Chapter 85: Tyrant

Watching Yun Meng vanish into the tide of beasts, the towering figure of Gangyan, captain of the Yujin Base Defense Force, spoke coldly:

"Stay safe, kids. This battlefield’s far crueler than training."

With that, the bald giant clapped his hands together.

In an instant, his entire body was encased in solid rock. He turned and strode southward without a glance back.

Facing a second-tier mid-level Transformation-type Stellar Envoy like Gangyan, the low-tier beast horde was nothing more than a nuisance.

Once Yun Meng and Gangyan had left, Tian Dao understood it was time for him to move.

The longer they delayed, the worse things would get.

In the original story, Yun Meng had been injured during the beast surge—because she had to handle two Star Monuments alone.

By the time she reached the second one, it was already surrounded by several second-tier Stellar Beasts, plus hundreds more scattered across the area.

She succeeded in destroying the fourth Star Monument—but not without taking a few minor wounds, a detail that would later become crucial in the plot.

But now, with Tian Dao present, such threats were no longer a danger to Yun Meng.

Thinking this through, Tian Dao removed the mask from his eyes, folding it neatly and wrapping it around his right hand like a fist belt.

After securing it, he turned to the others.

"Ruli, Kong—watch your backs. I’m going ahead."

"Got it."

With that, Tian Dao stepped out of the base and charged directly into the east—the vast, roaring beast tide.

On the island’s eastern forest, countless marine-type Stellar Beasts had surged ashore like a relentless tide, leveling everything in their path.

Trees were severed in half by the claws of giant crabs.

A lobster-like Stellar Beast, its shell glowing with an eerie blue hue, lumbered through the underbrush with reckless abandon.

Just as it crushed a patch of shrubs beneath its bulk, a silver-haired boy suddenly appeared atop its head—and brought his foot down with crushing force.

Crack!

The armored shell shattered instantly. Beneath it, the soft flesh exploded into crimson mist.

The boy didn’t even glance down.

Using the recoil, he launched himself into the air again, soaring toward the distant beach as if he’d merely stepped on an insignificant insect—nothing more than a minor inconvenience on his way.

The surrounding marine beasts, sensing his presence, instantly shifted course.

Their previous aim—toward the base—was forgotten.

Now, they converged on Tian Dao with predatory urgency.

Though weakened on land compared to their full strength in water, these creatures still posed a challenge even for someone like Tian Dao.

Yet he had no intention of wasting time.

A blurred afterimage remained behind as he vanished—then reappeared instantly, standing level on the trunk of a five-meter-tall tree.

With a powerful push from his legs, gravity seemed to vanish for him.

He leapt forward in a single, fluid motion—clearing great distances with each bound.

Using this method, he dodged the crawling beasts below while rapidly advancing toward the beach.

But as he drew closer, the trees grew sparser—until finally, there was nothing left to jump from.

And then, something utterly unexpected happened.

As Tian Dao launched off the last tree, the open stretch before him was nothing but flat, endless beach.

No footholds. No branches. Only a sea of Stellar Beasts stretching endlessly in every direction.

Yet, mid-air, Tian Dao planted his foot on a single leaf drifting through the air.

"Vector Reversal."

Tian Dao Siming’s voice carried on the wind.

His body twisted gracefully in mid-Kong, and the leaf beneath him remained utterly still.

In the next instant—whoosh!—Tian Dao shot forward like a cannonball.

A streak of motion tore through the air, cutting past the stunned beasts below in a flash.

The secret?

At the moment of contact, he reversed the vector of the leaf’s momentum—redirecting it onto himself, effectively using the leaf as a springboard.

Simple in theory.

Near-impossible in practice—because it required instant, precise manipulation of the feedback vector the leaf transmitted.

Only someone with the hyper-advanced dynamic vision granted by the Star-Eclipse Eye could pull it off.

This was no longer just Vector Control.

This was mastery.

The Dimensional Audience watching in stunned silence could barely process what they were seeing.

> “Guigui, Lao Tian’s still using Vector Control? He’s walking on leaves now?”

> “This isn’t Vector Control—this is physics breaking down!”

> “Fast forward to walking on air—let Lao Tian unlock flight already!”

> “Earlier, Lao Tian said in the Deep Blue arc he’d need to reach Tier 3 to walk on air. Only then can a Stellar Envoy control vectors at the micrometer level, allowing them to manipulate air particles for propulsion.”

> “Forget flying—those Stellar Beasts are huge!”

> “Newton: Open my coffin. Open it NOW!”

In the midst of stunned chatter, Tian Dao landed smoothly on the eastern beach.

Before him, the massive Star Monument—its base submerged in the near-shore sea—rose like a monolith.

Unlike the ten-meter-tall version on the Floating Island, this one had expanded to a towering twenty meters.

Around it, a shimmering, barrier-like energy field pulsed—designed to prevent the summoned beasts from accidentally knocking it over and rendering it useless.

“One second-tier lower-level Sea Wolf Tortoise, twenty first-tier Stellar Beasts. Thirty seconds.”

Tian Dao mentally calculated the time needed to clear the area.

Just then, an overconfident octopus-type Stellar Beast appeared beside him—out of nowhere.

Ambush.

It lashed out with dozens of writhing tentacles, eyes ablaze with bloodlust.

It was already imagining itself devouring Tian Dao’s flesh, savoring every bite.

But as its limbs reached for him, Tian Dao merely lifted his head—and delivered a single, calm punch.

Vector Control · Double Stellar Energy Compression!

A streak of black light flashed.

The octopus’s tentacles shattered one by one.

Then, the residual force of the punch tore through its body like a Kong gas cannon—ripping through more than half of it.

Boom!

The creature collapsed, reduced to a third of its former self, its blue blood spreading across the sand.

But its death didn’t scare off the remaining beasts.

Driven by the Star Monument’s influence, their hunger for flesh overpowered their instinct to flee.

Like mindless zombies, they charged forward—unyielding, unstoppable.

Tian Dao didn’t flinch.

He raised his hand.

Five Hei Cang appeared around his right wrist, rotating steadily like tiny, deadly satellites.

Stellar Energy Technique · Hei Cang!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The piercing sound of air splitting filled the air.

One by one, the Hei Cang shot out like death’s summons—piercing through the skulls of each approaching beast.

After firing over a dozen, the area around Tian Dao was littered with a grotesque pile of dead Stellar Beasts.

The only one killed by a fist was the octopus.

All the rest—by Hei Cang.

One man.

Yet he had carved out a true Kong zone—a radius of ten meters where no beast dared step.

Hearing the threat, the Sea Wolf Tortoise guarding the monument roared in fury.

Its second-tier aura shattered nearby rocks, a clear warning.

Stay back. Or I’ll show you what real cruelty is.

Tian Dao merely smiled.

"Strength..."

His form vanished.

When he reappeared—right on top of the tortoise’s back.

That brief pause on the beach hadn’t been wasted.

He’d been analyzing the beast’s weak point with the Star-Eclipse Eye.

Now that he’d found it—he struck.

A powerful leg axe came down with a thunderous crack.

And as he landed, he completed the sentence he’d left unfinished:

"...doesn’t need to bluff."

Vector Control · Fivefold Stellar Energy Compression!

A black flash split the air.

The impact struck the tortoise’s armored shell with devastating force.

The entire beach around them imploded in a radial wave of shock.

The sand collapsed outward like a crater.

Tian Dao flipped backward, landing lightly in front of the beast—then casually brushed imaginary sand from his right leg.

Then—crack!—a sharp, brittle sound echoed from the tortoise.

One strike.

The once-impenetrable shell cracked into a spiderweb of fractures.

The cracks spread rapidly—spreading across the entire shell.

Puff!

The tortoise coughed up blood, its eyes wide with terror.

Its front limbs trembled, unable to hold its weight.

It collapsed to its knees, trembling before Tian Dao.

It knew it was dying.

Tian Dao stepped forward, smiling.

He placed a hand on its forehead.

“Now that your shell’s gone… what will you use to survive this time?”

He didn’t wait for an answer.

A single, concentrated Hei Cang shot from his fingertip—piercing straight through the beast’s skull, then exploding through its body.

A series of sharp cracks echoed like popcorn.

The tortoise’s massive form detonated in a burst of blood and flesh—scattering across the beach like a bloody fireworks display.

Tian Dao stood in the midst of the carnage—blood raining down around him.

Slowly, he turned toward the Dimensional Screen—and smiled.

That smile was chilling.

Not a hint of warmth.

Not a trace of humanity.

Just cold, undeniable power.

In that moment, the kind, approachable boy from earlier was gone.

What remained was a true tyrant—ruthless, efficient, and utterly terrifying.

As an enemy? Unthinkable.

As a teammate? Unshakable.

The Sea Wolf Tortoise was dead.

Tian Dao silently checked the time.

“Hmm. Exactly thirty seconds.”

He ignored the fresh wave of beasts surging toward him.

Instead, his gaze turned forward—toward the towering Star Monument, its surface glowing a deep, bloody red.

Around it: snarling, monstrous Stellar Beasts.

In the center: a silver-haired boy, smiling.

The beast horde was supposed to be the savage force.

Yet somehow… the audience felt that Tian Dao—with that serene, cruel smile—was the real monster.

Wait… is that really a hero’s smile?

Or is it the grin of a villain?

---

ps: Starting tomorrow, I’ll be adding extra chapters to make up for the backlog.

【Bonus chapter triggered: 9 Moon Tickets required】

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end