The universe is vast. Though the Human Race is strong, it is in a state of perpetual war against other powerful races like the Mechanical Race, the Insect Race, and the Demon Race along the vast frontiers of the Star Domains.
That region is known as the "Outer Battlefield."
It is the graveyard of countless experts, and the crucible that forges them.
He recalled hearing about the mandatory training regimen for core members of the Source Net, which involved tempering oneself on the Outer Battlefield.
The death rate was never low, which gave him a deeper understanding of the brutal nature of this simulated battlefield.
The moment his divine sense swept across the area, enemies from all directions let out deafening roars and charged at him.
However, faced with an offensive that would have sent an ordinary expert at the Peak of Saint Realm scrambling, Li Wen simply stood his ground, his expression impassive.
"Annihilate."
A single word escaped his lips.
WHOOM—!
An invisible ripple of Law spread out from Li Wen, instantly engulfing the entire first layer of the Killing Field.
In that instant, it was as if time itself had been forcibly stopped, only to be thrust toward the endpoint of decay a moment later.
The roaring enemies charging toward him rapidly withered and weathered away mid-lunge, turning to dust.
In the span of a single breath, the thousands of enemies that had crowded the space just a second before were all reduced to motes of dissipating white light.
The entire Killing Field became empty and silent once more, as if everything that had just happened was merely an illusion.
’Too weak.’
To the current Li Wen, the enemies on the first layer were as fragile as paper.
There was no need for him to waste even a single second here.
A white light flashed, and Li Wen’s figure vanished, reappearing on the second layer of the Killing Field.
Countdown reset: One day.
Enemies spawned.
Killing intent surged.
"Annihilate."
The same word, the same result.
Thousands of xenos were instantly annihilated.
Teleport, insta-kill. Teleport again, insta-kill again!
No enemy warranted a second glance, and no attack could get within three feet of him.
Wherever he went, he left behind only the afterimages of enemies turning into white light.
Soon, he was standing in the center of the 4th Layer of the Killing Field.
...
Meanwhile, before Li Wen set foot on the 4th Layer.
Within their respective killing spaces.
Ling Xuzi of the Celestial Vault Divine Country stood with his hands behind his back, his white robes whiter than snow.
Facing the newly spawned enemies, he too left his sword sheathed, merely sweeping his gaze across them.
Space folded and sliced like a shattered mirror, instantly dicing all the enemies into countless pieces that turned into white light.
He took a single step, and his figure vanished from the 3rd Layer, stepping onto the 4th Layer.
Time Shadow of the Chronos Holy Land, his silver hair dancing, tapped lightly with the temporal longspear in his hand.
Wherever the spear tip passed, the flow of time was twisted to its limit. Enemies either aged rapidly into withered skeletons or were easily destroyed by subsequent attacks while frozen in time.
He cleared the field with unhurried ease, as if strolling through the river of time, and entered the 4th Layer right after Ling Xuzi.
Illusory of the Mimeng Dynasty had a star-like mark flashing on her brow. As her eyes shifted, an invisible psychic storm swept across the entire field.
With the exception of the Mechanical Race, all other types of enemies silently and instantly dissipated.
Even the soulless Mechanical Race was annihilated by some unknown power.
Her clearing speed was no slower than the first two.
On the Killing Field’s overall leaderboard, their three names shot up from the first layer like brilliant comets.
In the blink of an eye, they crossed the second and 3rd layers and cemented their positions on the 4th Layer, firmly occupying the top ranks.
...
Outside the arena, the spectator area was already in an uproar.
"Look! Lord Ling Xuzi! He’s on the 4th Layer! That was so fast!"
"His Highness Time Shadow is up there too! Where his silver spear points, time itself reverses!"
"Lady Illusory’s psychic attacks are terrifying! Those enemies were gone before they could even move!"
"Li Wen from Alka! He’s on the 4th Layer too! He’s also really fast! He insta-killed his way through the first three layers!"
"Whoa... He’s this fierce in combat, too?!"
"Barton from Alka is still on the 3rd Layer! Li Wen actually made it to the 4th Layer first? And he’s in the top hundred?!"
On the massive light screen, the rankings on the overall leaderboard changed at a dizzying pace.
The first few layers were relatively easy, and many talented individuals with decent strength were able to clear them quickly.
As a result, the leaderboard refreshed at an extremely high frequency, with ranks fluctuating wildly.
But that didn’t stop the top-tier geniuses from shining brightly.
The fringe viewing area where the Alka Empire was located was now in an uproar, a chaotic mix of immense shock and wild joy.
"Li... Li Wen?! The 4th Layer?! Top one hundred?!" A spectator from Alka rubbed his eyes hard, suspecting he was misreading the light screen.
"Am... am I seeing things? He was steady in the Enlightenment Tower and strong on the Solitude Steps, but those... those were tests of talent and willpower!
This is the Killing Field! A test of actual combat!
"Just over half a year ago, during the preliminaries, wasn’t his actual combat skill worse than Barton’s?" another spectator stammered, his face a mask of disbelief.
"Oh my god! Insta-cleared the first three layers?! And his rank is higher than Barton’s?!" After the initial shock came an incomparable excitement and ecstasy.
"Could it be... could it be that this time, Alka is actually going to produce a top-ten genius in the universe, or maybe... even higher?!"
The moment Li Wen charged into the 4th Layer and broke into the top hundred at a speed far exceeding their expectations, a spark of hope was ignited, blazing into a roaring fire.
They had originally thought it would be good enough if Li Wen could just maintain an upper-mid-tier performance in the combat events.
After all, his cultivation time was too short. In their hearts, Barton was Alka’s number one combatant.
But reality had given them a huge, pleasant surprise.
...
「Killing Field, 4th Layer.」
Li Wen steadied himself, his divine sense once again sweeping across the entire space like radar.
Compared to the first three layers, the number of enemies here was the same, but the auras they exuded were a great deal more powerful.
The scales of the Demon Beasts glimmered with the light of Law runes, and the energy core fluctuations of the mechanical warriors were more condensed.
Clearly higher-level individuals appeared among the Insect Race, and the energy bodies of the Elemental Life forms were larger and more volatile.
’The difficulty has clearly increased... You’d need the raw power of an early Tier Two Star Lord to pass this steadily. Alternatively, you could be like Barton—at the peak of Tier One Star Lords—and force your way through with powerful combat techniques and explosive strength.’ Li Wen made an instant judgment.
The countdown timer in the void ticked down mercilessly. Zero!
"ROAR—!"
"BZZZT—!"
...
Thousands of enemies roared once more, pressing in from all directions.
Their momentum this time was far beyond what the previous three layers could compare to.
"In that case, I’ll use you all to test the combat effectiveness of this move of mine."
Li Wen’s eyes narrowed. With a low shout, the Power of the Time Law within him surged violently!
"Time Lag Domain, activate!"
VMMMM—!
An intangible, formless power that seemed capable of freezing all creation suddenly spread out from Li Wen.
In an instant, the entire space of the 4th Layer Killing Field felt as if it had been submerged in incredibly viscous glue.
The ferocious enemies lunging forward—whether they were the swift-as-wind Demon Beasts, the energy-blasting mechanical warriors, or the surging insectoid swarm—all found their movements becoming incredibly slow and sluggish, as if caught in a slow-motion replay.
The speed of the rampaging energy attacks plummeted within the domain, their trajectories becoming clearly visible.
Their power, too, seemed to be constantly weakening and dissipating over an extended passage of time.
Li Wen moved.
Wielding a silver long-bladed saber, he strolled leisurely through the nearly frozen domain of time.
Every seemingly casual swing of his blade was accompanied by the annihilation of enemies across a large area.
When the core of the last powerful Elemental Giant was completely annihilated by the power of time and dissipated into white light, the entire 4th Layer fell silent once again.
Li Wen sheathed his saber and stood tall, a flash of satisfaction in his eyes.
’The Time Law... is truly profound. If not for this path, with my mid-stage Tier One Star Lord Primordial Power cultivation and ordinary grasp of other Laws, I would have needed to temper a basic Law to a level approaching Barton’s—the peak of Tier One Star Lords—just to clear this 4th Layer so easily.
My speed might not match the pure, overwhelming power of Ling Xuzi and the others’ insta-kills, but this efficiency and control are already far beyond others at my level.’
He muttered to himself, confirming the immense advantage his specialization in the Time Law gave him in actual combat.
A beam of white light descended, teleporting him to the 5th Layer.