"Come at me!"
Amidst the howling gale, Yu Xian looked up at the Ancient Cosmos Dragon, a radiant smile spreading across his face.
Over the past year, he had constantly pondered how to deal with enemies like Edward.
He couldn't get bogged down in an agonizing war of attrition until one side was completely drained every single time. For one thing, that was a terrible waste; Edward's Star Divine Artifact had turned into rotten slag precisely because its energy had been thoroughly sucked dry. For another, it was an enormous waste of time—without fighting for days and nights on end, it was virtually impossible to deplete the energy reserves of a Star Rank powerhouse.
In the end, after wracking his brains and consulting many friends, he had finally developed a sure-kill technique specifically designed for these tin cans.
Unfortunately, when dealing with the Yellow Springs water ghosts earlier, his sure-kill technique had been utterly useless. But now, facing the Ancient Cosmos Dragon—another ironclad tin can—the ultimate move he had painstakingly honed could finally be put to use.
"Little Nora, Little Huangquan, watch closely. This is your big brother's true strength!"
Yu Xian rolled his neck as he spoke to Little Nora and Little Huangquan. Then, veins bulged all over his body, and fiery light flared within his crimson eyes.
Super Integrator: Flash Form.
In an instant, every enhancement ability he possessed was activated, drastically boosting Yu Xian across all attributes.
This was an advanced version of Integrator: Black Blood Form. The underlying principle was largely the same as the Black Blood Form, except that the energy it utilized was vastly higher-grade and far more powerful.
However, this state was not actually well-suited for battles between Star Rank powerhouses.
Star Divine Artifacts were simply too tough. If he could not finish off an opponent in a short time, maintaining this state would instead burn through a massive amount of Yu Xian's energy, plunging him into a disadvantage.
Unless he had absolute certainty, Yu Xian would generally never resort to this state.
The only reason he entered it now was that it served as a prerequisite for his sure-kill technique. He needed Super Integrator: Flash Form to exert precise control over every drop of energy and every single cell in his body.
By now, the Ancient Cosmos Dragon was right before his eyes, yet its speed seemed to crawl to a near halt. Time stretched out immensely; a single second, from Yu Xian's perspective, felt like ten minutes.
He raised his hand. A bubble no larger than the ball bearing of a ballpoint pen materialized in an instant. Then, bubbles spawned at a frantic pace, one after another, and within each of those bubbles, even more bubbles continuously emerged.
In one-third of a second, an immensely massive bubble hovered above Yu Xian's raised palm, containing layers upon layers of countless more bubbles inside.
Innumerable. With Yu Xian's current computing capacity, the number of bubbles he could generate every millisecond was astronomical. With such an unfathomable quantity nested into a single super-massive bubble, no one could fathom how terrifying its explosive power would be.
Yu Xian had once considered compressing energy into a singular point to attain greater destructive power, but experimentation proved it infeasible. The mental strength of a Star Rank powerhouse was also limited; even compressing energy to its utmost limit was not enough to shatter a Star Divine Artifact.
It was not that the concept of compressing energy was flawed, but that Star Rank cultivators were incapable of pulling it off.
Next, he had thought about training in martial techniques, aspiring to hone a single move to the absolute pinnacle like Teacher Wang Xingnuo had. But after barely three days, he had given up.
He had to admit he was just a lucky bum...
Ultimately, he turned his focus back to what he did best: bubbles. After consulting numerous friends and training relentlessly, he finally developed the sure-kill technique best suited for him—the Limitless World-Collapsing Bubble.
At this moment, the colossally massive bubble shrank in an instant down to the size of a basketball.
Yu Xian waved his hand violently. The Limitless World-Collapsing Bubble shot straight toward the spinning Ancient Cosmos Dragon, colliding with it head-on.
White light flared, and the world fell silent...
...
...
According to scientific studies, an ordinary water bubble can generate temperatures as high as 20,000 degrees Celsius the moment it bursts.
Such extreme heat results from the rapid movement and violent collision of internal particles upon bursting. However, because this process lasts only an infinitesimal fraction of a second, the temperature, despite being staggering, causes no harm to humans.
Yet Yu Xian's bubbles were no ordinary water bubbles—they were bubbles imbued with spatial properties.
When trillions of spatial bubbles burst simultaneously, the resulting devastation would be unimaginable.
...
...
Deep within the Abyss, dozens of starships were fleeing the pitch-black, fractured universe.
Ahead lay a crimson expanse composed of immense amounts of energy and matter laden with mental corruption. Any living creature exposed to this crimson realm would rapidly mutate, eventually devolving into a monster.
Behind them was the pitch-black universe, though incomplete and fragmented, resembling a shattered roof tile with specks of starlight flickering in the darkness. Near its outer rim, a planet suddenly erupted with dazzling radiance.
The blinding white light even illuminated the surrounding void. The Transcendents escaping aboard the ships stared dumbfoundedly at the planet.
Had they failed to evacuate in time, they would have undoubtedly perished under that single strike.
At last, the light gradually dissipated.
The planet, already riddled with fissures, was completely torn to pieces.
This was not to say Yu Xian could obliterate an entire planet in a single blow, but his strike was indisputably the deciding factor—the final straw that broke the camel's back.
Amidst the fractured continents, submerged in a pool of magma, lay a scaleless giant dragon, looking somewhat like... a roast chicken.
The moment the Limitless World-Collapsing Bubble burst, the Ancient Cosmos Dragon took the brunt of the concentrated shockwaves. Every single one of its scales disintegrated in the blink of an eye, and its body suffered catastrophic damage. Though a faint breath of life still lingered, it was already on the verge of death.
Yu Xian teleported in front of the Ancient Cosmos Dragon and quietly looked down at it.
There was no need for him to lift another finger. In truth, the Ancient Cosmos Dragon's body had already been pulverized into atoms; the only reason it had not dissolved was that its faint, lingering consciousness was still holding it together.
"Human... I refuse to accept this..."
The Ancient Cosmos Dragon's thought echoed through the surroundings.
It had clearly obtained the Forbidden Fruit and perfected both offense and defense, so why had it failed to withstand even a single strike from Yu Xian?
It could not comprehend it. It wanted to ask Yu Xian how he had accomplished such a feat.
Yet time had run out.
Immediately following, its body abruptly disintegrated, dispersing into countless atoms.
Battles between Star Rank powerhouses were sometimes that cruel. Unless their combat prowess was evenly matched, someone was almost guaranteed to die. Neither side dared hold back, for showing mercy meant opening the door to one's own demise.
Only after the Ancient Cosmos Dragon perished did Yu Xian finally speak: "If I were the one who lost, would I just accept it?"
Since one side was bound to be left with bitter regret, he would always reserve that defeat for his enemy.
"Big Brother, we won! Incredible! Even the Ancient Cosmos Dragon lost to us!" Little Nora cheered joyfully only now.
Little Huangquan, on the other hand, began singing an ancient ballad. Her tender voice seemed to possess the power to soothe souls, and countless faint motes of light rose from the magma, drifting gently toward the sky.
"Dim and deep lies the Yellow Springs road,
White bones nurture blooming mi flowers.
Broken souls and rootless ghosts,
Pray drink of Wangchuan tea."
Amidst the serene, ethereal singing, Yu Xian looked up as the motes of light faded away. He suddenly remembered Little Huangquan once saying that she could sing.
It turned out the singing she had spoken of was no ordinary song, but a requiem to guide departed souls.
Chapter 222