Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 157 You're lying, aren't you?

The two traveled together and unexpectedly discovered a dilapidated temple ruin. However, as soon as they stepped into the area of ​​the temple ruin, an invisible gray barrier rose up and enveloped the surroundings.

Following closely behind, fragments of stone inscribed with unknown languages ​​piled up on the ground, forming enormous stone giants. The characters on their bodies glowed with a crimson light, and a huge red flame rolled around their heads, as if observing them, intently watching the two intruders.

There are six similar stone giants, all devoid of any life, making it impossible to determine their level of existence.

"Sister Qinglian, I'm weak, let me go up and scout ahead for you first!"

Hunzhen let out a low shout and, without waiting for Qinglian Venerable's reply, launched an attack on the stone giant.

This was exactly what Venerable Qinglian wanted.

Originally, if Hunzhen hadn't taken any action, she had planned to use a similar argument to persuade him to go up and test the waters. Hunzhen took the initiative to take the risk and did the job, which made her very satisfied.

"Indeed, only Little Sister Xiaomi is truly pure, kind, considerate, and trustworthy," Venerable Qinglian silently commented.

At the same time, his gaze swept over the group of stone giants, and his brows quietly relaxed.

"A stone golem with the ultimate combat power of a king? Not worth worrying about."

These stone giants were quite powerful, but in the eyes of Venerable Qinglian, they were nothing to brag about, and he was even somewhat pleased.

There is an unwritten, hidden rule in the secret realm: the stronger the power protecting relics and treasures, the higher the value of the hidden treasures.

A temple ruin guarded by six stone giants at the pinnacle of the King-level realm corresponds to the level from the pinnacle of the King-level realm to the invincible King-level realm. It is very likely that it will yield one or more powerful treasures! Of course, nothing is absolute, but as long as you are not extremely unlucky, you are almost guaranteed to find a powerful treasure!

These stone giants were well within her control, and she considered any potential treasures within the temple as hers for the taking.

The only real challenge is that these stone giants seem to lack souls, meaning they can completely ignore soul attacks, while their physical defenses are extremely strong.

Seeing that Hunzhen was entangled with the six stone giants and was in imminent danger, Venerable Qinglian immediately shouted, "Little Sister Xiaomi, step back and let me handle this!"

Hunzhen naturally agreed to step back.

But as soon as Venerable Qinglian stepped forward, he revealed his weapon, attempting to kill the stone giant in front of him with a single blow.

Suddenly, as if sensing the aura of the cosmic sovereign, golden light suddenly emanated from the temple ruins and flowed into the bodies of the six stone giants.

DuangHan!

The strange sound, like the awakening of a giant robot in an animation, suddenly intensified the flames from the six red, one-eyed stone giants.

The Azure Lotus Venerable realized something was wrong and panicked, but it was too late to withdraw from the plane.

She wielded a blue vine staff, a telekinetic weapon, from which countless vine-like crystal networks flew out and grew wildly, attempting to imprison the stone giant in place.

However, the six stone giants acted in an orderly manner, with one leading the way and withstanding most of the impact, and only a small portion of the crystal network spread to the other five stone giants.

The crystalline network, possessing powerful corrosive and binding abilities—capable of devouring a planet in an instant with just a single tentacle—only momentarily halted the five giants' steps before shattering into pieces.

Five enormous iron fists came crashing down.

Using the power of space to disrupt the space with his weapon, he deflected the iron fist's attack, but ultimately two punches were unavoidable and hit him head-on.

The ordinary standard armor worn by Venerable Qinglian, which was not a precious treasure, shattered and exploded, and blood spilled from the corner of his mouth as he was forced to retreat violently.

"The power of a Venerable One!?"

Venerable Qinglian cried out in alarm, already considering retreating. She surveyed her surroundings and realized that the barrier enveloping the temple could not be opened in a short time.

Meanwhile, Hunzhen, watching from the sidelines, saw the Azure Lotus Venerable being stared at relentlessly by the stone giant and frantically dodging, and had completely confirmed his information.

"The six Moai giants absorbed the power of the temple due to the attack of the Azure Lotus Venerable, and now they are all at the level of a primordial cosmic Venerable."

"Even in the midst of the chaos, Venerable Qinglian was still injured, which only proves that his current true combat strength does not exceed that of a mid-level Venerable in the universe."

"That's not surprising. Venerable Qinglian is the inheritor of the Wood and Space Beast God's Way, and his greatest skill is the Way of 'Spatial Imprisonment,' which is inclined towards support and control rather than attack and defense. After being utterly betrayed by me, he is now using trashy standard weapons that are even inferior to Beast God weapons, and he is wearing trash clothes as well. Let alone relying on his equipment to unleash more than 100% of his combat power, it's doubtful whether he can even unleash half of his strength."

After thousands of years since he comprehended "teleportation", Hunzhen has now comprehended the profound mysteries of the second spatial law.

It was his most talented skill in the three categories of spatial laws: "spatial confinement" or "spatial blockade".

In terms of practicality alone, teleportation far surpasses spatial confinement and spatial strangulation, especially for Hunzhen, who also cultivates the laws of time and integrates them into string sword strangulation, and is not lacking in killing methods.

Moreover, in terms of the needs of using avatars on the battlefield outside the domain, enemies that can be killed will basically be unable to escape once they enter the string sword domain, and the spatial sealing comprehension at that time is more than enough.

In addition to the powerful escape and pursuit abilities brought by teleportation, and the ability to maximize the use of "inch of land and foot of sky", Hunzhen resolutely put aside his talent for the time being and focused on cultivating the art of teleportation.

As the objectives changed, the previously shelved space blockade naturally came back on the agenda.

Now that he had fully grasped the concept of spatial sealing, Hunzhen believed that his perspective was sufficient to evaluate Venerable Qinglian's use of spatial sealing.

After observing this, all he could say was—it was utterly terrible!

Perhaps because after joining the Ancestral God Sect and the Nine Domains Alliance, Venerable Qinglian no longer needed to fight, even after cultivating in seclusion for a considerable period of time after planning to venture into the secret realm, his combat techniques were still utterly pathetic.

It can only be said that he barely reached the level of a cosmic sage.

If the pinnacle secret techniques used by a normal universe venerable are at the level of Hunzhen defeating 4000 opponents set up by the Chaos City Lord, then the combat secret techniques used by the Azure Lotus Venerable are at most at the level of defeating 3500 opponents.

Or is this an unfamiliar weapon being blamed?

Hunzhen gave up on trying to fix this guy.

Because the blessing of the temple's power is time-limited, after a certain period of time, it will return to the previous stage where it only has the power of a king.

Although Venerable Qinglian's condition seemed critical, he would be completely unharmed once the dilapidated temple, which was on the verge of collapse, exhausted its energy.

He looked at the fearful-looking Venerable Qinglian and transmitted his voice, "Sister Qinglian, this stone golem seems to change its strength based on the power of its opponent. Stop attacking, retreat, and let me take over!"

The Azure Lotus Venerable was taken aback. The scene of the initiation at the temple flashed through his mind, instantly dispelling his panic. He looked at Hunzhen as if she were his savior, and repeatedly replied, "Thank you, Little Sister Xiaomi. It's so good to have you by my side!"

As he spoke, Venerable Qinglian looked as if he was about to cry. Faced with a life-or-death crisis, his mind was blank, and he temporarily put aside all his crooked thoughts. He completely restrained his divine power and honestly offered to switch places with Hunzhen.

She did not teleport to Hunzhen to escape, because she had just witnessed that no matter how she hid, these stone giants would cling to her like maggots.

Upon hearing Hunzhen's reminder, he immediately abandoned the use of his power and retreated by flying with his physical body.

If Hunzhen's prediction is correct, she can escape danger as long as Hunzhen steps forward to divert the hatred.

Whoosh.

However, the next second, Hunzhen teleported in front of the relieved Azure Lotus Venerable and, taking advantage of his moment of astonishment, pushed the Azure Lotus Venerable, who had been holding back his power, toward the stone giant.

boom--!

A terrifying surge of energy erupted, as if the earth were shaking.

The Azure Lotus Venerable was struck squarely in the chest and breast by the stone giant, and his body was instantly blasted apart by the force of the attack.

Compared to the previous injuries that appeared to be severe but actually resulted in less than 1% energy loss, this time the divine body was shattered, which was a truly serious injury.

Even if the divine body is reassembled, nearly 10% of it must have been annihilated by the bombardment just now.

Hunzhen could still see the incredulous expression on Qinglian Venerable's face, but he calmly patted the World Ring.

The next second, ten figures with similar levels of aura suddenly appeared.

Nine of them are at the intermediate level of the universe, but there is one who is at the advanced level of the universe.

Without exception, these guys were all members of the Hongmeng recruited by Hunzhen at the cost of half of his Glory Points.

Even ordinary or top-tier treasures might not be enough to persuade a Universe Venerable to take action against another Universe Venerable who was not originally their enemy.

However, the Glory Points that can be exchanged for the opportunity to inherit are different; these are a scarce commodity even for a Cosmic Venerable within the Ancestral God Cult.

With over 60,000 Glory Points, Hunzhen spent nearly half of them, approximately 30,000 Glory Points, to invite the Universe Venerable. If the members of the Hong Alliance knew about this, it would probably cause a scramble.

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Moreover, he chose those who had the ability to create clones. As long as Hunzhen didn't actively lead them to secret places that would affect the main body through soul waves, there was basically no risk.

Naturally, they all readily agreed.

The vast Hong Alliance, counting only humans, has only a few thousand Universe Venerables, but when you include the Venerables in its vassal races, the number is countless.

Getting a cosmic overlord to work for him is not easy, but finding and gathering ten cosmic venerables with avatars would be a piece of cake given Hunzhen's true status and authority.

In reality, after the ten Venerables of varying strengths gathered together, they naturally guessed that "Milirathe's" identity was definitely not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

Nonsense. Information about the Universe Venerables is considered confidential even within the Hong Alliance. How could a newly joined vassal clan world lord, even with the strength and potential of a King, possibly know about so many Venerables with the ability to create clones?

Naturally, they were all very polite and easy to talk to.

As the Azure Lotus Venerable was re-forming her divine body, she also saw ten Cosmic Venerables appear out of thin air.

Just as she finished condensing, the ten Venerables formed a battle formation, completely blocking her path of movement and retreat.

The sneak attack just now, coupled with the current situation, would make even the foolish Venerable Qinglian realize that he had fallen into a terrifying trap.

However, thinking back on all the little things we've shared over the years...

The little sister who lent a helping hand during her darkest time and never abandoned her suddenly turned into an enemy who wanted to kill her...

The Azure Lotus Venerable was completely baffled, standing there bewildered in the wind. He looked at Hunzhen in disbelief and asked in a daze, "Little Sister Xiaomi, this is a lie, isn't it?"

Hunzhen himself, who was being questioned, showed no intention of responding and charged toward the six stone men.

Just as he had told Venerable Qinglian before, after he attracted the hatred of the stone giant, the power of the temple subsided, and the stone giant returned to the level of a king.

As for the returning energy, it was naturally used to reinforce the barrier surrounding the temple.

Venerable Qinglian couldn't believe it, but the ten workers who had accepted the "money" wouldn't hold back.

Let alone now, even at his peak, Venerable Qinglian could not possibly be inferior to a combination of ten mid-level Venerables and one high-level Venerable.

She naturally tried to escape and capture Hunzhen, the mastermind, making the ten workers hesitant to act.

However, Hunzhen had already thoroughly schemed against Venerable Qinglian.

Taking advantage of the moment when her divine body was scattered, the formation of the ten Venerables completely restricted her movements.

Realizing the fate that awaited him, Venerable Qinglian naturally went mad.

It's true that she was tricked by Hunzhen, but she wasn't completely stupid. Seeing the ten Venerables being driven by Hunzhen, how could she not realize Hunzhen's special nature?

In an attempt to save themselves, their first action was to spread information in all directions using the virtual devices they carried.

The first to be affected are naturally the three major alliances that are enemies of Hongmeng.

Secondly, there is the Lotus Leaf Natural Women's Association and the Nine Domains Alliance.

There's no other reason than that the Hunzhen energy, even if it's not from the core of the Hongmeng, is definitely deeply connected to the core members, perhaps even being an important soul servant of a certain core member.

In order to attract attention, she exaggerated her statements as much as possible, regardless of whether they were true or false.

"King Shiyuan is able to command hundreds of Venerables of the Hong Alliance, intending to kill me!"

"King Shiyuan possesses numerous supreme treasures and is suspected to be a top human genius; his identity as a member of the Abyss race is merely a disguise!"

"King Shiyuan's combat power is terrifying; as a World Lord, he can rival a Universe Venerable!"

"..."

She couldn't be completely sure of Hunzhen's purpose and true identity; she could only guess.

It's true that the body of a special life form is valuable, but to go to such lengths just to kill her and use her as a one-time resource seems like making a mountain out of a molehill.

The Azure Lotus Venerable did not beg for mercy. He had mobilized such a large force and schemed against her in close proximity. If he wanted to offer her amnesty or demand her submission, he would have said so long ago. He would not have remained silent until now.

Seeing his divine body being constantly depleted, a ruthless glint flashed in Venerable Qinglian's eyes.

"Whatever she wants from me, I won't let her have it!"

Venerable Qinglian was perfectly aware that, given his worth, it was almost impossible for him to be resurrected. There was a 99% chance that this death was a true demise!

And it was only on the verge of his demise that Venerable Qinglian finally displayed the ambition of a cosmic venerable.

She intended to self-destruct, perishing together with the cosmic venerables and Hunzhen around her.

Just then, an invisible field of colorlessness suddenly enveloped everything.

Even her divine body, which she intended to self-destruct, froze and remained still.

"it's over."

Hunzhen instantly teleported in front of Venerable Qinglian, and his arm suddenly transformed into a gaping maw to swallow him whole.

(End of this chapter)