Planet Pulverizer: A Mortal's Ascent-Chapter 442: Spirit

Ji Xuanyuan stared at the figure hovering silently before them. "Li... Pin..."

The madness and unwillingness in Zhao Kunwu's eyes gradually gave way to dryness and despair. "You've succeeded..."

Li Pin, bathed in lightning radiance, remained still, yet his oppressive presence crushed their spirits. This power he wielded, far beyond the Heavenly Realm...

"Legendary realm?!" uttered both Zhao Kunwu and Ji Xuanyuan in unison.

Li Pin remarked, "In a world teeming with power, instead of focusing on self-improvement, you squander it all on scheming and vying for dominance. This is something I cannot understand."

Zhao Kunwu lifted his head slightly, locking eyes with him. "You cannot understand? Of course you don't understand. A genius like you would never understand. Someone who progresses so effortlessly can never understand our concerns."

His tone grew fervent, carrying a mix of frustration and sorrow. "You can't imagine the helplessness of fighting tooth and nail to reach the peak, only to find your enemies tens of times stronger.

"You can't fathom the despair of stagnating despite pouring every ounce of time and effort into cultivation.

"And you'll never comprehend the bitter reality of a fixed pie—where if you don't seize and suppress others, they will surely do so to you."

Zhao Kunwu's voice brimmed with resentment. "You simply don't understand...because... you're a genius!"

Li Pin chuckled softly. "A genius?"

What a high evaluation. What kind of genius am I when I failed to complete the Core Formation stage back in my previous life?

He had failed, but he had never lost himself, even in his final moments. Even when his body collapsed under the weight of countless hidden ailments, he chose without hesitation to take that final step—condensing his qi into Core.

He died. But he died moving forward.

It was his body that perished, not his spirit. Even in death, one thought remained etched in his heart. Advance! Advance!

He refused to decay or succumb to despair.

Li Pin responded, "To me, your so-called incomprehension is nothing more than an excuse—a justification for your grievances and self-pity. You had an environment ripe with opportunity, a chance to lead your civilization to new heights, yet you chose stagnation, letting it all rot instead."

"You've won, so whatever you say must be correct." Ji Xuanyuan's face darkened. "What do you intend to do next? Eradicate us completely? Destroy Great Shang? Wipe out the Ji Royal Family to claim the glory of annihilation?"

Li Pin asked, "Is that how you perceive the world? You think this way, so you assume others will act the same?

His voice remained steady, "Or perhaps, this is what you want me to say? Are you secretly rejoicing?"

Ji Xuanyuan's pupils dilated sharply. His earlier emphasis on Great Shang and the royal family had indeed been deliberate. To his surprise....

"Congratulations, you've guessed correctly," Li Pin said directly. "You can no longer lead Great Shang. Time and again, you've dragged it toward the abyss of destruction. From now on, I will take Great Shang into my hands. As for you..."

Li Pin's gaze fell on Ji Xuanyuan and Zhao Kunwu. "The first batch of Heavenly Realm Experts to fall will mark a turning point in history. Gaia's chronicles will record this moment to show the world that, starting today, the Heavenly Realm is no longer a shield for reckless domination. The rule that Heavenly Realm Experts cannot die at the hands of another human is now a thing of the past."

Zhao Kunwu, who had regained his composure, immediately understood—Li Pin intended to annihilate them completely!

"Go!" he roared.

He shoved Ji Xuanyuan away as an unprecedented resolve surged through his heart.

An invisible force of inner spirit erupted from within Zhao Kunwu, filled with the determination to burn everything to ashes. He silently chanted. Seal! Sacred Word Technique!

Rumble, rumble!

Li Pin immediately felt as though his inner spirit had been enveloped in darkness. His consciousness, mental spirit, and qi and blood seemed on the verge of being torn apart.

Though his thoughts remained clear, he no longer had control over himself, as if trapped in a nightmare.

Before the sensation could fully take hold, the Sitting in Oblivion Scripture stirred. The ethereal radiance of selflessness flowed across his mind.

Sitting in oblivion, untouched by worldly dust.[1]

The sealing force rippled over him like an invisible wave, failing to cause any substantial disturbance to his inner spirit.

Whoosh!

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In the next instant, Li Pin appeared before Zhao Kunwu.

Zhao Kunwu knew he had failed.

Despite unleashing his full strength and using the Sacred Word Technique, he had not managed to restrain Li Pin for even a split second.

He looked up, and Li Pin's fist was already inches from his face.

At that moment, space and time seemed to freeze.

Ambitions, grand plans—all of it turned to smoke and vanished.

Zhao Kunwu felt like letting out a bitter smile, a final expression of his life. But the agonizing stretch of his spiritual awareness contrasted sharply with the real world, where everything happened in an instant.

Before the smile could form on his face, he exploded into a mist of blood that disintegrated into atoms shortly later. In the next moment, even the atoms ceased to exist.

All of it was consumed by the crushing void of darkness.

***

As Ji Xuanyuan sprinted at full speed, he suddenly felt the resonance of starlight between himself and Zhao Kunwu vanish. Anger and unwillingness surged within him as he pushed his speed in his starlight form to its limits. "Ahhhhh!"

Just as he was about to rush out of the alternate dimension, he recalled something.

To ensure the Five Emperors Demon-Slaying Formation could trap and kill Li Pin, they had reinforced the alternate dimension from within to an unimaginable degree. They had put so much effort into designing it to hold Li Pin that even the ruler of the dimension would need at least a breath or two to tear it open and escape.

This measure also served as a restraint among the five of them, preventing anyone from yielding to fear or falling under Li Pin's control to open the formation.

However, they had never accounted for the possibility of their current situation. Those precious breaths of time had become an unbridgeable chasm between life and death, extinguishing his last hope of survival.

Ji Xuanyuan let out a desperate roar, "Noooo!"

He turned sharply, wanting to say something. Just as he was about to open his mouth, he exploded into brilliant starlight.

Starlight?

In his shock, Ji Xuanyuan realized he wasn't dead. Li Pin had spared him. He had left him alive.

Of course!

Li Pin sought to seize control of Great Shang. Such a vast empire would inevitably face years of chaos without a stabilizing figure. To avoid this, keeping Ji Xuanyuan—the empire's Supreme Expert and emperor—alive was the best option.

Although Ji Xuanyuan's fate would remain uncertain once Li Pin took power, as long as he lived, there was still hope.

With this thought, Ji Xuanyuan roared, "Hall Master Li... the Ji Royal Family is will—"

Before he could finish, Li Pin raised his hand and clenched.

Taking advantage of Ji Xuanyuan's fragmented state in his starlight form, Li Pin seized the Mental Spirit Ring. Unlike ordinary weapons, astral equipment could transform into starlight form—this was their greatest difference.

As the ring fell into Li Pin's hand, Ji Xuanyuan realized why he had been spared—Li Pin wanted the Mental Spirit Ring.

At that instant, Li Pin, holding the ring, disappeared.

Having narrowly escaped death, the rekindled desire to live magnified his fear to an extreme.

"Spare—"

Ji Xuanyuan's plea was cut short.

He desperately tried to project his thoughts outward, but the world around him had already begun to disintegrate.

He was first dismantled on the macroscale—his energy, body, organs, blood—then on the microscale—dust, air, cells, atoms.

Everything dissolved into nothingness.

The Heavenly Realm Experts of Great Shang had all been annihilated.

***

Buzz! Buzz!

The void that had swallowed Ji Xuanyuan was rapidly refilled with starlight and atoms.

Li Pin emerged in the restored space, steadying the burning inner spirit within him.

Under the radiance of Astral God Yin Luo, any disruptive element to the existence of starlight was swiftly erased.

Li Pin's vacuum-shattering punch had effectively created a miniature black hole.

If its energy had been unleashed without restraint, mountains, rivers, and plains would have been annihilated, reduced to nothing. Even the tectonic plates would have been forcefully shifted. With enough time, this destructive force could sink an entire continent.

This was the power of the Vacuum Pulverizer.

Though Li Pin was not yet strong enough to obliterate a planet, his inner spirit could easily devastate the surface of any non-interstellar civilization.

Li Pin exhaled deeply. "Phew!"

As his burning inner spirit gradually calmed, an overwhelming wave of weakness surged through him.

Though his Vitality, Qi, and Spirit remained whole, the exhaustion hit like a torrential flood, leaving him desperate to sit down and fall into a deep sleep.

His strong Vitality, Qi, and Spirit felt utterly unusable, as if a timid giant stood paralyzed, easily bullied by anyone with a bit more boldness. Or like a once-powerful warrior whose spirit had already "died," unwilling to move even with unrivaled strength—rendering it as good as gone.

The last time he felt this drained was shortly after arriving in this world. It was when he encountered a Demonic Cat on his way home and was forced to unleash Core Force twice in succession.

However, this time the fatigue ran even deeper. It was the aftereffect of his inner spirit eruption.

Not daring to delay, Li Pin quickly entered the Spiritual Liberation state to restore his inner spirit. Yet recovering inner spirit wasn't a simple process.

After a long while, he finally shook off the worst of the exhaustion. However, full recovery would still require careful conditioning.

By now, half a day had passed. To avoid any unnecessary disturbances, he decided not to remain in this alternate dimension.

Glancing at the Mental Spirit Ring in his hand, Li Pin quickly began searching for the formation's weak point.

Without anyone actively maintaining its transformations, the vulnerable spot soon emerged in his perception.

Within a few breaths, he vanished from the alternate dimension.

1. Describes a state of profound meditation where one transcends all worldly distractions and desires. ☜