Even if powerful beings from the lower realm occasionally break through level 100, they cannot become true gods without a godhood. To obtain one, they must either enter the Divine Realm and wait for an opportunity as a priest, or inherit the godhood of a fallen god. However, now, the two women before them each clearly possess a new godhood of their own.
"Hmph, the arrogance of the Divine Realm truly runs bone-deep," Snow Empress spoke coldly, with a hint of mockery in her voice. She lifted her eyes slightly, and Dai Mubai's stunned expression was reflected in her icy blue pupils.
"Do you think that without the Divine Realm's 'charity,' the lower realm would have nowhere to entrust godhood? The Stigmata System created by The Herta has already opened an independent stigmata space, separate from the Divine Realm. It exists at a level close to the Divine Realm, and it is spacious enough to accept new godhoods. Why should we rely on the Divine Realm at all?"
Stigmata space...
Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing's hearts were shaken at the same time.
After coming down to the lower realm, they'd heard about the stigmata technology in Haiyuan City—a technique that allows one to obtain soul ring abilities without hunting soul beasts. But they never imagined it would advance to the point of accommodating godhood.
This completely overturned their understanding.
"It doesn't matter what shortcut you use to become a god," Zhu Zhuqing took half a step forward to stand beside Dai Mubai. The divine powers of the two unconsciously intertwined, forming a pale curtain of gold and darkness.
"Are you truly willing to become enemies of the Divine Realm for Huo Yuhao? We are investigators appointed by the Divine Realm. If you are our enemies, you are enemies of the entire Divine Realm."
Zhu Zhuqing realized that Snow Empress and Demon Empress were the helpers summoned by Huo Yuhao. Otherwise, they would not have appeared right before they tried to capture him.
"Enemies of the Divine Realm?" Snow Empress's lips curved into a frosty arc. The holy light in her icy blue eyes deepened, and the icy steps beneath her feet began to spread. Each crystal sparkled with lines of snow and ice.
"You, a legendary God of War and God of Speed, have spent many years in the Divine Realm. I'd like to test your strength for myself."
As her words fell, a fiercer killing intent erupted from the Demon Empress.
A gruesome smile twisted Demon Empress's face, as if it might split her cheeks. The purple lightning that enshrouded her body surged forth, dazzling arcs of violet electricity circling her like swimming dragons. The air became thick with the stench of ozone, and the whole space crackled with scorching thunder.
"What foolish nonsense," Demon Empress spat, her voice squeezed through clenched teeth, filled with monstrous hatred, almost tangible.
"You Sea God lackeys killed my husband back then. Today, I'll collect a bit of interest from you, and bring you death."
Before her words faded, Demon Empress suddenly swung her right arm.
A streak of purple lightning tore across the sky and exploded. This was no ordinary lightning—it was a magnetic storm slash, imbued with the power of the Lord of Thunder. The blade-like arc sliced through the void, carrying the power to erase all, and shot straight at the fastest, Zhu Zhuqing.
The magnetic storm's speed was tremendous. The purple blade was visible to the naked eye, but there was barely time to react. Where the blade passed, the space split open into a pitch-black crack, which sizzled with electrical fire.
Zhu Zhuqing's pupils contracted. Harnessing her God of Speed power to the limit, she left only an afterimage behind, her entire being seeming to merge with space itself. She dodged sideways just as the magnetic storm slashed past her.
BOOM—!!!
The magnetic storm's momentum did not diminish. It struck the wilderness with incredible force. There was no immediate earth-shattering sound, only a strange hissing—where the blade touched, the ground evaporated under the intense heat and current, and then a thunderous roar shook heaven and earth.
A bottomless crack, thousands of meters long, appeared in an instant. Rocks at the edge melted like glass, and the fissure was laced with leaping purple arcs. Turbulent energy raged inside, forming a thunder canyon stretching for thousands of meters within moments.
Purple lightning crackled endlessly in the canyon. Even the water vapor in the air ionized into particles, and from afar, the canyon looked like a thunder dragon crawling along the earth, exuding a terrifying aura of destruction.
This was the power of the gods. Even a light blow was enough to reshape the landscape.
Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing's expressions changed completely—not just at the blow's power, but because they sensed something both familiar and unknown in its fluctuations—corrosive, violent, a kind of energy even divine power could not absorb.
"This power..." Dai Mubai's voice was tense as he stared at the purple thunder in the canyon. Two figures flashed through his mind.
"It's exactly the same as Fatty's and the Golden Dragon King's energy!"
Zhu Zhuqing nodded, her fingertips whitening with tension. "That's the energy. We sensed it in the Divine Realm—from Fourth Brother and the Golden Dragon King. They both have this energy fluctuation. Who are you? Why do you have this energy?"
This special energy, identical to Ma Hongjun's and the Golden Dragon King's, now appeared in Demon Empress, filling Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing's hearts with a strong sense of unease for the first time.
"The power of the Herrscher is not for you to know," a lazy, playful voice echoed from the sky.
It wasn't loud, but it seemed to resonate directly with everyone's souls, instantly overwhelming the thunder and storm outside.
Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing looked up. In the sky, a tangle of black and red lightning split the clouds, and as it descended, a terrifying pressure swept out like a tsunami. The chaotic energy of the wilderness was instantly stilled, and even the snow and ice of Snow Empress and the thunder of Demon Empress unconsciously receded under this force.
BOOM!
A figure landed, and with his heavy impact, the entire plain trembled. Energy ripples spread out from the landing point, kicking up clouds of dust and smoke.
From the haze, a handsome figure emerged—a tall young man with white hair and red eyes, dressed in black and red, with smooth, sharp lines. In his left hand, he held a pitch-black spear, its shaft wrapped in black and crimson lightning, its arcs flashing with deadly intensity. In his right, he held a white lance, its tip glowing with a soft white current, brimming with vitality.
The black and white spears formed the ultimate opposition and balance in his hands. Though their powers were utterly opposite, they were perfectly fused within him, without the slightest conflict.
It was Lu Jingming.
"Another one..." Dai Mubai felt the overwhelming consciousness and divine power in Lu Jingming, and a sense of helplessness welled up in his chest. First, there were two godhood holders, and now, a new powerhouse with unfathomable presence appeared. What had become of the Douluo Continent after ten thousand years? Had the lower realm truly grown this strong?
"Mubai, be careful," Zhu Zhuqing's voice rose sharply, her gaze fixed on the two weapons in Lu Jingming's hands, full of vigilance.
"The weapons in his hands are artifacts... and I think they're not weaker than Third Brother's Asura Demon Sword, a super artifact."
"Super artifact?!" Dai Mubai's pupils dilated, shock turning to terror. Was he hearing wrong?
"How is that possible?!"
Artifacts were extremely rare in the Divine Realm—there were only about a hundred relics in the entire realm, and super artifacts were even rarer, the ultimate weapons that could influence the battles of the God Kings.
As far as he knew, even this generation's two God Kings, Good and Evil, didn't each possess a super artifact. Among all the Divine Realm, there were only the Asura Demon Sword, the Scepter of Destruction, and the Tree of Life—super artifacts were nearly extinct.
But now, a lower realm god actually possessed a super artifact? Was this a dream?
"Good eyes," Lu Jingming laughed, his left hand swirling the black spear gently. Black and red lightning condensed at its tip into a serene lotus blossom, while the white spear in his right trembled, white lightning cascading down, instantly purifying the deathly aura around him.
"These two weapons, Black Abyss and White Flower, are indeed super artifacts."
His tone was calm, almost as if he were describing something trivial, but to Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing, it was as shocking as a thunderclap.
Lu Jingming glanced up, his mouth curling slightly at their stunned expressions.
On the day he surpassed level 100, his twin martial souls—Black Abyss and White Flower—naturally transformed into divine weapons, as his godhood was inextricably linked with them.
His divine status was the dual God King of Eternity and Thunder, and of Life and Wisdom.
But mere martial souls could not reach the level of super artifacts. He had spent much effort to fully fuse his twin martial souls with the true form of Black Abyss and White Flower, the sixth Divine Key.
Thus, super artifact was not the end for Black Abyss and White Flower. Anchored by the Divine Key, and fused as martial souls that could grow with him, they now had the chance to become the first supreme artifact in the universe—surpassing even super artifacts.
...
Snow Empress landed softly beside Lu Jingming, like a delicate snowflake. Although she didn't deliberately release her divine power, the icy blue divine light around her echoed subtly with Lu Jingming's black and red lightning.
Her fingertips gently traced the lines of Lu Jingming's sleeve. It was a gentle movement. The coldness on Dai Mubai's face vanished in her blue eyes, replaced by a warm, watery glow, and even her voice became soft.
"You're here too."
There were no unnecessary questions, nor any forced intimacy, but the hidden dependence and gentleness in her gaze was like the warm sun in winter, instantly melting the murderous tension in the wilderness.
Demon Empress caught a glimpse of this, and the corner of her mouth twitched in an almost indiscernible way—the great mistress of the Far North, the Goddess of Ice and Snow, could actually be so gentle.
Electrolux's previously tense consciousness completely relaxed.
With Lu Jingming and the others present, the tension in this fight was gone. He stopped resisting, handed control of the body back to Huo Yuhao, and sank into the depths of Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea, beginning to repair the divinity damaged by Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing's earlier attacks.
The moment Huo Yuhao regained control of his body, pain flooded him, as if he might collapse. A fishy sweetness rose in his throat. He staggered back several steps, retreating to the edge of the battlefield, his gaze complicated as he surveyed the five gods arrayed before him. He was the only one who was merely a Titled Douluo; what shocked him even more was that Lu Jingming had actually become a god.
Demon Empress's gaze settled on Lu Jingming, purple lightning gathering faintly around her, her killing intent still surging.
She could clearly sense that Lu Jingming's divine power was at least a whole level above her own, making her soul tremble.
"I didn't expect you to break through level 100," Demon Empress said in a low voice, unable to conceal her fear. "But they are my prey—the Sea God Tang San's companions. I must kill them myself."
Lu Jingming smiled at Snow Empress and patted her shoulder lightly. The gesture was natural and familiar, making the tips of Snow Empress's ears turn slightly red. Then, turning to Demon Empress, his tone was relaxed.
"If you want revenge, I won't stop you. But my wife has been researching god-level life essence lately, and she needs a few living god subjects for her experiments. So I can't let you kill them all."
"Which wife?" Snow Empress blurted out unconsciously. As soon as she spoke, she realized she'd been too hasty, coughed lightly, and averted her gaze, but still couldn't help peeking at Lu Jingming from the corner of her eye.
He had so many… Robin, Zhang Lexuan, Yae Miko etc. and even Qian Renxue in a parallel world. She couldn't help but care.
Lu Jingming's lips twitched and he rubbed his brow helplessly. His harem was indeed a bit too much; it was hard to answer right now.
Fortunately, Demon Empress broke the awkwardness just in time.
"Can't kill them all? Fine," Demon Empress gritted her teeth, purple lightning crackling again, though she reined in her killing intent a little. "Then I'll leave one alive. But the other—I must tear apart with my own hands."
She had to give Lu Jingming this much face.
Her current Thunder Herrscher core was provided by the World Serpent. She had broken the soul beast curse and become a god, relying on the Herrscher core and the stigmata technology. Even if she could gain a foothold on Douluo Continent, Haiyuan City's shadow still loomed behind her. If she angered Lu Jingming, she might lose her chance at revenge altogether.
"So, you've chosen to oppose us?" Dai Mubai's voice was cold as water, his face dark as a storm cloud.
Lu Jingming and Demon Empress's conversation had completely infuriated him—they regarded him and Zhuqing as nothing more than prey or experimental subjects, to be divided up as they pleased.