58: Chapter 58 Overpowering an opponent of a higher level to shatter the divine core projection.

On the Tianqiong Battle Platform, Xiao Xuan's expression finally changed.

Looking at the surging blood-colored baleful aura above Wang Pingan's army formation, and at that fierce tiger phantom so solid it seemed to suppress half the battlefield, a strong sense of unease arose in his heart for the first time.

He was not afraid of Wang Pingan risking his life.

He was afraid that Wang Pingan actually had the qualifications to risk his life.

Divine Being stage citizens, suppressed for ten years and then unleashed all at once—this style of fighting was too crazy and too ruthless.

If this had been an ordinary rookie deity, their citizens' meridians would have long since burst from the pressure; the legion's combat power wouldn't have even increased before half of their own Divine Kingdom was ruined.

But Wang Pingan's citizens did not collapse.

They held on.

This was precisely what Xiao Xuan found most unacceptable.

He had spent massive resources from the Xiao Family, forcibly pushing his Divine Kingdom to the Demigod stage, only then earning the right for Foundation Establishment citizens and Blood Condensation backbones to appear early.

Wang Pingan had no Demigod foundation, yet using another path—one far bitterer, riskier, and harder to replicate—he had forcibly pushed a group of Extreme Realm combat soldiers to the quasi-Foundation Establishment and quasi-Blood Condensation levels.

This was equivalent to telling him, right in front of everyone on the Seventeen Stars, that realm suppression was not impossible to tear open.

Xiao Xuan's gaze was cold and dark; he raised his hand, intending to have three Foundation Establishment citizens slay Wang Shan first.

Since Wang Pingan was relying on the Extreme Realm legion to turn the tide, he would first cut off the sharpest blade in that legion.

The three Foundation Establishment cultivators moved simultaneously.

Cyan-gold True Essence circulated at their sides as the three figures split into three directions, heading straight for the gap in the heavy Cavalry where Wang Shan was located.

Wang Shan had just forced one person back, his chest's blood and Qi still churning, and the few heavy cavalrymen behind him had not yet remounted.

This position was precisely the breach in the old formation.

Xiao Xuan had seen it very accurately.

As long as the three Foundation Establishment cultivators pressed down at once, no matter how much Wang Shan could endure, he would definitely be severely injured.

If Wang Shan was defeated, the Cavalry's flank would completely collapse.

Xiao Xuan issued an order: "Kill Wang Shan first; break his edge."

As the order fell, the speed of the three Foundation Establishment cultivators increased again.

Yet at this moment, Wang Mu raised his command flag.

He did not look at Wang Shan, nor did he chase after those three rapidly moving Foundation Establishment figures.

He only stared at the flow of spiritual energy across the entire battlefield.

From the moment Wang Pingan's divine decree descended, he understood that this battle could no longer be fought conventionally.

Conventional fighting methods could not block Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Saving spiritual energy was even more meaningless.

There was only one thing to do now.

Smash out everything that had been suppressed for ten years.

Wang Mu slashed his command flag forward, his voice spreading throughout the Artillery Battalion and the Sword Qi Battalion: "Spread the sea of fire, seal the sky with the sword net; cut them apart for me!"

Five hundred cultivation elites raised their blades simultaneously.

The fire radiance on their crimson flame sabers no longer stretched into thin lines but instead exploded into a massive tide of white and red fire.

The fire tide rushed out from both sides of the shield wall, rapidly spreading along the ground of the Tianqiong Battle Platform, and in the blink of an eye, it cut the path ahead of the three Foundation Establishment cultivators into several segments.

Immediately after, the three groups of the Sword Qi Battalion moved in unison.

The first group slashed at the ground, the second at the air, and the third at the flanks.

Streaks of compressed spiritual energy blade light intertwined, forcibly laying out a huge flaming sword net on the battle platform.

This was not simple damage.

This was crowd control.

The sea of fire forced the Foundation Establishment cultivators to lift their feet, the sword net forced them to change routes, and the Artillery Battalion locked onto the landing points after their route changes.

The three Foundation Establishment cultivators had originally intended to combine their attack on Wang Shan, but they were forcibly separated by this set of tactics.

One of them was blocked by the sea of fire, their True Essence shield burning and vibrating continuously.

Another was sealed in mid-air by the sword net, all landing spots covered by blade light, forcing them to change direction.

The last one still charged toward Wang Shan, but he no longer had any companions by his side.

Wang Mu's face was solemn and murderous.

"Artillery Battalion, three-stage blockade."

Fifty Psionic Heavy Cannons adjusted their muzzles simultaneously.

The first stage of artillery fire smashed into the left side, cutting off the first Foundation Establishment cultivator's route to provide reinforcements.

The second stage of artillery fire landed on the right, forcing the second Foundation Establishment cultivator to retreat from their landing point.

The third stage of artillery fire was not fired immediately but tightly blocked the path behind the Foundation Establishment cultivator charging toward Wang Shan.

Xiao Xuan's face was gloomy.

He had not expected that Wang Mu could complete a battlefield segmentation under such pressure.

Foundation Establishment cultivators were fast and had strong body-protecting True Essence, but they were ultimately not the deity's main body.

As long as they were forced into a position where they could not combine their attacks, their threat would be cut by more than half.

Wang Pingan did not speak.

He stood on the high platform, his gaze fixed on the Foundation Establishment cultivator charging alone toward Wang Shan.

Wang Shan saw it too.

He raised his hand to wipe away the blood at the corner of his mouth, his crimson flame saber dragging a trail of sparks along the ground.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator's palm condensed True Essence into a cyan-gold wheel, pressing down toward Wang Shan once more.

Wang Shan did not retreat.

The twenty Extreme Realm Martial Dao Citizens behind him did not retreat either.

Wang Shan grinned.

"Come on. Just now it was three against one; now it's one against one. I'll keep you company for a good time."

The Foundation Establishment cultivator had a cold expression, and the True Essence wheel smashed down with a boom.

Wang Shan raised his Black Iron Shield to take it head-on.

The surface of the Black Iron Shield caved in on the spot, fine cracks appeared on the shield's edge, and the battle platform beneath Wang Shan's feet shattered, sending a circle of gravel flying.

Yet his body did not fall.

The twenty Extreme Realm Martial Dao Citizens simultaneously poured their blood and Qi into the formation patterns, and the small formation nodes of the Xianwu Meat Grinder Array lit up beneath Wang Shan's feet.

Blood-colored Gang Qi flowed from the twenty people into Wang Shan's body.

Wang Shan's arm suddenly swelled, and the fire radiance on the crimson flame saber was dyed dark red by the baleful aura.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator realized something was wrong and immediately wanted to pull away.

But Wang Shan stepped forward, the gravel under his feet shattered into powder.

"Want to leave?"

He gripped the blade with both hands, and borrowing the amplification of the Xianwu Meat Grinder Array, he forced all his blood and Qi into the blade's edge.

The legion's baleful tiger roared in the sky above, and the blood-colored airflow from the tiger phantom descended, wrapping around the crimson flame saber's edge.

When this blade slashed down, a piercing boom rang out across the entire west side of the Tianqiong Battle Platform.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator exerted all his strength to maintain his body-protecting True Essence.

A cyan-gold shield formed.

The crimson flame saber slashed onto the shield, pausing slightly.

The next moment, the blood-colored baleful aura drilled into the cracks.

The Extreme Realm blood and Qi followed closely behind.

With a crack, the body-protecting True Essence shattered.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator's pupils constricted sharply.

Wang Shan let out a low roar, and a second burst of blood and Qi erupted from the depths of his bones.

The crimson flame saber pressed through the shield and slashed fiercely across the Foundation Establishment cultivator's neck.

The head flew up.

The entire audience was silent.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator's projection body paused in mid-air for half a breath, then dissipated into a large expanse of golden fragmented light.

Wang Shan leaned on his blade, his chest heaving violently, the armor plates on his body cracked in large areas, but he still stood.

He turned his head to look in Xiao Xuan's direction, his voice filled with a blood-drenched ferocity.

"Foundation Establishment cultivators can die too!"

The Tianhai Star spectator area instantly boiled over.

Zhao Yang jumped up abruptly, shouting excitedly.

"He hacked him! He really hacked him! Wang Shan hacked a Foundation Establishment cultivator!"

Wang Qingyan's eyes were red, her face brimming with a bright smile.

Wang Jincheng stood up from his seat, unable to speak for a long time.

Old Li slammed his fist onto the armrest, knocking over his teacup.

Zhou Mingyuan's eyes shone, his voice even changing pitch.

"Good, good, good!"

Deputy Director Xu Zhenhai stood beside him, his hands trembling slightly, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"This strike is worth fifty million; it's worth so much more!"

The Liumang Star spectator area was deathly silent.

The person who had set off the celebratory fireworks early still had their hand frozen in mid-air, their expression extremely awkward.

At the commentary desk, the two official commentators were also stunned for a moment, then their voices rose in unison.

"Wang Shan has slain a Foundation Establishment citizen!"

"This is an over-rank kill!"

"Contestant Wang Pingan's Extreme Realm Martial Dao combat soldiers truly possess the ability to kill Foundation Establishment cultivators head-on!"

The arrogance on Xiao Xuan's face was completely shattered by this strike.

He stared intently at the battlefield, anger churning in the depths of his eyes.

Those were not ordinary citizens.

They were Foundation Establishment citizens that his Xiao Family had cultivated by investing massive resources in advance.

Each one had consumed a vast amount of spiritual materials and legacy resources.

In the rookie assessment, Foundation Establishment citizens were supposed to be the trump card that crushed everything.

But now, they had been slain by Wang Shan in front of the entire star domain.

This was not as simple as losing a combat unit.

This was Xiao Xuan's greatest realm advantage, having been torn open by Wang Pingan, leaving a bloody hole.

The remaining two Foundation Establishment cultivators were also affected.

One was entangled by Wang Mu's sea of fire, and the other was blocked by the Artillery Battalion, unable to rendezvous in the short term.

Wang Mu did not give them a chance to adjust.

He dropped his command flag again.

"Sword Qi Battalion, surround and kill the Foundation Establishment cultivator on the left."

Five hundred cultivation elites immediately shifted their fire.

White and red fire radiance pressed down in waves, the three-stage combined slashes continuous and endless.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator on the left saw his True Essence shield light up again and again, only to be worn thin each time.

He wanted to rush out of the sea of fire, but the Artillery Battalion's third stage of artillery fire immediately fell.

Boom!

The psionic cannon light roared in front of him, forcing him to retreat.

Wang Mu attacked with his own blade.

A white line of fire passed through the gaps in the artillery fire, slashing at the thinnest part of the opponent's shield.

Cracks appeared.

The Sword Qi Battalion's second round of combined slashes followed.

The shield's cracks widened.

On the third round, Wang Mu slashed again.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator's body-protecting True Essence was finally torn open; although he was not slain on the spot, he had lost the deterrent power to continue holding the formation.

Seeing this, Wang Pingan raised his hand and gave the order.

"The whole army, advance."

As these four words fell, the Immortal Martial Legion, which had just been pushed back, finally began to push back.

Five hundred Martial Heavy Armor units raised their shields and marched, the Black Iron Shields connecting into a dark red shield wall, with blood-colored Gang Qi rolling and spreading from the shield faces.

Five hundred Cultivation Heavy Armor units followed with blade light, continuously slashing out lines of fire from the gaps in the shields.

The heavy Cavalry reorganized and slowly pressed up from the flanks; even if their warhorses fell, the cavalrymen abandoned their horses and joined the infantry formation.

The Artillery Battalion no longer chased random targets but focused solely on the foundation of Xiao Xuan's Golden Armor Legion.

The Golden Armor Legion had originally relied on Demigod pressure to stabilize their front line.

But after their leading Foundation Establishment cultivator was slain, a gap was torn in their morale.

The low-ranking citizens were already suppressed when facing the legion's baleful tiger.

Now that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator had died under the opponent's blade, they could no longer maintain the momentum of crushing forward as they had before.

The first row of Golden Armor warriors was knocked back by the shield wall.

The second row of Cultivation Citizens' mysterious yellow protective array was shattered by artillery fire.

The third row wanted to fill the position, but they were cut off by the sword net Wang Mu had laid out in advance.

The Xianwu Meat Grinder Array began to truly operate.

The front row rammed.

The middle row slashed.

The flanks pressed.

The rear filled in.

Every step of the advance took away a large area of Golden Armor projections.

Xiao Xuan hurriedly mobilized the remaining two Foundation Establishment cultivators to return for defense.

But Wang Mu and the Artillery Battalion held onto them tightly, preventing them from supporting the front again.

Wang Shan, leading the twenty Extreme Realm Martial Dao Citizens, focused specifically on hacking the Blood Condensation backbones within the Golden Armor Legion.

The Blood Condensation realm was indeed stronger than the ninth level of Body Forging.

But in front of a ferocious beast like Wang Shan, as long as they were surrounded by a small Immortal Martial formation, their defenses would definitely be broken within three strikes.

Xiao Xuan's front line began to collapse.

The first to collapse was the left flank.

It had been slashed by Wang Shan once, suffering the heaviest casualties among the Blood Condensation backbones, and the ordinary Golden Armor citizens, unable to withstand the blood-colored baleful aura, began to retreat.

Once the left flank retreated, the pressure on the middle section skyrocketed.

Wang Mu seized the opportunity and ordered the Artillery Battalion to concentrate their fire on the middle section's foundation.

Fifty heavy cannons fired in unison.

The mysterious yellow protective array was blasted with a huge gap.

The Immortal Martial shield wall pressed in through the gap, and the middle section of the Golden Armor Legion was forcibly torn open.

"Steady!"

Xiao Xuan shouted sternly.

But the battlefield was no longer in a situation that could be stabilized by a single sentence.

In the Divine Kingdom projection battle, the citizens would not truly die, but they would suffer real mental impact.

When high-end combat power was killed above their rank, when the front line was crushed by both heavy artillery and baleful aura, and when the rear constantly saw their own projections shattering, the morale would begin to collapse.

Once the momentum of defeat was formed, even Demigod pressure could not suppress it back.

Wang Pingan did not give Xiao Xuan time to reorganize his army formation.

He raised his hand and pressed down again.

"Wang Shan, slay the Divine Core."

Wang Shan looked up abruptly.

This was the sentence he had been waiting for.

After the middle section of the Golden Armor Legion was torn open, a corner of Xiao Xuan's Divine Core projection was finally exposed.

That golden projection hovered behind the high platform on the east side, protected by multiple layers of mysterious yellow protective light.

If attacking head-on, it would be extremely difficult for an ordinary legion to get close.

But now, a passage had already been opened by the Immortal Martial Legion.

Wang Shan charged forward with his blade, the twenty Extreme Realm Martial Dao Citizens following closely behind.

Wang Mu immediately cooperated.

"Artillery Battalion, bombard the outer perimeter of the Divine Core's protective array!"

Fifty Psionic Heavy Cannons adjusted their muzzles, the cannon light continuously bombarding the edge of the Divine Core's protective array.

The mysterious yellow protective light vibrated violently.

The remaining two Foundation Establishment cultivators wanted to return for reinforcements, but they were held back desperately by the Sword Qi Battalion.

Five hundred cultivation elites pushed their compressed spiritual energy slashes to the limit; even though the fire radiance made their arms numb, not a single one stopped.

Xiao Xuan was finally anxious.

He raised his hand, wanting to mobilize his Divine Kingdom's source energy to reinforce the Divine Core projection.

Wang Pingan looked at him, his tone indifferent.

"Too late."

Wang Shan had already stepped on the shattered projections of the Golden Armor citizens and rushed to the edge of the high platform.

The blood and Qi on his body were almost burned to the limit, and blood-colored projection light spots were still oozing from the dented part of his chest.

But his speed was getting faster and faster.

The legion's baleful tiger swooped down from the sky, and the blood-colored baleful aura converged onto his right fist.

Wang Shan did not use his blade again.

The crimson flame saber had already slashed through the Foundation Establishment body-protecting True Essence, and the blade body had reached its limit.

This punch was the final strike, condensed from the entire army's baleful aura.

Xiao Xuan shouted angrily: "Stop him!"

Dozens of Golden Armor citizens rushed up.

Wang Shan rammed into them, shields and armor shattered, blood Gang Qi exploded, and all those who blocked his way were shaken into fragmented light.

The last layer of mysterious yellow protective light blocked his view.

Wang Shan leaped high into the air, his right fist wrapped in the legion's baleful aura and Extreme Realm blood and Qi, and smashed it fiercely onto Xiao Xuan's exposed Divine Core projection.

Crack!

A crisp shattering sound spread throughout the entire Tianqiong Battle Platform.

Xiao Xuan's expression froze.

On the golden Divine Core projection, a crack spread out from beneath Wang Shan's fist.

Then a second one.

A third.

Cracks densely spread across the entire surface of the Divine Core projection.

The next instant, the Divine Core projection shattered with a boom.

The Demigod pressure dissipated completely.

The Golden Armor Legion turned into light spots in large swaths.

On the Tianqiong Battle Platform, only Wang Pingan's Immortal Martial Legion remained, standing amidst the blood-colored baleful aura.

Wang Pingan stood on the west high platform, his expression calm.

With the body of a Divine Being, he had shattered the Divine Core projection of the Demigod Xiao Xuan.

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