The surrounding Destruction magma, carrying immense force and temperatures high enough to dissolve divine iron, raged against him, but was firmly blocked by the layer of dark red Qi and Blood and qi on his body that had boiled to the point of solidification, emitting a piercing corrosive sound and stirring up a sky full of flames.
The earth beneath his feet had long since vanished; he stood on nothingness, yet more stable than any mountain.
" Xu Tianran, what a cunning schemer." Toji spoke with the extreme excitement of discovering a new toy, "Unfortunately, this power is still insufficient."
His eyes flashed with ferocity, and he no longer resisted the endless torrent of Destruction.
All his power, all his will, all his ferocity were poured into the Inverted Spear of Heaven in his hand.
"Open!"
With a roar as loud as tearing silk, Toji's arm muscles instantly swelled up, and he swung his knife fiercely.
Instead of slashing at the lava flow, it aimed at the Destruction spatial barrier that had been compressed to its limit and was beginning to collapse inward, at the boundary between the seven-colored light curtain and the internal chaos, at the most vulnerable and chaotic point of space.
The greatsword unleashed its most terrifying roar since its creation, and a dark red blade of light, condensed to its extreme and seemingly devouring the entire radiance of world Destruction, tore through the churning lava, ignoring the chaotic spacetime, and slashed out fiercely.
A piercing, tearing sound, exceeding the limits of hearing, rang out.
The seven-colored light curtain, which Xu Tianran had placed high hopes on and was capable of trapping and killing Limit Douluo and sealing off world-destroying explosions, along with the chaotic, distorted, and incredibly strong Destruction space barrier inside, was actually cleaved open by this dark red blade of light, leaving a narrow and ferocious gash.
Through this crack, you could even see the gray sky of Mingdu outside.
The terrifying Destruction energy surged wildly toward the crack like a flood that had found an outlet.
The multicolored light curtain flickered violently, and blinding sparks of energy emanated from the edges of the cracks, desperately trying to mend them.
Toji's figure, swept up by the Destruction energy surge, was like a blood-red comet swimming against the current. Just as the rift was about to close, he transformed into an extremely fast dark red streak of light and rushed out.
The moment he burst forth, the Destruction energy, having lost its outlet, reached a new peak within the compressed space. The seven-colored light curtain finally gave way, emitting a mournful cry of unbearable strain, and shattered with a deafening roar.
The remaining orange-red Destruction light spread in all directions like a wild horse, but its power had been greatly reduced and was barely blocked by the defensive system surrounding Mingdu.
In the sky, Xu Tianran's all-encompassing smile froze completely, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints in shock and disbelief.
He stared intently at the dark red figure that had broken through the purgatory of Destruction, covered in smoke and boiling Qi and Blood, and stood once again under the sky of Mingdu. His fingers, gripping the scepter, turned white from the force and trembled slightly.
"He's out?! How is that possible?"
The roar of the shattering seven-colored light curtain still echoed between heaven and earth. The remaining orange-red Destruction energy, like the Lie Yan spewed by a dying beast, scorched the sky of Mingdu, but was difficult to intercept and eliminate by the layers of Defensive Soul Tool on the outside.
Before the smoke and chaotic energy turbulence had even dissipated, a figure, like a god or demon, broke through the smoke and descended upon the world once more.
Toji walked out of the center of the energy vortex step by step, his steps steady, yet his footsteps on the void produced a dull, drum-like sound, as if he were stepping on everyone's heart.
The Destruction storm from the superimposed explosion of Level 9 Fixed Soul Tool, powerful enough to grind even Limit Douluo into dust, failed to leave him with the slightest trace of disarray.
His upper body was still bare, and the bulging muscles, set against the backdrop of his churning dark red Qi and Blood, looked like they were cast from the most resilient divine iron. The cracks from the previous high-temperature scorching had long since disappeared, and his skin was as smooth as ever, even faintly revealing a jade-like luster, as if the world-destroying explosion was merely a raging fire that tempered his body.
Only those eyes burned with a flame more intense and ferocious than the embers of an explosion; wherever their gaze fell, the air seemed to freeze and burn.
The greatsword in his hand, its dark red blade having absorbed too much Destruction energy, now flowed with an eerie, dark luster, like the core of a lava hell. Its malevolent aura was solidified, and just by holding it, the surrounding space groaned under its strain.
His overwhelming aura, like an invisible tsunami, spread wildly from his center, instantly overwhelming the remaining Soul Tool fluctuations and the panicked aura of countless Soul Master in the entire Mingdu.
He is the human embodiment of Destruction itself.
Upon seeing that Toji was still alive, Xu Tianran's face drained of color instantly, and his all-controlling smile was shattered by extreme horror and fear.
He stood atop the high- Flying Soul Tool, yet his body trembled uncontrollably, and the scepter nearly slipped from his grasp.
His prized ultimate trap, built with the full might of the empire, had become the stage for his opponent to display his invincibility?
This exceeded the limits of his understanding and shattered the last shred of his rationality as an emperor.
"Fire! All Level 9 Soul Engineer! Target Toji! And those two remnants of the Holy Spirit Cult! At all costs! Blast them to death!!!"
He roared hysterically, his voice shrill and distorted with fear.
Almost at the same moment Xu Tianran roared, the space at the edge of the Destruction explosion's Core Zone violently distorted.
A piercing, painful yet sacred phoenix cry broke through the smoke and dust.
A phoenix phantom, several times smaller than before and radiating a pure golden light, struggled to emerge from a spatial rift.
Its light was extremely dim, like a candle flickering in the wind. Large patches of its golden feathers were charred and fallen off, and one could even see the illusory, cracked bones inside.
On the back of this Bright Phoenix, it clung desperately to Long Xiaoyao's broken body, which was barely clinging to life. His eyes were closed, his breath was so weak that it was almost gone, and the dark red sword energy remaining at the severed arm was still corroding him. He was barely clinging to life by the power of the phoenix's light.
At the last moment, Ye Xishui actually abandoned her near-collapsed Death Essence and forcibly activated her hidden Second Martial Soul, the Bright Phoenix.
This was originally her deepest hidden trump card, completely opposite to, and even conflicting with, her Death God Martial Soul attribute.
In order to escape, she did not hesitate to burn her Martial Soul Origin, and even burned the foundation of her soul.
The appearance of the Bright Phoenix was like a pure and holy ephemera blooming in a filthy purgatory, fleeting and ephemeral, yet it exhausted Ye Xishui's last strength and vitality.
The phoenix phantom she had transformed into could no longer be maintained the moment it broke out of the blast radius; the golden light dissipated, and it transformed back into human form and fell.
Bang, bang!
Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao crashed heavily into a scene of devastation far from the epicenter of the explosion. Ye Xishui's body was charred black, blood flowed from her seven orifices, and her once alluring face was now only ashen. The forces of light and death clashed and annihilated within her, and the flame of Life was reduced to its weakest point.