50: Your efforts are meaningless

Above the ruins of Long Qingtian's mansion, the atmosphere solidified to an icy point.

Lin Tian's phrase, "You were the one who started it, weren't you?" was like a final judgment from the Nine Heavens Hell, completely stripping Lei Hao of all his vitality and igniting the volcano of endless fury that had long accumulated in Long Qingtian's heart!

A follower, slaughtered in front of him, in the most humiliating and cruel way!

This was no longer a simple provocation; it was a direct and undeniable challenge to him, the acknowledged "strongest" of the Long family's younger generation—a supreme challenge concerning his dignity, status, and even his future Dao!

"Lin Tian—!!!"

Long Qingtian roared to the sky, a sound filled with endless rage and overwhelming Battle Intent!

He could no longer suppress his unyielding, proud heart, the heart of a true strong man!

He pointed at Lin Tian and, with a voice close to a shriek, formally issued the fated, unavoidable ultimate duel!

"Between you and I!"

"Only one can become the true Alpha of the Long family!"

"Today, right here!"

"—Let's decide the victor!!!"

The moment his voice fell, he moved!

Without the slightest hesitation, without any reservation!

S-grade combat skill — [Eight Extremes Thunderstorm]!

Rumble!!!

He himself seemed to transform into an Incarnation of lightning! As his fists swung, they brought forth a sky full of destructive purplish-blue lightning! Each bolt of lightning was enough to level a small mountain peak! Countless bolts of lightning converged, forming an incomparably violent thunderous storm that would make any Martial Ancestor Rank expert change their expression, and it descended upon Lin Tian!

He wanted to use his iron fists, forged through bloody battles and honed in mountains of corpses and seas of blood, to thoroughly… crush this "hothouse flower" in front of him, who only relied on talent and background!

However, facing this terrifying offensive that could make even heaven and earth change color, Lin Tian didn't even twitch an eyelid.

He didn't even assume any defensive posture.

He just stood there quietly, allowing the sky-filling thunderous storm to completely… engulf his seemingly frail figure!

"It's over?"

In the distance, the Long family disciples who had been attracted by the commotion and were secretly observing the battle, all subconsciously held their breath at this sight.

However, in the next second, they witnessed a scene they would never forget in this life, a scene that completely overturned their understanding of the Martial Dao!

They saw Lin Tian's figure still standing quietly in the center of the violent thunderous storm.

Those terrifying bolts of lightning, capable of tearing steel and vaporizing rocks, when they struck his seemingly ordinary white Martial Dao robe, were like docile streams encountering a vast, all-encompassing ocean, unable to stir even a ripple, and were completely… absorbed and neutralized by his unreasonably powerful Pangu Body Physical Body!

Not a single scratch!

"What?!"

Long Qingtian's sharp, eagle-like eyes suddenly constricted to pinpricks!

His most proud, strongest killing move, capable of challenging those of a higher rank, actually… couldn't even break through the opponent's defense?!

Just as his mind was violently shaken and he fell into a brief daze—

Lin Tian moved.

He raised his eyes, looking at Long Qingtian, a hint of "bored" disappointment in his gaze.

He took a step, and his figure, as if teleporting, instantly appeared in front of Long Qingtian.

He threw a punch.

It was still that seemingly ordinary, unflashy punch.

Long Qingtian's face drastically changed, and in a hurry, he could only cross his arms, gathering all the power of lightning in his body to set up his strongest defense in front of him!

Bang!!!

A dull thud like a drumbeat!

Long Qingtian only felt as if he had been fiercely struck by a star crashing into him! The sound of bones shattering instantly came from his indestructible arms, which had been tempered countless times by Heavenly Tribulation Divine Lightning!

He flew backward like a kite with a broken string, fiercely crashing through the last remaining load-bearing wall behind him, and was buried in the ruins!

"Cough... cough, cough..."

He struggled to crawl out of the ruins, continuously coughing up blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.

He looked at the god-like figure slowly walking towards him, his eyes filled with unwillingness and… madness!

He couldn't lose!

He absolutely couldn't lose!

If he lost, then his decades of hellish cultivation, day in and day out, his countless struggles on the brink of life and death, all the blood and sweat he had shed to catch up with these "chosen ones"… wouldn't it all become a huge joke?!

"Ah ah ah ah ah—!!!"

He let out a roar to the sky, filled with unwillingness and determination, no longer holding anything back!

He activated his biggest and last trump card!

SSS-grade Mutant Talent — [Heavenly Tribulation Body], completely unleashed!

Rumble!!!

Above the Nine Heavens, the wind and clouds changed color! Endless purplish-blue Tribulation Clouds, representing the punishment of heaven and earth, frantically gathered! Terrifying lightning Dragons, thick as mountains, rolled and roared within the clouds!

Immediately after, ten thousand bolts of lightning descended simultaneously!

All the Heavenly Tribulation Divine Lightning, as if guided by some mysterious force, all struck Long Qingtian's body!

When everyone thought he was about to be turned to dust by this terrifying Divine Might of heaven and earth—

His body, under the tempering of myriad lightning bolts, began to frantically swell and grow at an extremely terrifying speed!

Ten meters!

Fifty meters!

One hundred meters!

Finally, he actually transformed into a hundred-meter-tall [Thunder Giant], constructed entirely of the purest, destructive purplish-blue Heavenly Tribulation Divine Lightning!

A terrifying pressure, far exceeding any previous moment and enough to suffocate all observers present, swept across the entire area!

However, facing Long Qingtian, who had transformed into a Thunder Giant and seemed to possess Divine Might, Lin Tian still wore that relaxed, even somewhat "bored" expression.

"Oh? Finally willing to show some real skill, are you?"

"Now… it's a little more interesting."

He looked at the hundred-meter-tall Thunder Giant and slowly raised his hands.

His left hand, with his sword fingers pressed together, a subtle yet seemingly capable of severing all Karma, pitch-black spatial rift quietly appeared at his fingertips!

— [God Slaying Sword Canon]!

His right hand, palm facing upwards, a golden heart-shaped phantom, constructed from endless light runes and filled with the aura of judgment and purification, slowly pulsed!

— [Heart of God]!

He was actually going to… simultaneously unleash two completely different, yet equally SSS-grade forbidden-level terrifying skills!

"Go."

He let out a soft cry.

A God Slaying Sword Qi capable of tearing space, and a Holy Light judgment capable of purifying all things, like two entwined black and white Dragons, with an unstoppable, crushing momentum, instantly sent the hundred-meter-tall Thunder Giant… retreating step by step!

Lin Tian even felt it wasn't exciting enough.

He looked at the struggling Thunder Giant, a mischievous arc forming at the corner of his mouth.

He actually, in front of Long Qingtian, slowly raised his right foot.

Then, he stomped his foot fiercely onto the ground!

Pangu Body Mythic Talent — [Earth Pulse]!

Boom!!!

An invisible yet terrifying shockwave, capable of overturning entire continental plates, instantly spread across tens of thousands of meters from Lin Tian's foot as its center!

The ground beneath the hundred-meter-tall Thunder Giant instantly turned into quicksand! His massive body instantly lost all balance, swaying like a drunken man, and finally, with an unwilling roar, he heavily fell to the ground!

Immediately after, Lin Tian's nightmarish figure had already appeared above his head.

He raised his foot, and beneath it, forty thousand tons of terrifying immense power, as well as the supreme Divine Might of pangu opening the heavens, condensed.

"It's over."

He stomped his foot down fiercely!

Boom!!!

The Thunder Giant's head, like a watermelon struck by a meteor, exploded with a bang!

Its massive body also disintegrated inch by inch, turning into a sky full of lightning and dissipating into nothingness.

Long Qingtian's charred, dying true body tumbled out from the shattered lightning, heavily falling to the ground, with only a single breath left.

Lin Tian slowly walked forward.

Under Long Qingtian's eyes, which were filled with despair, bewilderment, and disbelief, and had completely lost all their former brilliance.

He slowly raised his foot.

Then, he gently placed his foot on his chest, which was filled with pride and glory from countless bloody battles.

He looked down at him, like a god looking down at a foolish ant that dared to challenge the sky, only to end up shattered to pieces.

He spoke in the calmest tone, devoid of any emotion, the cruelest words, words that could utterly destroy all the beliefs of a striver… words that pierced the heart.

"Now, do you understand?"

"In the face of absolute talent."

"Your efforts, your struggles, everything you prided yourself on…"

"—Are utterly, meaningless."

The moment his voice fell.

Long Qingtian's eyes, which had originally retained a trace of unwillingness, completely… dimmed.

He exhaled his last breath, carrying endless desolation and sorrow, and completely… fainted.

A final showdown concerning the future leadership of the Long family, a clash of ideals and strength, thus drew its cruelest and most perfect conclusion.