Fated Encounter

"Whoosh!"

Taking a single step amidst a brilliant flash of starlight, you appeared directly among the soldiers of the bridal escort.

"This guy is a Martial King!!"

The soldiers were terrified out of their wits and didn't dare to attack you at all.

But that was useless. Since they were subordinates of the two Martial Kings, the system traits judged them as enemies.

"Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding..."

Countless sounds of striking iron rang out above the heads of the soldiers within a hundred meters of you.

The moment the marks were complete, you began to throw punches, letting out a series of clanging sounds.

Of course, you held back your strength, ensuring that one punch would incapacitate them from getting back up, but wouldn't take their lives.

Li Jin and his companion pursued you relentlessly. The royal martial arts were incredibly exquisite and possessed extraordinary power; every movement they made carried the terrifying might to shatter mountains and split the earth.

Unfortunately for them, your heritage came from the Shen family and the Holy Land, which was only stronger, not weaker, than the royal family.

The two continuously launched attacks, producing an endless stream of treasures, determined to kill you.

As a result, after fighting for a long time, all their killing moves ended up landing on their own men.

You didn't kill a single person, but the two of them killed a whole bunch.

You didn't entangle yourself in a fight with them; instead, you roamed among the soldiers, madly triggering the clanging sounds.

One stack, two stacks, three stacks...

Ten stacks, twenty stacks, thirty stacks...

One hundred stacks! Two hundred stacks! Three hundred stacks!

Your body grew larger and larger, making Li Jin and his companion increasingly panicked as they watched.

"Is this the method of the Holy Land?"

"Hmph, it's just his body getting bigger, what's there to fear! The larger the body, the clumsier it is. The martial dao isn't a competition of who is bigger!"

Li Jin's words made sense.

However, it wasn't just your size that was increasing. Every stack of Heartsteel also added a 1% boost to your overall combat power!

When your Heartsteel stacks reached a full one thousand, you stopped.

At this moment, you were like a towering giant tree, your height exceeding twenty meters. The Fenji Battle Armor on your body adapted to your size, growing just as large.

The Fenji Battle Spear didn't grow, so it was no longer suitable for use right now.

But it didn't matter. All you needed was a pair of fists.

"Brat, why aren't you running anymore? Can't run anymore, huh? Fool! Becoming this big will only drain your stamina even faster! To practice such a garbage cultivation technique, it seems the Holy Land isn't all that great either!"

The corners of your mouth curled up slightly; you could hardly hold back your laughter.

Yes, the gap between cultivation realms couldn't be simply measured by combat power.

But the problem was, you were currently in the same realm as the two of them.

You had stacked 1,000 layers of Heartsteel, which meant your base stats were multiplied by ten!

Amplified further by martial arts and techniques, the final power of your strikes would be far more than just ten times.

"Earth-Shaking Heavenly Star!"

You stomped both feet fiercely, causing an immediate earthquake in the surroundings.

You raised both hands, and the sky instantly darkened.

What you executed was the Star River Divine Art.

Li Jin was quite knowledgeable and recognized it at a glance.

"A Shen family cultivation technique?! Aren't you from the Holy Land?!"

The other Martial King said speechlessly.

"This kid is obviously spouting nonsense! Why are you still obsessing over where he's from! This is a Heaven-rank martial art; even if we join forces, we might not be able to block it!"

"Hmph! Heaven-rank martial arts are all profoundly deep. He probably only knows the surface of it. There's no need to fear him!"

The surface?

Let me introduce you to the Transcendent Realm!!

The earth shattered in all directions, turning into countless waterfalls of rubble shooting into the sky, which then gathered in the clouds to form burning meteorites, crashing down with unparalleled destructive force.

At first, Li Jin and his companion tried to take the meteor shower head-on, but they soon realized that these meteors were endless. You could continuously transfer earth and stone from the ground to the sky to create more.

You also controlled gravity, making them feel as if they were on a trampoline, making them incredibly miserable.

The two were soon battered by the endless magma meteorites, dodging and hiding everywhere, scurrying around like rats with their heads in their hands.

"Where are you going!!"

Despite being twenty meters tall, you were still extremely agile. Once the Starry Sky Seven Divine Steps were deployed, your movement technique was as ethereal as a ghost amidst the mountains.

"Star-Shattering Ripple Finger!"

You flicked a finger, and a beam of light several meters thick rushed toward them, leaving Li Jin and his companion dumbfounded.

It was absurd.

A martial art that was supposed to be an assassination technique had become an overwhelming area-of-effect steamroller in your hands.

Who in the world had fingers as thick as a massive tree!

The two Martial Kings barely survived under your continuous barrage of attacks.

It wasn't because they were lucky, but because you showed mercy.

For the sake of the big picture later on, you had no intention of destroying valuable Martial King realm living forces; you just didn't want them to stop you from taking Li Lingyue away.

"Brother Li! Let's flee! We really are no match for this monster!"

The two Martial Kings were truly out of options now and decided to run away.

To prevent them from coming back, you chased them for over a hundred miles.

Ultimately unable to withstand the terrifying power of Heartsteel, the two were severely injured by you and could no longer interfere.

Fortunately, you were currently using the identity of Long Yang. No matter how resourceful the Li clan was in the Five Regions, they wouldn't be able to find out anything, because the Long family wasn't in the Five Regions at all.

After finishing up, you quickly caught up to Sun Chengen and snatched Li Lingyue from his hands.

"Could it be that the two Martial Kings have already..."

Sun Chengen looked at your massive retreating back, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

At this moment, you were still in your giant form, holding Li Lingyue in the palm of your hand.

"Wow..."

This was Li Lingyue's first time flying.

The earth retreated beneath her feet, and white clouds rushed toward her face.

She reached out to touch those clouds, only to find them icy cold and lacking any substance.

"So these things floating in the sky are just water mist."

Li Lingyue looked up and saw your refined jawline.

Her cheeks flushed red, and she lowered her head, saying,

"Thank you, Great Hero Long, for your help, allowing me to gain my freedom. I just don't know whose orders Great Hero Long is following to assist me?"

You didn't speak. Instead, you looked at the environment below and found an uninhabited place to land.

"Boom!!"

The moment you landed, the earth shook, the mountains trembled, and startled birds scattered in all directions.

You slowly squatted down and set Li Lingyue down from your hand.

Besides waiting for the Heartsteel stacks to slowly fall off, you could also actively dismiss them.

You had some things to clarify with Li Lingyue right now, so you chose to revert to your normal size.

In Li Lingyue's eyes, your massive figure rapidly shrank, turning into the size of an ordinary person.

"My name is not Long Yang. I am Chen Yi, and I am not acting under anyone's orders."

As you spoke, you removed your disguise, restoring your original appearance.

When Li Lingyue saw this, her face turned even redder.

"I have never met Young Master Chen before. Why did Young Master Chen help me escape?"

At this moment, destinies that had taken different paths across different timelines miraculously converged once again.

You reached out your hand to Li Lingyue and spoke the exact same words you had said in the fourth simulation.

"Li Lingyue, do you wish to control your own destiny?"