Infinite Slaughter System: I Kill, Therefore I Ascend!

In his hands was a ball of condensed light, looking like a sphere of watery milk that surged with waves on its surface, about the size of a basketball. Shen Taixu had produced it from where, Li Ling had no idea, but just like his previous light beams, trying to scan it with spirit sense led to a feeling of being seared by scorching light power.

Of course, at this distance, Li Ling could make use of his refined spirit sense from the Nine Heights Pagoda to bear the brunt and scan the attack with some ease, shocked to find that it was essentially the entirety of Shen Taixu's dharma power condensed without using a specific daoist art.

After all, daoist arts were not instant casts and took time to unleash for any cultivator, even for Li Ling, who had perfected most of his. Shen Taixu did not know when Li Ling would strike or whether he would at all, as this attack had been done before during his fight with Bai Yegui.

Naturally, Shen Taixu, upon coming to a duel with such a 'presumed' genius, wouldn't act as arrogant as he looked and actually did research and pre-battle forecasts. That was why he had developed suitable countermeasures to the powers Li Ling showed so far, not expecting him to pull even more out of his ass all of a sudden.

And for this one where Li Ling used his fire stream to suppress a cultivator and then strike using his body cultivation, Shen Taixu had also developed a suitable countermeasure, which was to let everything happen naturally until the last second, unleashing a full-powered blow that would decide everything!

Now that he knew the young man had a perverse healing method, Shen Taixu felt even fewer inhibitions about doing this, putting his all into it as he slapped out with the ball in hand, aiming towards Li Ling's torso area to minimize the killing effect compared to aiming for his head.

"Ha! Take this!" Shen Taixu bellowed with a hint of glee, unleashing his power wantonly with the expectation of victory to follow.

However, he noticed that throughout the process of Li Ling smashing through his barrier, appearing before him, and being zeroed in on by his attack, the young man had not once changed his expression from confident malevolence.

It was as if nothing that he, Shen Taixu, did would matter.

And indeed, Shen Taixu learned this the hard way as his attack passed through Li Ling's torso as if he were a mere illusion, exiting from his back and unleashing its terrible power towards the crowd in that direction without anything to soften it, crashing terribly against the Grade Four Spirit Isolation Array in that direction.

THWOOM!

The crowd in that area paled slightly as they felt the terrifying attack's breath inches from their faces, but luckily the semi-tangible array blocked it all for them, preventing many casualties from this match.

But the spectacle wasn't over as Shen Taixu, wearing an expression of shock and incomprehension, with his arm still partway through Li Ling's figure, saw that Li Ling's own strike had never stopped. Just like him, Li Ling had condensed the entirety of his Blood Aura into his fist, striking out with an uppercut punch that was targeted at Shen Taixu's chin.

Since he had been previously certain that Li Ling's attack would fail since he would strike first, Shen Taixu did not put up any defenses, aiming to trade blow for blow. However, with his own attack failing and exhausting his supply of dharma power, he could only rely on his body cultivation to persist.

Shen Taixu practiced a relatively above-average-quality body cultivation method to supplement his power and give him a fallback when fights reached this stage, but it was nothing compared to the quality of the Blood Asura Descent, even one level higher.

THUMP!

The blow struck directly at the Divine Deva Hall Master's chin, causing his head to tilt upwards as crazy amounts of force was unleashed, clashing with his own barely mustered defenses to create a scene where Li Ling's punch was fast and heavy, but seemed to carry the Hall Master upwards with a rather slow pace.

WHOOSH!

However, the end result was inevitable, with Shen Taixu being sent flying upwards like a rocket and crashing into the semi-tangible array, going splat against it as his body was compressed like a giant palm was pressing upon him, but it was just the blood-red aura that covered the Hall Master's form as part of the aftermath of the effect.

However, the area around the formation where Shen Taixu was pressed against opened slightly at the edge, allowing the excess force to pass through there and rush into the afternoon sky, parting the clouds and allowing a conspicuous beam of sun to fall down at an angle, landing right on Li Ling.

That's when the crowd had time to bring their gazes down from the defeated and half-dead Hall Master to the young man who still held the posture of an uppercut, his arm upwards in a victory posture as he grinned slightly, the beam of light falling down on him.

Immediately, the crowd exploded.

"Are my eyes deceiving me? Did he actually win?!"

"Holy shit, how can this happen? What are we seeing right now?!"

"A record! This is definitely a new record that will become a legend in the sect!"

"How can someone be so strong? How are the rest of us supposed to exist alongside him?"

Tumult took over as many were unable to remain seated, wanting to do something but not knowing what. Should they cheer and chant his name? Should they rush up and hug the fellow, then carry him on their shoulders? Or should they pay respects to the birth of a new legend in the making at this key moment in his rise?

Each of them felt appropriate but also not enough, leaving the crowd full of energy, excitement, and shock, but not knowing how to vent it. However, the crowd was suddenly silenced by an exertion of power that caused their bodies and souls to tremble with fear, glancing up at the podium.

Shen Ziyan was not glancing at the crowd, but upwards towards the limp body of her uncle. She forked over a finger and brought him over to float beside her, glancing at him and touching him gently to make sure there was no fatal damage before nodding with an expressionless face.

She sent him to the two Divine Deva Hall Deputy Hall Masters who hurriedly received their leader and rushed out of the dueling area to tend to his severe wounds. Meanwhile, the exertion of power caused everyone to pay attention to Shen Ziyan whether they wanted to or not, and she seemed to notice it at this moment.

After a moment of silence, her eyes scanning the entire crowd of 'powerhouses' in the lower sect, she announced the end of the match.

"In this duel between Divine Deva Hall Master Shen Taixu and Path Lord Li Ling, the winner has been decided!"

Moving her cold and judgmental blue eyes onto Li Ling, she stretched her hand forward. "Path Lord Li Ling is victorious!"

The crowd found it appropriate to openly cheer and celebrate now, the weaker ones unashamedly calling out Li Ling's name with a worshipful tone while the various Path Lords felt great envy, clapping thunderously despite themselves.

It was the entirety of the Six Paths Hall's various Path Ascenders who wore grim expressions, realizing that a troublesome contender for the year-end tournament had come up. Already, that tournament was extremely bottlenecked, only allowing a fixed number of people up each year as victors to become Core Disciples, so each slot was as precious as gold.

Many of the Path Ascenders did not lack either talent or strength, just needing access to a cultivation method that could allow them to continue their progression upward. As long as they could get a slot to ascend to the middle layer, they were certain that they could quickly break through to the Fourth Realm.

But with a monster like Li Ling standing before them, many felt deep despair, knowing that they couldn't be like Shen Taixu and develop useful countermeasures. With his talent, he might enter the third realm before the tournament came, and without the realm advantage to suppress him, how were they to cope?

As for the Five Hall Masters, they each wore expressions of disbelief and shock. They, more than anyone else, understood the strength and abilities of Shen Taixu, their peer, which was why, no matter how they had overestimated Li Ling, they came to understand at this moment that they still underestimated him.

Especially when the pristine Li Ling, with not a single bruise or mark on his body, turned to them and maintained a wide grin.

"So, dear esteemed Hall Masters, I'd like my payout, if you please."