Kapitel 174: Dread King.

Liang Chen tightly grasped the simple silver spear he was holding, the ground beneath him creaking as he put some force into his right leg. The wind and lightning in the area grew more violent as a result of Liang Chen preparing for battle, a few of the azure lightning bolts slowly growing darker and taking on a more brownish hue. Qian Liao looked at the changes with a somewhat twisted mouth, his gaze never once moving from Liang Chen's body.

"Really, even the elements themselves are distorted around you, you really resemble a walking taint that infects everything around you. To kill you here, before you can become any stronger, will be the greatest justice I can offer this world and my people. So come, let me e..."

Liang Chen kicked off the ground before Qian Liao could finish his sentence, his bloodline seething as he shot forward like a furious bolt of lightning. Qian Liao had already been having trouble with Yan Ling's speed, but Liang Chen was even faster than her, Qian Liao barely had the time to flinch before Liang Chen arrived behind him and swiped out with his spear. The side of the spear smashed into Qian Liao's waist and sent him flying to the side with a metallic clanking sound, smashing him through two crystalline trees before he finally stopped.

Liang Chen tossed aside the spear, which had shattered after colliding with Qian Liao's body, which seemed to have already been hardened using metal in anticipation of this battle. He swiped his interspatial ring and took out another spear, he still had 11 left in storage so he wasn't too worried about running out. While he was taking out the new spear, he looked in Qian Liao's direction, a sneer suffusing his lips.

"Sorry, but I've just about had it with hearing about what your version of justice is, I might just listen to you if you stop fucking trying to use your justice as an excuse for everything."

Yan Ling had already shown Liang Chen everything that happened while she was fighting Qian Liao, so he had heard more than enough of his monologues. Qian Liao finished stabilizing his body after he managed to stop himself from flying further to the side, his scarlet halberd appearing in his grasp as he looked at Liang Chen with a serious expression. He didn't bother with any more words, charging forward like a rampaging bull, the ground beneath him cracking and shattering with each step.

Liang Chen didn't move away from his position as Qian Liao approached, readying his spear for a stab. Qian Liao swiftly arrived in front of him and stabbed out with his halberd, the axe head part facing Liang Chen. He knew that his weapon was stronger and longer than Liang Chen's, it would reach if Liang Chen decided to unleash a stab of his own, and it would shatter the weapon if he tried to block. And just to make sure that Liang Chen couldn't even dodge properly, Qian Liao materialized sharp spears of metal all around Liang Chen, several of them even bursting through the ground as they all came for him.

But just as the spears were about to touch him, Liang Chen started to move, a soft breeze blowing through the area. He dodged through the metallic spears with fluid and soft motions, using the wind they created as they moved to dodge around them, acting as a leaf in the wind. The halberd stabbed past him and Liang Chen stepped forward, his spear stabbing out and colliding with Qian Liao's waist.

A clanking sound rang throughout the area, the spear only managing to stab in half a centimeter before it was forced to halt due to Qian Liao's strong defense. Qian Liao used the power of the stab to take two steps back and swing his halberd sideways, a black fog and a silver mist gathering around the head. A red light flashed within the head of the halberd, its speed suddenly increasing so much that it reached Liang Chen's side before he had the chance to dodge.

He was just barely able to pull his spear back slightly and put it in front of the halberd, but the spear was too weak to block the halberd. The spear was cut in half and the axe head of the halberd made contact with Liang Chen's left arm, lifting him up off the ground and propelling him towards the side with a deep gash in his left arm.

Liang Chen could feel the blood in his chest and head turn chaotic as he flew to the side, it was seemingly trying to flow towards the wound on his left arm. Strangely enough, neither the blood in his arms or legs was experiencing the same phenomenon. There was also some death energy invading his body from the wound, but Liang Chen quickly counteracted it with his own death energy, weakening it to a point where he could devour it for himself.

He let go of the ruined spear and stretched out his right arm, grabbing onto the branch of the closest tree and stopping himself from flying further. He quickly stretched out his left arm, a bolt of lightning crashing down from the clouds and sinking into the wound, rapidly accelerating the healing process thanks to the uniqueness of Liang Chen's body cultivation technique.

The branches of two of the metallic trees around him suddenly started to twist and bend, stretching towards him like sharp pitchforks. Liang Chen clicked his tongue, it seemed like Qian Liao was able to manipulate the more metallic trees in the area despite the fact that they still contained traces of the wood element. Liang Chen let go of the branch and momentarily hardened the air beneath his feet, giving it a violent kick to launch himself forward and away from the trees, once again arriving in front of Qian Liao.

Liang Chen swiped his interspatial ring and brought out another spear, raising it into an upwards slash that aimed at Qian Liao's chin. Qian Liao took a step forward and tried to move his right leg to the side to block the attack, but his vision turned blurry just as he tried to move his leg, a dizzying sensation overtaking his mind and slowing him down.

He quickly detected a faint trace of poison inside the wound on his right waist, it had numbed his sense of pain and then dug itself further into his body without him noticing. By the time he managed to get rid of the poison using his law of death, Liang Chen's spear reached his groin, colliding with it and unleashing another clanking sound.

Qian Liao was lifted off the ground and let out a light groan, resisting the pain and slamming his halberd down onto Liang Chen. Liang Chen quickly let go of his spear and stepped to the side to dodge, but the halberd still managed to graze his left arm, tearing open the wound that was in the process of healing.

Liang Chen glanced at the wound for a split second and then swung out with his left arm, the blood pouring out from the wound splashing onto Qian Liao's face. Qian Liao let out a deep grunt after the blood hit him, the blood felt like tiny electrical knives that unleashed countless stabs as it covered his face, forcing him to close his eyes to prevent any blood from getting in his remaining good eye. Liang Chen had already replaced the blood in his arms and legs with the element he got when he fused wind, lightning, water, and time, it was a bit weak but an otherwise decent weapon.

Qian Liao didn't leave himself defenseless as he closed his eyes, the ground all around them bursting open as countless spears pierced upwards. Liang Chen didn't even spare the spears a glance, clenching his fists and unleashing a barrage of punches against Qian Liao's chest and abdomen, lightning flickering around his entire body. The spears pierced through Liang Chen's feet, lifting him up from the ground as they continued to rise, but Qian Liao was also forced higher into the air thanks to Liang Chen's barrage of punches, his strengthened exoskeleton starting to creak and crack.

But while his exoskeleton was starting to crack, he knew that the law of death was invading Liang Chen's body through the spears, as well as through each second that the two were in contact. Sadly, it didn't work as well as he wanted to, the death energy that invaded Liang Chen would always vanish after only a few short moments.

Qian Liao couldn't see properly since his eyes were closed, but he knew where Liang Chen was thanks to the spears stabbing through his feet. Qian Liao flicked his lower right wrist, the spears piercing through Liang Chen's feet abruptly moving in different directions and spreading his legs, opening the way for the other spears.

Liang Chen raised his left leg and pulled his foot away from the spears that had pierced through it, kicking off a bit of hardened air and using the resulting force to dodge the spears that were about to pierce through him from below. The resulting movement pulled his right leg away from the spears that had been piercing through it, allowing him to harden a bit of air beneath him and letting him stand in the air, temporarily safe from the field of spears.

Several bolts of lightning descended from the sky and struck Liang Chen, once again accelerating the regeneration process of his wounds. This was the perfect place for him to fight, he could drastically increase his healing speed as long as he had enough energy. Liang Chen raised his head to look at Qian Liao, who finally managed to wipe away the blood that had splashed around his eyes, allowing him to open them again.

But just as he opened his eyes, he saw Liang Chen flick the index finger on his right hand, a heavy gust of wind smashing into Qian Liao's abdomen and forcing him higher into the air while also knocking all the air out of his lungs. Liang Chen descended to the ground while Qian Liao flew higher, gleaming brown lightning dancing around him and lighting up his cold eyes.

Liang Chen raised his right arm as he descended to the ground, his palm facing Qian Liao, and the moment his feet touched it, the ground in a six-kilometer area around him burst upward. The countless spears of lightning, chunks of ore, even the metallic trees in the area, everything was torn up from the ground and crashed directly into Qian Liao. Every single attack that landed, every single second they had been in contact, all of them had been used to charge Qian Liao's body with lightning, turning him into the strongest magnet on the planet. Once Liang Chen activated it, everything containing iron in the area was drawn directly to Qian Liao.

A misshapen orb of objects surrounded Qian Liao, burying him at the center, but Liang Chen still didn't relent. He clenched his outstretched hand, once again increasing the strength of the current that was now running through Qian Liao. The magnet that he had become became even stronger, a shockwave running through the air as the misshapen orb of metal squeezed itself into a perfectly round orb, Qian Liao forced to suffer through the horrifying pressure at the center.

Liang Chen lowered his arm and let out a breath, multiple bolts of lightning once again striking him and then subsequently getting devoured by his bloodline, restoring some of his lost energy. Just as he was restoring his energy, the metallic orb exploded with a loud sound, sharp fragments pelting the ruined land and Liang Chen, several gashes spreading across his body.

Qian Liao stood in the air where the orb had been, his body somewhat bent as blood poured out from several large cracks in his body. Two large black horns had grown out from the sides of his head, his eyes turning pitch black as a scale-like pattern had spread over his entire body. His scarlet halberd was radiating a scarlet light that was slowly fading so it seemed to have something to do with the explosion, it was clearly a rather excellent weapon. Some blood leaked out from the corners of Qian Liao's mouth as he looked at Liang Chen, a few curses escaping his mouth.

"You really are a fucking pain in the ass, aren't you? I'd read about you doing this shit once before, but it sure as hell didn't sound that strong back then. And that cursed blood of yours, did you steal a copy of our races' sacred cultivation techniques? Even if you did, those should only work for people of our races so you shouldn't be able to cultivate it, mind filling me in on what the fuck's going on? Also, what the fuck is up with your law of death, huh? You just got it a month ago, there is no fucking way that it should be strong enough to perfectly neutralize my own law of death, what sort of tricks are you pulling?"

What Qian Liao didn't know was that Liang Chen didn't have to perfectly neutralize his law of death, he just had to weaken it enough so that his bloodline could devour it. That was simply what Liang Chen and most other Sebettu of the same bloodline purity were, the natural enemy of every being that used any of the same elements as them.

Liang Chen swiped his interspatial ring and took out another spear, the previous one he had let go of had been sucked up along with everything else metal. Qian Liao descended to the ground with a heavy thud, dashing at Liang Chen while brandishing his halberd, the air around it vibrating as a faint scarlet light started to emerge inside the head of the halberd.

A fine silver fog consisting of minuscule metal shards appeared around Liang Chen, obscuring his vision while also slicing up his skin and forcing him to hold his breath. He tried to blow it away with some wind, but each shard was quite a bit heavier than it looked so blowing away the entire fog wasn't a plausible option. Qian Liao had also crushed the electric current that Liang Chen had set up in his body, so he couldn't immediately turn him into a magnet again.

Liang Chen tried to dash back, but a dense wall of spears sprouted from the fog and pushed at him, extending at least four kilometers into the air so that he couldn't immediately vault over it. Liang Chen clicked his tongue and then charged forward, meeting Qian Liao with spear in hand.

Qian Liao swept out with his halberd, the hammerhead part of it aiming directly for the side of Liang Chen's chest. The head flashed with a red light and sped up drastically again, but now that Liang Chen had been somewhat prepared he was able to react, slamming the butt of his spear down onto the halberd.

But just as the spear and halberd made contact, Liang Chen felt a trembling pain assault his arm, the halberd had contained far more power and weight than it had previously. The spear managed to push the halberd down somewhat, but the lower half of the spear fell apart as a result. The halberd crashed into the side of Liang Chen's abdomen, blood and some minced pieces of meat rushing up Liang Chen's throat and out of his mouth.

Liang Chen let go of the ruined spear and reached out with both arms, his left one heading for Qian Liao's remaining good eye while the other one headed for Qian Liao's waist. Qian Liao quickly had two of his arms let go of the halberd and had both of them stretch towards the closest arm, the one heading for his eye, blocking it before it could reach his face.

He grit his teeth slightly as a sizzling sound sounded from his two arms, his exoskeleton starting to painfully melt as Liang Chen's hand unleashed a white, powder-like poison. But just as he started to counteract the poison by sucking up some of the lifeforce in the surrounding area, he saw an ever so faint smirk on Liang Chen's lips.

His gaze immediately lowered, landing on Liang Chen's other hand, which had already reached the wound on his waist. The wound had only been a small stab wound earlier, yet it had now grown so large that Liang Chen should be able to squeeze his entire hand in there if he just used enough force. Even worse, it had been completely painless, so Qian Liao only now noticed that the wound had grown, he didn't even know just how it happened.

Liang Chen stuck his hand into the wound, which had grown larger and larger thanks to the law of rot that Liang Chen had applied to the first attack, the poison accompanying it had only existed to draw Qian Liao's attention away from the fact that his wound was rotting. His hand pierced into Qian Liao's abdomen and grabbed a hold of the first thing it came in contact with, his liver.

Liang Chen's law of time flooded into Qian Liao's liver before he got the chance to protect it, causing it to rapidly wither and age, turning gray and wrinkly in less than a split second. Dizzying nausea assaulted Qian Liao as his liver reached the end of its lifespan and thus died, the nausea so bad that he could taste vomit making its way up his throat. He quickly swallowed the vomit and let go of his halberd with his two other arms, which then quickly formed fists that crashed into Liang Chen's chest, a cracking sound resounding from his ribs.

Liang Chen quickly stretched out the arm that had been poisoning Qian Liao's two other arms as he flew backward, grabbing onto the dropped halberd and dragging it along with him as he soared backward and crashed through two crystalline trees. He quickly stopped himself from flying back further, stabilizing his and tightly grasping the halberd.

But strangely enough, just as he raised his head to look at Qian Liao again, the halberd dissipated into blood, which then quickly flew back to Qian Liao and reshaped itself into the halberd in his grasp. Liang Chen couldn't help but click his tongue, rubbing his chest lightly as a bolt of lightning struck his back.

"Tch, figures that there had to be some bullshit about it."

Liang Chen swiped his interspatial ring and took out another spear, clicking his tongue once more when he compared his weapon to Qian Liao's. But he could only shake his head and focus on the fight ahead, there was also the fact that what weapon he was using wasn't terribly important to him when he considered how he planned on ending this fight. He narrowed his eyes slightly while looking at Qian Liao, a silent mutter only he could hear escaping his lips.

"Well, I guess it's about time."

Liang Chen's legs tensed up, his veins bulging as he gathered more and more energy, bolt after bolt of lightning crashing into his body and making sure that his energy reserves didn't run dry. The wind and lightning in the area started to gather around him again, forming a tornado at his back that was slowly getting stronger and stronger, a strange calm covering the area thanks to the fact that the tornado was sucking in everything.

Qian Liao tightly grasped his halberd, a red light flowing up the handle and gathering in the head, the air around it starting to vibrate due to the force gathered in it, the earth below it even starting to sink down. He couldn't tell what Liang Chen was planning, but his instincts screamed at him that this was the moment that would decide the battle, life or death.

Liang Chen was the one to make the first move, the already ruined earth beneath his feet shattering even further as he shot forward at his second fastest speed. Qian Liao put all his focus on the incoming Liang Chen, sweeping out with his halberd as if he was trying to split the horizon.

A minuscule black line was drawn as the halberd swung out, a screeching sound erupting as the gathered force in the halberd tore apart space itself for a split second. Liang Chen charged forward without fear, his speed suddenly increasing just as the head of the halberd was about to crash into his chest. Up until now, he had yet to use his law of time on himself to reach his greatest speed, all for this moment.

The handle of the halberd still crashed into the side of his chest, leaving a fist deep indent in his chest and even causing his right lung to collapse, but he had already stepped into Qian Liao's bosom. The spear in his grasp stabbed out, Liang Chen making it a point to speak out loudly as the tornado behind him sank into his body and was transferred to his spear.

"Second step splits the waterfall."

The tip of his spear touched Qian Liao's chest and unleashed the tornado that had gathered within it, the spear disintegrating under the gathered force. Wind and lightning gathered together into a single brown bolt of lightning shot forward, tearing a watermelon-sized hole in Qian Liao's chest before continuing forward for the next four kilometers, gouging a watermelon-wide tear in the land.

Qian Liao's eyes flickered as he forced himself to remain conscious, a black mist rising up from the ground and flooding into his body. But before the lifeforce he drained from the land could heal his wounds, Liang Chen interfered, using his own law of death as well as the law of rot to ruin not just the absorbed lifeforce, but even any trace of lifeforce in the surrounding three-kilometer area, turning it into a land of death.

Since his wounds were so severe, and he didn't have the time to run out of the land of death that had just been created, Qian Liao tapped into the energy that his body cultivation gave him, his wounds starting to rapidly heal, at the cost of a great deal of energy. But this was just the moment Liang Chen had been waiting for, the one he had been working to create, the moment where Qian Liao had nothing else but his own energy to rely on.

Liang Chen stomped the ground and sucked in a deep breath, ignoring his collapsed lung, which ached so intensely that not even numbing his sense of pain could dull it. He stomped the ground and punched upward with his right arm, his fist crashing into Qian Liao's currently healing chest. Qian Liao had endured the first attack, which had gotten far more time to charge up, so he thought he should be able to resist this attack as well. But as his fist collided with Qian Liao's chest, a silent voice resounded within Liang Chen's heart.

"Third step shatters mortality."

All the energy in Liang Chen's body was drained in one go, his face turning as pale as a sheet of paper. But despite the extreme drain of energy, there was no great explosion or blinding light, Qian Liao's chest didn't even sink inward slightly. But in the instant Liang Chen's attack was unleashed, Qian Liao felt the icy dread of death wash over him, seeping into his very soul and core.

A gray and ethereal energy flooded into Qian Liao's soul with unstoppable force, eating away at it at a pace so rapid that Qian Liao was able to watch his own soul die. He tried to use his law of death to stop the attack, but the ethereal energy simply ate up his law of death and used it to grow even stronger, resulting in his soul dying even faster. The gray energy was a fusion of poison, rot, death, and time, all amplified by the Dragon Lord's Three Steps.

The Fiendgod race had notoriously weak souls, and now that all his focus had been on using his energy to heal his body, even the strong Qian Liao had no response to the attack. Qian Liao could feel his life leave his body and knew that death was coming for him, he could feel its icy grip on his throat, dragging at him.

As he rapidly got weaker and weaker, his gaze landed on the pale Liang Chen, whose eyes still remained as cold and calm as they had been at the start of the battle. Qian Liao's hand moved up to his chest, where his heart should be, and dug into it. He pulled out a red bead covered in runes so small they almost looked like dust, a weak and almost delirious laughter escaping his lips as he held the orb towards Liang Chen.

"Hehehe... Seems I didn't deserve... To be called the...The Embodiment of death... It suits you much better... I wonder if... You'll become a Ruler... Will it be of Sin, or of Virtue? Hehehe...fear it, universe... A dread king is hiding... amongst your cultivators..."

Qian Liao's body lost all remaining strength and collapsed to the ground, his soul reduced to nothing but a faint mist of lethal energy that was sucked into Liang Chen's body, marking the end of the battle, and the death of the current Lord of Justice.