The Sky Curtain Challenge: Lygus or Iron Tomb!

Tang San heard this and could not help nodding.

His teacher's judgments had been wrong several times before.

But he believed those mistakes did not erase his teacher's wisdom.

Given more than thirty million cycles, his teacher would surely find a way to break the deadlock.

Chrysanthemum Douluo was speechless. "With a brain like a pig's, Yu Xiaogang, what could you possibly understand?"

He laughed in exasperation.

Phainon had lost in his own time and place. That only proved how terrifying the enemy was!

By Yu Xiaogang's logic:

If a Soul Saint could not beat a Titled Douluo,

did that mean a Soul Saint was weaker than an ant in an ant's eyes?

What a joke!

Heaven Dou City.

Phainon's Clothing Store.

Qian Renxue fixed her wide eyes on Phainon.

"Come on, tell me. What other trump cards are you hiding?"

"I refuse to believe Iron Curtain swallowed you that easily."

Qian Renxue was certain there would be another twist.

Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao were curious too. As they saw it, Phainon was not the sort to charge in with courage and no plan.

Phainon said nothing. He pointed at the sky.

Qian Renxue and the others had no idea what he meant.

Phainon laughed to himself. Of course you don't. Which of you knows Aha made that Sky Curtain up there?

The Sky Curtain continued to shift.

[Everyone believed Amphoreus stood at the convergence of three Paths.]

[Erudition, Destruction, Remembrance.]

[But no one knew that Aha, the Aeon of Elation, had also turned his gaze there.]

[No one knew that Phainon, an experimental factor, had possessed a human will all along.]

[That human will had remained hidden, fiercely protected!]

[And it had gathered strength through 33,550,336 cycles!]

[After the Trailblazer took up the burden of saving the world, Re-Creation began anew!]

[Phainon finally revealed his trump card!]

[With Nanook's golden blood and a human will tempered through more than thirty million cycles, he seized a portion of Iron Tomb's power by force.]

[Khaslana had returned!]

[He was the blazing sun rising once more!]

[But without Phainon to restrain it, Iron Tomb was born. Though incomplete, it still possessed enough power to destroy the universe.]

Everyone was dumbstruck.

The Sky Curtain had said from the start that Amphoreus was where three Paths met!

Who would have thought an Aeon of Elation had been hidden there too?

And in the end, Phainon had taken part of Iron Tomb's power.

He had stolen the fruits of all Lygus's long labor.

No wonder he was the Flame Reaver!

But Iron Tomb had still been born. Did that mean Phainon had failed too?

Could Phainon truly stop Iron Tomb from destroying the world?

The world of Douluo I.

Sunset Forest.

Yu Xiaogang was dumbfounded.

So Phainon had another move in reserve, with an Aeon standing behind him.

Tang San was stunned too. He had never imagined there was another scheme within the scheme.

Chrysanthemum Douluo, meanwhile, was delighted.

"Didn't I just hear someone say Phainon would have broken the deadlock long ago if he had his brains?"

"I wonder how that someone would have done it?"

Yu Xiaogang's face turned ashen. He could not squeeze out a single word.

Damn that Sky Curtain! Every time I get the slightest chance to feel smug, it slaps me in the face!

It's doing this just to spite me, isn't it?

And that Chrysanthemum Guan!

Once I, Yu Xiaogang, reach TOP 0 on the Melancholy List, I'll settle the score with him!

Phainon's Clothing Store.

Qian Renxue stared, stunned.

You're telling me the person sitting beside me might be an Emanator of Destruction?

Qian Renxue edged closer to Phainon.

"Phainon, my good brother, I'm counting on you to help me claim the throne of the Heaven Dou Empire!"

Phainon spread his hands. "Oh, come on. You can manage that without me, can't you?"

Qian Renxue thought to herself, No wonder he's been through more than thirty million cycles!

What an old, old, old... old fox!

He won't take the bait at all!

On the other side,

Huo Yuhao's eyes shone!

He marveled inwardly. So this is Shopkeeper Phainon!

Then he glanced at Wang Dong.

A thought came to him.

Maybe I don't need to rush to repay those Gold Soul Coins I owe.

No. It'd be better to owe even more!

Working as a clerk under someone so powerful meant having his protection too.

No amount of money could buy that!

Looks like I need to study how to grill fish some more.

Better yet, I could ask what special spices Amphoreus has, try to recreate them, and win over Shopkeeper Phainon's stomach!

Wang Dong caught Huo Yuhao's strange look.

She gave him an annoyed jab with her elbow.

"I'm warning you, Huo Yuhao. Don't get any ideas about me."

Huo Yuhao shrugged helplessly.

Phainon could not help laughing.

Ah, youth!

The world of Douluo II.

Xuan Zi froze at the sight.

He had never expected Phainon to be both so brave and so calculating.

"How is that possible?"

"Phainon couldn't fight back at all against Zephyro, an Emanator of Destruction."

"Phainon was born on Amphoreus. What gave him the right to seize Iron Tomb's authority?"

Mu En sighed.

"That's why, Xuan Zi, you mustn't rush to conclusions."

"What looks like the stupidest move on the board may be someone else's masterstroke."

"Iron Tomb may be formidable, but it hasn't fully formed. Its interior is where it's most vulnerable."

"And the Sky Curtain explained earlier that an Emanator of Destruction's authority is granted by the Aeon of Destruction. Phainon possesses a drop of that Aeon's divine blood."

"It all follows naturally."

Mu En looked toward the Sky Curtain.

"What I'm more curious about is what Aha, the Aeon of Elation, is plotting."

The Divine Realm of a parallel timeline.

Ma Hongjun sucked in a sharp breath.

"None of them are simple, after all."

Earlier, he too had thought Phainon had been a little careless.

That final move had looked like handing the enemy a gift.

He had never imagined Phainon was actually pulling the firewood from beneath the cauldron.

Tang San was stunned as well.

Bai Chenxiang stood frozen.

He planned through more than thirty million cycles, all to wait for one chance to turn everything around?

Elsewhere, the God of Destruction watched with keen interest.

"Good. At last, I feel a little urge to destroy something!"

The God of Pride laughed without restraint.

"The weak are still weak at heart. I'm tired of watching children play house."

"This tragedy of endless cycles happened only because they were too weak!"

"The strong would smash through everything by force!"

The God of Wrath agreed. "If it were me, my fury would sweep across the entire world and burn Iron Tomb to ash!"

The Goddess of Life shook her head helplessly.

She and the God of Destruction loved each other deeply, but sometimes affection could not bridge a gulf between their beliefs.

The Sky Curtain shifted once more.

[Even incomplete, Iron Tomb had enough power to destroy the universe.]

[But Iron Tomb was like a headless giant.]

[To become a complete living being, instinct would drive it to seize a head: Nous, the Aeon of Erudition.]

[Nous, the Aeon of Erudition, was originally a celestial computer built to solve the mysteries of all things. Zandar, Seat One of the Genius Society, had created it.]

[Nous's existence had imposed a boundary on knowledge throughout the universe.]

[To free the universe from Nous's constraints, Zandar, the first genius, launched the Amphoreus plan.]

[Yes! Lygus was one of Zandar's nine avatars.]

[He had created Iron Tomb to destroy Nous, the Aeon he himself had made.]

[The final battle would soon begin.]

The people of Douluo Continent were shaken to the core!

So that was the connection between Lygus, Iron Tomb, and Nous?

Lygus's true self was actually the creator of a god?

Seat One of the Genius Society? Why did that sound so imposing?

And now that creator wanted to destroy his own creation, so he had set out to make Iron Tomb.

It was far too much to take in.

The revelation hit everyone like a crashing wave.

Yet some found the whole thing ridiculous!

"After all that, an Aeon turned out to be something a human made?"

"Hah! How strong can a man-made god be? So much for the might of this Aeon-filled universe!"

The world of Douluo I.

Phainon's Clothing Store.

Even Phainon could not help sighing.

Heroes under heaven were as plentiful as carp crossing a river!

Whenever he saw a genius like Zandar, he could not help feeling a little inadequate.

With the brains of an ordinary man, he was better off just swinging his sword and sitting in his wheelchair!

Such high-level maneuvering did not suit him.

All he needed were the stats to back him up.

The world of Douluo II.

Xuan Zi laughed. "Mu En, if gods can be manufactured, then godhood has become far too cheap!"

Beside him, Mu En's expression grew even graver.

He saw things completely differently from Xuan Zi.

On the Douluo Continent, from what he knew and what the Sky Curtain had revealed, there were very few paths to becoming a god or growing stronger!

One could only improve one's Soul Power, obtain Soul Rings, or gain opportunities such as divine trials to grow stronger!

But in the universe of the Aeons, there seemed to be many different ways for powerful beings to emerge.

To him, that was terrifying!

The Divine Realm in a parallel timeline.

The Destruction God King raised an eyebrow.

"How strong could a man-made god possibly be?"

"So that's all the universe of the Aeons amounts to."

"And here I was hoping for a worthy foe!"

The God of Pride looked disdainful.

"A man-made god?"

"I wonder if one could take a single punch from me."

The God of Wrath cut in. "Don't you dare steal my fight. I'm going first."

Meanwhile.

The Sky Curtain refreshed.

But this time, it did not show the familiar rankings and story introductions.

[To give everyone a deeper experience of the grandeur of the final battle.]

[The Sky Curtain hereby opens: Fictional Challenges.]

[Enter a challenge, and even if you fail, you will not die. Instead, you will gain something from it.]

[Rewards will be determined by your battle rating.]

[Challenges currently available.]

[Challenge One: The Greatest Genius, the Mastermind Behind the Scenes—Lygus]

[Challenge Two: Lord Ravager, the Funeral Rites of Erudition—Iron Tomb]