PS: Damn, the internet was down for five days this week, dizzying.
The two new investments from the masters brought him two new buffs, one for a Strength +5%, and another to summon a Shield in battle that can block any form of attack once.
A single buff is already quite substantial, it could directly reverse the outcome of a battle when the difference in strength isn’t too great. And with a bunch of buffs, one’s victory rate would definitely be higher given the same level of strength.
The third round opponent was Abarta from the Human Race, one of the only two Rank 8 Evolvers from the humans’ side who had won all twelve battles he fought. By now, his evolution degree had reached over seventy to eighty percent of Rank 8. Moreover, he was the Dominator from a world outside of the Chaos Territory, which means he held Powerful Divine Power. His evolution strength combined with his True Body strength, and adding on the five buffs from the five masters who favored him, his power was extremely formidable.
When he saw Lin Xiao as his opponent, Abarta was a bit surprised. With his arms crossed and floating high above, he looked down at him and said,
"I remember you. You’ve come a long way in such a short time. You’re quite good, but it’s a pity you’ve come too late."
"Late or not, we’ll see after the fight."
"Hahaha...."
Abarta laughed heartily,
"I know; you might be a strong entity in true form, or may possess supreme talents that allowed you to reach this point, but isn’t every formidable warrior up to here exceptional? Don’t they all have powerful talents? Your evolution degree is a whole major rank lower than mine; I don’t know what gives you so much confidence!"
Lin Xiao spoke with a poker face,
"You’ll find out soon enough."
Abarta didn’t get angry, just chuckled. As soon as the countdown ended, he pointed his hand forward.
Instantly, the world grew incredibly bright, enveloped in infinite light. Then Lin Xiao felt a slight sting on his skin, like the prick of a needle. However, the powerful Black Hole Talent absorbed all the damage.
In just a few seconds, all the meteorite fragments and dust floating in the surrounding void melted into the sky full of bright light, purifying everything. The entire world was swathed in this fiery light.
"Black Hole Shield!"
Buffing himself with a shield, Lin Xiao’s figure flickered, becoming a dark golden stream of light, rushing towards Abarta’s previous position, only to crash into nothing but a whirlwind-like storm of light, where the intensely hot light power crazily shredded him, causing his Black Hole Shield to shake violently.
Lin Xiao remained still, allowing the terrifying storm of light to lash furiously against him. A few seconds later...
"Bang!"
The Black Hole Shield, overloaded with absorbed damage, burst, and all the accumulated energy exploded outwards, turning into a powerful surge that tore apart the storm of light, scattering it in all directions.
"Found you!"
Sensing the existence touched by the surging flow from the Black Hole Shield explosion, Lin Xiao’s Time Roaming flashed, and he appeared behind Abarta, drawing his sword to slash thousands of times as fast as lightning.
When the time bubble ended and exploded, Abarta was blasted to smithereens.
"Hmm? A fake?"
The disintegrated Abarta instantly became countless light spots merging into the bright sky - it was a false body.
Suddenly, he sensed something and turned his head to find, over two thousand meters away, Abarta reformed by the convergence of numerous light spots, his face full of surprise as he asked,
"Is this the Time Law?"
Lin Xiao did not answer, merely Time Roaming again to lock onto Abarta, and in an instant, thousands of strikes collapsed that incarnation, but just like before, Abarta reappeared thousands of meters away, laughing loudly,
"Light endures forever, I am eternally indestructible!"
His body collapsed, and the brightness of the void’s light increased again. Heat and Purification, high temperature and incineration, and other light-related laws crazily interacted with this area, even causing the void itself to begin distorting. Lin Xiao endured the most direct attack of Abarta’s amidst temperatures comparable to the interior of a star.
As the continuous attacks effected, the passive skill Unstable Current activated, and bolts of lightning pulses explosively scattered from him as the center, yet he was continuously unable to sense Abarta’s existence.
Or rather, while he could feel Abarta’s presence, those were transient Incarnations he had condensed, not his True Body.
"You are no match for me!"
The voice of Abarta rang in his ears:
"I am the incarnation of light; as long as there is light, I am eternal and indestructible!"
Lin Xiao focused quietly, observing the surroundings. This type of ability was indeed quite restraining for him.
Of course, that wasn’t to say that Abarta was stronger than him in any significant way. The law of time had always been supreme, but the problem was the inability to locate the opponent. The light covered a range of up to dozens of kilometers, whereas his maximum range of LV3 Time Stasis Field currently only covered a radius of one thousand meters, making it difficult to affect the other.
Unfortunately, he was just one opponent away from evolving to Rank 8. Lin Xiao had a premonition that once he evolved to Rank 8, both the Power of Time and the Black Hole abilities would undergo tremendous changes, and he would definitely find a way to deal with this kind of opponent by then.
But in this world, there was no room for ’what ifs’. What’s not there, simply wasn’t there.
Luckily, for the moment, Abarta was equally unable to affect him. With such widespread damage, it was bound to be diluted, and it didn’t even reach the upper limit of his Black Hole’s Damage Absorption; neither could do much about the other.
Thus, the standoff continued. Lin Xiao stood silently in the air, quietly enduring the purification and burning of Abarta’s power of light without moving.
He was waiting to see if Abarta would reveal any flaws.
Abarta, of course, knew what he was thinking and was also patient enough not to show any flaws, continuously activating the power of light to wear him down.
As time passed, many opponents gradually determined the victors, and soon, the majority of the hundred-odd opponents had decided their matches, with most Evolvers dying in battle and becoming nourishment for their opponents’ growth, more and more contestants evolved to Rank 8 in this round.
By now, all the Evolvers who had won their battles in this round had evolved to Rank 8, with none below Rank 7.
At a certain location in space, Zhuo Jing stood silently in the air, exhaling a breath, a pale face showing a bitter smile as she touched her chest, murmuring to herself:
"I’m sorry! I’m no match for him!"
Lifting her eyelids, she looked toward the claw entwined with dark energy that she was pressing down, determination flickering in her eyes. With a thought, her body disintegrated into a sky full of crystal lights and shattered.
"Boom!"
The claw clutched at empty air; her opponent, revealing its form as a ferocious demon hundreds of meters tall, with surging flames spewing from its pupils, showed a hint of surprise:
"Where did she go?"
The demon wings, large enough to blot out the sky, unfolded, and endless demonic flames burst forth, rapidly spreading to cover more than ten kilometers.
At the same time, Lin Xiao, who had been closing his eyes and standing quietly in the void, suddenly opened his eyes sharply, pressing his hand against his chest with a flash of pain in his eyes.
He was well aware that just a moment ago, Zhuo Jing had died in battle. Sacrificing her Fate Talent at the moment of her death, he could clearly feel the emergence of a very miraculous power within him, out of nowhere.
As she had said earlier, her sacrifice would cause one of his talents to undergo a qualitative metamorphosis.
Now was not the time for sentimentality. Suppressing the sorrow in his heart, Lin Xiao took a deep breath, opened his panel, and his gaze landed... on the Black Hole Talent.
If it had been before, he would have definitely chosen to transform the Heart of Time, his core talent. But today’s opponent made him realize there was a significant flaw in his way of fighting—he was unable to deal with enemies like Abarta, who couldn’t be locked on to.
Selecting any skill associated with the law of time wouldn’t achieve this, but the Black Hole Talent could.
With a thought, the special energy Zhuo Jing had obtained from her sacrifice poured into the Black Hole Talent, and almost instantly, a wave emanated, a faint gravitational force appeared on his body, drawing the surrounding light energy into him.
Seconds later, the gravitational force swiftly amplified, growing stronger and stronger, attracting and devouring large quantities of light.
Talent: Damage Absorption (Black Hole), absorbs all types of damage equivalent to one’s own strength, immune to all restricting effects.
Effect One: Gain a Black Hole Shield, bestow a Black Hole Shield of equivalent durability to oneself or other targets, dispel all negative buffs, and restore all statuses; if the shield takes damage exceeding its limit or lasts for two minutes, the shield explodes, creating a shockwave and inflicting damage to all enemies within a 500-meter radius equivalent to the total absorbed damage.
Effect Two: Open a Black Hole, devouring everything around, with gravitational strength and range continually increasing over time.
As the space centered around Lin Xiao collapsed, continuously devouring the light, the powerful gravitational field of the Black Hole began to affect a larger expanse of space. Abarta, the incarnation of infinite light, began to get restless.
He was the incarnation of light, and this infinite light was himself. If all light was devoured by the Black Hole, he would naturally be devoured as well.
Although he could resist the gravity of the Black Hole, at least until the Black Hole fully deployed its power and reached its limit, he would have to reveal his True Body to do so, creating a paradox.
But he didn’t have much time to consider it. As the Black Hole’s gravitational pull grew stronger, he was forced to reveal his form, and a Giant of Light thousands of kilometers tall, a Tongtian, gathered from the endless light to resist the increasingly powerful pull of the Black Hole.
At the moment Abarta appeared, Lin Xiao emerged behind the Giant of Light, using Time Roaming to get behind it, and immediately deployed the Time Stasis Field, freezing the Giant of Light and the surrounding time.
He found Abarta’s True Body and dealt a blow with Shattered Time, rendering him crippled, then immediately harvested him on the spot.
```
Once they had a way to combat this kind of fighting method, the previously helpless enemy could be instantly killed.
After killing Abarta, a massive influx of evolution energy surged into his body, causing his evolution degree to skyrocket. He quickly surpassed the Rank 7 limit and stepped into Rank 8, with all his talents undergoing earth-shattering changes at that moment.
Rank 8 is the limit of the evolutionary journey, and beyond that lies the Rank 9 level of the Great Dominators. At this level, everyone’s talents reach their limits.
Although he didn’t experience a qualitative change through Zhuo Jing’s sacrifice like he did, the enhancement of his talents was still stronger than any previous advancements.
Name: Lin Xiao.
Race: Human???
Evolution: Rank 8 6.74%.
Talent: Heart of Time LV6, Time Roaming LV8, Time Lock LV6, Time Acceleration LV8, Time Dilation LV4, Time Stasis Field LV3, Time Control LV1, Shattered Time Seal LV3, Damage Absorption (Black Hole).
Skills: Unstable Current (Time).
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Evolution Strength: ???
Personal Strength: ???
Master of Time LV6: A portrayal of the Origin of the Time Law, allowing the wielder to master the Time Law, boosting the success rate of all probability-based talents or skills by +1000%, and enhancing all time-related talents or skills to varying degrees.
Time Roaming LV8: Traverse time in an invincible state to appear within a radius of one million meters around oneself, negating any damage received in the last 15 seconds and restoring oneself to the optimum state of the last 15 seconds, also gaining the effect of the current level’s Time Acceleration talent. Deals damage to any enemy targets in collision equal to 30 times one’s maximum power value, with an added 15-second mental stasis and 100% slowdown effect, and imposes a Time Lock effect on all enemies within a 150-meter diameter range of the landing point, lasting 1 second, usable thirty times per day.
Time Lock LV6: Has a 7% chance to lock the target with the Power of Time for 1 second during any attack, while entering a state of time bubble where time within the bubble accelerates by one hundred thousand times, each attack within the bubble deals additional Time Shock damage.
Time Acceleration LV8: When used on oneself, increases mental reaction and personal speed by 1000%; when used on an enemy, reduces the enemy’s mental reflex speed by 90% and personal speed by 90%, lasting effect spellcasting speed -1000%, usable fifty times per day.
Time Dilation LV4: Causes time dilation within a radius of 500 meters, gradually reducing the speed of all actions by enemies within the area, including movement, attacks, reactions, raising hands, and instinctive bodily responses, reaching a maximum reduction of up to 1000% within three seconds, lasting for 60 seconds, with a cooldown of 30 minutes.
Time Stasis Field LV3: Causes a time stasis within a radius of 5000 meters for 5 seconds, gaining the effect of the current level’s Time Acceleration and time bubble state within the time stasis barrier, usable three times per day.
Time Control LV1: Forces the target’s time to flow backwards or forwards at a rate of at least 100 times and up to 10,000 times the normal speed, continuously depleting the caster’s mental strength until it is exhausted or the spellcasting is voluntarily terminated, usable three times per day.
Shattered Time Seal LV3: Rewind the target’s time, travel to any period based on the target’s existence and alter history.
Talent: Damage Absorption (Black Hole), absorbs all types of damage equivalent to one’s own strength, immune to all restraining effects.
Effect one: Gains a Black Hole Shield, permanently grants self or other targets a Black Hole Shield equivalent to own vitality, dispelling all negative BOFFs and restoring all conditions, upon receiving damage exceeding the shield limit, the shield explodes into a shockwave dealing equivalent absorbed damage to all enemies within a 500-meter radius.
Effect two: Activates a black hole, devouring everything around, with the gravitational force and range increasing over time.
Upon reaching Rank 8, the might of the Time Law finally reached a certain limit, and now even without activating the black hole, he could easily kill Abarta.
The Time Law is supreme and has finally reached its apex at this stage.
The round ended, and those who survived were at the very least Rank 8, and Lin Xiao officially came under the scrutiny of many powerful figures. When he returned to the sphere, he immediately sensed no less than ten gazes upon him.
Although he had successfully evolved to Rank 8, Lin Xiao was not too thrilled, for Zhuo Jing was dead.
Even though they had only met in this world for a short time and their emotional bond wasn’t as deep as with Shen Yuexin and the others, she had followed him for a long time, and her death deeply saddened him.
Fortunately, she could be revived. As long as he survived till the end, he could simply travel up the River of Time and save her before she died.
But before that...
"I must reach the end!"
The fourth round began quickly, and the opponent came from the Beast Tribe, a golden-haired lion king, wearing a set of magnificent Gold Saint Cloth that, according to Lin Xiao’s observation, looked like it belonged to Aquarius.
This Beast King’s evolution degree was slightly higher than his, mastering the Rules of Strength and Flame, possessing tremendous strength capable of shaking space, and even able to move slowly within the Time Lock.
This was the first time Lin Xiao had seen someone able to move within a Time Lock, showing that sufficient strength could indeed change time.
According to Lin Xiao’s knowledge, some with Powerful Divine Power, even without mastering the Time Law, could forcibly exhibit behavior similar to the Time Law, such as peering into the River of Time, and so forth – like the well-known progenitors had dabbled in the surface of the Time Law.
```
Unfortunately, the power of this Golden-haired Lion King was still not strong enough, or rather, it was only slightly stronger than Lin Xiao; it could shake time, but that was all—it couldn’t go against the heavens and change fate.
Trapped within Time Lock and enduring a hundred thousand attacks, his Aquarius Gold Saint Cloth was completely shattered by two Gold hammers from the Libra Holy Clothes the Lion King wielded, leading to his swift assassination.
The fifth-round opponent, a near-human Other Race with almost infinite blinking abilities, could instantly jump to any position without any sound or spatial fluctuations and could pass through most barriers and fields, making it extremely tricky to deal with.
However, this barrier did not include the time barrier; Lin Xiao took advantage of the moment when his opponent blinked behind him to launch a sneak attack and immediately opened the Time Stasis Field, catching him in the act.
The result goes without saying; such an assassin-type player, once firmly captured, inevitably faced death. Four of the six BUFFs on his body designed to save his life could not help him.
The power from the Great Dominators indeed had the ability to break the Time Stasis Field, but the effect would be greatly reduced. After consuming two moves to escape the Time Stasis Field, Lin Xiao was already waiting at his landing point.
Besides, he was not the type like Abarta, whose incarnation of light couldn’t be locked on to. As long as Lin Xiao found the moment he appeared, one Time Shatter God Seal was enough to put him in a weakened state, easily taken care of.
An extremely challenging opponent, but unfortunately countered by Lin Xiao’s bloodline.
In the sixth round, a rare Great Arcane Mage with luxurious equipment and a series of high-level Legendary Spells was faced.
At first encounter, he unleashed a pre-prepared sequence of Legendary Spells, including a Time Stasis spell that was even more formidable than the Legendary Spells. In total, twenty-two Legendary Spells hit him in a flash.
This moment included a myriad of effects from the Legendary Spell sequence: direct damage, force field distortion, curses, instant death, and more, which caught Lin Xiao completely off guard.
It must be known that the Arcanist system is actually very impressive; a well-prepared Great Arcane Mage has the ability to slay gods within a True God’s Divine Kingdom, and a Rank 8 Evolver itself is equivalent to having Powerful Divine Power.
Though lacking a Divine Realm, accumulated Divine Power, Divine Artifacts, and their grasp of the Rules are discounted, but in terms of rank, it is still Powerful Divine Power by nature. Even Lin Xiao’s significant damage reduction couldn’t fully immunize him from this series of Legendary Spells; half of his body was torn apart by the twisted force field.
Although he restored himself through Time Roaming, the fierce burst of this spell sequence had to be acknowledged.
In the end, it took Lin Xiao a great deal of effort to defeat the opponent. The system of Arcanist was immensely expansive, and a powerful Great Arcane Mage was truly formidable. Even the Time Stasis Field couldn’t contain him; he escaped using some unknown Legendary Spell from within the Time Stasis Field.
After much difficulty, and using Time Roaming over a dozen times, Lin Xiao finally captured his True Body and killed him in one fell swoop.
By the end of the sixth round, nearly all the light spheres surrounding the arena had dimmed, leaving only a few points of light after one cycle.
As all fighters finished their battles in this round, the darkened Crystal light spheres disappeared one by one, soon leaving only fourteen light spheres, including Lin Xiao’s, still present, slowly drifting towards the center of the arena and gradually coming together.
Lin Xiao looked up in one direction, his eyes suddenly revealing a trace of surprise, then delight.
In the direction of his gaze, within a Crystal light sphere stood a lush Golden Ancient Tree, its branches laden with large golden leaves and dozens of Golden Fruits hanging amid the boughs, all encircled by a halo of gold.
The Golden Ancient Tree Avatar had also made it this far, something Lin Xiao had anticipated, but couldn’t be sure of; after all, those who make it to the last step are all supreme fighters, and there’s always a chance of an upset.
Now, seeing it with his own eyes, he was filled with nothing but joy.
At this point, the number of Great Dominators watching the ultimate arena from the outside exceeded the number of contestants themselves.
Fourteen players, sixty to seventy Great Dominators.
These Great Dominators included the great beings within the Chaos Territory, the ultimate champions from past Evolution Journeys, the super Chaos Creatures in the chaos, as well as Great Dominators from other worlds.
Though Great Dominators are rare at this level, there are still quite a number of them throughout the Chaos Sea of Void; nearly twenty in the Twisted Abyss alone, and the Wizard World likely has dozens of original beings.
It can’t be said that Great Dominators are abundant, but when one reaches this level of strength, previously unreachable beings are now often seen.
However, an occasion like this where sixty to seventy Great Dominators gather all at once is extremely rare; normally, not even a full-scale war between two powerful Divine Realms would draw together so many Great Dominators.
The many Great Dominators, whether True-Body Descend, Avatar Descend, or casting down a Projected Will etc, each chose the contestant they favored to place their bets on.
Some did it for small, amusing wagers, others made large bets to settle grudges.
At this moment, the fourteen chosen light spheres were very close, and one could already see the appearances of all the other contestants. Apart from Lin Xiao, a Human Race, the rest including the Golden Ancient Tree Avatar were Other Races never seen before. Yet one thing was the same: all were confident and self-assured.
The seventh round began, no longer starting fights simultaneously but pairing up to determine winners under the watchful eyes of the other contestants.
Lin Xiao was unlucky to be the first pair to enter; when he appeared on the stage, he faced a Super Ancient Dragon with six heads.
This dragon had six heads representing six different powers: flame, frost, deadly poison, lightning, force field, and magnetic field, coupled with the Dragon Race’s inherently mighty physique and strength, making it exceptionally formidable.