Even if a powerhouse from the lower realm occasionally broke through the hundredth level, they could only become a True God without a divine position. To obtain a divine position, one had to either enter the God Realm to become a divine officer and wait for an opportunity, or inherit the position of a fallen deity. Yet now, the two women before them clearly possessed brand-new divine positions that belonged entirely to themselves.
"Hmph, the arrogance of the God Realm is truly engraved in your bones."
Sno Emperor's cold voice rang out, carrying a trace of faint mockery. She looked up slightly, her ice-blue pupils reflecting Dai Mubai's stunned expression.
"Is it that without the charity of the God Realm, the lower realm cannot find a place to host a divine position? The Stigma System constructed by A-Ming has long since opened up a Stigma Space independent of the God Realm. It is not inferior to the God Realm and is more than enough to accommodate a newborn divine position. Why should our divinity rely on the breath of the God Realm?"
The Stigma Space...
Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing's hearts shook simultaneously.
After descending to the lower realm, they had heard of Sea Abyss City's Stigma Technology and knew it was a technique to obtain soul ring abilities without hunting soul beasts. However, they hadn't expected this technology to have developed to the point of being able to sustain a divine position.
This was simply subverting their understanding of reality.
"Regardless of what unorthodox methods you used to become gods..."
Zhu Zhuqing took a half-step forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Dai Mubai. Their divine powers instinctively intertwined, forming a faint screen of light woven from gold and deep black.
"Are you truly going to make an enemy of the God Realm for the sake of one Huo Yuhao? We are investigators dispatched by the God Realm. To oppose us is to oppose the entire God Realm."
Zhu Zhuqing could see that Snow Emperor and the Demon Empress were helpers summoned by Huo Yuhao; otherwise, they wouldn't have appeared exactly when they were about to capture him.
"Make an enemy of the God Realm?"
A cold arc traced Snow Emperor's lips. The ice-blue divine light around her body suddenly intensified. The ice stairs beneath her feet began to spread outward, each ice crystal shimmering with snow-like patterns.
"The legendary God of War and Goddess of Speed... I actually want to test just how strong you've become after all these years in the God Realm."
The moment Snow Emperor's voice fell, a more violent killing intent suddenly erupted from the Demon Empress.
The ferocious grin on the Demon Empress's face almost tore her cheeks. The purple lightning originally coiled around her body surged instantly. Blinding purple electricity spiraled around her like swimming dragons. The air began to reek of the pungent scent of ozone, and even space itself emitted a "sizzling" wail under the burning of the lightning.
"Too much nonsense."
The Demon Empress's voice sounded as if it were squeezed through her teeth, carrying a heaven-shattering hatred that almost condensed into substance.
"Dogs of the Sea God... for the grudge of him killing my husband back then, I'll collect some interest from you today. All of you, die!"
Before her voice had even faded, the Demon Empress swung her right arm violently.
A purple thunderbolt that spanned the horizon erupted suddenly. This thunder was no ordinary lightning; it was a Magnetic Storm Slash infused with the authority of the Herrscher of Thunder. The blade-like lightning tore through the void with a momentum that could annihilate everything, heading straight for the swiftest one, Zhu Zhuqing.
The speed of the Magnetic Storm Slash reached the extreme. Despite being a visible purple blade of light, it left almost no time for a reaction. Space was cleaved open into a pitch-black fissure where the light blade passed, and the edges of the fissure were still sizzling with sparks.
Zhu Zhuqing's pupils contracted sharply. Her authority as the Goddess of Speed was pushed to the limit instantly. Her figure left an afterimage on the spot as she transformed into a ghost merging with space, narrowly dodging the slash a split second before it hit her.
Boom—!!!
The momentum of the Magnetic Storm Slash remained unabated as it slammed heavily into the earth of the wasteland.
There was no earth-shattering roar at first; instead, a strange "screeching" sound was heard—the ground touched by the light blade vaporized instantly under the effect of high temperature and intense current. Only then did the thunderous boom echo through heaven and earth.
A crack thousands of meters long and bottomless appeared on the plain in an instant.
At the edges of the crack, the rocks were melted into a glass-like state. Inside the crack, leaping purple electric arcs were everywhere. The energy turbulence in the air surged wildly under the pull of the arcs, actually forming a Great Lightning Canyon stretching thousands of meters in just a few breaths.
Inside the canyon, the purple lightning lingered for a long time. Even the water vapor between heaven and earth was ionized into charged particles. Looking from afar, the entire canyon looked like a thunder dragon crouching on the earth, radiating a heart-palpitating aura of destruction.
This was the might of a deity; even a casual strike was enough to change the geography.
Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing's expressions changed completely.
It wasn't because of how powerful the strike was, but because they felt a familiar yet strange energy fluctuation from that Magnetic Storm Slash—it was an extremely violent energy with corrosive attributes that could not be assimilated by divine power.
"This power..."
Dai Mubai's voice was tight. He stared fixedly at the purple lightning in the Great Lightning Canyon, and two figures instantly flashed through his mind.
"It's exactly the same as the energy on Fatty and the Golden Dragon King!"
Zhu Zhuqing also nodded, her fingertips turning slightly white from tension.
"It's that energy. We sensed it in the God Realm. Fourth Brother, and that Golden Dragon King who called himself the Herrscher of Rock... they both had this energy fluctuation on them. Who exactly are you? Why do you possess this energy?"
The appearance of this special energy, identical to that of Ma Hongjun and the Golden Dragon King, on the Demon Empress caused a strong sense of unease to rise in the hearts of Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing for the first time.
"The power of a Herrscher is something you are not worthy of knowing."
Just then, a lazy and somewhat playful voice suddenly drifted down from high above.
The voice wasn't loud, yet it seemed to ring directly in the depths of everyone's soul, instantly drowning out the roar of thunder and the whistle of wind and snow.
Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing looked up abruptly. They saw a bolt of intertwined black and red lightning suddenly pierce through the clouds. The moment that lightning hit the ground, a terrifying pressure swept out like a tsunami. The energy turbulence across the wasteland came to an instantaneous standstill. Even Snow Emperor's ice and the Demon Empress's lightning instinctively retracted a bit under this pressure.
Boom!
A figure landed. The heavy impact caused the entire wasteland to tremble once. Centered on the landing point, a visible ripple of energy spread out, kicking up a sky full of dust.
Within the dust, a handsome figure slowly manifested.
It was a young man with white hair and red eyes. He had a tall, straight posture, and his black and red martial attire outlined fluid lines. His left hand held a pitch-black long spear, its body wrapped in black and red lightning. Every flash of an electric arc carried a heart-stopping aura of death.
His right hand held a snow-white lance, the tip shimmering with soft white electricity that contained a vibrant life force.
The black and white spears in his hands formed an extreme contrast and balance. Despite being two completely opposite powers, they merged perfectly within him without the slightest conflict.
It was Lu Jingming.
"Another one..."
Feeling the divine sense and power that Lu Jingming did not bother to hide, a sense of helplessness suddenly surged in Dai Mubai's heart.
First, two deities with divine positions, and now another powerhouse with an unfathomable aura. What exactly was happening to this Douluo Continent?
Had the lower realm become this strong after ten thousand years?
"Mubai, be careful."
Zhu Zhuqing's voice rose sharply. Her divine sense was locked onto the twin spears in Lu Jingming's hands, and her eyes were filled with vigilance.
"The weapons in his hands are divine artifacts, and... the feeling they give me is not inferior to Third Brother's Asura Demon Sword. These are Pseudo-Godly Artifacts."
"Pseudo-Godly Artifacts?!"
Dai Mubai's pupils dilated violently. The shock on his face instantly turned into horror; he almost thought he had misheard.
"How is this possible?!"
Divine artifacts were already extremely rare treasures in the God Realm, with fewer than a hundred in existence. Pseudo-Godly Artifacts were even more scarce, being ultimate weapons capable of influencing a battle at the God King level.
As far as he knew, even the current God Kings of Good and Evil did not have their own Pseudo-Godly Artifacts.
In the entire God Realm, there were only a few such items, like the Asura Demon Sword, the Scepter of Destruction, and the Tree of Life.
Yet now, a deity from the lower realm was holding a Pseudo-Godly Artifact? This was simply a fantasy.
"Your eyes are decent."
Lu Jingming chuckled softly. He spun the black spear in his left hand slightly, and the black-red lightning condensed at the tip into a ghostly lotus. The white lance in his right hand trembled at the same time, showering white sparks that instantly purified the surrounding aura of death.
"This pair of weapons is called Abyss Flower. Indeed, it is a Pseudo-Godly Artifact."
His tone was calm and casual, as if he were speaking of something ordinary, but to the ears of Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing, it was no different from a thunderclap.
Lu Jingming looked up, his gaze sweeping over their shocked expressions, the curve of his lips deepening.
The day he broke through the hundredth level, his twin martial souls, Abyss and Flower, had naturally evolved into divine artifacts—after all, his divine position was deeply bound to Abyss Flower.
His divinity was a twin God-King level position: Eternity and Lightning, Life and Wisdom.
However, simple divine evolution of a martial soul did not reach the level of a Pseudo-Godly Artifact. He had spent a significant amount of Truth Power to manifest the true Sixth Divine Key—the original body of Abyss Flower—and merged it completely with his twin martial souls.
Because of this, the Pseudo-Godly Artifact level was not the end for Abyss Flower.
With the Divine Key as the main body, merged with a martial soul that could grow alongside him, Abyss Flower had the chance in the future to become the first Supreme Godly Artifact to transcend the Pseudo-Godly level since the beginning of this universe.
Snow Emperor's figure, like a light snowflake, landed quietly by Lu Jingming's side.
She did not intentionally release her divine power, yet the ice-blue light around her naturally formed a subtle resonance with Lu Jingming's black and red electricity.
Her fingertips lightly brushed the patterns on Lu Jingming's sleeve. Her movements were gentle, and the coldness she showed toward Dai Mubai vanished from her ice-blue eyes, replaced by a layer of warm, moist light. Even her voice became extremely soft:
"You've come as well."
There were no extra questions or forced intimacy, but the undisguised reliance and tenderness in her eyes were like the warm sun in winter, instantly melting the killing atmosphere of the wasteland.
The Demon Empress glanced over, and the corner of her mouth twitched imperceptibly—the Great Lord of the Extreme North, the Goddess of Ice and Snow, had actually become this gentle.
Electrolux's previously tense divine sense completely relaxed.
With the arrival of Lu Jingming and the others, the outcome of this battle was no longer in doubt.
He did not stay longer. He returned control of the body to Huo Yuhao and submerged himself deep into Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea to begin repairing the divine sense damaged while resisting the attacks of Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing earlier.
The moment Huo Yuhao regained control of his body, he felt as if his entire frame were falling apart. A copper taste surged in his throat.
He stumbled back a few steps, retreating far to the edge of the battlefield. Looking at the five people facing off in the center, his eyes were full of complexity.
Everyone present was a deity, while he was still just a Titled Douluo. What shocked him even more was that Lu Jingming had also become a god.
The Demon Empress's gaze fell on Lu Jingming. The purple lightning around her retracted slightly, yet it still carried a heart-stopping killing intent.
She could clearly feel that the divine power fluctuation on Lu Jingming was more than one level stronger than hers, making her divine soul tremble slightly.
"I didn't expect you to break through the hundredth level as well."
The Demon Empress's voice was low, carrying a hint of undisguised wariness.
"But they are my prey—they are the companions of the Sea God, Tang San. I will kill them with my own hands."
Lu Jingming smiled at Snow Emperor and reached out to gently pat her shoulder. The natural and intimate gesture made the tips of Snow Emperor's ears turn slightly red.
He then turned to look at the Demon Empress, his tone somewhat casual:
"I won't stop you from seeking revenge, but my wife has been studying the essence of divine-level life recently and needs a few living deity experimental subjects. You can't kill them all."
"Which wife?"
Snow Emperor asked instinctively. The moment the words left her mouth, she realized she had asked too quickly. She coughed lightly and looked away, yet she couldn't help but peek at Lu Jingming out of the corner of her eye.
He had too many confidantes: Robin, Zhang Lexuan, Yae Miko... and the Qian Renxue from the parallel world. She couldn't help but care.
The corner of Lu Jingming's mouth twitched, and he rubbed his brow with some helplessness.
His "harem" was indeed a bit large. Being questioned at a time like this made it hard to answer.
Fortunately, the Demon Empress broke the awkwardness in time.
"Can't kill them all? Fine."
The Demon Empress gritted her teeth. The purple lightning surged again, but her killing intent was clearly restrained by a few degrees.
"Then I'll leave one alive—but the other, I must tear apart with my own hands."
She had to give Lu Jingming this face.
Her current Herrscher of Thunder core was provided by World Serpent.
She was able to break the soul beast curse and become a god because of the Herrscher core and Stigma Technology.
Even her foothold on the Douluo Continent had the shadow of Sea Abyss City behind it. If she offended Lu Jingming, she wouldn't even have the chance for revenge.
"It seems you think you've already won?"
Dai Mubai's voice was ice-cold, his face so dark it could drip ink.
The conversation between Lu Jingming and the Demon Empress just now had completely infuriated him—they were actually treating him and Zhuqing as prey and experimental subjects to be distributed at will.
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