Lan Jinghe flipped her wrist, gathering a dense mass of abyssal black mist in her right palm as she met the attack head-on.
Sizzle—
The black mist collided fiercely with the blue light, sending up clouds of white vapor as piercing corrosion crackles rang out.
Lan Jinghe's body swayed slightly as she dispersed the force, then she looked up.
A figure slowly emerged from the void not far away.
He wore a dark-blue divine battle armor. Clear blue-gold divine light bloomed from his helmet, while the armor was covered in flowing wave patterns and translucent ocean runes, elegant yet majestic.
The shoulder armor bore the lifelike heads of enormous deep-sea beasts, as though they might pounce out and devour someone at any moment. Behind him floated a distinct projection of a vast sea, heavy and magnificent.
In his hand, he held an azure trident halberd. Liquid divine-water patterns flowed along its shaft, and gentle water vapor curled around it, carrying boundless, overwhelming pressure.
It was Chen Xinjie.
The former master of the War God Temple, and a newly ascended true god of the sea.
Divine patterns circulated around him as the aura of ocean laws spread outward. Even the churning tribulation clouds around them seemed to have been permeated by moisture, freezing for a moment.
"Just as I thought."
Lan Jinghe sneered, without the slightest hint of surprise.
"Yun Ming and Ha Luosa both managed to take that step toward achieving godhood. As the greatest Soul Master of the previous generation, Chen Xinjie had accumulated power for so long. How could he possibly fall behind?"
Her tone was calm, as though she were merely stating an obvious fact. "You Sun-Moon Federation hid this for so long because you intended to use Yun Ming's ascension as an opportunity to wipe out