While Ding Lingdang and Long Yangjun were fighting, brilliant matches were taking place in the other fifteen arenas.

In the second ring, thousands of mini drones were condensed into the shape of a super-large girl. Mystic rays covered her body like flowing water. In the glittering brightness, she put on a peaceful smile.

Tilting her head, she eyed her opponent curiously.

Her opponent did not have a body of flesh and blood, either. His intimidating soul data was carried by an old, rusted spiritual puppet. The civil-looking puppet seemed to have been rolling in the mud. Not only were the gears and the bearings stuffed with dust, green sprouts were also growing out of the joints. Nobody could tell whether he was a cold machine or the warm home of the grass.

“Lord Fist King…”

Wen Wen said in surprise, “I thought that you would show up in the latest version of ‘Super Metropolis’. I didn’t know that you had become so natural and harmonious. It seems that your training over the past three years has brought you to a whole new level!”

“Both the body of flesh and the bones of steel are carriers and containers. As long as their life information is burning, what’s the difference between the rusted, old-fashioned puppets and the super-large Iron City that is armed to the teeth?

The King of Fist extended his right hand and opened his palm.

A yellow flower suddenly grew out of the joint of his palm.

He looked at the flower, with vivid tenderness beaming out of his eyes. He said in a low voice, “I’ve destroyed countless towns and butchered thousands of enemies. But the thrill of destruction and slaughter is nothing compared to the touching feeling when I found a flower growing out of my palm. Does it look good?”

“Very nice.”

Wen Wen nodded and asked curiously, “Lord Fist King, how did you train yourself over the past three years? It seems that everybody has found their own opportunities and adventures in the Heaven’s Path Tower and the black wall. What were your adventures?”

“I didn’t have any adventures, not even training. I simply travelled to different planets and modified the environment there, trying to grow flowers and plants in the harshest environments.

The Fist King paused for a moment. The glow of his crystal camera became even gentler as he said, “I promised a… friend that I would help her plant gold foil throughout the entire universe. Although gold foil is a plant that is resistant to cold, drought, and radiation and has a very strong vitality, it is still not an easy task to breed different variants, spread them on planets with different environments, and promote and balance them with the local ecosystem.

“It took me three years and every second to plant more than ten planets. I’ve been rolling in the farmlands and forests every day. I don’t want any training at all.

“Not just me, young man. I’m told that you’ve refused to explore and train in the primeval relics, too. Why? Aren’t there quite a few crystal processors and Spiritual Nexus technologies of the pioneer civilizations in the primeval relics that can give great enlightenment to an information life such as yourself? Moreover, the ‘other half’ of the Pangu civilization and the mainframe crystal processor of the Heaven’s Origin Sector are endless secret treasures for the information life forms. Isn’t your brother ‘Little Ming’ soaking in them and absorbing the mysteries crazily? It is said that he is about to surpass ‘Fuxi’. Why aren’t you with him?”

“Because I have more important things to do.”

With a sweet smile, Li Yao replied without the slightest regret, “The Sanctuary Alliance cannot live without a mainframe. I have to shoulder the responsibility that the ‘half of the Fuxi’ left behind and help all the people of the Sanctuary Alliance rebuild their society and civilization. As you know, three years ago, the social system of the entire Sanctuary Alliance was on the verge of collapse. Many planets were in a state of famine and riot. If we ignored them, billions of people would be killed at any moment. Those who survived would turn into mentally deformed monsters. Faced with the chaos and disorder on every planet, I could not turn a blind eye.

“Is that so…”

The Fist King nodded. “I can tell that you’ve managed the Holy Alliance well. The nation that once fell into the abyss of destruction has struggled to crawl out and walk on the right track again.

“No. It is far from good enough.

Wen Wen shook his head and said, “The road to the future is long. Super-information, deep-network, a brand-new civilization where human beings and machines are interacting every second. What does it look like exactly? How can we avoid repeating the mistakes of the ‘Fuxi’ and the ‘super-body civilization’? We have been racking our brains, too.

“Yes. The road to the future is too long. Even if you and I have extraordinary computational ability, we cannot calculate every step of the future, not even the next second.

The boxing champion smiled and said, “However, it is precisely because we cannot calculate that we are ‘life’. We are truly… alive, aren’t we?”

Wenwen also laughed.

“Lord Fist King, do we still need to fight?”

Wen Wen asked respectfully, “Over the past three years, I have not absorbed any information about combat. As you know, my core data is more focused on management and operations. I’m not interested in exploration or conquest. Maybe, Little Ming is the most suitable opponent for you.”

“I don’t think so.”

Brightness was beaming out of the boxing champion’s eyes. “Only by building a beautiful home with one’s own hands can one better understand the true meaning of the word ‘protect’. Fighting for conquest and fighting for protection are two completely different concepts. I’ve already seen Xiao Ming outside of the meeting hall. At that time, he had crawled into the test machine that was more than two hundred meters tall and used the super-large steel devil ‘Thunder Destroyer’ to flaunt his might. He didn’t notice that I had flown to the back of his head and observed me quietly.

“I can tell that he has indeed learned a lot in the primeval relics, and the ‘Thunder Destroyer’ is indeed a new war machine that represents the future. However…

“He is still not qualified to be my opponent.

“If I wanted to, I could paralyze him within one minute with my ragged body!

“A simple conqueror and destroyer is like this. No matter how strong they are, they are nothing to be scared of.

“But you are different.

“We’ve been communicating for three minutes. During the three minutes, I’ve been calculating how long it will take for me to completely suppress you, and the result is… insufficient information and impairment?

“Interesting. Wen Wen, your silly little brother still doesn’t know that you are actually stronger than him, does he?”

“Everyone has a different path. My path is different from Little Ming’s. We cannot simply measure each other’s strength.

Wen Wen still shook her head. “I’m not good at fighting. I only like to protect.”

“Then, let’s fight for ‘protection’!

The flower in the Fist King’s palm shook slightly before it retreated back into his palm.

The boxing champion raised the fist of the old civil spiritual puppet and smiled at Wen Wen.

…

In the third arena.

It was the most dangerous of the sixteen arenas.

As far as one’s eyes could see, there was not a single flat spot on the layered land. There were interconnecting stalagmites and sharp cones everywhere, which seemed to be mixed with rare minerals. The edges and the tips of the stalagmites were glittering and unstoppable, like a hell of swords and spears.

Yan Liren was sitting cross-legged on the handle of his sword. The tip of the sword was pointing down and touching the tip of a stalagmite that was sharper than a needle.

It seemed to be on the verge of collapse, but in fact, it was as stable as a mountain. Yan Liren didn’t even bother to look at his opponent. He stared at the stalagmites around him in a trance, as if he was imagining the stalagmites as billions of flying swords that would be engaged in an earthshaking battle in his brain.

Hundreds of meters away from him, a large area of stalagmites and cones had been crushed by an invisible force field, revealing a round space that looked like a crater. Standing on the top of the crater was a Pangu Clan member who was almost twelve meters tall and covered in heat sink holes.

“Are you Yan Liren?”

The Pangu Clan’s voice was as loud as a bell. They spoke the human language fluently. Of course, along with their speech, a thunderous brainwave was sent out, too.

But Yan Liren didn’t feel anything. He was still staring at the stalagmite in a daze. He replied briefly, “Yes.”

“I’m told that you are one of the top experts of the human civilization. Over the past year, you’ve defeated more than ten experts among the survivors of the primeval era?”

The Pangu Clan continued questioning aggressively.

Yan Liren was still too lazy to nod. He replied, “Yes.”

“Those guys are not real experts. They are merely the experts, scholars, and researchers of the Heavenly Palace. They are not weak at all, but they are not far from it.

The Pangu Clan raised their head and said casually, “But ‘Obliteration’ is different. I was born to be a warrior. For the glory of the primeval era, I hibernated willingly for hundreds of thousands of years and was only woken up recently. Have you ever heard my name?”

Yan Liren rolled his eyes.

It was obvious that he wanted to shake his head.

But to avoid trouble, he nodded and said, “Yes.”

“Very good.”

The Pangu Clan nodded and said, “I didn’t know that the Pangu Universe would become like this hundreds of thousands of years later. Everything has changed. All the rules and purposes have been overturned. Everything needs to be adapted to again. Thankfully, pure warriors such as myself do not care about politics or the future of a civilization. We only care about martial arts. As long as we can fight, we can do anything!

Yan Liren replied, “Okay.”

The Pangu Clan frowned deeply. “Is it the language of the human civilization that likes to jump out word by word, or are you just a man of few words?”

“It’s not that I don’t like to talk.

Yan Liren yawned and finally finished his speech. “However, I always prefer to talk with my sword.

Huala!

One explosion. A hundred. Ten thousand.

The ten thousand stalagmites scattered around Yan Liren were cut off, crushed, and obliterated at the same time. Flying swords made of dust dashed out of the overwhelming dust.