92: Chapter 92 So-called gods are nothing more than mortals who have never been beaten.

Longya Academy Arena, Central Stage.

The air here was uncomfortably thick.

In a venue holding tens of thousands, not a single sound could be heard at this moment.

Everyone stared at the two figures on the stage, forgetting even to put the popcorn in their hands into their mouths.

This was the grand final.

On one side was Li Qingxuan, the possessor of an S-rank Void talent, known as the "strongest in the school."

On the other side was Lin Qi, a dark horse who had fought his way out of the "Scrapyard," with no talent panel whatsoever.

Li Qingxuan wore a spotless white trench coat, hands in his pockets, his face as calm as if he had just woken up.

The strangest thing was the air around him, which would occasionally show unnatural distortions and refractions, like the heat waves on an asphalt road in summer.

That was a sign of spatial instability.

Lin Qi stood ten meters opposite him, head down, checking the bracers on his hands.

The Bone-Piercing Nail, forged from deep-sea sunken silver, was hidden in the most convenient spot in his sleeve; the heavy sword was still on his back, undrawn.

"Old Mo asked me to persuade you to forfeit."

Li Qingxuan spoke, his voice not loud, but carrying an irritating air of superiority. "He said you're a talent and shouldn't be wasted here."

Lin Qi tightened the strap of his bracer and looked up. "And what do you say?"

"I think he's right."

Li Qingxuan pulled one hand out of his pocket, his slender fingers flicking gently in the air.

"No matter how exquisite a Mortal's martial arts are, they are merely painting on a two-dimensional plane."

"Whereas I stand at the peak of the third dimension, looking down at you. This isn't a battle; it's a dimensional strike."

These words sounded quite pretentious, but no one thought he was bragging.

The scene of him instantly defeating Li Shaobai yesterday was still playing on loop on the big screen.

Lin Qi was amused by what he heard.

He stretched his neck, and his cervical spine let out two crisp cracks.

"The peak of the third dimension? You must not have studied physics well."

Lin Qi grinned, revealing a row of white teeth.

"Back in my hometown, plenty of people wanted to be gods. In the end, they were all buried in the dirt. You want to try too?"

Li Qingxuan shook his head, a look of regret in his eyes.

"Stubborn and foolish."

As the words fell, his raised hand suddenly made a grasping motion toward the void.

There was no warning.

There was no energy trajectory.

The air within five meters of Lin Qi suddenly turned solid.

S-rank Talent Sequence — [Void Grip].

This was the direct manipulation of spatial density, instantly amplifying atmospheric pressure by hundreds of times.

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

The combat suit on Lin Qi's body emitted a tooth-aching squeezing sound, as if he had been thrown twenty thousand meters into the deep sea.

That terrifying pressure surged from all directions, threatening to crush every single one of his bones into powder.

Zhang Wei in the stands suddenly stood up, the lottery ticket in his hand soaked with sweat. "Brother Qi!"

Old Mo stared intently at the screen in the lounge, his fingerprints pressed into the thermos in his hand.

This was pure suppression of rules.

Without an extremely strong Physical Body, this single grip could crush a person into meat paste.

On the stage, Lin Qi's figure hunched slightly.

But only for a moment.

His skeleton, reshaped through "Hell Training," was now emitting explosive sounds like popping beans.

He had endured that bone-eroding, heart-piercing pain last night; this level of external pressure felt almost like a full-body massage to him.

"Is that all the strength you have?"

Lin Qi's voice squeezed through his teeth, laced with mockery. "Didn't you eat today?"

Boom!

The muscles all over his body suddenly expanded, his spine shaking like a great dragon as a tyrannical force erupted from within.

That was pure physical strength, forcibly prying open the locked space.

The surrounding solidified air shattered like glass, stirring up a ring of transparent shockwaves.

A ripple finally appeared on Li Qingxuan's calm face.

"Resisting pressure with the Physical Body?"

He was somewhat surprised. "It seems your bones are indeed harder than stone. But what about this?"

Li Qingxuan's fingers shifted again.

This time it was no longer a grip, but a casual swipe.

Zzzzt—

Three pitch-black thin lines appeared in the air.

That wasn't a light and shadow effect; those were spatial rifts.

Like a sheet of white paper being sliced open by a sharp utility knife, revealing the deep darkness behind it.

These three black lines didn't have a flight process; the moment they appeared, they were already in front of Lin Qi.

[Spatial Cleave].

Ignoring defense, ignoring armor.

As long as it was a body made of matter, contact meant being cut in two.

This was the most terrifying ultimate move of the Void system.

Lin Qi's pupils shrunk to the size of needle tips.

He smelled the scent of death on those three black lines. This was the first time he felt a fatal threat after coming to this world.

Dodge!

Body instinct was faster than brain reaction.

The alloy ground beneath Lin Qi's feet exploded as he forcibly twisted his entire body to the right like a spinning top.

This completely defied human mechanics; one could even hear the sound of muscle fibers snapping.

Ssh!

A black line grazed his left shoulder.

The tough Black-Gold Spider Silk Combat Suit was sliced open like tofu, followed by a burst of blood mist.

A large chunk of flesh vanished into thin air, revealing the pale scapula beneath.

Intense pain struck.

But Lin Qi didn't even frown.

On the contrary, that pain acted as the best stimulant, completely igniting the fierce light in his eyes.

Taking advantage of the gap when Li Qingxuan's old strength was spent and his new strength was yet to arise.

Lin Qi moved.

His blood-stained figure pulled an afterimage, the ten-meter distance shortening to zero beneath his feet.

Since he would be kited to death at range, then he would fight up close!

"Get down here!"

Lin Qi roared, his blood-stained right hand clenching into a fist, carrying his full kinetic energy and fury as it smashed directly toward Li Qingxuan's face.

This punch could even punch through tank armor.

However, Li Qingxuan did not dodge.

He just looked indifferently at the fist rapidly enlarging in his field of vision, pity in his eyes.

Hum.

A transparent barrier with water-like ripples appeared out of thin air between the two.

[Spatial Barrier].

This wasn't a physical shield, but a layer of folded space.

It seemed like only a thin layer, but in reality, it was separated by thousands of mountains and rivers.

Bang!

A dull impact sound rang out.

Lin Qi felt his fist strike into a clump of extremely thick glue.

All the power, all the kinetic energy, was swallowed up completely the moment it touched that barrier.

It was like a clay ox entering the sea.

That terrifying punch stopped three inches in front of the tip of Li Qingxuan's nose, unable to advance even a fraction more.

The counterforce surged back along his arm, making Lin Qi's palm go numb.

"Do you see?"

Li Qingxuan looked at Lin Qi, who was close at hand across that transparent barrier, a sneer curling at the corner of his mouth.

"This is the so-called 'so close yet worlds apart'."

"Even if I stand right in front of you, you can't touch a single hair of mine."

"This is the gap between Mortals and gods."

The entire audience sighed.

Despair.

True despair.

Can't land a hit, can't defend against it, how do you even play?

Li Shaobai in the stands, clutching his still-bandaged chest, let out a cold laugh. "I told you, this is a dimensional strike; brute force is useless."

On the stage.

Lin Qi maintained his punching posture, the wound on his left shoulder still dripping blood, staining half his body red.

Listening to Li Qingxuan's mockery, he suddenly laughed.

His laugh was a bit grim.

"God?"

Lin Qi slowly withdrew his fist and tapped the roof of his mouth with his tongue. "If hiding in a turtle shell makes you a god, then tortoises would have ruled the world long ago."

He closed his eyes.

Since the naked eye would be deceived by spatial refraction.

Since strength would be swallowed by spatial distance.

Then he wouldn't use his eyes to see, nor brute force to strike.

The bottle of poison last night had brought him more than just hard bones; there was also that slowly rotating vortex in his Dantian.

And the mysterious perception of a Martial Saint from his past life—[Martial Intent].

As long as it was a barrier constructed of energy, there were bound to be flow nodes.

As long as there were nodes, there were flaws.

"You say Mortals can't touch gods?"

Lin Qi opened his eyes again, those pupils devoid of any emotion, containing only a heart-palpitating calmness.

"Then today, I'll perform a... God-Slaying for you."

He raised his right hand, index and middle fingers pressed together.

A trace of imperceptible airflow quietly wound around his fingertips.