When the Blazing Sun Faded, Starlight Appeared

Just as Mu En had suspected, the punch that injured Tai Tan had not been powered entirely by Huang Jinxu's own strength.

His ninth Soul Ring came from a 250,000-year-old Soul Beast of the deep sea: the Abyssal Star Spiral Emperor.

This Soul Beast possessed stellar, defensive, gravity, and water attributes. It had granted him two Soul Skills: Star-Track Gravity Field and Star Spiral Myriad Guard.

Starfall, meanwhile, was a Self-Created Soul Skill he had developed from Star-Track Gravity Field. It combined Gravity Domain and Gravity Reversal with a concentrated burst of force. By compressing gravity, he could unleash a punch powerful enough to shatter a star.

At its core, however, the technique was still Star-Track Gravity Field.

Put simply, his ninth Soul Skill let him control gravity. He could do more than press down with it: he could move it along set paths, direct its pressure in different directions, and guide the gravity controlled by others.

With that last punch, he had reversed Tai Tan's Gravity Domain at the final moment and turned it against him.

Had that been all, they would have been evenly matched in strength.

What had given him the edge was his eighth Soul Skill, Starry Firmament.

Within the space created by Starry Firmament, his control over Star-Track Gravity Field grew stronger. The force released when they collided had seemed to be absorbed by Starry Firmament. In truth, he had taken control of it and unleashed it a second time.

That was how he had injured Tai Tan with a single punch.

He had appeared to use only one Soul Skill, but he had actually used two at once.

Why else would he keep a Soul Skill active and drain his own Soul Power? For fun?

"You're good!"

"Now this is a fight!"

Tai Tan was shocked, but the injury had not shaken him.

If anything, he was delighted.

He had met a human Soul Master who could match him in strength. Even if Soul Skills had made it possible, Tai Tan had to admit that this man was worthy of his full power. Now this was a fight.

These Soul Skills are draining too much. I need to crush him with everything I've got, and soon.

Sensing his Soul Power draining at a frantic pace, Huang Jinxu knew he could not drag this out.

"Glazed Mystic Jade Body!"

"Star-Picking Hand!"

This time, Huang Jinxu skipped his ordinary Soul Skills and went straight for his Self-Created Soul Skills.

He had still not gone all out—he had yet to use his Martial Soul Avatar. But with Tai Tan injured and gravity crushing him from every direction, Huang Jinxu was confident this punch would bring him down.

"Titan Undying Body!"

"Ninth Soul Skill: Giant God's Wrath!"

After stirring the power in his bloodline, the Titan Giant Ape unleashed his ninth Soul Skill.

He did not dare hold anything back now.

If Huang Jinxu had used his Martial Soul Avatar, Tai Tan would already have brought out his own.

For when Huang Jinxu attacked again, Tai Tan had genuinely sensed the threat of death.

There was no mistaking that feeling.

As Huang Jinxu unleashed Star-Picking Hand, the light of stars appeared out of nowhere in the cloudless sky.

The blazing sun faded, and starlight appeared.

At that moment, Huang Jinxu seemed to become the stars themselves. Stellar Power enveloped him completely. Cold, scorching heat, deathly stillness, crushing weight, and ancient simplicity radiated from him all at once. With the power to destroy everything, he became a god who could truly pluck a star from the heavens.

"That power... even a Limit Douluo could be gravely wounded if caught off guard."

Mu En was truly stunned by what he saw.

He had always known Huang Jinxu was concealing some of his strength. He knew the man was powerful, but he had never imagined he was this powerful.

It was beyond anything he had imagined.

Even he might have been gravely wounded by that strike if he had not been drawing on the Golden Tree.

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!"

When Huang Jinxu's and Tai Tan's powers collided again, there was no muffled boom between heaven and earth. Instead, a strange buzzing rang out.

It was the warning sign of space about to shatter.

If space collapsed and Huang Jinxu's Starry Firmament Barrier broke, that immense force would sweep across the skies over Shrek City. The ordinary people in the city would never survive.

Without a moment's hesitation, Mu En moved to stabilize the space around them.

Niu Tian sensed the danger as well and lent his strength, keeping the force from spreading.

For an instant, heaven and earth seemed balanced on a knife's edge. When the light faded, Huang Jinxu and Tai Tan were both standing where they had been, as though nothing had happened.

But neither of them was in good shape.

Their auras had weakened almost to nothing. Though neither appeared injured, the impact had struck deep into their bodies. Both were gravely wounded.

"How is that possible?"

Niu Tian stared in horror, disbelief written across his face.

He had expected his younger brother to still be standing.

Huang Jinxu was strong, but in that last clash, his younger brother had used power beyond that of a Titled Douluo—power at the level of a god.

Niu Tian had sensed it. That was why he had stepped in to stabilize the space.

Yet even with his younger brother using Divine Power, this level 98 human Soul Master had fought him to a standstill.

If this man reached level 99 and became a Limit Douluo—or went even further—how powerful would he be?

Had Tang San possessed such fighting strength at the same level back then?

"You're strong. If I get the chance, I'll fight you to my heart's content again."

"I lost."

Tai Tan looked at Huang Jinxu. However unwilling he was to admit it, he had to face the truth.

Huang Jinxu had had a chance to kill him. He had only held back at the final moment.

What was more, the man had maintained a vast Spatial Barrier with a Soul Skill throughout the fight. No matter how Tai Tan looked at it, he had lost.

"The honor of Shrek Academy will not be sullied!"

With that, Huang Jinxu slowly withdrew the Starry Firmament Barrier and collected everything it had contained.

The Divine Power beyond a Limit Douluo's strength and the heart's blood Tai Tan had coughed up—these had been his goals all along. Both were excellent research materials.

"Mu En, I'll leave the rest to you."

After saying this, Huang Jinxu turned and headed straight for the Golden Tree Hollow, apparently intending to heal there.

That was only how it appeared.

He went into the Golden Ancient Tree's hollow partly to thank it for helping him withstand god-level power at the crucial moment.

The other reason was to ask the Golden Ancient Tree to help him extract the Divine Power the Titan Giant Ape had used.

While he was there, he also intended to ask it for a trace of power beyond a Limit Douluo's, so he could study the two side by side.