Seeing Tang San clad in that dark crimson-gold, the golden flames surrounding Qian Renxue had already risen a hundred meters high. Every plant in the vicinity—save for the large tree bearing the incense—had been reduced to ashes in those flames. Without a moment's hesitation, those vast holy flames condensed in midair, taking the form of the Holy Angel Sword. The incense had burned past its halfway point, and Qian Renxue intended to give Tang San no more chances. From the very start, she unleashed the final strike she had previously used against Tang San's Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul.
Though the Clear Sky Hammer in Tang San's hands was massive, it paled in comparison to the hundred-meter Holy Angel Sword. Yet Tang San had no intention of channeling the Sea God's Light into the Clear Sky Hammer to manifest the colossal Sea God's Trident form he had used before as a shield.
He took three swift steps forward. On his final step, his left foot slammed into the ground, and an invisible shockwave detonated instantly. With the point of impact as the epicenter, the earth within a thirty-meter radius collapsed ten meters downward with a thunderous boom, shrouded in billowing clouds of dust and shredded plant matter. The sheer force behind that stomp was truly terrifying.
Facing the Holy Angel Sword, Tang San showed not the slightest hint of discouragement. In that moment, Qian Renxue saw clearly—Tang San's eyes had turned completely blood-red. Yes, blood-red. If blue-gold was sacred and elegant, then this blood-red was the perfect match for the tyrannical fury of the Great Absolute Limit Hammer. That imposing aura, coupled with overwhelming might, and condensed killing intent—all surged skyward along with Tang San's body.
It was in this moment—leaping into the air with the Clear Sky Hammer in hand—that Tang San suddenly understood why his great-grandfather Tang Chen had chosen to inherit the divine authority of the God of Slaughter. The Clear Sky Douluo's Great Absolute Limit Hammer, combined with the aura of the God of Slaughter, was the true perfection. And his own fusion, still merely within the human realm, already possessed such tyrannical aura and power, such explosively surging energy and unparalleled confidence—something the Blue Silver Emperor could never have given him.
At the same time, Tang San understood even more clearly why his father could withstand the Spirit Empire's second grand elder without even needing to use Ring Detonation. The existence of the Great Absolute Limit Hammer meant the Clear Sky Hammer no longer required any Soul Ring skills at all. Through the absolute suppression of raw power, brute force overwhelming all finesse, he could unleash the most devastating might in its entirety. In that instant, Tang San felt as though he and the Clear Sky Hammer had merged completely into one. When he leaped, he hadn't used any flight ability—he had simply jumped using the power generated by the fusion of his body and Martial Soul. And yet he soared to a height of a thousand meters. For physical strength to reach such a degree, it showed just how close Tang San's body had come to divine existence.
"Qian Renxue, take this hammer—Absolute Limit Pierces the Heavens!" Gripping the massive hammer handle with both hands, rather than passively enduring the enormous golden energy of the Holy Angel Sword, Tang San launched an attack of his own. In a single instant, the first Soul Ring on his body—the hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring of the Titan Giant Ape—detonated violently, fusing completely with his being. As the hammer swept forth, the sleeve on his right arm burst apart as surging yellow light poured madly from the hammer's haft. Man and hammer as one, Tang San unleashed his peak-state strike.
Qian Renxue let out a cold snort, bringing her hands together before her chest—left hand reaching forward and lifting upward, right hand pressing downward. The hundred-meter Holy Angel Sword rose into the air at her command, blazing with raging golden flames, and despite its enormous size, performed an upward rising slash through midair, like lifting a torch to strike at the heavens.
As for Tang San's hammer strike—at first, he had used his body to drive the hammer. But by the time the blow was truly unleashed, the hammer was driving him, like a massive dark crimson-gold meteor plummeting from the sky. The Clear Sky Hammer was hardly small, but compared to the Holy Angel Sword, they were not in the same class.
Dark crimson-gold collided violently with brilliant gold in midair. A strange phenomenon occurred. Based on how Tang San's previous clashes with the Angel God Qian Renxue using the Blue Silver Emperor had gone, the collision of their energies should have produced an enormous burst of light and power. But this time was different. The instant the two forces collided, the world suddenly went dark.
A surge of intense unease erupted from Qian Renxue's chest. She instinctively severed the divine sense connecting her to the Holy Angel Sword. True to her status as a being who had ascended to the divine tier, even in such circumstances she managed to throw herself backward, forcibly tearing free from the mutually locked energies of the collision.
In the sky, after the brief darkness, blinding light suddenly erupted, illuminating the earth below and making everything in its vicinity gleam. Countless shattered golden motes of light rained from above, and wherever they fell, they lit up the ground like countless miniature suns. Amid a succession of violent explosions, each point of golden light blasted a massive crater into the Star Dou Great Forest, freezing the surrounding atmosphere. The air filled with frenzied holy aura and savage killing intent.
The Holy Angel Sword had shattered. The Holy Angel Sword forged by the Angel God Qian Renxue had simply... shattered. No trace of it remained in midair, and those countless golden star-like motes were born of its destruction.
Though Qian Renxue's reaction had been swift and her timing of the retreat impeccable, as the creator of the Holy Angel Sword, she was still affected. Her body lurched through the air before she was forced down onto the ground, a flash of pallor crossing her delicate features. She staggered backward, struggling to maintain her balance.
How is that possible? Those four words were all that rang through Qian Renxue's mind. Tang San—Tang San had shattered her Holy Angel Sword with a single blow? It wasn't her divine artifact, true, but it was still a devastating attack condensed from genuine divine power! How could he possibly break it? Before, even when he had used the power of three shattered Soul Rings, she had sent him flying with a single sword strike, nearly obliterating both body and soul. But now, having merely switched Martial Souls and used the power of a single Soul Ring, he had turned the tide?
Of course, Qian Renxue had no idea that what Tang San had exploited was precisely her habitual way of thinking. Indeed, Tang San had previously been unable to block her Holy Angel Sword even with the power of three shattered Soul Rings—and back then, he certainly hadn't been pretending. If he hadn't been using his full strength, how could Qian Renxue, who had been locking onto him with divine sense the entire time, not have sensed it?
The combined power of the sixth, seventh, and eighth Soul Rings couldn't accomplish it—even if the Clear Sky Hammer was stronger than the Blue Silver Emperor, a single first Soul Ring naturally couldn't do much either. This was the impression Tang San had planted in Qian Renxue's mind by exploiting the circumstances of their previous exchange. Mentally speaking, there was little difference between a god and a human—especially for Qian Renxue, who had only recently ascended to godhood; her way of thinking was still that of a human. This was one of the flaws Tang San had identified in her.
The Clear Sky Hammer was nothing like the Blue Silver Emperor, nor could it be compared to Tang San's bare fists. The Clear Sky Hammer's native weight, accumulated over a hundred thousand years, was forcibly amplified tenfold under the gravity control of his Titan Giant Ape left arm bone—and that was why he had initially driven the hammer with his body, only for the hammer to end up driving him. Even reduced to a tenth of that amplified force, the Clear Sky Hammer still felt as though it weighed a hundred thousand years in Tang San's perception. Controlling such a weapon was far from easy, which was why Tang San had waited until after unleashing his full-power strike before layering gravity control onto the Clear Sky Hammer, producing its terrifying million-jin weight.
Furthermore, where had Tang San's shattered first Clear Sky Hammer Soul Ring come from? It had come from the Titan Giant Ape Er Ming! Even among hundred-thousand-year Soul Rings, the Titan Giant Ape's Soul Ring was far superior in quality to those three Thousand-pound Ant Sovereigns. The Titan Giant Ape was the apex of strength-type Soul Beasts, and gravity control itself was one of the Titan Giant Ape's signature Soul Skills. With the two combined, shattering this first Soul Ring granted Tang San a colossal power that Qian Renxue could never have imagined.
Moreover, inscribed upon the Clear Sky Hammer was the Killing God Domain, which had already completed its ultimate evolution. The Killing God Domain held a certain suppressive effect even against Qian Renxue's Angel Domain. Nested within the Clear Sky Hammer and drawing upon the power of Ring Detonation, it fused its full might with the hammer, making the resulting explosive force absolutely staggering. The power far exceeded Qian Renxue's expectations. After Tang San discovered the devastating force gravity control could produce when applied to his weapon, his offensive explosive power had risen to an entirely new level. However, gravity control only worked when applied to a weapon. Moreover, when Tang San had used the Sea God's Trident for million-jin-level strikes, he had discovered that while gravity control's effect was excellent, the sheer magnitude of the force it generated instantly drained all the energy from his Titan Giant Ape left arm bone. In a single day, this million-jin amplification could only be used for one full-power attack. But even once was enough to serve as his killer move. This time, at the most critical moment, he had used gravity control to instantly reverse the situation.
With the hammer strike landed, Tang San's entire body trembled violently. Though he had shattered the Holy Angel Sword, he had also suffered the backlash of divine power. Yet he clearly had no intention of stopping. The gravity control had been extinguished in the violent collision. But his body pivoted midair, and he kicked at the empty air—the piercing sound of tearing atmosphere rang out as he channeled the Evil Oraca Devil Axe from his Evil Oraca left leg bone, forcefully propelling himself through the air at a speed akin to teleportation. At the same time, his second Soul Ring detonated instantly, and combined with the vast killing intent of the Killing God Domain, forcibly dispelled the angelic power within his body. The colossal Clear Sky Hammer descended from above, plummeting straight toward Qian Renxue's head.
At that moment, Qian Renxue's body was still swaying, her previous force broken and her divine power briefly stalled. Faced with Tang San's attack that allowed almost no pause between strikes, Qian Renxue had no choice but to raise both hands and condense a sphere of golden light to meet it head-on.
The tyrannical, savage, explosive Great Absolute Limit Hammer, empowered by Ring Detonation, hammered down heavily upon the energy Qian Renxue had just condensed.
Amid a thunderous explosion, Tang San and Qian Renxue both let out muffled groans nearly simultaneously. Blood sprayed from Tang San's mouth. Though Qian Renxue's condition was far better than his, she too was sent flying backward by the hammer blow—and before she could catch her breath, Tang San pressed his attack once more.
The Clear Sky Hammer rose, coating it with the blood spraying from his mouth. Tang San merely spun in midair, and his third Soul Ring detonated. Under the state of the Martial Soul True Body, the Clear Sky Hammer, empowered by the force of the detonated ring, became completely dyed a dark crimson-gold. This third hammer strike then descended from the heavens in the blink of an eye.
Boom—, Qian Renxue retreated a full step, her hands crossed in front of her body, the cross-shaped starlight of her Angel Godly Power blocking this third strike. Tang San spat out another mouthful of blood, but Qian Renxue was also forced back by the impact. Even with her god-level strength, she was utterly helpless against Tang San's reckless, self-sacrificing attacks. All she could do was be forced to retreat continuously.
Tang San's face had already turned deathly pale, but the blood-red fury in his eyes remained just as fierce, unchanged by his deteriorating state—as if he weren't the one coughing up blood.
Just as Tang San detonated his fourth Soul Ring and swung the fourth hammer, Qian Renxue finally erupted. Her breath had been suppressed by Tang San all this time. Although Tang San couldn't truly injure her, this feeling of being completely overwhelmed was a profound humiliation. After all, she possessed god-level power! To be suppressed like this despite such power was simply a joke.
This time, Qian Renxue did not raise her hands to block Tang San's attack. The six wings behind her simultaneously folded forward, wrapping her body within them, making her entire form resemble a giant golden cocoon.
Amid a deafening roar, Qian Renxue's body was sent flying. However, while still in midair, a colossal golden phantom had already enveloped her. It was an angel phantom, identical to Qian Renxue herself, which caught her body. At the same time, as the six wings of the phantom trembled, countless golden feathers shot forth, raining in from every direction towards Tang San.
Under the pressure of Tang San's Greater Clear Sky Hammer, Qian Renxue had finally resorted to her Soul Skill. By enduring one of Tang San's strikes head-on with her body, she had bought herself a chance to recover her strength.
Tang San's expression didn't change, as if he didn't see the attacks coming from all around. His fifth Soul Ring detonated in turn, the surging dark crimson-gold radiance covering both his body and the Clear Sky Hammer. The massive Clear Sky Hammer swept through the air, and his entire figure shot forward once more. Gripping the hammer with both hands, he pursued Qian Renxue's true body directly.
The instant those countless golden feathers were about to pierce Tang San's body, his sixth Soul Ring suddenly detonated as well. This was the first Soul Ring the Three Brothers of the Myriad-Year Ant Emperor had given him—a hundred-thousand-year-level Soul Ring.
Boom—, a vast crimson-gold radiance erupted like a colossal vortex suddenly collapsing. The golden light that had reached the area around Tang San's body was utterly shredded by the force of this ring detonation. His own speed did not diminish in the slightest. In the blink of an eye, he was before Qian Renxue. The massive Clear Sky Hammer struck down once more.
What Qian Renxue saw were Tang San's tenacious, blood-red eyes, filled with endless domineering power. Even when facing a god like herself, his will to fight showed no sign of weakening. Qian Renxue didn't understand how Tang San achieved this. But she had no choice but to raise her hands again, blocking this strike. And this time, her body was smashed directly towards the ground.
Earlier, she had taken a hammer blow head-on to gain the opportunity to unleash her Soul Skill. But it was only when Qian Renxue was truly struck by the Clear Sky Hammer that she realized how terrifying Tang San's attack power was. The energy generated after the ring detonation was far too domineering. Her Angel's six wings could block all the erupted Soul Power, but they could not withstand the bone-piercing dominance and killing intent. The dominance of the Greater Clear Sky Hammer and the killing intent from the Killing God Domain merged completely, piercing directly through the six wings and into her body, causing the power of her Soul Skill attack to be reduced by at least forty percent. She had to operate her Angel power with all her might to force out the aura Tang San had injected into her.
And Tang San's fifth hammer arrived in precisely this situation. How could the strength Qian Renxue had to resist be sufficient? That was why she was hammered down, crashing to the ground.
Only now did Qian Renxue feel deep regret. She should not have underestimated Tang San. After becoming a god, subconsciously, this world should no longer have any opponent for her. In facing Tang San, she had always maintained the attitude of a cat playing with a mouse, never using her full power. And this man, it seemed, understood her mentality perfectly. It was precisely under these circumstances that he had used every one of his own advantages to push her to such a state. Qian Renxue believed that if there were a next time, she absolutely would not give Tang San such a chance. She would certainly use her full power from the very first moment to take him down.