"Asura God…"
Ji Dong frowned.
The Asura God was the foremost combat force of the Divine Realm.
In the ancient war of the gods, it had been the first Asura God who, with a single sword strike, cleaved the Dragon God in two.
Even if that had been partly the Dragon God's own intention,
the Asura God's supreme divine might was evident beyond doubt.
As for the current Asura God, though merely a successor—
He had independently created sword techniques perfectly suited to the Asura Sword,
showing signs of surpassing his predecessor.
Thus—
Even with Li Zhexian's astonishing talent,
Ji Dong could not help but feel worried.
"If the two of you were to fight without restraint, I fear the Divine Realm itself might not be able to withstand it."
"No matter." The Asura God gazed calmly at Li Zhexian and said: "The Sword Lord and I can head to the Outer Heavens."
He was serious.
The moment those words were spoken, all the gods understood the Asura God's intent.
This was no test.
It was a genuine desire to fight Li Zhexian with full force.
"After tens of thousands of years… a battle between God Kings is about to occur again?!" The gods shuddered inwardly.
An uncontrollable sense of anticipation surged within them.
In the next instant—
every gaze converged upon the white-robed youth.
All the gods wished to know whether this sharp-edged, newly ascended God King truly dared accept the challenge of the Asura God.
"I, too, wish to test the sharpness of the Asura Sword."
A flash of battle intent crossed the depths of Li Zhexian's dark eyes.
"Let us depart for the Outer Heavens at once."
"You have just fought a battle—perhaps you should be allowed time to recover…"
"It was but one strike. There was no expenditure."
A faint, nearly imperceptible smile flickered across the stern face of the Asura God.
He said nothing more.
He transformed into a crimson divine radiance that tore through the starry void, shooting straight toward the Outer Heavens.
The momentum was so overwhelming
that even the stars along his path retreated before it.
His challenge served two purposes.
One was to allow the youth to personally experience that standing alone against three thousand gods was an impossibility.
The other was because—
his Asura Demon Sword, silent for tens of thousands of years, had begun to tremble with excitement upon sensing that supreme sword intent.
Cold divine blood began to boil.
You refused my god position…
"hen let me weigh for myself
what sort of measure you truly are, Sword Lord.
Clang!
A sword cry resounded through the void.
Li Zhexian transformed into a brilliant sword-light, cleaving open the deep cosmos as he shot toward the Outer Heavens.
Whatever hidden intent the Asura God harbored—
He accepted it.
Youth once emerged from glazed brilliance;
today he ascended the Heavenly Gate.
His sword feared no opponent.
"A battle of God Kings—go witness it at once!"
"Sword Lord or Asura God—which is stronger?"
"The Asura God is the supreme combat power of the Divine Realm. Though the Sword Lord is mighty, his experience is still too shallow!"
"Daring to accept such a challenge upon first ascending the Divine Realm—truly youthful and reckless!"
The gods tore through space one after another.
Qian Renxue grasped the Angel Sword, golden hair flowing, taking the lead among them.
Several Keeper-of-the-Flame officials responsible for recording the epochs of the Divine Realm hurried after them with stylus in hand, recording this historic moment.
"I knew that Li Zhexian's ascension would stir upheaval—but I never imagined it would be this intense." Ji Dong walked side by side with his wife, the Goddess of Kindness, each step carrying them across entire stars.
He turned his head toward the impassive God of Destruction and asked with a smile:
"Destruction, in your opinion—who will win this battle?"
The God of Destruction fell silent for several breaths. "They are evenly matched."
"Oh?"
A hint of surprise appeared on Ji Dong's face.
He had not expected that in the eyes of the God of Destruction,
this newly ascended God King, Li Zhexian, stood shoulder to shoulder with the Asura God.
He then nodded and smiled.
"That aligns with my own judgment."
...
Li Zhexian took a single step into the Outer Heavens.
What appeared before him was not the brilliant sea of stars he had imagined—
but an endless graveyard of the cosmos.
An endless stretch of profound darkness spread out before them, its silence so deep it made the heart quail.
As far as the eye could see,
there were only shattered stellar remains—
like mountain ranges tinted with the molten hues of liquefied glass, drifting through the void.
Separated by tens of thousands of kilometers, stars were being born or extinguished, erupting into brilliant yet eerie auroras.
Beyond this,
from dimensions unimaginably distant,
the low, howling roar of spacetime turbulence drifted over—something even gods dared not approach lightly.
The Outer Heavens.
Deep within the ruins of the universe.
All the gods had arrived, standing in small clusters atop stellar debris, holding their breath as they gazed toward the two figures facing one another across the void.
"Sword Lord."
The voice of the Asura God rippled through the emptiness.
Circles of blood-colored energy spread outward.
Where the ripples passed, stellar remains shattered soundlessly, dissolving into cosmic dust.
"Since inheriting my god position, I have perfected the techniques of the Asura Sword, naming them the Seven Asura Absolutes."
"Yet in the Divine Realm, there has been no one who could force me to use all seven."
"Even I do not know the true extent of their power."
"I hope you will allow me to fight with my full strength."
At the distant end of the void,
eleven strands of sword intent coiled around Li Zhexian like roaming dragons, at times condensing beneath his feet into a green lotus that made him appear all the more transcendent and otherworldly.
"To be honest,"
"I originally intended to decide the outcome in the opening move."
"But hearing your words, Asura God, has instead stirred my desire to exchange swordsmanship with you."
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The instant his words fell, both their auras erupted simultaneously.
The cosmos shook violently.
One stellar remnant after another tore free from its orbit, transforming into blazing meteors that crashed through the universe.
Amid the collapse of ten thousand stars,
their gazes slammed into one another.
This was a clash of ocular techniques.
Li Zhexian's eyes burst forth with golden radiance, within which countless intricate sword sigils flowed.
This was the Spirit Ability granted by the Myriad Mirage Floating Life Skull—Mirage Sword, Sever Illusion, allowing him to glimpse the initiative and respond flawlessly.
Reflected within his gaze,
the two heads on either side of the Asura God opened their eyes simultaneously, three pairs of pupils erupting with crimson divine light.
Splash—!
Splash—!
The gaze transformed into a sea of blood,
submerging stars and crushing the void itself,
pouring down toward Li Zhexian.
Yet he did not move.
"Evil Eyed Tyrant Emperor External Spirit Bone—Samsara Sword Eye!"
At the center of Li Zhexian's brow,
a vertical sword-shaped fissure split open.
Crimson and argent light intertwined as ocular radiance surged forth, completely enveloping the boundless blood sea.
This was a combined art of time and spiritual power.
It dragged the opponent into a reincarnating spacetime forged from sword intent.
One instant outside, a thousand years within—
endless sword light awaiting inside as judgment.
Under the stunned gazes of the gods,
the raging blood sea froze in midair.
In the next instant,
a torrent forged of pure sword intent burst from within, washing the blood sea away completely—shattering even the stellar remains floating inside it.
The Asura God's form trembled slightly.
His sea of divine consciousness appeared to have been struck, falling into a brief moment of stagnation.
In that fleeting instant—
a brilliant sword light flashed into existence before him.
The youth arrived with the sword itself,
taking the place where the blade had been.
One strike slashed toward the Asura God's neck.
Clang!
At the critical moment,
the Asura God's eyes cleared.
The Asura Demon Sword rose in a flash, firmly blocking the incoming strike.
His majestic face was grave, yet the corner of his lips curved upward as he spoke:
"Sword Lord, you have truly surprised me."
Excitement flared in Li Zhexian's eyes.
"As expected of the Divine Realm's strongest."
The two divine beings stood locked blade to blade amid surging energy waves, meeting each other's gaze as battle intent roared between them
...
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