Teyvat's Apocalypse! Water Violates Rules, Soaring High, Mountain Peaks Rain Down, Tang San: Near Death, Heavenly Principles Can't Be Controlled

"A god on the verge of death dares to insult the King of the Dragon Tribe like this!" The Dragon God's roar rang out once more, but this time, amidst the fury, there was an undisguised trace of killing intent. The enemy was not invincible. He was very weak!

Chang Gongwei and Lei Xiang exchanged glances. This reversal was far too sudden, catching them off guard. "So... nailing that Dragon King there and draining his Life Force was... to save himself?"

"Not just to save himself." Tian Hen shook his head, the trace of pity on his face gone, replaced by a cold sharpness that saw through the entire situation. "It was also to intimidate. He had to use the cruelest, bloodiest means to cover up the fact that he was dying. He needed the entire Teyvat Continent to live in terror of him, so that no one would dare challenge a... Sky Island on the verge of collapse."

"An empty shell..." Ye Yinzhu opened his eyes and said softly, "A god who disguises himself with fear and brutality—an empty shell of a god."

Zi clung tightly to his arm, her body no longer trembling. Once the source of fear was revealed to be weak at its core, the fear itself was no longer so terrifying.

The members of Tang Sect and Shrek Academy fell into a dead silence.

Bei Bei opened his mouth but couldn't speak for a long time. Xu Sanshi and He Caitou exchanged a look, both seeing the absurdity on each other's faces. Xiao Xiao and Tang Ya let out long breaths, as if a massive stone had been lifted from their hearts.

Niu Tian and Titan, those two iron-tower-like hunks, were also stunned. They had just been shaken by that godlike power, only to find out that the god himself was nearly out of breath.

"Father, this..." Ning Tian looked at his father, while Ning Rongrong also turned to Tang San with a questioning gaze.

Tang San didn't answer immediately. He quietly watched the Light Screen, watching the figure seated on the throne, covered in cracks and curses. After a long while, he spoke slowly, word by word. His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

"I understand."

All eyes turned to him.

"He nailed the Dragon King, drained its power, established order, declared his majesty... none of this is because he is strong." Tang San's gaze grew profoundly deep, as if he had pierced through the mists of time and space to see into the heart of that dying god.

"On the contrary," he paused, then spoke a conclusion that sent chills down everyone's spines, "It is precisely because he is unprecedentedly weak that he must use this unprecedentedly brutal cruelty to prove that he is still a god."

Huo Yuhao's body jolted violently. In an instant, everything clicked. Behind that seemingly incomprehensible cruelty, that endless torment, lay the deepest fear of the god himself! Fear of death! Fear of the collapse of his rule!

"He... is afraid." Huo Yuhao whispered three words.

Yes, he was afraid. So he had to create a greater fear to mask his own.

Gu Yuena watched the dying figure struggling on the Light Screen, then thought of Apep nailed to the ground. Beneath her silver hair, a cold, mocking smile appeared on her exquisite face.

Tang Wulin stood beside her, golden Dragon Marks flickering faintly beneath his skin. He felt the surging battle intent within him. So, even gods could die.

Zhou Weiqing let out a whistle, breaking the heavy atmosphere. "So after all that, he's just a paper tiger! Looks scary, but pops at a touch?"

"It's not that simple." Tang San shook his head. "A dying tiger is the most dangerous. Everything he does now is to survive. To survive, he will stop at nothing."

Those words turned the briefly lightened mood heavy again.

Yes, a dying god who would stop at nothing to survive might be even more insane and terrifying than a god at full power.

Just as everyone was pondering what desperate measures the dying god might take to prolong his life, the scene on the Light Screen changed Without Warning.

No longer was it the lonely figure seated high on the throne, covered in cracks and curses.

The view suddenly pulled back, piercing through the clouds of Sky Island, looking down upon the entire Teyvat Continent.

At first, it was a sight so magnificent it left them speechless. Snowy mountains towered, plains stretched wide, waves kissed golden beaches, and emerald forests spread like endless velvet carpets.

But before they could even admire it, this magnificent painting began to crumble before their eyes at a visible pace.

The first image shown was a river outside Mondstadt. The River Water should have flowed clear, irrigating the land on both sides, but now it was eerily curling upward. Defying the most basic laws of physics, the water formed a towering Light Screen, sweeping up mud and gravel from the riverbed, roaring toward the sky, and finally turning into a freezing rain high above, mixed with stones and sludge, smashing viciously onto the already barren fields.

"This..." Hai Long's mouth hung open. He had lived his life with water, considering himself its master, but this scene was beyond his comprehension. "How can water flow upward?"

"It's not the water's problem." Ji Dong and Lie Yan exchanged a glance, their expressions extremely serious. As former Fire God and God King, their understanding of Rules far surpassed ordinary people.

Ji Dong said in a deep voice, "It's the Rules—the most fundamental chain of Rules that makes up this world—broken. Water flows downward; that's a law of physics. But now, that law has failed here."

Next, the scene shifted to the mountains of Liyue. The Mountain Peaks were not standing firmly on the ground but were suspended in midair, as if hung by invisible threads. They collided slowly with each other, producing dull, thunderous roars, with stones peeling off like rain.

"Heavens, this is a bit like my gravity control domain, but..." Chang Gongwei's face was full of disbelief. "This isn't a domain at all—this is the normal state of the entire world! No force is maintaining it; it just is!"

"Order has been destroyed." A'Dai—or rather, the former Mandun the God of Death—spoke in his characteristic flat tone, but with a faint tremor beneath the words. "When the 'order' established by a god can no longer be maintained due to his own weakness, the world reverts to its most primitive chaotic state. Or rather, a half-finished state—a prototype."

Half-finished.

That word sent a chill through everyone's hearts.

A half-finished Purgatory.

The scene on the Light Screen shifted again, this time focusing on the depths of the earth.

Boom!