Surrounded by a corona of blood-red light,
The Deep Sea Demon Whale King simply could not understand how someone of Tang San's strength could unleash such horrifying energy. It was beyond anything he could have imagined. The power Tang San displayed now exceeded his own soul power by several times over. That terrifying killing aura did not merely influence the surrounding area through a domain — it affected all of nature itself.
Tang San's own experience was something else entirely. When he had faced
All sound from the outside world had been smothered by that colossal energy. The only thing Tang San could hear was the powerful, pounding rhythm of his own heartbeat. He could feel with crystalline clarity that his body had already reached its limit. It seemed as though the addition of even the tiniest fraction more energy would cause him to explode.
The killing aura spread wildly through the air. Even the Shrek Seven Devils — those who knew Tang San best — had no idea what the crimson haze clinging to him represented. Even from the edges of the Demon Whale Sea Domain, they could clearly sense just how terrifying the energy radiating from Tang San was. Once it erupted, it would shake the earth and heavens and make the ghosts weep.
The Deep Sea Demon Whale King had existed for a million years and certainly did not intend to wait for death. Sensing Tang San's overwhelming power, he too seemed to go mad. His hands came together over his chest in a cupping gesture, and there, above his palms, floated the gemstone set in his chest — the one housing a swirling vortex within. A catastrophic burst of energy detonated outward, and a colossal wave of power surged skyward in an instant. With a deafening boom, the armor on the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's body shattered completely, reverting into raw energy. That sky-covering purple vortex reappeared, forcibly shifting the space around him from red to purple. Though his suppressed aura could not fully reverse the tide, it had at least risen to contest Tang San on equal footing.
This was the foundation of a million-year Soul Beast. Though the Deep Sea Demon Whale King lacked Tang San's multitude of skills and had no Great Dimensional Hammer capable of instantly multiplying his own strength several times over, once his million-year reserves erupted, he could reach a god-level degree of power — if only for a brief window.
Every one of the Shrek Seven Devils clenched their fists.
Before coming here, Tang San had laid out what each of them needed to do. Apart from
But now, witnessing the scene before them, they understood just how correct Tang San's decision had been. None of them had reached the level of Titled Douluo or beyond — against an opponent of this caliber, they would have had no chance at all. Had they been on the battlefield right now, the consequences would have been…
At the same time, they realized that the gap between themselves and Tang San could probably never be closed. The Tang San of today had truly become a top-tier powerhouse.
Almost simultaneously, Tang San and the Deep Sea Demon Whale King moved. This was no longer a probing exchange — this was a fight to the death.
The blinding crimson light dyed the Clear Sky Hammer in Tang San's hand a deep, burning red. Boundless red radiance expanded in an instant, and an uncanny phenomenon occurred: the crimson silhouette behind Tang San lunged forward and merged with his body. In everyone's vision, Tang San vanished — what moved now was that blood-red phantom. Looking more closely, it appeared as though Tang San's body had swollen to match the enormous phantom in size, the man and the shadow becoming indistinguishable. The Clear Sky Hammer that had been in his hand was now gripped by that colossal phantom. With a roar that sounded as though it came from an ancient demonic god, unadorned and raw, the Clear Sky Hammer came crashing down.
As the hammer swung, a massive circular runic pattern materialized behind the great phantom — a complex magical sigil over a hundred meters in diameter, blotting out sky and sun. Had
What manner of power was this? How had Tang San's Slaughter God Domain become so powerful in this moment — godlike in its strength? The answer was that his Slaughter God Domain had evolved beyond its original plane, transcending into an entirely different level. It was only later, after Tang San inherited the mantle of the Sea God, that he finally understood what had happened.
Behind the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, the colossal phantom of the whale manifested once more. This time, its entire body exploded within the massive purple vortex, as though the ocean's own whirlpool had been dragged into the sky. The shattered armor, combined with every last ounce of his energy, was channeled into this single blow. The titanic vortex suddenly reversed direction, its tapered, cone-like tail meeting the impossibly massive blood-red Clear Sky Hammer head-on.
Red and purple — the instant those two lights collided, the entire space seemed to warp violently. Everything before everyone's eyes became unreal. The sea surface plummeted by a hundred meters, crushed downward by the overwhelming energy into an enormous depression that spread across nearly the entire Demon Whale Sea Domain.
The Shrek Seven Devils and the Great White Sharks of the Sea God's Spirits were suppressed downward without exception. Even
BOOM—
The sky and the sea seemed to freeze into eternity in that instant.
The terrifying red and the colossal purple converged in midair, ultimately condensing into a single point before erupting in a frenzied explosion.
A shockwave of unparalleled force set the ocean roaring. Across hundreds of square li, a vast tsunami surged outward in every direction.
The sky turned gloomy all at once. The dazzling sunlight vanished entirely, as though even the sun had taken on a mottled red-and-purple hue.
The colossal energy fluctuations shook the entire world. Even the
The surging energy shattered the air itself. Countless enormous fissures tore open across the sky, frantically devouring the atmosphere and everything within it.
Two figures separated almost in the same instant. The great red phantom vanished, and the purple whale specter shattered as well. Only two human bodies remained, flung apart by hundreds of meters. Around each of them, torrents of violent energy erupted skyward — the very reason the sky had changed color. In that catastrophic collision, even they themselves could no longer control the frenzied energy.
The Clear Sky Hammer in Tang San's hand was gone. All eight soul rings had shattered. In that frenzied final blow, the Clear Sky Hammer could simply no longer exist.
The purple armor on the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's body had vanished as well. His bare flesh trembled without cease.
Blood trickled from all seven orifices of Tang San's face like sinuous little serpents, dripping onto the sea surface — and each drop exploded like a tiny bomb. That even his blood contained such terrifying energy was testament to just how devastating that exchange had been.
Tang San did not tremble as the Deep Sea Demon Whale King did. His spine remained ramrod straight. Though his face was paler than paper, the sharp killing intent in his eyes had not diminished by even a fraction.
The Deep Sea Demon Whale King was in somewhat better condition. His body trembled, but he bled only from his mouth and nose. In terms of physical damage, he — whose body had already reached god-level in ninety-nine percent of its composition — had suffered far less than Tang San.
But physical damage did not tell the whole story. Though Tang San's body was grievously wounded, the devastating blow unleashed by that colossal crimson phantom had shattered the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's belief that he could win. In this very moment, this mighty million-year Soul Beast was filled with an inner terror that defied reason. Facing Tang San — who was visibly on the verge of collapse — his instincts perceived not a wounded man, but an invincible demon god. In the entire million years since he had begun cultivating, he had experienced this exact same feeling only once before: when he had faced the Sea God of old and lost an eye to the god's blade. Only then had he felt such absolute powerlessness.
The Deep Sea Demon Whale King's reason was still intact. He told himself frantically that this human before him was extremely weak and could absolutely not defeat him again. But the trembling that rose from the depths of his heart, and the blood-red image that had been seared into his mind moments ago, robbed him of every last shred of will to attack. In this moment, the only thought in his mind was to flee.
Tang San's limbs felt as though every bone had splintered. The chaos within his meridians was no less severe than the last time he had detonated all his soul rings against Qian Renxue. But his will to fight sustained everything. Until his enemy was dead, he refused — absolutely refused — to fall.
He shoved a Crystal Caterpillar Intestine into his mouth. Facing the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, who stared at him while retreating in trembling steps, Tang San did not even wait for the effects to take hold before charging forward.
His physical condition meant his speed could not possibly be fast. Yet even so, that charge deepened the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's terror by geometric measure. No matter how the whale king tried to rally himself, he could not do it. He let out a wild shriek, spun around, and bolted.
"You don't have a chance." Twin beams of purple-gold light shot from Tang San's eyes like lightning, cleaving through the sky. In their path, even the still-unclosed tears in black space were pierced through in an instant as they streaked straight toward the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's head.
At the brink of life and death, the Deep Sea Demon Whale King instinctively spun back around, growling low as he released a rapid series of circular ripples from his head, desperately trying to block Tang San's all-out Purple Extreme Demon Eye.
Purple ring-shaped energy collided with the Purple Extreme Demon Eye. There was no deafening boom — only a piercing, grating sound, as though countless metal surfaces were grinding together and throwing off sparks in midair.
Ring after ring of purple energy cracked and shattered under the onslaught of the Purple Extreme Demon Eye. The Purple Extreme Divine Light drove straight through, amplifying the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's terror. He could only pour every ounce of his spiritual energy outward, desperately trying to resist the Purple Extreme Divine Light's assault.
And at that precise moment, having fired the Purple Extreme Divine Light, Tang San's body began spinning violently. Blood erupted from all seven orifices and spiraled outward with the rotation, but rather than scattering, it orbited around his body, wreathing his rapidly spinning form in a faint crimson halo. No one knew what Tang San was doing. The Shrek Seven Devils and the others, who had been forced underwater, had only just struggled back to the surface. What they saw was the exact instant the Purple Extreme Divine Light broke through the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's defenses.
The purple-gold radiance struck the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's head squarely. In midair, the whale king fell into a state of dizziness. But for some reason — in the instant he slipped into unconsciousness, in that final moment when his consciousness still lingered — he suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of relief. The terror in his heart seemed to vanish along with the dizziness. Only now did the Deep Sea Demon Whale King suddenly understand: the fear that had gripped him was not born of dread for Tang San. It was the result of that violent, uncontrollable energy that had invaded his heart the moment the blood-red Clear Sky Hammer had struck him. What kind of energy could that possibly be? That was his last thought before consciousness faded into half-darkness.