Four figures surrounded the Golden Dragon King.
One was a girl with white hair reaching her ankles, her eyes seeming to flow with the long river of time. Her temperament was ethereal and ancient. Simply by standing there, the flow of time in her vicinity began to turn into utter chaos.
—Istaroth, Mother of Time.
One was a petite girl with fluttering blue hair like flames, wearing an imperial crown upon her head.
—Cerydra, the Goddess of Law.
One was a beautiful woman with long black hair, as stunning as a siren, possessing a chilling and awe-inspiring aura.
—Hysilens, the Goddess of the Ocean.
And the final one was a sacred and beautiful woman dressed in opulent robes, her short hair a brilliant gold.
—Aglaea, the Goddess of Romance.
Gu Yuena was not fighting alone.
In contrast, the Golden Dragon King was truly and utterly isolated.
The great war was on the verge of erupting.
...
On the other end of the God Realm battlefield, upon the most central stage.
"Come, Tang San. Let us slaughter one another."
Lu Jingming held a strangely shaped lance composed of black and white. The tip of the lance pointed directly at the former God King, whose eyes were blood-red and body covered in gore—a man who had completely spiraled into madness.
One half of the lance emitted a holy white light capable of creating all things and healing all wounds. The other half was entwined with a pitch-black deathly qi capable of stripping away life and reducing all to decay.
It was the Abyss Flower.
"Kill... Kill... KILL!! I'll kill you! I'll kill everyone... who betrayed me!!"
Tang San was beyond listening to reason. His mouth merely repeated syllables filled with slaughter and resentment in an unconscious loop. Within his God King physique, the Asura God Power burned frantically in an unprecedented manner.
Upon the crimson blade of the Asura Sacred Sword in his hand, it seemed as though hundreds of millions of vengeful souls were wailing and weeping. This was no illusion; it was the collective resentment of all living beings slain by this demonic sword since its inception.
"ROAR—!!!"
Accompanied by a beastly howl that didn't sound human, Tang San's figure vanished instantly from his spot.
In the next moment, a blood-colored sword qi spanning ten thousand feet—condensed purely from the Laws of Slaughter—fell toward Lu Jingming's head like a bloody galaxy descending from the highest heavens, carrying a terrifying might intended to exterminate all life.
This strike possessed no technique to speak of; it was merely the purest, most primal, and most destructive power erupted by a God King who had descended into total madness.
Facing this strike that would make any God King pale in fear, Lu Jingming's face still bore that calm, casual smile.
He gave the Abyss Flower in his hand a light flick.
A pitch-black Wither Domain, spreading out like ink dripping into clear water, expanded instantly with him as the center. The moment that indestructible blood-colored sword qi surged into the Wither Domain, the Asura God Power attached to it began to wither, decay, and dissipate at a speed visible to the naked eye, like a punctured balloon.
By the time the sword qi finally reached Lu Jingming, its power had been weakened by over ninety percent.
Lu Jingming simply used the shaft of the Abyss Flower to casually parry it.
Clang!
With a crisp sound, the terrifying sword qi that once sufficed to tear the God Realm asunder shattered inch by inch like fragile glass, turning into a sky full of red light particles that dissipated into the air.
"Is this all? How... disappointing, Tang San."
Lu Jingming shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of playful lament.
"Aaaaahhh!!!"
Failing the first strike, Tang San's madness only intensified. His figure appeared all around Lu Jingming as if teleporting, and the Asura Sacred Sword transformed into a sky of blood-red sword shadows, slashing frantically at Lu Jingming from every tricky and ruthless angle. Each sword shadow contained the terrifying power to easily slay a First-Class God.
Yet Lu Jingming simply stood his ground, unmoving.
"Lightning, heed my command."
He spoke softly.
In an instant, countless bolts of violet-black, violent lightning filled with the aura of decay were born from the void, transforming into an absolute sea of thunder around him. The moment those blood-red sword shadows surged into the sea of lightning, they were zapped until they hissed; most were decomposed into primal energy particles midway through.
The few sword shadows that managed to break through the sea of lightning failed to even scratch the black trench coat Lu Jingming wore when they struck his body.
"Too slow."
Lu Jingming's figure suddenly vanished from the sea of lightning. In the next heartbeat, he appeared behind Tang San.
"And too weak."
The holy life-end of the Abyss Flower in his hand lightly tapped Tang San's back. A vast yet aggressive divine power surged into Tang San's body like a collapsing dam. This should have been the power of creation that heals all, but for the maddened Tang San, whose body was occupied by Asura God Power, it acted like the most violent catalyst capable of detonating everything.
"Pfft—!!!"
Tang San felt as if he had been struck by a massive weight, and he violently spat out a large mouthful of refluxing divine blood. The two types of divine power within him began a fierce internecine conflict while his will was no longer able to control them.
However, Tang San was, after all, a God King of dual godhoods.
"Break—!!!"
Amidst the agonizing pain, he erupted with his final potential, forcibly expelling that life force from his body.
"A fine struggle."
Lu Jingming nodded in approval, but his gaze turned even colder.
"Then, next, let me show you what true power looks like."
He released the Abyss Flower, letting it hover in mid-air. Then, he slowly raised his right hand.
"Truth, manifest here."
"Key of Destruction—Judgment of Shamash."
The moment his voice fell, a sound not of this world resonated in the void. Two magnificent, high-tech crimson dual-pistols appeared out of thin air and fell into his hands.
Boom! Boom!
Without hesitation, Lu Jingming pulled the triggers. Two terrifying fireballs, compressed to the extreme like miniature suns, shot toward Tang San, trailing long plumes of flame.
Tang San's pupils constricted. From those two small fireballs, he felt a "heat" and "light" sufficient to incinerate him entirely. He dared not be careless, crossing the Asura Sacred Sword and the Sea God Trident before his chest, pushing his divine power to the absolute limit.
Rumble—!!!!
It felt as if two suns had risen within the God Realm at that moment. Endless light and heat swept across the entire battlefield. Tang San's figure was sent flying once again by the terrifying explosion. The God King armor on his body was scorched red, with signs of melting appearing in several places.
However, this was only the beginning.
"Key of Devouring—Star of Eden."
Lu Jingming's voice rang out again. The Judgment of Shamash vanished, replaced by a deep blue orb. He aimed the Star of Eden at Tang San, who was still in mid-air and had yet to steady himself.
"Gravity shall crown you."
Hum—!
An invisible yet irresistible terrifying force descended upon Tang San instantly. The space around him suddenly warped and collapsed. That terrifying gravity, enough to crush a planet, caused his hardy God King physique to emit overwhelmed creaks and groans.
"Aaaaahhh!!"
Tang San frantically pushed his divine power, trying to resist this eerie and powerful force, but his body continued to be pulled uncontrollably toward the singularity created by the Star of Eden.
Just then.
"Key of Binding—Oath of Judah."
Lu Jingming's voice sounded for the third time. A massive, golden-glowing cross appeared out of thin air, hovering behind Tang San. In the next instant, countless chains composed of pure energy shot out from the cross like living things, binding Tang San—who was still frantically fighting the gravity—tightly.
These chains did not just lock his body; they sealed his divine power, causing his proud Asura God Power to become sluggish and stagnant.
Gravity, sealing, and the hovering Abyss Flower representing life and decay watching from the side. Lu Jingming, by himself, had completely suppressed a dual-godhood God King.
At the edge of the battlefield, the Demon Empress, who had been cleaved at the waist by Tang San's sword, was slowly healing her severed divine body at a visible rate under the continuous power supply of the Pantheon. There was no retreat in her eyes, only a more persistent killing intent. She was waiting—waiting for the perfect moment to deliver a fatal blow to Tang San.
...
Meanwhile, on another battlefield.
Facing the chilling sword mark from Jingliu that separated heaven and earth, the God of Evil, Ji Dong, and the Goddess of Kindness, Lie Yan, glanced at each other. Both saw a hint of solemnity in the other's eyes.
"Who exactly are you? Why have you invaded our God Realm?" Ji Dong asked in a heavy voice, as black-red demonic fire condensed into a flickering flame sword in his hand.
"You shall not pass." Jingliu's answer was simple and direct.
"Arrogance!"
Ji Dong and Lie Yan wasted no more words. As former protagonists of a world, their minds were in sync, and their coordination was perfected to the extreme. They attacked simultaneously, one black and one gold; the two flames representing Evil and Kindness merged perfectly in mid-air, transforming into a chaotic grey-white pillar of fire containing two opposing attributes, blasting toward Jingliu.
This strike was their strongest combined divine skill. It was enough to make any God King of the same level retreat temporarily.
However, Jingliu didn't even lift an eyelid. She merely raised the sword in her hand slowly. Then, she gave a gentle forward flick.
In that instant, within Ji Dong and Lie Yan's perception, the entire world lost its color. They saw only a cold sword light ignite, one that could not be described by any words for its brilliance, nor understood by any logic for its trajectory.
That sword light seemed to transcend time and space. By the time they saw the light, the strike had, in fact, already passed through. The grey-white fire pillar capable of incinerating the God Realm was sliced neatly in half from the middle the moment it touched the sword light. The cut was as smooth as a mirror, without any energy dissipation.
Immediately following, the sword light split from one into two, two into four, and four into endless, brilliant sword shadows like a blizzard. Each sword shadow contained a chill that froze everything and peak, flawless swordsmanship technique.
Cling-clang—!!!
Ji Dong and Lie Yan were instantly submerged in a storm-like assault. They could only do their best to brandish their weapons to block the endless sword shadows attacking from all directions.
They, two dignified God Kings, were at this moment completely suppressed by a woman whose name they didn't even know, using pure, unadorned swordsmanship. They couldn't even organize a decent counterattack. This was because regardless of the angle from which they tried to strike back, at least a dozen more tricky and fatal sword lights would preemptively seal off all their lines of attack.
This woman was not fighting with power; she was the incarnation of swordsmanship itself.
...
In the Golden Dragon King's battlefield, the situation was even worse.
Boom!
The Golden Dragon King had just used his claws to shatter a ten-thousand-foot wave raised by Hysilens when Istaroth's Time-Slowing Domain descended, making his lightning-fast movements as sluggish as a slow-motion film.
Immediately after, Gu Yuena's Silver Dragon Spear, carrying the power of Elemental Annihilation, stabbed fiercely into his chest.
Pfft!
Golden dragon blood splattered out. Before he could erupt in a counterattack, Cerydra's Sword of Judgment, composed of Law, appeared silently above his head and crashed down.
The Golden Dragon King could only roll clumsily on the ground, avoiding the strike by a hair's breadth. However, a small section of his dragon horn was still sliced off. This was an utter humiliation. He, one half of the dignified Dragon God and the incarnation of strength, was being besieged so miserably.
...
"This...?!"
In the distance, the Heavenly Emperor Tian Hen, the Immortal Emperor Hai Long, and other neutral God Kings from other worlds looked at one another upon seeing these scenes.
"Should we... intervene?" Ah Dai, the God of Death, asked hesitantly.
"Intervene? To help whom? Help the Douluo God Realm?" Heavenly Emperor Tian Hen gave a bitter laugh. "We have no ties to them, and right now, I can't even distinguish friend from foe."
Just as they were hesitating.
"Yo, long time no see. Well, for you all, it should have been not too long ago."