Chapter 39: Slaying Demons to Prove My Path!

Metal: Rise of Slaughter (Blue): Your mental burst bonus +30%
Wood: Master of Vitality (Blue): Your mental burst bonus +30%
Water: Beneficence of All Things (Blue): Your mental burst bonus +30%
Fire: Burning in All Directions (Blue): Your mental burst bonus +30%
Earth: Virtue of Heaven and Earth (Purple/Destiny): Your mental burst bonus +50%. Destiny effect: Earth nourishes all things, Heaven and Earth possess virtue, your mental burst bonus +70%.

At this moment, under the empowerment of the Five Fortunes, Li Qi’s mental burst bonus reached a terrifying level of 240%. This was the power of concentrated focus, possessing an unprecedented aesthetic of strength derived from simple, raw numbers.

The Demonic Tribulation is inherently linked to the strength of one’s intent; how could a weak mind possibly harness invincible power? In truth, Li Qi had another option: to enhance his mental stability, using profound composure to remain impervious to all evil and see through the tribulation. But that was not his style. Compared to defense, he preferred offense—using absolute rigidity, ferocity, and dominance to shatter everything in his path.

"Is this my limit?" Li Qi whispered to himself.

With 240% empowerment surging through him, the burst of tyrannical mental force made Li Qi feel as though he could grab the sky by its handle and lift the earth by its ring—a feeling of boundless, restless power. Under such terrifying amplification, a faint, blood-red aura of hegemony even manifested around his body within this dreamlike world. This was the spiritual temperament possessed only by an absolute conqueror. If one’s cultivation were high enough, such a figure’s mere presence could distort the spirit of others in reality, allowing them to witness such visions. Naturally, a 240% bonus increased not just the quantity, but also the quality.

"No! I can be even stronger!"

The blood-red aura around Li Qi surged toward the sky at that moment, colliding with the bolt of blood-red lightning striking down at him. In an instant, heaven and earth shook, a deafening roar erupted in the sky, as if the world were being created anew.

In that same instant, all human emotions vanished from Li Qi’s eyes. What remained was only ruthless divinity, Dao-nature, and a clear, reflective light, like a mirror mirroring all of existence. On his status panel, his "Enlightenment" stat, which had reached 121, plummeted to zero. At this moment, Li Qi had effectively "merged with the Dao," approaching a state where the Heavenly Dao acted on his behalf.

Of course, this "Heavenly Dao" was not the will of the world, but a special perspective—the state Li Qi would theoretically possess if he reached the realm of the Dao. In this state, he was clearer, more rational, and wiser than ever before. His past and present lives flowed through his mind without leaving a trace, yet he extracted everything of value from them, smelting it all into his fundamental martial art: the Eighteen Tiger-Slaying Blades.

Then, Li Qi unleashed his blade technique. With every step, he struck; with every strike, he left deep, blood-red blade marks upon this strange world that refused to fade, as if he had truly slashed open the void itself. This was logical, as this place was, in a sense, an evolution based on his own mental world.

One step! Two steps! Three steps! One strike! Two strikes! Three strikes! In this state, Li Qi walked 1,226 steps and unleashed 1,226 strikes. A closer look would reveal that each of those 1,226 strikes was subtly unique. After 1,226 steps, Li Qi reached the edge of the world. Such a place could not truly be infinite; if he could not see through it, he would be trapped in endless circles, but he had used absolute dominance to hack his way out.

After swinging his blade so many times, his blood-red aura had not depleted; instead, it had grown ten times more intense. Yet, as time passed, the divinity and Dao-nature in his eyes began to recede, signaling that this transcendent state could no longer be sustained.

"A thousand blades into one, slay the demon to prove my path!"
"This is Blade One!"

Li Qi murmured. The divinity and Dao-nature in his eyes vanished completely, replaced by human essence—humanity, murderous intent, and demonic nature. This single strike, which fused everything together, was not the technique of a god or the Heavenly Dao; it was a blade technique belonging to a human—to Li Qi. Only through the convergence of time, place, human effort, and his own "cheats" could such a demonic strike be born.

In this strange world, as Li Qi swung his blade, phantom images of blood-red blades merged into one with his strike. At the same time, this bizarre dimension began to crack with a faint, rhythmic sound of shattering. Then, a colorless blade-light illuminated the entire world and tore it asunder.

The overwhelming blade intent swallowed everything. A shadow of a giant black beast appeared, only to be effortlessly cleaved in two. The Demonic Tribulation was originally meant to wear Li Qi down through the passage of time; if he managed to see through it, he would have had to face this beast—to defeat, accept, or merge with it to break the tribulation. The beast was the manifestation of his own dark side combined with the strange information of the void.

But Li Qi had broken the game with absolute violence, completely eradicating it. The benefits of doing so were, without question, the greatest possible. One can only say that Li Qi's premonition of fate was truly powerful; had he not seized a sliver of destiny, he could never have achieved this. Breaking a Demonic Tribulation with a single strike like this could be called earth-shattering and unprecedented.

...

Elsewhere, in the real world, only a few minutes had passed. Li Qi remained motionless, the crowd had retreated, and no one dared to disturb him. According to convention, those entering the "In-Realm" usually took at least an hour or two to break through, and sometimes even three days and three nights.

However, at that very moment, everyone present felt a sudden, bone-chilling terror, as if the world itself were about to be destroyed. They all clearly "saw" a brilliant blade-light, impossible to describe in words, strike across the void, splitting heaven and earth. Everyone felt that this was a sight they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

But then, they realized there was no blade-light, the sky was not broken, and everything was just like a hallucination. Only Li Qi stood there, casually tossing his blade onto the rack, where it landed steadily. He walked away without looking back, leaving everyone with a silhouette that felt nearly eternal—a memory that could never be forgotten.

Meanwhile, Old Master Li stood there in a daze, muttering about the blade breaking the tribulation and the Li family producing a dragon, leading others to wonder if the old man had finally lost his mind.