Witnessing the transformation in midair, Xiao Bai's face drained of color. She cried out in alarm, "Energy armor manifestation — it seems he wasn't bluffing. He really has reached a realm close to godhood. Back then, the Sea God was able to fuse energy with his own body during the process of becoming a god, forming divine armor, and transforming his Martial Soul into the Sea God's Trident to serve as his weapon. This Deep Sea Demonic Whale King can't quite manage that — he can only shape energy into armor without fully merging it with his body — but he truly is only a hair's breadth away!"
Dai Mubai's expression turned equally grim. "After transforming into human form, the energy that can't be fully condensed into his body is compressed into this armor he wears. He can still use it to channel his original power. Virtually no loss at all. It looks like Xiao San miscalculated — this Deep Sea Demonic Whale King is far more powerful than we imagined."
Tang San, hovering in midair, appeared remarkably calm. If Dai Mubai could figure it out, then of course so could he — it was just that he saw even deeper. After all, he had faced a true god-class powerhouse before. The armor the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had manifested from his own energy was formidable, no doubt, but it still fell noticeably short of Qian Renxue's Angel Set. What worked in Tang San's favor was that no matter how powerful this armor might be, the creature's primary way of drawing on the power of nature was through water — lightning was merely a secondary attribute. And as the Sea God's successor, water was the thing Tang San feared least. Back when Qian Renxue had yet to fully master the Angel God's divine skills, Tang San had still fought her on even footing. Facing the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, why would he back down?
In terms of raw energy, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's power was unquestionable. His overall energy intensity was not even inferior to Qian Renxue's. But he was not yet a god, and although his original form — the Deep Sea Demonic Whale — was a top-tier Soul Beast, compared to the Evil Spirit Tiger Tang San had once encountered, his elemental attributes still fell short. The Evil Spirit Tiger had achieved true three-attribute balance. If Tang San had been facing a million-year Evil Spirit Tiger, he wouldn't have needed a single extra thought — he would have turned and run. Moreover, by Tang San's estimation, if the Evil Spirit Tiger had sought to become a god, it wouldn't have needed a full million years.
The Eight Spider Lances extended slowly, their tips aimed at the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King. Tang San's gaze was fixed and ice-cold, showing not the slightest wavering despite his opponent's power.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King studied Tang San's expression and couldn't help feeling a twinge of disappointment, but his hatred for Tang San had already risen to its peak. Though he had taken human form, the pain within his body still lingered. The Eight Spider Lances' devouring ability and their accompanying toxins were bad enough, but the real agony came from the two springs of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well — the extreme cold and extreme heat still made his body alternate between freezing and scorching, excruciatingly uncomfortable. Although those two energies had been partially neutralized, fully eliminating them was not something that could be accomplished in the span of a moment. That injury alone would require a considerable time to recover from.
Man and whale faced each other in midair, neither yielding an inch in the battle of gazes. Although the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's energy far surpassed Tang San's, he could not gain even the slightest advantage in terms of presence — Tang San's spiritual power was even greater than his own. The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's deep purple single eye met Tang San's clear blue gaze, and under that stare, his aura was being pressed down bit by bit. The presence that should have reached its peak after taking human form was actually, gradually, declining.
On the battlefield, morale could often become the deciding factor in victory or defeat. The lower one's morale, the less of one's true ability could be brought to bear. Everyone knew this, and so the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King decided he would wait no longer. So what if the opponent's spiritual power was high? The gap in energy was immovable.
"Die." The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King let out a low roar, his right hand shooting upward. Purple spheres of light materialized around his body, and in the span of a single instant, they blanketed an area of several hundred square meters. Each sphere locked onto Tang San, and the massive waves of energy turned the sky on the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's side purple, the very air warping and distorting.
Piercing shrieks split the sky. From formation to launch, the process took only a single breath — yet those tens of thousands of purple spheres were already hurtling toward Tang San like a meteor storm, their speed so great it could only be described as lightning-fast.
Three parts water, seven parts lightning — that was Tang San's assessment of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's attack. Each purple sphere was composed of two energies fused together, making them compound elemental attacks. Without question, they were like thunder pearls; upon impact, they would erupt with devastating destructive force. An area-of-effect locked attack of this magnitude was impossible to dodge.
Tang San had no intention of dodging. With a cold snort, he hooked his left hammer behind his back, raised the Sea God's Trident in his right hand, and unleashed the move with no frills — the Unfettered Tempest.
Having been hunted by Qian Renxue to the point of near death, and having witnessed the Sea God execute the Unfettered Tempest a second time, Tang San's comprehension of this divine skill had reached an unprecedented height. Although his Sea God's Trident was no longer a true divine artifact in the fullest sense, that did not prevent him from releasing this attack. Even without the Trident's divine might, the move remained a divine skill.
A massive halo blazed to life in the air. Its color was dark crimson — no longer the Blue Silver Emperor's energy, but something drawn from the Clear Sky Hammer. Bone-chilling killing intent flooded the sky in the same instant. On the Clear Sky Hammer held behind Tang San's back, the Killing God Domain had already been released.
Infused by the Killing God Domain, the halo conjured by the Sea God's Trident turned blood-red. Tang San's movements did not stop. He swept the trident left, then right, continually drawing more crimson halos into the air. Strangely, these halos seemed to possess an enormous suction force — despite the wide spread of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's thunder pearls, the moment a halo appeared, a cluster of pearls was instantly drawn into it.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's expression shifted slightly. His original plan had been to leverage his superior energy and the explosive power of his lightning-attribute attack to blow Tang San to pieces. But the moment his thunder pearls were ensnared by the Unfettered Tempest's halos, his spiritual link to them was immediately severed. Not a single pearl detonated — they simply vanished silently within the blood-colored halos.
How is that possible? The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King was stunned. He knew better than anyone just how powerful the energy he had unleashed was. In his estimation, even if Tang San's spiritual power exceeded his own, it shouldn't have been by enough to sever the spiritual connections to such a wide-ranging attack in its entirety. The one thing he hadn't accounted for was that what Tang San was currently using was the Sea God's divine skill.
In his shock, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's mind faltered for the briefest of moments — and in that fleeting instant, every last one of his attacks had already fallen on empty air. Not a single thunder pearl had exploded.
"Tang San has already grown this powerful?" Xiao Bai exclaimed in amazement. As she spoke, Ning Rongrong on her back raised the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda in her hands once more, and seven beams of brilliant light shot out to illuminate Tang San.
Ning Rongrong currently possessed eight Soul Rings. The reason she released seven beams rather than eight was because in unleashing her soul skills, she had simultaneously deployed her seventh soul skill — the Nine Treasure True Body — casting it onto Tang San's body. This was precisely what made a Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Soul Master so formidable. Her seventh soul skill could be applied to herself or to her allies. The first six skills could each amplify Tang San's abilities by ninety percent, while this seventh beam granted Tang San the benefits of the Nine Treasure True Body as well — meaning that when he used his own soul skills, his Soul Power consumption was halved. Tang San's sustained combat capability would naturally increase enormously.
Previously, Tang San had sustained injuries just to close the distance to the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's massive body, but the Crystal Worm intestines had already healed him completely. On top of that, the energy he had devoured from the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had pushed him into a peak state unlike any he had experienced before. The moment Ning Rongring's seven amplification beams fell upon him, Tang San's entire spirit, will, and focus condensed to a terrifying degree. He let out a thunderous shout that cracked across the sky like a bolt of lightning, then shot toward the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King like an arrow.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King was not about to be outdone. Purple light erupted from his entire body as he surged to meet Tang San. His hands clenched into fists and collided before his chest, sending a ring of purple radiance rippling outward from his torso — like the vortex-gleaming gem embedded in his chest. Wherever the purple light passed, the air solidified instantly.
This was a skill derived from the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's Demonic Whale Domain, functioning similarly to Tang San's Blue Silver Orca Demon's Gaze. Once caught within it, one would immediately fall into a brief state of dizziness, and at their level of combat, even a moment's disorientation could prove fatal.
But in the very instant before that purple light made contact with Tang San's body, his second Soul Ring exploded. A violent burst of dark crimson-gold energy detonated, blasting apart the incoming purple light by sheer force. At the same time, the Clear Sky Hammer in his hands swelled to an enormous size as he spun a full rotation in midair, bringing the colossal weapon crashing down toward the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's head. This was the essence of the Supreme Perfect Hammer's secret art — Ring Burst.
Using the overwhelming force of Ring Burst to instantly neutralize the opponent's restrictive skill, then channeling the gathered energy into a devastating offensive — Tang San's response in this moment could only be described as perfect.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had not expected that the seemingly composed and elegant Tang San would erupt into such a violent tempest the instant he launched his attack. Facing the Clear Sky Hammer blazing with dark crimson-gold demonic runes, he did not dare to be careless. He raised both hands to brace, the armor across his entire body flaring with brilliant light as he fully mobilized the compressed energy within to meet Tang San's strike.
The power of Ring Burst proved absolutely terrifying. Amplified by Ning Rongrong, every aspect of Tang San's abilities had doubled. His Soul Power was equivalent to leaping from the ninety-sixth to the ninety-seventh level — but it didn't stop there. His strength, attack power, speed, and elemental attributes all rose in tandem. His base strength was already approaching the peak of the ninety-eighth level Douluo. And once the Supreme Perfect Hammer's secret art was unleashed, the force he could now project immediately reached the full offensive intensity of a ninety-ninth-level Peerless Douluo at their absolute zenith. To make matters worse, the Clear Sky Hammer in his hands had also been enhanced with gravity control — its weight, once amplified, was not far behind even the gravity-controlled Sea God's Trident.
BOOM—
Under the dumbfounded stares of Xiao Bai, her Spirit Great White Shark kin, and the Shrek Six Monsters, the million-year Soul Beast — the seemingly invincible Deep Sea Demonic Whale King — was hammered straight out of the sky by Tang San. With a tremendous splash, he crashed into the ocean surface, raising a colossal wave a hundred meters high.
Having scored his first hit, Tang San did not hesitate. Under Ning Rongrong's sustained amplification, his gaze sharpened to a razor's edge. He merged body and hammer, and the Supreme Perfect Hammer's power fully erupted. His first Soul Ring detonated, and the power of the Titan Giant Ape's ring infused him with even more massive energy. At the same time, his left leg swept outward, and a crimson light like a falling war axe descended from above, splitting the surging wave apart and cleaving the entire ocean surface with a massive trench a hundred meters deep. It revealed the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's figure as he barely stabilized himself — and Tang San's second hammer strike was already plummeting from the sky, carrying an unstoppable momentum and terrifying explosive force, smashing straight down.
Once the assault had begun, Tang San had no intention of stopping. Until the opponent was utterly destroyed, he would not rest.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King was horrified. Earlier, when Tang San had used the Sea God's Light, he had still felt confident — Tang San had clearly not yet inherited the Sea God's true power, and he was certain that against such an opponent, he could not possibly lose. But the moment he had collided with the Clear Sky Hammer, despite his own strength and vast energy, he had been hammered into the ocean. The violent, ferocious energy, the overwhelming aura of dominance, and the sharp, tangible killing intent all told him that this opponent was not someone to be trifled with. He might very well pose a fatal threat.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had lived in the ocean for a million years, and his experience was beyond question. Seeing that the sea could no longer serve as his refuge, and sensing the even sharper menace and wilder energy radiating from that massive hammer, he made a peculiar gesture. Cupping both hands like a trumpet beside his ears and facing Tang San's descent from the sky, he opened his mouth wide and unleashed a resounding, piercing cry. At the same time, a stream of white qi like a bolt of silk shot forth.
"Tang San, be careful! That's the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's Core Qi!" Xiao Bai saw the white vapor and hurriedly shouted a warning.
Tang San certainly heard her, but his movements did not change in the slightest. Within the philosophy of the Supreme Perfect Hammer, the word "dodge" simply did not exist. Only by knowingly pressing forward against impossible odds could one fully ignite one's potential. And so Tang San charged ahead without a shred of hesitation.
The sound from the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's throat began as a hoarse rasp, but as the white qi stream continued to pour forth, it gradually transformed into a roar like a dragon's call, the sound waves reverberating through the sky. The dark clouds overhead churned wildly, as if answering his cry, while the white Core Qi coalesced in midair into a concentrated mass — meeting Tang San's Clear Sky Hammer head-on.
BOOM—
The white qi scattered in all directions, and even the clouds above were blown apart by the shockwave of the impact, revealing the sun's radiance. The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's Core Qi was blasted apart by Tang San's hammer, and the whale king's body shuddered violently. A trace of blood flashed in the depths of his eye — clearly he had been affected.
Tang San was not faring much better either. His attack could not continue. The white Core Qi had been shattered, yes, but he himself had been hurled skyward by a tremendous rebounding force. The Clear Sky Hammer emitted a rapid series of humming sounds as the energy from the detonated first Soul Ring was completely spent.
Tang San's plan against the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had never been limited to a single approach. The ideal outcome would have been to devour the whale king to death with the Eight Spider Lances — that way, not only would the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King be killed, but Tang San could be certain his Soul Power would break through. If the whale king transformed into human form, his backup plan was to strike with overwhelming speed before the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King understood his true strength, using the Supreme Perfect Hammer's secret art to deliver nine consecutive hammer blows and annihilate him outright. But judging by how things stood, Tang San's second plan had apparently been disrupted once again.