Invincible Beyond Heavens: Cultivating With A Broken EXP System

With Shi Xing launching a fierce assault against Qin Ling, the entire Tea Ceremony descended into chaos.

The calm atmosphere that had existed moments earlier vanished completely. Pavilion roofs shook, cracks spread across the summit, and disciples from every sect hurried backward to avoid being caught in the aftermath of the battle between the two women. Voices rose in alarm while qi fluctuations collided in every direction.

Xin Lu had been waiting for exactly this moment.

Using the disorder as cover, he shot toward Li Yun with explosive speed.

The instant he moved, forty percent Earth Intent surged through his body like a rising mountain. At the same time, his mid-grade Profound Rank cultivation art circulated at the eighth layer, causing dense and heavy qi to gather around him with terrifying pressure.

Yet even then, he was not finished.

As he neared Li Yun, Xin Lu activated his sixth-tier secret art.

“Earth Coating Arm!”

Both of his arms were instantly covered in thick earth-element power. They hardened and expanded, becoming like weapons forged from ancient stone. The force radiating from them made the air distort.

“Take this!” Xin Lu roared as killing intent blazed in his eyes.

“Earth Shattering Palm!”

His right hand swelled into a gigantic palm formed entirely of condensed earth qi. Carrying crushing force, it swept toward Li Yun like a mountain collapsing from above.

Li Yun only smiled wider when he saw the incoming strike.

“Heavenly Lightning Battle Armor.”

Almost instantly, blue lightning burst across his body. Arcs of electricity wrapped around him like living serpents, forming a suit of crackling armor. Forty percent Lightning Intent flowed through every strand of lightning, giving it a terrifying aura of destruction.

Yet Li Yun did not stop there.

Before the armor had even fully formed, he activated the Heavenly Lightning Codex and gathered nearly half of the lightning surrounding his body toward the tip of his middle finger.

At the same time, he fully released the power of the Ninefold Origin Flesh Scripture.

Violent physical strength surged through every muscle, tendon, and bone before condensing into that same fingertip.

In that single finger now rested the monstrous force of his fourth-stage body refinement along with concentrated lightning carrying forty percent Lightning Intent.

At that exact moment, Xin Lu’s full-powered Earth Shattering Palm arrived before him.

Li Yun looked at the descending giant palm and casually flicked his middle finger toward it.

BOOM!

The enormous earth palm exploded into fragments on contact. Chunks of hardened qi shattered in every direction like broken rock.

Xin Lu’s expression changed instantly. Horror flooded his face before he could even understand what had happened. His body was blasted backward like a cannonball, tearing across the arena before crashing violently into one of the distant pavilions.

The pavilion shook from the impact as dust and debris burst into the air.

Everyone present was stunned.

The martial artists gathered from the many sects all stared in disbelief.

Han Li and Han Xue’s mouths fell open as they watched the scene. Even Huo Ming beside them could not hide his astonishment.

Shi Xing, who had been relentlessly attacking Qin Ling moments earlier, abruptly stopped and turned to look at Li Yun.

“How is this person only at the fourth level of the Qi Sea Realm?!” she exclaimed.

Qin Ling also turned toward Li Yun, and shock filled her beautiful eyes.

The aura Li Yun was giving off in his Heavenly Lightning Armor Transformation was already rivaling the presence of both her and Shi Xing. For a moment, she could hardly believe what her own senses were telling her.

Yet the result stood plainly before everyone.

Xin Lu, a genius at the third level of the Essence Qi Realm, had been blasted away by nothing more than a flick of Li Yun’s finger.

What kind of power was required to achieve such a thing?

Only someone overwhelmingly stronger than Xin Lu could have sent him flying so effortlessly.

Dust and shattered stone continued to fall from the ruined pavilion where Xin Lu had crashed.

Fragments of wood and broken tiles slid from the collapsed structure while cracks spread further through the damaged foundation. The sound of debris striking the ground echoed across the summit.

For a brief moment, many believed the battle had already ended.

Then movement appeared within the rubble.

A hand emerged first, pushing aside broken beams.

Another arm followed, crushing a slab of stone as though it were brittle clay.

Slowly, Xin Lu rose to his feet.

His robes were torn in several places. His breathing had become heavy and uneven. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth before dripping onto the fractured earth below. One sleeve had been ripped away entirely, revealing an arm already darkened with bruises from the force of Li Yun’s seemingly casual strike.

Yet the injuries on his body were nothing compared to the expression on his face.

Earlier, when Xin Lu moved against Li Yun, his killing intent had been cold and controlled.

He had wanted Li Yun dead because of sect orders, because Li Yun had become an obstacle that needed to be removed, and because completing that mission would strengthen his own standing.

It had been calculation.

Nothing more.

Now that calmness was gone.

Only rage remained.

His eyes were bloodshot and trembling with humiliation. Veins bulged across his forehead while murderous intent poured from him in suffocating waves. Being blasted away before the eyes of every genius present, sent flying by nothing more than a flick of a finger, had shattered every fragment of pride he possessed.

For someone like Xin Lu, defeat was one matter.

Humiliation was another entirely.

And what Li Yun had given him was humiliation so complete that it burned hotter than any physical wound.

He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and stared at Li Yun with a gaze filled with venom.

“Li Yun…” he said in a low, hoarse voice. Each word sounded as though it had been dragged through clenched teeth. “Before this, I only intended to kill you because my sect ordered it.”

He stepped forward once.

The broken stones beneath his feet cracked even further.

“But now…”

His aura erupted violently as forty percent Earth Intent surged outward again, rising around him like a mountain awakening from ancient slumber. Dense brown qi spiraled from his body and spread in every direction, forcing nearby disciples to retreat instinctively.

His killing intent had changed.

It was no longer the killing intent of duty.

It was the killing intent of a man whose pride had been destroyed in public, a man who wanted blood to wash away disgrace.

Across from him, Li Yun stood calmly within his Heavenly Lightning Battle Armor. Arcs of blue electricity moved lazily across his body, crackling with restrained power.

He looked at Xin Lu for a moment, then smiled faintly.

“That is good,” Li Yun said calmly. “I was beginning to think you would stay down after only one finger.”

The words struck Xin Lu harder than another attack ever could.

His face twisted violently with fury.

A roar burst from his throat as qi exploded outward from his body once more. The already chaotic summit of the Tea Ceremony became even more tense, as though the entire mountain had been drawn tight like a bowstring ready to snap.

Everyone present understood one thing immediately.

Xin Lu had lost his reason.

And a furious genius was often more dangerous than a calm one.