The Appetizer

One side went all out, while the other held back. When their strength was roughly on par, anyone could guess what the outcome would be without even thinking. Li Zhenlong was nearly obliterated entirely by the energy sphere, only managing to save his life in the end by dispelling the Martial Dao World. The instant the Martial Dao World was dispelled, the arena abruptly emptied. Li Zhenlong, the Mechanical Dragon Knight, and the mechanical giant dragon reappeared simultaneously in the Tree Universe. With only a single scrap of skin left on his back, Li Zhenlong bolted without a word. "Trying to run?" Seeing Li Zhenlong flee, the Mechanical Dragon Knight immediately swept its lance, sending that incomparably colossal energy sphere hurtling straight outward. Because this energy sphere was so immense, its movement speed was likewise astonishingly swift; even a minuscule shift covered an absurdly vast distance. Then, just as the energy sphere loomed directly above Li Zhenlong, the Mechanical Dragon Knight boldly detonated it. "Indestructible Vajra Body!" Li Zhenlong roared from the depths of his soul as he watched heaven and earth turn a blinding gold. Rumble! The first to suffer were, as always, the innocent surrounding worlds. Yet this time, Li Zhenlong was caught in the catastrophe as well. Amidst the glare, the lone scrap of skin remaining of him whipped and distorted wildly like a rag in a Category 12 hurricane. "I will never die!" "I have yet to reach the pinnacle of the martial dao—there is no way in hell I will die here! Aaaaargh!" Li Zhenlong's consciousness struggled and wailed in madness, channeling every shred of his power solely into protecting himself. So long as he survived this assault, he was certain he could make it out alive! A week went by. The entire blast zone turned into a churning soup of high-pressure energy. Wild, destructive energy pulverized everything inside down to the last scrap. Furthermore, the machine rules kept this energy operating in strict order, grinding every other rule to dust like precision cogs. Yu Xian and the Death Emperor watched the monitoring feed with caution. "Li Zhenlong seems a bit outmatched before Margot Moxi," Yu Xian said after a long silence. Contests of strength between Mighty Ones were indeed hard to gauge. At least previously, Yu Xian had consistently assumed Li Zhenlong was slightly stronger—especially since the foes Li Zhenlong defeated were clearly of higher caliber and wielded far more sophisticated methods than those Margot Moxi had vanquished. Yet the moment the two clashed, Margot Moxi hadn't even needed to step in personally; the Mechanical Dragon Knight under her command had defeated Li Zhenlong on its own. To be honest, Yu Xian was quite surprised. But facts were facts, and no matter how astonished he was, he could only accept it. After all, Li Zhenlong had suffered a thorough, undisputed defeat without the slightest fluke. Year after year passed. Yu Xian had the Death Emperor keep watch over the energy soup left behind by the Mechanical Dragon Knight, while he turned his attention to other Mighty Ones. After who knew how much time had elapsed, the Death Emperor spoke: "I believe Li Zhenlong isn't dead. In all likelihood, he is hiding inside to nurse his wounds!" "Oh," Yu Xian replied flatly, his eyes fixed on another monitor where a Mighty One named Han Li was currently on the run. Compared to whether Li Zhenlong lived or died, he looked forward even more to other Mighty Ones falling quickly so he could go claim their inheritance. This Han Li had a very high chance of perishing, which was why Yu Xian's attention was focused entirely here. As for Li Zhenlong? Just a stray dog on the roadside. After all, if Li Zhenlong couldn't even defeat Margot Moxi, he had lost all utility value. Ideally, Li Zhenlong would be beaten to death by Margot Moxi; only then would Yu Xian spare him another glance, collecting his corpse and inheriting his legacy while he was at it. Yu Xian kept an eye on these Mighty Ones partly to watch the drama unfold, and partly to inherit their legacies. Many Mighty Ones had already discovered that Transcendence-grade items could nullify other Transcendence-grade items. Consequently, the trump card Yu Xian relied on most had lost its absolute edge. While the Zhen Realm could broaden the breadth of his laws, it could not grant him sufficient depth of laws. Inheriting legacies, however, could make up for that deficiency nicely. Thus, he had to accumulate enough strength before the true battle arrived. In truth, what was happening now was merely the appetizer. Although the Mighty Ones were fighting in utter chaos, everything so far could only be considered localized, small-scale skirmishes. Not a single Mighty One had yet condensed a Calamity Seed. Therefore, they were still very, very far from things truly reaching a boiling point. At a conservative estimate, it would take at least forty to fifty thousand years before the true Battle of Origin Return officially commenced. By then, the caliber of the "contestants" would be extraordinarily high, and the bare minimum entry standard would likely be someone on Margot Moxi's level. Precisely because Yu Xian understood this, he had to build up his strength and rapidly become stronger. The Mighty Ones' Battle of Origin Return was exceptionally brutal. Even if one emerged victorious, they might not necessarily make it to the very end; if Origin Return failed, one would turn into an abyss, just like Feng Laixian. Although Yu Xian feared being drained dry by Nora and wished he could hide from her until the end of time, he certainly wouldn't sit idly by and watch her face danger alone. When Nora needed him, as her husband, he would definitely step forward. In fact, he had also harbored some wishful thinking. After all, he and Nora would have a child who was a born Unity Returner. Didn't that suggest Nora was bound to succeed in Origin Return? Yet... what if that wasn't the case? Little Salty Fish was ultimately just a baby. Though he possessed the abilities of a Unity Returner, he had been kept under close rein by the future Yu Xian and Nora, never truly unleashing the power a Unity Returner ought to have. What if the future Nora wasn't the Nora of today? For instance, could that Nora be Zhang Buyao in disguise? Or someone else entirely? Her motive? Perhaps his future self simply didn't want Little Salty Fish altering the timeline... There were far too many possibilities, and Yu Xian could think of a whole heap of them. So why overthink it? Just get things done. Raising his strength was all that mattered. While Yu Xian was lost in thought staring at Han Li, the Death Emperor suddenly spoke up: "Master, Li Zhenlong has come out! He really isn't dead!" "Holy crap, he actually is still alive. The guy's pretty tough to kill." Yu Xian glanced at the screen the Death Emperor was watching, slightly surprised to see Li Zhenlong wrapped in bandages across multiple parts of his body. It made sense, really. The Mechanical Dragon Knight and the mechanical giant dragon hadn't wandered far; they were still keeping watch from a nearby meteorite. Don't forget, Li Zhenlong possessed Calamity Origin, which was something Margot Moxi needed as well. Without obtaining the Calamity Origin, how could the Mechanical Dragon Knight possibly return? When struck by the energy sphere and pushed to the brink of death, Li Zhenlong had expended his final shred of power to wrap himself inside his Martial Dao World. He had compressed the Martial Dao World to its smallest possible scale, which was also its most resilient form, nursing his injuries inside while waiting for an opportune moment. Unfortunately, even after his injuries were eighty percent healed, the Mechanical Dragon Knight showed no signs of leaving. Left with no choice, Li Zhenlong could only emerge. He was confident that in his current condition, he was fully capable of escaping alive. He cast a glance toward the distant Mechanical Dragon Knight. In the next instant, he flashed and vanished. The Mechanical Dragon Knight swiftly mounted the mechanical giant dragon and gave chase in the direction Li Zhenlong had fled, its speed just as absurdly fast. Evidently, this was where the true second round began.