But within the thunderclouds, endless bolts of lightning struck one after another.
The Azure Plume Eagle Emperor hurriedly flew out of the sea area shrouded by the thunderclouds, not daring to linger for even a moment.
Qian Xunji, however, paid the lightning no further heed. His third Soul Skill lit up again, raising a shield of holy light that let him ignore the lightning strikes entirely.
"Is that all you've got?"
"Hmph, don't get cocky!"
The Deep Sea Blue Whale King's enormous body suddenly shifted, and gravity across the entire Blue Whale Sea Area instantly increased more than tenfold.
The sky above and the ground below seemed to have turned into an ocean, squeezing in from every direction.
That was not the most frightening part. What truly shocked Qian Xunji was that the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had risen into the air and was soaring freely between heaven and earth.
He threw back his head and roared, and countless water dragons surged up from beneath the sea.
"Roar!!!!"
Dragon roars rang out from every direction.
"Be buried in this sea!"
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King was arrogant, but the next moment, he was stunned.
Just as the water dragons struck Qian Xunji, a mysterious force drew them into a spinning orbit around him.
Great Shift of Heaven and Earth!
Drawn along by Qian Xunji's power, the water dragons that had been charging at him turned and roared toward the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King instead.
And among those water dragons were even more terrifying golden dragons of holy light.
The Proud Dragon Repents!!!
Qian Xunji had completely mastered both the Nine Yang Divine Skill and the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms.
Now that he used them, their destructive power was in no way inferior to his ninth Soul Skill.
Their uses were rather limited, however, as they were all meant for combat.
Holy Light Healing, for example, could instantly restore him to full condition.
Martial arts could hardly accomplish that.
Unfortunately, he did not have the Northern Darkness Divine Skill. Otherwise, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King would have made an excellent power bank.
Every attack aimed at Qian Xunji was reversed, and all of them slammed into the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's enormous body.
With their strength and cultivation equal, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's enormous body was like a living target.
He simply could not dodge.
In an instant, a vast, bloody wound had been blasted into the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's enormous body.
Damage to his skin did not affect the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King much.
The energy contained within his body was simply too immense. He did not care about minor injuries, which could heal in the blink of an eye.
But his own attacks had failed to hurt Qian Xunji and had struck him instead, making the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King feel that he had lost face.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King flew into a rage and rammed straight at Qian Xunji with his hundreds-of-meters-long body.
A behemoth that size was like a mountain crashing straight toward him.
Qian Xunji could hardly dodge even if he wanted to, and he was knocked straight to the seabed.
"Hahahaha, now that you're in the sea, you're nothing but a rotten fish and spoiled shrimp.
Prepare to die!"
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King laughed, but the next moment, golden holy light pierced the clouds and shot out of the sea amid endless torrents of blood.
Qian Xunji, bathed in an angel, held the Angel Holy Sword and gazed coldly down at the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's body was still sinking. He could not die.
But he no longer dared to come back out.
Deep beneath the surface, a stretch of sea hundreds of meters across was stained red with blood.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King dived swiftly. His body had been pierced through.
A huge, bloody hole ran from his chest to his back.
Sacred flames burned within it, making it difficult for his wound to heal.
That human was too frightening. His own attacks could not do much damage to the human, but the human's attacks could easily inflict wounds on him that he could not ignore.
Even with his immensely deep reserves of energy, he could not keep fighting a battle of attrition with that human forever.
He could not kill his opponent, but his opponent might well be able to kill him.
So why the hell keep fighting?
...Original timeline...
Looking at the terrifying wound left on the hundreds-of-meters-long body deep beneath the sea,
The viewers once again gained a clear understanding of Qian Xunji's strength.
Bo Saixi in particular was dumbstruck.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had been driven away?
Perhaps she alone in the entire world knew just how terrifying the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King truly was.
Even she could only barely hold him off by borrowing the Sea God's power.
And that was holding him off, not fighting him head-on.
She also had to rely on Sea God Island to hold off the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King and keep him from encroaching on it.
That was all.
Yet Qian Xunji had gravely wounded the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King in just a few exchanges. With strength like that, he was probably invincible beneath the level of a true god.
"His Holiness the Pope is awesome!"
"Even a Sea Soul Beast that terrifying was driven away.
As expected of His Holiness the Pope.
Honestly, the moment that Sea Soul Beast appeared, I almost pissed myself.
Even through the sky screen, I could feel the pressure that Sea Soul Beast gave off.
It was terrifying."
"Who on the entire Douluo Continent can stand against His Holiness the Pope?
Another day of envying Ye Qingxian, another day of envying Ah Yin."
Spirit Hall.
Bibi Dong looked at the sky screen, growing increasingly agitated.
"No, that isn't Teacher. I did nothing wrong.
Teacher shouldn't have treated me that way. I did nothing wrong.
Teacher was wrong, Spirit Hall was wrong, and Yu Xiaogang was wrong.
I did nothing wrong. This world wronged me, and I'll destroy the whole world.
Destroy it all, destroy every last bit of it!!!!"
Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Ning Fengzhi looked at the sky screen, relief on his face.
Fortunately, this Qian Xunji was not their Qian Xunji. Otherwise, how could the Upper Three Sects have any hope of survival?
"Fengzhi, don't be so quick to celebrate.
My guess is that the reason the two Qian Xunjis differ across the two timelines
Is probably the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
If Spirit Hall had possessed the Immortal Herbs from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well when Qian Xunji was a child,
Wouldn't it probably have enjoyed the same splendor we see on the sky screen?
And now, Spirit Hall has merely obtained the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well a little over twenty years later.
Although Qian Xunji is gone,
I've heard that Qian Xunji has a daughter whose talent is even more terrifying than his."
"There is such a person.
But there's been no news of her for many years."
Ning Fengzhi could never have imagined that Spirit Hall had sent its exceptionally gifted prodigy to the Heaven Dou Empire as an undercover agent.
If he knew, he would surely think that this world really was one enormous makeshift troupe.
Unreliable. It was truly far too unreliable.
...Sky-screen timeline...
Qian Xunji had not expected the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King to flee just like that either.
But he had not intended to kill him.
He had merely overestimated the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's strength-or perhaps his own strength had now become too great.
Sea God Island.
The Azure Plume Eagle Emperor had not concealed his presence, and the moment he landed, a woman in red came flying over, brimming with hostility.
"Qian Xunji! You still dare to come back!"
The High Priestess Bo Saixi's voice rang out, full of shame and anger. Immediately afterward, towering waves swept in toward the shore.
"Hey! What's gotten into you?"
Qian Xunji was baffled. He hadn't offended this woman, had he?
"Have you forgotten what you said yourself?
You made me wait for twenty agonizing years!
And you say I've gone mad?"
A golden scepter came down, and Qian Xunji caught it with one hand.
Qian Xunji fell silent. It seemed he really was a little in the wrong.
...Original timeline...
The Sacred Pillar Guardians of Sea God Island looked at one another.
The High Priestess could lose her composure like this?
More importantly, wasn't the relationship between the High Priestess and that Qian Xunji a little too ambiguous?
No way, right?
In this timeline, the High Priestess was Qian Daoliu's white moonlight.