The moment Shuhu — the Emanator who had once brought pressure upon the Luofu — crossed the sea of stars and merged with the stump before Kanzaki's eyes, the sky and earth shifted hue.
What had been nothing more than a rooted stump erupted in frenzied growth. Lush branches and leaves sprouted wildly until its colossal canopy blotted out the sun.
A full-powered Emanator of Abundance had descended upon the universe once more after countless years.
Countless serpentine branches whipped through the air and instantly lashed Kanzaki away. He had no time to raise a defense before his body smashed into the ground, plowing through layer after layer of thick bedrock.
Shuhu's complete form possessed strength far beyond anything it had shown before. Even bolstered by the power of the Ambrosial Arbor, even after Hanya and Xueyi had sacrificed everything they had, Kanzaki still seemed fragile before it in that moment.
"Die!"
Shuhu roared. Countless roots burst from the soil, forming a massive cage that imprisoned the figure struggling to rise from the rubble. Thorns along the branches glinted with an eerie light, each strike carrying world-shattering force.
Kanzaki lunged and twisted within the cage, narrowly evading the strangling blows again and again. Yet deep wounds that reached the bone still accumulated across his body — wounds that healed almost as quickly as they formed.
Shuhu paid no heed to his counterattacks.
Under the rampage of these two Emanator-level forces, the Desolate Planet was reduced to utter ruin. Tectonic plates fractured. Magma fountained upward, transforming the silent wasteland into a churning inferno.
But as time dragged on, Shuhu's expression grew darker.
No matter how many times it tore Kanzaki apart, no matter how thoroughly it reduced him to pulp…
As long as even a shred of flesh remained — even a fragment no larger than a fingernail — Kanzaki would regenerate in the blink of an eye. Moreover, his regeneration points were cunningly chosen, always slipping through the densest parts of the net of fire and roots.
Why?
Shuhu was both shocked and enraged.
Such regenerative power was only natural for an Emanator of Abundance, an agent of the Aeon of Life. But what gave a mere mortal — one who had relied on forbidden arts to seize power and had forsaken The Hunt — the right to possess it?
Through countless exchanges, Shuhu finally glimpsed the truth.
Within Kanzaki's body burned not only the power of the Ambrosial Arbor, but also several clusters of extraordinary light — Miracles of Abundance. Over the past thousand years, he had slain countless Abominations of Abundance, many bearing minor miracles. Through the Self-Actualization Aspect Method, he had forcibly merged and refined them into his own being.
These Miracles of Abundance, tempered and assimilated by the Arbor's power, had twisted together into a single force, something terrifyingly close to a personal blessing from Yaoshi herself.
What was more terrifying still was the flame driving it all: a pure, extreme hatred. A horrifying obsession that would drag even an Aeon into hell, even if the universe itself were destroyed and the stars fell.
"Bastard…"
For the first time, Shuhu felt the urge to retreat.
It could not kill Kanzaki — at least not quickly. The disturbance here was immense. First Yaoshi's gaze, then the clash of Emanator-level power. The powerhouses of the Xianzhou Alliance must already be rushing here at full speed. Marshal Hua herself might already be on her way.
If it remained entangled any longer, it might truly meet its end in this unforeseen place.
"Troublesome monster…"
Shuhu's massive tree-like body suddenly contracted, transforming into a streak of light as it tried to flee.
"Trying to run?"
Kanzaki's cold voice clung like a maggot to bone. The horn on his forehead released a strange fluctuation.
A translucent golden barrier expanded without warning, instantly locking down the space for ten thousand miles. The barrier offered no defense against outside attacks — its sole purpose was to permit entry while forbidding exit.
"Shuhu. I told you. Today is the day you die."
Kanzaki smiled savagely.
"Scared? A grand Emanator of Abundance, afraid of a mortal who has turned into a monster like me?"
"You court death!!"
Shuhu, its nerves struck, erupted in fury. It no longer held back, pouring forth the power of Abundance with reckless abandon.
The shattered Desolate Planet below began to writhe violently. Rocks sprouted fangs. The earth opened eyes. The entire planet was granted enlightenment, transforming into a living celestial body akin to Rahu, Devourer of Worlds, and the Ketu Mirage.
Shuhu ceased wasting words and joined forces with the living celestial body to assault Kanzaki.
The battle resumed.
Under the crushing weight of the living celestial body and the frenzied lashing of Shuhu's countless branches, Kanzaki finally showed signs of exhaustion. His regeneration could no longer keep pace with the rate of destruction.
Flesh was obliterated. Organs shattered.
In the end, only a skeleton draped in tattered flesh remained — yet those eye sockets still stared fixedly at Shuhu. The fire of hatred burning within them had not dimmed in the slightest.
Shuhu felt its hair stand on end beneath that gaze and a surge of instinctive fear.
When it snapped back to itself, a more hysterical rage, born of wounded pride, followed.
"I'll see how long you can last!"
Countless branches coiled tightly around the skeleton and slammed it violently into the planet's surface. The continuous, horrific bombardment pulverized Kanzaki into dust.
Shuhu then hurled itself against the barrier sealing its escape.
Without Kanzaki's power sustaining it, the barrier began to crack, teetering on the verge of collapse.
But at the very instant it was about to shatter, a roar that seemed to rise from the depths of the soul exploded within Shuhu's consciousness.
"SHU——HU——!!!"
The vitality of the living celestial body was severed in an instant by that roar, reverting to a silent, desolate planet once more.
At the same moment, an extremely dazzling blood-colored meteor — ignoring time, space, and even causality — streaked across the sky, carrying a terrifying aura of slaughter.
An indifferent, majestic gaze descended upon the battlefield.
The blood-colored meteor did not strike Shuhu. Instead, it precisely hit the powdered remains scattered across the surface.
Red light merged into the dust. Bones reassembled. Flesh regenerated.
Kanzaki's monstrous, hideous figure re-emerged in mid-air.
He looked toward the vast, boundless sea of stars. In a daze, he seemed to see the majestic Aeon drawing a bow and nocking an arrow. A flicker of complex emotion crossed his eyes.
"Even if I devoted myself to Abundance and forsook The Hunt… are you still willing to acknowledge a monster's path of revenge…"
Kanzaki lowered his head, his gaze locking onto Shuhu, who was attempting to flee in the distance.
In that instant, the world fell silent.
All color drained from existence, leaving only black and white. Even the river of time froze in place.
Shuhu found itself unable to move, forced to watch helplessly as Kanzaki's figure vanished — only to reappear directly before it the next moment.
There were no earth-shaking techniques, no world-ending divine powers.
Kanzaki fought like the purest humanoid monster. Fists, elbows, bone blades, claws, shoulders — every part of his body became a lethal weapon.
Each strike that landed left unhealable cracks across Shuhu's form.
The one-sided assault continued for over ten minutes within that silent, frozen world.
When the final punch landed, color returned to the world. Frozen time began to flow once more.
BOOM!!!
The delayed thunderous impact shook the sea of stars.
Shuhu's ten-thousand-foot-tall body shattered like broken porcelain, exploding violently.