The explosion that followed Ye Wen's departure was so earth-shattering that it caused tremors across the entire Douluo Continent. Even the Sun Moon Continent, fused with Douluo, developed a deep fissure in its center, seemingly on the verge of splitting apart.
As for the central battlefield, it remained shrouded in dense yellow smoke and dust.
The yellow mushroom cloud soared tens of kilometers high, with an impact radius spanning a thousand kilometers. Even the gods in the God Realm couldn't immediately pinpoint Tang Wulin and his group's condition.
However, the gods weren't worried—in fact, this uncertainty only heightened their excitement.
Only Tang San wore a dark expression, as his precious son had been directly hit. Moreover, he had already bestowed his most important Tier-1 divine position upon his beloved child. Losing both his son and his divine position would be an unbearable loss!
The God of Destruction, however, was particularly impressed by the explosion's power.
"Ye Wen, you truly are a genius. I'd say this level of destruction rivals that of a Tier-1 god."
After their brief exchange earlier, Ye Wen and the God of Destruction were no longer strangers. There was no awkwardness between them, despite the vast difference in their statuses as a God King and an ordinary Divine Official.
Ye Wen slightly nodded and replied, "I'm not familiar with the standards of a Tier-1 god you mentioned, Destruction God. I simply calculated based on my own strength. This soul-guided cannonball I prearranged is of the same level as the teleportation soul-guided device I used earlier—both are Level 12 soul-guided artifacts. They're calibrated to match my peak Tier-2 god-level power. However, if you say so, perhaps they can now be classified as quasi-Level 13 soul-guided artifacts."
Since the gods were interested in the situation on the Douluo Continent, they had gathered some information about soul-guided artifacts.
A Level 9 soul-guided cannonball was equivalent to a Transcendent Douluo's full-powered strike (though the term "Transcendent Douluo" covered a wide range, including Limit Douluo, Demigods, and Quasi-Gods).
Level 10 soul-guided cannonballs hadn't appeared yet, though two Level 10 soul-guided artifacts had. However, the gods' evaluations of these were consistently low, deeming them merely peak Level 9 artifacts. Unless they could reach the Divine Official realm, they didn't deserve the title of Level 10.
The only artifact worthy of being called Level 10 was likely Ye Wen's four-character Battle Armor.
Though designed to grant a Soul Douluo the power of a Limit Douluo, with sufficient cultivation—up to Level 99—and the enhancement of four-character Battle Armor, users could potentially reach Divine Official-level strength.
Five-character Battle Armor, on the other hand, was considered a Level 11 soul-guided artifact, capable of granting Tier-3 god-level power at the Title Douluo stage.
However, to better train his disciples, Ye Wen hadn't widely disseminated this Battle Armor technology. It was reserved solely as an emergency measure when his disciples' lives were in danger.
Six-character Battle Armor was true divine equipment and a Level 12 soul-guided artifact, granting Tier-2 god-level power.
These Level 11 and 12 artifacts lacked the prefix "quasi" because they allowed users to reach the peak of Tier-2 or Tier-3 godhood.
The soul-guided cannonball was labeled "quasi-Level 13" because its power hadn't reached the pinnacle of Tier-1 godhood.
Even so, Ye Wen—a new god who hadn't yet reached Tier-3 godhood—was already considered a Tier-1 god in terms of destructive power alone. By this standard, he was undeniably deserving of his status.
This reality made Tang San's eyes burn with envy.
Even Tang San, as the inheritor of dual divine positions, had spent a century on the Douluo Continent advancing to the peak of Tier-2 godhood before ascending to the God Realm. He hadn't even bothered to protect the Sea God Island, allowing it to fade into history. Only after countless years of secluded cultivation in the God Realm did he finally reach the pinnacle of Tier-1 godhood. Recently, he had ascended to God King status, but the loneliness and hardship of that journey were known only to him.
The path to power was incredibly difficult!
Jealous flames burned within Tang San's heart.
Though he hated to admit it, Ye Wen's soul-guided technology stirred in him a strong desire to claim it for himself.
Such advanced technology should only belong to someone like him, a God King, to bring it to its full potential!
But Tang San glanced around and ultimately suppressed his greedy thoughts.
This wasn't his previous life, and this knowledge resided in Ye Wen's mind. Moreover, even Tang San couldn't act recklessly in the God Realm.
"For now, I need to plan carefully," Tang San thought deeply, his gaze turning toward the swirling dust over the Douluo Continent.
"The others may not know, but Wulin has my Sea God Trident as protection—he shouldn't have been killed by the explosion.
This might be an opportunity."
Tang San carefully sensed and eventually located the divine consciousness he had left within Tang Wulin. He then issued a divine decree:
"Eliminate the Tian Xing Federation as quickly as possible and seize all of Ye Wen's remaining soul-guided data."
If stealth wasn't an option, Tang San would resort to indirect methods to secure Ye Wen's legacy on the Douluo Continent.
Though many of Ye Wen's disciples had inherited the Seven Elemental Gods' divine positions, not all of them had. Even those who eventually ascended to the God Realm would still leave behind traces of Ye Wen's teachings and legends on the mortal plane. If Ye Wen wished to maintain a source of faith energy, he would have to preserve his legacy.
If possible, Tang San even wanted the complete inheritance.
However, after such a devastating explosion, Tang San wasn't sure if his subordinates could still unify the Douluo Continent. For now, he could only take things one step at a time.
Of course, unification would be ideal. Familiar with the rules of the God Realm, Tang San could use Ye Wen's remaining faith on the Douluo Continent as leverage to forcefully extract what he desired from Ye Wen.
Alas, Tang San bitterly regretted his past decisions. He shouldn't have prioritized maintaining his persona and the intense faith generated by war over unifying the Douluo Continent.
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Half a Day Later – The Sacred Crater of Fallen Gods
This circular geographical feature would later be named by future generations as the Sacred Crater of Fallen Gods, a holy site where the people of Douluo would devoutly worship Ye Wen, Huo Yu'er, and others.
At this moment, a hand suddenly burst out from the loose soil, clawing its way upward to reveal its owner.
Tang Wulin's gaze was still somewhat unfocused.
Had he been prepared, Tang Wulin might have withstood a Tier-1 god's attack, given the "cheat codes" Tang San had bestowed upon him.
However, the explosion had come without warning and struck far too suddenly. Before he could react, the overwhelming force had sent him flying and knocked him unconscious.
After a moment, Tang Wulin recalled the events leading to his current state.
Letting out a low curse, he felt utterly dispirited.
Facing someone who could take on eight opponents simultaneously while constantly scheming and plotting, Tang Wulin was genuinely afraid.
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