Chapter 152: Let the Past Be the Past

"I have to admit, your resilience really puts cockroaches to shame." The Skeleton King violently jerked his wrist, flinging away the hand Li Ren had used to grab him. He took two steps back and looked at Li Ren, who had miraculously escaped from the Annihilation Death Ray, with genuine admiration.

"That so-called Annihilation Death Ray of yours is hardly the true death ray preserved from ancient times. If you think you can end my life with something like that, you are being utterly delusional. I imagine you know that better than I do." Li Ren glanced at the Skeleton King, and the Violet-Gold Winged God materialized in his hand once again.

"Haha, put that way, I suppose I really did underestimate you—or perhaps, underestimated my own strength?" The Skeleton King shook his head, addressing Li Ren with a remarkably amiable attitude, as if Li Ren's escape from the Annihilation Death Ray was not the least bit difficult to accept.

"My Lord... I... I..." Shadow's voice came from behind Li Ren. Extremely weak, his tone was laden with profound guilt and self-blame, yet overwhelmed with excitement at Li Ren's return.

"Alright, enough of that. As long as everyone is safe now, that's all that matters. Once we take care of the fellow right in front of us, we can head back to Falling Cloud City. You'll have plenty of things to worry about in the future, so don't stand there complaining to me," Li Ren said with a smile. Shadow lowered his head deeply, his black hood completely shrouding his face. Li Ren turned away; he did not wish to look any longer, knowing full well that Shadow did not want to be seen in this state.

The trembling shoulders and the tightly clenched fists, gripped so hard they had turned pale, were etched into Li Ren's vision. That was enough, wasn't it?

"Next up is the business between the two of us." Li Ren's expression turned glacial as he stared at the Skeleton King before him.

"Although you did acquire some of my former memories and abilities, did you honestly believe that an existence like yours could ascend to that throne?"

As these words left his lips, Fan Yunshan and Mo Ran, standing behind, abruptly widened their eyes and fixed their gazes upon the Skeleton King.

Previously, they had believed the Skeleton King was the awakened incarnation of the former Underworld Sovereign, which was why they had wavered somewhat between Li Ren and him. But if that fellow had merely inherited some fragments of memories and abilities, then their statuses were fundamentally in entirely different realms!

"Haha, say whatever you like. In any case, today's outcome will simply be one of us dying and the other surviving. Let the final result speak for itself; talking about all this now is entirely useless." The Skeleton King shook his head. He offered no defense against Li Ren's accusations, remaining remarkably calm, as though completely unfazed by what had been said.

Regardless of how one viewed it, the revelations were nothing short of a massive bombshell, yet the Skeleton King remained utterly indifferent. Faced with such an attitude, the onlookers grew even more perplexed.

He glanced at Fan Yunshan and the others standing at the entrance of the grand hall, then turned back to Li Ren and said, "Even if everything you said is true, and they have all sided with you, what of it? With their current strength, they are utterly unqualified to intervene in a battle between you and me."

"Don't hoist yourself up on such a noble pedestal. A fellow like you, reeking of decay from head to toe, makes me utterly sick. I'll send you right where you belong!" Li Ren roared. With a flicker of the Violet-Gold Winged God in his hand, a streak of pure golden radiance erupted, carrying an incomparably sharp blade as it slashed fiercely toward the Skeleton King.

Under this single sword strike, even the void trembled faintly. The space where that golden light flashed looked as though it had been scorched by blazing fire, distorted with an intensely surreal quality.

That eerie sense of unreality lingered for a very long time before slowly fading away.

Seeing Li Ren's incoming slash, the Skeleton King could not help but turn solemn. Others might not perceive it, but to him, the sensation was entirely different.

That streak of golden light contained a power of terrifying magnitude. This energy was not the holy light that typically dealt the most devastating damage to underworld creatures like them, even though both exhibited an intense golden brilliance at their extremes.

"The Power of Creation! Damn it! It's actually the Power of Creation!" The blue spiritual flames in the Skeleton King's eyes flickered erratically. Having previously mastered the Annihilation Death Ray, he had felt naturally superior to Li Ren, standing on an immensely lofty plane. No matter the gap between them, before a power born of the heavens, everything else was mere trash.

However, the Power of Creation that had suddenly manifested within Li Ren was not inferior in tier to the Annihilation Death Ray he himself wielded. Originally, the two forces had been in a state of equilibrium, but Li Ren's previous words were undeniably correct.

The shred of Annihilation Death Ray he possessed was not the true death ray at all! It was merely a projection left behind by the death ray!

Before Li Ren's genuine Power of Creation, the Annihilation Death Ray was rendered completely useless!

This was evident from how effortlessly Li Ren had broken free from that black ice.

The Skeleton King abruptly raised his bone saber, and in the void, their weapons clashed violently. For the very first time, that harsh, grating sound of impact failed to materialize.

It was not because the energy of their collision was insufficiently powerful, but rather because the forces on both sides had fallen into an eerily perfect state of balance!

Although Li Ren possessed the Power of Creation, that power had only just been born. Previously, his tier was no higher than that of a Creation Apprentice. With the aid of that trace of the Annihilation Death Ray, he had successfully broken through the apprentice rank to reach the Creator tier. The Power of Creation had only manifested once he attained that level. Strictly speaking, it did not possess overwhelmingly formidable combat capabilities yet, as the focus of the Power of Creation lay inherently in creation itself.

Compared to the Skeleton King's immeasurable accumulation of ages and a baseline strength superior to his own, Li Ren still appeared somewhat weak in terms of raw attributes.

Without the assistance of the Power of Creation, if they were to trade blows like this, the outcome would likely mirror what had just occurred, leaving him destined for a miserable defeat.

The battle between the two was utterly ferocious. Every slash and every strike left no room for retreat, consisting entirely of fatal moves. Although the engagement was strangely devoid of sound, everyone's heart trembled violently with each successive clash.

"Crack." A faint snap rang out from the point where their weapons intersected.

The Skeleton King's expression shifted drastically. After such prolonged and intense clashing, a microscopic fracture had actually appeared on his bone saber!

Under normal circumstances, this tiny crack could have been mended in a very short time by his formidable powers. But facing Li Ren, if he dared to divert even a sliver of energy to repair that minor fissure, the only thing awaiting him would be swift and certain destruction!