Huo Yuhao was currently leading Gu Yuena and the Ice Empress to work hard on constructing a wormhole in space to rush back to the Douluo Continent.
Ever since the divine sense clone he left on the Douluo Continent was destroyed by the Tang family, he knew nothing about the current situation on Douluo.
What was important was that for some reason, a part of his heart suddenly felt empty just now. That empty sense of loss gave him an ominous premonition.
"Faster, Yuena, faster!"
Even though Dragon God Gu Yuena was already doing her best to speed up the construction of the spatial wormhole, he still spared no effort in sending his divine power to assist her in completing it.
One must know, the wormholes provided for the Douluo Federation's cosmic fleet to complete spatial jumps during the Ultimate Douluo era took several thousand years of continuous effort and the investment of a large amount of Space Source Crystals to complete.
Regarding the Sky Worm and Treasure-Hunting Beast of this space-time, Huo Yuhao no longer had time to go looking for those two. After all, one was on Senluo Planet, and the other was likely still slumbering in the Dragon Realm that Gu Yuena had merged with.
Gu Yuena naturally knew the situation on the Douluo Continent side and did not dare to delay for a single moment. If they returned too late, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"It's no use being anxious now. Why not take this chance to stabilize your current realm?" the Crimson Mother suggested, her brows furrowing slightly.
Huo Yuhao merely shook his head. With the speed at which Gu Yuena was opening the wormhole—jumping once an hour—how could he calm his mind for closed-door cultivation?
The Demon Tree King and the Ice Empress looked at each other in the rear. They couldn't help much with this kind of thing, after all, everyone's abilities differed...
—
Buzz...
Just when everyone was still immersed in Xie Huanyue's sacrifice, that monster that was supposed to have ceased activity let out a soul-stirring buzzing sound again.
"The heart!" Bibi Dong seemed to remember something and hurriedly shouted towards the three great God Kings: "Take this chance! Find a way to take that thing's heart out! As long as the heart that serves as the energy core remains, that thing can revive countless times!"
Zhongli Yu, Cui Yajie, and Zhang Lexuan did not hesitate for a second. Even without Bibi Dong saying it, they were brewing the next strike.
Undoubtedly, now was when this Star-Devouring Monster was at its weakest! They absolutely could not let Xie Huanyue's efforts go to waste!
"Eden Alliance forces in position! Reactivate the High-Energy Compressed Soul Guide Array Restraint Net! Limit its movements!" Ju Zi immediately ordered. Over a dozen soul engineer legions gathered at the front, releasing the soul guide restraint net towards the Star-Devouring Monster.
One massive net after another fell from the sky onto the Star-Devouring Monster, but the first few were instantly disintegrated by the radiation on its surface.
"It won't work! If we can't break through that layer of universal law protection coiling around the monster, ordinary attacks simply won't hurt it! Unless someone can defeat it with absolute physical attacks like Fatty did!" Zhongli Yu discovered where the problem lay. As long as the universal laws remained, their attacks would not take effect.
Even the Sword of the Three Realms' Judgment could not thoroughly break through the Star-Devouring Monster's shell.
As for close-quarters physical combat... with the terrifying radiation power on the surface of the Star-Devouring Monster, a person would be crystalized before they even got close.
"Indeterminate Storm!" Sea God Long Aotian charged forward, brandishing the Golden Trident in his hand, throwing golden halos one after another towards the aberration.
As one of the Sea God's ultimate techniques, the Indeterminate Storm's characteristic of being absolutely established had caused many opponents to suffer greatly.
However, those rings of halos were destroyed by the continuous terrifying radiation released from the Star-Devouring Monster's body as they approached.
"Bastard!" Long Aotian cursed in exasperation. The Sea God deity position he had once longed for and admired so much was actually useless before such a cosmic creature.
"We join forces!" Meng Hongchen and Ling Luochen stood on his left and right respectively, raising their ice sword and ice staff.
"No need to care about sacrifice! Sea God, trigger a tsunami!" Mermaid Princesses Lijing and Liya took to the sky together, executing the complete version of the Mermaid Duet, amplified onto Die Qiu's divine thought to neutralize part of the radiation.
"Alright, I'm counting on you!" Long Aotian gritted his teeth fiercely, then raised the Golden Trident high, using his intent to drive the seawater.
The site of this battle was located at the junction of the Douluo Continent and the Sun Moon Continent. Triggering a tsunami was a simple task for the Sea God.
Soon, the tsunami struck, slapping directly onto the surface of the Star-Devouring Monster. Cosmic radiation could not take effect on seawater after all.
Meng Hongchen and Ling Luochen held hands. Nine soul rings rose at Ling Luochen's feet, while on Meng Hongchen's side, the projections of three soul cores surfaced.
The soul cores passed through the soul rings one by one, extending an ice-blue path in front of the two.
"Martial Soul Synchro Skill—A Thousand Li of Ice, Ten Thousand Li of Snow!"
The seawater slapping onto the Star-Devouring Monster was instantly frozen, turning into hard ice that pinned the Star-Devouring Monster dead in its tracks.
Even if only for a second!
The Snow Empress leaped from the shoulder of the Titan Snow Devil King, dancing in the air. The Snow Dance Extreme Ice Domain immediately unrolled, adding another layer of amplification to the two women's Martial Soul Synchro Skill.
All the soul beasts from the Extreme North ice plains sacrificed themselves, offering all their life essence and energy to their Empress.
The Snow Empress's aura also broke through the limit at this moment, reaching the peak of a True God!
Empress Sword! Empress Palm!
This was also the first time the world had seen the ultimate skills of this leader of the Three Great Heavens of the Extreme North while she was alive. This strike of the Snow Empress finally thoroughly surpassed Di Tian's Dragon God Claw!
Even so, these attacks could only serve as feints against the Star-Devouring Monster.
The Star-Devouring Monster roared, trying to break free from the ice, but what greeted it next was naturally the final Sword of the Three Realms' Judgment.
"Receive your death—"
Zhongli Yu transformed herself into a sword, merging Zhang Lexuan's Seed of Kindness, Cui Yajie's Seed of Evil, and the Seeds of Destruction and Life into it, executing this final sword at the cost of her god position shattering.
The five-colored longsword shot straight into the clouds, then smashed down heavily.
Buzz...
Seeming to sense the approaching crisis, the Star-Devouring Monster began to struggle violently. Countless high-energy beams, each over ten meters in diameter, erupted from its body, attacking the allied forces indiscriminately.
A certain beam swept past, and an entire soul engineer legion, along with their soul guide linked protective shield, turned to dust.
"Stop it!" Bibi Dong's expression changed drastically. They had never imagined that the aberration, already weakened to such an extent, could still erupt with such terrifying attacks.
Right at this moment, massive Golden Xuanwu Shields lay across the front of the army, blocking the laser beams.
Xu Sanshi had arrived, holding Jiang Nannan's hand as they stood at the front of the allied forces.
He had really wanted to take Jiang Nannan into seclusion, never to care about the world's affairs again. But the continent's safety was everyone's responsibility. If he hid now, he would only be left to be slaughtered later.
Even though Xu Sanshi had given up the Sea God position, it couldn't be denied that he had once possessed the power of a god.
"Tell Huo Yuhao to take good care of my and Nannan's child!"
Xu Sanshi transmitted the location of their residence to Xian Lin'er through spiritual power, then charged forward with Jiang Nannan, pushing the Xuanwu shield array against the lasers.
Even though he had the reputation of Eternal Defense in the main space-time, in the face of the Star-Devouring Monster's final counterattack, he ultimately only blocked for a few seconds.
Crack...
The Xuanwu shields broke. Both were hit by the Star-Devouring Monster's laser beams. Jiang Nannan activated her Invincible Golden Body to block in front of him, only so the two could have one more second of embracing each other—
"Xu Sanshi—" Xian Lin'er cried out in pain as she watched this pair of former Shrek students perish for the sake of guarding the continent.
The Sword of the Three Realms' Judgment finally slashed onto the Star-Devouring Monster's shell once again. Perhaps due to the desperate counterattack born of a sense of crisis, this strongest sword actually failed to slice down smoothly like before.
"Angel—Sacrifice! Sun Holy Sword!"
Qian Renxue raised the replica Sun Holy Sword crafted by the Hall of Illustrious Virtue. With a loud call, Ye Guyi and Yu Mengdi simultaneously completed their Holy Sword soul skills, performing a three-in-one soul skill fusion with her.
All the angel soul masters had golden flames ignite around them as they pounced towards the Sun Holy Sword in Qian Renxue's hand.
Sacrifice was the pride of the Angel Clan. Even if she was no longer the Angel God, even if the sword in her hand was no longer a divine tool, the faith of her clansmen allowed her to briefly erupt with an attack rivaling a divine skill.
The Sun Holy Sword slashed towards the opening previously cut by the Sword of the Three Realms' Judgment. The scorching Solar True Fire rapidly enveloped the Star-Devouring Monster, continuously burning the universal laws on its shell.
"Increase the attack! Don't stop!" Ju Zi gave the order, and all the soul engineer legions launched their attacks, seeking to weaken the protection on the Star-Devouring Monster's body surface as much as possible.
"Not good. The energy reaction inside the monster's body... is rising rapidly. If we cannot take out its heart before it fully recovers..." Bibi Dong had been sensing the changes in the Star-Devouring Monster's vital signs, and her face suddenly changed.
"How can this be..." Upon hearing this, everyone stood frozen on the spot. Xie Huanyue had managed to fight the monster half to death at the cost of his life; if they couldn't extract its heart, then...
"Ziyan, take care." God of War Ji Juechen suddenly turned back to embrace Jing Ziyan. Then, grabbing his three swords before Jing Ziyan could react, he rushed towards the Star-Devouring Monster.
"Juechen—" Jing Ziyan abruptly reached out her hand towards him, but this time, she could no longer catch him.
Beside her, Zi Mu silently lit a cigar, took a final glance at Ju Zi, and followed without a word.
Ye Wuqing was held back by Yan'er. He could only watch this scene helplessly, his fists clenched so tightly that his nails drew blood without him realizing it.
They were all members of the Straw Hat Brigade! Now, Ji Juechen and Zi Mu were going to follow their captain.
A laser beam swept towards the army command post again.
"Old Ji, I'll send you over." Zi Mu arrived behind Ji Juechen and spoke plainly.
"Mmhmm... I'm counting on you." Ji Juechen placed his longsword horizontally, biting it with his teeth.
Zi Mu did not hesitate for a second. With his legs covered by soul tools, he performed a side spin kick, sending Ji Juechen's body flying forward like a shell.
Immediately after, the beam swept past, but was intercepted by Zi Mu with a desperate kick.
Another crystal added to the ground.
At a high point, Tang Xiaolei took a deep breath, slowly drawing the Purple Flower Bow with both hands. The muscles in his arms were tense, every inch filled with power.
His gaze moved past the arrow tip, looking at the monster in the distance that had slaughtered countless beings. Memories of life in the Dragon Valley and the smiles of his partners flashed through his mind, giving him the courage to face death.
The next moment, he merged his nine rings into one. This was a very high-level ring-fusion technique, capable of multiplying the power of a soul skill.
His soul skill was to fire off his own soul rings and then wait for time to restore them. Only this time, he left himself no backup.
"Meteor Strike!"
With a whoosh, the sharp arrow left the string like a black bolt of lightning tearing through the sky. The arrow body carried a sharp whistle as it tore the earth, flying towards the aberration.
The arrow he fired condensed his entire soul power, and he had even overdrawn his life. His body, unable to withstand the powerful impact, actually exploded like fireworks, flesh and blood splattering. The soldiers on the scene rushed over, but only saw a ground of broken body parts and a gradually dissipating life aura.
"Xiaolei!" Ye Wuqing cried out in pain, nearly collapsing to the ground.
At this time, Ji Juechen had already been shot out like a cannonball thanks to Zi Mu's kick.
Perhaps having personally witnessed the power of the Sword of the Three Realms' Judgment several times in a row gave this sword fanatic some insights of his own.
The Star-Devouring Monster was right before him. The Sword of the Three Realms' Judgment had been unable to cleave down, and the Sun Holy Sword could not cause actual effective damage to it.
Ji Juechen pulled out his other two swords, his gaze abruptly turning cold.
"Asura Sword Drawing—"
"Game of the Dead!"
At this moment, Ji Juechen ignited his God of War position, charging towards the aberration without regard for anything else. His three swords accurately hit the connection points of the wounds left on the monster by the Sword of the Three Realms' Judgment.
Crack!
As more and more cracks appeared, the protective power of the aberration finally encountered a problem at this moment, shattering completely.
With the aberration's outer shell severely damaged, the Sword of the Three Realms' Judgment also successfully sliced into the aberration's heart position.
"Now's the time!"
Long Aotian, holding that Golden Trident, dove down from the high sky. Using the inertia of the falling 108,000-jin weight, he stabbed heavily into the monster's heart.
The Lan sisters also arrived. Without a word, they completed their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Heaven and Earth Net, tightly coiling around the Star-Devouring Monster's heart.
Buzz—
The Star-Devouring Monster's whistling seemed to grow stronger. It guessed that the Douluo humans wanted to kill it, so the terrifying radiation on its body exploded directly.
The first to be hit were naturally Long Aotian and Ji Juechen. Their bodies turned into crystals in practically an instant, falling to the ground and shattering into pieces.
Then came the Lan sisters. A moment ago they were thinking of cutting their hair to save themselves, but the range of the instantaneous radiation explosion was simply too large... another two crystal sculptures hit the ground and shattered.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Watching her partners lose their lives one after another, the giant sword transformed from Zhongli Yu erupted with dazzling light, beginning to churn within the cosmic aberration's chest and abdomen in an attempt to gouge out its heart.
"Yu'er, it's up to you!" Cui Yajie and Zhang Lexuan had both given their respective God King Seeds to Zhongli Yu, letting her lead the execution of this final sword. Thus, they could only cheer for Zhongli Yu from the side right now.
The Star-Devouring Monster hurriedly struggled, swinging its forelimbs to pin down the Sword of the Three Realms' Judgment and prevent it from moving.
"I'll go pin it down!" Xiao Hongchen said, then ran outward without looking back, leaving behind a dazed Ye Linlin.
The next moment, a massive dark shadow appeared beside Xiao Hongchen, making everyone present jolt.
"That is..."
Author's Note: Sometimes, even to gouge out the heart of a dying enemy, one must pay a heavy price.