[688] Nullified

Zhen Realm, the small dark room. Sitting on a multi-person sofa, Yu Xian was using the Zhen Realm as a springboard to observe everyone aboard the Aska. After confirming that Nora had no plans to condense an Origin Seed for the time being, he shifted his perspective toward a certain branch farther away. During this period, he had been constantly observing a Mighty One, for this was no ordinary Mighty One. The man was so strong that it defied imagination, arguably Nora's greatest obstacle to achieving Origin Return. As the saying went, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. At present, Yu Xian was gathering information on this Mighty One, viewing him as the number-one threat. The Mighty One—Li Zhenlong, a martial-path powerhouse who possessed the rules of time, space, life, death, strength, speed, and more, all cultivated to an exceptionally profound level. He was a being without a single weakness. He was a master of every weapon. His chosen armament was a black iron rod capable of morphing into thousands of different weapons. In his hands, the iron rod shifted into myriad forms, leaving everyone guessing what weapon it would become in the next second or what kind of attack it would unleash. Yu Xian had watched dozens of his battles, large and small, and in nearly every one of them, he had overwhelmingly suppressed the other Mighty Ones. In terms of mastery over rule power, it was a one-sided steamroll; in terms of combat experience, a one-sided steamroll; in terms of technique, still a one-sided steamroll. In the end, the vast majority of Mighty Ones willingly conceded defeat, for the disparity was simply too obvious—if they didn't surrender, they would truly be beaten to death. Yet this time, Li Zhenlong had met his match. In the direction he was currently advancing, there was an equally unfathomable entity, one who had mastered the Five Supremes Legacies—namely, the five powers of Mister Eye, Mister Hand, Mister Foot, Mister Key, and Mister Monster. Most terrifying of all, this person had fused all five legacies into his own rules, making his moves eerily bizarre. If Li Zhenlong was someone Yu Xian felt warranted caution, this mysterious powerhouse was someone Yu Xian had zero desire to confront head-on; the best approach would be to swat him dead directly using the Zhen Realm, giving him no chance to react whatsoever. Amid Yu Xian's anticipation, roughly a month passed, and Li Zhenlong and the mysterious powerhouse finally crossed paths. Both carried Calamity Origin upon them, so they locked onto each other in an instant. In the blink of an eye, they teleported from different worlds to the exterior of the Tree Universe, sensing each other's presence across a distance of tens of trillions of light-years. Li Zhenlong suddenly narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth with hatred. "So it's you! I've searched for you for a long time, Eye-Snatching Demon!" He had originally possessed the True Eye of Martial Arts, capable of seeing through flaws in any opponent's moves. Under his mastery, the eye had flourished; after observing clashes among countless masters, he had created martial arts beyond ordinary imagination, such as the Carefree Skill, the True Meaning Invincible Fist, and the Thirty-Six Tiangang Legs. Originally, Li Zhenlong had sought to break through further, only to be ambushed one day by a mysterious figure who plucked out his eyes. Later, rumors of the Eye-Snatching Demon began circulating through the martial arts world, and only then did he realize in shock that many individuals in the martial arts realm with special eyes had their eyeballs stolen. The eyes Li Zhenlong currently possessed were actually his master's. "And you are...?" The Eye-Snatching Demon naturally knew the name people across the myriad worlds had given him when he stole and snatched eyeballs. However, he truly had no recollection of Li Zhenlong. After all, the people he had ambushed numbered in the nine hundred billions if not a trillion; who could remember every unfortunate soul knocked senseless by his hand? Besides, he had not been as strong in the past as he was now. Back then, roaming the myriad worlds had relied entirely on the inherited abilities of Mister Key. He would usually gather a bit of intel, pinpoint an ambush target, snatch the eyeballs, and flee. Because of his existence, many families that once loved to boast loudly about their clan's special eyes had learned to keep a low profile. "Cut the chatter! Return my eyes, and while you're at it... leave your life behind!" Li Zhenlong did not care that the Eye-Snatching Demon failed to remember him. He drew his black iron rod, and the next moment, moving faster than the sound of his own voice, he appeared right before the Eye-Snatching Demon and brought the rod crashing down toward his skull. Great Sage Cleaving Heaven! With this strike from Li Zhenlong, all the power was concentrated at the rod's tip. Even before it landed, the Eye-Snatching Demon's expression changed drastically, struck by the sensation that an entire world was crashing down upon him. No. It was not merely a sensation. The force behind this strike was as though an entire world had been compressed into a single point, and was now striking him with that point. Although a Mighty One could easily destroy a world, that did not mean a Mighty One could easily annihilate a world from existence. The difference between the two was like how demolishing a skyscraper was easy, but disposing of all the rubble after the building collapsed was far from simple. (Unless one devoured it like the Abyss.) Right now, Li Zhenlong's strike was equivalent to compressing all the matter of that skyscraper. If a Mighty One took a direct hit, they would be severely injured if not dead. An arm instantly manifested before the Eye-Snatching Demon, gripping tightly onto the oncoming rod. This arm was no ordinary limb either. It came from an exotic race known as the Right-Arm Giants. Most of their bodies were completely normal, except that their right arm was exceptionally gigantic and possessed boundless strength. Once cultivated, this right arm would be further enhanced. At the Star Rank, it possessed the power to shatter more than half a planet with a single punch, and reaching the Li Rank allowed it to effortlessly blow up entire planets. And this right arm of the Eye-Snatching Demon came from a Right-Arm Giant who had cultivated all the way to the Cosmos Rank. After severing it, he had refined it for hundreds of thousands of years until it ultimately became part of his Mister Hand powers. By now, this right arm wielded power on the level of a Mighty One, and a terrifying one even among Mighty Ones at that. An ordinary Mighty One might not even survive a single squeeze from this right arm. Yet this time was different. Li Zhenlong's wrathful strike snapped the arm in two on the spot, but that momentary delay bought the Eye-Snatching Demon enough time to evade. In an instant, the Eye-Snatching Demon appeared behind Li Zhenlong. As he dodged, a dense cluster of arms sprouted behind him, fanning out like a peacock displaying its plumage. "Looks like your hands and feet aren't bad either. I'll take them, then!" The Eye-Snatching Demon said coldly. In the next moment, an octagonal sphere appeared out of thin air between his hands. Grasping the top and bottom of the sphere, he gave it a twist, and golden ripples instantly unfurled. At the very moment the golden ripples expanded, the scene before Yu Xian went black, and he found that the Zhen Realm could not see inside the golden ripples. "Is that a transcendence-level item?" Yu Xian looked toward the blackened screen, frowning slightly. Methods below the transcendence level could not resist the power of the Zhen Realm. Thus, Yu Xian could deduce that the sphere the Eye-Snatching Demon had produced was definitely a transcendence-level item. Only a transcendence-level item could disable the ability of another transcendence-level item. It could be a miraculous item, a soul treasure, or perhaps a creation left behind by another Transcender. Unfortunately, this meant he could no longer continue watching the show. It was certain that the clash between Li Zhenlong and the Eye-Snatching Demon inside would be fierce, and both would undoubtedly reveal all their trump cards. It would have been a prime opportunity to gather intelligence, but if he couldn't see, he couldn't see—unless he stepped into the game and entered the field in person, which was without question far too dangerous.