Chapter 631: Reversal of the situation

How could Gansong City be so simple?

The Dragon Vein within the city erupted with terrifying power!

Li Qi's main body, his Dharma Idol, and his inner body spirits were all flung back, barely stabilizing themselves after a long distance. His inner body spirits showed some cracks, and Li Qi was also injured by the explosive force.

However, this instead made Li Qi laugh out loud with joy.

Because, at the very instant the power erupted, in the external battlefield, many edge battlefields of the war fortress lost power.

After the power outage, the war fortress's suppression immediately vanished, allowing Shaman Dao to seize these few seconds to counterattack. In just these few seconds, the Human Race suffered tens of thousands more casualties.

This was why Li Qi was laughing.

That's right, just like this!

Destroy Gansong, or even damage the Dragon Vein and the The Axis of All Realms's base stations, and victory will be within reach!

It's just that Gansong is incredibly tough.

But no matter.

Just hit it a few more times!

Li Qi charged forward again, still using Martial Artist methods!

Meanwhile, Liu Junyi's expression was not very pleasant.

For cultivators, spells are indeed wondrous, much like machinery. They can make ten units of cultivation unleash a thousand units of power. This is the beauty of spells and Divine Abilities as 'coefficients'.

Moreover, their functionality is very strong, capable of many profound operations. No matter how much brute force you apply with cultivation, you cannot pray for rain, or perform divination, and so on.

However, with more profoundness comes more complications.

When a Dao Orthodoxy like Martial Dao, specifically designed for combat, gets up close, these flashy moves become somewhat powerless.

Who would have thought that, despite both coming from major forces, the opponent actually learned Martial Dao, a kind of brute-force technique, yet he was completely helpless against it?

Liu Junyi also became ruthless, because he had already sensed that with Li Qi already in close proximity, he couldn't create distance.

The only way to deal with Martial Dao was to kite them to death before they got close.

But Li Qi was already close, so kiting was no longer an option.

Then, let's return to the essence of fighting!

Liu Junyi's surroundings, the nature of his Qi began to change—

The world around him, the air encircling his Dharma Idol, was blasted open with a single punch!

Liu Junyi unleashed an ability unlike any Divine Ability or spell. The atmospheric pressure around him suddenly increased!

This was the Legalist School's 'rules'. Liu Junyi, using the method of rules, forcefully commanded the surrounding Qi to undergo a change in nature.

The matter around him underwent a strange transformation. If one were to describe it… it was probably like the chemical bonds of molecules changing, hydrogen molecules fusing, directly igniting spheres of light around him, like miniature suns.

This technique was the Human Race's method for dismantling world barriers, modifying some fundamental constants, thereby causing the nature of Qi to become anomalous and creating new matter.

It's just that he didn't know what it was for.

But it didn't matter. Li Qi completely ignored these things. He had already lunged forward, ready to continue giving Liu Junyi a good beating.

All those fancy tricks, just watch me hit your face, that's all that matters!

After Liu Junyi endured another two seconds of rapid-fire blows, the Dragon Vein erupted again, and Li Qi was once again blasted away.

Li Qi laughed even louder. This meant Liu Junyi was completely out of options.

With just two Dragon Vein eruptions, the front-line battlefield suffered two power outages, and the Human Race's pressure had increased by at least twenty percent, with casualties in the hundreds of thousands.

A mere ten-odd seconds of combat, and Liu Junyi was forced to use the Dragon Vein twice, indicating he had no more tricks up his sleeve.

He'd better bite the lighter, or he'd be beaten to death by Li Qi.

However, it's understandable. Liu Junyi had just reached Fifth Rank and hadn't had time to familiarize himself with his power. He might have mastered some useful Fifth Rank spells and Divine Abilities, but as a newcomer to Fifth Rank, his Qi was unstable, and it was common for him not to fully control his cultivation. He needed some time to stabilize his cultivation.

But Li Qi wouldn't give him that time.

Since the opponent had this disadvantage, Li Qi naturally couldn't be polite.

Keep going! Keep fighting!

However, as Li Qi manipulated his inner body spirits to charge forward again, a huge phantom with eight arms suddenly appeared behind Liu Junyi.

Four of the eight phantom arms blocked Li Qi's Star Officials' hands, while the other four slammed fiercely beside Li Qi!

This completely stunned Li Qi.

Because this phantom was also a 'Star Official'.

Why?

Why was there a Star Official?

Star Officials are products of the Heavenly Dao's Awakening, the very destiny of the world. Li Qi's Inner World materialized from the Void Realm, becoming a real world, and combined with his deep understanding of Star Official construction, having studied at the Divine Dao, he could drive the world to grow into a Star Official.

Although this couldn't compare to a true Fifth Rank Star Official, it was still very powerful.

But why Liu Junyi?

Liu Junyi had neither a real Inner World nor had he studied at the Divine Dao. How could he form such a Star Official-like structure?

Li Qi wondered, while charging forward again, striking with both fists.

He wanted to figure out the opponent's true capabilities through combat.

And in doing so, he really did discover the reason.

The reason was those sun-like things created earlier.

These sun-like substances formed 'Meridians'.

That was the human body's Meridian network.

In just these ten-odd seconds, Liu Junyi purely imitated Li Qi's Star Official structure, combined with his own understanding of the human body, and mimicked such a 'pseudo-Star Official', temporarily building a Gundam to punch Li Qi!

In just ten-odd seconds, he actually learned it!

A gentleman learns without a fixed teacher; he strives to emulate the virtuous and reflects inwardly when encountering the unworthy.

Liu Junyi was very good at learning and self-reflection. A gentleman has no fixed teacher, not because he doesn't learn, but because among any three people, one is surely his teacher.

In just one encounter, Liu Junyi fully demonstrated his learning ability, learning the Star Official's structure merely by 'watching'.

Clearly, this learning wasn't perfect, for example, it had eight arms.

Eight arms didn't mean it was powerful; rather, it was a structural error. Liu Junyi didn't know how to construct that part, so he improvised, making it barely functional.

But what if it wasn't perfect?

It could already fight Li Qi's Star Official at a seven-three split, with Li Qi taking seven.

If Li Qi possessed five parts of the true Star Official's essence, then Liu Junyi had learned six parts of Li Qi's true intent.

That was enough. With a seven-three split, he wouldn't quickly lose. Sustaining for a day also became a realistic and achievable goal.

A fifty-fifty split, fighting for ten days to half a month wouldn't be unusual.

A seven-three split, lasting a day isn't too much to ask, right?

Liu Junyi was not like Li Qi, who used his Inner World to form a world, and then used that world to form a Star Official.

He used another method.

Li Qi only now realized that the 'rules' Liu Junyi had previously changed redefined the concept of 'world'.

The world was no longer a strange entity with a world barrier and an independent internal space, but had become 'stars'.

Stars ignited by the Qi he gathered, and then dust-like planets orbiting these stars—those were the new 'worlds'.

So, without the need for a world barrier, a 'constellation' now orbited him.

Indeed, what else would a formation of stars be called if not a 'constellation'?

Thus, leveraging the power unleashed by the two Dragon Vein eruptions, Liu Junyi didn't let this power go to waste. After blasting Li Qi away, he used this power as fuel, his self-constructed constellation as his foundation, and learned Li Qi's Star Official construction method by observation.

Then, the constellation was formed, the magical power complete, and the structure rational.

And so, another Star Official rose behind Liu Junyi, and with the Carp Current Intent, it punched Li Qi into confusion twice.

That's right, Carp Current Intent. Even Liu Junyi, who had never practiced martial arts, after being beaten, quickly learned martial arts.

Now, Li Qi wasn't the only one who knew martial arts.

Liu Junyi decisively abandoned his preferred spell-fighting stage and began a man-to-man brawl with Li Qi!

A pure fistfight.

Every movement of the two giants could cause many suns to move together.

Star systems surged with the bodies of the two giants, continuously swaying, pulled by the Dao Resonance within them, like little yellow ducks in water.

Although it sounds cute, even a sun, in front of these two giants, was just like a little yellow duck.

An eight-armed star system giant.

A transparent Yin-Yang giant.

The two stood proudly in the Void Realm, abandoning all trivialities like Divine Abilities and spells, returning to the essence of combat, which was how the early Human Race fought in the Great Wilderness.

Using fists, feet, elbows, and even teeth.

It was an extremely grand scene, yet it employed the most primitive fighting style.

All because more flashy moves were meaningless; spell-fighting could no longer determine the victor.

If a Fifth Rank Martial Artist were to observe, they would find the two's combat extremely crude. Their punches and kicks had only very basic techniques, yet this was already the essence of Carp Current Intent.

There was no divine intent, no refined techniques; they didn't even know how to fight, and their fighting was extremely unsightly, wasting such a grand scene.

But for Liu Junyi, a favored son of heaven, this was his first, and possibly only, time in his life to throw punches and brawl with someone.

Li Qi was better off. After all, Li Qi used to roll in the mud every day and was always at the forefront of brawls among the Boat Towmen.

Minor courage, born of Qi and blood.

Great courage, born of righteousness.

That which comes from righteousness is the vast, indomitable Qi, possessing boundless great courage, with no regrets even if facing nine deaths.

That which comes from the flesh and blood body is the courage of Qi and blood. This kind of courage is crude when strong, and timid when weak.

Making a decision requires leading with great courage, and in this, Liu Junyi was stronger than Li Qi.

But when it came to brawling, all that was needed was the courage of Qi and blood.

Therefore, Li Qi gained the upper hand in both strength and courage, once again pinning Liu Junyi down and brutally hammering him!

His Breakthrough days earlier than Liu Junyi gave him the advantage of stable cultivation. Now, with the courage of Qi and blood, his Star Official structure, and the first move, he had multiple advantages.

With so many advantages combined, he was bound to seize the opportunity and directly crush Liu Junyi!

However, even as Liu Junyi was being violently assaulted, he remained calm, attempting to resist while stalling for time.

He didn't need to win; he only needed to stall Li Qi for a day.

And in his current state, stalling for a day was not difficult...

Just as the word 'difficult' popped into his mind, Liu Junyi's Star Official was directly smashed to pieces!

Liu Junyi's Physical Body directly took a punch from Li Qi head-on!

This instantly caused him severe injury!

Liu Junyi's eyes widened. What was this?! Li Qi had found a weakness on the Star Official's body that even he didn't know about?!

He knew Li Qi possessed True Knowledge Dao Resonance, capable of discerning weaknesses, finding flaws, and recording information, but he never thought True Knowledge Dao Resonance could achieve such a degree.

But Li Qi wouldn't give him a moment to breathe.

He used True Knowledge Dao Resonance to find weaknesses, continuously bombarding the gravitational connections between the constellations, eventually destabilizing the gravitational equilibrium point. The Star Official couldn't maintain itself, and its body shattered.

This directly led to Liu Junyi's severe injury. Li Qi immediately pressed his advantage, his Star Official directly contracting, transforming into a world, and pressing down on Liu Junyi's shoulder.

Using the world's immense weight to suppress Liu Junyi!

Immediately, Li Qi's true body moved, the Karma threads on his Dharma Idol wrapped around Liu Junyi's body, and he yanked hard!

Liu Junyi's body suddenly became illusory.

Li Qi was using his own Karma to pull at the opponent's Karma, attempting to erase Liu Junyi's existence!

Of course, this was impossible to achieve.

At Li Qi's current level, it was difficult even to erase some unimportant, unranked Mortals, and he couldn't even do it for famous Mortals.

Ordinary people have social circles of only a dozen or two people, their Karma connections are weak, and they haven't caused any earth-shattering events to affect others, so Li Qi could barely make them disappear.

But for famous ordinary people, like civilization leaders or superstars, too many people know them, and their Karma connections are too numerous, so Li Qi couldn't shake them.

Similarly, with Liu Junyi, there were even multiple Third Rank individuals connected to him. With such profound Karma connections, Li Qi, even if he tried his absolute best, couldn't affect Liu Junyi's existence.

However, interfering with his actions was more than enough.

Liu Junyi suddenly felt light-headed, and the memories in his mind also began to flicker.

Because many weakly connected Karma points were being pulled by Li Qi, these events would exist between 'having happened' and 'not having happened'.

Since whether they happened or not was in doubt, memories naturally began to waver and become unstable.

Memory instability would then lead to a shift in the entire personality, and even thinking patterns, thereby affecting Liu Junyi's thought process and interfering with his decisions.

As long as Liu Junyi remained in this daze, Li Qi's Inner World could complete the 'suppression' within an hour, Sealing Liu Junyi away.

But at this moment, Li Qi saw Liu Junyi's thoughts suddenly change.

His thought-carrier shifted from his Spirit Soul and brain to the jade pendant on his body.

This made a sage's saying pop into Li Qi's mind: "A gentleman is not born different; he is good at utilizing external things."

The thing humans are best at is utilizing tools.

Unlike Shaman Dao, which is not adept at using Spiritual Artifacts, the Human Race is very fond of using them.

Indeed, good at utilizing external things.

He moved his thinking organ to a Spiritual Artifact, thus evading the Karma threads.

Li Qi frowned.

Liu Junyi's resilience far exceeded expectations. Did he have to keep dragging this out?

No, it's not about dragging it out!

True Knowledge Dao Resonance immediately showed Li Qi the scene he least wanted to see.

Liu Junyi abandoned his Physical Body and transferred his consciousness to Gansong.

And so, from this moment on, the power of the Dragon Vein was also at his disposal!

Damn it! Now it's no longer a question of whether he can be defeated in a day… Li Qi clearly felt the Dragon Vein's power surge forth, yet Liu Junyi could perfectly control it.

If he fought the opponent in this state, Li Qi would lose!

Despite having seized every initiative, launching a surprise attack, and even forcing the opponent to be unable to advance in their strongest form, with so many advantages accumulated, Li Qi still couldn't defeat Liu Junyi!

But at this moment, Li Qi blinked. He seemed to think he was seeing things.

How could he... see Li Shiwei?

Li Shiwei, in Gansong City!

Wasn't she in the Buddhist Kingdom?!