Sensing an unprecedented mortal crisis, the Titan Giant Ape let out a sky-shaking final roar, frantically burning and rousing all the soul power remaining within him together with his very life origin.
That formidable gravity domain compressed to the limit, condensing before him into a pitch-black gravitic light sphere collapsing inward to the extreme, as if it could swallow light itself.
Terrifying gravity waves even tore the surrounding space, forming fine black fissures. He tried to use this final strength to block the fatal strike.
Yet the black radiance that signified "the end" cut in like a hot knife through butter—like nothingness itself piercing existence—passing silently and unhindered through that gravity barrier capable of warping space, then continued forward with irresistible poise.
Where it passed, energy, matter, even space itself were all reduced to primordial nothingness, as though a brush had drawn across reality's canvas, carving a hundreds-meter-long, abyss-deep streak of pure black.
Lu Jingming slowly lowered the sacred lance in his hand, its brilliance folding inward, and cast a calm gaze down into the pit below.
There, only half a mountain-sized, black-scorched, fur-covered corpse remained—the broken body of the Titan Giant Ape, Er Ming.
The once arrogant, raging power fluctuations had now completely dissipated between heaven and earth.
Had he not already condensed a soul core, with soul power recovery far surpassing ordinary soul masters and not inferior to veteran Titled Douluo, that all-out, beyond-limit "First Rated Power" release just now might truly have failed to utterly annihilate this ferocious-beast-class powerhouse with cultivation over a hundred thousand years and tenacious vitality.
The Titan Giant Ape's strength was indeed astounding. Its pure power and defense were likely second only to the top three among the original Ten Great Ferocious Beasts.
Coupled with that exceptionally troublesome, battlefield-shaping top-tier innate domain—gravity control—it truly possessed the capital to clash head-on and briefly contend with human Limit Douluo.
Of course, being able to fight briefly and actually winning are two different things.
Whether it was invoking Buer's power of creation and the authority of the Stigmata to emulate the top wood-style secret art from the Ninja world and condense a hundred-meter wooden avatar to suppress the enemy;
Or finally forcing the Black Abyss White Flower's First Rated Power through a martial soul fusion technique—both consumed a vast amount of his soul power and mental power.
Before condensing a soul core, he would never have had such terrifying sustained combat capability.
Merely maintaining that hundred-meter wood avatar's existence and actions would have been enough to drain all his soul power in short order, let alone land a finishing blow.
Looking at the slowly surfacing hundred-thousand-year soul ring above the Titan Giant Ape's gradually chilling colossal corpse—its deep blood-hued luster surging with energy—and the faintly gleaming soul bone beside the body, Lu Jingming's expression remained unchanged. He took out a special soul tool engraved with complex spatial runes and carefully collected and sealed these two treasures.
For himself, these were of little use now—his power system had long since surpassed mere reliance on soul rings and soul bones—but for other members of Haiyuan City, and for forces to be nurtured in the future, they were peerless treasures beyond price.
Even in this era of having an over-spec external aid like the hundred-thousand-year Stigmata, a hundred-thousand-year soul ring and a soul bone from a top ferocious beast remained rarities enough to drive any power mad.
All the more since the Titan Giant Ape was no ordinary hundred-thousand-year soul beast, but a genuine ferocious beast at the apex of the soul-beast world.
Its soul rings and soul bones were of unquestionably topmost quality.
"Er Ming—!!!"
In the distance, the Azure Dragon Bull—Niu Tian—who was locked in fierce struggle with Raiden Mei, suddenly felt his mind quake.
He clearly sensed that the mighty life aura of his brother Er Ming—intertwined with his own for countless years—had been snuffed out like a candle in a gale.
He snapped his head around. His huge dragon pupils constricted to the limit, just in time to see the half-remaining, mangled corpse of the Titan Giant Ape in the deep pit, and Lu Jingming using a soul tool to absorb the soul ring.
Boundless rage, searing grief, bone-deep despair, sky-flooding hatred—countless extreme and painful emotions erupted in his chest like a volcano dormant for ten thousand years.
He could no longer maintain any shred of calm or reason.
"Ang—!!!!"
A dragon's roar laden with endless sorrow and fury exploded like thunder from the Ninth Heaven, resounding over all of Mingdu.
Its magnitude shook even the clouds on high into rolling turbulence.
"Second Dad!"
Tang Wutong, who had just clashed head-on with Wang Qiu'er and had her blood roiling, instinctively looked toward the sound when she heard Niu Tian's heartrending roar.
When her gaze clearly took in the Titan Giant Ape's miserably tragic death, her exquisitely beautiful face instantly filled with disbelief, fury, and grief.
Her slender hand gripping the Clear Sky Hammer paled at the knuckles from force. Her delicate body even trembled slightly from the immense shock and anger.
"What are you trying to do?! How did we offend you so badly that you have to drive us to extinction?!"
Tang Wutong glared at Wang Qiu'er—whose appearance so closely resembled her own—her pink-blue eyes burning with blazing anger, and deeper still a trace of incomprehension and enormous grievance.
She truly could not understand. She and her companions had never actively opposed Lu Jingming and the others—why had they drawn such merciless slaughter?
"This has nothing to do with personal hatred, nor worldly interests."
The Golden Dragon Spear in Wang Qiu'er's hand was steady as rock, its tip aimed from afar at Tang Wutong's heart. Her eyes were icy and resolute, without the slightest wavering.
"This is the destiny fated between you and me, a script already written for us—and the one who penned this tragic script is your lofty God-King father. He is the true culprit behind everything today."
"You… have a grudge against my dad?"
Tang Wutong bit down on her silver teeth, thoughts racing, and finally could think of only this most direct possibility.
Otherwise, how could Wang Qiu'er know so clearly that her father was Tang San, Law Enforcer of the God Realm?
And why show such profound, undisguised loathing and hatred for him?
"That question, perhaps you should ask your 'impartial' good father yourself."
Wang Qiu'er let out a cold laugh, her tone openly scornful and frigid.
"Ask him whether he broke the law he upholds—for selfish desire or some unspeakable purpose—brazenly violated the God Realm's own rules he defends, interfered with the lower world's operation without leave, and even… toyed with fate."
Though at the root of bloodline, the soul fragment split from Tang Wutong that came from Tang San also gave rise to her existence—making him in a sense her father—deep within she would never acknowledge that identity, nor accept this calculated blood tie.
"Nonsense!"
Tang Wutong retorted on the spot, her pretty face flushing crimson with anger.
"My dad is a Law Enforcer of the God Realm, master of statutes—fair and strict—devoted to maintaining order and balance. How could he possibly break the law?!"
She naturally could not readily believe the one-sided words of a mortal enemy—at this moment they stood with blades drawn; she was not naive enough to trust an opponent's mid-battle sowing of discord.
In the memories and impressions instilled since childhood, her father Tang San had always been a radiant, towering figure—pure as ice, impartial and selfless—who labored tirelessly for the God Realm's stability and prosperity, a model revered by all deities.
Among the deities she met in the God Realm as a child, none had ever spoken a single ill word of her father, whether in front of her or behind her back.
Even the God of Destruction, "Uncle Purle," whose relations with her father were clearly less than cordial, had never slandered him with such vicious language.
Compared to the hostile, one-sided words of Wang Qiu'er, she would of course rather trust what she herself had seen and heard.
Only… a subtle yet unavoidable doubt lingered in her heart.
Her father had previously, through divine sense, solemnly warned her to approach Lu Jingming, to maintain good relations with him—hinting that it concerned something major.
Yet now, Lu Jingming not only stood completely opposed to her, but had personally killed the Titan Giant Ape who regarded her as his own daughter.
This fierce contradiction and sense of betrayal gnawed at her heart like a viper.
Violent emotional fluctuations surged like a tsunami through Tang Wutong's spiritual world. Beneath the skin between her brows, an arcane golden Sea God trident mark gradually surfaced, growing ever clearer and more dazzling.
A uniquely divine majesty and vast aura spread out.
Brilliant golden divine light wrapped her like an eggshell, making her seem a true goddess descending to the mortal world. The aura about her began to rise uncontrollably, breaking through limits step by step.
"Is it coming? Finally forced to this step…"
Elsewhere, having just stowed the soul tool, Lu Jingming suddenly turned toward the direction of Tang Wutong's violently surging aura. His eyes narrowed slightly as his expression grew solemn.
He knew the real hard fight was only now beginning.
"Istaroth, get ready. Target the divine-sense sigil at Tang Wutong's brow. You must succeed in one strike."
Not far away, Gu Yuena—who had been observing quietly—gave the order to the leisurely Istaroth at her side. A flash of icy killing intent toward Tang San and anticipation for the coming god-battle glinted in her eyes.
"Perhaps I won't need to act."
Istaroth's tone remained flat, betraying no ripples. Her gaze slid faintly to the white-haired woman not far away, who stood with her sword in her arms, an aura of annihilative chill surrounding her.
"When it comes to slaying beings called 'gods,' that formidable swordswoman may be… more suitable than I."