"This Wang Qiang — he's actually this powerful?"
"Could it be that he was holding back at the Peak of the Nine Heavens?"
The astonished and incredulous expressions on everyone's faces made it clear that Wang Qiang's standing in their hearts had undergone a complete upheaval.
Some even believed that Wang Qiang might be stronger than Chu Feng and Xianhai Yu'er and the others.
Back then, he had simply refrained from stealing Chu Feng's thunder out of their brotherly bond, and that was why he had never truly shown his hand.
And this was by no means a baseless guess.
After all, True Gods were fundamentally different from Demigods.
While there had been quite a few True God powerhouses in the martial cultivation world before the younger generation ascended to True Godhood, very few had been able to advance their cultivation within the True God realm.
Much less someone like Wang Qiang, who had advanced three full grades in succession.
"This is the era of gods. No matter how dazzling the older generation's talent once was, when compared to the geniuses of today, they fall far short."
An elder standing in the void stroked his beard and sighed. And his words happened to align with what most people were thinking.
When they looked back, apart from Jie Ranqing of old, no one's talent had ever been comparable to that of today's geniuses.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!"
But suddenly, Baili Zilin let out a wild, twisted laugh.
His laughter startled Wang Qiang, who involuntarily stopped his torment of Baili Zilin.
This allowed everyone to see clearly that Baili Zilin's head had already been smashed to a horrifying state by Wang Qiang's headbutts.
His shattered face exposed blood-soaked teeth, a ghastly sight.
He no longer looked human — more like a fiend that had crawled its way out of hell.
The sight of Baili Zilin like this sent chills down the spines of every martial cultivator present.
But Wang Qiang felt no fear, smiling gleefully at Baili Zilin: "Oh my, oh my — still stubborn, are we? Still able to laugh?"
Hearing this, Baili Zilin's smile grew even more sinister: "Wang Qiang, haven't you eaten? Put some more effort into it."
"Alright." Wang Qiang was more than happy to oblige. He grabbed Baili Zilin's head with one hand and pressed down on his shoulder with the other.
A vicious gleam flashed through his eyes, making everyone's hair stand on end.
Many members of the Hell Sect were already preparing to intervene.
If not for a secret voice transmission that reached the ears of the powerful Hell Sect figures outside the arena, stopping them, they would have stepped in immediately.
They could all see that Wang Qiang was planning to go for the kill — it was quite possible he would simply rip Baili Zilin's head clean off.
And that was precisely what he intended.
But when Wang Qiang exerted his strength, he was shocked to discover that his power was unable to separate Baili Zilin's head from his body.
Wang Qiang looked at Baili Zilin in surprise.
Only now did he finally understand the meaning behind Baili Zilin's smile.
"If-if-if that's the case... now that's a bit interesting."
"Oh?" Baili Zilin's smile turned ghastly.
BOOM — In the next instant, a torrent of black-and-red energy erupted from Baili Zilin's body and surged straight into the sky.
The tremendous force of the shockwave sent Wang Qiang stumbling backward.
The black-and-red energy plunged deep into the void, spreading rapidly — in the blink of an eye, the entire sky above was blanketed by the swirling aura.
Soon, two blood-red suns appeared within the black-and-red energy, casting their glow outward.
But people quickly realized something was wrong.
Setting aside the fact that there shouldn't be two suns here — even if there were, they would be obscured by that black-and-red energy.
Those were not suns. They were a pair of enormous, blood-red eyes.
"What is that?"
"Is it some kind of beast that the Hell Sect has been keeping?"
People's first reaction to this phenomenon was that it was some sort of extraordinary vision.
But the reason they said that was because it didn't quite feel like a mere vision.
It felt far more like a living, breathing existence that had appeared within that black-and-red energy.
At this moment, the eruption of black-and-red energy from Baili Zilin's body ceased, though a massive amount of the energy still swirled around him.
And his cultivation had likewise reached the fourth grade of True God.
"He — he's actually reached this level?"
Upon seeing Baili Zilin like this, Chen Hui and Yun Ao, who were hiding inside the floating warship, exchanged stunned glances.
When Chen Hui had previously clashed with Baili Zilin, he had been holding back his true strength.
He had been confident that if he used his full power, Baili Zilin would be no match for him.
But now, seeing Baili Zilin as he was at this moment, Chen Hui no longer had any certainty of winning.
Baili Zilin turned his gaze toward Wang Qiang: