Black Hole.
At the center of reality lies an anchor that holds all of existence together, but the price of such action isn’t free, the power it needs is imnse.
So, as it was the reason the universe existed, it is also the reason reality will end.
"What..."
No one, not even the elders or Luo Chen who had faced many cultivators at higher stages before, could decipher what just happened, but the result after the darkness vanished was clear.
"Ugh!"
Hong Qing’s neck was within Wu Han’s grasp. Just a second ago she was far away and he couldn’t keep up with her speed, and he was in the middle of defending against her strongest attack.
"I told you, I’m 20 tis stronger than before..." Wu Han amplified his strength, choking all the air out of Hong Qing’s lungs as the grip tightened. "But looks like you can only handle five."
But misunderstood by everyone, it wasn’t the darkness that vanished.
Instead, it was the light that returned.
"H, how..." Even at the end of the attack, Hong Qing didn’t know what happened. Her sword slipped from her hand, her technique disappeared, and she was dragged toward him like a puppet on a string.
"Hehe, like I’m going to tell you." Wu Han raised his head and t Luo Lan’s eyes. Out of everyone present, she was the only one who caught the truth of that technique.
In that split second when the void loosened, she had seen it.
That darkness made her heart pound.
The mont the black hole unlocked, his hand guided the pull and dragged everything toward it.
Everything ant everything.
The attack, Hong Qing, even the space, light, and energy within its reach were twisted together and crushed against the edge of that horizon.
That was the true nature of World Devourer, the most basic skill within his black hole cultivation.
Gravitational disintegration.
"Give up now, or else you force my hand." Wu Han raised his silver spear.
Hong Qing looked up at him and t his eyes, then she smiled.
"Very well."
Wu Han did not hesitate. He drove the spear through her stomach.
"Ack!!" Blood spilled from her mouth as she dropped to the ground, a strange giggle slipping out through the pain twisting inside her.
Yan Fei finally reacted and rushed forward. "Hong Qing! You dare?!"
He pulled his sword.
Wu Han stayed where he was.
The injured Hong Qing suddenly moved and struck Yan Fei, blasting him away and sending him tumbling across the arena.
"Are you trying to show sothing?" Wu Han looked down at Hong Qing, who now sat on the floor.
"If I’m injured, then you will have to take care of , right?" She lifted her face toward him, eyes full of yearning.
Blessing or abuse, she would accept anything, as long as he kept her.
She was completely defeated.
The will to fight had drained away. Now she only wanted to see what he would do with her, and the waiting made her heart race.
"Very well." Wu Han pulled the spear out of her. She cried out and fell, blood spreading across the stone.
He showed rcy. A healing spell sealed the wound and strength returned to her limbs. "Co see tonight."
"Yes!" Hong Qing lowered her head in surrender.
Wu Han stood as the victor.
Luo Bai watched in silence. Even he could not follow that last exchange. If they fought with nothing held back, he knew he would lose.
I should be glad it was not , he thought. Otherwise my second seat would already be gone.
The sa realization passed through many in the Luo clan.
Being the miracle doctor’s disciple did not an he was only good at nding wounds. His combat ability and his understanding of Dao stood in a completely different league.
"The result is, Wu Han wins!" Luo Phen announced, chest swelling.
Relief washed through him. His safety felt confird, or at least closer to it. Before today he believed he might be able to handle Wu Han if it ever ca to that.
But now, even fighting him might be too risky.
"Good, good, good!" Luo Chen clapped, clearly pleased with the match.
Luo Lan descended from above and hurried to his side. "Are you okay?"
"I am." Wu Han laughed. He had taken a bit of a beating, yet Hong Qing was still too weak to truly threaten him. Every injury she managed to cause had already healed within seconds.
"..." Luo Lan stayed silent for a mont, then smacked him on the chest. "Why didn’t you just defeat her faster..."
She felt uneasy, seeing Wu Han struggle against soone who should have been like an ant to them.
"You angry about that?" Wu Han saw her pouting as she lightly hit him. It was nothing short of adorable.
Look like even if she said she hated practice, she still took pride in her strength.
Or in strength in general.
"I just wanted to test how far I can go with the least I needed, but it looks like I lack a lot of basics." Wu Han might have obtained all the important pieces for his plan, but in terms of his own progression, aside from the Dao seed, nothing had improved much.
The gap between him without using magic and using it was still far too wide.
"I can help." Luo Lan offered to be his training partner.
"I appreciate it, but I need three days. Can you wait?" Wu Han said.
"Why?"
"Right now I don’t have any usable martial arts. Learning sothing new sounds fine, but I want sothing custom built instead of copying." Wu Han might not be that experienced, yet he carried enough knowledge and skills to begin laying down the first step.
After spending so ti in this world, he acknowledged their strength, but the depth of their skills felt too shallow for his liking. They rarely tried to create a path of their own. Most followed the guides laid before them instead of discovering sothing new.
That clashed with the mindset he had as a mage.
A mage’s duty was to push knowledge further.
Cultivators kept repeating the sa moves from the sa scrolls for generations, and when they wanted to improve, they searched for a higher level technique instead.
Even that, only a handful of them mastered what they learned, and even more rarely shaped it into sothing personal, and he despised that.
"Okay," Luo Lan said.
"I hope I’m not interrupting anything important." A cheerful Luo Chen descended and walked toward them with a proposal already in mind. Luo Phen followed by his side.
"Your marriage date will be set after the yearly tournant. Until then, I want both of you to train hard," Luo Phen said.
While the two of them had been speaking, he and Luo Chen had already worked out many of the details.
"As for the imperial family, we will find a way later. He is not coming alone. The second advisor will be with him. With you on the board, we might be able to negotiate sothing."
Luo Chen reassured Wu Han and Luo Lan.
Now that the leading figures of both political sides supported the marriage, no one else dared to object, not even the remaining elders.
"Thank you, seniors." Wu Han bowed, and Luo Lan followed.
"Haha, call father from now on." Luo Chen laughed.
For the first ti in a long while he felt he could breathe freely.
His daughter’s life could be extended by the miracle doctor’s disciple, and that young man also carried terrifying talent in cultivation.
He had weaknesses, of course. But nothing hard training could not fix.
"Yes, father!" Wu Han said with a smile, and the group laughed together.
"A day like this should end with a celebration! Let’s find sowhere to eat." Luo Chen looked around, and the others nodded in agreent.
"Ah, sorry about that," Wu Han said, bowing slightly. "I still have so work to finish today. Maybe tomorrow."
"Well, being the disciple of an enlightened man must be demanding. I won’t stop you." Luo Chen’s expression dipped a little, though a trace of excitent still lingered in his eyes.
"Then I will go now. See you soon, seniors, father." Wu Han waved and dashed off. As he moved away, he turned his head and called back, "And don’t forget what I told you, Luo Lan!"
The words landed on her alone. She stood there, replaying what he had said earlier.
This is what determination looks like.
"Determination...?"
Back in his room, Wu Han took out nine spirit stones from his ring and crushed them one after another.
Qi flooded back into him, rising close to full.
The last bit would refill on its own through the rune, which ant he could fight like this a hundred tis before worrying about his reserves.
But that was not the point.
He looked at himself in the mirror.
If he wanted to keep wearing the face of a warrior, he needed the tools for it.
He needed martial arts!
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