Planet Pulverizer: A Mortal's Ascent

Chapter 321: Quantity

"There is a hidden passage!?" said Li Pin in surprise.

He looked toward the spot where the Ghouls had just crawled out. When the Ghouls had emerged, they loosened the soil, causing part of the ground to collapse, revealing a faint glimpse of a passageway.

At that moment, Yue Ying glanced around and exclaimed, "This location..."

Li Pin also looked around and quickly remembered something.

During the Great Moon era, the royal family had suppressed Astral Cultivators, but only those among the commoners, fearing they might threaten the royal authority. However, the royal family secretly cultivated its own Astral Cultivators, some of whom grew quite powerful.

When the Black Gold Mines fell, many royal Astral Cultivators and soldiers made a last stand, awaiting reinforcements.

Unfortunately, they were annihilated in the end.

Though they perished, their battlefield likely held many astral equipment.

When Li Pin first encountered Yue Ying and the others, they had found clues pointing to such a place. These clues pointed to this very area.

The reason Yue Ying and his team hadn't discovered anything before might have been due to collapse within the mine over the past decades, burying the original passage.

By a stroke of luck, the Ghouls that had crawled out revealed the passage once more.

"Dig it out!" Li Pin ordered.

"Yes!"

Yue Ying and Ri Chi quickly got to work.

As Martial Saints, their strength and stamina far surpassed ordinary people. Before long, the dirt was cleared, and the buried passage appeared before them.

Strangely, as they unearthed the passage, the sound of clanking chains echoed faintly from the passage, accompanied by an eerie sense of dread.

"A Ghoul King!" Li Pin growled, quickly grabbing the heavy sword he'd prepared. "Fall back!"

Astral equipment wasn't much stronger or sharper than weapons forged from fine iron. However, what they did was amplify the fighter's combat power. They also displayed extraordinary effects, making them far more valuable than any mortal blade.

Unfortunately, as powerful as astral equipment was, their higher-grade counterparts tended to attract ferocious beasts and demonic creatures.

Substandard or ordinary astral equipment was one thing, but high-grade and top-tier astral equipment drew these creatures just as much as Official and High-Class Astral Cultivators did.

Li Pin smiled and confidently strode into the newly uncovered passage. "Finally... I have found you again."

The passage wasn't large—just over two meters high and wide, stretching about thirty meters long. The Ghoul King had sensed something but was blocked from entering. It slammed the passage walls in frustration, causing them to shake and sending dust raining down.

"I can't let it collapse the passage again." @@novelbin@@

Li Pin charged forward, locking onto the Ghoul King's position through the walls. The qi and blood across his body surged, and his mental spirit reached its peak.

A Martial Saint's burst of Spirit Force came from merging the mental spirit attributes with qi and blood. Li Pin's base power, combined with the amplification from the Spirit Force and the Blood-Seething Secret Art, allowed him to rival an Astral Cultivator with over 280 qi and blood even without releasing his full strength.

Add to that his combat skills, precise control over the pace of the fight, and the explosive power granted by his own magnetic field... and Li Pin's combat power would reach a staggering level.

Electricity crackled about Li Pin as he was about to burst out of the passage, and he launched himself forward like an electromagnetic projectile. Sliding directly under the Ghoul King, he slashed with his heavy sword, cleaving through one of the creature's massive legs with overwhelming force.

Force erupted!

The Ghoul King's three-meter-tall leg exploded as if hit by a cannon. With a howl, it involuntarily collapsed to the side.

Now behind the Ghoul King, Li Pin didn't pause for even a second. He planted his left hand on the ground, propelling himself several meters into the air. He spun 180 degrees mid-flight, raising his sword high above his head.

Before the Ghoul King could regain its balance, the sword came down with lightning speed, piercing its skull with a burst of electrical force.

The sword, now embedded in its skull, vibrated!

Aura Force erupted!

The Ghoul King's head shattered into pieces.

Using the recoil from the sword and the Aura Force blast, Li Pin leaped backward, effortlessly avoiding the blood mist that sprayed from the Ghoul King's shattered skull.

The entire sequence flowed seamlessly, with an undeniable grace in his execution.

Li Pin smiled faintly. "Perfect."

Even against a Ghoul King on par with a Top-Tier Astral Cultivator, Li Pin no longer felt the strain he did during his early Martial God days.

Just as Li Pin was admiring the spoils of his flawless, fatal strike... a chill crept up his back!

No! It wasn't just a chill!

What's this feeling?!

Li Pin turned around abruptly.

What greeted him was a vast, naturally-formed cavern, spanning at least a hundred meters in diameter. The cavern seemed to have been renovated at one point, now resembling what looked like a grand hall.

The ground was no longer dirt but paved with thick stone slabs.

This, however, wasn't the main point. The focus was on the enormous hall. It spanned over ten thousand square meters, where dozens of towering, muscular, and dark-skinned figures stood.

The eerie aura they radiated unmistakably revealed their identity—Ghoul Kings!

There were dozens of them!

Each one had eyes blazing with ghostly flames, staring coldly at Li Pin. No wonder even a High-Class Martial God like Li Pin felt a shiver race down his spine.

"Roar!"

Almost as soon as Li Pin turned to face them, the Ghoul Kings let out low growls and charged at him with terrifying speed.

Each Ghoul King, standing over three meters tall, resembled the most formidable war machines known to man. Their advance was more like the thunderous charge of a tank battalion.

That kind of overwhelming momentum was enough to make any Top-Tier Astral Cultivator turn and flee.

But to Li Pin, this terrifying pressure and momentum only made his blood boil.

Since becoming a High-Class Martial God, he hadn't had a chance to go all-out in a battle.

"I thought I'd only feel this way again when facing the strongest of Top-Tier or even Master Astral Cultivator. Who would have expected that... there'd still be a place like this!"

A hall over ten thousand square meters, with no exits except the passage behind him! It was a perfect gladiator's arena! A battle arena where he could fully test the limits of his power after ascending to Martial God.

"Hahaha!"

With a burst of laughter, Li Pin gripped his sword with both hands. His cells hummed with friction as countless sparks of electricity erupted from within him, coursing through him under the pull of his internal Celestial Magnetic Field, spreading to every corner of his being.

In that instant, he entered a "stress response" state!

Furthermore, the power of his Celestial Magnetic Field also enveloped him entirely, forming an invisible protective shield.

This was a magnetic shield. This shield radiated from within, protecting every inch of his body, every cell. At the same time, it also imbued them with nearly infinite power.

Bang!

With a surge of electricity, Li Pin exploded forward.

He was like a fighter jet launching from an aircraft carrier, powered by both engines and a catapult. Under this terrifying acceleration, he transformed into a bolt of lightning, instantly charging at the fastest Ghoul King.

The Ghoul King barely had time to react. Its iron chain lashed out, but before it could strike, Li Pin's sword, along with his leaping figure, shot upward. His sword rose like a dragon!

In an instant, the Ghoul King's head was torn apart by the sharp edge and powerful Aura Force contained within the sword. The Ghoul King's chain missed Li Pin by mere centimeters, brushing harmlessly past his body.

If a force of this magnitude had brushed past him before, it would've shattered the air around him and torn his clothes before leaving him with streaks of blood.

This time, however, the force radiating from the chain seemed to have been repelled by an invisible power. With faint flickers of electric light, the chain's energy was deflected and dissipated. The force didn't leave a scratch on Li Pin, and even his clothes were completely unaffected.

Having slain one Ghoul King, Li Pin didn't pause for even a second. He soared again, pouncing on the next one.

That one soon fell as well, securing him another kill.

As Li Pin leaped toward a third Ghoul King, a loud boom shook the air.

An iron chain lashed out with incredible speed, slicing through the air with a clap of thunder that echoed throughout the vast hall.

In that life-or-death moment, Li Pin's heavy sword suddenly swung horizontally, blocking the strike.

Visible waves of white ripple burst from his sword's edge, and his Aura Force struck the chain with pinpoint precision at its critical point.

Bang!

Metal clashed! Sparks flew!

Though Li Pin managed to intercept the strike, the chain's unpredictable movement caused one section to strike his body with brutal force.

However, the expected scene of torn flesh and splattering blood did not occur.

The moment the chain hit Li Pin, a visible burst of electricity erupted from him. The electric arcs collided with the violent force within the chain, and a shockwave laced with crackling electricity rippled out, scattering in all directions. It was as if an explosion had occurred in midair.

The chain was deflected by the electric current, flying off and crashing into the ground with a loud crack, shattering the sturdy floor and sending debris flying.

Li Pin was also sent flying dozens of meters backward by the force of the chain, smashing into the wall with a heavy thud.

Yet the spot on his chest where the chain had struck showed only some redness and swelling. There was no serious injury.

This was the defensive power of the Celestial Magnetic Field.

Once activated, it surrounded him like a rapidly spinning electromagnetic barrier. Any force that struck him would first have to contend with the deflecting force of the magnetic field.

Even if that attack couldn't be deflected or neutralized, it would still have to break through the magnetic field before it could harm Li Pin himself.

Like now, though he appeared to have been thrown violently, he hadn't suffered any real damage.

Of course, this was also because he had precisely intercepted most of the chain's force with his sword.

If he had taken a direct hit from the Ghoul King, even the Celestial Magnetic Field might not have held up.

In the worst-case scenario, he could have been blasted apart on the spot.

Nevertheless, Li Pin was quite satisfied with the defensive capabilities of the Celestial Magnetic Field.

After all, his magnetic field's strength was barely over ten.[1]

Seeing the dozens of Ghoul Kings surging toward him, the battle intent in Li Pin's eyes burned even brighter.

"Again!"

1. This is referring to his own statistics which he came up with. ☜