The Sky Piercing Spear seemed to transform into a second sun in the sky, trying to devour the seven colored radiance of the Dragon God Claw.
But Di Tian's inheritance from the Dragon God was no ordinary thing. The Dragon God Claw's power also melted away the brilliant Sky Piercing light.
"Boom."
In the end, with a violent explosion, the golden sun completely collapsed. The imploding energy core collapsed into a black hole that Devoured light.
The black hole expanded and contracted in an instant, finally collapsing into countless spatial fissures that the planar laws could not heal, spreading across the entire sky above Shrek City. Like black lightning tearing through the sky, they emitted piercing shrieks, startling many observing soul masters. No one knew if entering those spatial fissures would mean never returning.
Bang.
A dim but still existing phantom of the seven colored dragon claw pierced through the dissipated energy currents, solidly imprinting itself on Yun Ming's chest.
Yun Ming crashed into the earth like a falling star. A visible ring shaped shockwave exploded from the ground. Shrek City's ruins rapidly collapsed, forming a crater hundreds of meters in diameter.
"Yun Ming has lost."
Hearing Zhuoshi's hoarse voice beside him, Feng Wuyu, who had also watched the entire battle, closed his eyes.
"Yes. But this was a fair defeat. It is the best outcome for him. Let us go. Let us see him off."
"Yes."
Other Federation experts who had witnessed this scene also hurried toward Di Tian and Yun Ming, their hearts were uplifted.
Di Tian's defeat of a true god was an unprecedented boost to the Federation. From now on, the Federation's prestige would be even more deeply ingrained and unshakable.
At the bottom of the deep crater, the dust had not yet settled.
Yun Ming lay quietly at the bottom.
His battle armor had long since shattered, mingling with the dust and soil. His aura was somewhat weak, but his chest still rose and fell, proving that life had not yet completely departed.
Di Tian descended from the air to the bottom of the crater. His battle armor also had quite a bit of damage, but thanks to the temporary enhancement of the Dragon God's Heart, the vital parts were not harmed. The damaged areas of the battle armor were slowly repairing.
However, for Yun Ming, how much of a result he had achieved with his final move no longer mattered. He reluctantly opened his eyes, looked at Di Tian, and said.
"Your Majesty Di Tian, you did not need to hold back. I burned my Semi Divine Seat and fought to the death to give Shrek, the Federation, and myself an account. For me to die in battle here and be buried together with Shrek's sins, that is my true destination."
When he was exhausted, that Dragon God Claw could have directly taken his life. Now, he could still hold on for a while longer.
Seeing Di Tian silent, as if remembering something, Yun Ming said, "You are the Beast God of Star Dou. Are you worried about the spirit souls? My spirit souls are either Shrek's Inherited Spirit Souls or ones I carefully cultivated step by step from century spirit souls. Although I hope to dissolve the contracts with them in the end, they are willing to live and die with me, to witness the true god's majesty together, and walk this final journey together."
There had always been an unwritten rule in the Douluo Continent's soul master world. Even if a soul master died unexpectedly, they should dissolve the contracts with spirit souls they wished to release before death.
As long as the death was not too sudden and there was time to react, most soul masters would fulfill this.
After all, soul masters and spirit souls progressed and advanced together. With such a foundation of emotion, it was difficult for even the coldest person to refuse a spirit soul's wish to live in the end.
Now, the Shrek teachers and students in their final moments on Sea God Island were also doing such things. The Federation experts would also give them this opportunity.
But emotions were mutual. Some spirit souls were naturally willing to accompany their soul masters to the underworld.
Di Tian quietly looked at him. After a moment, he slowly shook his head. "I only wanted to ask you some questions. I already know the purpose of the Sea God's Ten Thousand Year Plan. It is to allow the experts of Douluo to become gods. Since you have crossed that boundary, do you think the current Douluo Continent can meet the conditions for ordinary Limit Douluo to become gods?"
"No."
Yun Ming was puzzled, but he still answered in a weak voice. "The current Douluo plane does not meet the conditions for becoming a god. Planar suppression is very severe. But if it is only to have experts comparable to true gods, one can use planar power."
He had also seen Da Ming and Er Ming. They might be replicable cases.
"This is your thought?"
Di Tian looked toward Shrek Academy. His tone suddenly turned cold. "I have another guess. Elevating the Douluo plane to the level of a semi divine realm, or even a divine realm, thereby breaking through the upper limit of level it can bear."
Di Tian understood better than Yun Ming what the divine seat Tang San had inherited represented.
The Sea God was a first class god. The Asura God was even a God King of the divine realm. Even though there was a rule that deities could not interfere with the lower realm, for Tang San, it was still very simple to make some arrangements on Douluo.
If he only wanted some people on the Douluo Continent to become gods, Tang San could simply arrange a few more divine seats here.
But now, a "Sea God's Ten Thousand Year Plan" had appeared, related to whether people on the Douluo Continent could become gods. What kind of plan would require a God King, limited by divine realm rules and unable to personally operate the entire process, to prepare for ten thousand years? And allow people from the Douluo Continent to become gods here?
Relying on some information he had previously learned from Huo Yuhao, Di Tian's first thought was to elevate the entire plane.
"The Douluo plane is a very stable material plane. Elevating it requires a very large amount of energy. The Douluo plane itself does not have that. So it must be sought from the outside."
"I do not know what the 'ten thousand years' in the plan specifically refers to. But if it is on a ten thousand year timeline, the only large energy body I can think of is one."
Yun Ming's originally puzzled gaze suddenly froze. He looked at Di Tian's cold profile. A guess that chilled his bones, like a venomous snake, penetrated his thoughts that were on the verge of stasis.
Di Tian slowly turned his head. His vertical pupils reflected Yun Ming's pale face. He spoke each word clearly. "The Abyss."
"The Abyss plane is the deepest connection to Douluo, the most massive in energy, and the most considerable external force. If it were devoured, it would be enough to elevate the Douluo Continent."
Yun Ming said in a raspy voice, "But with the Douluo plane's strength, devouring an existence not weaker than the Douluo plane is impossible. Even with the true god left by the Sea God."
Even as he said this, Yun Ming's mind inexplicably remembered the Golden Tree.
"Then what if I told you that the Plane Lord is conscious?"
Di Tian's words fell, and the bottom of the crater fell into dead silence.
Yun Ming snapped back from his thoughts. His consciousness felt as if pierced by an ice cone.
The Plane Lord was conscious?
He knew that the Douluo plane possessed some kind of origin will. It was a vast, vague, nearly rule based grand existence. It maintained the plane's operation, gave the plane's favor, but had no clear, communicable consciousness.
And if, as Di Tian said, the Plane Lord had consciousness, many things would not have happened. Like the battle between him and Di Tian that had broken through space, with planar laws difficult to heal. But if the Plane Lord had its own consciousness, it could easily repair the Douluo plane's void.
By the same logic, if the Plane Lord had consciousness, the passage between the Douluo plane and the Abyss plane would not have existed in the first place.
And even if the two planes had established a passage, the Plane Lord's strength would certainly be at the divine level. He could have devoured all the Abyssal Creatures that entered the Douluo plane, permanently reducing a portion of the Abyss plane's energy. The Abyss, having suffered a loss, would naturally not dare to invade blindly again.
But the Plane Lord had never done this. What more needed to be said about his intentions?
He certainly had greater designs.
While Yun Ming was immersed in this possibility, Di Tian continued, "Within your Shrek Academy's Golden Tree, there is the Douluo plane's Life Core. Whether she has consciousness, you should know."
All this information had been told to him by Huo Yuhao. Di Tian also knew that one of Huo Yuhao's goals this time was the Golden Tree.
Actually, Di Tian did not need to say much more. Yun Ming had already connected the dots and completely given up hope.
The Golden Tree had consciousness. It was a Life Core possessing planar power, and it was a back up plan left by the Sea God. He had already realized this before, but because of the special circumstances at the time, he had not thought deeply. Now, connecting it to the Ten Thousand Year Plan, what was there not to understand?
The Ten Thousand Year Plan was to let the Abyss into the Douluo Continent, with the Plane Lord and Life Core designing the devouring of the Abyss plane to elevate the Douluo plane.
At this moment, Yun Ming thought of the Shrek ancestors who had died resisting the Abyss in past invasions, of Emotionless Douluo leading Shrek teachers and students to fight the Abyss, and of the countless Federation martyrs who had died resisting the Abyss.
The meaning of their sacrifice. The beliefs they protected. Were they all just data and consumables in this millennium spanning planar elevation plan, kept in the dark, able to be calculated and sacrificed?
Who could accept this?
"Cough."
Thinking this, a wave of sweet, reversed blood suddenly surged into his throat. Yun Ming could no longer suppress it. He coughed up a mouthful of dark red blood mixed with internal organ fragments. His aura weakened further. But his vitality surged instead.
Uncontrollable anger ignited Yun Ming's will to live.
He had always believed that although Shrek had many mistakes, at least its stance and actions in resisting the Abyss, enemies from outside the plane, were pure and just.
But now, reality told him that the Abyss had been drawn here by the most revered ancestors of Shrek, and Shrek's survivors would still help the Sea God execute this so called Ten Thousand Year Plan.
Shrek was not only not a protector, but would become an accomplice.
Yun Ming slowly stood up. His eyes held only a dead silence burning with cold anger.
"What a Sea God. What a Ten Thousand Year Plan."
He suddenly looked up. His bloodstained gaze seemed to pierce through the crater, through the sky, straight at Tang San somewhere unknown.
"In your eyes, what are we? What is Shrek? What are the billions of living beings on the Douluo Continent?"
"Sea God Tang San."
Naturally, with the divine realm now swept away by spacetime turbulence, Yun Ming would not receive an answer.
Zhuoshi, Feng Wuyu, and a host of Federation experts came closer. They were shocked by the scene before them and temporarily halted.
What exactly had His Majesty Di Tian said to Atlas Douluo? Why did he suddenly harbor such deep hatred and doubt toward Sea God Tang San?
"It seems you no longer have the will to die."
Di Tian waited for Yun Ming to calm down before speaking again.
Although Yun Ming was nearly exhausted after his battle, Di Tian had not forgotten that tenth spirit ring.
That green gold spirit ring had ceased to exist after Yun Ming withdrew from the divine realm. But that did not mean the life energy that had condensed the spirit ring was gone. As long as Yun Ming was willing, he could use that life energy to stabilize his injuries. So strictly speaking, Yun Ming's earlier state of barely holding on was entirely his own death wish.
Upon hearing this, Yun Ming took a deep breath, suppressing his anger and chaotic thoughts, and looked at him with complicated eyes.
"Your Majesty Di Tian, why did you save me?"
Although it was somewhat strange to stimulate a person's will to live in this way, Di Tian's earlier intent was undoubtedly to save him.
"From a personal desire perspective, I simply do not want the first true god of this era to fall before the best age has even begun. From a public duty perspective, with the Abyss at hand and the Holy Spirit Cult threatening from the side, any Near Divine power on the Douluo Continent is very precious right now. Not to mention that you have already touched the divine level."
"I have said all I can. If you still believe that dying today and consolidating the Federation's prestige is your best destination, I will not stop you. But I have always believed that a true god standing in the Federation's camp can do more to boost the Federation's prestige and play a greater role in the future than a departed true god."
With that, Di Tian said no more and directly turned to leave.
The many Federation experts dared not stop him, seeing him off with respectful gazes.
The prestige of Di Tian's victory over a true god was still upon him. Without him speaking, they truly dared not address him.
Except for one figure in a green dress.
It was Bi Ji, who had just arrived from the rear.
For this operation against Shrek, the Federation had naturally prepared many healing system soul masters. Bi Ji was also in the team, serving as reserve combat power for emergencies. After all, she also possessed Limit cultivation. Although her combat ability was relatively weak, that was only in comparison to powerful Limit Douluo.
"You are still as appreciative of talent as ever." Bi Ji smiled as she healed Di Tian.
In the past, Di Tian had been quite attentive to powerful spirit beasts. Even though Bear Lord had wounded him and challenged his authority, he could tolerate it. If it had been another beast king facing such a thing, they might have killed him long ago.
This was also one of the important reasons he had become the recognized Beast God of the Star Dou Great Forest and gathered a group of savage beasts around him.
After becoming a Tower Master of the Spirit Transmission Tower, this mentality had gradually spread to human geniuses and experts.
"I am merely considering the bigger picture. After all, you know who our true enemy is." Di Tian looked at the sky.
His current mindset was the same as the Federation's. The Federation wanted to settle accounts with Shrek. There were simpler and more direct methods, but they had not used them. The Federation understood who its true enemy was now and knew to exercise restraint.
And he saw even further. He wanted to accumulate a foundation for the future confrontation with the divine realm.
Facing the divine realm, were the Spirit Transmission Tower's and even the Federation's current foundations really enough?
His Majesty and Huo Yuhao might have God King potential, but whether that could be realized was still uncertain.
And besides God Kings, the divine realm also had many first and second class gods. How many among the Spirit Transmission Tower or the Federation possessed such potential? Even if the plane was elevated, many Limit Douluo might spend their entire lives just languishing at the divine officer level after breaking through.
They could not leave all opponents to Huo Yuhao and the others, could they?
As strong as the Golden Dragon King was, facing the divine realm's foundation alone, he had ultimately been defeated. And that was with internal strife among the God Kings and the face of spacetime turbulence. Otherwise, he might not have been able to stir up much trouble.
(Old Gold was strong, but the premise for his brilliant achievements was internal strife among the God Kings and spacetime turbulence. The first class gods and God Kings had all been consumed in the internal strife. Good and Evil had been drawn away by Destruction. Life and Destruction had died facing spacetime turbulence. Much of the divine realm's central power had been used to resist spacetime turbulence. One could only say that Old Gold had basically gotten all the right time, place and people.)
If they did not want a similar situation to occur, then improving themselves and accumulating a foundation was a must.
Di Tian had not communicated this with Huo Yuhao and Gu Yuena, but they were all actually doing it.
Huo Yuhao had brought out Jia Lin, a descendant of the Fire Dragon King, from Dragon Valley. Gu Yuena was teaching her. He already knew this. After his initial joy, he understood that they were all preparing for the future.
Yun Ming, who had been able to condense a Semi Divine Seat, was already the most promising person among ordinary people of this era. Although he had now lost his Semi Divine Seat, having experienced the true god realm, he was definitely the Limit Douluo who had walked the furthest.
Moreover, the current Yun Ming was "usable."
Bi Ji finished healing Di Tian's injuries, gave a final glance at the figure disappearing at the street corner, and walked toward Shrek Academy with Di Tian.
In the direction she had been watching, Saint Spirit Douluo Yali was strolling away.
She and Yun Ming had known each other for many years. Even if it was just to see off a friend, she had to come.
If Yun Ming still had hesitation in his heart, she would go and persuade him. If he was determined to die, she would respect that, at least seeing him off on his final journey.
But now, persuasion was unnecessary. And farewell was not for this moment.
After Di Tian left, the Federation and former Shrek personnel hesitated for a moment, then walked toward Yun Ming.
Among them, Zhuoshi and Feng Wuyu exchanged glances.
Yun Ming no longer had a death wish?
The Federation expert who had temporarily taken command here, staying behind, was also pleased. "Your Excellency Atlas, do you have new thoughts?"
If an existence that had achieved true god status was willing to serve the Federation, the benefits would be considerable.
Yun Ming looked in the direction Di Tian had left, not answering immediately. He slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The chaotic heavenly and earthly origin energy and blood and dust filled his lungs, bringing pain, yet making him more awake.
Burning his Semi Divine Seat and fighting Di Tian with all his might had been the ending he had chosen for himself. It had also been the final period he had personally drawn for the identity of Atlas Douluo and the legend Shrek had borne.
Even if slightly flawed, it was enough to console him.
But now that he had rekindled his will to live and learned the truth of the Sea God's Ten Thousand Year Plan, what choice should he make?
The answer was already in his heart.
After a few breaths, he opened his eyes. His gaze calmly swept over everyone. His voice was not loud, but carried the determination to cut off the past. "Shrek's true god, Atlas, has fallen at Shrek City."
"From this moment on."
"The world will no longer have Shrek's Atlas."
"There will only be Yun Ming, a member of the Federation."
"However, as the former Pavilion Master of Shrek, I cannot escape responsibility for its past. Whatever judgments and punishments the Federation's laws prescribe, I will accept them all."
For the rest of his life, he would atone for everything Shrek had done, serving the Federation with his remaining strength. And if he ever had the chance in the future, he would certainly ask those lofty beings who had played the role of chess masters all these years for an explanation.
***
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