Chapter Seventy-Four: Integration

The Holy King of the Bright Moon watched numbly as Liu Tian cleaved through the ranks of the Dreamshaper Beasts as easily as slicing melons and cutting vegetables. This was not to say that the Dreamshaper Beast horde was weak; even on their home ground, they fell like cabbages beneath his blade. Blue Dream Corporation truly lived up to its reputation as his greatest adversary. If he had faced this journey alone, he would have perished several times over. There were places that, even as Liu Tian passed through, the Holy King could not fathom how he himself would survive.

Relying on ancient technology, Blue Dream Corporation had seized half the pharmaceutical industry and, for over a decade, had effectively ruled the world’s top warrior, Bai Cinan. Their arsenal did not disappoint—some weapons, only found in the elite units of the military, were commonplace in this base. There were sniper cannons whose bullets could pierce tanks in succession, Gatling guns with a firing rate of six thousand rounds per minute, infrared-triggered mines, and more.

Yet, as Liu Tian had already deduced, all of humanity’s weapons to date were designed either for agile but lightly armored human bodies or for massive targets. These armaments, invincible on the battlefield, proved inadequate against Liu Tian—the most powerful lifeform in five thousand years. There were indeed weapons capable of breaching his defenses, but their activation mechanisms were slower than Liu Tian’s movement even in a non-serious state.

High-powered weapons were left to eat Liu Tian’s dust, while lesser ones met his face head-on or were used on an unlucky Dreamshaper Beast to test their effect. Aside from tearing his clothes, these weapons could do nothing else. This unrivaled powerhouse, Liu Tian, strolled through the base as if walking in a garden, trampling all beneath his feet.

“Roughly five thousand meters down,” he estimated, as the passage finally came to an end. Recalling the path he’d taken, Liu Tian made a quick calculation of the base’s depth. As they drew closer to their destination, the prism he carried glowed with a white light as bright as an incandescent lamp, its heat surpassing a hundred degrees Celsius—enough for even Liu Tian to feel it.

A scorching sensation crept over him, but having fused countless martial secrets into his Heavenly Martial Way, his constitution had long since adapted, increasing his heat tolerance and thermal conductivity. He dissipated the heat with his internal energy and endured.

“Welcome to the deepest heart of Blue Dream Corporation,” greeted a man with white hair and eyebrows, a handsome face, and arms spread wide as if to embrace them. His tailored suit could not hide his streamlined muscles, and the hint of a smile at his lips lent him an air of mystery. If ever a domineering CEO drama needed casting, this man alone would guarantee high ratings.

Behind him, thirty men knelt on one knee. Each bore a striking resemblance to Bai Cinan, differing only in aura, dressed in sleeveless shirts and draped in massive cloaks. It was clear—this was the leader of Blue Dream Corporation: Blue Dream himself.

Yet Liu Tian’s gaze swept past them, fixated on the massive glass case behind, within which another prism glowed with brilliant white light. Both his primary and secondary objectives were before him. He refrained from acting immediately, for he sensed that, in terms of raw physical prowess, none of these thirty-one men were inferior to Bai Cinan. Accounting for differences in martial comprehension, each of them was still worth at least ten Bai Cinans.

Such power was unlike the previous waves of Dreamshaper Beasts, whom he had dispatched with ease. These men could present a real challenge. If they fought to the death while detonating a possible nuclear device, even Liu Tian might not escape unscathed.

Nuclear weapons—the ultimate instruments of destruction he’d heard of in his past life and witnessed with his own eyes in this one—could still deal him fatal harm within a five-hundred-meter radius of ground zero. To escape that range would require one second—a second that would decide life and death.

Liu Tian waited quietly. Unnoticed by Blue Dream, a faint current spread from his bare feet as he probed for the presence of a nuclear device nearby. He detected an anomaly behind the wall where the prism was kept—a clear sign of something foreign. Was it a nuclear bomb? Another doomsday weapon? Or merely a bluff?

Were it mere World War II technology, Liu Tian would not be so cautious. However, the lost empire’s existence gave him pause, wary of some black technology unearthed from that ancient civilization. Victory was but a step away, and he had no wish to die inexplicably.

Countless thoughts raced through his mind. Dozens of plans formed and were dismissed. Before he could decide, an inexplicable sensation made him look upward, as if he could see the starry sky through the metallic layers of the base.

Affected by his mood, the Holy King, who had intended to speak, fell silent and waited quietly.

“Four waves of Dreamshaper Beasts—fourteen thousand strong,” Blue Dream said, breaking the silence, “My legion of fourteen thousand, powerful enough to topple a nation, rivaling the standing armies of the three great empires, couldn't even hold you back for ten minutes. Your power is astounding—godlike, almost demonic!” With that, Blue Dream knelt on one knee, hand over heart. “If you’re willing to make peace, I will serve you, dedicating everything to help you rule this planet. Nothing on this world could stand against us united.”

“Even if the gods themselves descended from the heavens, they would bow before you. You would become the King of All Gods, leading humankind—doomed as we are—to a brighter future. If you doubt my sincerity, I am willing to accept any test, any binding oath,” Blue Dream continued, seeing Liu Tian neither refuse nor act, still gazing skyward.

“Heaven and Earth, you alone reign supreme!”

“If you truly mean it, throw me the prism behind you and show your sincerity.” At last, Liu Tian spoke. “If you think about it, there’s really no deep-seated hatred between us. Your grudge is with Bai Cinan, your empathy lies with Master Tiandao. I myself have no real stake here. I believe we can make peace—as long as you give me the prism behind you. That’s the sole reason I’ve come.”

“Perhaps afterward, we could even sit down and talk—discuss that blue dream of yours.”

What?

The Holy King was first incredulous at Liu Tian’s words; then, as realization dawned, his face turned pale and he instinctively tried to retreat. But before he could move, a sudden change occurred: several beams of white light shot down from the sky, piercing thousands of meters into the earth in an instant.

At once, the prisms—one attached to Liu Tian, the other stored in the glass case—flew toward the center, fusing together in the blink of an eye. The speed was such that even Liu Tian, with his extraordinary reflexes, could not react. It was as if the scene had simply changed: one moment, the prisms were separate; the next, they were one.

But one thing he did notice—the fully fused prism had left the hundred-meter range of that foreign object.

Boom!

There was no longer any need to hold back. With a thought, two hundred source points vanished in an instant, and the Heavenly Martial Way ascended to a new level.

As his cultivation soared, so too did his physical capabilities. The current, once stuck at five hundred thousand volts, skyrocketed.

Five hundred fifty thousand, six hundred thousand, six hundred fifty thousand, seven hundred thousand!

Seven hundred thousand volts—Lightning Step, Shadow Dragon’s Ultimate Art—Phantom Form.

In that moment, Liu Tian’s top speed surged by at least twenty percent. Countless afterimages, carried by the electric current, appeared in all directions, masking his true form.