In that instant, the beast produced what appeared to be a spear-shaped bone emanating an overflowing aura of death. This was its ace in the hole; they had planned to wait until the strongest cultivator in this town was further wounded to launch a surprise attack and kill him.
But now, it had no choice but to attack prematurely. It began to refine the strange weapon which, upon being infused with its mental power and spiritual energy, increased its aura steadily. Li Yi, who was in the middle of massacring the beasts, noticed the energy reaction where that hidden creature was located.
He knew the beast was about to make its move. He stopped in his tracks and ceased his attack. He urged his base to absorb as much energy as possible; every being around him felt their essence being violently drained. Li Yi's absorption was so massive that his body began to glow like a sun in the middle of the battlefield. He crouched and took his position.
The beast, finishing the refinement of the spear, was ready. It looked directly toward the sky, where the others were fighting, and fixed its gaze on Grand Director Leng Lubai. In that moment, the Director felt a strange chill running down his spine.
Immediately, the hidden beast shot forward almost imperceptibly, at a speed that defied reaction. Li Yi, sensing the movement, performed a leap, concentrating a vast portion of his energy. The impulse generated an explosion on the spot; the beasts attempting to flee were caught by the shockwave, being pulverized instantly.
In a fraction of a second, as it moved toward the Director, the creature perceived something approaching. It used its mental power to attempt to halt it and create a barrier. An enormous pressure tried to crush and slow Li Yi's body, but his speed was such that the beast failed to stop him in time.
Li Yi's fist struck the beast's body squarely, using all his energy. It was an overwhelming blow that seemed to illuminate the sky. The enemy concentrated all its mental power and attempted to use several spiritual techniques to protect itself, but the impact arrived too quickly. Its torso bones shattered, and it was sent flying, piercing through a massive mountain that collapsed upon itself, turning into a pile of rubble.
The spear slipped from its hands, and Li Yi snatched it as he hit the ground. Upon touching it, he felt an energy attempting to annihilate both his internal flow and his body. It was a strange and unpleasant sensation, but his Sacred Body purified all the energy trying to enter.
In that instant, Li Yi noticed that a small part of a special energy was now being integrated within him—one that no longer harmed him, and that he could control to produce that same destructive effect.
He thought that this strange spear-shaped object was a grand opportunity, and if he managed to seize more things like this, he would reap massive profits.
Suddenly, from behind the mountain, a being flew out emanating a murderous aura, staring directly at Li Yi.
"Who are you, and how dare you interfere with our plans!" it roared.
The beast had also realized that this being was extremely strange. Despite having physical strength superior to its own, his aura and realm seemed to be in the Base Forging Realm, which was entirely illogical.
Li Yi simply stared back.
"Even though I'm looking directly at them, I don't really know how they manage to fly. It seems to be some type of telekinesis they use for both attacking and flight. That pressure I suddenly felt on my body seemed to arrive almost instantaneously; if it weren't for my amount of energy, I could have been crushed by just a thought from that beast. Although I'm not truly worried, as I can use another method to fly," Li Yi thought.
He began to emanate energy from his entire body—a flow that entered and exited—making him levitate little by little. Then, he flowed part of his energy along the exterior of his body to move rapidly through the air; simply using a massive amount of energy for propulsion.
The beast, observing him fly with this method, thought that this strange human had a ridiculous amount of energy.
The reason Warrior Realm beings cannot fly is because, if they tried in the same manner as that human, all their energy would disperse and run out almost instantly. Only beings from the Master Realm upward, who possess mental power, can fly, perceive, attack, and defend. This saves them from having to spend an unimaginable amount of energy.
It knew it held only a slight advantage over this strange cultivator.
"That human truly isn't in my realm and doesn't possess my abilities, but it remains complicated due to the enormous amount of energy he holds. Abilities are nothing in the face of raw power."
The beast moved at a speed to which Li Yi could barely react; he simply positioned the strange spear in the direction of the attack. The enemy stopped before hitting him, as it did not dare to be harmed by that spear—made from the bones of a being far beyond the Master Realm, containing a terrifying energy that could kill with a scratch.
Li Yi, noting that the beast had stopped, moved through the air with an explosion of energy. Just as he was about to strike, the beast vanished, reappearing a few hundred meters away.
"The movement speed is ridiculously high. I was able to hit it before because it was focused elsewhere and didn't expect me to reach it, but now I can barely follow its shadow."
At that moment, the beast produced an extremely long whip that emanated light. Li Yi put on a serious face; a long-distance weapon was the last thing he wanted to face, as his best opportunity lay in close-quarters combat.
"But I have an idea."
With all his strength, he moved swiftly toward the beast. It attacked with the whip, which moved at an incandescent speed, wrapping around Li Yi's body. He did not panic; a playful smile appeared on his lips. He grabbed the whip with his hands and urged his base to absorb all the energy from the weapon.
The light of the whip dimmed rapidly, and the beast felt its own energy being drained. It had no choice but to let go. Li Yi now felt a special energy being refined by his body, although this was thousands of times weaker than that of the spear.
In his mind, he only thought that this beast was a treasure mine, and he wouldn't let it go until it attacked him with every weapon it had.
The beast was stunned. It did not understand how that cultivator could absorb the power of the silver-light whip, typically used to immobilize opponents. It truly couldn't fathom what that human possessed that made him so difficult to fight. Now it could only try to defeat him in conventional battle while the others defeated the strongest cultivator up there.
While the beast was thinking, a strange flash appeared in its perception, but it reacted too late.
Li Yi had concentrated 99% of the surrounding energy and made it explode, moving so fast it allowed no reaction. He used the very same whip to wrap the beast in a cocoon.
The beast knew it was in real trouble. From one of its pouches, it pulled out a strange black sphere that emanated an energy of annihilation, which pulverized the whip just by getting near it. Li Yi was surprised; that energy was as potent as that of the spear. He knew he would obtain more "special energy" if he absorbed it.
Before the sphere could detonate, Li Yi extended his hand, took it in his palm, and urged his base to absorb everything contained within as quickly as possible.
The beast went into shock; it could not believe how that cultivator could contain the explosion of that terrible sphere.