At this moment, the Netherworld White Tiger, transformed by Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing, had no intention of communicating. Instead, it let out a furious roar. The tiger's roar transformed into a visible, circular shockwave. Wherever the shockwave passed, space itself twisted and shattered violently. Whether rock, soil, or air, all matter was instantly broken down into its most primitive particles, forming an ever-expanding domain of absolute nothingness.
This was a wide-range attack, powerful enough to force even ordinary first-level gods to retreat.
Confronted with this impact, Lu Jingming slowly raised his right hand. The black spear in his grasp pointed directly at the devastating shockwave. At the tip of the spear, a tiny, nearly invisible black singularity appeared. Though it emitted no sound, it possessed infinite gravity. The destructive shockwave, upon touching the singularity, was like water sucked into a bottomless hole. All its power, all its divine force, all light and sound were swallowed in an instant, leaving not a single ripple behind. It was as if the previous cataclysmic strike had been nothing more than a silent illusion.
"Nullified...?" In the mind of the Netherworld White Tiger, Dai Mubai's voice was filled with disbelief and terror. Their all-out offensive had failed to even budge their opponent.
"It seems you have some misunderstanding about me. Or are you underestimating me?" Lu Jingming smiled lightly. He was not an ordinary god of this universe; his strength could not be measured by the level of divine power alone.
Before his words had faded, the Netherworld White Tiger moved. In that instant, Zhu Zhuqing's will took control. The massive body turned into a streak of streaming light, transcending the limitations of space and time. The target was behind Lu Jingming. On the giant tiger's claw, the sharp divine power of the God of War condensed, golden light slicing through spatial faults as if it could shatter a star with a single swipe.
In the next moment, the Netherworld immediately struck with its claws. But just as the tiger's claw was about to touch Lu Jingming's heart, its movement abruptly stopped. It wasn't that it wanted to stop—it was forced to.
At some point, thin chains of pure thunder and lightning had appeared around the Netherworld White Tiger. These chains were not physical, but woven from the divine power of the "God of Eternity, Thunder, and Lightning."
"I am the God of Eternity, Thunder, and Lightning—but I do more than merely command thunder and lightning," Lu Jingming sighed gently. The divine seat he had condensed was not just the God of Thunder, but the God of Eternity, Thunder, and Lightning.
The core of his divinity was connected to time, and also to Istaroth, the Herrscher of time and the Eternal God. So the divine seat condensed by the authority of thunder and lightning could not only control lightning, but to some extent, control time itself.
The power of the Eternal God's divine seat made the flow of time around Lu Jingming completely his own.
To the eyes of the Netherworld White Tiger, it seemed like a sudden teleportation ambush. But to Lu Jingming's senses, the tiger's movement was as slow as a snail, with every detail and mobilization of divine power clearly visible.
"Roar!" The Netherworld White Tiger roared unwillingly, its divine power surging within, trying to break free from the chains. Dai Mubai's will regained control, and the God of War's violent power turned into golden flames, burning the chains of thunder and lightning.
Crack! Several chains broke in response.
The instant it regained its ability to move, the Netherworld White Tiger wasted no time. Its bloodstained mouth opened wide. A sphere of condensed divine energy, gold and black intertwined, rapidly formed in its maw.
The Netherworld White Tiger was ready to perish.
This blow exceeded the scope of god-level fusion skills and truly touched the realm of the God King. The mere convergence of energy made the barriers of the surrounding universe scream, dark cracks spreading in the air like hideous scars. The entire ground of the wilderness sunk down, as if the force might crush the earth to its core.
"It's over." Dai Mubai's thoughts thundered, filled with the resolve to die together.
Facing an attack powerful enough to destroy half a continent, Lu Jingming slowly turned to look at the Netherworld White Tiger behind him. There was no solemnity in his eyes—instead, there was an almost indifferent trace of pity.
"The end of destruction is rebirth."
He raised his other hand.
A white lance, a white flower, and the tip of the lance collided with the shattering sphere of light—enough to bring everything to an end.
In the next moment, indescribably brilliant white light blossomed from the tip of the flower-adorned lance. This white light was not fierce, but filled with gentleness and peace. It did not violently clash with the shattering golden-black sphere of light; instead, it gently enveloped it like a spring breeze and rain.
A strange scene unfolded.
The sphere of light, which held infinite destructive power, began to rapidly settle the instant it touched the white light. The golden sharpness and black deathly silence were neutralized and purified, as if by a higher-dimensional power. The law of destruction was forcibly reversed, transforming into pure, primordial life energy.
The process was silent, yet more shocking than any explosive blast.
"No... Impossible... My divine power... how could it... be undone?" For the first time, Dai Mubai's voice was filled with terror within the Netherworld White Tiger's consciousness. This was not suppression at the energy level, but a crushing of the very essence of existence. Just as water cannot extinguish the sun, and fire cannot burn in a vacuum, their destruction, before Lu Jingming's creative authority, was shaken at the very foundation of existence.
Lu Jingming advanced step by step toward the heavy, sluggish Netherworld White Tiger, holding the white flower in his hand. As he moved, miracles occurred in the wilderness. The cracked, sunken earth beneath his feet revived. Soft, green grass shoots broke through the soil, growing at a rate visible to the naked eye, transforming into a knee-high prairie in an instant. The shattered rocks from the battle's aftermath condensed once more, blooming into vibrant crystalline clusters. The dry air became moist, glowing motes of light flowing like streams, meandering through the grassland.
The immense vitality transformed by the white flower began to restore the land ravaged by the war of gods under his guidance. Destruction was being overwritten by creation.
"See? That is my power." Lu Jingming drew close to the giant tiger's head, reaching out to gently press his hand to its brow. "What you seek is ever-greater destructive power. What I wield is the power to define the rules."
White light flowed from his palm.
The power of the "God of Wisdom and Life" was unleashed.
The Netherworld White Tiger's massive body trembled violently. It could feel the fused divine power belonging to Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing being forcibly analyzed and separated by an irresistible will.
"What... are you doing?" Zhu Zhuqing's thoughts wavered, trembling ever so slightly.
"Return everything to its original state." Lu Jingming's tone did not waver in the slightest.
"No! We are gods. The dignity of the divine realm cannot be violated!" Dai Mubai let out one final roar, mustering the last traces of divine power to resist.
"Gods?" Lu Jingming's lips curled into a mocking smile. "In my world, you are not."
As his words fell, the white light in his palm suddenly erupted.
"Creation and Reversal."
Boom!
The giant body of the Netherworld White Tiger began to decompose in a bizarre manner, breaking apart from within into countless golden and black points of light. The power exchanged for burning their divine seats was forcefully reversed by the authority of creation, pushing them back from fusion to separation.
The immense light and shadow faded in the air, vanishing like a magnificent, mournful firework.
A moment later, the light dissipated.
Two figures fell weakly from the sky, landing on the soft grass below.
They were Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing.
They had regained their human forms, but their godly attire was dull and cracked. Their auras were extremely weak, with almost no divine power remaining. Their divine seats had been utterly shattered by the forced fusion and separation. They were no longer gods.
Dai Mubai struggled to lift his head, staring at Lu Jingming's unscathed figure standing upon the new grassland. His eyes were filled with despair and confusion. They had staked everything, only to suffer complete and humiliating defeat. Their opponent had not truly attacked, but merely demonstrated his authority, erasing everything they were proud of.
"Why... why did this happen...?" he murmured, his pride as the God of War shattering to pieces in that moment.
Lu Jingming took back the white flower from the abyss, and the twin spears in his hands turned into points of light and vanished. He looked down at the two fallen former gods, his gaze still calm.
"Because the era has changed."
He turned away, no longer looking at them, instead gazing into the distant sky—as if piercing the barrier of the plane, looking far into the divine realm above.
"And I am the new era."
A long wind swept across the wilds, the grass swaying, bringing with it the rich breath of life. The sky, torn by the battle of gods, was suddenly bridged again, and the sun shone warmly once more. The earth-shaking divine battle just now seemed like nothing more than a fleeting nightmare.
Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing lay on the soft grass, feeling the last traces of divine power ebb from their bodies, overcome by a weakness unlike any they had ever known. They had fallen from the clouds to the dust—even wiggling their fingers was immensely difficult. The pain of their broken divinity went far beyond the body, leaving a void in their very souls, as if their existence had been stripped away.
At that moment, behind them, an oppressive and familiar breath of thunder and lightning burst forth, filling the air with the strong scent of ozone. Space twisted violently, as if torn by an invisible giant hand. A slightly disheveled purple lightning flashed—and the Demon Empress appeared.
The luxurious black and purple gown she wore symbolized the authority of the Herrscher of thunder, but at that moment, it bore multiple scorch marks from golden divine power, with lingering particles of energy still dissipating at the edges. At the corner of her pale lips, a faint trace of divine blood lingered—clearly, she had been wounded moments ago by the Netherworld White Tiger's claws. Yet her eyes burned with a fury fiercer than thunder.
Her gaze passed over Lu Jingming, locking onto the two powerless figures lying on the ground—her own comrades. The hatred for the Deep Sea Demon Whale Clan and the pain of her husband's death transformed, in that instant, into true murderous intent.
She raised her hand, her fingertips wrapped in arcs of destructive purple energy, crackling through the surrounding space. Before seeking vengeance on Tang San, she would indulge herself a little.
Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing felt the killing intent and tried to rise, but could only watch as destructive lightning gathered at her fingertips. Despair, so recently experienced, descended upon them once again.
However, the lightning of destruction did not strike.
Suddenly, a figure appeared before the Demon Empress like a ghost—Lu Jingming.
He reached out. Though his movement seemed swift, it was precise—his hand grasped the Demon Empress's raised arm just as she was about to strike. His palm was warm and steady, absent any violent energy, but the instant his fingers touched her wrist, she felt herself enveloped by an irresistible, incomprehensible force.
The thunder that could pierce mountains dimmed instantly, as if the bulb had been pulled from its socket, and even the smallest arc of lightning was stilled. Before this palm, her thunder and lightning powers were forced into silence.
The Demon Empress's pupils contracted sharply, a fear rising in her heart greater than what she had felt before the Netherworld White Tiger. It was the fear an ordinary being feels before a higher existence—a primal terror.
"I told you, someone else has a claim on them." Lu Jingming's voice was cold, devoid of emotion. His eyes were not on the Demon Empress, but on the two fallen former gods, as if regarding spoils of war.
"You lost. That means you no longer have the right to kill them."
These words struck the arrogant Demon Empress like a heavy hammer. Lost... yes, she had lost. Despite possessing nearly limitless energy and first-level divine power, she had lost before the Netherworld White Tiger and had been injured. Yet Lu Jingming had resolved it all with an almost crushing attitude.
She swiftly measured the situation.
The Demon Empress gritted her silver teeth, her jaw pressing so hard against her lips that a thin line of blood oozed out. Endless humiliation and rage surged within, but reason restrained it.
She felt that the hand gripping her wrist was not using force, but within it was deterrence—if she acted rashly, she would be erased from existence itself.
She did not fear the Netherworld White Tiger or even first-level gods—after all, she still had trump cards for survival. But she did not dare provoke Lu Jingming. She knew all too well the price of doing so.
After a long moment, her tense body finally relaxed.
"...I understand." The words seemed to exhaust all her strength.
Lu Jingming released her hand, speaking lightly. "Your enemy is Tang San, the Sea God. You should go after him. Being captured might be a fate worse than death for them."