A Card In Hand

Chapter 72: This is Simply Abnormal!

Li Ao entered a new spatial passage.

Before him appeared a small space cottage.

Its structure resembled that of a human dwelling, complete with tables, chairs, beds, blankets, bookshelves, and a stove.

The stove seemed to have been extinguished not long ago.

The books on the shelves were dust-free.

It looked as though someone was still living in this space cottage just yesterday.

However.

Everything in sight.

Was all an illusion created by spatial magic.

When Li Ao lightly touched it with his hand, it immediately caused a spatial distortion, which only slowly returned to its original form after he withdrew his hand.

The only real object was an intricately patterned, dark gold card.

It quietly floated above the desk.

Back facing Li Ao.

This.

Must be all the clues his father had left for him.

Li Ao took a deep breath to calm his inner turmoil and then reached out to lightly touch the card.

The dark gold card possessed a sort of soul-recognition sentience.

As soon as Li Ao touched it.

It reacted violently.

Light burst forth like a tide from it, growing more intense, until it became so brilliant that Li Ao could hardly look directly at it.

One by one, celestial runes of exquisite beauty floated out from it, some of which even Li Ao did not recognize.

The mysterious runes emanating from the dark gold card gradually formed a unique celestial formation.

At the center of this celestial formation, a majestic golden giant rose, his hands poised to lift the heavens.

As the golden giant stood up, the entire space cottage silently shattered, and all the spatial energy converged onto his body, eventually forming a heroic and unparalleled suit of space armor.

In a matter of seconds.

The golden giant grew to a height of ten meters, very solid, as if he were a real person, lifelike.

As this entirely unfamiliar yet somehow familiar golden giant fully materialized before him, he suddenly seemed to come to life, bowing his head and staring intently at Li Ao with his golden eyes.

Instantly, the pressure was mountainous.

“…”

Is this my father?

Li Ao felt strange in his heart. He couldn’t say he was excited, nor disappointed, just extremely curious.

What kind of man was he?

A deity?

But there was no such god in the Pantheon of Myriad Realms!

And not many gods in the celestial realm knew of his existence!

Certainly, he could not be considered merely a homeless vagabond who had luckily married above his station, as the entire Silverlight City family might believe.

The mother, sealed in the Ancient Void, could not possibly have married a true wandering mercenary.

A wandering mercenary.

It was utterly impossible to create such a wondrous special space on a broken sword.

Let alone a wandering mercenary, even Li Ao in his previous life couldn’t have created such a space without sufficient divine power.

The Golden Giant gazed down at Li Ao with severity.

Li Ao looked up at the Golden Giant.

Their eyes met.

Li Ao’s heart remained calm, unrippled.

Faced with the overwhelming pressure from the Golden Giant, Li Ao’s indomitable spirit stood firm like a mountain, unmoved.

His father couldn’t possibly mean to harm him, and Li Ao had already learned of his existence from his mother.

They continued to look at each other.

For a long time.

Suddenly, the Golden Giant’s expression softened, and a hint of a smile seemed to play around his lips.

His lips parted slightly, and a voice that could speak directly into Li Ao’s soul echoed clearly in his mind: “Welcome, my child! Whether you already know the truth or have stumbled here by mistake, I am very pleased. My child, if you didn’t have the strength to enter this half-dimensional space, I would rather all secrets disappear with my departure! Perhaps then, you would have had a more beautiful life!”

“When you came here, it proves you have gained some strength and are aiming for higher goals, which pleases me greatly.”

“I would like to tell you everything.”

“But, I cannot do that.”

“When your power is not enough to support your ideals, you will suffer greatly, and I do not wish to add too much burden to you, since I have never given you anything.”

“You might resent me, or be very curious about me, and more likely, you might think I was just a wandering mercenary who deceived your mother with a pretty face. For this misunderstanding, I really do not care, for me, it serves as a good disguise, but for your mother, it is clearly not fair. Your mother, beautiful and proud, how could she possibly marry a man living off a woman? This is something I need to clarify to you, your mother is very great and very special, she is a unique woman in this world, and I love her more than anything!”

“You can resent me, but do not complain about your mother!”

“Your mother, she loves you more than anything, if she had a choice, she would never leave your side…”

“In this half-dimensional space, I have set up five stages, each requiring ten times the combat power of the previous one to challenge. My child, if you want to know the ultimate truth, then show me through your actions!”

“Now, all I can tell you is, you are the son of your mother and me.”

“The bloodline passed down from ancient times can prove it.”

“The natural resonance in your soul can prove it.”

“You do not need to doubt.”

“I have no ill intentions towards you.”

“As for why I set up five such challenging stages to test you one by one? That was the highest expectation of your mother and me! We hope you can harness your bloodline power, the talents hidden within you, continuously improve and elevate yourself, step by step reaching the top, and ultimately come before us…”

“My child, if you want to know more, then strive to challenge the next level!”

“I mean to say, I will be waiting for you at the last level!”

Having said this, the Golden Giant suddenly shattered.

It broke into millions of flowing lights, slowly fading away.

Only an extremely delicate beam of light entered Li Ao’s forehead, seeming to acknowledge his previous successful challenges.

It was unstoppable.

It went straight into Li Ao’s soul.

Then it transformed into an infinitely mysterious and profound radiance that swiftly spread, causing an incredible resonance within his soul.

At the same time, during the resonance, a wonderfully indescribable purification occurred.

Li Ao’s Indomitable Divine Fire.

After receiving the soul purification by this mysterious radiance, it surged, expanding more than twofold.

Conversely, the outer seal of the Hourglass of Time, after undergoing the purification of this mysterious radiance, snapped with a sound, cracking a large fissure.

Instantly, several strands of the Power of Time escaped from the hourglass.

The mysterious radiance emanated from the soul.

It turned towards the body.

Conducting a thorough cleansing and awakening of the bloodlines.

Li Ao felt a massive, immeasurable vast energy burst forth from his soul, piercing through him from top to bottom, thunderously passing through.

It was as if he was being enlightened.

The dormant bloodlines, with a bang, awoke from their slumber.

The power of the bloodlines broke through the laws of heaven and earth, wildly proliferating.

An energy giant, spurred by the power of the bloodlines, terrifyingly ascended from the top of Li Ao’s head.

Reaching a height of ten meters, it rapidly solidified into an Iron Giant, resounding metallically.

However, the level of activation of Li Ao’s bloodline power was far beyond just one Iron Giant.

The soul purification, bloodline cleansing, and bloodline awakening led to an unstoppable life surge.

The Iron Giant silently shattered, recondensing into an even more powerful energy form, and once again thunderously ascended.

Upon reaching twenty meters,

it gradually solidified into a Silver Giant.

And the sublime power continued, within the life surge lay endless strength.

Like a volcano, it furiously erupted.

Ahhhh…

Li Ao, in agony, felt almost as if his body would explode, his skin split like a web, covered in blood.

His current body’s endurance was actually far from sufficient.

Originally.

The minimum requirement to enter the Space Cottage was a combat power of ten thousand.

However, Li Ao, through divine fire repelled the impossible to defeat Black Hole Toad, equivalent to cheating, prematurely entered the Space Cottage.

He received the soul baptism and bloodline awakening given by his father, each according to the minimum share of ten thousand… According to the sublimation limit of the bloodline power, Li Ao with ten thousand combat power could condense the Golden Giant of the Iron Clan’s ancestors.

However, he with less than five thousand combat power could no longer withstand any higher enhancements.

There was a clear dividing line between the limit of bodily tolerance and mad evolution.

Li Ao’s body could not hold up anymore.

Continuously bursting apart.

Yet, the evolution continued.

The Silver Giant silently shattered.

A thirty-meter-tall Golden Giant thunderously ascended.

“Aaaaah!”

Li Ao’s flesh burst open, blood splattered wildly, reaching the utmost limit of his endurance.

The Golden Giant could not solidify into form.

It.

Rose to a height of thirty meters.

But as Li Ao was about to burst apart, it completely collapsed.

The life shock’s evolutionary energy slowly dissipated, reverting back to calm bloodline energy, bit by bit, returning to Li Ao’s body.

Snap!

Li Ao fell powerlessly onto the void ground.

Supporting himself with his arms, he desperately tried not to pass out, blood and sweat poured from his body, spreading red all around.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Ao’s eyelids twitched slightly, and he opened them with difficulty.

The reborn and evolved talent of Tempered Steel began to manifest its power.

Not just the indestructible body of Tempered Steel.

But also the life-hammering that draws energy.

Li Ao struggled to stand.

Wobbling.

Once he managed to stand firm, he immediately raised his arms and roared skyward.

Roar~!

In the soul-shaking roar, Li Ao’s shattered body quickly recovered, wounds continuously healing.

Under the nourishment of the bloodline energy, new bones, muscles, and skin, not only fully recovered but also became stronger and more vigorous.

At the same time, the new body and bloodline power fused even more.

Once Li Ao fully recovered.

Seeing the various changes in his body, he couldn’t help but blurt out, “This is simply monstrous!”

Previously, Li Ao would recover from injuries, but the characteristics of Tempered Steel meant he would never truly fall, as long as he still breathed, he could live.

The problem was that the previous recovery speed was far inferior to now.

The evolution-enhanced Tempered Steel talent.

The recovery speed was a hundred times faster than before.

Even more.

What’s even more terrifying is that Li Ao could absorb the energy of the injuries during recovery to nourish himself, forging it into part of his own life.

If this wasn’t his own talent, Li Ao would definitely suspect that someone with this talent was cheating.

“Bloodline awakening, how much has my combat power increased?”

Li Ao was eager to know the result.

The first thing he did when he came to his senses was to immediately enter his Native Card space.

As Li Ao’s consciousness touched the Pillar of Life, the updated information instantly flooded into his mind…