"Is it still because of Chenxiang?" Ning Rongrong's face was sad.
They had once worried that Ma Hongjun would spiral into despair over Bai Chenxiang.
Yet all these years, he had only grieved in silence, never resenting others.
But now it seemed his resentment was buried deeper than anyone realized, even from himself—deep down, he did blame Tang San a little.
That was how someone was able to take advantage, turning him into a tool.
Now, everyone knew: the Ma Hongjun before them was no longer their brother, nor the Phoenix God.
"No more words—Xiao Wu is dead, and I'll make you pay!" Tang San's eyes bled tears. His love for Xiao Wu was genuine.
The moment she fell into the spatial chaos, his heart died.
Power, destiny, all struggles and strife—he cast them aside.
Now, he had only one thought: kill Ma Hongjun and the Golden Dragon King for vengeance.
"Asura Blood Sword!" Tang San raised his crimson blade, burning his Asura god power and bloodline, enveloped in blood-red flame.
A sword-light, as if to cleave the God Realm in two, slashed at the Golden Dragon King and Ma Hongjun.
"Hahaha, good! Let's have a proper battle!" the Golden Dragon King laughed, aiming at a floating continent.
Gravity collapsed. That continent compressed into a tiny planet, then exploded in his grip.
Boom!
The compressed matter released world-ending energy, colliding fiercely with Tang San's sword-light.
"Attack, protect the God Realm!" the God of Destruction ordered grimly.
The Golden Dragon King was already on guard; there was no chance to unleash the Sword of Three Realms' Judgment again.
Now with Ma Hongjun—another God King-level fighter—it looked like a long war was inevitable.
The only consolation was that the Golden Dragon King was gravely wounded, having been at the heart of the earlier explosion.
Destruction thunder and Asura sword light raged toward the Golden Dragon King.
The Gods of Evil and Kindness targeted Ma Hongjun, surrounding him.
Ma Hongjun's flames soared ever higher. By manipulating molecular motion, as long as his divine power and energy held, his flames had no upper limit in temperature.
Theoretically, he could ignite a galaxy, even the universe itself.
But that was theory. At present, he couldn't reach that level.
Still, burning a planet was easy—sun-core heat that could destroy anything, even space.
Ma Hongjun raised the temperature to the max; every punch was like a nuclear explosion.
His destructive power rivaled the Golden Dragon King, who crushed continents at will.
Luckily, the God Realm was vast, and the Goddess of Life was not fighting but focusing on defense, preventing the realm's destruction.
Other first-level gods also did their best to absorb the shockwaves and protect their home, while Ma Hongjun and the Golden Dragon King attacked without restraint, seemingly intent on annihilating the God Realm.
The Goddess of Life shielded the realm; the God of Destruction and Tang San besieged the Golden Dragon King, while the Gods of Evil and Kindness surrounded Ma Hongjun. The battle was deadlocked.
Not until the God of Emotions, Rong Nianbing, entered with the super-divine Ghost Carving Blade did the tide turn in the gods' favor.
….
"So that's it—the stronger the chosen host, the more authority they wield as a Herrscher, the greater their power." Herta observed through the Magic Mirror.
"Right, a Herrscher's authority has no limit—the real limit is their own strength!" Mobius, who knew Herrschers best, replied.
Each Herrscher's authority was the ultimate expression of a physical law, akin to gods of physics in the universe.
Theoretically, each Herrscher could influence the universe's rules—if they had enough energy.
After all, conservation of energy applies: to move universal rules, you need universe-scale power.
It's all concept unless you can actually output the force.
For example, the Ice Herrscher Snow Empress started as only a demigod, and the Sentience Herrscher Huo Yuhao, not understanding his own authority, treated it as just a mental ability.
But Ma Hongjun and the Golden Dragon King quickly mastered their powers and combined them with their original abilities for even greater strength.
Because their starting points were so high.
Ma Hongjun, though only a second-level god, had honed his strength to rival a first-level god.
After fusing the Herrscher of Fire core, he could control molecular motion, making his fire equal to the ultimate yin and yang fires of the God of Evil and Kindness, stepping into the God King realm.
The Golden Dragon King, as the embodiment of the Dragon God, already wielded destruction, perfectly synergizing with the Herrscher of Earth's power.
Together, their strength was greater than the sum—top-tier God Kings, able to withstand siege.
If not for the Sword of Three Realms' Judgment, he wouldn't have needed the pseudo black hole.
But they were still outnumbered.
With time, defeat was inevitable for the two Herrschers.
After all, the gods fought on their home ground with the realm's power, something the Golden Dragon King and Ma Hongjun lacked.
"We still underestimated the God Realm—two Herrschers aren't enough to shake it," Mobius shook her head.
Had she not proposed releasing the Golden Dragon King and making him the Herrscher of Earth, Ma Hongjun alone couldn't have made much of a splash—at most, bought some time.
But that was enough for Lu Jingming's plans on Douluo Continent.
While Mobius focused on the battle, Herta's gaze turned to the region of the pseudo black hole's explosion.
The moment the Sword of Three Realms' Judgment struck the pseudo black hole, Herta sensed another powerful energy fluctuation.
It flashed by so quickly that, if not for her keen observation, she would have missed it, just as Mobius and the God Kings did.
Noticing this energy, Herta became interested.
A black hole devours all, even light. Not even a God King could last long inside—eventually, all would be consumed.
But now, Herta found living beings inside the black hole, sparking her curiosity.
She immediately projected a strand of consciousness through the Magic Mirror, tracing the energy to its source in the aftermath of the black hole explosion.
Inside, time and space no longer existed—only nothingness.
Even Herta's projection flickered in and out.
Yet, to her surprise, six different worlds, each shaped like a planet, stood strong, shielded by powerful barriers against the black hole's pull.
Most striking was the group on the left—three dark purple worlds forming a triangle, orbiting a central black vortex that resembled a mini black hole.
Next to them, a large blue-green world, ringed with golden lightning.
A third, white world, surrounded by a sacred glow and covered in shifting clouds, exuding a sense of affinity.
The fourth and fifth were relatively ordinary.
The last, smallest world, radiated a buzzing sound and white light—filling the silent black hole with noise.
These six worlds, forming a ring, created a formation, blending their powers to survive the black hole.
Herta instantly saw that these were six God Realms, similar to the Douluo God Realm.
"How interesting! This is truly fascinating." Herta's projection wore a look of surprise.
There really were extraordinary beings in this universe—able to survive even a black hole, if only for a while.