Chapter 142: Exchange of Blows

Even Lan Yi could not help but turn solemn at this moment.

The armored divine thunder had been cracked.

Although this Daoist technique was exceedingly crude and direct, it was nevertheless the most fundamental and least easily interfered with. Yet, inside this artificial divine realm, it had been so effortlessly dismantled by the Ghost Face. This was enough to prove that more complex Daoist techniques requiring longer preparation times would likely be intercepted and broken by the Ghost Face just as swiftly.

Even a sinking ship retains three pounds of iron nails.

Let alone a transmigrator.

Lan Yi quickly made his judgment: ninety percent of the Daoist techniques at his disposal had most likely already been deciphered by the Ghost Face. After all, when it came to the realm of cognitive understanding, psionic cultivators indeed fell short of transmigrators before the advent of quantum organs.

However, this did not mean psionic cultivators could only sit back and take a beating.

The environment of the Artificial Divine Realm 2055 was actually rather favorable.

Mind-Will Martial Arts held boundless potential!

Located in outer space, the Ghost Face, having dissolved all the armored divine thunder, paid no heed to the falling warheads. First, it carefully observed the time-crystal region where it currently resided; next, through various spacetime rifts, it surveyed the battlefield spanning two different time periods within a single world; and then, it made its move.

The special attributes of a spirit body dictate that its movement speed is influenced solely by the velocity of thought.

In other words.

Wherever its consciousness reached, it could directly dissolve its physical form and teleport in a manner akin to true instant movement, materializing right at the focal point of its intent. If such a teleportation method covered a wide enough range, it could outstrip the speed of light. Moreover, the dense concentration of psionic energy within this world provided exceedingly convenient conditions for instantaneous displacement.

In Lan Yi’s observation, the Ghost Face vanished instantly.

Where did it go?

Using the ruins of Shanghai as a massive base station, a surge of intense electromagnetic waves erupted instantaneously, roaring and rolling across the planet. The fully deployed Domain of Thunder Soldiers operated like a high-power radar, roughly and violently scanning every direction. Countless lingering ghosts that had yet to return to the past were swept by these electromagnetic waves, an experience comparable to being plunged into a boiling wok of oil!

The entire future realm became exceptionally lively, filled with wailing ghosts and howling spirits.

Compared to teleportation, however, this scanning speed was still far too slow.

By the time Lan Yi realized where his opponent was, a beam of psionic light steeped in pitch-black malice had already pierced straight into his brain from the back of his head!

Attacking fiercely from his blind spot, the Ghost Face instantly froze Lan Yi’s thoughts. Its mutated claws—distorted to a degree capable of ripping apart titanium alloy—snapped toward its prey’s skull like someone picking a persimmon. Simple, precise, and fatal, it was like an arrow shot from the dark, poised to claim a life in an instant.

Teleportation, immobilization, execution—all performed in one fluid motion.

Yet, the moment those claws pressed against Lan Yi’s [Canghua], slightly indenting his scalp, the Ghost Face abruptly halted, vanishing from the spot in the very next second.

Almost simultaneously with its instantaneous departure, a fissure split open at the back of Lan Yi’s head. The next instant, the fully high-energy, plasma-converted [Canghua] erupted violently from the opening. The surrounding temperature instantly surged to a terrifying degree rivalling the center of a miniature thermonuclear weapon. Like a blazing ray shooting from the back of his head, outshining the light of ten midday suns, it sliced across a spatial expanse of ten thousand meters in a fraction of a second!

Immediately afterward, the air was directly ignited, shifting the world from blinding brilliance to a dim gloom. A rapid succession of plasma blasts toward the ocean whipped the entire coastline into towering waves and raging tsunamis!

"It seems you failed to unearth this particular Daoist technique within the quantum topology. The me in your simulations must have been quite a handful, wouldn't you say?"

Lan Yi murmured softly as his electromagnetic substitute flashed away. He knew the Ghost Face could hear him.

"A mere triviality."

The intent of the Ghost Face locked onto Lan Yi once again.

Capable of infinite teleportation, it once more displayed its terrifying energy-manipulation prowess. Within a mere dozen seconds, the scorched sky brought about by the explosive aftermath of the plasma pulse cannon from the Daoist spatial rift was subjected to an invisible force: the towering flames were extinguished, the mushroom clouds dissipated in the blink of an eye, the tsunamis subsided, and even the surface of the greater part of the Pacific Ocean grew as smooth as a mirror!

Such mighty power commanded awe.

Many of the ghosts that had failed to squeeze through the rifts and rampage into the past were obliterated by the shockwaves of the duo's clash. Under the violent turbulence of their obsessive thoughts, numerous ghosts abandoned all resistance merely to sustain their own existence, dropping to their knees instead to pray piously toward the two deities.

They were willing to become believers.

Offering up their soul obsessions, they begged solely for protection.

Countless psionic fragments across the entire East Continent converged toward the Shanghai region, presenting a spectacle both magnificent and breathtaking.

A cesspool remains a cesspool.

The refuse contributed from a garbage dump was treated by Lan Yi like worn-out shoes to be discarded. Although he was feasting heartily, he was not entirely indiscriminate; the Old Demon Lan always consumed only the most refined and exquisite portion of the emotional domain. The Ghost Face, however, was not so picky. Having nearly lost everything to the point of bankruptcy, it was now accepting all comers unconditionally, single-mindedly determined to leave Lan Yi behind.

A comeback was virtually impossible for it now.

Yet, even if it were dragged in to merge with the Dao, it would still act as a supreme deity ruling over all, forcing this detestable psionic cultivator to supply it with boundless faith!

It was precisely what the ghosts had originally done to humanity in this world.

"A triviality? It seems your brain can indeed sit at the same table with artiodactyls."

Lan Yi’s tone carried no overt mockery, but lies do not truly wound; it is the truth that cuts like a sharp blade.

Ever since its emergency crash-landing transformed it into a ghost, the Ghost Face had indeed been undergoing a rapid, irreversible mental and emotional degeneration toward a truly spectral state. It was an immutable law; failing to do so would result in its immediate, forcible assimilation by the high-dimensional computers of the Artificial Divine Realm 2055—the so-called Dao-merging process.

It was not that the Ghost Face desired to cease being human.

Rather...

Aside from psionic cultivators, there were simply no qualified humans left in this world capable of bearing its consciousness and power.

Chu Xuan and Zheng Zha had barely qualified.

Yet, the moment they surrendered, they were swiftly taken care of by the Conquest Space and bolted far away. Those two double-crossing turncoats genuinely made the Ghost Face's metaphorical nose twist in rage.

Unable to remain human, it could only become a ghost.

Yet, even as a ghost, it remained confident that it could subdue Lan Yi before being assimilated by the Heavenly Dao. Lan Yi’s current trump cards had almost been completely hollowed out by it; within that unknown Daoist space, very few techniques should remain.

According to its quantum topology, Lan Yi possessed virtually no survival instinct.

The moment he realized he was being topologically mapped, he would instantly grow conservative and reluctant to struggle, refusing to deploy any further trump cards even unto death—a trait that had profoundly disgusted the Ghost Face. Therefore, it genuinely had no idea what other wonderful tools remained hidden beneath Lan Yi’s exterior within that inner layer of Daoist space.

Another flash of intent!

This time, it was once again the explosive discharge of psionic light beams steeped in pitch-black malice.

Not just a single beam, however.

Instead, within a radius of five hundred meters around Lan Yi, thousands upon thousands of rays of light capable of extracting souls and refining spirits ignited in an instant. Such illumination was known among psionic cultivators as the Three-Colored Divine Light, targeting the three souls and seven魄, the Dao foundation and physical body, as well as the divine nature of one's magical power. Once pinned down, one could only await execution, reducing even the indestructible Vajra body to fine dust!

"Got you."

Lan Yi smiled faintly, a brilliant radiance blooming from his fist.

Northern Demonic Sect Daoist Technique: Tsar Bomba (Pseudo)!