the Old Man's spine and brought out a cold sweat.

If he had taken a direct hit from that punch just now, he would have definitely been crippled, if not outright killed.

It had missed by just a hairsbreadth...

Bang!!!

Yan Jing's chain of attacks arrived once more, and this time, the Old Man didn't dare to carelessly take it head-on.

Fearing the opponent would launch another attack like the last one, he had no choice but to retreat and flee.

But this retreat... forced him into the exact same position the man had been in earlier.

Yan Jing's time chain seemed never-ending. The Old Man could only continuously dodge in advance, not daring to stop moving. Consequently, the dark shadow looming beneath Old Sin City slowly dissipated.

Watching this scene, the man and the Black Box actually breathed a sigh of relief.

This way... the three of them were back on the same starting line.

"Hurry up and attack the city in front of you!!!"

The Old Man roared. As long as the Black Box attacked Old Sin City again, it would neutralize his crisis just like before.

But facing the Old Man's bellow, the Black Box turned a deaf ear. Acting as if it hadn't heard a thing, it simply spun in circles in the air on its own.

It had already made up its mind to let the Old Man suffer a few more injuries before lifting a finger itself.

Bang!

Bang! Bang!!!

Sonic booms rang out in the air one after another.

The two figures continuously crisscrossed in the sky.

Yan Jing still hadn't managed to touch the Old Man, and the Old Man still hadn't dared to stop moving.

Just like that, the two engaged in a prolonged aerial pursuit.

"You lucked out."

The Black Box looked at the man healing himself within the time domain and sneered.

"Someone else is taking the beating for you now."

"You better hurry up and recover."

Unexpectedly, the man's expression was incredibly grave.

"I can't."

"What?"

The Black Box didn't register his meaning at first, but then it saw that the wounds covering the man's body were still continuously gushing blood.

Under the effect of the time domain, those injuries kept rewinding to heal. Yet they simply couldn't mend completely. The blood seemed to have found an outlet, continuously squeezing out from the ruptured flesh.

Like beads of silver-white pearls.

"These wounds won't fully close."

The man's face was incredibly grim.

"It's the power of rules."

Hearing "power of rules," the Black Box paused, looking at Yan Jing in the distance with sheer disbelief.

A few seconds later, its demeanor darkened, and it spoke in a sinister tone:

"This kid can't be left alive."

"He absolutely cannot."

The man's expression remained dark.

They both knew exactly what the power of rules meant.

The two waited quietly, biding their time until the Old Man was weakened a little further before finally taking action.

And so, a few minutes later.

Seeing that the Old Man had finally failed to dodge and taken a solid punch from Yan Jing...

The two of them exchanged a look. Immediately, the Black Box trained its sights directly on Old Sin City.

The second meteor-like beam of light cascaded down.

This time, Yan Jing once again chose to return to the front of Old Sin City. Weird energy surged in his hands, conjuring the light membrane.

Pfft—

He sprayed out another large mouthful of blood.

Before he could even recover his senses, the uniformed man materialized behind him like a ghost.

A silver scimitar materialized in his hand.

And slashed straight down!!!

Squelch—

A massive blade wound appeared on Yan Jing's back, dark golden blood spurting out like a fountain.

"Ugh—"

Yan Jing grunted in pain and unleashed Faster Time once more.

But this time, the prepared man's weird energy surged. The time domain that had originally only covered his immediate surroundings suddenly expanded, swallowing Yan Jing into it.

This was his true trump card.

Inside a time domain that belonged to him, he was a true god.

He alone dictated the speed of Yan Jing's time.

But...

The corners of Yan Jing's mouth curled up slightly.

Behind him, a compass emerged, its pointer spinning.

[Universal: Minute and Second]

When you face time, the pointer of Universal will automatically turn to the minute and second position for you.

Your time-related abilities will automatically gain an enhancement of one tier, while the opponent's time-related abilities will automatically drop by one tier.

You may freely choose to enter the Universal-Time state to resist 99% of time-based invasions (no consumption).

Universal: Minute and Second can be actively used to guide the opponent toward the end of time.

Resist 99% of time-based invasions.

His own time pathway abilities rose by a tier, while the opponent's fell by a tier!

The tables instantly turned!!

The man stared at Yan Jing in shock.

He discovered he had suddenly lost control over the time domain.

Yan Jing moved!

But the man couldn't follow Yan Jing's movements at all.

A punch landed!

The man's body trembled as he coughed up a huge mouthful of blood. The internal injuries he hadn't fully healed completely erupted, silver-white blood spraying wildly.

But... this was only the first punch.

Yan Jing's second punch immediately followed.

And then a third...

He didn't use the Old Man's ability.

He had already used that punch when facing that Deep Sea Continent Envoy.

To instill fear in his opponent regarding his attacks, he had thrown down his trump card right at the very beginning.

This was also what had led the opponent to not even dare take a single one of his punches afterward.

Of course, there was a downside.

For instance, if he had the Old Man's punch right now, the man before him would have perished instantly.

"..."

The Black Box in the distance watched this sudden turn of events, its aura turning absolutely terrifying.

As its weird energy surged, even the weather seemed to change. For a moment, the wind howled and the clouds churned, the sky caving in. Amidst the twilight, it was as if countless meteors were plummeting toward them from the horizon.

It was confident Yan Jing couldn't withstand this strike.

And if Yan Jing didn't try to block it, then Old Sin City would be utterly annihilated.

Watching the meteor shower hurtling toward him, Yan Jing's eyes finally hardened.

Weird energy erupted completely from his right hand!!!

It was that punch again!

The Old Man's punch.

His strongest offensive method.

Of course, the price was his life.

He had already used the effect of Divine Heart - Frost to ward it off once before.

But this time, it was no longer Frost.

It was...

Chongming!!

He threw the punch!!!

The man in front of him seemed to sense something. Terror exploded in his eyes, and he desperately tried to defend himself.

But he existed in a slower time.

His so-called defense also took place in that slower time.

A surreal light seemed to erupt suddenly, illuminating the gloomy twilight sky, before vanishing in an instant, returning the world to dead silence.

The punch landed.

The man's entire body collapsed.

Blood surged wildly as cracks spread across his skin. Inside the gaping, bloody hole in his chest, there were no organs left, nor any flesh and blood.

Even his divinity was dissipating.

He was actually already dead.

The man's face was deathly pale, carrying a sense of powerless despair.

He could do nothing but watch helplessly as he disintegrated.

He was a Demigod Realm expert, the strongest existence in this world.

Any entity who had reached the peak was nothing more than a vassal who needed to bow their head before him. Even the most powerful beings had to show him respect.

Yet right now, his life was fading away.

The time he relied upon couldn't save him, either.

Because time now belonged to his opponent.

He was unwilling! Unwilling to the point that he wanted to roar!

He was a Demigod Realm expert!!!

He shouldn't die in a place like this!!!

But...

He couldn't do anything at all.

He could only watch in despair as his body vanished into the horizon.

Why did I come here...

That was his final thought.

In the sky, the air turned humid, as if about to weep.

But before it could even cry, Yan Jing's body was already blocking the front of Old Sin City.

He had no more Praying for Death Evolution.

The three chances had been exhausted while facing the man.

He also lacked any death-substitution abilities.

The Chongming state and Divine Heart - Frost had both been used up as well.

But he still had cards to play!

A crown materialized above his head.

Wisps of light cascaded down from the crown.

An unusual light glinted in Yan Jing's eyes.

And then... he charged straight into the meteor-like beams of light!!

"...Courting death."

The Black Box watched this unfold and spoke coldly.

There was no way his opponent could endure this strike.

Even a Demigod Realm expert couldn't take this blow without a scratch.

This was the strongest attack among its area-of-effect abilities.

The other party's delusion of blocking the entirety of it alone was pure idiocy.

Yan Jing's figure was as small as a speck of dust before that massive meteor shower, but the moment they collided, a blindingly radiant light exploded.

Countless meteors detonated. Clusters of light burst open and mushroom clouds rose like dark spheres. With every roar, this space was further destroyed.

The surrounding scenery began to vanish.

With the brightness reaching its absolute peak, vision became obstructed. Nothing could be seen clearly; there was only extremely blinding light flashing as intense heat and brilliance resonated and erupted.

Everything in the surroundings was submerged in light.

"It's over."

The Black Box narrowed its eyes and spoke coldly.

After this strike, the backlash it would suffer would instantly claim half its life.

But it felt it was worth it.

A human.

A human capable of killing a Demigod Realm expert.

Absolutely could not be allowed to survive.

But...

When the light faded away...

The Black Box and the Old Man were both stunned.

A figure slowly emerged in the air.

Devoid of flesh and bone, only a pure body of weird energy remained, hovering in the sky.

That was Yan Jing.

He had lost his flesh, his limbs, and his physical body.

But he was still alive.

Laurel Crown: Undefeated

{You are in an immortal and indestructible state for one minute.}