The instant he felt the murderous intent, Lu Yuan lost sight of Yin Muqing; even his Spiritual Power lock-on failed.

All he could do was instinctively thrust up his hands. Then...

BOOM!

A delicate fist, shimmering with a hazy glow, collided with a palm wreathed in white lightning. The impact unleashed a thunderous explosion, leaving behind a collapsing shadow in the air.

Lu Yuan stumbled back, spiderweb-like cracks spreading across the ground beneath his feet.

He was slightly astonished, casually shaking his mildly numb arm. Although he was mentally prepared, he hadn't anticipated the sheer ferocity of Yin Muqing's power.

In terms of pure Physical Strength, she completely suppressed him.

Moreover, he could sense that her force exertion technique was quite crude, relying mainly on the explosive power generated by the immense energy within her.

Yin Muqing is a woman, after all, and she's only opened two Star Caves. The Starry Sky Martial Path is truly domineering. Her physical body, tempered by cosmic energy, has already reached a state of being distinct from ordinary humans...

Lu Yuan estimated this level of power was comparable to achieving the second Break the Limit in both strength and physique.

Ordinary people could never hope to achieve a second Break the Limit through arduous cultivation or drug enhancements. A single Break the Limit was already the utmost boundary of life.

CRACK—

As these thoughts flashed through Lu Yuan's mind in an instant, Yin Muqing's fist struck again.

Her speed had clearly shattered the sound barrier. Each punch she threw created sonic booms akin to a hydrogen balloon exploding.

BOOM!

Caught off guard, Lu Yuan was fiercely punched in the chest.

He was sent flying backward like a cannonball.

Before he hit the ground, Yin Muqing's ghostly figure appeared behind him, followed by another punch.

This repeated several times. In less than a second, accompanied by sharp cracking sounds, Lu Yuan's body was battered about in mid-air like a pinball.

At the moment of the fourth mid-air tumble, time seemed to freeze for an instant.

Then, BOOM!

A viscous, distorted, transparent, and intangible force erupted from Lu Yuan's body.

Grandmaster Domain!

Instantly, Lu Yuan, still suspended in mid-air, became a blur.

Visible ripples spread out from him, creating numerous illusions, as if countless unseen figures were howling madly around him.

The power of his Grandmaster Domain forced Yin Muqing back, disrupting her attack rhythm and giving Lu Yuan a precious moment to catch his breath.

"Huff—"

Lu Yuan landed, looking at his body with a serious expression.

His chest, back, and several spots on his arms now bore deep, sunken imprints.

His fair, smooth skin rippled like mercury, the undulations quickly neutralizing the residual force in these indentations.

This was the first time... he'd been beaten up this badly by fists.

These few punches alone might have severely injured him, had it not been for the 'Skin Abyss' effect inherent to a Real Grandmaster's Body, which deflected most of the force.

"Hiss—"

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, and the sunken wounds on his body instantly filled and healed.

A trace of gold flickered deep within his clear eyes.

His Grandmaster Instinct flared!

BOOM!

Lu Yuan suddenly struck, his whip-like back kick perfectly intercepting Yin Muqing's fist.

WHOOSH— WHOOSH—

The shockwave from their collision stirred the air, whipping up a violent gale that made their clothes and hair flutter wildly.

Half a second later, their figures vanished simultaneously.

Then, as if teleporting, they would reappear in a different location accompanied by an explosive sound, still locked in combat.

CRACK!

BANG!

The two exchanged blows at a blinding pace, their movements like flashes of light and bolts of electricity, ethereal and illusory.

Thunderous booms repeatedly erupted across the battlefield.

After each boom, their figures would momentarily solidify before dissolving back into the air.

Lu Yuan exhaled lightly, fire-like golden glows flickering in his eyes.

It had been a long time since he had encountered an opponent like Yin Muqing in a purely physical confrontation.

She subjected him to pressure like a raging tempest.

WHIRR—WHIRR—

The Grandmaster Blood Sphere within Lu Yuan spun rapidly, his vital energy and blood surging like a tide throughout his body.

THRRRUMMM—

With his Grandmaster Force technique pushed to its limit, Lu Yuan could almost hear the resonant thrumming of his own muscle fibers as they continuously tensed and relaxed.

Yin Muqing was too fast.

So fast that even his Spiritual Power struggled to track her.

He could only entrust the fight to his instinct. He relied on his body's fine perception of the airflow and his brain's short-term analysis of the combat situation to determine her location.

The more Lu Yuan fought, the more invigorating he found it.

The golden glow in his eyes intensified.

He hadn't been a Martial Arts Grandmaster for long and had yet to face a worthy opponent.

Han Xun was too weak, while Yu Wentong was too strong.

Although he trained daily using the Grandmaster Meditation Battle, the true potential of a Real Grandmaster was far from being fully tapped.

The type and quality of the opponent mattered a lot!

Unquestionably, Yin Muqing was such a high-quality opponent.

This intense, fist-to-flesh battle had significantly developed both his Grandmaster Instinct and Grandmaster Force abilities.

Unwittingly, Lu Yuan startlingly discovered something.

His body had actually 'expanded,' and numerous strange phenomena manifested around him.

—The continuously activated Grandmaster Force kept his muscles in a prolonged state of high-speed vibration.

This caused his entire body to expand uniformly.

His originally lean and well-proportioned physique became as burly as a powerfully built man.

This vibrational force radiated from his skin, stirring up countless air currents, further amplified by the effects of his Platinum Universe Qi.

Lu Yuan now appeared to be simultaneously wielding white lightning and tempests. He resembled a divine king from ancient mythology, renowned for both power and beauty, with every strand of his hair crackling with destructive energy.

Lu Yuan suddenly had an inspiration, and his powerful form, wreathed in white lightning and storm, abruptly teleported.

He expertly intercepted Yin Muqing's flashing figure in an empty space.

He landed a brutal punch on her chest.

Yin Muqing grunted, her chest caving in as if from an internal explosion.

Before she could react, Lu Yuan's follow-up punches rained down on her neck, ribs, and abdomen...

Finally, another palm strike landed heavily on her forehead, producing a sound like cracking stone.

Yin Muqing didn't utter a sound as her graceful body was sent flying like a broken sack, crashing heavily to the ground.

She lay twisted on the ground, every pore in her body emitting a brilliant radiance, her eyes fixed fiercely on Lu Yuan.

Her vitality was incredibly tenacious.

Even under such grievous injuries, she didn't die immediately and even seemed capable of rising to fight again.

But in Lu Yuan's mind, this battle was already over.

PHEW—

Lu Yuan exhaled heavily, the golden light in his eyes disappearing.

His expanded physique, like a deflating balloon, vented copious amounts of white steam from every pore.

His body temperature was alarmingly high, and his skin was flushed red, like an overloaded machine burning hot.

Lu Yuan slowly regulated his condition while examining the Grandmaster Blood Sphere within him.

He found that after this battle, his Grandmaster Blood Sphere had shrunk by about a quarter.

This was a significant expenditure of energy.

It was primarily due to the overexertion of his Grandmaster Force.

For Lu Yuan, the gains from this battle were simply tremendous.

Not only had he gained a preliminary understanding of the Starry Sky Martial Path's combat prowess, but he had also unexpectedly developed an entirely new combat form.

Grandmaster.Overload Mode!

This was the name Lu Yuan gave to this state.

It was formed by pushing Grandmaster Force and Grandmaster Instinct to their utmost limits.

In this 'Overload Mode,' not only were his strength, speed, explosive power, and other abilities significantly enhanced, but his control over the battle situation also reached a new level.

However, it can't last long, or else it would cause continuous damage to the body...

The consumed portion of his Grandmaster Blood Sphere had been used to repair the minute injuries caused by the high-speed muscle vibrations during combat.

This was the reason for the name 'Overload'.

Watching Yin Muqing struggle to rise in the distance, Lu Yuan summarized his gains from the battle.

Yin Muqing, with her third-tier Spiritual Power and two opened Star Caves, surpasses me in all attributes. Without using Grandmaster Force, my strength is far inferior to hers. Her speed is incredible; I can't even track her shadow. The close combat relies entirely on the Grandmaster Instinct's deductions and predictions of the battle flow. Her Spiritual Power is at the third tier, rendering my Grandmaster Domain almost ineffective against her...

Yet, Lu Yuan stood here unharmed, and the fundamental reason for this outcome was singular—

Her techniques... are simply too crude!

Lu Yuan looked at Yin Muqing on the ground with a somewhat regretful expression.

Technique is a significant component of combat strength.

The Starry Sky Martial Path had granted Yin Muqing physical attributes beyond an ordinary person's imagination. Those two Star Caves within her were like super-powered nuclear reactors; every explosive burst of cosmic energy she unleashed was breathtakingly powerful.

However, her application of this power was remarkably clumsy.

At this moment, Lu Yuan finally felt a sliver of superiority stemming from the Pure Martial system.

In terms of combat skill, she isn't even qualified to carry the shoes for a true Martial Arts Grandmaster like me.

Perhaps Lord Tong's insistence that I reach Grandmaster first before formally cultivating the Starry Sky Martial Path was due to considerations like this.

Lu Yuan once again appreciated Lord Tong's profound consideration.

If her skills were roughly on par with mine, with all her advantages, I might be the one lying on the ground now, right?

Lu Yuan mused.

Yet, he felt that might not necessarily be true. Because he still hadn't used his trump card: the Lv3 Grandmaster Dharma. Once the Dharma was manifested, he could probably obliterate Yin Muqing in a single confrontation.

Comparing it this way... Lu Yuan found it genuinely difficult to judge which system, Pure Martial or Starry Sky Martial Path, was ultimately stronger.

Yin Muqing is ranked only in the eighties on the Supernova leaderboard; she doesn't even count as mid-tier. There are many more powerful practitioners of the Starry Sky Martial Path above her. By testing myself against them one by one, perhaps I can determine which of these two systems is superior...

Lu Yuan thought, then withdrew from his Consciousness Space.

He glanced down at the time and realized the entire battle had lasted less than half a minute in reality.

The people in the camp were largely unchanged: some were chatting, others sat quietly.

After assessing Yin Muqing's strength, Lu Yuan felt much more relaxed.

He sat alone in a corner of the crowd for a while. Soon, a robot approached and handed him two items.

One was a supply pack containing some food, water, and potions.

The other was a spherical device about the size of a human head, its purpose unknown to Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan studied it for some time. Just as he was about to message Han Xun to ask about it, he spotted two figures flying over from the direction of Havel's Egersis camp in the distance.

Lu Yuan glanced briefly, then his pupils constricted slightly in the next second.

He stared intently at the two figures.

Both were male, wearing black and gold battle suits in the distinctive Havel style.

One bore a strange, small insignia on his chest, while the other did not.

Lu Yuan focused on them because both possessed a unique aura quite similar to Yin Muqing's.

This aura... only those who cultivate the Starry Sky Martial Path would possess it. Two Supernova Members. And... judging by their auras, both seem even stronger than Yin Muqing!

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