How could this battle possibly be fought?
The gloom hanging over the Heaven Dou Allied Forces was completely different from the deafening cheers that erupted atop Jialing Pass after a brief silence!
"We won! We won!"
"Our Young Mistress is mighty! The Angel God will triumph!"
"Hahaha! What Sea God Tang San? In front of our Angel God, he was utterly helpless!"
The soldiers of Spirit Hall shouted wildly, waving their weapons and tossing their helmets into the air.
The fear and oppression in their hearts were released in full at this moment, transforming into unparalleled fanaticism and worship.
The stronger the pressure Tang San had brought them before, the more intense their exhilaration was now!
Bibi Dong watched Qian Renxue return and looked at the rust-covered broken sword in her hand. Complicated emotions churned in her beautiful eyes.
She stepped forward and took a deep look at her daughter, but in the end, her gaze still fell upon that leisurely figure in the distance.
In a corner of the battlements, the noise and fervor seemed to be cut off from that place.
Qian Ye was still lying in his recliner, his posture unchanged in the slightest.
He lifted the fresh tea Bai Chenxiang had just brewed, gently blew away the foam, and took a small sip.
The warm tea slid down his throat. He narrowed his eyes in contentment, as though the earth-shaking divine battle just now had been nothing more than an insignificant after-dinner play.
At his feet, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion rolled over, stuck out its tender pink tongue to lick its paw, and continued dozing.
"Master."
Qian Renxue walked up to Qian Ye, bowed respectfully, and offered him the broken sword with both hands.
A trace of excitement that had yet to settle tinged her voice.
Qian Ye slowly opened his eyes. His gaze lingered on the broken sword for a moment before falling upon Qian Renxue's face.
"How does it feel?"
His voice was as calm as water, revealing neither joy nor anger.
Qian Renxue straightened her body, unprecedented radiance shimmering in her golden eyes.
"Master, this disciple feels—better than ever!"
"This battle made me understand that there are vast differences even between divine powers. True swordsmanship does not lie in the brilliance of sword techniques, nor in the strength of divine power, but in—"
She paused, seemingly searching for the right words.
Qian Ye smiled faintly and finished for her.
"It lies in the 'intent.'"
"Your Angel Holy Sword carries the power of faith. Though powerful, it is also shackled."
"But this broken sword is nothing at all, and therefore, it can become anything. When you use it, all it carries is your own sword intent."
Upon hearing this, Qian Renxue froze as though struck by lightning, standing there as she carefully savored Qian Ye's words.
After a moment, the light in her eyes grew even brighter, and she bowed deeply to Qian Ye once more.
"This disciple has learned!"
That bow came from the bottom of her heart, filled with sincere conviction.
Qian Ye made no comment. He casually tossed the broken sword back into the pile of miscellaneous objects, where it landed with a light clang.
The supreme vicious weapon that had just shattered a super-divine artifact and crushed the Sea God was, in his hands, truly no different from a piece of scrap metal that could be discarded at will.
His calm indifference, and his bearing of treating a divine weapon like worn-out shoes, made Bibi Dong's pupils contract once again.
She found this man increasingly impossible to see through.
At that moment, the cheers of Spirit Hall's soldiers rose again from below the battlements.
"Praise the Angel God!"
"The Angel God's radiance will surely illuminate the entire continent!"
At these words of praise, Qian Ye's hand holding the teacup paused slightly.
Angel God...
What a distant title.
Back then, he had founded Spirit Hall with his own hands and conferred the Angel Godhood. He did not even know how many years had passed since then.
What kind of state were Spirit Hall and the Elder Hall in now?
A thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
It is about time I returned to Spirit Hall for a look.
On the other side, in the Heaven Dou Allied Forces Camp.
Inside the central tent, the atmosphere was so oppressive that it was difficult to breathe.
Tang San had been carried back and lay on the bed covered in blood. Oscar's healing sausage had preserved his life.
But the shattered Divine Artifact, the wounded divine soul, and the dignity trampled into pieces were not things a small sausage could heal.
The Shrek Seven Devils—no, the Six Devils now—surrounded the bed, each of their faces unspeakably grim.
"How could this happen? How could Third Brother lose?"
Ma Hongjun spoke in a daze, unable to accept this reality.
"That broken sword—what exactly was it? It actually shattered a super-divine artifact!"
Dai Mubai's voice was hoarse, his eyes filled with confusion and powerlessness.
All along, Tang San had been the strongest among them, their backbone, and the symbol of invincibility.
But today, that symbol had been crushed beneath someone's foot.
Along with it, the confidence of every one of them had been crushed as well.
"It was that man."
Ning Rongrong, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly spoke.
Her voice trembled slightly.
"It was Qian Renxue's master, Qian Ye! That sword was given to Qian Renxue by him!"
The moment she said this, the atmosphere inside the tent grew even heavier.
Everyone remembered that man sitting atop the battlements, who had remained calm and carefree from beginning to end.
Someone who could casually produce a broken sword capable of shattering a super-divine artifact—just how terrifying must he himself be?
An emotion called despair quietly spread through their hearts.
Could they really defeat such an enemy?
Could Spirit Hall truly be overthrown?
The seed of discord was silently planted at this moment.
"Cough—cough, cough—"
On the bed, Tang San began coughing violently and spat out a mouthful of black blood.
He slowly opened his eyes. Those eyes that had once been filled with confidence and ambition now held nothing but boundless venom and unwillingness.
"I—I haven't lost!"
His voice was like a broken gong, hoarse and twisted.
"I was just—careless!"
"Qian Renxue! Qian Ye!"
He clenched his teeth, each word seeming to be forced through the gaps between them, carrying the stench of blood.
"The humiliation I suffered today, I, Tang San, will repay a hundredfold!"
"I am the one chosen by fate! I am the protagonist of this era!"
"Just wait—you all just wait!"
"I will kill you! I definitely will!!"
His frenzied roar echoed through the tent. Yet there was no longer any of his former confidence or domineering presence in it, only an impotent rage that masked his weakness.
Tang San's venomous howl continued to echo through the allied army's central tent.
It was no longer the fury of a deity, but more like the desperate wail of a beaten dog.
However, before his voice had completely faded, the winds and clouds changed once more above the nine heavens.
"Vmmm—"
The Heaven Vault Golden List appeared once again!
Inside the tent, the Six Devils, Yu Xiaogang, and everyone else were drawn by it. They all looked up toward the sky outside the tent, which had been dyed gold.
Atop the battlements of Jialing Pass, the Spirit Hall soldiers, who had been cheering fanatically moments before, also fell silent and gazed up at the horizon.
Everyone's heart rose into their throats.
Before you continue