At that moment, Leng Lubai arrived and observed what had happened with profound shock. He had only come to congratulate Li Yi, but he did not expect him to have become so strong. That energy felt similar to that of the spear; he knew immediately that Li Yi had absorbed and refined it.
Horror filled his eyes. No one would dare refine that special energy, as the body would be totally destroyed. Only beings from the Sage Realm onward, capable of using laws to suppress it, could absorb it. But today, before his eyes, someone with a Celestial Seed had achieved it.
Li Yi noticed his arrival, turned around, and observed him.
"What do you think of this type of power?" Li Yi asked.
"Very powerful, very powerful. If you master various combat techniques, practically no one from realms near yours will be your match," Leng Lubai replied.
A thought crossed his mind: when Li Yi was at the peak of the Base Forging Realm, his strength was equivalent to the low stage of the Master Realm. Now that he had advanced and acquired energy attributes, he should be at least at the peak of the middle stage of the Master Realm, or even a superior one, just like himself.
"Let's do something, Fellow Li Yi. I will position myself at a distance, and you will launch a sword attack at me with all your strength. First, do it without using any energy attributes."
Hearing this, Li Yi thought for a moment and nodded.
Leng Lubai placed himself about a hundred meters away. Li Yi drew his sword, raised it, and transferred a large amount of spiritual energy into it. At one point, the weapon began to emit a silver light similar to the moon. Li Yi was surprised, as he knew he had not invoked the silver light energy.
In that instant, he heard Leng Lubai's voice:
"Don't worry, this is the quality of the Radiant Moon mineral; it appears when it is fully imbued with spiritual energy."
Li Yi understood and fixed his gaze on his companion.
"Here I come."
He used his body's energy to power the movement and launched a slash. A massive wave of sword energy shot out, arriving in an instant before Leng Lubai. Surprised, the Director activated his special energy to coat his arms and body, generating a circular barrier that enveloped him like a sphere.
Upon impact, the sword light struck the barrier with a metallic sound that expanded in waves through the air. After a few seconds of resistance, the attack exploded, making Leng Lubai retreat several steps. He was stunned; he did not expect the pure energy of the sword to have so much power.
When the dust settled, it was seen that the barrier had cracks spreading like spiderwebs. With a pale face, Leng Lubai could not stop thinking about what would happen when Li Yi attacked with that other power he had seen him use.
"Are you alright?" Li Yi asked.
Leng Lubai composed himself quickly.
"All good, it was a quite powerful attack," he said without any shame.
"In the face of the strong, one can only have respect and admiration," he thought. Furthermore, the stronger Li Yi was, the better for him.
"Now try it with the energy you obtained from the spear," he proposed.
Li Yi nodded, invoked the chaotic annihilation energy, and imbued it into his sword.
Leng Lubai was not careless. He did not dare let that type of energy touch his body, so he moved two hundred meters further away and drew his own sword. He covered it with golden energy and formed a shield by combining both energies.
"I'm ready, here it goes!" Li Yi exclaimed, bringing the sword down.
He sent a trace of energy that seemed to erase and consume the air in its path, distorting light as it traveled. Leng Lubai launched a swift slash and then threw his sword into the air. He performed a hand seal, imbuing his spiritual energy and mental power; then, five sword shadows appeared alongside the original, forming a barrier in front of him.
At that moment, the two sword glows clashed in the air, but Leng Lubai's attack lasted less than a second before being annihilated by Li Yi's energy.
The impact quickly reached the sword barrier and crashed resoundingly. The force of the blow created massive cracks in the ground, opening canyons several meters wide and with a depth difficult to measure; the earth collapsed, and tremors spread into the distance. Leng Lubai watched the scene with horror, but he did not think of dodging; he wanted to try to resist it.
Gradually, the attack began to corrode the barrier until, in a few seconds, it collapsed completely. However, the energy of the cut was consumed and dispersed significantly. As fast as he could, Leng Lubai changed the shape of his defense, contracting it until only a sphere remained in front of him, which he held with both arms, using all his energy.
The instant the energy touched the sphere, an explosion occurred. Leng Lubai felt his arms break, and his body was sent flying, bouncing until he crashed into the foot of a mountain in the distance.
Li Yi's eyes went wide; he did not expect it to end like this. He flew quickly to where Leng Lubai was, embedded in the mountain.
"Are you alright?" he asked with a clear look of concern.
He heard groans of pain coming from the hole. Seconds later, Leng Lubai was seen emerging, helping himself with his mental power since many of his bones were shattered by the impact. He looked at Li Yi with terror and said:
"Your power now is comparable to that of a cultivator in the King Realm."
He leaned against a tree and, from a storage bag, pulled out a vial of pills and swallowed two directly. A light seemed to bloom in his body, and his wounds began to heal visibly.
"Your strength has increased terribly. Although you haven't learned martial techniques, if you did, even a low-level King Realm cultivator would have to flee in direct combat."
"I still need some time to master the necessary martial arts," Li Yi replied. "It seems you're feeling better; let's go quickly to the First School so they can heal your wounds completely."
Then, Leng Lubai stood up, and both flew away.
Shortly after their departure, two people appeared in the sky: they were the leaders of the two great families.
"That energy we felt a moment ago seems to be from that cultivator," one said.
"Yes. Now that he has entered the Martial Realm, his combat power is that of a King. That guy is terrifying; luckily we didn't dare make a move before, otherwise, grass would already be growing over our graves," the other replied.
"Most likely, that cultivator will go to that place. Only cultivators below the Masters Realm can enter there; if he enters, he will be able to obtain a great amount of resources."
"How about we look for a connection with him to go in his group? That way we won't be suppressed by cultivators from other cities and towns."
"You're right. That place is extremely dangerous; if you enter, you're very lucky if they only steal your resources and don't kill you. But if we manage to enter alongside him, we can walk with total peace of mind in there."
"Better we talk about this later. We have to look for something that catches his attention enough for him to accept collaborating."
Meanwhile, Li Yi and Leng Lubai arrived at the First Martial Arts School.
"I will go to my palace to recover; it will only take a few days to heal all my wounds. Go and practice combat techniques; it's the only thing you're missing to develop your potential," Leng Lubai said.
"Alright, I hope you recover soon," Li Yi replied, flying toward his own palace.