"Since that's decided, I'll make my move. I'm too far away in the Divine Realm to act conveniently, so I'll use the energy in the bracelets you two have." With the decision made, Tang San prepared to act.
"You gave these to us in the first place. They're yours, so use them however you like." The Sky Azure Bull Python did not mind and even took off his bracelet of his own accord.
The Titan Giant Ape did the same. To them, apart from concealing their auras, these things did not even qualify as divine artifacts. They really thought little of them.
Tang San raised a hand on the other side of the water screen. The two bracelets slowly rose, eventually liquefying and giving off a blue-gold halo in midair. They gradually fused, the blue-gold light radiating from them growing ever more dazzling.
"Looks like it's the latter. Since I've entered this child's body, I ought to shield him a little." Watching this unfold, Electrolux considered how to respond. He had just absorbed the purest source power converted from the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's essence into a Martial Soul, and his soul had recovered considerably compared to before. Yet he still did not seem to be a match for the two nearby.
At present, he had no means of helping Huo Yuhao escape. He could only hold them off for a while.
Just as the two bracelets fused, the entire Clear Sky Sect castle suddenly shook violently.
"What's going on? Someone's forcing their way into our space! What bastard dares do that?" The Titan Giant Ape froze for a moment, then realized what had happened and flew into a rage!
"Come on. Let's see who dares come to our Clear Sky Sect and run wild!" The Sky Azure Bull Python's expression was grim as he strode outside.
Tang San did not stop them. Watching the retreating backs of the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape, his expression turned cold.
Have you started making your move too? But you've come too late.
Outside the Clear Sky Sect!
The present Clear Sky Sect appeared to stand amid a sea of clouds, but in reality, another space lay above that sea of clouds.
Di Tian and the other beasts who had arrived were attempting to tear open space and enter.
"Keep going! A crack has already appeared. I'll bolster you with the mighty power of heaven and earth! But there's another space inside, so the energy of this blessing will only last a while. Hold on. I'll go in and locate him, then you can teleport him out." Huo Yun's final words were directed at the Silver Dragon King.
"Understood." The Silver Dragon King nodded. Although she was still lying underground in the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest, she possessed the ability to command space. Rescuing someone from afar would be no problem.
"It's open. Let's go in." With Huo Yun's blessing, Di Tian and the others soon tore open a spatial rift and entered.
As soon as they entered, they saw an enormous castle amid the sea of clouds. A middle-aged man in azure robes and a muscular, middle-aged man whose muscles were as hard as granite walked out of it.
"It's you?" The Titan Giant Ape was utterly taken aback at the sight of Di Tian and the others.
They had once been Soul Beasts from the Star Dou Great Forest themselves, so naturally they knew Di Tian and the others. Ten thousand years ago, they had sacrificed themselves to Sea God Tang San, and Tang San had eventually resurrected them, allowing them to become gods.
At present, they lived in this place called the Clear Sky Sect, which was actually a special space. After all, they were not accustomed to living in the Divine Realm.
In fact, Di Tian had once been their direct superior. He was the undisputed overlord of the Star Dou Great Forest, while they had merely helped guard the gates. Only when Di Tian and the others went into seclusion had they ruled the roost for that period.
"What have you come here for, Di Tian? We had no grudges in the past and have no quarrels now. Isn't barging straight into our territory a little inappropriate?" The Sky Azure Bull Python was the first to challenge them.
"We certainly had no grudges in the past, but we may have something of a quarrel now. Hand over the person you took from the Star Dou Great Forest. As long as you hand him over, we'll leave," Di Tian said.
The person they had taken from the Star Dou Great Forest.
Hearing this, the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape exchanged bewildered looks before finally realizing he meant the child they had brought back.
"That brat?" The Titan Giant Ape was still somewhat uncertain.
"What does he have to do with you? He's a human. Since when did you start keeping humans?" the Sky Azure Bull Python asked Di Tian.
"That's none of your business. Just hand him over." A bald man beside Di Tian, even more powerfully built than the Titan Giant Ape, spoke irritably.
Among them, only Di Tian knew whom they had come to rescue. The others had merely rushed over on Di Tian's orders.
They were even somewhat disgruntled. Why were they rescuing a human out of the blue?
The conflict between Soul Beasts and humans could almost be called irreconcilable. At present, humans and Soul Beasts were absolutely mortal enemies.
For humans to cultivate, grow stronger, and reach the next realm, they needed to hunt Soul Beasts. Reaching Titled Douluo required nine Soul Rings, meaning they had to hunt at least nine Soul Beasts.
And that was only the theoretical minimum. In private, the number of Soul Beasts hunted for various other reasons was by no means small either.
Over time, the dead knot between the two sides had thus been left in place.
Soul Beasts already disliked humans intensely, yet now they had to come rescue one. It was already good enough that they had not thrown down their responsibilities and walked away.
"You tell us to hand him over, and we're supposed to obey? Do you really think we brothers are easy to push around now?" The Titan Giant Ape had a short temper too, and those discourteous words stoked his anger.
"Di Tian, unless you explain this clearly today, we won't hand him over." The Sky Azure Bull Python knew Di Tian was the one in charge here. His gaze had never left him from the beginning.
"You've both become gods. Don't tell me you didn't notice anything different about him?" Di Tian asked the Sky Azure Bull Python in return.
"Is there something different about that brat?" The Titan Giant Ape did not understand. He genuinely had not noticed anything different about Huo Yuhao.
"Perhaps there is, and we simply failed to notice." The Sky Azure Bull Python glanced back at the castle. He honestly could not say what was different about Huo Yuhao either.
But for Di Tian and the others to go to such lengths to come demand him, there had to be something they cared about.
Boom!
Just as the Sky Azure Bull Python was thinking, an enormous explosion rang out inside the castle. The entire castle shook violently, and countless cracks appeared across its walls.
"This is bad." At the sight, the Sky Azure Bull Python's pupils instantly contracted. Something had happened inside.
"I'll leave this to you. I'm going in to look." Impatient as ever, the Titan Giant Ape immediately prepared to head back.
Seeing this, Di Tian decisively attacked. His figure instantly became a black shadow, appearing behind the Titan Giant Ape in the blink of an eye. At some point, his human hands had become a pair of dragon claws radiating multicolored light.
Dragon God Claw!
Long ago, in recognition of the Black Dragon Clan's loyalty, the Dragon God had bestowed the title of Dragon King upon their clan chief and passed the Dragon God Claw down to the Black Dragon Clan. Only successive chiefs of the Black Dragon Clan could inherit this supreme innate art.
This could be called Di Tian's strongest move, and Di Tian was currently the strongest Soul Beast on the Douluo Continent below the divine level. Although he had not become a god, once he unleashed the Dragon God Claw, he could wound even a god.
Just as the Dragon God Claw was about to strike the back of the Titan Giant Ape's head, the Sky Azure Bull Python beside him intervened. His hand likewise became a dragon claw!
Azure Sky Annihilation Claw!
The two dragon claws collided. Centered on them, an unparalleled, tremendous force became a tangible shock wave that spread outward in every direction. The space between their clashing attacks collapsed outright.
The Titan Giant Ape reacted almost the instant the attacks collided. Turning around, he threw a heavy punch. Wherever that fist passed, it compressed the surrounding air and produced a terrifying sonic boom.
Just as his fist was about to hit Di Tian, the space around him seemed to freeze. Rather than freezing, it was more like being stretched endlessly. His strength seemed to diminish, becoming incomparably feeble, and even his senses seemed to grow sluggish.
Sweeping his gaze around, he found that eyes emitting an eerie light had appeared all around him at some point.
This involuntarily drew the Titan Giant Ape's gaze toward a sinisterly handsome young man hidden in the shadows behind the bald man.
The Myriad Demon King!
A supreme Ferocious Beast ranked fourth on the Ferocious Beast rankings, he possessed a formidable cultivation of around fifty-three years. He could also be called the strongest Plant-type Soul Beast on the entire Douluo Continent at present.
The sluggishness he now felt was entirely due to being caught by the other party's ability, A Glance Across a Thousand Years. This was a spiritual domain. Its effect lasted only an instant, but to its target, that instant felt incomparably long.
During that time, the Myriad Demon King could carry out many attacks. It was an extremely powerful form of control.
"Hmph!" The Titan Giant Ape could not help snorting inwardly. He mobilized the divine power within him, preparing to tear this spiritual domain apart through sheer cultivation.
Yet no matter how he called upon his divine power and released his divine sense-which was what spiritual power automatically transformed into after one became a god, becoming stronger than spiritual power, just as Soul Power became divine power, something that could be called the power of a god-
No matter how he mobilized those two forces to tear open the domain, the energy in his body remained at the mortal peak. Even though it approached divinity infinitely closely, some force stubbornly blocked it from entering that realm.
"You can't use a god's power in the mortal world, especially against mortal creatures. If the God of Destruction discovers it, we'll be in trouble." Tang San's voice rang out as the Titan Giant Ape kept trying.
Never mind his claim that he had proposed allowing gods to seal their cultivation at rank ninety-nine and go down to have fun. That had all been a lie. There was no such new rule at all. He had merely done everything possible to conceal their auras. As long as they did not use divine power, they would not be discovered.
That went all the more for foreign gods. The rule forbidding gods from interfering in the mortal world was ironclad. No matter what happened, unless that god truly caused trouble that would destroy the entire world, something like Electrolux's remnant soul entering Huo Yuhao's body was nowhere near enough to warrant making such a serious issue of it.
Tang San was merely exploiting this to bring Huo Yuhao into the palm of his hand. He had done it all behind everyone's backs. Once discovered, it would be difficult to handle. Some things absolutely could not be brought into the open.
"What a pain." Hearing this, the Titan Giant Ape found it terribly troublesome. He wanted to tear the domain apart through pure strength, but the Myriad Demon King before him seemed stronger than expected. He could not tear it open at all.
"Roar!" Just then, the bald, burly man from before suddenly let out an inhuman roar. His body rapidly expanded, his height even exceeding fifteen meters.
A dense, thick layer of dark-gold fur covered his body. His arms were extraordinarily long, hanging at his sides. Even with such an enormous body, those arms actually extended below his knees.
The king of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears, Xiong Jun!
Like the Myriad Demon King, he was a king of the Star Dou Great Forest. With four hundred and seventy thousand years of cultivation, he ranked sixth on the Ferocious Beast rankings.
Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears were already the kings of destruction in the Soul Beast Realm and the strongest among bear-type Soul Beasts. Possessing a portion of the Behemoth's bloodline, they were supreme Soul Beasts within the Star Dou Great Forest.
On that foundation, although their king's cultivation ranked below the Myriad Demon King's, his combat strength was absolutely a terrifying presence second only to Di Tian in the entire Star Dou Great Forest.
His supremely powerful Sky-Rending Claw had even wounded Di Tian before!
And now, amplified by the mighty power of Douluo's heaven and earth, his strength would only be greater than before.
He raised a hand and unleashed his signature Sky-Rending Claw. The sharp claws of his right hand sprang out, instantly becoming dark-gold claws a hundred meters long as they slashed toward the Titan Giant Ape. The enormous Dark Gold Dreadclaw seemed poised to tear the entire firmament apart.
Trapped within the domain of A Glance Across a Thousand Years, the Titan Giant Ape's movements had slowed, leaving him unable to dodge. The blow struck him squarely in the chest and sent him flying, smashing heavily into the castle behind him.
At the same time, another terrifying explosion erupted inside the castle. The entire fortress could no longer withstand that force and collapsed with a crash. Dust billowed everywhere, and wails rose from all directions.
It had not collapsed because the Titan Giant Ape struck it, but because the energy within had destroyed it from the inside out.
"Idiot! What if he gets hurt by the falling rubble?" A woman in an emerald-green dress paled at the sight. They were here to save someone, not kill him.
"It shouldn't be that easy for something to happen to him, right?" Xiong Jun scratched his head. A collapse like this falling onto him might not even be enough to scratch an itch.
"We're here to save a human, and a human child at that-a cub! At his weakest stage! What do you think? A single brick falling from a height is enough to kill a human, let alone a collapse on this scale," said a slender, beautifully proportioned woman with purplish-black hair and purplish-black scales covering her entire body.
"He hasn't been crushed to death outright, has he?" The Myriad Demon King broke into a sweat. If so, their rescue would count as a failure.
Di Tian had told them that if they could not save him, their Soul Beasts would be in serious trouble.
"Um, wait. Look, there seems to be light in the rubble." A burly, middle-aged man with red hair and a red beard pointed into the dust-filled ruins.
Looking in the direction of his voice, they saw two differently colored lights, gray-gold and blue-gold, flickering at the center of the ruins. They seemed to be battling, erupting with terrifying energy that made hearts quail.
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