Within the independent void opened up by the Seven-Colored Gourd, a majestic, boundless voice thundered and echoed.
Think back to Gongjin in his prime-with those words alone came mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and all beneath heaven bowed their heads. What need was there for an entrance with speakers?
The voice did not come from Tang Wulin's mouth. Rolling waves of sound were everywhere, reverberating in layers throughout the sealed space.
An invisible pressure of divine sense burst outward, bypassing the flesh to hammer straight into the soul, sending waves of numbness through one's Sea of Consciousness.
The Ghost Emperor shook violently. Across his dark green Four-Word Battle Armor, still scarred by the Level Nine Soul Cannon Shell, countless metallic patterns hummed deeply. Spiritual light trembled wildly along the old cracks, and the entire suit of armor quivered.
Vast, surging tides of divine sense washed over his Sea of Consciousness.
After just two breaths, his eyes abruptly narrowed, his pupils contracting sharply. His gaze locked onto the youth before him, fixing firmly on the radiant trident divine mark on Tang Wulin's forehead.
That divine might was vast and immense, yet carried an inescapable sense of insubstantiality. Its power remained separated by a barrier, unable to pour forth in full.
The divine might spread outward from the divine mark. The youth's body was merely its vessel; this supreme will had not originated within this shell.
With every fraction of divine might that spilled outward, the youth's body trembled slightly, faintly showing signs of buckling beneath the burden.
His ghostly brain told him that this divine sense probably faced severe restrictions.
Invisible planar laws stood like barriers. That thread of power repeatedly surged outward, only to be dragged back and restrained again and again, hampered at every turn and unable to unleash its full divine might.
A mad thought took root in the Ghost Emperor's heart.
An opportunity that came once in a thousand years lay right before him.
If he could devour and refine this thread of the Sea God's divine sense, he could shatter the shackles of the Quasi-God realm that had trapped him for countless years, and realize his dream of attaining godhood through death.
"Yohoho! Attaining godhood through death-then I'll be the Douluo Continent's only God of Death! When that time comes, what will Yun Ming, who has merely condensed half a divine seat, amount to before me?"
Even if the price was staking all his soul power and the foundation of his battle armor, he would not retreat a single step.
"A mere wisp of lingering will lodged in a mortal shell, yet you dare assume the bearing of a God King before this emperor."
The Ghost Emperor's hoarse, chilling laughter echoed through the space, greed and ruthlessness churning in his eyes. "You're bound fast by that fleshly body, afraid to strike the rat lest you break the vase at every turn. Today, this emperor will use your divine sense to step onto the road to godhood!"
A faint blue-gold sheen slowly spread through Tang Wulin's eyes.
The Sea God's will was taking over this body, but had yet to complete the takeover.
Blue-gold radiance flowed from the trident mark on his forehead, rippling outward in layers like the endlessly surging tides of the ocean. Its innate sacred power naturally countered all undead and evil spirits in the world.
"A false path of death steeped in annihilation and slaughter. A mere Quasi-God, yet you dream of devouring the Sea God's divine sense."
The calm voice sounded again, bearing the indifference and pressure of a God King. "Mortal beings can never see through the unbridgeable chasm between gods and mortals."
"A chasm? Then this emperor will tear that chasm apart with his own hands!"
"I, the Ghost Emperor, have never been weaker than anyone in my life!"
"Not even a god!"
The Ghost Emperor held back none of his strength.
Soul power surged wildly within him. Liquid-metal-like battle armor components flowed across his body, and the great swaths of half-illusory light membrane blasted open by the Soul Cannon Shell solidified completely. Thick, intact dark green Four-Word Battle Armor encased his entire body.
The Ghost Emperor's own Ghost Shadow Domain erupted outward, gray-green deathly energy sweeping in every direction like towering tides.
Within the domain, all vitality was frantically stripped away, while countless undead wailed shrilly, their cries rising and falling by the ear.
In the void, countless shattered bone fragments clacked together and joined up. Densely packed Skeleton Warriors emerged from the deathly energy with bone blades in hand, surrounding the Ghost Emperor.
Before the lingering echoes faded, a fresh wave of attacks followed.
The Ghost Emperor opened his mouth wide and spewed billowing green light. An enormous skull over fifty meters tall instantly condensed in the void.
Great swaths of eerie green deathly ghostfire poured from the skull's gaping mouth. The ghostfire could not only burn flesh, but also strike directly at the Sea of Consciousness. It could even corrode the metal of Four-Word Battle Armor, leaving fine cracks.
The gigantic skull abruptly exploded. Hundreds upon thousands of small green ghostfire skulls scattered and shot out, sweeping toward Tang Wulin from every direction.
Immediately afterward, the Ghost Emperor rapidly formed seals with both hands.
Pitch-black deathly energy condensed into countless chains spanning the entire void. They pierced the gaps in the blue-gold divine radiance filling the sky and lunged straight for Tang Wulin's limbs, seeking to entwine and imprison him, disrupt the circulation of soul power within him, and seal off all room for evasion.
Overhead in the void, countless ghastly bone shards spiraled and interlaced, building a sealed Bone Prison layer upon layer.
The thick bone walls contracted inward, seeking to imprison Tang Wulin within this narrow space, continually squeeze out his soul power, and cut off all room to retreat or maneuver.
An illusory image of the Golden Trident slowly took shape in Tang Wulin's palm.
"Golden Thirteen Halberds, second form, Thousand Years of Emptiness!"
Golden halberd shadows spread across the sky like billowing clouds. Countless clouds of golden light enveloped the surroundings and exploded.
Waves of golden light swept past. Beneath their impact, masses of charging skeletal undead shattered, dissolving into specks of gray light.
"Golden Thirteen Halberds, first form, Unfixed Storm-halt!"
Rings of golden ripples spread outward in layers. A powerful restraining force swept in all directions, hindering the undead soul skills attacking from across the sky and forcibly slowing the Ghost Emperor's mobilization of soul power, seeking to lock down the soul power and spiritual power within him.
Billowing blue-gold divine radiance surged forward, crashing into the all-encompassing gray-green deathly energy.
Boom!!
The two utterly different powers collided thunderously, making the entire space tremble slightly.
Sacred radiance frantically burned the deathly energy, while the deathly energy desperately eroded and dissolved the divine radiance.
At the point of collision, tiny spatial fissures continually formed and vanished.
The Seven-Colored Gourd hovered in the void, faint light flowing across its body.
Big Baby and Second Baby remained inside the gourd, their gazes piercing its walls as they took in the entire battle in the void.
The Ghost Emperor's surging aura of death and the immense sacred pressure of the Sea God's lingering will washed over their senses in waves.
If this battle of the ages required admission, tickets would cost at least fifty rupees.
Big Baby had taken the form of a child, and popcorn had appeared in Big Baby's hands at some point. Second Baby remained in gourd form, though that gourd body turned toward the food in Big Baby's hands from time to time.
After the brief collision, the recoil hurled both sides backward, separating them.
The tremendous impact traveled through the battle armor into the Ghost Emperor's flesh.
Fine cracks burst across the dark green armor's shell, its brittle grinding sounds setting teeth on edge. Soul power roiled within him, a sweet, bloody taste rose in his throat, and he was blasted several dozen feet backward.
The Four-Word Battle Armor activated its self-repair. Flowing light traveled across its surface, mending the damaged patterns, while still more bone fragments condensed from the void within the Ghost Shadow Domain.
After several exchanges, the Ghost Emperor's obsession grew ever more frenzied.
"The Quasi-God realm... has trapped me for a full hundred years."
The Ghost Emperor forcibly suppressed his surging blood, bloody color churning in his eyes. His roars mingled with the sobbing of the undead and resounded throughout the space.
"The shackles of this heaven and earth have locked me fast. No matter how I study the Undead Soul Arts, I cannot take that final step."
"Fortunately, my blessings run deep and my fortune towers to the heavens. Not only does the Plane Spirit favor me, I've also encountered this divine sense of yours. Today, I will slay a god and prove my path through the way of the undead! Even if a God King comes in person, this emperor will tear him apart alive!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the deathly energy around the Ghost Emperor swelled explosively. He burned away part of his soul power foundation, gathering all the power of the Ghost Shadow Domain into himself.
Within this little space inside the gourd, deathly energy whirled wildly, condensing behind him into a colossal netherworld skeleton phantom.
Two balls of emerald ghostfire danced in the skeleton's eye sockets. Countless Skeleton Warriors turned into gray light and merged with the giant phantom. Gray-black streams of light overlapped on its bony claw as it slammed down toward the front, carrying an entire domain's power of death.
Netherworld Annihilation Strike!
"What? The Plane Spirit?"
Has Father still not dealt with the Douluo Continent's guardian god?
The trident mark on Tang Wulin's forehead flickered between bright and dim.
Every use of divine sense consumed the Sea God's remaining essence.
This thread of divine sense could not afford a prolonged delay.
Even he could not see through this damned place. He had to end the fight swiftly, subdue the Ghost Emperor, and take him away. There could be no further uncertainties.
"Sea God's Light!"
Tang Wulin pressed his palms together. Though his body was small, a Sea God phantom woven of blue and gold appeared behind him.
A sacred beam blasted straight into the core of the Ghost Emperor's domain, dissolving all the gray-green deathly energy in its path.
"Golden Thirteen Halberds, third form, One Strike, No Return!"
The trident phantom left his hand, turning into a streak of light wrapped in blue-gold divine power. Seizing the opening as the netherworld phantom swung its claw, it thrust straight into a crack in the Ghost Emperor's battle armor.
Crack!
The already heavily scarred dark green battle armor shattered.
Divine power invaded the Ghost Emperor's body through the damaged areas, battering his soul core and Sea of Consciousness.
"Aaargh!"
The Ghost Emperor howled in pain, his entire body flying backward and tumbling into the void.
He spat great mouthfuls of blood. His soul power fell into disarray, and his aura plunged off a cliff.
He seemed a little dead.
Fuck, why did this fucking thing have so many skills? It was only a thread of divine sense, so why did it keep refusing to die!!
"Ant, this is the fate of those who provoke a god."
"Hmph, when I was roaming the continent getting chased around, you were still using Blue Silver Grass to scrape up shit!"
"You're courting death!" Tang San's eyes were bloodshot, his hair disheveled, and he panted like an ox.
Just as he prepared to lodge his soul essence within the Four-Word Battle Armor and cling to a fragment to escape, the mark deep within his soul released a gray-black light.
Before you continue