"Pei Yan! I want to see what else you can do!"

In a fit of rage, Di Xin roared and charged at Pei Yan, unleashing various supernatural abilities along the way like a downpour towards his opponent. Pei Yan didn’t pay any attention to these attacks. He didn’t even lower the face shield he had raised earlier, still holding a cigar in his mouth, and with one hand, he quickly formed an invisible net in front of him.

As the calamity clouds dispersed, revealing the sunlight that glinted off thin, hidden threads, Di Xin wore a disdainful smile and unleashed the Power of Origin, mocking, "Is it Source Qi threads again? Don’t forget you’re in the Blood Fiend Plane! Your Source Qi threads are useless against me!" With that, he continued his confident charge without stopping.

"Ah~ Ah~!"

A long and piercing scream echoed. The moment before, Di Xin was furiously shouting, and in the next, he lay wounded before Pei Yan, blood trickling down Pei Yan’s hand, forming a crystalline web that dripped to the ground. As Di Xin slid down, Pei Yan withdrew the spider silk threads in his hand, and amidst the creaking sound of threads rubbing together, Di Xin found his wrists and ankles instantly severed by the wrapping threads, causing him to roll on the ground in agony.

"One of the greatest creations of human technology from the Cornerstone Plane, synthetic nano-fibers need just a line less than two millimeters thick." Pei Yan walked over to the rolling Di Xin, pulling a thread thinner than hair between his two fingers and continued, "It can tow a small car. When such a thread fuses with materials like the Heavenly Silkworm Silk from the Daoist Realm or Beast God Sinews from the Spirit Monster Plane, the resulting strength is terrifying even to me. Di Xin, having experienced it firsthand, how do you find the effect?"

"You used the Source Qi threads to wrap around these threads to trick me!" Di Xin’s palms began healing rapidly as he looked up at Pei Yan and questioned, "You had this ability from the start and saved it just to set me up?"

"Stop flattering yourself. Set you up? You’re not even qualified! I didn’t use it before just to give you some confidence so you could push me a bit further in breaking through my awakening shackles. In this, you did quite well!" As he spoke, Pei Yan retracted the threads between his fingers, stretched his arms, took a deep breath, and reveled in the endless energy birthed inside him, saying, "Now I’ve experienced an unprecedented strength. No wonder the Daoist Realm has stood at the pinnacle of all planes for so many years. Every expert endures heavenly tribulations when breaking through their cultivation, and once they survive, their body and soul are far stronger than other Plane Cultivators who haven’t been through such ordeals."

While Pei Yan smugly enjoyed his cigar with his eyes closed, Di Xin, lying on the ground, had already regenerated his severed limbs in the shortest time possible. The close distance between the two gave him a chance to launch a surprise attack. Seizing the moment, Di Xin leaped up with hands on the ground to ambush Pei Yan once more.

Just as he jumped parallel to his opponent, Pei Yan’s eyes slightly opened, and with the aid of Source Qi, the cigar in his mouth suddenly shot out, perfectly striking Di Xin’s right eye. Despite the sudden attack, Di Xin’s right eye blurred, but his attack didn’t stop, as he brought his full strength and several abilities to bear, aiming at Pei Yan’s weakest point—his face.

His punch landed on a disappearing afterimage, as expected by Di Xin. He immediately retracted his fist, prepared for defense, and scanned for Pei Yan’s Source Qi trace.

"Uh~ Puh~!" A fierce punch came from a place devoid of any Source Qi fluctuation. When Di Xin sensed the attack, it was already too late. An iron fist struck his side, a tiny rivulet of blood trickling from his mouth.

No sight of a person! No slightest Source Qi fluctuation! Before the fist attacked, he didn’t even hear the sound of wind from movement! For an ordinary Cultivator, perhaps understandable, but for a Child of Origin, experienced in sensing Source Qi across six planes, it only explained one thing.

"New ability? No, if it were an ability, I should’ve sensed it! You’ve fused more than two Divine Artifacts!" Di Xin roared into the empty space.

"Clever!"

Before the words died out, Di Xin turned towards the sound, launching a strike. It missed! Immediately, a searing pain came from his chin. From the sensation, he could tell it was an underhanded kick that precisely hit his chin!

With broken bones and a mouth full of blood, Di Xin caught a gleam from the position he just left as his body shot up, seeing Pei Yan smiling down at him.

Sweat streamed from all over Di Xin’s body as he cursed Nero and his companion fiercely in his heart. It’s been over five minutes! Why haven’t they broken through the blockade to come support!

While Di Xin’s body was still ascending from the kick, Pei Yan’s figure leaped up. Sensing Di Xin’s thoughts, as the two faced each other, Pei Yan chuckled and said, "Still wondering why your companions haven’t come to save you?"

"Cr~si~ah!" With his jaw shattered and not yet healed, Di Xin spat out broken words through blood and teeth, angrily swinging a fist at Pei Yan.

Turning sideways to avoid the blow, Di Xin’s fierce fist wind grazed Pei Yan’s cheek, leaving a bloody mark. Blood trickled down the just-healed smooth skin into Pei Yan’s mouth, where he licked it with his tongue, eyes gleaming with excitement and madness. His left arm extended, middle finger protruding, aiming at Di Xin’s retracted arm joint, and brutally stabbed in.

"Uh!" 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Like poking through a piece of paper, his finger effortlessly pierced Di Xin’s tough muscle layer. As the drill at his fingertip extended and rotated inside the muscle, cold sweat poured from Di Xin’s forehead, and he attempted a knee-elbow strike at Pei Yan’s abdomen.

Severed finger! Pei Yan automatically severed the link with his middle finger, leaving the spinning drill inside Di Xin, retracting his fist, a new mechanical finger quickly formed. He cushioned the kick to his chest with his palm, leveraging up, and from his elevated position, Pei Yan turned, palm facing down at the descending Di Xin, unleashing a cascade of Source Qi Bombs.

"Devour!" Di Xin roared, using the Power of Origin to shield his body fully, absorbing and digesting all of the Source Qi Bombs regardless of their number.

"Prison Break!"

Boom!

"Uh~ Ah!"

As Pei Yan uttered the words, Di Xin, just landing on the ground, felt his abdomen suddenly explode from within. Looking down incredulously at the blood and organs gushing from his abdominal wound, Di Xin’s face turned pale, raising a finger towards Pei Yan as if to speak, but lacking the strength, he collapsed to the ground, eyes rolling back.