Planet Pulverizer: A Mortal's Ascent-Chapter 525: Divine Equipment

"Even the Stage Two Limit Break is still not enough," muttered Li Pin.

He stared at the Astral God's avatar before him, its strength seemingly undiminished. "This power... it's suffocating!"

This was already his strongest form. Li Pin had pushed his abilities to their absolute limit in this battle. Yet, he still couldn't defeat the Astral God's avatar.

It was just an avatar, yet the gap between them was still staggering.

But this gap didn't make him despair. Rather, it filled him with excitement.

This meant his path could stretch far ahead, and he wouldn't have to worry about the confusion and pain of losing direction for a long, long time.

But before that...

"Let me test the limits of this avatar."

At that moment, Li Pin abandoned his barehanded approach and drew the Ruoxi Sword.

The Astral God's avatar sensed the shift in aura as the sword appeared in Li Pin's hand. A sudden realization struck him. "Hmm?"

"You weren't using a Divine Weapon before!"

It wasn't a question—it was a statement.

For the first time, the avatar's demeanor turned serious. To have fought to this extent without a Divine Weapon?

Li Pin tightened his grip on the Ruoxi Sword.

The Ruoxi Sword had four traits. Its inner spirit-cultivation feature was auxiliary and unimportant at the moment. The other three—inner spirit resistance, sword intent suppression, and sensory enhancement—were all combat-oriented. Sensory enhancement was especially helpful.

Combined with his Clairvoyance, sensory enhancement created a synergy far greater than the sum of its parts. The World Heart further amplified this effect, synthesizing information to maximize the potential of his Clairvoyance.

As soon as Li Pin grasped the Ruoxi Sword, he clearly felt that his perception of the world changed.

The Astral God's avatar still stood before him, yet under his enhanced senses, it no longer appeared solid or wave-like. Instead, it was a particle state. Constantly reassembling and transforming, it adapted to its surroundings while simultaneously simulating them. Formless and intangible by nature, it took on shape and substance through the existence of time and space.

That feeling... was as if a transparent iron ball had been placed on water. The ball itself might have been invisible, but the indentation on the water's surface betrayed its round form.

It all became clear to Li Pin. "Projection... No wonder the Astral Gods' avatars are called projection forms. So that's how it is."

This was the true nature of an Astral God avatar. Like the moon and the tides, two entirely distinct entities, yet inextricably bound together. The Astral God's true form and its avatar mirrored this relationship.

Simply put, it might look like humans were using their own strength to fight natural disasters like tsunamis. But in reality, the real cause of the tides was the moon's pull on the oceans—something humans couldn't directly control.

Li Pin's gaze fixed on the Astral God avatar. "Your true body!"

With the sensory amplification and information synthesis of the two Solar Flare Divine Weapons, his Clairvoyance locked onto the avatar's core essence. Using this as a reference, he vaguely perceived another powerful high-energy lifeform. But this lifeform felt impossibly distant. No, it wasn't far! They were merely separated by a barrier.

This barrier resembled the spatial walls of the Mara World. The only difference was that it was far sturdier and more intricate. It also seemed to be infused with immense power that defied any simple spatial explanation.

Li Pin's mind sharpened. "Is this... the Astral World?"

He sensed the Astral World itself! Not through Astral World Fragments, but with the enhanced perception of the Solar Flare Divine Weapons. He perceived its exact location.

If he could shatter this barrier, he could step into the Astral World.

In fact, if he abandoned his martial cultivation, discarded the Astral World Fragment and his Natal Planet, and fully embraced the Astral Cultivator's path, he could attempt to merge with the Astral World and become an Astral God.

By now, the Astral God avatar had grasped the situation. "So, it wasn't that you didn't use your Divine Weapons earlier! You have more than one Divine Weapon in your arsenal! Deceptive tricks!"

In the next moment, the Astral God took the initiative and attacked.

With a phantom step, his figure flickered like a faulty signal. One moment, he stood in place; the next, he appeared directly before Li Pin.

But this time, Li Pin saw through it.

The Astral God's power was like the moon's gravitational tide. Other elements were involved, like the extensive preparation needed to project an avatar, but the underlying principle was identical.

Their core never resided in this world. It originated from the Astral World.

When the Astral God avatar shifted position, it wasn't a simple displacement. Rather, it was a pre-emptive projection of a portion of his power to a designated coordinate.

The avatar's energy was then transferred to that coordinate, forming a new manifestation and creating this 'flickering' effect of movement.

In a way, this was comparable to a Tier Six Legendary Astral World traversal. But without the process of breaking through into the Astral World and then traversing back out, their speed appeared even more rapid and unpredictable.

Buzz, buzz!

The instant Li Pin perceived the precise trajectory of the Astral God's power, his Ruoxi Sword turned. The icy blade slashed horizontally, intercepting the Astral God's strike with precision.

Sword Intent erupted. A flash of brilliance burst within the Astral God's inner spirit, causing his movements to falter momentarily.

Yet as an Astral God, his mental and inner spirit were immensely resilient. In the blink of an eye, he had fully recovered. The next instant, his energy surged without any noticeable delay, as if bypassing the transmission process entirely.

It was like the sudden acceleration of a vehicle—one moment at a complete standstill, the next at full speed. This phenomenon arose from higher-dimensional forces interfering with lower-dimensional ones, enabling seamless, uninterrupted energy flow.

It was akin to an ordinary person moving bricks. Carrying ten bricks at a time would require a thousand trips for ten thousand bricks, taking at least a full day.

But a cultivator could store all ten thousand bricks in a spatial bracelet and finish the task instantly.

With this unparalleled efficiency, the Astral God struck out with terrifying precision, aiming directly for the blade of the Ruoxi Sword, as if intending to seize it in his grasp.

Usually, such an attack would have left Li Pin no room to evade. But now, the Astral God's attack trajectory and energy flow unfolded clearly within Li Pin's perception. Things became far more straightforward now that he could see it.

Stage Two Limit Break State!

In an instant, Li Pin's speed surged dramatically. With a brilliant flash, he reappeared thousands of meters away, evading the Astral God's grasp midair.

As the Astral God's avatar adjusted to pursue, Li Pin accelerated once again.

Eternal Light, Fleeting Gleam!

Dazzling lightning broke through the dim red glow surrounding him. With the Ruoxi Sword in one hand, he re-engaged at extreme speed, cutting straight toward the Astral God.

The sword's edge shone as a vast, illusory shadow materialized behind Li Pin. The shadow encompassed both his Natal Planet and the Astral World Fragment formed from the collapse of the Mara World.

Under the interference of these two forces, a subtle delay occurred in the connection between the Astral God's avatar and his main body.

Though brief beyond description, Li Pin seized this opening with flawless precision. The Sword Intent of the Ruoxi Sword erupted with immense force.

Without the continuous reinforcement of its main body's inner spirit power, the avatar was unable to immediately dispel the paralyzed state.

"It's over."

Sizzle!

The Ruoxi Sword's blade tore through the Astral God's avatar without any resistance.

As the avatar broke free from its paralyzed state, the Vacuum Pulverizer force erupted. Every particle that formed the avatar's medium, along with the energy it contained, crumbled and disintegrated into nothingness.

At the same moment, the mental and inner spirit powers separated from the main body also dissolved into nothing. Without a vessel, these powers could not exist independently.

The Astral God's avatar was in disbelief. "How is this possible!?"

Yet... the annihilation and decay of his mental and inner spirit powers were undeniable.

Did I just lose!? Have I been defeated!? The avatar thought.

A surge of unprecedented rage and killing intent emanated from the remnants of its dissipating inner spirit power, locking firmly onto Li Pin.

In the fading haze, Li Pin saw a malicious figure standing in another dimension. The entity gazed down from above, as if etching Li Pin's features, aura, and consciousness into memory.

An Astral God, descending in person through an avatar, had failed to subdue a mortal Celestial Martial Artist who had yet to ascend to Divinity. It was an unbearable humiliation.

The fury of having the avatar destroyed far exceeded the frustration of failing to seize the Solar Flare Divine Weapon. Unfortunately, despite the overwhelming rage, the loss of the avatar as a coordinate meant he could not immediately descend another one.

The Astral World Fragment was constantly rotating at incredible speeds.

When an avatar was present in the Material World, its main body could constantly traverse the Astral World, thus ensuring the main body and the avatar maintained a fixed relative position. However, with the destruction of the avatar, their connection had been severed. Even a momentary disconnection was enough to send his main body spinning off-course.

In the Ancient Astral World Era, it was said that if an Astral God's avatars were completely annihilated, the main body could become lost within the Astral World, unable to locate the material world.

Now, the fractured Astral World, having seemingly fallen from a higher dimension into a high-energy realm, no longer felt as distant from the material world as it once had.

While the danger of easily becoming lost was reduced, its rapid motion, combined with the loss of avatars as points of reference, still made precisely locating a specific point a considerable undertaking.

"I should have sent down two avatars to ensure absolute success..."

With deep resentment, the Astral God's presence disappeared entirely from Li Pin's perception.