On the walls of Jialing Pass, Golden Crocodile Douluo's deeply wrinkled old face had, for the first time, lost every trace of color.
The Soul Power in his body wailed, and his Martial Soul trembled.
It was a fear rooted in the instinct to survive, the despair of an ant gazing up at a natural disaster.
"It's over..."
The offerings around him all looked ashen.
Before this power, the Soul Power levels in the nineties that they had once prided themselves on were nothing but a joke.
They couldn't even summon the thought of resisting.
High in the sky, Qian Renxue bore the brunt of it.
The torrent of destruction surged toward her, and the fierce wind sent her radiant golden hair whipping wildly.
"Sun Holy Sword!"
With a sharp cry, she poured all her Angel Divine Power into the Holy Sword in her hand.
The ultimate solar flames erupted, forming a vast golden curtain of light that shielded her from the front.
Yet the moment the light of decay touched the curtain, even the solar flames began to vanish!
Qian Renxue grunted, her divine body shuddering violently.
She could feel it: she couldn't hold it back.
At most, she could protect herself from the catastrophe.
But Jialing Pass behind her, the Spirit Hall army behind her, all the offerings behind her... would be reduced to dust by this single strike!
Her exquisite golden battle skirt clung tightly to her figure, outlining a breathtaking silhouette. Her long, straight legs tensed, radiating divine power, yet trembling faintly with helplessness.
For the first time, an emotion called despair appeared in her golden eyes.
Could the thousand-year legacy of Spirit Hall truly end at my hands today?
Unlike the deathly silence on Spirit Hall's side, the allied forces had already erupted in a deafening roar of jubilation.
"We've won!"
Ma Hongjun's face flushed with excitement, his stout body trembling.
"Third Brother is mighty! With a Divine Artifact in hand, who could stand against him?"
Dai Mubai's demonic eyes shone brightly, his clenched fists turning white at the knuckles.
"It's over."
"From this day onward, our Shrek will rule this continent!"
Oscar and Ning Rongrong embraced tightly, their faces brimming with the joy of victory.
Yu Xiaogang stood behind them, pushed up his glasses, and smiled in quiet satisfaction.
Xiao San, you haven't let me down.
Spirit Hall, the mountain looming over every Soul Master, is finally going to be flattened!
Inside Jialing Pass, in that secluded courtyard.
The destructive energy outside, powerful enough to tear apart the heavens and overturn the earth, seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier.
Within the courtyard, all remained as quiet as before.
Qian Ye held his teacup, about to raise it to his lips.
His movement paused slightly.
For the first time, a faint ripple crossed his placid eyes.
He slowly lifted his gaze toward the sky.
His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
A little noisy.
He set down the teacup.
Then, facing the heart of the destructive storm, he casually raised one finger.
And lightly tapped.
There was no divine light, no Soul Power, not even the slightest fluctuation of energy.
It was like an ordinary person brushing a speck of dust from his sleeve.
Yet at the instant his fingertip moved, an invisible, formless sword intent, transcending all things, crossed the barrier of space and pierced the shackles of time, arriving on the battlefield in a flash.
The next moment.
The whole world fell silent.
The light of decay that could destroy everything, the spatial rifts that tore heaven and earth apart, the raging currents of law, the terrifying aura that made souls tremble...
Everything vanished.
It wasn't countered. It wasn't shattered.
It was... erased.
Cleanly erased from the world, without leaving behind the slightest trace.
The sky cleared.
The wind turned gentle.
It was as if the world-ending catastrophe from moments ago had been nothing but an absurd dream.
In the courtyard, Qian Ye lowered his finger.
He picked up the teacup, still warm, brought it to his lips, and took a light sip.
His expression was calm and composed, as though nothing had happened.
Before Jialing Pass.
The fervent smile had not yet faded from Tang San's face.
He was about to savor the sight of Qian Renxue turning to ashes in despair.
"Qian Renxue, look closely!"
His voice rang across the sky.
"This is the power of the Heavenly Dao! Today, Jialing Pass will fall, and Spirit Hall will be destroyed!"
Everyone on Spirit Hall's side closed their eyes, waiting for death to come.
However.
One second passed.
Then three.
The destruction they expected still hadn't arrived.
"Hm?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo opened his eyes in confusion.
Then he froze.
The scene before him made him think he was hallucinating.
The wind was calm, the sky clear.
Where was the world-ending lotus?
Everyone was stunned, looking at one another.
"Could it be... the young miss stopped it?" one offering asked in a trembling voice.
But they quickly dismissed the idea.
They knew Qian Renxue's strength, and they knew the power of that lotus.
There was no way Qian Renxue could have neutralized that strike so silently.
High above, Qian Renxue was just as astonished.
She understood better than anyone what had just happened.
At the very moment she had prepared to fight to the death, a power she could not begin to understand had intervened.
It wasn't divine power, yet it was purer, more... supreme.
She sensed a faint fluctuation coming from somewhere.
Her gaze instantly shifted to Jialing Pass, to the secluded courtyard she had personally arranged for that man.
Was it him?
A storm surged in Qian Renxue's heart.
Master?
What method did he use?
"Impossible!"
A furious, disbelieving roar dragged everyone's thoughts back.
Tang San's expression was hideous, his features twisted.
"My Buddha Wrath Tang Lotus! How did it disappear?!"
His Sea God's Divine Sense swept wildly across the area, and it too detected the source of that strange fluctuation.
He refused to believe it!
"Quit your tricks!"
Tang San's face twisted into a snarl as he urged his divine power once more.
This time, three dark-golden lotuses appeared in his palm at once!
"I don't care what you are!"
"Before absolute power, all schemes and tricks are futile!"
He roared and hurled the three Buddha Wrath Tang Lotuses!
The three lotuses formed a triangle in the air, their target the courtyard where Qian Ye was!
He would blast that entire area—and the sinister presence hidden within it—into nothingness!
Tang San was utterly confident. If all three Divine Artifact lotuses detonated at once, even a God King wouldn't dare take the blast head-on!
The aura of decay and annihilation once again enveloped the heavens and earth.
Yet just as the lotuses were about to fly over the courtyard and bloom, something bizarre happened again.
The three lotuses vanished without a trace once more, as if an invisible hand had wiped them out of thin air.
They didn't even stir a ripple.
"..."
Tang San's expression froze.
Rage, savagery, confidence... every emotion on his face turned to blankness.
What was going on?
He was stunned.
If it had happened once, it might have been an accident, or the other side might have used some special trick.
But what about this second time?
Three lotuses, erased all at once!
This was beyond the bounds of his understanding!
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