Planet Pulverizer: A Mortal's Ascent

Chapter 258: Strength

"Captain!"

"Old Wang!"

Seeing Wang Hualong torn in two with just one strike, as if bitten by a Tyrannosaurus, the four Martial Saints and two grandmasters rushing to his aid were struck by a sense of indescribable horror and brutality.

Their captain... a Supreme Martial Saint whose power rivaled that of Ten-Thousand Slaughters, a war machine Great Shang cultivated at great cost, a formidable figure who once faced off against Li Xuanzang, the powerful Martial Saint, and emerged victorious in a one-on-three battle, had actually been so severely injured by Li Pin in a single confrontation?[1]

At that moment, the breathing of the six martial artists froze.

Li Pin gripped Wang Hualong's head with a hand and twisted.

Crack!

His skull snapped, and Li Pin casually tossed the corpse aside.

"You dared to confront me head-on with a qi and blood level of only forty-nine? I truly don't understand where your confidence came from."

Li Pin turned his attention toward the remaining four Martial Saints. "You lot, perhaps?"

In the next moment, the force beneath Li Pins's feet erupted again.

Under the effect of the Blood-Seething Secret Art, he moved like a prehistoric Tyrannosaurus. Furthermore, he was no ordinary Tyrannosaurus! He was one adept in all combat techniques, capable of releasing Core, Aura, and even Spirit Force!

With a single leap, the ground beneath him crumbled. As debris scattered, his overwhelming, pernicious aura surged, crushing through the air with the force of a falling mountain. In an instant, he enveloped the four Martial Saints.

Li Pin's overwhelming qi and blood advantage combined with the suffocating terror left the four Martial Saints' minds nearly blank. The weakest among them unknowingly widened his eyes, like an ordinary man facing a tiger. He stood completely still, seemingly losing all sensation.

"His qi and blood level...."

A mid-tier ferocious beast? An official Astral Cultivator? But even an official Astral Cultivator was limited to using basic force!

They couldn't even release Core Force! Let alone Aura or Spirit Force! Could Li Pin be an Astral Cultivator capable of unleashing Spirit Force!?

"Ah!"

One of the Martial Saints at the limits of the human body broke free from the suffocating fear. With his Vitality, Qi, and Spirit boiling and burning, he threw a heaven-shaking punch. Under the life-and-death pressure, he delivered the most brilliant strike of his life.

"Take this...!"

Bang!

Aura Force exploded outward!

But Li Pin was too fast.

The space around the Extreme Martial Saint trembled and tore apart under an unstoppable, colossal force before his power could fully peak. His final, desperate roar could not even be voiced.

The immense Aura force, powerful enough to shatter trees and rocks, erupted, leaving cracks across the ground.

The Extreme Martial Saint let out a final, desperate roar as he delivered a strike. However, he suddenly tremored violently, as though he had been blasted by a towering mountain. His arm was instantly pulverized into powder, exploding into a mist of blood.

His fate... was no different from Wang Hualong's.

Rumble!

The air trembled.

By now, another Extreme Martial Saint had broken out of their stupor.

With a violent surge of fist force, accompanied by qi and blood amplified through a secret art, he unleashed a strike capable of shattering the hurricane. The blow ripped through the force scattered from the clash between Li Pin and the Extreme Martial Saint, charging straight toward Li Pin.

"Die!"

A low roar, tinged with a hint of madness, echoed through the air, accompanied by the sharp whistle of the fist force as it shook the hurricane.

However, before the strike could land on Li Pin, his other hand, sharp as a divine sword, sliced through the night sky. It surged forward with unstoppable force, striking precisely at the chest of the approaching Martial Saint.

The moment his sword-like hand made contact with the Martial Saint's chest and dispersed his force, Li Pin swiftly transformed his palm into a fist, unleashing the devastating burst of power contained within it.

Crack!

The sound of shattering bones echoed across the battlefield alongside a deep rumbling.

It was as if a bomb had gone off inside the Martial Saint's body, reducing his internal organs to dust. His body, bent by the blow, arched violently. The back of his clothes ripped apart, revealing a fist-shaped imprint.

In the next moment, his hundred-kilogram body was flung over ten meters through the air by the explosive force of the punch. Blood mixed with shattered internal organs sprayed from his mouth before he even hit the ground.

By the time he crashed down, stirring up fallen leaves and sliding another ten meters, the Extreme Martial Saint had already lost all signs of life.

"How... can he be this strong!?"

Another Martial Saint, a fraction slower, watched helplessly as Li Pin tore through the air and eliminated their two strongest comrades with overwhelming force. A shiver of fear raced down his spine.

An indescribable terror shot through his mind, almost tearing his skull apart.

He had previously seen with his own eyes the Ten-Thousand Slaughters, a war machine that Great Shang had nurtured at great cost. He was an absolute killing machine, specifically designed to massacre opponents in the King of the Century Competition and claim its throne. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

However, even the pressure and fear evoked by a monster like that somehow paled to what he felt from Li Pin at this moment!

"His strength...."

Li Pin surveyed the two Martial Saints whose minds were in disarray, unable to muster even the instinct to fight back. "You two aren't even worthy of dying by my hands."

He halted in his tracks. Only then did the two Martial Saints snap out of their daze.

Cold sweat poured from their foreheads as they looked at Li Pin, now just a few meters away. They didn't dare utter a word of defiance or even move a muscle, fearful that any sudden action might provoke him like it had with Wang Hualong and the other Extreme Martial Saints, whose corpses lay scattered around.

"Tell those behind you not to send any more Martial Saints. They're just sending them to their death," Li Pin said indifferently.

With that, he turned and walked into the wilderness ahead.

Throughout the entire process, the two surviving Martial Saints and the two grandmasters stood rooted in place, not daring to move even an inch.

It wasn't until several minutes had passed, and Li Pin's figure had long disappeared into the distance, that one of the Martial Saints, his voice trembling, muttered, "We... we survived?"

The other Martial Saint had been paralyzed with fear up until this point. It was his colleague's words that pulled him out of his state of shock. He gazed in the direction where Li Pin had left, his thoughts drifting back to Li Pin's last words. His expression turned complicated, and he said, "We... survived. He didn't kill us."

Perhaps... they had been spared to deliver a message. Or maybe, to someone of his caliber, they simply no longer inspired the interest to kill.

"Lord Xia Ming... what kind of monster is he?"

The two Grandmasters, who had kept their distance, now approached, fear still evident in their eyes. They hadn't faced Li Pin directly; their slower speed had prevented that. Yet witnessing three Extreme Martial Saints being effortlessly annihilated left their souls trembling in terror.

"A monster.... Yes, a monster," the Martial Saint named Xia Ming murmured to himself. "Besides a monster... what other Martial Saint could be this powerful?"

Gradually regaining his composure, he recognized the seriousness of the situation. "We must report this immediately. Li Pin... is not a discarded pawn or bait as rumored! He's even stronger than we imagined. I suspect he's a terrifying beast specifically designed to hunt down those who fall into his trap!"

The others nodded, trembling slightly.

They no longer dared to linger in the area. Carrying the corpses of Wang Hualong and the others, they fled the scene as quickly as possible.

Deep down, they had already made a decision. From that moment on, they would mark Jiang Province City as forbidden territory, never to set foot in the city again.

***

Li Pin walked through the mountains and wilderness, his mind racing back to the recent skirmish. Martial Saints, Martial Saints....

A Supreme Martial Saint on par with Ye Chengyuan, two Extreme Martial Saints, two Martial Saints, and two grandmasters had attempted to encircle him. That was a formidable lineup, no doubt about it.

Yet... even the Li Pin of two months ago, who had not yet condensed his Lifeform Force Field at the time, could still have defeated them. At most, he would've needed to use the explosive secret art like the Great Sun Infinite.

Now, with the help of his Lifeform Force Field, however, his control over his force had reached an entirely new level.

The words he had dropped before leaving were truthful; the disparity in strength between them didn't kindle in him any interest in killing them.

Perhaps, right now, only the strongest official Astral Cultivators, those with qi and blood of 150, could pose any threat to him. As for killing him... that would require a High-Class Astral Cultivator to act.

Li Pin focused his mind to sense his current state.

[Qi and Blood: 64.15], [Primordial Qi: 48.81], [Mental Spirit: 45.79]

[Innate Qi-Refining Technique, Qi-Refining Chapter: 492/1000, Foundation Building Chapter: 541/1000]

[Blood-Seething Secret Art: 41.35%]

[Stars Overlord, Celestial Force Field: 1/85000]

Cultivation had always been a holistic system, never displaying simple one-dimensional growth.

The Lifeform Force Field itself was a form of life suppression, a condensation of a person's Vitality, Qi, and Spirit. When a practitioner fully mastered their Vitality, Qi, and Spirit, their understanding and progress in other areas would accelerate. As a result, his advancement in the Qi-Refining and Foundation Building Chapters of the Innate Qi-Refining Technique soared.

His control over the Blood-Seething Secret Art had also reached a new stage.

Even his qi and blood increased more than expected.

Although he hadn't reached his theoretical limit yet, the Blood-Seething Art could boost his sixty-four points of qi and blood to rival that of a Crimson-Tooth Tiger or an Beastfolk Fighter when used at full force. This absolute advantage in his attributes meant that Martial Saints... no longer demanded much of his attention.

His cultivation focus had now shifted to the second phase of the Stars Overlord—Celestial Force Field!

He already had a general plan in mind for cultivating the Celestial Force Field.

Progress would be steady, like accumulating small steps to traverse a thousand miles, measuring the earth beneath him.

As the saying goes, "Every journey starts with a single step."

Using his body as a bridge between heaven and man, he aimed to grasp the essence of nature and the planetary movements.

1. refer back to chapter 192, Li Xuanzang offended Prince Rong which led to his disappearance. ☜