"They're protecting the Tree of Life, protecting Isis's last consciousness," Ares gasped—not from exhaustion, but from madness eroding his sanity. "The Abyss wants to completely devour Isis, using her Tree of Life as an incubator to birth a complete Abyss Scion. These monsters are the Abyss's immune system; they'll attack all outsiders trying to approach."
"Any weaknesses?" Tang Wulin asked, his spear piercing through the three heads of a three-headed hound-like monster.
"Yes." Ares pointed at those tumors in the sky, "Those tumors are nodes of Abyss power, providing energy for this land. Destroy them, and you can temporarily weaken the monsters' regeneration speed. But each tumor has powerful guardians..."
Before his words fell, the nearest tumor suddenly pulsed violently.
Countless cracks opened on its surface, and from within extended dozens of thick tentacles. Those tentacles were covered with suckers and barbs, each over a hundred meters long like animated mountain ranges, whipping toward the group.
"Careful!"
Tang Wulin pushed Dai Chengfeng beside him aside, but was himself struck hard by a tentacle.
Boom!
He crashed into the ground like a cannonball, creating a crater ten meters in diameter. The Golden Dragon Spear flew from his hand, embedding itself in the scorched earth in the distance. The Golden Dragon phantom dimmed for an instant, but quickly recondensed, roaring with fury.
"Wulin!" Qian Renxue wanted to dive down, but was blocked by three other tentacles.
Those tentacles were unbelievably agile, and incredibly hard. Qian Renxue's sacred flames could leave scorch marks on them, but couldn't sever them in one strike. The tentacles attacked from different directions, forcing her to dodge in the air.
Bibi Dong's situation was worse.
She tried to use death aura to corrode the tentacles, but their regeneration speed was astonishing. Corrode away a section, and new growth would appear within seconds. Even more terrifying, the tentacles secreted a mucus that could neutralize the erosion of death aura.
"This is Abyss Lord-level power," Ares's voice carried gravity, "Within that tumor, an Abyss Lord is gestating. Though not a complete form, it already possesses partial lord characteristics."
"How do we fight?" Dai Chengfeng asked. He had just severed three tentacles, but more extended from the tumor.
"Concentrate firepower, attack the tumor itself," Ares said, "But someone must attract the tentacles' attention so the others can approach—"
"I'll go."
Tang Wulin climbed out of the crater.
Blood stained the corner of his mouth, and a deep bruise marked his chest, but his gaze was more determined than ever. The Golden Dragon Spear flew back to his hand, emitting an excited hum.
"Your power isn't enough—" Ares tried to stop him.
"No, it is." Tang Wulin took a deep breath, "The Golden Dragon King has eighteen seals. I've only unlocked sixteen so far. The final two seals contain the Golden Dragon King's core power, and also its most dangerous power—once unlocked, I might completely lose my sanity and become a monster that knows only slaughter. But now is the time."
"Are you crazy?!" Qian Renxue shouted from the air, "You'll—"
"I'll control it," Tang Wulin interrupted her, revealing a slight smile, "Believe in me, just as I believe in all of you."
He closed his eyes.
Within his body, those eighteen golden seals appeared in his consciousness. The first sixteen had already shattered, their released power bringing him to god level. The seventeenth seal was a complex dragon-shaped rune emitting dangerous red light. The eighteenth seal was completely covered in blood-red—merely "looking" at it made one's heart tremble.
Tang Wulin's spirit touched the seventeenth seal.
Crack.
The first crack appeared on the seal.
"ROAR—!!!"
Tang Wulin's eyes snapped open, his pupils having turned pure gold with blood vessels spreading through them. His aura skyrocketed, golden dragon scales growing thicker, with ferocious bone spurs emerging from his shoulders, elbows, and knees. His body expanded by a circle, his height reaching two and a half meters, every muscle like cast steel.
But the greatest change was behind his back.
A pair of dragon wings tore through his clothes and spread open.
These weren't traditional dragon flesh wings, but wings of pure energy—brilliant gold on the left, symbolizing creation and life; deep dark red on the right, symbolizing destruction and death. Dragon God power fully manifested in him for the first time.
"This, this is..." Ares was stunned.
"Dragon God Wings." Tang Wulin's voice became low, resonant, carrying the unique majesty of the dragon race, "Though only a rudimentary form, it's enough."
He flapped his wings.
Boom!
The sonic boom blasted away the surrounding scorched earth. Those tentacles couldn't even react before Tang Wulin appeared before the tumor. He was too fast—so fast that this world's physical laws seemed unable to keep up.
The Golden Dragon Spear thrust out.
This thrust had no technique, only the purest "piercing" power condensed from the Golden Dragon King's seventeenth seal.
The instant the spear tip touched the tumor's surface, time seemed to freeze.
Then, from within the tumor came dull sounds like a heart being crushed.
Thump... thump... thump...
The tumor's pulsing stopped.
Its surface began to crack, golden light shining through the fissures. Those tentacles stiffened in mid-air, then like ropes losing their support, went limp and drooped.
"No—impossible—" A sharp, twisted voice came from within the tumor—that was the Abyss Lord's consciousness, "How can you—this is the Abyss's domain—"
"Because the Dragon God stands above all." Tang Wulin said calmly, withdrawing his spear.
The next second, the tumor exploded.
Not an ordinary explosion, but a complete release of energy. Dark red Abyss power and Golden Dragon King power violently clashed, producing a chain reaction. The explosion's shockwave cleared all monsters within several hundred meters, even blasting away a layer of the scorched earth.
Tang Wulin hovered at the explosion's center, his dragon wings protecting him within, completely unharmed.
He looked at the other tumors.
Seven remained.
"Next one," he said.
This time, the monsters felt fear.
Not individual fear, but the fear of the entire Abyss "consciousness." The Dragon God—that supreme existence that ruled the Divine Realm in ancient times, that terror that even the Abyss feared three parts. Though before them was only an inheritor, that pure bloodline, that position standing above all, made the Abyss's instinct feel threatened.
The monsters' offensive paused for an instant.
Then, an even more frenzied counterattack began.
All monsters, regardless of strength, regardless of form, abandoned their original targets and surged toward Tang Wulin. They would overwhelm him with numbers, drown him in Abyss contamination, strangle this Dragon God inheritor before he could fully grow.
"Protect Wulin!" Qian Renxue shouted, raising her domain's light to the limit.
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