From the end of the world

Chapter 767 Mountain Yin-Yang VS Old Fist God

"Yes," I admitted. "Master Diviner, Shan Liangyi should have fought with the Old Fist God, right? I missed their fight and don't know the specifics. You should have observed them secretly. What happened back then?"

The fortune teller countered, "Can't you see the process of their battle?"

"I'm trying too, but I need you to provide some clues."

While speaking, I focused some of my attention on the past, trying to see the history of that time more clearly.

But Shan Liangyi and the Old Fist God, like me, are powerful figures of the Third Gate with the power to distort the world. When they fought with all their might, their power pressed down on the past timeline, even distorting history. I felt as if I were observing things through mosaic glass, unable to see or hear anything clearly.

If we can combine the testimonies provided by eyewitnesses, we can piece together the jumbled mess and perhaps even obtain some information that we couldn't get from observation alone.

Perhaps we can also glean information related to the old boxing god's special abilities from it.

"Unfortunately, I wouldn't dare say I fully understand the details of the battle between Shan Liangyi and the Old Fist God. Just as the instant of a Great Completion stage is incomparable to the instant of a Great Impermanence stage, I cannot guarantee that what I saw was the entirety of the battle. If you don't mind this, I can tell you about it," said the Divination Master.

"Please." I nodded.

"Shan Liangyi challenged the Old Fist God three days after returning to the real world. By then, he should have fully digested all his gains," the Divination Master began to explain. "According to my observation, although he has not yet become a true manifester of the Dao, he has already mastered your innate manifest talent from the past. At the same time, compared to the time when he was defeated by the Old Fist God, his power has now increased considerably."

Innate manifestation...

Now that they have completely digested the Vermilion Bird Seed they received from me, this is only to be expected.

The advantages of innate spiritual talent lie mainly in two aspects: one is the ability to fully unleash the power of the soul, and the other is the ability to manifest an immortal body.

The power of the soul can be divided into two parts: the part that makes up the soul's structure, and the part that can be consumed as energy. The former is the power that cannot be used to maintain one's own existence. Unless it is a forbidden spell that burns the soul's structure, leaving serious aftereffects or even costing one's life after the duration ends, no one can use this part of the power.

Even if it could be used, it would be far from "100% liberation." The creator of the monsters in the past also emphasized that the liberated power must be used by a subject; otherwise, the person involved would simply vanish into thin air as magic without any cohesion. Innate manifestation, on the other hand, is the power to use "forbidden magic that surpasses all soul-burning techniques" without any cost.

However, this part will not have a significant effect on improving the combat power of the Mountain and Two Elements.

Because from the Great Impermanence stage onwards, the amount of power is no longer important. Each Great Impermanence can unleash world-destroying power; no one lacks the sheer scale of destruction. As for endurance, although I often say I have the advantage of unlimited mana, in actual combat, I have never seen any Great Impermanence-level enemy show any signs of exhaustion.

To put it extremely, in a conflict between two Great Impermanents, even if one of them possessed such immense power that a single blow could obliterate the Earth, the true target of destruction wouldn't be the Earth itself, but rather the other Great Impermanent, the enemy. If that attack were to completely engulf the Earth, the consequence might be the Earth's demise, while the enemy Great Impermanent would remain alive and well.

The enemy is merely a tiny, humanoid entity. The key is not how much power can be destroyed, but how to concentrate so much force on this single enemy. What truly determines the outcome of the conflict is the density of power.

In a sense, the standards for determining the strength of a celestial body may be similar to those for the products of a star's final evolution. From stars to white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes, the more terrifying the celestial body, the smaller it tends to become. Conversely, excessively massive celestial bodies like red giants have average temperatures lower than ordinary stars.

As the divination master recounted the events, countless historical details pieced together in my mind, allowing me to witness the past battles between the Mountain Yin-Yang and the Old Fist God.

Although still quite blurry, a rough outline could be discerned. The two figures had been flashing and moving in different locations on Earth. When they appeared in the capital, the Old Fist God unleashed a punch, his magical power surging in a spiral, transforming into a strike that pierced the Earth. Shan Liangyi, transforming into five different elemental attributes, instantly dispersed, narrowly avoiding the attack. This was a surprise move, effective only once against enemies of equal strength. He then reassembled himself, retreating.

This retreat took them to the skies above Europe. Shan Liangyi then summoned a massive amount of Yin-Yang, Black-and-White magic, unleashing it towards the pursuing Old Fist God, only to have it easily evaded. The Yin-Yang, Black-and-White magic crashed to the ground, shattering a third of the European continent. The Old Fist God's fighting style appeared to rely primarily on hand-to-hand combat, unleashing destructive shockwaves with immense penetrating power. Straightforward and unpretentious, yet terrifyingly powerful, each strike carrying the potential to kill instantly. Even Shan Liangyi in his current state, if he were to take a direct hit, would likely be killed on the spot.

Yama Ryougi's current power is far greater than when he fought me in the afterlife, yet it's clear he struggled to maintain his rhythm when facing the Old Fist God. This conclusion can be drawn from his power manipulation; his counterattacks contained elements of haste. In his normal state, he wouldn't have unleashed such a destructive attack.

The powerhouses of the third gate are naturally stronger than the Great Impermanence of the second gate, but their destructive area should be smaller. The larger the diameter of the crater created by the same strike, the lower the density and the weaker the attacker. The counterattack of Shan Liangyi and the strike the Old Fist God delivered in the capital had roughly the same total magical power, yet the latter was able to pierce a planet, while the former failed to do the same. It wasn't that they couldn't, but rather that they were forced into a desperate situation.

It is obvious that Shan Liangyi may have initially thought that as long as he became strong enough, he could surpass the old Fist God, but in reality, the old Fist God's strength exceeded his prediction.

Unlike him, who possesses an immortal body, the Old Fist God should only have one life, but he cannot exchange his life for the Old Fist God's.

After opening the third door, the proportion of damage dealt to the True Spirit level will increase significantly. In the past, when I suffered damage from this, I could say that I had only suffered "indirect damage." Now, if I don't have the damage avoidance ability of manifesting spirits into all things, and am hit squarely by an enemy of the same level, it's best to consider it as "almost a direct attack on the True Spirit." The same applies to Shan Liangyi, except that his innate manifestation of spirits does not have the ability to "integrate."

Although the two caused a lot of damage to the Earth's surface, the battlefield was mostly not on Earth, but in outer space. After all, they were fighting at speeds far exceeding the third cosmic velocity, and even a slight movement could send them traversing distances of more than a continent. It would be unreasonable to expect them to fight within the atmosphere indefinitely.

As the battle intensified, observing this period of history became increasingly difficult. The figures of the two people traversing back and forth in outer space became increasingly blurred in my observation.

I could sense that the old Fist God hadn't yet unleashed his full power. Rather than focusing on securing victory, he seemed more interested in savoring the formidable opponent, Shan Liangyi. However, this leisurely state was about to end. Shan Liangyi likely possessed the ability to threaten the old Fist God's life, and he appeared to be increasingly hot-blooded, almost losing control of his temper.

Shan Liangyi could naturally see that the old Fist God's condition was fluctuating. He finally found an opportunity to escape the old Fist God's pursuit and then stood suspended in the boundless universe, with the dazzling sun behind him.

"Alright, old fist god, enough of this nonsense. Use your full power now." He said with a mixture of hatred and murderous intent. "Today, it's either you or me who dies. Only one of us can leave here. I'm going to unleash my full power in this attack. Show me whatever other strengths or special abilities you have. Don't try to make excuses about being careless when you're about to die!"

As he spoke, a large amount of yin-yang and black-and-white magic power rapidly gathered and compressed in his palm, turning into a terrifying vortex of magic power that made my heart tremble just looking at it.

"Haha... Good, good! Shan Liangyi, you've become so strong, I'm so happy..." The old fist god laughed heartily. "But it's a pity that you can't defeat me yet... However, fine, I'll grant your wish and let you see my long-hidden superpower."

"I'll tear down your pretentious arrogant facade with my own hands... Die!"

Shan Liangyi suddenly let out a loud shout and charged straight at the old fist god.

To do something like this against an enemy far more skilled in close combat would generally be considered madness, but this might be Shan Liangyi's only remaining chance of victory. The old Fist God's density is higher than his, and clearly still has room for improvement. Furthermore, after a series of exchanges, he may have also realized that tactical and technical changes cannot help him gain a sufficient advantage in a deathmatch.

However, in the conflict of power density, there is one last very simple and effective strategy that can make up for the difference in density to a certain extent: to let the source of your attack power unleash all its power at close range.

This is a method of seeking life in the face of death.

Facing the Mountain Two Elements launching a desperate charge, the Old Fist God laughed excitedly and used his special ability.

An invisible force wave spread rapidly from him, and even Shan Liangyi, who was skilled in spacetime power, was unable to dodge it and was hit on the spot.

He seemed frozen in place, unable to move against the dark backdrop of the universe.

(End of this chapter)