When the seven-colored divine thunder struck the Blood River God-Slaying Grand Array's core, the array's self-defense mechanism immediately activated.
Layer upon layer of blood-colored light screens surged out like a tide, attempting to block this world-destroying strike.
But how could the Blood River God-Slaying Grand Array, which had yet to devour millions of souls, withstand a divine-level Heaven-Earth Tribulation?
BOOM!
Thunder exploded. Blood light shot into the sky.
The seven-colored divine thunder pierced through the blood screens in an instant, unstoppable. The various blood-colored runes at the core shattered inch by inch. Blood mist evaporated and dissipated in the thunder, leaving not a trace behind.
The moment the blood screens shattered, the evil soul masters maintaining the array near the core were reduced to ash along with it, not even having time to scream.
A massive shockwave spread in all directions. The entire city of Tiandou seemed to tremble.
In the distance, the middle-aged evil soul master who'd been boasting moments ago collapsed to the ground, his pupils dilated, his lips trembling.
Staring at that thunderbolt, which seemed like divine punishment, only one thought remained in his mind: the deity had truly come.
And they'd come to exterminate them!
Just then, residual thunder from the core's explosion spread outward, and a wisp of lightning landed on him.
"AH, NO—!"
The scream cut off abruptly.
The middle-aged evil soul master and his companion were both reduced to nothing in the lightning, not even ash remaining.
When everything settled, only a bottomless crater remained. The soil at its edges was scorched black by the lightning, still emitting wisps of smoke.
The soul masters and residents of Tiandou City who witnessed this from afar were stunned.
Many stared blankly upward, their gazes fixed on where the seven-colored divine thunder had fallen. A figure stood atop the spatial turbulence, clad in divine armor, seven-colored thunder crackling around him.
After this figure appeared, heaven and earth seemed to submit. The world's power itself seemed to rally around him.
Such divine might, such strength—clearly marked him as a true deity!
"Who—who is that?" someone asked, his voice trembling.
"It's him—the Douluo Federation's deity! He's attacked!"
"Damn it, how dare he—"
"Enough! Quick—inform Lord Killing God and Lord Demon Empress!" Several evil soul masters, their faces pale, turned and fled in panic.
Knowing it was Huo Yuhao who'd come, they didn't dare try to stop him.
A joke—that was a true deity!
They could mouth off in private, but actually standing against a true deity would only result in death.
They had at least that much self-awareness.
But before they could run far, a roar erupted from deep within Tiandou City: "Who dares to trespass against the Holy Spirit Cult and destroy our foundation for godhood!"
The Demon Empress shot out from her secluded cultivation, her voice shaking the surrounding area.
She'd been studying the Sea God's divine persona in deep seclusion these past few days, unaware of the outside world. The ground-shaking explosion had startled her awake. A quick sweep of her divine consciousness revealed that the core array of her foundation for godhood—the Blood River God-Slaying Grand Array—had been destroyed!
Fury rising, she shot into the sky, her mind focused on one thought: whoever it was, they would pay.
But when she turned her snarling face toward the spatial rift, ready to unleash her wrath, her expression froze.
There, atop the spatial turbulence, stood a figure she'd never seen in person but had seen countless times in intelligence reports. He was clad in divine armor, divine light shining from his eyes, the world's power gathered around him like stars around the moon—his divine pressure suffocating.
"Huo Yuhao?!" The Demon Empress's furious face turned deathly pale.
It was Huo Yuhao! The true deity from the Spirit Transmission Tower!
Of course, if it were only Huo Yuhao, though she'd be cautious, she wouldn't lose her composure.
After all, Douling was ultimately the Holy Spirit Cult's territory. The Demon Empress still had confidence in dealing with Huo Yuhao.
But—
The Demon Empress's gaze moved past Huo Yuhao to what lay behind him, cold sweat beading on her forehead.
One powerful figure after another stepped out of the spatial rift, flanking Huo Yuhao on both sides.
Gu Yuena, Emperor Tian, Xiong Jun—
Snow Empress, Bi Ji, Ji Xuanqiu—each exuded a presence capable of suppressing a region, their auras soaring, even the void trembling.
Ten—a full ten Limit-level experts!
Counting Huo Yuhao himself, that made eleven experts above the Limit level!
And among them, four were experts from the Spirit Transmission Tower who'd touched the divine level.
Behind these top-tier experts, over a hundred Title Douluo filed out—most of the Tower's higher-ups and powerful Super Douluo recorded in intelligence!
The Spirit Transmission Tower had deployed its full force!
Below, the Holy Spirit Cult's experts and Tiandou City's residents witnessed this scene, their souls nearly fleeing their bodies, their backs chilled, sweat pouring down.
What had they done to deserve such a massive deployment from the Spirit Transmission Tower?
The Demon Empress's fury had long since dissipated, replaced by bone-deep chill.
The Tower sending so many experts clearly meant to completely annihilate the Holy Spirit Cult's Douling branch.
Today—there would be no easy resolution.
Her gaze swept over the figures before her, her expression heavy. For a moment, she didn't know whether to advance or retreat.
Huo Yuhao and the others naturally noticed this conspicuous figure.
Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes but didn't acknowledge her. Instead, he turned to Emperor Tian and said, "Emperor Tian, take twenty people to Douling City. Coordinate with the Dark Department to destroy the Blood River God-Slaying Grand Array and the Holy Spirit Cult branch there."
Though his attack had quickly broken the array's core, based on what Huo Yuhao had sensed, the power gathered there was considerable—enough to withstand Limit-level attacks.
To be safe, having Emperor Tian assist the Dark Department in destroying the Douling City array was more prudent, preventing the Cult from using the array's power to hold out and initiate the blood sacrifice.
Emperor Tian nodded, selected twenty people, and tore open space to leave.
It should be noted that they'd been brought to the Douling Continent by Huo Yuhao through the Undead Plane. If they'd traveled together openly, the Holy Spirit Cult wouldn't have been caught off guard, and destroying the array core wouldn't have been so easy.
But now that they were deep in Douling territory and Huo Yuhao had already struck, there was no need to hide further.
The Demon Empress listened to their casual conversation, watching Emperor Tian tear open space to destroy the other array, her expression darkening.
But faced with the overwhelming numbers of the Spirit Transmission Tower, she dared not act rashly, forced to watch Emperor Tian leave.
However, just as Emperor Tian was about to step into the spatial passage—"Since you're here, why the rush to leave?"
BOOM!
A cold voice echoed from deep within Tiandou City. Following it came a terrifying divine pressure even stronger than Huo Yuhao's, sweeping out like a tsunami, instantly shattering the pressure Huo Yuhao had imposed on the Cult and Tiandou experts.
Everyone felt the weight on their shoulders lift as Huo Yuhao's pressure abruptly vanished.
At the same time, a sword qi formed from a blood-colored killing intent tore through space, crossing a thousand meters in an instant, aimed straight at Emperor Tian's back!
Though the sword qi hadn't arrived, its chilling killing intent had already dropped the temperature around Emperor Tian to freezing.
The daunting power made Emperor Tian's pupils contract sharply as the target of the attack. Even having touched the divine level, he felt the threat of death!
But Emperor Tian didn't dodge or block—he didn't even pause, continuing steadily toward the spatial passage.
Behind him was the Spirit Transmission Tower's strongest combat power!
The sword qi arrived in an instant, its chilling intent nearly piercing Emperor Tian's back. Just then, a seven-colored divine sword emerged from the void, its blade flowing with seven-colored thunder, intercepting the blood-colored sword qi.
Clang!
Metal clashed, sparks flying. The moment the blood sword qi and seven-colored divine sword collided, a visible shockwave swept outward, cracking space for a thousand meters in every direction.
In the end, the blood sword qi dissipated into mist as its power waned, while the seven-colored divine sword also dissolved, its lightning fragments falling like stardust.
Huo Yuhao stepped out of the void, arriving at the position Emperor Tian had just vacated, his robes billowing. His gaze crossed thousands of meters to the slowly rising blood-colored figure, his eyes narrowing slightly.
The Killing God—Shupuros!
"It's Lord Killing God!" The Douling residents and Cult members in the city turned their eyes to that figure, hope shining in their gazes.
"Thank goodness! Lord Killing God has intervened—we're saved."
"What reincarnated deity, what Spirit Transmission Tower—before the deity we worship, they're nothing but dirt!"
Some of the Killing God's worshippers fell to their knees on the spot, hands clasped in fervent prayer: "Lord Killing God, please strike down all enemies and protect the peace of Douling!"
In midair, the Demon Empress also let out a long breath as the Killing God intervened, her tense shoulders relaxing.
The Killing God—had finally acted.
The Killing God rose into the sky, glancing briefly at the direction Emperor Tian had vanished, frowning slightly but not overly concerned.
A few ants that could be easily crushed—they could be dealt with later.
What mattered was that the main target was right before him—that was enough.
As for the Blood River God-Slaying Grand Array's core—destroyed, so be it. To him, whether it existed or not made no difference. If necessary, it could be set up again.
With that thought, the Killing God withdrew his gaze and looked at Huo Yuhao, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
"Fire God, I've been waiting for you since you declared war. I just didn't expect you to bring such a grand entourage."
His gaze swept over the experts behind Huo Yuhao, his expression icy. "But leaving aside the two beside you and the spirit beast who left, bringing these mortals here—are you sending them to their deaths?"
"Or are you so confident you can hold me off and protect them while they destroy the Holy Spirit Cult?"
With those final words, blood-colored killing intent surged like a tidal wave, pressing down on the Tower forces.
The dark red killing intent, nearly solid, carried the weight of heaven and earth. The Title Douluo felt their very souls trembling.
Just then, Huo Yuhao moved.
Behind him, a sea of fire erupted!
Crimson Gold Mysterious Flame shot up, forming an immortal wall of divine fire before them. Killing intent and flame clashed, sizzling and crackling. Dark red and crimson gold wove together in the sky, splitting the heavens in two.
The sky trembled violently, as if it could bear no more.
Huo Yuhao blocked the killing intent and looked at the Killing God, his tone calm but cutting.
"Such intense killing intent toward these 'mortals',could it be that you're reminded of the time a mortal and a deity joined forces to seal you away for ten thousand years?"
He was referring, of course, to the Killing God's past battle with Lie Yan, where he'd been reduced to divine consciousness and sealed into the Fire God's Sword by Ji Dong, who took advantage of his exhaustion.
This was the Killing God's eternal wound.
Hearing this, the Killing God's killing intent surged, but his expression remained unchanged. He said coldly, "The former Fire God told you this, did he? I didn't expect he'd even share that with his inheritor. Good, very good—"
Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow.
So he was being taken for the Fire God's successor—no wonder he'd believed Er Ming's nonsense and mistaken him for the Fire God.
From this, it seemed the Killing God hadn't encountered the Fire God before leaving the Divine Realm. Otherwise, he wouldn't have misidentified him.
After all, the Fire God had been unlucky—his best successor, Ji Dong, had been taken by the Evil God, and Ma Hongjun had failed his divine trials. To this day, the Fire God still had no formal successor. And the Fire God, an old colleague of the Killing God's, would certainly have been recognized.
The Killing God didn't know this. He just stared at Huo Yuhao, killing intent swirling in his eyes.
"Back then, Ji Dong could seal me largely thanks to the Fire God's divine artifact. Since you're the new Fire God, today I'll collect some interest from you first!"
Hearing these murderous words, the Demon Empress took a deep breath and flew to the Killing God's side, shielding him as she cast a cold gaze at Huo Yuhao and the Tower forces.
Seeing both their divine-level experts present, some Cult experts also mustered their courage and rose into the air, standing behind the Killing God, facing off against Huo Yuhao and the others.
To be honest, even the Demon Empress had been afraid to speak against this lineup. The Cult and Douling experts were naturally even more terrified. If not for the Killing God's strong words restoring their morale, they wouldn't have dared face such overwhelming forces.
But the Cult's evil soul masters all understood—the Tower's deployment left them no way out.
There was no escape.
Either follow the Killing God and fight their way out, or die. At this point, no one would back down.
On Huo Yuhao's side, cold gazes met equally cold ones—battle intent flaring.
Blood-colored killing intent and crimson gold divine fire reflected each other.
God and mortal.
Black and white.
Holy Spirit Cult and Spirit Transmission Tower—
Yet beneath all these conflicts, one will was shared.
The determination to completely crush the enemy, to exterminate them without mercy!
With killing intent blazing, the Killing God struck first.
No more probing. A dark red divine sword materialized in his hand.
"Die!"
The Killing God roared, his form transforming into a blood-colored streak, charging straight at Huo Yuhao.
That sword held no flashy technique—only pure killing intent condensed to a single point, piercing a black hole through space itself.
Before the blade even arrived, the killing intent—enough to crush a Limit-level expert—was already distorting the heavens.
Huo Yuhao's eyes sharpened. A divine sword formed from Crimson Gold Mysterious Flame materialized before him, seven-colored thunder coiling around its blade as he met the attack.
The two swords clashed—heaven and earth fell silent!
A blinding white light erupted from the point of impact, consuming all color. Then the shockwave finally arrived, sweeping across the battlefield like a hurricane.
Below, the building debris already reduced to rubble by Huo Yuhao's thunder was swept away again, ground to dust.
Fortunately, the area was already empty—otherwise, the casualties would have been severe.
"Attack!"
Gu Yuena's clear voice rang across the sky.
The Tower experts shot forward like heavenly soldiers descending, charging at the Cult forces.
Xiong Jun led the charge, his roar shaking the heavens as he targeted a Cult Super Douluo.
Bi Ji, Ji Xuanqiu, Hua Yichen, and the others followed close behind, each locking onto their targets.
The Demon Empress's expression cold, she raised her hand and unleashed a vast ocean of power, meeting Gu Yuena head-on.
In an instant, the sky was filled with dancing spirit rings, flying spirit abilities, blood and spirit power interweaving into a brutal storm.