318: My power is above you

"He's using this power right from the start?" Zhi Ge's expression changed drastically. As a God Son of his caliber, he naturally knew the power of Rule Fragments, but what he hadn't expected was that Chen Yao would use such a trump card, meant to be kept hidden, right away. He wasn't playing by the rules at all!

As soon as the Rule Fragments appeared, the eyes of the God Sons below lit up. This power was the God Sons' greatest trump card, and the strength between God Sons was also determined by the number of Rule Fragments they possessed. It wasn't the only factor, but it had a significant impact.

Their gazes swept over, and they saw five Rule Fragments shimmering. The hearts of the God Sons tightened. They clearly sensed that Chen Yao, though only a Divine Person Second Order, had already condensed five Rule Fragments. Many of them, already at high-level Divine Person stages, only had three or four. No wonder he was able to slay a True God Dharma Idol.

Don't let the difference of just one or two seem small; upon closer inspection, the gap between them was not insignificant.

Suddenly, the expressions of many Earth-rank Divine Children changed completely. They no longer expected Zhi Ge to suppress Chen Yao. Mere suppression was not enough. They now only hoped that Zhi Ge could slay Chen Yao. If that happened, the pressure in the Spirit Realm would be much less, and there wouldn't be someone who would definitely rank above them.

"With this strength, he should die violently!"

"Die violently, quickly!"

The God Sons shouted in their hearts.

"Zhi Ge, give it your all!"

Burning Thunder remained silent, his gaze fixed on the five Rule Fragments. His heart was filled with mixed emotions. He had expended an unknown amount of effort to produce his fifth one. Now, a newly promoted God Son, with no faction support, at only Divine Person Second Order, had produced the same number of five Rule Fragments as him. Burning Thunder truly felt the terror of Chen Yao's talent gap. He couldn't help but gasp, realizing his initial premonition was correct. This was a formidable opponent, and his appearance might break the conventional status quo.

Honestly, Burning Thunder naturally wanted Chen Yao to die. With the Spirit Realm imminent, and for the sake of rankings, there wasn't a single Earth-rank Divine Child who didn't want Chen Yao to die. He knew it was indeed a bit shameful, and this thought made his face flush slightly, but for the sake of ranking, he now only hoped that Chen Yao could be slain by Zhi Ge.

"Zhi Ge, it's time to prove yourself as an old-brand God Son!"

When Chen Yao revealed his five Rule Fragments, only Long Xiu and Star Language, the true Heaven-Ranked Divine Children, could remain calm. They remained silent, their expressions serene. No one present knew their exact strength, only they themselves did. However, stealing a glance, seeing their composed expressions, it was likely their strength surpassed that of five fragments.

Divine Power radiated forth, and Zhi Ge no longer dared to be careless. Chen Yao had skipped the probing stage and gone all out from the start. Helpless, he had to change his strategy and also reveal his Rule Fragments. A Divine Wheel appeared behind him, and upon it, five Rule Fragments were similarly suspended.

Five against five, everyone saw clearly. However, Zhi Ge had been in seclusion for many years and was now at Divine Person Perfection, while Chen Yao was only at Divine Person Second Order. The stronger and weaker could be seen at a glance.

"Chen Yao has the strength, so slaying the True God Dharma Idol should be true, but today, he will lose," a Cultivator judged.

"Indeed!"

"The visible hard power gap. Zhi Ge is also a Tianfeng Academy Disciple, while Chen Yao is a lone wolf. How can he compare?"

"However, losing to Zhi Ge is enough to be proud of. It's not that Chen Yao is weak, but that God Son Zhi Ge's accumulation over the years has made him much stronger."

"After this battle, God Son Zhi Ge will likely truly enter the ranks of Heaven-Ranked Divine Children."

"With your strength, how dare you make such a judgment?"

"Look at God Son Long Xiu. He's also from the Academy. God Son Long Xiu isn't flustered at all, clearly he has confidence in Zhi Ge."

"..."

A divine light also shone from Zhi Ge, colliding with the divine blade light that Chen Yao had unleashed. The two divine lights mutually eroded each other, yet continued to contend, neither giving way.

On the surface, Zhi Ge's raw power was indeed stronger, but upon this contact, the moment their powers collided, Chen Yao immediately sensed a weakness in Zhi Ge's power. He had used Rule Shard Power many times and was very familiar with it, and at this moment, he clearly perceived that Zhi Ge's shard power was more than a notch weaker, showing little difference from the power of four fragments.

Instantly, Chen Yao looked behind Zhi Ge, at the rotating Divine Wheel, where five fragments shimmered. They were real Rule Fragments, not fake, but the power they exerted was only equivalent to the strength of four.

In the next instant, Chen Yao understood. It wasn't that Zhi Ge's Rule Fragments were fake, but that his own Rule Fragment power was a notch stronger. His four fragments were equivalent to someone else's five, and his five fragments were equivalent to someone else's six. This extra fragment's gap could not be compensated by Divine Power, as Zhi Ge was not yet a True God.

So, in reality, Zhi Ge's raw power was weaker than Chen Yao's.

And at this moment, under the divine light clash, this result indeed manifested: Zhi Ge's divine light was swallowed by the blade light.

It was a result no one had anticipated. In just an instant of contact, Zhi Ge was utterly defeated, his divine light scattering. Under the blade light's erosion, he fled in disarray like a dog with its tail between its legs, his power retreating entirely back into his Rule Fragments.

"What's going on?" Zhi Ge immediately panicked, his face shifting between shades of green and white, constantly changing. Staring at the incoming blade light, he froze, dumbfounded. It was five against five, Divine Person Perfection against Divine Person Second Order, so why was this the result? Why was it a one-sided defeat?

In fact, Zhi Ge knew the reason. The moment of contact and collision, he knew, just like Chen Yao, but his feeling was different from Chen Yao's. What he felt was the powerful force of the blade light, the formidable strength of Chen Yao's Rule Fragment power, which far exceeded his own by a notch. He simply couldn't accept this fact.

This was too unbelievable. Everyone condensed Rule Fragments the same way, and it was always a competition of the number of Rule Fragments. No one had ever heard of anyone's Rule Fragments being stronger?

But now, Chen Yao had shattered his understanding, overturning this ingrained belief. Rule Fragments not only had differences in quantity but also in quality.

Compared to Chen Yao's power, Zhi Ge felt that all the God Sons, including himself, were truly somewhat laughable.

He couldn't think too much; the blade light was coming. As the Rule Fragments retreated, Zhi Ge, in his panic, gathered all his strength to withstand this blow head-on.

The blade light swept past, leaving behind only Zhi Ge's battered body, covered in wounds, his clothes shredded. From a distance, he looked like a bloodied figure.

The battle happened too quickly; everyone was stunned.

"What happened?"

"Why did this happen?"

The general Cultivators were fine; they just felt three question marks in their minds.

But the various God Sons were different. Countless question marks appeared in their minds at this moment. They were all God Sons who had mastered the power of Rule Fragments, understanding the strength of this power system, and thus concluded that Zhi Ge would surely win. But now, the result was the opposite.

"So why? Five fragments at Divine Person Perfection didn't defeat five fragments at Divine Person Second Order?"

"This is impossible, isn't it?"

Without personally confronting it, they couldn't empathize with Zhi Ge or feel Chen Yao's power. Staring blankly at the bloodied Zhi Ge in the air, they couldn't help but gasp repeatedly. This newly promoted God Son, Chen Yao, had accomplished the impossible? Wasn't he a bit too terrifying?