Regaining the ability to circulate power, Asura did not act rashly. He waited silently.
Evil Sword Immortal's attention was entirely on the Evil God-King; he didn't notice Asura.
When Evil Sword Immortal drew closest to his target, Asura suddenly struck—in the opposite direction.
"Asura—Judgment!"
His target wasn't Evil Sword Immortal, but the Goddess of Lust, one of the Seven Sins.
The plan's greatest flaw: the Seven Sins within the array were being drained by him and growing weaker. If someone inside shattered one corner of the formation, the array would break.
Though Asura had been drained below second rank, the Goddess of Lust had always been the weakest of the Seven Sins, and now she was as feeble as a divine messenger.
Boom!
Asura's sudden strike caught everyone off guard. Lust was blasted away, her divine power scattered by Asura's judgment. Luckily, he lacked the Asura Sword and—for certain reasons—his Judgment couldn't exert the full authority of an arbiter god. Otherwise, Lust would already be dead.
"Hehe, just the right force. Thanks to you, Tianlin," Asura sighed.
The reason he could suddenly move was that his god position had vanished—meaning Tianlin had completed the inheritance and become the new Asura God. The evil energy he'd absorbed from the pearl had been used to reinforce the god position; the backlash was actually the god position's own recoil.
Once the god position disappeared, he could move. Without it, however, Asura's Judgment lacked power; otherwise Lust would have died. But that was exactly what he wanted. If Lust died, her god position would return to the God Realm's core to await a new heir, and Evil Sword Immortal could absorb it there.
The only solution was to flee—let Evil Sword Immortal fail to capture Lust. With a missing corner, the Seven Sins couldn't perfect him. Asura could see Evil Sword Immortal was also inheriting a god position—beyond Supreme God-King.
If that god position came from the Evil Spirit Pearl, it should be "Evil Emperor."
"What? How?" Evil Sword Immortal hadn't expected Asura's sudden move. He never imagined Asura could still use power while under the pearl's control.
With Lust's power scattered, the Sin Array collapsed.
It was like Tianlin's Demon-Supressing Domain suppressing the Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluo's Dual Polarizing Domain—he could force suppression, but if the opponent had no energy left, his domain couldn't keep the enemy's field running. No flour, no bread.
That was why Asura chose Lust as his target.
He flashed forward, grabbed Lust by the shoulder, and hurled her toward Qian Renxue and Chen Xin. "Take the Goddess of Lust and run. The farther the better. Do not let Evil Sword Immortal absorb her."
Evil Sword Immortal's eyes blazed with hate. He hadn't expected Asura to see the flaw. Without fully absorbing the Seven Sins, his Evil Emperor position couldn't be perfected.
"Don't even think about it!" he roared, charging at Qian Renxue. Though not fully invested as Evil Emperor, his combat power was at least Supreme God-King level.
At such speed, Qian Renxue couldn't react.
"Seven Elements—Divine Punishment Descent!" At the crucial moment, the Strength God arrived with the Seven Element Gods.
As one of the realm's three great arrays, even Evil Sword Immortal couldn't break it quickly. But as a Supreme God-King with the pearl, Asura knew it wouldn't kill him—only delay him.
"This is my final gigt—Gate of the God Realm, open!" Asura invoked his authority one last time, opening the passage from the God Realm to Douluo Continent.
"Angel God, Sword God—take the Goddess of Lust back to Douluo at once. Tianlin has inherited my position. He's the only hope against Evil Sword Immortal. I'll fully seal the passage after. Even if he slaughters us all, he'll need time to seize the core and reopen it. In that time, you must help Tianlin elevate his god position. I believe you can."
"And, young lady—you wish to save your mother, no? I sensed her soul, trapped in an absolute darkness. Do not try to dissolve it with your holy light—you cannot. That power far exceeds yours. There is another way: use true darkness to devour that darkness." Asura said.
"True darkness?" Qian Renxue didn't understand.
Asura had no time to explain. "Go. If you don't understand, ask Tianlin—he will. Remember: you must reach Supreme God-King, or you cannot stand against Evil Sword Immortal."
"Understood, Senior Asura. I'll relay your words to Tianlin word for word."
Chen Xin was more decisive than Qian Renxue.
Matters of the heart wouldn't save the world. At the critical moment, he should cut cleanly. He hoisted the Goddess of Lust and sped with Qian Renxue toward the passage.
Qian Renxue hesitated no more. But just before leaving the God Realm, she turned back, released divine power, and sent nine light swords from her body. The nine swords circled the Heaven Gate of the realm several times, not attacking, then slowly dissipated.
Most wouldn't understand, but Asura was shocked. "Angel God—could that be…?"
Tongue-tied, he still recognized it. Qian Renxue nodded confidently, confirming his guess, then turned and left.
Asura burst out laughing. "Hah! A prodigy indeed. Qian Renxue, to think you have such potential. Given time, you could reach Supreme God-King on your own. With you and Tianlin, I can rest easy. Evil Sword Immortal will surely be defeated!"
Seeing them gone, Asura completely sealed and locked the passage.
Now, no one could open the path from the God Realm to Douluo, unless they fully seized the realm's core.
Watching Lust taken away, Evil Sword Immortal's fury made the entire realm tremble. "Damn you, Asura! You dare let them take what is mine? I won't spare you!"
"Come, then." Asura turned, unafraid.
He now understood the Dragon God a little. Back then, to ensure his race's future, the Dragon God had agreed with him and died by his hand on purpose—entrusting everything to the Silver Dragon King, the Dragon God's good half. Once she became a new Dragon God, or nurtured one, soul beasts could return to the realm.
Today was the same. For the God Realm and countless lower worlds, he entrusted everything to Tianlin and Qian Renxue, even at the cost of his life.
Evil Sword Immortal furiously battered the Elemental Array. The Seven Elements held on, but they knew they couldn't last.
Before long, the array shattered. Ignoring them, Evil Sword Immortal lunged straight at Asura.
The Evil Spirit Pearl became a sword. One stroke—Evil Sword Slash—pierced Asura through.