Chapter Seventy-One: A Ruthless Beating (Part One)

A dazzling right fist, larger than a sandbag, harder than diamond, descended from the heavens with overwhelming force. It illuminated the dark cosmic void—a sudden burst of daylight, as if a star had exploded!

The old man in crane robes wore a look of shock, his beard bristling and eyes bulging.

Never in his wildest imagination had he foreseen things escalating to this degree. No longer could he maintain an air of effortless composure, expecting that a mere display of authority would render the young man before him nervous and fearful. This was a situation utterly beyond his control!

“Dodge! Dodge again!”

Terror gripped the old man’s heart as he moved with blinding speed. That accursed fist, imbued with Starforged Essence, was astonishingly powerful and relentless. The energy condensed within it was enough to shatter and annihilate—a single punch could reduce a star system to rubble.

He fled at impossible speed, covering a light-year in one stride, flickering wildly through the star system. Yet the voice that so unsettled him sounded again, close behind.

“Time, slow for me!”

Feng Shang pursued, his entire body blazing with radiant flame, dazzling and white-hot. A misty aura shrouded the surrounding void.

Abruptly, the flow of light truly slowed...

The old man’s steps slowed as well...

“How is this possible? The mysteries of light are infinite—who could slow it down?”

Amazed beyond words, the old man realized his movements had lagged by two distinct beats, even his thoughts seemed to drag!

At that moment, Feng Shang closed in, bathed in light, his gaze sharp as a blade—a prodigious youth, azure flames blazing in his eyes.

After so many years, he had never met an old eccentric as arrogant and conceited as this one. Such a person deserved a reward.

“Die!”

Feng Shang shouted, his fist swelling with light, radiance bursting outward, and the energy shaking the stars grew ever more intense.

Boom!

The old man tried to evade, but time itself had ensnared him.

The Essence of Creation—one of the ten supreme energies—could erase temporal traces and drag the very flow of time, a power so wondrous it defied imagination.

At this moment, the old man’s composure crumbled.

How could this be? Wasn’t this still a youth who hadn’t even broken through adversity? How was he manipulating time? And what rank was his Starforged Essence?

Boom!

The light-fist struck the old man.

Across the cosmos, a halo of light unfurled.

Like a supernova’s detonation, or the birth of a divine realm, a ring of blinding brilliance erupted from the void, blossoming with fierce intensity.

Everything nearby exploded—meteors, dust, fragments of stars—all swallowed in a flood of boiling energy.

The old man’s face twisted, the left side caved in, even his teeth knocked askew, the imprint of the fist so vast it squeezed his eye shut by force.

His entire body, with his head as the fulcrum, was sent hurtling backward in a crazed arc.

Bang!

A beautiful stream of light streaked through silent space, traveling a vast distance before finally halting.

Along the way, the beam pierced through countless meteors, ultimately embedding itself in a tawny planet.

Upon impact, the yellow clouds above the planet twisted into a vortex, stones swirling, and a storm grew ever fiercer.

“Ah!”

Soon after, from the planet’s core, an enraged and humiliated roar resounded!

The old man’s hair was disheveled, the light around him dimmed. His expression was grim, furious beyond words. He jerked his mouth, and his deformed, sunken face quickly swelled back to normal, his crooked teeth snapping into place.

After all, he was a Lord of Light, blessed with an immortal body of light. Divine radiance coursed through his veins instead of blood—no wound was beyond healing.

“You… damn you!”

His wrath was uncontrollable. As a Lord of Light, his status was exalted, his lifespan as endless as the cosmos itself—a legend in any star domain.

Yet now, he’d been publicly humiliated by a mere youth, his face battered and pressed into a planet, reduced to utter disgrace. Such unprecedented humiliation instantly ignited his pride.

“You dare insult me?”

In the distance, Feng Shang raised his head, rotated his right wrist, and sneered, “Did I hear you right? Did you just curse me? Using a word fit for the damned?”

The old man hesitated, momentarily lost. Who, in fact, was the victim here?

He’d been smashed so hard his face was deformed, lodged in a planet, and had only vented with a single curse—yet the boy seemed even angrier than he was!

Damn it!

The old man’s nostrils flared, his face turned blue with rage, smoke seemed to pour from his ears, and he cursed, gnashing his teeth, “You little bastard! No matter what tricks you have, today I will destroy you!”

Now fully alert, he remembered who he was—a Lord of Light!

He possessed mighty techniques, divine weapons, and secret arts. With so many powers at his command, how could he fear a mere upstart?

“Turtle?”

Feng Shang’s pupils shrank, his brows shot up, and a fierce aura enveloped him. Of all creatures, he despised turtles most. Years ago, in the star sea, it was an ancient turtle that had deceived him.

He’d never forgotten that humiliation.

Now, someone dared to hurl that venomous epithet at him. Was this a death wish?

“I don’t know where you found the nerve to provoke me, but today I’ll strip your body of light and drain your radiance!”

Feng Shang’s gaze was cold, his bearing utterly transformed—unique and formidable, reminiscent of the Celestial Nemesis.

Seeing the youth’s icy expression, for some inexplicable reason, a hint of anxiety stirred in the old man’s heart, though he found it absurd.

Who was he? A Lord of Light!

How could he possibly fear a callow youth?

Granted, the boy had some tricks, but they were nothing compared to his true power. That previous punch was impressive, but perhaps three or four of them together could erase only a fraction of his luminous body.

Only the slowing of time gave him slight pause.

But only slight pause.

He possessed secret arts—if unleashed, even time’s drag could be broken!

“Today is my lucky day. Killing you will not only win me several treasures, but I’ll also seize your Starforged Essence!”

With a stamp of his foot, the old man conjured a radiant sea of light—endless, resplendent, and vast. Spirit fish leapt through its waves, stirring storms; the profound principles of life and the cosmos suffused the air, interwoven with faint traces of law.

This was a supreme domain shaped by the mysteries of light, where even stars would be crushed to dust.

“You want my Starforged Essence? I want your radiance even more!”

The Essence of Creation surged—Feng Shang’s limbs, waist, and even his face were all enveloped in light. At this moment, his aura was no different from a true Lord of Light!

“Aura of the Light Realm?”

The old man’s pupils shrank as he stared at the equally radiant figure, incredulous.

He quickly regained his composure, eyes flashing, and declared, “So, it’s a Starforged Essence adept at disguise. It seems you possess not just one, but several Starforged Essences—each with a different function and nature. My luck is extraordinary today. If I kill you, all of them will be mine!”