Chapter 206: Gear Up

Chapter 206

Liyu wasn’t kidding when he said he was going to kill Shi Tian, no, as he was more than serious after having been targeted first by Shi Tian trying to take his life, repeatedly attacking him with the intention of killing him, and even slicing his body into countless pieces without the slightest hesitation.

So Liyu was going to retaliate, and he was going to make absolutely sure that he ended Shi Tian’s life with no mercy, no hesitation, and no second thoughts, deciding without wasting another second to gear up and enter combat mode from the ground up.

One could say that Liyu had played around during the first half of the match, trying to measure Shi Tian’s power and wanting to understand exactly how dangerous this so-called devil of the Shi Clan was before getting serious.

And that decision had cost him dearly, costing him his only remaining Restoration Pill since he had already used one during his previous match and had no more left in his possession, meaning that from this moment onward he had to be more than careful... extremely careful... because if he allowed himself to be pushed to the edge like before, there would be no second chance and he would be doomed.

But that wasn’t the only reason Liyu was taking this seriously, as Shi Tian had pissed him off big time, and Liyu was the kind of person who didn’t simply swallow an insult or forget an attempt on his life.

If someone wanted to kill him, then he would return the favor, and if someone dared to push him toward death... then Liyu would make them experience that same fear before their own end, letting Shi Tian feel his wrath deep, unbridled, and absolute.

Liyu equipped the storage ring he had bought from the System Shop onto his hand, having gotten quite a number of things from the System Shop by now.

Bringing those items out one after another from thin air would undoubtedly attract far more suspicion than he wanted, because if people saw him continuously summoning treasures from empty space, there was no doubt they would start questioning him and he might even end up being experimented on immediately.

After all, this was a world where strange treasures and abilities existed, but that didn’t mean someone could casually pull countless items out of thin air without anyone becoming suspicious, and Liyu wasn’t dumb enough to overlook such an obvious problem.

That was why he had bought a storage ring from the System Shop, which seemed to have an infinite number of things available for sale anyway, making getting a small storage space to contain everything he needed more than enough.

He had bought the storage space, loaded it with all the items he had purchased from the System Shop, and equipped it immediately afterward so he could finally use his equipment without making his actions look too suspicious.

"Gear up," Liyu’s voice was calm as he spoke, the moment his words falling as he equipped the Celestial Battle Skin.

A brilliant light flashed around his body, and the combat suit he had obtained from the System appeared over him once more... a combat suit that had cost him a staggering 50,000 Essence Points.

The price was ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous, but as ridiculous as the price was... that was exactly how ridiculous and broken the suit itself was.

The Celestial Battle Skin possessed several terrifying effects: Affinity Amplification: +300%, Affinity Attack Power: +200%, Affinity Control and Application: +200%, and Overall Physical Boost and Combat Ability Enhancement: +300%.

And yet... the most ridiculous part of this combat suit wasn’t even those effects, but rather the defense it granted Liyu: Defense: +4,000 DEF. Four thousand, just from the armor alone, allowing anyone to see just how ridiculous this combat suit was.

And those were only the main effects, as the Celestial Battle Skin possessed several other smaller effects as well, making its overall value even more absurd.

Liyu wasn’t done, not even close, immediately equipping one of the weapons he had purchased from the System Shop.

A slender sword appeared in his right hand, its hilt made from what seemed to be the skull of a dragon, giving it a strange and intimidating appearance, while the blade itself was even more unusual, looking as though it had been carved directly from space itself with its surface pitch-black like an endless void, while several tiny white dots floated within it like distant stars scattered across an infinite night sky.

This was another trump card Liyu had purchased specifically to level the playing field, and it was bound to be a tremendous help, because after all, Shi Tian’s greatest advantage was his speed... a speed that was simply beyond insane.

Even Liyu, who possessed terrifying physical abilities and numerous skills that enhanced his mobility, had been repeatedly caught off guard by it, so if there was one thing he needed to deal with first... it was that overwhelming speed.

And this sword was one of the tools he had obtained specifically for that purpose: Void Piercer.

The weapon possessed three abilities: the first was Void Anchor, the second was Spatial Severance, and the third... was locked.

According to the information displayed by the System, the third ability required something called a Space Core, and Liyu had absolutely no idea where he was supposed to find something like that or what the hell a Space Core even was, so for now, the third ability was completely out of his reach.

Still, Liyu believed that the third ability was probably the strongest of the three, because after all, there was a reason why Void Piercer had cost him a staggering 20,000 Essence Points, as a weapon that expensive couldn’t possibly have ordinary abilities.

Unfortunately, he could only make use of two of them for now, but that was fine, as he wasn’t worried in the slightest since the first two abilities would be more than enough for what he needed right now, leaving the third to wait for later while he dealt with a much more immediate problem: Shi Tian.

The moment the Celestial Battle Skin and Void Piercer appeared on Liyu, everything about him changed, his presence completely transforming as the calm and restrained aura he had displayed earlier vanished and was replaced by an overwhelming pressure that surged outward from his body.

His aura became far more domineering and far more powerful, the air around him seeming to grow heavier so that even without attacking, Liyu now gave off an entirely different feeling.

He was no longer the young man who had been repeatedly wounded by Shi Tian, nor the opponent who had been forced to desperately dodge for his life, but at this moment, fully equipped and finally serious... Liyu looked like he had entered an entirely different battlefield.

His fingers tightened around the hilt of Void Piercer, Liyu feeling the overwhelming sense of power coursing through his body, yet despite feeling stronger than he had ever been before, he still believed that it wasn’t enough... not nearly enough.

There wouldn’t be a second chance, and he couldn’t afford to prepare harder after this or hold anything back and discover later that still something more could have been done. No, this time he needed to give it everything: everything he had, every card, every advantage, every ounce of power currently within his grasp.

And so, Liyu immediately called back one of his clones and merged with him.

Back in the Beast Forest... King Rayden was busy carving out the beast cores from all the fallen beasts they had managed to kill, with there simply being too many of them as the corpses were scattered across the area and King Rayden had already been carving out their cores for quite some time, his hands starting to feel tired from the repetitive work.

"Hvis those two would just lend me a helping hand, things would move at a much faster pace," King Rayden complained as he looked into the distance, "I would probably be able to rest for a while already."

His gaze landed on Dead Eye Rayden, who was sitting quietly in the distance, completely absorbed in his cultivation.

King Rayden sighed, "At least that one is still doing something." His gaze shifted toward the other reflection of Rayden, and there he was... Lazy Rayden lying comfortably on the ground, his face completely calm as he snored lightly.

King Rayden’s expression twitched, "But that lazy guy... he is really making me want to lose my cool."

There were three of them, three! So why was it that only two of them were actually doing something while the third one was sleeping?! How was that supposed to be fair?

King Rayden was still in the middle of his complaint when he suddenly felt something, his expression changing before he could even react, as he vanished.

The instant King Rayden disappeared, Dead Eye Rayden’s eyes snapped open, and at almost the exact same moment, Lazy Rayden’s eyes also opened.

Both of them stared at the exact location where King Rayden had been standing only a second ago, then turned toward each other, both understanding that this was the doing of the Original because King Rayden had been summoned, and since neither of them could sense any danger coming from him, it meant that he was safe.

Dead Eye Rayden didn’t spend another second thinking about it, coming to the conclusion that the boss had probably summoned the first reflection, and simply returned to his cultivation because he hated wasting time and especially hated involving himself in things that weren’t his problem.

The first reflection had been summoned because the boss needed him, and that wasn’t his problem.

Lazy Rayden, however, wasn’t nearly as calm and composed as Dead Eye Rayden, his eyes not able to stop twitching as he stared at the place where King Rayden had been standing moments ago, feeling slightly uneasy for some reason as a strange feeling had suddenly settled deep within him.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Lazy Rayden muttered, staring at the empty spot for a few more seconds before shrugging, "Whatever," and going right back to sleep.

Meanwhile, back at the arena... the aura surrounding Liyu changed once more as his eyes snapped open, his once-dark eyes having transformed into a brilliant green before... crackle!... green lightning flashed within his pupils.

Crackle... crackle... his entire body soon began crackling with green static, thin arcs of lightning crawling across his skin and spiraling around his figure like living serpents.

His transformation continued as his long dark hair began changing, strands of green appearing among the black and spreading through his hair in swirling patterns until the two colors intertwined together, green lightning continuously crackling through his hair with small yet unusually clear crackles within the now-silent arena.

Then a long, slender sword made entirely from crackling green lightning appeared in Liyu’s left hand while his right hand continued gripping Void Piercer.

But that wasn’t all, as a royal-green cape seemingly appeared from thin air and draped itself over Liyu’s combat suit, fluttering gently behind him despite the lack of any strong wind.

The moment it appeared, the aura surrounding Liyu changed once again, becoming regal, majestic, and dominating, so that he no longer looked merely like a young cultivator, but rather like a kingly warrior standing upon the battlefield, one who had come to personally pass judgment upon his enemy.

His eyes snapped fully open, and within those brilliant green eyes existed two seemingly contradictory things at the same time: unbridled madness and dominating calmness. The two emotions shouldn’t have been able to coexist, yet somehow, within Liyu’s gaze, they blended perfectly.

Then his aura exploded: BOOM!

The pressure surrounding his body surged outward, and his cultivation aura, which had previously belonged to a first-stage Qi Gathering cultivator, suddenly climbed without stopping, breaking through and leaping directly to the second stage of Qi Gathering!

The entire arena seemed to tremble beneath the sudden transformation.

Liyu slowly raised his gaze, his eyes locking onto Shi Tian with no hesitation in his expression, no fear, and only a cold, almost mad determination.

"I would surely kill you," Liyu’s voice was so calm and composed that it was barely audible, yet somehow, those few words carried a weight that made the surrounding atmosphere feel heavier.

At the seats of the leaders, every single leader... and even the elders beside them... shot to their feet, absolute shock written across their faces as their eyes widened and their mouths opened, staring at Liyu as if they were looking at something that shouldn’t exist before speaking almost simultaneously:

"How is this...?"

"What the hell...?"

"How...?"

Their voices were filled with disbelief and pure shock, simply unable to comprehend what they were seeing, because how could a first-stage Qi Gathering cultivator possess a Qi mutation?! There was no doubt about it anymore: that green lightning was undoubtedly a Qi mutation, and not just an ordinary Qi mutation, but a unique one.

The leaders felt their understanding of the world being shattered once again, realizing that only moments ago they had thought they had already witnessed enough impossibilities from this young man, but they were wrong... completely wrong.

Once again, in a single day, they felt as if all their deductions, knowledge, experience, and everything they understood about the cultivation world had been thrown directly into the deepest pit of hell.

Universal logic had been broken yet again, and the one responsible for breaking it... was none other than him: the Honored One, Liyu.