Planet Pulverizer: A Mortal's Ascent-Chapter 467: Genius

In the manor that hosted esteemed guests in Divine Dragon City, Si Xing looked in astonishment at Wu Jie, who had come to inform him to evacuate.

"Li Pin!? Are you saying that the one challenging the Grand Patriarch Yan Zun of the Divine Dragon Empire is named Li Pin? From the Gaia civilization?"

"Yes, Captain Si Xing, it's the Gaian you mentioned before." Wu Jie nodded. "The lord has some connections with Yan Zun but does not wish to violate the rules set by the Homo Sapien Alliance for him. Thus, he plans to leave Dragon Swamp Nebula temporarily and tour other clusters to avoid trouble. So, Captain, please pack up. We will depart in half a stellar quarter."

"Li Pin! To think that it's Li Pin! But..." Si Xing's eyes were filled with disbelief. "But how is this possible!?"

Wu Jie glanced at him with some surprise. Haven't you fought Li Pin before, too?

According to the data he provided, Li Pin was excellent. Si Xing had been full of praise when he mentioned Li Pin.

Their captain was a Tier Three Legend from Starwheel Sea. Wu Jie knew he had incredibly high standards.

How could someone the captain spoke so highly of be bad?

This was precisely why Chi Fenglei had chosen to leave Dragon Swamp Nebula temporarily after realizing who Li Pin was. He did not have confidence in Yan Zun.

Of course, the main reason was that Chi Fenglei found it troublesome and preferred to avoid it altogether.

Looks like there has been some sort of misunderstanding here...? thought Wu Jie.

After a while, Si Xing calmed down. He pondered for a moment and said, "You all go ahead. The Divine Dragon Empire tends to act without much regard for the rules. If everything goes well, that's fine. But if something happens, I fear they might do something outrageous. If none of us are present in Dragon Swamp Nebula during such a time, it would be hard to explain when the higher-ups investigate."

He looked at Wu Jie and said, "I will stay here to monitor the Divine Dragon Empire, as well as the Gaia civilization, to prevent them—who have yet to fully integrate into the universe—from causing any major troubles."

After saying this, he seemed to think of something. "Forget it. I'll personally inform Lord Chi Fenglei."

Wu Jie nodded.

***

The universe adopted a standardized system for measuring time: stellar year, stellar month, stellar day, stellar hour, and stellar quarter.

In the universe, timekeeping methods often use the decimal system.

Half a stellar quarter was roughly equivalent to half an hour in Gaian time.

By the time Chi Fenglei and others left aboard their spacecraft, Si Xing had completed the latest data collection on Li Pin. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

When he saw that Li Pin had captured Yan Zhong alive and claimed to have broken through to Tier Three Legend status, a look of utter incredulity appeared on his face.

He murmured, "He had barely been able to harness a trace of Legendary power the last time I fought him.... In terms of combat strength, he was at most on par with those Quasi-Legendary, like Yan Zhong, whom he captured alive. Even if his cultivation advanced further, he would merely reach true Legend status.... Reaching Tier Two in one go would already make him a rare genius...."

Si Xing looked at the self-reported description of Li Pin's cultivation level on the e-book in his hand.

"Tier Three Legend? What's going on?"

This Homo Sapien Alliance Executive, who prided himself on coming from Starwheel Sea and having seen all kinds of talents and prodigies, felt utterly bewildered.

Advancing through realms was one thing, but this leap was too great! The gap between the first and third tiers was nothing to be scoffed at!

Could I have uncovered a true genius by accident? Si Xing thought.

What kind of place was the Dragon Swamp Nebula? It was one of the dozens of nebulae within the Candle Light Star Ring, which was itself one of the dozen Candle Light Star Rings in the sixth spiral arm.

How many galactic systems lay above the sixth spiral arm in the Yin Luo Galaxy within the human territories?

Over ten trillion!

Not ten thousand, not a billion, but a full ten trillion!

The Starwheel Sea might not amount to much when compared with the grand scale of human territories, but it was still significant in the Homo Sapien Alliance, interacting with and influencing billions of star systems.

Si Xing had lived for about thirty stellar years and had seen all sorts of geniuses. He had even heard of a prodigy from Starwheel Sea who reached Tier Four Legend status in just ten stellar years.

But a jump from Quasi-Legendary to Tier Three Legend in less than a stellar month... that was unprecedented.

He had never seen such a genius! That was practically like a child who had been crawling a second ago suddenly getting admitted into a top university!

Could anything be more outrageous?

"If Li Pin is truly such a genius, I'll bring him to the Si Clan...."

Si Xing couldn't sit still anymore. He wanted to immediately board his private spacecraft and arrive at Gaia ahead of the Divine Dragon Empire's inferior Astral Gate technology.

However, he quickly realized it was better to sit still and observe for confirmation first. After all, this matter was too absurd. Without seeing it firsthand, it was hard to believe.

Si Xing quickly calmed himself down. "There will be a battle between Li Pin and Yan Zun. It's not too late to decide after watching their fight."

***

Atop a satellite six hundred thousand kilometers away from Gaia, two figures were resting.

To be precise, one figure was resting while the other seemed to be contemplating something.

The contemplating figure seemed to have comprehended something. He murmured, "So, the essence of Astral Technique lies in releasing the inherently powerful Astral energy in a shorter amount of time."

He quickly concluded. "Ultimately, faster means stronger."

Just like the varying power of Gaian gunpowder. At its core, it depended on the initial velocity generated during combustion and explosion. The faster the energy release and initial velocity, the greater the explosive power of the gunpowder.

Li Pin stood up. "And to increase the energy release speed, two things are crucial. First, control. Second, stability."

Without paying attention to the somewhat stunned sparring partner, he directly floated tens of kilometers away.

The Celestial Magnetic Field within him began to rotate.

What he referred to as "control" was essentially maximizing the speed of the Celestial Magnetic Field's rotation. As for "stability," that boiled down to the greatest amount of energy that could be released upon reaching maximum speed.

After all, a practitioner could achieve immense speed, but without the ability to efficiently unleash the generated energy, it would all be utterly meaningless. Similarly, a lower speed that would allow for an efficient release of energy would be equally meaningless.

Only when the two were combined would the results be satisfactory.

Li Pin held up sword fingers and thrust them sharply.

In an instant, a sword aura shot out like a bolt of lightning toward the front. However, before it could accurately hit the target, it exploded prematurely.

This was an attack packed with power but lacking in stability.

Scenes of his duel with Si Xing flashed through Li Pin's mind.

Si Xing's attacks had been efficient and to the point, with no wastage. A misapplication had only ever happened when his attacks were forcibly negated. At the beginning of their battle, Si Xing's attacks hadn't even caused significant shockwaves or explosions.

This was absolute control and absolute stability.

Focus! Merge my will with my Celestial Force Field, ensure its control and stability, ignite my mental spirit, and then unleash the power of the Celestial Force Field....

Li Pin struck again.

The sword attack was like thunder. It transformed into a silver streak, tearing through the void.

But it still had no effect.

Below, Yan Zhong, acting as the sparring partner, quickly realized something upon seeing this.

However, even with this new realization, his expression remained indifferent.

You think I don't know your purpose in fighting me? You're trying to use me to refine your combat mechanisms and attack systems? Heh, if it were that easy, wouldn't the world be full of people creating their own Astral Techniques and battle techniques?

Yan Zhong revealed a faint sneer. Besides, I know you're using me as a sparring partner, hardly considering defense in our fights, using only powerful but unstable Astral Techniques. If you could integrate such techniques into your system, how extraordinary would your talent have to be? The Divine Dragon Empire losing to you would then truly be without regret.

Naturally, Li Pin wouldn't know what Yan Zhong was thinking. But even if he did, he wouldn't care. At this moment, he was repeatedly testing his ideas.

Despite his continuous attempts, the power of the thunderous sword aura he released improved significantly, but its stability was still lacking.

It was akin to an expert archer switching to a heavy bow. The arrows fired had greater power, but their accuracy had declined sharply, becoming increasingly random.

Li Pin pondered for a long time.

Ultimately, he had to admit a fact. "Creating a combat technique of my own in a short time is indeed not easy. The power has increased, reaching Tier Three Legend, but what's the use of attacks that can't hit the target or are hard to control, no matter how powerful they are?"

He had only developed one method of use—the Cosmic River Sword Attack.

It involved unleashing dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of thunderous sword auras at once.

If the accuracy was inadequate, then he would make up for them in quantity. He would bombard an area with firepower, effectively throwing any concern regarding accuracy out the window.

However, this meant his energy consumption would increase significantly, and the will strength consumed was equally substantial.

Li Pin shook his head. "This modified Cosmic River Sword Attack lost its stability and can only be considered a highly effective technique for clearing weaker enemies. It's highly consuming and essentially useless in life-and-death struggles at the Tier Three Legend level."

The attempt to refine his attack technique had failed. Relying solely on wisdom and insight, he could only provide a conceptual direction.

Li Pin regretfully muttered, "Indeed... all my talent should be invested in myself. Emulating the Astral Cultivator's ranged Astral Techniques to kill enemies from thousands of miles away with techniques like sword aura or mid-air punches is simply impossible."

He took a deep breath, and the power of the Celestial Magnetic Field within him began to circulate again.

His inner spirit burned, and his mental spirit triggered the magnetic field's power to erupt violently. In an instant, indescribably terrifying energy surged madly within him.

Through his Clairvoyance, every inch of power's changes and vibrations vividly appeared in his mind.

As the fist force blasted out, the already dark void before him transformed into absolute darkness in an instant.

If they weren't on this satellite but on Gaia, this punch would have created a terrifying thousand-kilometer-wide hole in the atmosphere upon impact.

If this punch had been directed at the ground, it would've caused an area with a hundred-kilometer radius to collapse and sink completely. The terrifying energy wave would further devastate areas a thousand kilometers away. Even continental plates would shift under this punch.

The punch plunged the void into absolute darkness, causing the several-thousand-kilometer satellite to tremble for a moment. However, as they were perched on a satellite devoid of an atmosphere, this was the extent of the disturbance, which was not particularly significant.

As a result, Yan Zhong merely looked up with a puzzled and uncertain expression, unsure of what exactly had occurred.

Li Pin's thoughts cleared. "My body... is my greatest gift, so my power... system can only evolve inwardly."

When the Celestial Force Field was released externally, it completely lost both control and stability.

But when it was contained within him... it was only a matter of time before he achieved absolute control and stability, relying on his Clairvoyance. It was only a question of how many attempts it took.