Chapter 552: . Make a move

Book 552. The Strike

Saya’s mind froze for a fleeting instant. Lin—

Eliminate Sara and all the monstrous beasts.

Thus, he would neither become a traitor nor meet death.

This answer wasn’t wrong; it even held a sliver of logic.

Wait—no!

In a thousandth of a second, Saya snapped back to awareness.

His brain flooded with countless “???” marks.

Eliminate Sara and all the monstrous beasts?

What utter nonsense!

This reply was like saying, *“I don’t want to die, so I’ll simply live forever—choose immortality.”*

Logically, it made sense.

The crux was—

Could you actually do it?

Saya nearly laughed aloud at Lu Sheng’s impromptu “cold joke,” but before he could react—

In the next breath, he felt…

An indescribable, incomprehensible torrent of overwhelming power erupting from Lu Sheng, mere inches away.

Saya swore—

He would never forget this sensation in his entire life.

That immense, searing, wild, terrifying aura made every hair on his body stand rigid, gooseflesh erupting across his skin, his spine trembling violently.

As if ten thousand full-throttle starships had screamed past his nose in unison.

As if ten thousand suns had detonated right before his eyes.

An unspeakable, suffocating terror.

Yet—it lasted only an instant.

Then it vanished.

Or rather, receded—

As though it had never existed at all, leaving Saya rooted in place, dazed, doubting whether he’d merely dreamed it.

Then he jolted back to reality.

Swiftly spun around, lifted his gaze.

His pupils contracted—rapidly, violently—in a thousandth of a second.

Contracted… contracted…

Until they shrank to pinprick slivers.

At last, Saya saw—

A scene that would haunt him for eternity.

It had been so long since he’d struck a blow.

Lu Sheng almost forgot what it felt like to fight again.

Within his martial body:

Three hundred and thirty thousand immortal cells breathed, stretched, swelled, burned, flickered—

Long-dormant battle-lust bloomed anew from each cell.

From three hundred and thirty thousand cells, that lust coalesced into a blazing sea of stars!

*Whoosh—!*

Lu Sheng took just one step—and stood before the nearest of the dozen Level-12 warriors attempting to surround and slaughter him and Saya.

His sudden appearance startled the man.

Though Lu Sheng’s speed and aura provoked momentary shock, it quickly faded.

“No matter how fast or fierce he is—he’s still just Level-11.

Level-11 is Level-11. Can he really overturn heaven itself?”

A cruel smirk curled the man’s lips. His hands formed claws; each fingertip seemed wreathed in spiraling vortices, radiating devastating tearing and slicing force.

This strike—could shred not one, but ten Level-11 warriors with ease.

“Die!”

Lu Sheng remained impassive, standing utterly still.

Upon closer inspection, one would notice: though facing the Level-12 warrior, his eyes were utterly empty—void of all substance.

Empty—

Of everything!

Only when the warrior’s twin claws came within less than a millimeter of his eyes—

Did Lu Sheng finally move.

Time stretched infinitely thin.

All around him froze—absolute stillness.

Within this frozen void, Lu Sheng raised his right hand, clenched it into a fist—

Then casually thrust it forward.

*BOOM!*

The suspended time shattered. Flow resumed.

Nothing seemed altered—except for one thing:

The Level-12 warrior who had stood before Lu Sheng—his upper torso, from the waist up, had vanished entirely.

As if evaporated without trace.

A translucent, ghostly silhouette drifted upward from the severed remains, its face still etched with deep bewilderment and blank confusion.

Lu Sheng took a deep breath.

The illusory figure immediately twisted and elongated, drawn into Lu Sheng's mouth and nose like a wisp of smoke.

"Uh—"

This sight caused the several defectors closely following behind to freeze in unison.

Lu Sheng's strike had been too swift, so fast that they had completely failed to see it.

In their eyes, what had just occurred was merely the sudden disappearance of the upper torso of that twelfth-level martial artist who had attempted to attack Lu Sheng.

They had absolutely no inkling of how he had perished.

Lu Sheng granted them no time for prolonged contemplation.

Three hundred and thirty thousand immortal cells roared and bellowed within his martial physique; once unleashed, the blood of a single individual was far from enough to appease them.

Lu Sheng took another step forward.

In the process of taking this step, his body.

From head to toe, every inch of skin, every strand of hair, erupted with a brilliant golden light akin to a blazing star.

Resplendent to the point of blinding.

He resembled a colossal, fiercely burning fireball of gold.

Just like that, completely unshielded, he crashed headlong into the encirclement of the several men.

"Die!"

The twelfth-level defector bearing the brunt of the assault had no time to react before his eyes were entirely filled by the brilliant gold.

Flipping his hands, two war blades instantly appeared in his grasp, crossing left and right as they slashed together toward that sphere of gold.

Yet before his twin blades could descend, a scorching, massive hand cast in solid gold suddenly thrust out from the golden light sphere, spreading wide and swiftly clamping down upon his forehead.

"...Bang!"

The massive head exploded with a resounding crash, and the remaining torso swayed unsteadily, not yet having time to collapse.

That golden hand had already clawed downward, violently ripping the martial soul out from within the corpse.

"Hiss, hiss—"

Beholding that soul with its twisted face full of terror being forcibly dragged into the golden light, the surrounding twelfth-level defectors gasped sharply one after another, horror and dread spreading across every face.

This time, they finally saw clearly.

They saw clearly how the first two men had died.

"How could this fellow possibly be eleventh-level?!"

"Where on earth did this monster come from?!"

The looks they cast at Lu Sheng were as though they had seen a ghost.

Yet they were twelfth-level powerhouses after all; following that brief shock, they made the optimal decision.

"Go! All together, let's slaughter him together!"

A twelfth-level defector bellowed through gritted teeth.

As he spoke, silver surged across his body, the shimmering luster of a foundational law galaxy, meaning he had already exerted his full strength.

The others exchanged glances and quickly followed suit, pouncing forward together.

In an instant, a total of five twelfth-level martial artists launched an attack on Lu Sheng simultaneously.

Every single one of them gleamed with the colors of a foundational law galaxy.

Looking down from above, this scene resembled the five silver fingers of a colossal hand suddenly contracting to grasp the golden sphere of light at the center of the palm.

Five silver-flashing figures collided violently against the golden light sphere.

With five twelfth-level powerhouses joining forces, that terrifying power managed to suppress it, and the golden light sphere was violently squeezed inward from the outside.

Watching the golden light sphere continually compress and shrink, the faces of the five twelfth-level martial artists all relaxed slightly.

However, in the very next moment...

"Boom!"

The golden light sphere, compressed to a certain absolute limit, suddenly detonated, and the brilliant golden light that erupted in a single flash swallowed the figures of all five men entirely.

The silver vanished.

This immense commotion drew the gaze of many on the battlefield toward the sound.

Then, they beheld...

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