Once their alliance was sealed,
Tang San switched to his Asura God form.
At the sight, Ma Hongjun of the parallel Divine Realm exclaimed excitedly:
"The Asura God is one of the Divine Realm's oldest beings. His killing power is unmatched, and he's practically invincible there!"
"Even the Dragon God was split into the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King by a single stroke of the Asura God Sword!"
Seeing the Asura God appear, the Silver Dragon Kings of both timelines grew deeply wary!
Could Iron Tomb withstand him?
In Tang San's view, if the Sea God's control was useless, he would pit absolute brutality and slaughter against Iron Tomb!
With the Asura God Sword in hand, Tang San attacked alongside the Destruction God King, one from each side!
Meanwhile, the God of Wrath, Plane Master Tang Hao, and the near-god Yun Ming kept Iron Tomb occupied from the flanks.
The next instant,
an aura of chaos suddenly spread around Iron Tomb.
A wave of force swept outward!
Yun Ming and Tang Hao struggled to resist, but an instant later, their bodies dissolved into scattered motes of light.
The God of Wrath froze!
He felt as though he could not release his divine power of wrath at all. It was completely suppressed.
"How is this possible..." he murmured.
Then he vanished too!
By now, everyone across the timelines had gone numb from watching.
How could a mighty First-Level God be no more than a common grunt before Iron Tomb, wiped out in a single move?
And that seemed to be nothing more than the aura Iron Tomb gave off!
Inside Phainon's Clothing Store,
Qian Renxue and the others looked toward Phainon.
He knew what they wanted without a word from them.
The star commentator sprang into action again:
"The God of Wrath inherited the divine power of wrath from the Seven Sins."
"But Iron Tomb itself was born from the wrath and hatred of Amphoreus."
Qian Renxue understood at once!
That was like dancing in the very field where the enemy held sway!
How could anyone win that way?
Back on the battlefield, Tang San and the Destruction God King looked grim.
After taking that last blow from Iron Tomb, both felt that more than half their divine power had been drained.
And that seemed to be merely the power Iron Tomb gave off passively!
Neither of them could accept it!
Tang San turned to the Destruction God King.
"Stop holding back!"
The Destruction God King gritted his teeth.
In an instant, a black-purple sphere of energy brimming with destruction condensed before him.
He poured his will of destruction into it!
Instantly,
a storm of destruction formed, ready to sweep away everything in its path.
"I'll trap it. Strike with the Asura God Sword while you have the chance!"
Having agreed on their plan, the two attacked again.
Tang San believed that if Iron Tomb was trapped, he would still have a chance to swing his sword.
Even Tang San could not withstand that storm of destruction from the Destruction God King!
Yet the next instant,
Iron Tomb unleashed Cast Down Blood and Wounds.
Two terrifying red arrows of spiraling thorns pierced straight through the storm of destruction!
At the sight, the Destruction God King went rigid.
By the time he saw them clearly, one of the spiraling thorn arrows had already punched through his chest.
When Tang San's Asura God Sword met the other red thorn arrow, it was knocked straight back!
That overwhelming force was far beyond his ability to resist!
Tang San understood then that a fundamental gulf separated him from Iron Tomb.
The next instant, his body was pierced through as well.
[Team challenge rating: 2 stars (out of 12)] [Reward obtained: Information on the Path of Destruction] [Assessment: Mayflies of the universe]
The people of every timeline were stunned.
What did you even call taking down a near-god, a Plane Master, and a First-Level God with a passive counterattack?
Then wiping out two God Kings with a basic attack?
The Aeon Universe was too damn terrifying!
How were they supposed to fight that?
Lygus was already bad enough. Now there was Iron Tomb too? This was absurd!
How was Phainon's group supposed to win?
In the world of Douluo II,
at Sun Moon Royal Academy,
Meng Hongchen and her brother turned to their grandfather.
"Good thing you chose Lygus, Grandpa!"
Jing Hongchen felt relieved too.
If he had chosen Iron Tomb, it would not have bothered with him. One move, and he would have been dead!
At Shrek Academy,
Xuan Zi's expression eased somewhat as he said,
"See? This is how terrifying another universe can be. Do you understand now?"
No one was in the mood to blame Xuan Zi anymore.
They had once believed Shrek Academy was invincible under heaven. Now they understood it was only a speck of dust in the universe.
Mu En spoke up.
"Now that we've seen a higher peak to pursue, that's the direction we must strive toward."
Ma Xiaotao, Bei Bei, and the others answered in unison:
"Yes, Pavilion Master!"
Their goal had once been to become like the original Shrek Seven Devils.
Now it seemed they had set their sights far too low!
In the world of Douluo III,
Yun Ming returned.
Although a single blow had sent him back, he had gleaned much from that terrifying aura!
Especially from the information on the Path of Destruction at the end.
Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and the others gathered around him.
Ya Li stepped forward too and asked, "How are you? Were you hurt?"
Yun Ming shook his head. "My head's a little hazy, but the trip was worth it."
He gave them a brief account of what he had learned about the Path of Destruction. Though the others could not experience it firsthand, they still gained much from hearing it.
In the parallel Divine Realm,
Tang San and the Destruction God King, now returned, were even more dumbfounded.
"The Path of Destruction is terrifying!"
The Destruction God King, in particular, held dominion over destruction. Yet after encountering information on the Path of Destruction, all he felt was despair.
He had never felt weak before.
From the beginning, he had stood above countless others in the Douluo Universe.
But after facing Iron Tomb and sensing what the Path of Destruction entailed, he finally grasped how terrifying Nanook, the Aeon who governed Destruction, truly was.
Then how terrifying must Phainon be now, when he had wounded Nanook and made him shed a drop of blood essence?
The Destruction God King murmured, "So how did Phainon defeat Iron Tomb in the end?"
Tang San was curious about that too.
But he chose to speak with Ma Hongjun instead,
because Ma Hongjun had also received information on the Path of Abundance.
Ma Hongjun asked, "What was it like fighting Iron Tomb?"
Tang San answered solemnly:
"Hopeless. The difference in our power was fundamental."
Ma Hongjun knew exactly how he felt. He sighed.
"We're still far too weak!"
Lygus had crushed him without even going all out.
It had even forced out his Nirvana.
Then Ma Hongjun and Tang San began sharing what they knew about the Paths.
To their surprise, Abundance and Destruction sounded like opposing Paths.
But in practice, that did not seem to be the case. Neither could make sense of it.
In the world of Douluo I,
at Sunset Forest, Yu Xiaogang, who had been barking so loudly before, finally shut his mouth.
Two God Kings had been wiped out in one move. What was left to say?
Tang Hao could not accept it.
He had become a Plane Master, yet he could not withstand even a wave of aura. Was the gulf really that vast?
Tang San was baffled too.
Was his parallel self useless, or was Iron Tomb simply too strong?
Even as a God King, he could not withstand a single move from the enemy.
Only Chrysanthemum Douluo burst out laughing.
"Weren't you all so arrogant just now? What happened?"
No one had an answer.
In the Star Dou Great Forest,
Di Tian watched in silence.
Good thing he had not gone to challenge them. If he had, he would probably have faced Iron Tomb.
Fortunately, the Master had been clever enough to challenge Lygus.
If Lygus was a strategist,
then Iron Tomb was a brute-force general. It did not care about anything else—it would kill you first and ask questions later!
Against an opponent like that, there was not the slightest chance.
The Silver Dragon King looked at Di Tian. "Do you still want to make a move?"
Di Tian shook his head with a sigh. "I once thought the Dragon God was the pinnacle of everything. Now it seems there may be realms beyond even him."
Somewhere in hiding, the Dragon God fell silent as he watched.
He had never imagined there were heavens beyond the heavens, much less a world this terrifying.
In Heaven Dou City,
Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao had fallen silent too.
"Shopkeeper Phainon, what are we even cultivating so hard for?"
Phainon understood.
Huo Yuhao had been thoroughly shaken. Even becoming a God King would amount to so little.
Phainon reassured him:
"Different worlds have different limits to cultivation."
"Perhaps one day you'll have a chance to walk a Path yourselves."
The two nodded.
Nearby, Qian Renxue asked:
"Do we have a chance to set foot on a Path too?"
"But aren't the rules of the Douluo Universe to cultivate Soul Power and gain Soul Rings to grow stronger?"
Phainon couldn't say for certain either.
"We should have a chance."
"Didn't the Sky Curtain reward Ma Hongjun with information on those figures from the Path of Destruction?"
But that wasn't the point. The point was that Phainon could already wield the power of the Path of Destruction.
He just wasn't sure about the other Paths.
But if the Astral Express came through in the future, then it would definitely be possible!
After all, it had the power of the Trailblaze!
Though, going by the timeline, the little raccoon Stellaron Sprite should be in Dual-Phase Paradise by now.
Wait.
Dual-Phase Paradise?
Wouldn't that drag Aha into this again?
Phainon had a bad feeling.
Just then, the Sky Curtain refreshed once more.
[Regrettably, this virtual challenge ended in defeat for the Douluo Universe.] [Next, we will continue with the Most Melancholy Person, TOP 1: Khaslana.]
If anyone had doubted Phainon's worthiness before...
They had all fallen silent now.
The three God Kings had been killed in an instant. That proved Lygus and Iron Tomb had power far beyond anything in the Douluo Universe.
They were curious, too: just how had Phainon defeated Iron Tomb?
Before you continue