Chapter 1708: Real Skill

As the power of judgment streaked across the sky.

The massive glass trophy was instantly erased by an invisible force of deconstruction. It didn't explode or shatter; it simply vanished completely... not even a tiny shard of glass remained.

And the moment Han Meng erased the glass trophy, the "sun" emitting light in the Imaginary Number World also disappeared.

Endless darkness shrouded the Imaginary Number World. All light paths leading to this world were cut off. It was like a sealed black box where one couldn't even see their own palm held right in front of their face.

As the world plunged into pitch blackness, Lord Lingxu's pupils contracted slightly...

Even though he was trying his best to suppress it, his breathing became slightly heavy. The formulas he had repeatedly applied to Chen Ling vanished for a split second along with a brief blankness in his mind.

It was this brief gap that Chen Ling grasped precisely. He leaped up in an instant, his ruby-like eyes seemingly reflecting the last glimmer of light in this world.

The disappearance of light also rendered all formulas that distorted light ineffective. Relying on his senses, Chen Ling slashed upward with his blade!

The next second,

Warm blood dripped onto Chen Ling's cheek.

Chen Ling knew he had bet correctly...

He didn't know how much this strike had injured Lord Lingxu, but it was undoubtedly the first time Chen Ling had wounded his opponent since the battle began.

After a muffled groan sounded from above, the sharp pain seemed to awaken Lord Lingxu's reason. With a flick of his fingers, a massive fireball bloomed from the darkness, acting like a temporary sun and releasing light and heat.

Under the light of the fireball, Chen Ling finally saw Lord Lingxu's current state. A bloody slash ran from his shoulder to his opposite ribs, the gory blade wound overlapping with the embroidery needle wounds. Blood gushed out incessantly, soaking his monk's robe.

Not only that, but under the effect of the poison Chen Ling had prepared in advance, a black tint began to spread from the wound. However, Lord Lingxu seemed to have anticipated this and immediately stagnated the blood flow in that area, preventing the poison from spreading.

"How did you know..."

Under the burning fireball, Lord Lingxu's features were obscured by shadows, but the astonishment in his eyes as he looked at Chen Ling was hard to hide.

He wasn't surprised that Chen Ling could land a hit; that was purely Chen Ling's luck in the darkness... He just didn't understand how Chen Ling seemed to have colluded with people outside before entering, specifically to seal off the light here.

How did Chen Ling know he feared the darkness?

Then, he seemed to realize something:

"So that's it... It seems the 'me' of the next world... trusts you very much."

"The 'you' of the next world is much more reliable than the current you," Chen Ling said calmly.

Having landed a hit, Chen Ling didn't relax. Instead, he seized the opportunity, charging toward Lord Lingxu while letting a massive amount of red paper extend from his body, turning into giant hands that blotted out the sky to grab at the burning fireball!

Without a continuous light source from the outside, the illumination from these fireballs was always brief. Chen Ling had to create another opportunity to distract Lord Lingxu just like before. After all, Lord Lingxu was simply too strong; only by finding flaws could he truly hurt him.

But Lord Lingxu had already realized this and wouldn't easily let Chen Ling have his way. The moment the giant red paper hands were about to touch the fireball, it flared up again, the extreme heat instantly annihilating a large amount of red paper into nothingness...

At the same time, another burning fireball erupted from the darkness.

Two figures shuttled back and forth in the Imaginary Number World, balls of blazing suns exploding beside them. Black and red tides seemed to drown everything... Rules and formulas were constantly created and negated. This was a peak showdown belonging solely to order and disorder.

However, Han Meng and the others could no longer see the battlefield. Having lost all light sources, they couldn't observe anything in the Imaginary Number World and could only pray for Chen Ling in their hearts...

"Pfft—"

Whether it was the embroidery needles, the radiation, or the combination of blade wounds and poison, Lord Lingxu's body seemed to have reached its limit. After coughing up a mouthful of blood, his speed slowed down significantly, visible to the naked eye.

Chen Ling's figure seemed to transcend dimensions, moving at high speed through the shadows of the constantly erupting and vanishing fireballs. Holding his bone-carving knife like a ghostly red butterfly, he slashed at Lord Lingxu's neck from behind in an instant!

Lord Lingxu's consciousness was already somewhat blurred, but his combat instinct still allowed him to alter the speed formula at the first moment, while twisting his body to slap at Chen Ling's blade...

Only then did he realize that Chen Ling's blade was less than a millimeter away from touching his neck. In this peak showdown, even the slightest distraction would lead to terrifying consequences. Lord Lingxu's margin for error had been reduced to the absolute minimum!

Several fireballs burned in the void world. Under the flickering light, Chen Ling and Lord Lingxu's figures were closer than ever. Borrowing the nearby light, Chen Ling vaguely saw a sesame-sized speck on the tip of Lord Lingxu's nose...

White ash?

The moment he saw this speck of white ash, Chen Ling was slightly stunned.

At this moment, the smooth, round stone in his pocket vibrated gently, as if reminding Chen Ling of something.

Buzz—!!

Lord Lingxu struck out with a palm, various formulas manifesting and vanishing in his hand. Chen Ling negated them one after another, but in his distracted and overly exhausted state, a formula related to electromagnetism finally slipped past Chen Ling's negation.

A ball of deep blue lightning exploded in the Imaginary Number World. Chen Ling's figure was enveloped in a massive ball of lightning, flying backward at high speed!

The red paper that made up Chen Ling's body was now charred black, and his whole person emitted an indescribable burnt smell. If Chen Ling had been in his normal state, he probably would have died by now... but the massive surplus of red paper provided by the Red Star Willpower had absorbed much of the damage, so his main body was only severely injured.

Dense layers of red paper began to climb onto his body, replacing the flesh destroyed by the ball lightning. But before he could fully repair himself, a figure in a blood-stained monk's robe appeared above him.

Lord Lingxu was also exhausted to the extreme. He looked down at Chen Ling and spoke slowly:

"Even if you know my past weaknesses, so what?"

"The 'me' of now is no longer the 'me' of the past... Do you think you can beat me just with darkness? That once it gets dark, I'll fearfully beg for mercy?"

"Don't dream..."

"If you want to kill me, you'll have to bring out some real skill."

Lord Lingxu raised his hand and pointed at the void above. His voice sounded again:

"Before that, I can let you see... my 'real skill'."

The next second,

A tower, pure white and carved from countless perfect linear formulas, appeared out of thin air in the Imaginary Number World!