Huo Yuhao, relying on his Spirit Eyes martial soul that had evolved to its absolute limit, and with the assistance of Electrolux and the Skydream Ice Worm, had finally taken that final step not long ago. He had achieved the godhood of the God of Consciousness, earning the qualification to enter the Pantheon.
It was only there that he truly caught a glimpse of the even more massive and terrifying reality beneath the surface of the iceberg that was the Astral Alliance.
Huo Yuhao's footsteps finally halted before the teleportation array in the central plaza of Sea Abyss City.
His gaze swept across this dreamlike city suspended in the heavens one last time. In the distance, children chased one another through a sea of flowers composed of holographic projections, their laughter crisp and pure. Nearby, the people wore peaceful and satisfied smiles as they basked in the afternoon sun.
This was a perfect world, a near-utopia.
But Huo Yuhao knew that any form of perfection necessarily required an even more absolute power to sustain it. He, and those like him, were the foundation stones that comprised this perfection.
No longer hesitating, he withdrew his gaze and silently recited the authorization code unique to him. Then, he took a step forward.
This step did not land on solid ground.
He stepped into a kaleidoscopic void woven from data streams and lines of fundamental laws. The physical world, like a videotape being rewound at high speed, flowed backward, blurred, and shattered around him, eventually turning into a pure, primordial darkness.
He did not walk with his feet; instead, he used his will, his essence as a god, to traverse the crack between reality and illusion.
When his feet touched solid ground again, the scene before him had transformed into an eternal, boundless starry sky.
This was the Pantheon.
It did not exist in any corner of the material world. Rather, it was like a colossal tumor parasitic within high-dimensional space, absorbing the faith, laws, and energy of the entire Planet Douluo to constantly grow and expand.
There was no heaven or earth here, no sun or moon—only a heart-palpitating, deep darkness that had remained unchanged since antiquity. Countless ribbons of light, as brilliant as galaxies, flowed slowly through the darkness; these were the materialized chains of law belonging to Planet Douluo.
In the center of this vast starry sky floated a circular table of indescribable size, composed of a certain pure black crystal. Around the edge of the table sat majestic divine thrones of varying designs, each emitting a different sacred aura.
Huo Yuhao's gaze fell upon one of them, a throne constructed from ice-blue crystals and gray mist. He stepped forward, his figure crossing an unknown number of light-years in an instant, and silently took his seat upon that divine throne.
The moment he sat down, the entire throne seemed to come to life. Upon the backrest, four ancient characters condensed from pure spiritual power and imbued with law slowly lit up—"God of Consciousness."
This was his throne.
Huo Yuhao closed his eyes, feeling the wondrous resonance between the throne and his godhood, which had now completely merged with his being.
This was a true technological divine artifact, co-created by Herta and Ruan Mei. Its essence was an ultra-miniature godhead backup and amplification system connected to the Pantheon's main server. Every throne was bound to its corresponding deity's godhood at the deepest quantum level.
As long as this throne existed and the Pantheon's main server remained intact, the deity sitting here was, theoretically... immortal.
Even if he were to unfortunately perish in a battle in the outside world—his divine body shattered, his godhood broken, and his divine soul extinguished—the Pantheon's server would instantly download his pre-backed-up godhead data back into this throne. Then, at the cost of massive amounts of energy, it would resurrect him perfectly intact.
This resurrection was not a simple reshaping of the physical body; it was a restoration of his very existence, including his godhood, divine soul, and memories.
This was the top-tier guarantee Lu Jingming gave to these allies, and it was also their sturdiest shackle. Because the authority over resurrection rested solely in Lu Jingming's hands.
Simultaneously, through this throne, Huo Yuhao could submit an application to the Pantheon's main system to temporarily borrow the vast, sea-like power of the Pantheon, granting a geometric increase to his own combat strength. Of course, the more power one borrowed, the greater the price they would have to pay to the Alliance afterward.
At this moment, Huo Yuhao was the only person in the vast Pantheon. He sat quietly like a statue, waiting.
After an unknown amount of time.
Boom-crack!
A purple-black bolt of lightning, filled with destruction and tyranny, tore through the eternal silence of the Pantheon. Within the lightning, a figure suddenly appeared, landing heavily upon a throne opposite Huo Yuhao.
The newcomer was the Demon Empress. She, like Huo Yuhao, had joined the Pantheon.
"You've arrived as well," Huo Yuhao opened his eyes, looking calmly at the Demon Empress as he gave a flat greeting.
"Of course I had to come," the Demon Empress revealed a hideous, bloodthirsty smile. Her voice was filled with a madness and hatred that had been suppressed for countless years and was now on the verge of erupting. "I have waited for this day for far too long. So long that... every particle in my body is screaming for that moment, screaming to tear that hypocritical, despicable wretch to pieces, along with his so-called Divine Realm."
She was speaking of the Sea God, Tang San.
Just then.
At the very head of the colossal round table between the two of them, upon a magnificent main throne composed of countless stellar vortices that symbolized supreme power, a figure appeared silently and without warning.
It was as if he had been sitting there from the very beginning. It was also as if he was the starry sky itself, the very essence of this temple.
It was the Lord of the Pantheon, the Supreme Commander of the Astral Alliance, Lu Jingming.
The moment he appeared, the violent, near-uncontrollable aura radiating from the Demon Empress was instantly suppressed by a far more unfathomable will.
"It is time," Lu Jingming's gaze swept calmly over Huo Yuhao and the Demon Empress, getting straight to the point. "I will open the path to the Divine Realm for you."
"Whether you want revenge or to save someone, go."
With a single sentence, he exposed the deepest desires of their hearts. The Demon Empress wanted revenge against the Sea God Tang San, while Huo Yuhao wanted to enter the Divine Realm and snatch back the soul of his forcibly detained mother from the hands of the Tang San who wielded the seat of the God of Shura.
Huo Yuhao stood up from his throne and bowed deeply toward the unfathomable figure on the main seat.
"My thanks." His voice was sincere and solemn.
He knew that Lu Jingming helping them was absolutely not out of some sort of kindness. In that man's heart, he and the Demon Empress were merely chess pieces. But so what? Lu Jingming's goals did not conflict with his own. That was enough.
"Go and prepare. Three days from now, the 'Star Gate' will open."
After Lu Jingming finished speaking, his figure faded slowly and without warning, just as it had appeared, vanishing from the main throne. It was as if everything that had just happened was merely a hallucination.
With his departure, the Demon Empress could no longer suppress the ecstasy and killing intent in her heart. She let out a burst of mad, exhilarated laughter that shook the entire temple.
"Tang San, your doom has arrived!!!"
Huo Yuhao ignored the frenzied Demon Empress. He simply turned around silently and took a single step, his figure vanishing from the Pantheon.
...
After Huo Yuhao and the Demon Empress had left, Lu Jingming's will had not truly departed from that empty main throne. His vision pierced through the endless void, landing upon the Divine Realm plane that was emitting a faint glow.
In his eyes, the current Douluo Divine Realm was like a dilapidated thatched hut teetering in the wind and rain. Meanwhile, he sat upon a cosmic warship capable of crushing stars, coldly admiring this thatched hut as it made its final, futile struggle against the storm.
Destroy it? It would be too simple.
With a single command, the Star-Rail Galaxy Cannon—the most powerful anti-galaxy strategic weapon co-built by Herta, currently in orbit in Planet Douluo's outer space—could fire an imaginary-number collapse beam capable of annihilating a star. Within 0.3 seconds, it could completely erase the entire Divine Realm plane, along with all the deities within it, both physically and conceptually.
But that would be too wasteful.
A complete Divine Realm plane was itself a priceless resource. The massive power of faith it contained, its unique planar laws, and the numerous deities within it were, to Lu Jingming, the perfect nutrients to upgrade his Pantheon.
His ambition was not merely to establish a new Divine Realm to replace the old one. What he intended to do was complete the ultimate feat that even the strongest God-King in history—the Dragon God—had failed to achieve.
He intended to take the demi-plane of the Pantheon and, through devouring, fusion, and sublimation, eventually evolve it into a supreme cosmic lifeform possessing self-awareness and infinite majesty—a Divine Star.
The Dragon God of old had once held the same magnificent vision. He had attempted to sublimate the Dragon God Realm he created into an immortal Divine Star. But ultimately, due to various reasons, he failed, ending in his death and the tragic collapse of the Dragon Clan.
But Lu Jingming did not believe he would fail. Because the team he possessed was something the Dragon God, or any God-King, could never have imagined.
He had Ruan Mei. This genius, who had reached the cosmic apex in the field of life sciences, understood the forms of life far beyond the realm of flesh and blood. Whether it was carbon-based life, energy life, or even conceptual life, all were within her scope of research. The principles behind the birth of a high-level cosmic lifeform like a Divine Star—which used a plane as its shell—its growth factors, and its final form had long since been thoroughly researched by her.
He had Herta. This genius, who had similarly reached the apex in the fields of imaginary numbers and physics, knew exactly how to stably fuse the laws of two different planes. How to construct a hyper-dimensional stable structure capable of supporting a Divine Star? How to write a set of underlying logic that would allow the Divine Star to self-evolve and upgrade? These questions, which were like incomprehensible divine scripts to other deities, were to Herta merely interesting mental exercises for a few afternoon tea breaks.
Before their research results, the various difficulties the Dragon God encountered that led to his failure were as simple and laughable as kindergarten mathematics. The mysterious veil of the so-called Divine Star had long ago been stripped away completely by this group of scientists.
All Lu Jingming had to do now was follow the construction blueprints they provided, collect the materials step-by-step, and then begin construction. And the Douluo Divine Realm was the final and most important primary material he needed to collect for his plan.
He helped Huo Yuhao and the Demon Empress, letting them act as the vanguard to turn the Divine Realm upside down and exhaust the final strength of those deities. This was merely to facilitate his final cleanup work. Simultaneously, it was to watch one last grand and magnificent... curtain call, performed by the remnants of the old era.
"Then, let this play of the final curtain begin."
Lu Jingming's will slowly withdrew from the Pantheon, leaving behind that eternal, vast starry sky.
The Divine Realm.
This was a plane floating in a higher dimension. It was meant to be the synonym for order, eternity, and light. But at this moment, it was a battlefield.
Boom!!!
A pillar of crimson divine power and a blood-colored demonic sword condensed from pure killing intent collided violently above the center of the Divine Realm. At the moment of impact, there was no sound, but the space for tens of thousands of miles around twisted and layered violently and silently, like the surface of water into which a stone had been thrown, finally turning into a pure, black void from which even light could not escape.
Ma Hongjun's thin figure retreated half a step from the void. Opposite him, the Sea God Tang San held the Shura Demonic Sword. His long white hair fluttered without the wind, and within his eyes was the scarlet cruelty belonging to the God of Shura. The power of a God-King level caused his entire being to radiate an indescribable, dangerous, and powerful aura.
On another side, a roar echoed through the clouds. A colossal Dragon King over ten thousand feet long, its body covered in brilliant golden scales, was fighting frantically against a handsome man wielding a divine sword of light.
And on the broader battlefield, the situation was even more chaotic. The God of Emotion Rong Nianbing, the God of Destruction, the Goddess of Life, the God of Evil Ji Dong, and the Goddess of Kindness Lie Yan were locked in an inextricable battle against the Heavenly Emperor Tian Hen, the Zither Emperor Ye Yinzhhu, the Immortal Emperor Hai Long, the Mad God Lei Xiang, and the God of Death Ah Dai, who all hailed from different worlds.
Deity after deity, each of whom had once been a supreme existence suppressing an era in their respective worlds, were now like ferocious beasts trapped in the same colosseum. For their respective ideals, factions, and personal grudges, they were engaged in a protracted, ultimate free-for-all capable of destroying the entire Divine Realm.