Su Ping smiled as he watched Luo Ying charging at him.
Game over.
Hum!
The void shook, and a strange force field emerged.
Luo Ying—who was no more than a hundred meters away from Su Ping—suddenly felt an odd feeling of restraint, as if he were enveloped in some sort of plastic membrane.
He immediately realized that it was a trap!
That restrictive feeling intensified before he was able to step back, turning from a soft cloud into an iron hand that grabbed his body tightly!
“Heavenly Fall!”
Right when Luo Ying was immobilized, the most dazzling sword aura illuminated the surrounding space and moved toward Luo Ying.
“This is impossible!”
Luo Ying had goosebumps all over his body; he could not help but roar and activate his constitution. The laws he had grasped also turned into acute, tearing forces, which were spreading from inside his body, attempting to tear the restraining force apart.
He was able to detect that the blocking force was based on laws!
However, those laws were unimaginably powerful!
How could anyone in the Fate State grasp such laws?
These laws are beyond perfect!
Boom!!
Luo Ying’s outburst failed to set him free, while Su Ping’s accelerated attacks had already reached him; he had to resist. The attacks landed and Luo Ying vomited blood, almost losing consciousness. He opened his eyes, and saw nothing but a red canvas.
Blood had burst out of his eyes and covered his entire face.
His wrist had been twisted into a weird angle, while broken bones pierced through his skin.
“You’ve lost.”
Su Ping dashed over at such a fast speed that it seemed as if it were a flash movement. Still, Luo Ying didn’t detect any spatial waves. The whole matter was bizarre.
Heavenly Fall!
Su Ping’s sword slashed down again, producing a swift sword aura that felt like a falling planet.
Luo Ying was already overwhelmed as it was; everything had gone beyond his wildest expectations. He had difficulty breathing upon seeing the horrifying sword aura; he summoned all his strength to control his body and break open that strange force field.
However, his body was extremely slow. Even his attempts at resisting had been slowed down.
Bang!!!
A golden sword aura illuminated the area, glowing like a star in the dark and boundless universe.
Luo Ying’s previously raised arm was gone!
Half of his body had also been vaporized into nothingness!
“Heavenly Fall!”
Su Ping attacked for the third time!
The attack made all the observers widen their eyes; none of them were able to believe what was going on.
Suddenly, someone spoke in a soft voice, “Stop!” The same entity extended one finger to block Su Ping’s sword at the same time.
The destructive and violent sword aura collapsed and disappeared, as if it would have slammed against a mountain.
However, Su Ping didn’t detect any counterforce; the whole exchange felt as if going against a cotton-like surface, which absorbed his attack in its entirety.
He then looked at the man who had appeared before him.
It was other than the Ascendant State referee who was in charge of the battlefield.
“You have won.”
The referee looked at Su Ping with astonished eyes. He wasn’t surprised by the power of Su Ping’s attack, but by the small world moving around him!
He was only a Fate State warrior, and yet he had already condensed a small world.
“It’s a small world!”
Inside the palace—the other Celestials were similarly surprised.
The scene was downright unbelievable. They were certain of Su Ping’s current cultivation, and yet the small world was real.
“To condense a small world while he’s still only a Fate State warrior. He’s an absolutely rare genius!”
An old man’s eyes glittered so brilliantly that nobody else could look straight at him.
A woman nearby also seemed to be overwhelmed by shock. She said, “It’s not fully developed yet, but it is an authentic small world. He can become a distinguished Star Lord immediately, as long as he wants to. He’ll be invincible in his cultivation category!”
“Well, well. It’s been so many years since we’ve seen a genius of such stature. Shen Huang, you also condensed a small world when you were in the Fate State, right?” another man asked Shen Huang.
The latter was equally shocked by Su Ping’s talent. The shock in his eyes was then masked, to answer with an indifferent tone, “I was only lucky.”
“Luck is part of your strength. Your disciple is quite lucky too,” someone said.
The others looked at Shen Huang with jealousy.
Earlier during the battles—although Su Ping and the others had been outstanding—they only had a slim chance of rising to the Celestial State; to be able to take such a grand step would involve an extreme amount of luck. Otherwise, their best outcome would be to reach the Heavenly Lord level.
However, while there were a lot of fortuitous encounters in the universe, very few could help an expert reach the Celestial ranks.
It had to be noted that all the Heavenly Lords had once been amazing talents, but they were still in the lookout for a chance to break into the Celestial State, despite countless years of searching.
It was a classic example of too many wolves and too little meat.
However, Su Ping had shown exceptional talent; he had at least a 50% chance of rising to the Celestial State!
Even if he was unable to make it, he would become an excellent Heavenly Lord, one with close proximity to the divider before the Celestial breakthrough!
Everybody was whispering inside the palace.
In outer space, however, everybody was silent.
All the Ascendant exerts were wide eyed, as if unable to believe what they had seen.
The Star Lords were also dazed; such a development was truly shocking.
As for the juniors who were there to watch the battle, including the other geniuses, all of them were confused. According to their estimations, Su Ping should have been completely unable to hurt Luo Ying who was too fast in comparison. How could the latter fail that quickly and brutally, ending up with half his body being cut apart?
He would have been killed if not for the Ascendant taking action in time!
“That’s… an undeveloped small world!”
In the crowd—Su Jin’er’s eyes widened. She was so shocked that she forgot to close her mouth.
In the sky—You Long was also stunned; Su Ping had truly shocked him this time. This well-known senior brother had not achieved a similar feat in the past!
He had been recognized as the best in the universe that year!
Inside the void battlefield—
Su Ping stopped attacking upon seeing the Ascendant intervene.
The referee then turned around and nurtured Luo Ying’s body with a gentle yet magnificent divine power, rebuilding his shattered body.
Luo Ying came back to his senses, then realized that he had failed. If not for the timely interruption, it would have been impossible for him to block Su Ping’s attack.
He had lost.
His heart was filled with discomfort and confusion.
“Why?”
While letting the Ascendant expert rebuild his body, he stared at Su Ping and asked, “Did you use a small world?”
Su Ping looked at him from the corner of his eye and nodded.
Luo Ying was shocked by the answer, then discarded the anger in his heart; all that was left was bitterness and confusion. He asked, “Can Fate State warriors condense small worlds too?”
Su Ping said, “They’re not allowed to?”
Nobody said they couldn’t.
Luo Ying was caught off guard by the question, as he couldn’t offer an answer.
Didn’t this mean that given enough time, Su Ping would be able to gather power of faith, and then brutalize people like them!?
So, that was the true Fate State bottleneck…
Luo Ying felt bitter. He had always thought that he was at the very edge of the bottleneck, and that the things that mattered were battle experience and natural advantages.
After all, they couldn’t have worked any harder.
He had barely realized that there was another road beyond!
“I admit defeat,” said Luo Ying after a long time of silence.
Seeing how frustrated he was, Su Ping said without giving it much thought, “Keep it up.”
The man was a rare opponent. He admired people like him; it wasn’t easy for them to reach that step.
Luo Ying shivered upon hearing that answer, then looked up at him. However, he saw no mockery in Su Ping’s eyes; there was only sincere encouragement and friendliness. He felt warm, so he put on a smile too. “I will. Let’s fight again when we break into the Star Lord rank or the Ascendant State.
“Although you’ve condensed a small world in advance, I believe that mine will be even more powerful!”
His eyes were once again filled with confidence as he talked.
Su Ping smiled. “Let’s wait and find out.”
The Ascendant expert had already rebuilt Luo Ying’s body. Having seen that they didn’t turn into enemies because of the contest, he smiled and said, “You are worthy opponents for each other. I hope that you use this chance to chase and strengthen each other; the future of humankind depends on people like you!”
Luo Ying smiled casually, becoming his usual, proud self.
Su Ping remembered the battlefield upon hearing that. He had killed void beasts back then, and the world that the Twilight Deity King had locked with his body; he suddenly felt heavy.
The Ascendant expert mentioned humankind and the future. It was obvious that the situation wasn’t very promising for the human race.
The voices in deeper spaces… The monsters that ancient heroes sacrificed themselves to kill… Are they still alive? Su Ping wondered.
At that moment, the Ascendant expert announced the result loudly, “I hereby announce that the champion of this year’s Universe Geniuses Contest is Su Ping!
“He is from Silvy, a galaxy in the Golden Star Zone!”
His voice echoed in space, making the whole area seem unusually quiet.
Everybody started to seethe after a moment of silence.
Su Ping won the last battle!
“Even the fastest constitution of the universe failed!”
“He’s so strong. Is this what the king of geniuses should be like?”
“It’s true that there’s an obvious gap between us and the best. We can only admit defeat!”
Many geniuses remarked in mixed feelings.
Six Lives Buddha smiled bitterly after a long time passed, then mumbled, “I didn’t realize that he had hidden such a skill, even going so far as to condense a small world while still being a Fate State warrior. Why did such an idea never occur to me? What a monster…”
“A small world…”
The other top geniuses were finally able to recover from their shock, then they looked at Su Ping in shock.
This meant that even Star Lords would have to try very hard if they wanted to kill Su Ping!
Once the latter gathered the power of faith in his small world, he would be as strong as a Star Lord!
This meant that Su Ping would be safe from then on, unless an Ascendant attacked him!
However, which Ascendant would try to kill him?
Su Ping had a Celestial State backer; killing Su Ping was tantamount to dying soon!
Even the big organizations were unwilling to trade an Ascendant for Su Ping’s life! They would not be as reluctant to sacrifice a Star Lord if needed, since there were too many of them in the vast universe.
A sacred beam of light appeared outside of the palace once the official announcement was made. Following that, an illusion with a size as big as a planet emerged.
The illusion was produced by none other than Mu Shen, who smiled and said, “The champion of this Universe Geniuses’ Contest is Su Ping from the Planet of Origin. He has condensed a small world, grasped a hundred laws, and mastered an unknown constitution while still being at the Fate State realm. I hereby announce that Su Ping will receive a Tier Seven Identity for Fate State warriors.
“In addition, he will have the privilege to pick three Heaven-level treasures from the Heavenly Star Pavilion.
“He will also be admitted by the Divine Dome Academy, the best academy of the Federation, as a special student!”
His words were spread to every corner of the space; the expert spoke in a friendly and gentle way. Still, everybody’s hearts were pounding. They could not help but feel awe.
“An Tier Seven Identity? Oh my god. That’s a category exclusive for the Ascendant experts!”
“It’s also given to those who have made remarkable achievements!”
“Doesn’t this mean that all practitioners below the Ascendant State in the Federation have to lower their heads to him?”
“The Heavenly Star Pavilion is an ancient place where you can find countless treasures; you can find the best items in the universe there. He’ll get to pick three of them? That’s unbelievable!”
“The prizes for the best are indeed generous, let alone having access to the Divine Sea Mysterious Realm!”
Outside the palace—all the different organizations were in shock. The geniuses who had failed were also surprised and jealous.
Luo Ying licked his lips, tempted by the winner’s prizes; but in the end, he could only heave a sigh, knowing he could not beat Su Ping.
Su Ping searched for relevant information via his watch after hearing the announcement.
He had never heard about the prizes.
He was truly surprised after reading the search results. The most precious prize was the privilege of picking three top-tier treasures in the Heavenly Star Pavilion!
The Heaven-level treasures include Ascendant State puppets? He was shocked and delighted, since he would have a chance to pick such treasures.