Chapter 576
Straight ahead, a fire-covered hand exploded out of the ice storm. It stretched over 100 feet long and burned with blinding heat, like a god’s fist breaking through the
sky.
A wall of flames burst from its palm and swept across the battlefield, blasting hundreds of feet in every direction.
All those ice shards and ice spikes-shards that were nearly impossible to destroy, shards that regenerated over and over-instantly vaporized. The flames erased them. Nothing but steam remained.
Dragonfire could incinerate anything in its path.
“What… what the hell is that p>
The spirit’s eyes went wide with panic. The flames had swallowed the entire frozen land. Frostborne Epoch was getting torn apart in seconds.
Inside the blaze, a figure stepped forward through the air like he owned it. Fire swirled around him, licking at his limbs, but not a single flame touched him.
Leander looked like a god of fire. A glowing ball of flame burned in his hand. Then he clenched his fingers, and the wall of flames spiraled back into his palm and vanished.
He looked down, eyes glowing, lips curled into a smirk.
“Your Frostborne Epoch relies on Glacial Primordial Energy to keep it running. Sure, brute force won’t break through it. It’ll only suck you in deeper the harder you push!
“But too bad for you… Ice and fire are total opposites. Your frost might be strong, but in the face of true firepower? It’s just weak trash!
“Your domain doesn’t work on me at all p>
Leander’s voice cut through, packed with raw dominance. As he spoke, his long fingers curled into a fist. Blue light flared across his knuckles, and the Nirvana Energy inside him surged to its peak.
“I’m sick of your gimmicks. If you’ve got nothing new to show me, then that’s it for you. You’re done p>
The second those words dropped, killing intent flashed in his eyes.
The spirit’s pupils shrank. This was the first time he’d felt such a terrifying threat.
“Don’t get cocky, kid. If my body hadn’t been destroyed and my power wasn’t stuck at half of what it used to be, killing you would’ve taken less than a second p>
He locked eyes with Leander, his gaze growing colder by the second.
“Even though I can only borrow someone else’s body to fight you, you seriously think you’ve already won p>
A mocking laugh escaped him. His eyes suddenly gleamed with power.
“Don’t forget… My strongest weapon isn’t Primordial Energy. It’s my spiritual strength p>
A wave of spiritual energy rippled out from him, barely visible to the naked eye. The frozen lake cracked in an instant, then melted into flowing water again.
That was the power of spiritual strength.
One thought, and winter turned to spring.
“I thought using this girl’s Primordial Energy would be enough to take you down. But
now I see it-your power’s just as strong. Maybe even stronger.
“In that case, I’ll keep it simple. I’ll crush your spiritual strength head-on p>
A fiery red hand surged out from thin air, bursting with ancient, weathered energy. It slammed toward Leander with terrifying force. No Primordial Energy backed it, but it carried a deep, primal vibration.
That wave of spiritual strength pulsed through the hand like a storm and shot straight for Leander’s spirit core.
The spirit core was everything to a practitioner of spiritual strength. Just like martial artists relied on their cores for martial power, it was their most critical weak point.
Ordinary people had spirit cores
too-just underdeveloped and fragile. Martial artists had tougher cores and stronger spiritual. strength, but they still couldn’t compare to the condensed, solid cores of actual spiritual strength users.
When two spiritual strength users clashed, it came down to whose spirit core broke first. Lose that, and you were dead. No way around it.
That was why battles between them were never about winning or losing. They were always about life or death.
In front of Leander, a savage beast opened its bloody jaws wide, ready to devour him whole. It wasn’t real. Just a psychic illusion, formed by the spirit’s power and thrown straight into Leander’s mind.
When the spirit saw Leander’s face twist in shock, he lit up with joy. His attack had landed.
In this world, the path of martial arts started hard but got easier. Spiritual strength worked the opposite way-easy at first, then impossible.
Practitioners of spiritual strength could weaponize their minds, striking silently, with no form, no trace. They’d sneak into your head and snatch your sanity before you even knew what hit you.
Martial artists, though, stood by brute force. They crushed the earth with their fists and kicked the skies down. Two extremes.
Once someone hit the Transcendent Realm, their body, mind, and soul would reach a new height. At that point, the line between martial artist and spiritual strength practitioner blurred. But once they stepped into the King Phase, that line became a canyon again.
Reaching the King Phase through spiritual strength was a whole different level than through martial arts.
Someone who made it into the King Phase using spiritual strength could easily overpower three King Phase martial artists on their own. That was the difference between the two paths.
That was why spiritual masters were so revered in the West. They stood at the very top.
And this was just one illusion. Just that alone would take a regular King Phase martial artist everything they had to break through. That level of power was as elite as it got.
The spirit stared at Leander. The guy hadn’t moved. Looked completely trapped in the illusion. A smirk crept across his face.
“That god-level being… It’s finally mine p>
With that thought, his toes tapped the water. The girl’s delicate feet skimmed the lake as he flew forward and stopped right in front of Leander, just inches away.
She reached out, her pale, flawless fingers aiming for the crown of his head. She was about to use Primordial Energy to shatter his spirit core. Once that was done, he’d hijack the body and rebuild a core of his own.
But right before her hand could land, a slender, pale hand clamped down on her wrist.
“Aren’t you jumping the gun p>
Leander stared into her eyes, a wicked smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
“What p>
The spirit froze. He couldn’t understand it. Leander had clearly been swallowed by the illusion. So how was he reacting?
Like he’d read his mind, Leander’s cold stare cut right through him. “You really thought some cheap illusion was gonna hold me?
“You’re not the only spiritual strength practitioner out there.
“You’re at the Origin Realm? Well guess what—I am too p>
“You-what?!” The spirit’s face turned pale in an instant. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Leander’s martial power was already insane. How could his spiritual strength be that strong too?
A chill ran down his spine. A sinking dread crept in as he tried to pull back. But it was
too late.
An overwhelming suction burst from Leander’s hand, pinning him in place.
Then, Leander’s eyes lit up with a
fierce blue glow. He stared him down and in that moment the spirit
felt everything he’d built his century-old spiritual strength-get ripped out of his core like water draining from a broken pipe.