The valley was left in ruins. The earth looked as if it had been overturned by a giant plow, riddled with crisscrossing craters and cracks. Charred, shattered, and holy light-scarred earth intertwined, telling the tale of the fierce battle. The collision of the three young supremes had already transcended the scope of ordinary Soul Sages, and even Soul Douluos, pushing straight into the realm of a life-and-death struggle at the Titled Douluo level!
Yu Yuanchen's purple-gold Thunder Sacred Dragon True Body stood proudly on the spot, resisting Tang Chen's overbearing hammer strikes and Qian Daoliu's omnipresent sacred light feathers. Though he remained as steady as a boulder, the lightning circulating around his body was no longer as flawless and seamless as it had been at the start. Tang Chen's Clear Sky Hammer artistic conception was layered and complex, while Qian Daoliu's attacks were tricky and swift; their increasingly tacit cooperation brought a sudden surge of pressure upon him.
"Exhilarating! But the warm-up should end here!" Yu Yuanchen let out a long roar, the lightning in his eyes flaring brilliantly. He gripped his right hand into the air, and a spear made entirely of purple-gold, wreathed in destructive lightning, suddenly condensed! The spear shaft was coiled with dragon-shaped patterns, and the tip flickered with a cold glint, as if it could pierce the void—this was his External Soul Bone, the Thunder Dragon Spear!
Once this spear appeared, the aura around Yu Yuanchen shifted again! Before, he was like a god controlling lightning, suppressing others with power and winning with momentum. But now, holding the dragon spear, he possessed the sharpness and resolution of a battle-hardened general!
Although he had not studied spear techniques deeply, this External Soul Bone, born of the same origin as him, had an extremely high compatibility. It not only greatly amplified his melee power but could also guide and magnify his lightning soul skills as if it were an extension of his own arm, acting like a lightning staff exclusive to him.
"Receive my self-created soul skill—Five Thunders Orthodox Law!" This was a set of self-created soul skills Yu Yuanchen had summarized over the past seven months from everything he had learned, especially his insights into the five nature transformations, forming a system that allowed him to handle almost any situation. By applying the five nature transformations to his Ultimate Thunder attribute, his combat method became more flexible and varied, and the life force and destruction power formed by the mutual generation and restriction of the five elements were also one of his major trump cards.
The life force nature could be used for his own healing and daily body tempering, while the destruction nature allowed his lightning to possess characteristics originating from heavenly tribulations, thereby triggering a small-scale heavenly tribulation. Its lethality to the forest was immense; even a Titled Douluo below level 95 would almost certainly die if locked on by it. This was one of his hidden trump cards, but because his own strength was not yet sufficient to control a heavenly tribulation—he could trigger it but not retract it—he would not use it in a battle between Tang Chen and Qian Daoliu.
Yu Yuanchen's voice was like thunder. As he pointed the dragon spear into the distance, the surging Thunder True Essence around him suddenly divided, manifesting five distinct yet homologous auras!
Gengjin Divine Thunder! Peerlessly sharp. Although he had cultivated it by comprehending the nature transformation of wind, since it was now the Five Thunders Orthodox Law, he simply followed the naming convention and called it Gengjin Divine Thunder. Regardless, he had integrated the characteristics of this thunder, and it possessed both attributes.
This thunder carried the chilling, piercing intent of the wind. The lightning condensed like a sword, specialized in breaking defenses, and was the first to transform into a straight golden electric bolt, tearing through the air to strike directly at Qian Daoliu! This thunder was the fastest and most concentrated, aimed at interrupting Qian Daoliu's annoying long-range harassment and domain suppression.
Qian Daoliu's expression changed slightly; he folded his six wings, and the holy light condensed into a shield. With a thunderous boom, the golden lightning exploded, actually cracking his condensed light shield and forcing him back several steps, a trace of shock flashing in his eyes.
Yimu Divine Thunder (although the protagonist used the life force characteristic to replace the wood element, the Thunderclap Nethervine was also a plant, so his understanding of the wood attribute was not low, plus his own supplements over these seven months)! It was full of life force yet contained a strange binding power. The lightning transformed into a sky-filling web of cyan-green vines. It was not a frontal assault but, like a living creature, coiled toward Tang Chen to restrict his movements and weaken his vast qi and blood and soul power circulation.
Tang Chen roared repeatedly, swinging his Clear Sky Hammer like the wind to smash the cyan lightning vines, but the shattered lightning would regenerate like a festering sore, greatly slowing his offensive and leaving him feeling stifled and unable to exert his strength.
Guishui Divine Thunder! Extremely yin and cold, moisturizing things silently. The lightning moved like an undercurrent, pervasive and infiltrating, seeping into Tang Chen's Clear Sky Domain and Qian Daoliu's Angel Domain. It constantly eroded and neutralized their domain power while subtly interfering with their mental perception. This made the two feel as if they were trapped in a quagmire, their domains no longer operating as smoothly as before.
Binghuo Divine Thunder! Explosive and scorching, like heavenly fire burning a city. Wherever the lightning passed, the air was ignited, forming patches of sea of lightning fire, burning their protective soul power and forcing them to divide their attention to resist this continuous area-of-effect damage.
Wutu Divine Thunder! Heavy and steady, focusing on suppression and sealing. Streaks of dark yellow lightning fell from the sky like phantom mountains. It did not seek ultimate lethality but carried immense weight, further stacking onto Tang Chen's Clear Sky Domain, making the gravity within the domain terrifyingly high and even affecting Qian Daoliu's flight speed.
The five thunders operated, mutually generating and restricting! Yu Yuanchen held the Thunder Dragon Spear, switching between the five lightning natures as if it were an extension of his arm. At times he used Gengjin Divine Thunder for a piercing attack, at others he used Yimu and Guishui to trap and harass the enemy, and then used Binghuo and Wutu for area suppression. His combat method became incredibly flexible, no longer just a brute-force collision, forcing Tang Chen and Qian Daoliu into a state of chaos where they could only respond passively, falling into an absolute disadvantage!
Tang Chen was so angry he bellowed. He possessed peerless divine strength and heaven-shaking hammer techniques, but he was driven to distraction by those strange wood and water thunders, unable to fully unleash his strength. Qian Daoliu's expression was also grave; although his sacred attribute could purify some of the lightning, the five-element circulation and the endless changes of the lightning were far beyond his imagination, and his purification speed could not keep up with the speed at which the lightning was generated and changed.
"We cannot hold back anymore!" Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen exchanged a glance, both seeing resolution in the other's eyes. If they continued to hide their strength, they would truly suffer a crushing defeat!
"Angel God Descends!"
Qian Daoliu was the first to erupt! He formed an ancient and complex divine seal with his hands in front of his chest, chanting obscure syllables. In an instant, the six-winged angel phantom behind him suddenly solidified, and a vast divine might far exceeding what he had shown before descended!
His golden hair danced wildly without wind, and his eyes turned completely pure gold, devoid of any emotion, like a god looking down from the high heavens, indifferently surveying all living beings. The sacred flame burning around him became deeper in color, turning into a white-gold, and the fluctuations of the ultimate attributes of sacredness and fire surged!
This was the secret technique of the Martial Soul Hall's Qian family, a forbidden art that invoked the residual divinity of the Angel God within their bloodline—Divine Descent! The threshold for this technique was extremely high, requiring a deep understanding of the martial soul and a pure bloodline; few in the history of the Qian family could use this move.
Under this technique, the user could temporarily borrow a trace of divinity, controlling their own power from a higher-dimensional perspective. All attributes were greatly enhanced, and the use of soul skills reached a state of perfection—it could be called a divine skill! At this moment, Qian Daoliu's aura had firmly stepped into the threshold of a Titled Douluo, even bringing a trace of a threat to Yu Yuanchen!
"Angel, Judgment!" Qian Daoliu's voice was cold. The light sword in his hand slashed out, and a white-gold sword light that spanned the horizon tore through the sky. Wherever it passed, even the five-element lightning was forcibly purified and evaporated, its power incomparable to before!
On the other side, facing Yu Yuanchen's endless five-element lightning techniques, Tang Chen was also provoked into a true rage, a flash of ruthlessness appearing in his eyes!
"Roar! Open for me!"
He did not dodge or evade, instead resisting the binding of several Yimu Divine Thunders. He gripped the Clear Sky Hammer with both hands, and the qi and blood in his body erupted like a volcano! Following this, a shocking scene occurred—the first six soul rings on his body, from the first to the sixth, flickered in succession and then exploded with a bang! The massive energy of the soul rings did not dissipate but was forcibly guided by him in a mysterious way, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, frantically pouring into that seventh soul ring which was black with a hint of red! (Note: I personally believe Tang Chen is capable of Ring Fusion, or at least has studied it, as that was the only known method regarding soul rings in that era, and Tang Chen could not have created the Great Sumeru Hammer out of thin air; there must have been a theoretical basis.)
"Fuse!"
Tang Chen let out a painful roar, and fine blood cracks appeared on the surface of his skin, but the madness and fighting spirit in his eyes burned to the extreme! Infused with the full energy of the first six soul rings, the crimson color on the seventh soul ring suddenly deepened, shining with brilliant light, and finally turned completely blood-red—a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring!
Although this was only temporary, by using the "Ring Fusion" secret technique at the cost of exploding his first six soul rings, he forcibly raised the quality of his seventh soul ring to the hundred-thousand-year level for a short time!
This technique was more brutal than the normal Ring Fusion technique, and the backlash was extremely strong. If not for Tang Chen's inhuman physique and the suspected protection of high-quality external soul bones, he would likely have been burst apart by this violent energy instantly! The embryonic form of the Great Sumeru Hammer's profound meaning perhaps stemmed from his insights into the use of power under such extreme states.
The cost was huge, but the harvest was also astonishing! With the blessing of the hundred-thousand-year Martial Soul True Body, Tang Chen's body expanded once more, like a giant standing between heaven and earth. The Clear Sky Hammer in his hand seemed to have transformed into the body of a mountain, emitting a terrifying pressure that made it hard to breathe! He had lost his first six soul skills, but for him, who had long since integrated the Clear Sky Hammer technique into his instincts and mastered its artistic conception, the lack of soul skills made him focus more on the origin of power. Every hammer strike returned to simplicity, yet its power increased geometrically!
"Sky Breaker!"
Tang Chen roared, swinging the giant hammer that looked like the fang of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast. Carrying the artistic conception of destroying everything, he ignored the Yimu Divine Thunder coiling around him and the Wutu Divine Thunder suppressing him from above, smashing down at Yu Yuanchen with the purest and most overbearing power! The power of this hammer had truly reached a level that even a Titled Douluo would have to temporarily avoid!
Yu Yuanchen's eyes finally revealed an unprecedented gravity. Qian Daoliu's Divine Descent state and Tang Chen's Ring Fusion outburst had greatly exceeded his expectations. The talent and courage of these two close friends were truly shocking!
"Well done!"
He shook his spear, and the five-element lightning around him stopped attacking separately, instead suddenly retracting and rotating rapidly around him, forming a five-colored lightning canopy that intertwined and generated each other, resisting Qian Daoliu's white-gold holy sword and Tang Chen's sky-shattering giant hammer!
"Rumble—!!!"
An unprecedentedly terrifying explosion erupted in the center of the valley! The blinding light swallowed everything, and the violent energy shockwave spread outward like a tsunami, shaving a layer off the rock walls at the edge of the valley! The entire Savage Beast Hills could feel this terrible tremor, and countless soul beasts fled in terror.
As the light dissipated, the scene in the arena was revealed.
Yu Yuanchen's Thunder Sacred Dragon True Body was much dimmer, a trace of purple-gold blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. The arm holding the spear trembled slightly, clearly having suffered some shock in the collision just now. The Five Thunders Canopy had shattered, but it had ultimately blocked the fatal blow.
Qian Daoliu's Divine Descent state was dispelled; his complexion was pale, his aura withered, and the light of his six wings was dim, clearly showing that the Divine Descent had placed a huge burden on him.
Tang Chen was the most miserable, covered in blood and leaning on his Clear Sky Hammer to barely stand. The backlash of the ring explosion began to manifest, but the fire of battle in his eyes still burned fiercely.
All three were nearing their limits, their soul power, stamina, and spirit heavily depleted.
The valley fell into a brief, dead silence, with only the sound of the three men's heavy breathing.
Yu Yuanchen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, looking at his two opponents who were battered but whose fighting spirit remained unyielding, his eyes filled with appreciation and excitement. He slowly raised the Thunder Dragon Spear, and on the tip of the spear, the final purple-gold Thunder True Essence began to condense, weak yet carrying an indomitable resolution.
Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen also forcibly gathered their final strength, raising their holy sword and giant hammer once more.
The final showdown, only one strike remained!
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: GodKun-Chan