Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'

Li Mingji knew that whether Xides came or not, he was already dead.

He lowered his head and gazed at the river beneath the bridge.

This river, filled with garbage and wastewater, flowed toward the Outer World. Even the poorest worker in Frost Plated would proudly puff out their chest at the thought that the Outer World folks only deserved to drink purified nuclear waste water.

The white night of Frost Plated descended upon the border plains, and Li Mingji quietly awaited the final moment.

Regardless of whether Xides came or not, he would make a choice.

And so, time slowly ticked away.

Sizzle......

His fingertip was slightly hot; the cigarette butt had burned down to the filter.

The cigarette was finished, yet no deities had arrived.

Clap.

Li Mingji tossed the cigarette butt at his feet, gently stomping it out, then picked it up and threw it into a nearby garbage can, preparing to go home and continue enduring this failed life.

As a human, Li Mingji was already dead, but as a father, he could not die.

Li Mingji turned around, hands in his pockets, pondering whether to work as a security guard at the newly opened pharmaceutical factory in the county town. He was already old, and even trading in a loan and selling his organs for a combat prosthetic to be a bounty hunter was no match for the young.

It's more suitable for an older man like him to honestly enter the factory.

Just as he was thinking this, a piercing cold wind suddenly came from behind.

"What's going on?"

Li Mingji suddenly turned around. In the next moment, a huge rhombus-shaped doorway appeared in the sky. Accompanied by a wave in the purple energy curtain at its center, two massive figures quickly flew out from it, wrestling and falling to the ground.

"What the hell is this—"

Li Mingji was stunned.

Before he could react, two giants, one blue and one purple, nearly three meters tall, with armored skin, were already engaged in an intense fistfight.

Bam!

Leoz delivered a heavy kick to Xides' chest, then swiftly twisted his waist and spun, lifting his back leg to strike Xides' face. Xides backpedaled repeatedly, unable to rise, as Leoz rapidly rushed forward, using his leg like a blade to slash at the side of Xides' knee joint, precisely where the armor was weak.

Crack!

Xides was instantly knocked to the ground, but he clearly noticed that Leoz's attacks were weakening.

"Ha... the limit of Azure Star is only Gamma (3). Your strength is too excessive here. Prepare for the planet's punishment."

Leoz did not waste words. The black chaos blazing fire on his body was already unusable.

The Starry Abyss Curse, for a being beyond the abyss like him, was utterly malevolent.

With a cursed body, and only his spiritual body remaining, merely maintaining physical form was a struggle.

Let alone... Xides, as a seed of the Starry Abyss, armed with vast strategic information, clearly judged that Leoz's physical data was continuously declining.

[A quick battle is essential.]

He stomped toward his head with a foot.

Smash!

Xides immediately rolled in place to evade a series of attacks from Leoz. Without the cursed body, his strength with Leoz quickly closed in. Leoz's reactions grew slower, with more attacks missing their target.

"I won't let you succeed!"

He slapped the ground with one hand to rise, as soon as his upper body had just lifted, Leoz immediately punched him in the face. Utilizing the momentum, Xides performed a half-turn somersault, landing gracefully like a cat, kicking between Leoz's legs, and then immediately using his upper body strength, delivered an Iron Mountain Lean to push Leoz away.

Bam!

Leoz retreated half a step.

Not because Xides' attack was strong, but because the curse of the Layer Abyss was constantly weakening him.

"Alright, old man, no matter how you struggle, the Starry Abyss will always stand by my side."

After retreating Leoz for the first time, Xides felt invigorated, clenching his fists and taking a deep breath, then suddenly exerting strength:

"Give me back my system—"

They had no pathway.

In the Starry Abyss, the existence of a pathway was more important than anything else, with the mandate suppressed by the Starry Abyss Curse.

Leoz and Xides, as incomplete deities, without the aid of a pathway, could only rely on physical fighting.

Xides was well aware of his own advantages.

No matter how powerful or experienced the opponent was, did he, as the chosen seed, have anything to fear from such an old guy?

Leoz's fists and feet gradually slowed down, being methodically blocked by him. But even as the physical strength of the opponent began to falter, in pure fist and foot techniques, Xides still gained no advantage.

He blocked Leoz's swinging fist with the back of his hand. Leoz immediately lowered his body and swept with a leg, injuring Xides's ankle, causing him to flip. He braced a hand on the ground, immediately did a backflip, his heel swinging out like a meteor hammer, striking Leoz's chin.

Whoosh—!

Leoz's form instantly returned to a spiritual body, causing the strike to miss. But immediately, Xides flipped up and swung his fists and feet down onto Leoz's head, like a sudden thunderbolt, swift and unstoppable.

As the offensive and defensive stances gradually changed, Xides became increasingly anxious.

He had already discovered one thing: No matter how low Leoz's physical attributes fell, he could always suppress him.

"Clearly an Artistic Spirit Race member, how are his combat skills more refined than those of the Destructive God Race... Was this guy learning to fight from birth?"

He threw a straight punch with his right hand, feigning in front of the opponent, then used the other hand to throw a swift hook to Leoz's abdomen. But Leoz, almost without thinking, purely based on instinct and reflex, kicked out with a straight leg, the toe rigid like a bayonet, fiercely striking the gap in Xides's chest armor.

—Snap!

Xides felt a numbness throughout his body, as a deity, his divine power circulation was almost interrupted for a moment. He retreated several steps, clutching his chest and diaphragm with one hand.

"No... this guy is too strong, he can't possibly be an ordinary deity. Such combat instincts, even with the countless time I spent in timeline rehearsals, I couldn't refine them to this level!"

Even if the opponent weakened to the level of a mortal, just by pure exertion methods, Xides felt he had no chance of victory.

"Hey, that's enough, what good does it do to kill relentlessly?!"

But Leoz had no intention of sparing him.

He took two steps, leaping up, legs scissor-like in the air, immediately locking around Xides's neck, spinning swiftly mid-air, dragging Xides up, bending his legs, and slamming him down onto the ground hard!

Bang!!!

"Ugh—"

Before Xides could exert any strength, Leoz had already grabbed his arm, using his thigh to suppress his chest, executing a cross lock, pressing down with his entire weight.

Crack!

Even with his power reduced to below that of a regular mortal, Xides, originally at mortal level, wasn't much stronger.

"It's over."

Leoz promptly twisted his arm, raising his hand, with Chaos Blazing Fire igniting in his palm, ready to deliver the final blow and strip Xides of everything.

Smack!

A stone hit the back of Leoz's head.

"Hey, let go."

He turned his head, and Li Mingji, holding a large rock from the riverbank, sweating profusely, nervously glared at him:

"You bastard, that guy is the savior of this universe! At least my savior! How can you do this and live up to the entire Starry Abyss?"

Despite his words, faced with a giant god who was taller even when kneeling, Li Mingji, as a mortal, felt a primal fear of large creatures fill his heart.

But if he didn't act...

'If I just watch Xides be killed by this monster—then wouldn't my family be doomed?'

If this body isn't given to Xides, who would save his family?

Who could help Li Aozi afford the tuition and living expenses at Red Arrow?

Surely, fighting a deity would also require being a deity... Moreover, the exquisite skills, fluid combat, and ruthless methods were utterly slaughtering the newborn Xides.

Li Mingji didn't even need to see; just the cold, cruel aura emitted by the opponent made him shiver.

Kidding me, this is too terrifying... Not even when facing armed thugs had Li Mingji been this scared.

But...

"Mortal..."

Leoz glanced at Li Mingji, ignoring him, focusing on preparing to finally annihilate Xides.

"I said stop!"

Li Mingji shouted, raising the stone and charging forward, aiming to smash it down on Leoz's head:

"Compared to fucking life, a mere deity is nothing!"