Chapter 430 – Starting the Count from You

“Bzzzt…!”Within the sacrificial ground, amidst the blazing flames that filled the sky, the figure bathed in starlight paid no heed to the inferno engulfing him.” Not even the edges of his clothing were damaged, treating the surrounding fire as if it were nothing. Only the crimson, blood-like Great Sin Blade struggled desperately in his grasp, its death energy continuously corroding yet achieving no results.

Su Ming forcefully restrained a Divine Artifact while completely ignoring the attacks of the Li Brothers. His posture and aura left everyone present deeply shaken.

Especially the Li Brothers.

“How is this possible?”

Li Wu’s pupils contracted sharply.

Pandora Modified was his life’s proudest creation. As long as its power wasn’t exhausted, he could hold off even a group of second-tier Seven-Star Professionals. Yet now, Su Ming was treating it as nothing, leaving Li Wu utterly astonished.

Li Feng stared intently at Su Ming.

“Dawn Star Orbit?”

He recognized the true nature of the starlight enveloping Su Ming.

And it wasn’t just Li Feng.

Among the gathered human elites, many recognized this starlight.

“He can actually use the Dawn Star Orbit technique?”

“That’s the revolutionary Spirit Art that countless famous Seven-Star Sorcerers couldn’t master!”

“Excellent!”

Some of the human elites were shocked, others overjoyed, all captivated by the ability displayed at this moment.

Only Li Qingqing, her eyes crimson like a mad demon, charged toward Su Ming.

“Return the Divine Artifact to me!”

The pitiful girl seemed controlled by something, falling into a frenzied state immediately after losing the Great Sin Blade.

This was clearly a loss of control, completely devoid of reason.

Unfortunately, after losing the Great Sin Blade, Li Qingqing’s power appeared to have drastically decreased.

The girl was only sixteen or seventeen years old. Though she was Li Feng’s biological daughter with a noble bloodline, she was still young. Her actual strength wasn’t remarkable—at most equivalent to a Three-Star Hunter, not yet reaching her limits, let alone comparable to Upper-Rank Professionals.

Her power came entirely from the Divine Artifact.

Relying on the Divine Artifact’s domineering power—which could allow even ordinary mortals to contend with top experts—Li Qingqing could display such destructive force, even suppressing Nightmare Species Mutant Hell Beasts.

Conversely, once she lost the Divine Artifact, Li Qingqing’s actual strength was merely ordinary, completely unthreatening.

Su Ming glanced at Li Qingqing, his Spirit Power vibrating as invisible chains immediately shot out from the Void Realm, entangling the frenzied girl.

Thirty-Third Form: Stasis Lock.

Still without even constructing a circular array, Su Ming casually channeled his Spirit Power to release this Spirit Art, restraining Li Qingqing.

Then, Su Ming tightened his right hand gripping the Great Sin Blade, causing the Blue Demon Ceasefire Ring on his wrist to radiate flowing light.

The flowing light surged toward the Great Sin Blade, flickering as it actually suppressed the continuously fluctuating death energy on the blade.

“Bzzzt…!”

The Great Sin Blade seemed to sense danger, struggling and vibrating even more desperately.

“Not good!”

Seeing this, the Li Brothers felt their hearts tighten.Though uncertain of the exact circumstances, the Li Brothers understood from the unfolding situation that allowing Su Ming to continue unchecked could lead to the Great Sin Blade being suppressed.

Losing a Divine Artifact would mean forfeiting a powerful trump card—an outcome the Li Brothers were unwilling to accept.

Immediately, the brothers shifted their focus, preparing to assault Su Ming.

But at that moment, the observing human experts erupted into action.

“Li Wu!”

The Seven-Star Professionals, previously suppressed by Pandora Modified, exchanged a tacit glance and simultaneously redirected their assault toward Li Wu. Forced to hastily adjust his strategy, Li Wu reactivated Pandora Modified’s power to block the advancing Seven-Star Professionals.

Meanwhile, Li Feng—shrouded in layers of ghostly shadows—was struck mid-charge toward Su Ming by a staff shadow that blotted out the sky, slamming him into the ground with a thunderous crash.

“The tables have turned, Li Feng.”

A sinister Fiend covered in Vision Marks descended from above, wielding the Heaven-Piercing Staff as he launched his attack.

“Tch!”

Li Feng clicked his tongue in frustration but had no choice but to shift his focus and re-engage Old Ling in their fierce duel.

“Boom!”

“Boom!”

“Boom!”

For a time, the entire Sacrificial Ground echoed with continuous explosions—either from rolling waves of flame or collisions between ghostly shadows and staff shadows, each impact generating earth-shattering shockwaves that ravaged the terrain.

Had it not been for the Sacrificial Ground’s unique construction as the Seal location for the Terror Species—rendering it nearly indestructible—such residual forces would have instantly collapsed the entire structure, reducing both it and the surrounding Underground Ruins to rubble.

The world’s most elite experts were battling here without restraint, and the aftermath of their clash was terrifyingly destructive. Even a Base City would be flattened within minutes under such forces.

Fortunately, the unique conditions of this place allowed it to withstand the battle’s fallout. Otherwise, the mere act of these experts fighting at full strength would have caused a significant catastrophe.

Even so, the intense combat between so many top-tier experts caused the Sacrificial Ground to tremble incessantly, with cracks beginning to spiderweb across the ground and walls.

This was especially true for Old Ling and Li Feng: one was humanity’s peerless Ultimate Weapon, while the other had accumulated boundless power for his Sub-Divine Artifact through years of slaughter. Their clash could only be described as world-shaking.

The destructive power from Li Wu’s side was equally formidable. Having modified Pandora into a tool capable of frequent, small-scale power releases, he unleashed forces originally potent enough to obliterate all of Longyao City. The resulting turmoil within the Sacrificial Ground rivaled the intensity of Old Ling and Li Feng’s duel.

However, a careful observer would note that with each release of power, the potency of Pandora Modified in Li Wu’s hands seemed to be gradually diminishing.

Clearly, the terrifying energy stored within Pandora Modified had depleted significantly through Li Wu’s repeated and reckless discharges.

If this continued, Pandora Modified would soon be rendered completely useless.

Li Wu felt this urgency keenly but could do nothing.

After all, his opponents were a group of second-tier Seven-Star Professionals. To hold off so many experts a tier above him, he had no choice but to maintain Pandora Modified’s output at higher levels.Li Wu could only desperately prolong the usage time of Pandora Modified, pulling out numerous treasures from his person that seemed to replenish the consumed power within Pandora Modified and throwing them into the black box. He maintained the battle by frantically depleting precious treasures.

Their opponents were the top-tier powerhouses of Tianfeng City, this Human Sanctuary. Compared to them, the foundation of 『Sin』 was ultimately too shallow.

Thus, whether it was Li Feng or Li Wu, despite appearing imposing, they were merely paper tigers—one relying on a Sub-Divine Artifact, the other on an Alchemy Construct—to display power threatening enough to challenge their foes.

Once the accumulated power in Soul Silence was exhausted, or the power contained within Pandora Modified ran out, the Li Brothers would be nothing more than a second-tier Seven-Star Professional and a first-tier Seven-Star Professional, utterly incapable of threatening the supreme powerhouses of Tianfeng City led by Old Ling.

Originally, this wouldn’t have been a major issue.

『Sin』 still had Li Qingqing and the Great Sin Blade.

With a Divine Artifact anchoring their formation, even a Guardian Deity like Old Ling might not necessarily be able to subdue them.

But who could have predicted that in just one encounter, the Divine Artifact in Li Qingqing’s hands would be seized by Su Ming, and it appeared he intended to seal and suppress it using some unknown method?

This caused the Li Family’s situation to take a sharp turn for the worse, instantly becoming rather precarious.

Naturally, the powerhouses of Tianfeng City gradually became aware of this development.

“Don’t attack fiercely; just entangle him,” Wang Yi was the first to speak up, prompting the group of Seven-Star Professionals to shift their tactics, focusing on wearing down Li Wu’s Pandora Modified through prolonged skirmishes.

“Damn it!” Li Wu’s face twisted in frustration at having his weakness exposed.

In contrast, Old Ling couldn’t afford to engage in drawn-out combat with Li Feng and instead fought with increasing intensity.

There was no other way—having already activated Demonization and Vision Mark, his demonic energy and Spirit Power were being consumed extremely rapidly. If he delayed, the one being worn down wouldn’t be the enemy but himself.

At the very least, Li Feng could replenish his power through Soul Silence, whereas Old Ling could not. Even with the aid of the highest-quality alchemical potions for recovery, it couldn’t match the power Li Feng had accumulated over the years via Soul Silence.

Therefore, stalling was not an option; instead, he had to decide the battle quickly to reserve enough strength for later use in performing a Forbidden Art to seal the Terror Species.

However, this plan was also seen through by Li Feng.

“You should just accept your fate, Guardian Deity,” Li Feng sneered coldly, his strikes growing heavier and the power he expended increasingly dense. The agonized howls of the Ghost Shadow nearly enveloped his entire body, transforming him into a monster.

Old Ling’s expression darkened, but his mind remained unshaken. He swung his Staff, creating layers of shadowy afterimages that blasted toward Li Feng, shaking the earth and mountains.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh…!”

At that moment, Li Qingqing’s scream pierced the air.

The cry was particularly shrill, like the agonized wail of a vengeful spirit on the verge of purification before death, striking fear into the hearts of all who heard it.

Everyone quickly turned to look and immediately saw crimson demonic energy erupting from Li Qingqing’s entire body, as if something parasitic within her was being forcibly extracted—an eerily bizarre sight.

“Could it be…?”

Everyone instantly thought of something and sharply turned in another direction.There, Su Ming remained bathed in starlight, but the Great Sin Blade in his hand no longer struggled.

The flowing light blooming from the mysterious bracelet completely enveloped the Great Sin Blade, suppressing the deathly energy back into the sword’s body. Mysterious runes appeared one after another on the blade, slowly merging into it.

The crimson glow on the Great Sin Blade gradually faded, as if unwilling yet powerless, before finally settling into tranquility, transforming into an ordinary weapon devoid of any divine aura.

With the power of the Blue Demon Ceasefire Bracelet, Su Ming successfully sealed and suppressed the Great Sin Blade.

“Swish!”

Only then did Su Ming store away the Great Sin Blade, making it vanish from his hand and enter his Golden Finger inventory.

Once stored in the Golden Finger’s inventory, unless Su Ming retrieved it, the Great Sin Blade would never see the light of day again.

This was precisely why Li Qingqing had exhibited such abnormalities.

The power of the Great Sin Blade had corroded Li Qingqing’s spirit, and due to her prolonged use of this Divine Artifact, it had long eroded her body, driving her into a frenzied state both inside and out, turning her into a Puppet of the Great Sin Blade.

Now that the Great Sin Blade had been sealed and suppressed by Su Ming, Li Qingqing was liberated. The power that had corroded her body and spirit began to fade, leading to her current abnormal state.

Having lost the Divine Artifact and its power, Li Qingqing, who had long been in a state of mental instability, tilted her head and completely lost consciousness.

Seeing this, Su Ming waved his hand, and the invisible chains binding her immediately moved, sending Li Qingqing out of the Sacrificial Ground.

“Qingqing!”

Li Wu roared in fury, wanting to charge forward, but was blocked by several Seven-Star Professionals.

“The tables have turned, Li Wu. If you want to pass, you’ll need our permission first.”

Wang Yi spoke coldly.

“Get out of my way!”

Li Wu’s expression darkened as he raised Pandora Modified, poised to attack.

But the next second, a streak of starlight swept over, appearing right in front of Li Wu.

“…!?”

Li Wu’s face abruptly changed.

“Su Ming?”

Wang Yi and the others were also slightly stunned.

The true form of the starlight was none other than Su Ming, who had suddenly rushed toward them.

Su Ming gazed calmly at Li Wu, his voice devoid of emotion.

“Last time here, it was you who led the team to stir up trouble in Longyao City, wasn’t it?”

“During the Midnight Labyrinth incident as well, you seemed intent on stopping us and wiping us out?”

“Add to that the fall of Longyao City this time—old grudges and new scores. Starting with you shouldn’t be wrong, should it?”

Su Ming’s words made it clear to everyone that he had come for revenge.

Li Wu stared at Su Ming with an extremely grim expression, then twisted his face into a cruel smile.

“I only regret not killing you the previous two times.”

With that, Li Wu wasted no time and activated Pandora Modified, unleashing a torrent of blazing flames toward Su Ming.

“Danger!”

Wang Yi and the other Seven-Star Professionals shouted in alarm.

However, they were worried about the wrong person.

Under the effects of Dawn Star Orbit, Su Ming remained as if without a physical form, completely ignoring the scorching heat capable of melting mountains and boiling seas.

Then, Su Ming extended his hand.

Above his palm, a circular array gradually materialized.

Pure white as jade, holy and untainted, flawless and pristine—the circular array entered everyone’s sight.

“What is that?”Everyone was stunned.

Even Li Wu was no exception.

But the next moment, an invisible impact suddenly struck him, exploding violently inside his head.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh…!”

An excruciating pain, as if his entire skull were being scraped out, instantly ran rampant through Li Wu’s mind. His eyes bulged outward as he let out a piercing scream.

Supplementary Spell Formula for soul and mental attacks — [Illusion Impact].

Li Wu had become the first person to experience the taste of this Spirit Art.

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(End of Chapter)