The ground shook violently amid the massive explosion.
At the core area, blinding white light burst forth, as if tearing apart the boundary between heaven and earth.
The air thundered like roaring lightning, light itself became distorted. The deafening boom and invisible shockwaves pushed the rampaging impact energy to its limit. Within the Star Luo Empire, mountain ranges collapsed one after another.
The aftermath of the explosion swept outward in the blink of an eye.
A suffocating sense of oppression and terrifying energy continuously spread outward.
The array patterns of the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation trembled fiercely, showing faint signs of damage.
Through the flickering and dim barrier, part of the aftermath leaked beyond the Star Luo Empire.
"This is bad!"
Bibi Dong, Xue Di, and Lan Fozi—who were controlling the formation's operation—saw their expressions change drastically.
A sweet taste rose in their mouths as a mouthful of blood sprayed onto the ground.
"No good—the explosion from the abyssal passage has damaged part of the formation. If this continues, it might affect the formation's operation."
The one who spoke was Bibi Dong. She was more anxious than anyone.
Qian Renxue was still in the process of condensing faith to break through to god-level. This formation was connected to her—if it shattered, Qian Renxue would likely not escape unscathed.
"Xue Di, Lan Fozi, do either of you have any ideas?" As the primary controller of the formation, they could transmit information to each other through small sub-arrays within it.
"I don't know!" Lan Fozi answered bluntly.
She had been forced into this position anyway.
"No way. Everything about the formation was set up by Ning Rongrong—we're just channeling power to stabilize it."
"But now that the formation is damaged, I don't know what to do either."
"Bibi Dong, I know you're anxious, but calm down first." Xue Di's voice transmitted into Bibi Dong's mind through the formation.
"Ning Rongrong should have noticed the anomaly as well. The woman who came out is the Abyss Mother. I also sensed the aura of the Silver Dragon King."
"We'll respond to all changes with constancy. There's nothing we can do to intervene anyway."
All three held first-level god positions: the Ice God, the Water God, and the Rakshasa God respectively.
However, Bibi Dong had only recently become a god and relied on the lingering power left by the previous Rakshasa God to reach second-level god strength.
Lan Fozi had her own foundation plus the rules she had devoured, while Xue Di cultivated her own path combined with the Ice God inheritance.
The strength they could exert fell roughly in the range of levels 120 to 129.
Let alone facing the current surge of power—even earlier, they had been unable to intervene.
In their initial clash with that red-haired man, they had been defeated instantly.
They had still been holding back at the time.
But judging from the aura comparison, they were clearly outmatched. The three of them were at least one level below that red-haired Yan Long.
"No need to worry—stabilize first." Xue Di continued. "Although the energy leaking through the formation's breach wasn't intentional, it might not necessarily be a bad thing."
"How can you say it's not a bad thing?" Bibi Dong's delicate brows furrowed tightly. "At the very least, it's god-level attack power. If it accidentally lands in a densely populated area, then..."
"Is Qian Renxue more important, or are those ordinary people more important?" Xue Di countered coldly. "Ning Rongrong and Qian Renxue are both too soft-hearted."
"Without a true cataclysm—without heaven collapsing and earth shattering, or even without some deaths—it won't touch their own survival. So-called faith and fear cannot be spoken of."
"Any living being usually only prays for divine protection in moments of absolute despair."
"Whether it's illusion techniques or formations."
"I don't know what Ning Rongrong is thinking. Since she's carrying out the plan yet still worries about the lives on the Douluo Continent—perhaps it's because of your daughter Qian Renxue's influence."
"From my understanding of her, as long as the handful of people in the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect are safe, even if the entire Douluo Continent were destroyed, it would mean nothing to her."
"I feel the same way." The speaker was Lan Fozi.
"Ning Rongrong has a relatively cold personality. If you can't enter her heart, even if you die outside or drown by jumping into the sea from Vast Sea City, she wouldn't spare you a second glance."
Bibi Dong: "..."
Are you two talking about Ning Rongrong?
Why does it feel like you're describing someone completely unrelated?
If she were truly like what you say, she wouldn't have poured so much effort into developing the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!
"Forget it—let's just focus on stabilizing the formation." Bibi Dong didn't want to discuss it further. She felt like the three of them weren't even on the same wavelength.
Since both of them thought it was fine, and Bibi Dong wasn't one to hesitate, having been Pope for so many years, she had occasionally done things that couldn't see the light of day.
This energy leak wasn't something they had caused deliberately—they simply couldn't prevent it.
From a rational standpoint, Bibi Dong acknowledged what Xue Di and Lan Fozi said.
Outside the Star Luo Empire.
Several terrifying surges of divine power leaked out.
Though they were only shockwaves, this was far beyond what even a level 101 god from the original story could withstand—a true great terror.
Especially for the living beings of the Douluo Continent, it felt like divine punishment descending from the gods.
"The attacks spreading from the Star Luo Empire come in four waves. We'll block the strongest one—the rest can only be left to fate." Sword Douluo's sword-like brows furrowed slightly as he spoke.
Ning Fengzhi and the other two hovered in midair, watching the terrifying aftermath heading their way.
"Qian Daoliu's side will also take action." Ning Fengzhi said. "The Angel Clan has stood tall on the continent for tens of thousands of years—not so easily."
"Even so, we can only block two of the shockwaves at most. The remaining ones probably can't be stopped."
Bone Douluo activated his martial soul. Two yellow, two purple, four black, one red—nine soul rings appeared.
"Do our best and leave the rest to heaven." Ning Fengzhi held the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda in his hand. The aura of a level 99 divine origin realm slowly emanated.
The last two red soul rings among the nine shimmered quite妖艳 in the air.
The auras of the three gradually converged, forming a massive humanoid phantom that appeared in the sky.
The illusory figure that was nearly solidifying held the Seven Killing Sword in its hand, erupting with awe-inspiring sword intent.
A terrifying sword qi suddenly burst forth.
"Divine Demon Dual Slash—Sword Path Dust Heart"
Clang!
Wherever the sword qi passed, space along the way twisted slightly.
The high-altitude cloud layer was split in two.
Boom!
A heaven-shaking tremor rang out.
The collision of energies had far surpassed the limit of level 99.
Centered on the explosion point, a mushroom cloud slowly rose.
Immediately after, a powerful storm swept through, blowing everything around.
The rampaging energy rippled outward like a stone dropped into water.
Ring after ring, it swept from high sky down to the ground.
After who knows how long, the generated energy finally dissipated completely.
Ning Fengzhi and the others looked around.
The entire land was in utter ruins.
"So this is the enemy Rongrong is facing?" Ning Fengzhi gave a bitter smile.
Even just blocking the aftermath had required their full strength.
They really were getting old—couldn't compare to the vitality of these young people.
(End of chapter)