Lu Ren merely glanced at the steadily rising presence around Tai Tan and Niu Tian, and a hint of regret involuntarily crossed his face.
He raised a hand and dusted off his robes.
"The power you two are using now is nothing more than the power of a god."
"If that power were stripped from you, you probably wouldn't even measure up to a two-hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast."
"Enough talk!" Tai Tan flew into a rage. He slammed both fists against his chest, each blow producing a muffled boom like someone beating a drum cast from an entire mountain. His thunderous roar made the earth tremble.
He stamped down hard, heaving up the entire rock stratum as countless rock pillars several meters thick burst from the ground, wrapped in an earthen-yellow halo of divine power.
The pillars broke through the ground with dull rumbles. Dirt and rubble rolled aside as though something enormous were burrowing up from underground.
Every pillar was harder than divine iron. An ordinary Titled Douluo would be crushed to pulp on contact. They stabbed toward Lu Ren like a dense forest of spears, shrieking through the air.
Niu Tian remained calm. He raised a hand and beckoned, gathering azure lightning at his fingertips, with the faint shadow of a dragon coiling within it.
"Sky Azure Annihilation Divine Thunder."
As those casually spoken words fell, a lightning column several meters thick blasted forth.
Azure and white electrical light churned inside the column, while a pale golden halo of divine power encircled it. A dragon's roar shook the wilderness as it followed the rock pillars toward Lu Ren.
Space warped slightly wherever its arcs scorched it. The air crackled with a burning hiss, and a pungent stench spread, so strong it made people want to cover their noses.
Lu