Qian Renxue darted through the sky-filling shadows of the trident. Every swing of the broken sword in her hand shattered a trident shadow with perfect precision.
Her movements flowed as smoothly as drifting clouds and running water, without a single wasted motion.
To the onlookers, Tang San's attacks were a raging tempest, while Qian Renxue seemed to be taking a leisurely stroll, handling everything with effortless grace.
The balance between offense and defense was obvious at a glance.
Qian Renxue had Tang San completely pinned down!
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"
The dense sounds of collision rang out without end.
The longer Tang San fought, the more alarmed and frustrated he became.
No matter how he increased his divine power or changed his moves, that broken sword of hers always struck after yet arrived first, casually neutralizing all his attacks. And every collision made his blood churn and his divine power tremble.
An absurd thought arose in his heart.
The Qian Renxue before him was like an insurmountable mountain!
"It's over."
At the instant Tang San's mind wavered, Qian Renxue's voice drifted out.
For the first time, the broken sword in her hand lit up.
It was not dazzling divine light, but a murky gray sword aura of utmost restraint that nevertheless seemed capable of severing everything in the world.
The sword aura flashed and vanished.
Tang San's pupils abruptly contracted. Instinctively, he held the Sea God Trident across his chest.
"Crack."
A crisp sound, like porcelain shattering, was especially piercing on the silent battlefield.
Tang San stiffly lowered his head.
A clear crack was rapidly spreading across the Sea God Trident, the weapon he treasured as his life and which had only just advanced into a super divine artifact.
"No—!"
Tang San let out a heart-rending roar.
"Boom!!!"
The next instant, accompanied by a deafening explosion, this super divine artifact renowned across the continent exploded in midair!
It turned into countless fragments that scattered from the sky.
The entire world froze completely at that moment.
Everyone stared at the scene in utter shock, their minds blank.
A super divine artifact—the Sea God Trident—
Had shattered?
It had been cleaved apart by a single strike from a broken sword?!
"Pwah—!"
With his bound divine artifact destroyed, Tang San's mind suffered a devastating blow. He spat out another massive mouthful of blood, his aura instantly weakening to its lowest point as he fell from the sky like a kite with its string cut.
Qian Renxue followed like a shadow. Surrounded by that murky gray sword aura, she stepped on Tang San's chest and viciously stomped him down from midair!
Boom!!!
The ground cracked, and dust surged into the sky!
When the dust settled, a massive human-shaped crater had appeared before Jialing Pass.
Within the crater, Tang San lay covered in blood, his bones shattered, barely clinging to life. Nothing remained in his eyes but endless horror and despair.
Qian Renxue, meanwhile, held the broken sword.
She stood supreme over the world, looking down upon all living beings.
Heaven and earth fell into dead silence.
Before Jialing Pass, that enormous human-shaped crater lay etched into the earth like an ugly scar—and into the hearts of everyone who had witnessed the sight.
Within the Allied Forces Camp of the Heaven Dou Empire, the thunderous cheers from moments ago had vanished without a trace.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers stood silent as graves.
Every expression had frozen on its owner's face.
Ma Hongjun had forgotten to close his mouth.
At some point, the Recovery Sausage in Oscar's hand had fallen to the ground, now covered in dust.
Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing had gone pale, their delicate bodies trembling.
What had they just seen?
Third Brother, whom they were so proud of, whom they revered like a god, who had just received a Heavenly Dao reward and wielded a super divine artifact, had had his artifact cleaved apart by a single sword strike. Then he had been stomped from the sky into the ground as if he were an ant.
And the victor—that peerlessly beautiful woman with flowing golden hair.
What an unbearable humiliation!
What a scene that overturned everything they believed!
"Defeated..."
Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang looked ashen as he muttered to himself. His body swayed, and he nearly fell from his horse.
The theories to which he had devoted his life, his most prized disciple, his only hope of overthrowing Spirit Hall—had all been defeated just like that?
Defeated so cleanly, so thoroughly.
High in the sky, Qian Renxue slowly lowered her head. Her golden eyes looked down at the face beneath her feet, twisted beyond recognition by pain, rage, and humiliation.
She could clearly feel the vast, boundless power flowing from the broken sword in her hand, as though it stood above every rule in existence.
That power did not belong to her, nor did it even belong to the Angel God.
It was ancient, desolate, pure, and domineering.
Simply holding it gave Qian Renxue the illusion that she could command the life and death of all things.
So this was Master's true power?
No, perhaps this was only the tip of Master's iceberg.
He had not even acted personally. He had merely handed her a broken sword as casually as if it were scrap iron, and that alone had been enough for her to crush this so-called Sea God, who had received a Heavenly Dao reward.
Master... what kind of unfathomable existence was he?
"Tang San."
Qian Renxue parted her red lips. Her clear voice spread across the entire battlefield.
"Your so-called Heavenly Dao reward and your so-called Protagonist Halo are nothing more than a joke before my Master."
"You have lost."
Beneath her foot, Tang San made hoarse, rasping sounds in his throat. He wanted to speak, to refute her, but the searing pain in his chest and his shattered bones prevented him from uttering even a complete sentence.
Endless resentment and madness surged in his eyes.
Utter humiliation!
This was the greatest humiliation he had ever endured across both his lives!
"Argh—!"
At that moment, Tang San suddenly let out a roar that no longer sounded human.
"Boom!"
A dense, blood-red mist violently erupted from his body!
The power was filled with brutality and ill omen, and it actually forced Qian Renxue back half a step.
"Great Sumeru Hammer, ring detonation!"
No, this was not a secret technique of the Clear Sky Sect. It was an even more extreme, desperate art that burned divine blood and the divine soul as its price!
Within the blood mist, Tang San turned into a streak of crimson light. Without the slightest intent to continue fighting, he fled desperately toward the Allied Forces Camp of Heaven Dou without looking back!
He had run!
Tang San, the once-unrivaled Sea God, had chosen to flee the battlefield in the most pathetic manner after being utterly crushed!
Qian Renxue remained where she was and did not give chase.
Because she knew her task was already complete.
Master had sent her to accept the challenge in order to temper her and crush Tang San, not to kill him.
To an existence like Master, whether someone lived or died was merely a matter of a single thought.
Since Master had given no order, she would not act on her own.
She slowly withdrew the broken sword, turned around, and transformed into a streak of golden light as she returned to the battlements of Jialing Pass.
Behind her stood the Heaven Dou army, silent as death.
Morale—an intangible thing that could neither be seen nor touched, yet was of utmost importance—had completely collapsed the instant Tang San fled in disgrace.
Their god had lost. He had run.
Their faith had shattered.
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