The domain around him vibrated violently like layers of rock barriers forming an almost impenetrable defense with the tower shield.
Each time the Arc Light blades cut and pierced, they only left dense, deep marks and dazzling sparks on the shield's surface and domain, emitting ear-splitting explosions, yet they could never completely tear open this indestructible defense.
"Hahaha! It's useless! No matter how dense your attacks are, you'll never break my defense!
The one-horned warrior's forehead veins bulged like earthworms sweat mixed with blood flowed from his cracked tiger's mouth staining the shield handle and his single eye gleamed with a beast-like madness and a hint of twisted triumph.
"Among Stellar Level, I, Horned Brute, have the strongest defense!"
"Is that so?"
"Clang—!"
A clear melodious sword cry like a phoenix's song from the Nine Heavens or the striking of ice jade suddenly tore through all the noise without warning! It wasn't high-pitched but it carried a soul-piercing penetration that instantly echoed throughout the entire stadium!
Behind Qing Yu, the gleaming white longsword slung across his back, which had always been as silent as an ornament—the Tribulation Divine Weapon—suddenly came alive!
"Trib... Tribulation Divine Weapon!" The one-horned warrior's iron-tower-like body trembled his eyes filled with shock!
"You can use the Tribulation Divine Weapon?"
"I admit your defense is very strong! Without the Tribulation Divine Weapon, I indeed couldn't break your defense." Qing Yu nodded slightly, acknowledging Horned Brute's defense.
Horned Brute felt a surge of tension. The reputation of the Nine Great Divine Weapons was too great, especially the most mysterious and powerful Tribulation Divine Weapon. However, the boiling fighting spirit in his heart left no room for fear.
"Silver Fox! It's truly a pleasure to meet a strong opponent like you in the preliminary rounds! Let me see... just how powerful the legendary Tribulation Divine Weapon truly is!"
"You won't be disappointed!"
The countless transparent small circular blades forming the sword body instantly disintegrated and reassembled! Nine small circular blades detached from the main body, and in one-hundredth of a second, they condensed in front of Qing Yu into a crystalline thread no thicker than a strand of hair, yet its edges shimmered, distorting and blurring the surrounding space's light!
The Chaotic Dance Threads moved.
"Hmph!!" Horned Brute roared through gritted teeth, his forehead veins bulging, as he gripped his heavy primal force shield, trying to block the attack.
There was no earth-shattering momentum, no dazzling light. It simply 'brushed' forward with extreme gentleness and elegance, like Death's most casual sigh.
Chhh—
A soft sound, as subtle as an ice needle falling to the ground.
"Uh...! ?"
That utterly compressed, supposedly invincible Stellar Level defense of the nine-layered peak earth-yellow domain light, that incredibly thick, five-tier tower shield that had withstood hundreds of Arc Light blades' frantic bombardment, along with the one-horned warrior's massive body...
Silently split into two halves, the cut as smooth as a mirror, even blood and energy instantly 'annihilated.'
Dead silence.
Absolute dead silence enveloped the stadium.
Only that crystalline thread suspended in the air, radiating suffocating terror, proved that everything that had just happened was not an illusion.
Qing Yu was expressionless. He stretched out a finger, and the deadly thread formed by the nine small circular blades, like the most obedient pet, wrapped around his fingertip. With a gentle twist, it silently disintegrated and flew back behind him.
His gaze, cold, was cast towards the stadium's massive exit passage.
The battle between Qing Yu and Horned Brute, such a huge commotion, naturally attracted many talented experts from City 8. At this moment, they stood frozen like ice-bound statues in the shadows.
The color drained from their faces, their pupils contracted to pinpricks from witnessing a scene beyond comprehension, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably.
"Silver Fox! It's that 'Silver Fox'! He... he can actually use the Tribulation Divine Weapon!"
"Horned Brute lost! Horned Brute was the strongest in our City 8!"
"Run... run!"
"One move... a nine-layered peak domain... and it was the earth domain, specialized in defense... it... it was just gone..."
"Silver Fox is targeting us, run—!"
Those figures burst out with unprecedented speed, frantically rushing outwards. No one wanted to become someone else's points.
Qing Yu did not chase them. He had almost swept through City 8, and the remaining people didn't have many points.
"Horned Brute's points are quite a lot, actually, directly giving me over sixteen million points!"
Qing Yu's gaze swept over the scoreboard.
Participant: Qing Yu (Aurora Empire)
Points: 34017508
Ranking: 43
Time Remaining: 5 days 19 hours 39 minutes
"Horned Brute... a nine-layered peak domain, earth-element defense specialist indeed quite troublesome," Qing Yu murmured to himself, the battle scene replaying in his mind.
"But... is this the strongest level in City 8? And even after sweeping through other cities and returning?"
A wave of doubt surged in his heart. Qing Yu recalled Luo Feng's generation of the Peak Genius Battle those geniuses who casually stepped into the threshold of laws had perfected domains and possessed world-shaking secret techniques... In comparison, while Horned Brute was strong, he seemed... not quite enough?
"Is it my illusion? Or is it that..." Qing Yu looked out at the vast and silent wilderness beyond the city.
"The overall level of this Genius Battle... is simply too low?"
Doubt aside, his goal was crystal clear.
"Since you are all so weak then the first place in this 12th World Sector... I will claim it." Qing Yu's eyes once again became calm and cold like arctic ice.
The Flowing Light Disc beneath his feet glowed faintly, lifting him slowly into the air.
"There are still over 5 days left, enough time."
His figure transformed into a pale silver stream of light, speeding directly towards the next target city at a speed far exceeding that of an ordinary Stellar Level Spiritual Master.
In the following days, several cities spreading out from City 8 welcomed a terrifying figure—"Silver Fox."
His silver hair and the iconic gleaming white longsword on his back became a declaration of death. Geniuses with five or six-layered domains often didn't even have time to react before becoming Qing Yu's points.
Only a very few with special life-saving techniques could barely force him to use the Tribulation Divine Weapon, but the outcome remained unchanged.
On the last day of the preliminary rounds, in City 3, on a massive fortress made of solidified obsidian, Qing Yu's figure, stepping on the Flowing Light Disc, hovered in the air.
"Silver Fox! I've been waiting for you for a long time!" A burly figure, wrapped in violent purple lightning that crackled, held a menacing warhammer wreathed in lightning, pointing it at Qing Yu, his voice like thunder.
Qing Yu's eyes were calm and unperturbed as he looked at the imposing figure below.
"Moka!" Qing Yu's current points had reached 198 million, ranking—2nd!
He was only five million points behind Moka who was at the top of the leaderboard. As long as he killed Moka, first place in this world sector would be his.