Chapter 323
Dual Exceptional Gods, Battle Ten Kilometers Above
(TL by Bagelson)
Just as the Heaven Dou army sortied the camp, preparing to fight the Spirit Empire army to the death, Tang San and his comrades finally returned just in time.
After defeating Qian Renxue, he only delayed for a few hours to help his friends complete their spirit ring absorption, and after a short stop on Purple Pearl Island, they immediately set off and hurried back. And because Tang San injured Qian Renxue, delaying her return and forcing her to rest and recuperate for a night, this made Tang San able to return in time for the battle.
Tang San’s Seagod’s power abruptly appearing above the Heaven Dou army empire made Qian Renxue’s heart sink, clenghing her fists. But the Heaven Dou army’s side was a different matter altogether.
Seeing Tang San and the other six devils returning, Xue Beng almost fainted from his horse with joy. He’d repeatedly prayed for Tang San to return, and when it actually happened, his happiness was indescribable. He even like mad drew his imperial sword and shouted at the sky:
“The Seagod descends, long live king Lan Hao!”
His shout immediately roused the Heaven Dou army that was still somewhat dazed from Tang San’s appearance. They might be puzzled by the Seagod Raiment Tang San wore, but the Seagod Trident he held couldn’t be faked. Seeing Tang San raise the Seagod Trident, his whole body growing even more dazzling than before, the splendorous Seagod Raiment releasing an intense presence that immediately made the Heaven Dou soldiers’ eyes fill with a zealous light. They might not understand why His Majesty called king Lan Hao Seagod, but they definitely believed that with the guidance of king Lan Hao, they would defeat the Spirit Empire.
And Xue Beng’s shout of “long live” undoubtedly placed Tang San on the same level as him, and even above him. This might be inappropriate, but Tang San appearing definitely foretold the tides changing. With him, the entire Heaven Dou army’s million heroes had a backbone, with him, this battle was no longer suicidal, but rather a major opportunity to annihilate the enemy.
Tang Hao excitedly raised his fist, looking at his son in the air his heart filled with pride. A god, yes, his son had finally inherited the Seagod, and returned at the critical juncture.
Grandmaster was even more excited than Tang Hao. Tang San was the disciple he had raised, whom he had taught all his knowledge. As he now saw Tang San had broken through the rank one hundred barrier, appearing in the sky emanating immense divine power, Grandmaster couldn’t keep all sorts of feelings from welling up. In his heart he shouted madly, Father, grandfather, how good it would be if you were still alive. Yu Xiaogang isn’t a cripple, I’m not an embarrassment to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, even if my spirit is crippled, I’ve raised a god, a god!
Despite being on the battlefield, Grandmaster’s eyes filled with tears. He had always waited for this day to come. And now that it did, and came at such a critical moment, he could no longer hold back his excitement. His whole life was a tragedy, and reaching this day hadn’t been easy. Now seeing the god level Tang San, all of Grandmaster’s misery went up in smoke. Raising this disciple was the pride of his life.
“Long—— live—— the—— Seagod——, long—— live—— king—— Lan—— Hao——.”
The Tang Army’s Strength, Speed, Defense and Medicine Hall masters were first to follow Xue Beng’s exclamation, immediately followed by the entire Heaven Dou army with a cry like a landslide. That incomparably powerful imposing manner made the six high priests on the walls of Jialing Pass immediately change expressions.
Before the battle had even begun, the imposing manner of both sides was already as different as heaven and earth. Even peak powers like them felt different before such a scene. After all, human power was limited, even Title Douluo didn’t dare say they could battle an army of a million. At most they could escape unharmed. But in a war like this, Jialing Pass was the critical point of the Spirit Empire, so how could they run? The confidence that had filled them with Qian Renuxue’s return had made them certain of victory, but today they saw not only the the Heaven Dou Empire’s million soldiers flourishing with imposing manner, but at the same time also Tang San in the sky, brimming with a presence that made them tremble.
After one month, Tang San gave Golden Crocodile Douluo an entirely different feeling. When he faced Tang San a month ago he had been astonished, but he still couldn’t comprehend how Bibi Dong could have been defeated by a youth that wasn’t even rank ninety five. Especially since Tang San had wasted more than half his strength at that time, giving Golden Crocodile Douluo even less of a sense of danger.
However, now that one month had gone by and he saw Tang San again, what Golden Crocodile Douluo felt had already turned into shock. Because Tang San gave him a completely immeasurable feeling, just like Qian Renxue next to him. That infinitely powerful presence enveloped in the Heaven Dou army was like dotting the eyes on a dragon, and with his appearance the entire Heaven Dou army’s morale had sublimated to another level. Just this imposing manner pressed down on Jialing Pass until it felt unstable.
“Miss, he…….”
Golden Crocodile Douluo asked hesitantly.
Qian Renxue’s expression had already recovered it’s calm. Even though in her heart she had already known she would meet Tang San again on this battlefield, when he really appeared in front of her, she still couldn’t calm down.
“You’re not mistaken, Tang San has also completed an inheritance. I was late because I was always pursuing him. Unfortunately, I didn’t succeed, and finally let him complete the inheritance. He has inherited the power of the Seagod. Second priest, pass on my orders, withdraw the army into the pass and seal the gates. At the same time, summon all imperial spirit masters to the top of the walls, and guard the pass. We cannot let the Heaven Dou Empire take one step past us.”
Before the second priest could speak, the third priest couldn’t help commenting:
“Miss, withdrawing the army now might not be so suitable. Morale is already low, and if we flee before the battle, how can we still fight?”
Qian Renxue gave a cold snort, making the third priest feel his heart tighten, as if squeezed by a large hand. He staggered back two steps with a muffled grunt, his face changing color.
“Without withdrawing, what could you still do? When facing a million Heaven Dou soldiers, don’t tell me you high priests are sure you can win when outnumbered six to one? Our only chance is to dig in at Jialing Pass. With Tang San here, you can rely only on your own strength in the battle.”
The second priest Golden Crocodile Douluo drew a cold breath, setting his mind,
“Miss is right, we can only rely on the solidity of Jialing Pass to block the Heaven Dou army assault. Pull back the army before they approach, raise the drawbridges. Put all efforts on defense. Miss, don’t worry and go deal with that Tang San, leave this place to us. The outcome of the battle depends on you.”
Qian Renxue looked face to face with Golden Crocodile Douluo, sighing inwardly. Of course she understood his meaning. This battle was entirely settled by which side had a god level power. Even if one god was only injured, it would still instantly reverse the battle. But, for her to defeat Tang San was as difficult as climbing to Heaven. Dragging him with her into death might be the best possible outcome.
Of course, she wouldn’t say what she was thinking. The Spirit Empire’s already weak morale couldn’t stand another blow.
Floating up, dazzling golden light exploded from Qian Renxue’s whole body, her divine sense spreading out, covering half the sky in practically an instant, six golden wings abruptly unfolding behind her, shouting loudly:
“Qian—— Ren——xue—— is—— here——!”
The simple words were completely different when shouted by Qian Renxue, every syllable brimming with her surging Angelic power, this alone pushing down the million Heaven Dou soldiers’ excited shouting.
A marvel appeared before Jialing Pass. Half the sky was pure golden, the other half was crystal clear blue, both colors holding one half.
The divine presence really was too immense. Covered by Qian Renxue’s Angelic power, the flagging defenders inside Jialing pass were immersed in that warm power, and were immediately aflame with confidence. They had a kind of feeling like the Jialing Pass they defended was forged from metal, an unbreakable superfortress. The warm waves of Angelix power also roused their instinctive fighting spirit, their blood starting to boil. Even their swift retreat back into the pass didn’t influence their rising imposing manner.
On the other side, Tang San released an azure halo, and enveloped in this Seagod power, the Heaven Dou soldiers felt like they turned into a raging wave, the distant Jialing Pass walls like crumbling fences, fundamentally unable to stand up to the strike of their ranging wave.
The Angelic power forged the presence of the Spirit Empire defenders into the strongest shield.
The Seagod power forged the presence of the Heaven Dou Empire army into the sharpest spear.
When the battle had yet to begin, the strongest of both sides, Tang San and Qian Renxue, had already started to influence the entire battlefield. It was also only with god level domains that their divine senses could have such vast impact, and only such god level power could truly command armies like these.
Rumble——. The Heaven Dou army marched forward step by step. With each step they took, the azure light in the air would also move forward a bit, always hovering above the army, shielding their advance.
The golden light in the sky had no choice but to yield a bit under that azure pressure.
In the air, Qian Renxue trembled faintly, gazing at the distant Tang San bathed in blue light, her gaze like a sword. She knew that Tang San’s control of his Seagod power had advanced yet another step in these few days. With his abilities being superior to hers in all respects before they became gods, after inheriting divinity, with all circumstances combined, he was still a head above her. Despite Qian Renxue already using all her strength, she still couldn’t stop Tang San’s domain from pushing hers back, constantly leading his Heaven Dou army forward. At this time, unless she agreed to retreat, her Angelic Domain would only be constantly constricted.
The common soldiers didn’t understand strength or weakness of divine power. The golden light that appeared over Jialing Pass admittedly astonished the Heaven Dou soldiers, but on their side, the golden light Tang San released wasn’t any weaker. They couldn’t make sense of divine power, but they could understand strength. By how the blue light Tang San released constantly pressure the golden light, the other side unable to do anything about it, Tang San very clearly held the advantage. In such circumstances, the morale of the Heaven Dou army grew even stronger, constantly shouting the name of the Seagod and king Lan Hao.
The Seagod originally relied on the faith of the creatures of the sea to become god, and even though Tang San didn’t have the belief of as many sea creatures right now, as the Seagod, the feverish faith of a million soldiers still instantly made his divine sense unprecedentedly strong. As both sides closed in on each other, the already suppressed Qian Renxue felt unable to breathe.
Dazzling Angelic Raiment matched by deep azure Seagod Raiment, Tang San and Qian Renxue, had already become the focal point of the battle. Facing the enormous pressure Tang San brought, Qian Renxue finally couldn’t help drawing her Angelic Sacred Sword. Thrusting the sacred sword toward the sun, all her divine power bursting forth, a pure golden light shone down on her from the sun, the dazzling light instantly slowing the pace of the Heaven Dou army for a moment, Tang San’s Seagod Domain also coming to a halt because of the several times stronger defense.
However, Tang San showed a faint smile at the corners of his mouth. With both sides’ divine sense and domains staked against each other, one side acting first proved that they already admitted their strength was insufficient. Being comprehensively dominated undoubtedly made the seed of defeat in Qian Renxue’s heart sprout.
On the way back, Tang San had already considered all manner of possible methods Qian Renxue might use once she fought him again, and inwardly also had some countermeasures. Dragging him into death, was that so easy?
As if agreed upon in advance, at the same time as Qian Renxue turned pure gold after being enveloped by the True Sunfire, Tang San also raised his Seagod Trident. Golden and blue, the two colored lights instantly withdrew into their bodies, and at the same time turned into two intense halos descending from the sky. Tang San and Qian Renxue also separately charged up into the sky.
They both understood that a battle of gods was a battle on a different level. It couldn’t possibly take place in front of human armies, or both sides would be annihilated. Even if Tang San was stronger than Qian Renxue and the Heaven Dou Empire’s side would have fewer losses than the Spirit Empire, the terrifying side effects of god level powers clashing would cause tens of thousands of deaths. Neither of them wished to see such circumstances. Consequently, their battle wouldn’t be before the walls of Jialing Pass, but rather high in the sky.
Six and eight wings beat simultaneously, Tang San and Qian Renxue were a kilometer up in the blink of an eye, and still climbing. Everything beneath their feet grew smaller and smaller, but their eyes were always fixed on the opponent. This battle was crucial to them, whoever could win in this battle could decide the entire war.
One kilometer, two, three…… Tang San and Qian Renxue climbed the whole way to a ten kilometer altitude, until they were no longer visible from below, the vision of soldiers on both sides completely blocked by clouds and the altitude.
Qian Renxue coldly watched Tang San, doing her best to calm her raging heart, her eyes bursting with intense killing intent. Just as Tang San expected, her feelings of defeat had already been strengthened in the previous confrontation, until she showed signs of being ready to die, then managed to suppress it. But when facing Tang San, she always had a feeling like he was far above her.
Tang San smiled slightly, pointing the Seagod Trident to the side,
“In today’s battle, however you and me win or lose, do you believe that the Spirit Empire still stands a chance? Even if you could keep me from influencing the battlefield, Jialing Pass will still break. You should have seen that my comrades have already advanced to Title Douluo, and two have even broken through rank ninety five, and with the morale of your defenders, there’s no suspense to this battle. With Jialing Pass broken, the Spirit Empire stands undefended. Once the Heaven Dou and Star Luo armies link up, the Spirit Empire will be extinguished.”
Qian Renxue gave a cold snort,
“If you want to fight then fight, since when did you become so talkative?”
Tang San looked calmly at Qian Renxue,
“I only want to inform you that even if you plan to die and pull me down with you, it will still be impossible. You can’t do it. Try it if you don’t believe me.”
Pure golden light flared in Qian Renxue’s eyes, anger, humiliation, unwillingness, instantly pushed her Angelic power to the peak. With her as the center, surging angelic flames instantly soared, three hundred meters high, vast expanses of clouds below them melting away from the heat. If someone looked carefully, the speck of pure golden power would even be visible from the battlefield below them.
Facing Qian Renxue’s furious eruption of power, Tang San did nothing, smiling slightly,
“We’re already ten kilometers up. The closer you are to the sun, the better suited it is for you to fight while absorbing True Sunfire. Since I came here to fight you, I’m sure I can defeat you. Can fighting in a place most ideal to you let you wholeheartedly accept your defeat, what do you say?”
“Drop—— dead——!”
Qian Renxue couldn’t take Tang San’s taunting any more. The three hundred meter True Sunfire behind her instantly condensed into a giant Angelic Sacred Sword, falling from the sky straight towards Tang San, distorting and tearing the air, and the pure golden Angelic Domain also instantly erupted, enough to show that this was Qian Renxue’s full power attack.
Facing such an attack, Tang San still looked elegant and unhurried, holding the Seagod Trident upright in front of him, his gaze frozen on the Seagod’s Heart on the main blade, the Seagod Eight Wings on his back simultaneously spreading as far as they could, scattering wave-like blue light.
Different from how Qian Renxue’s True Sunfire burned away the clouds below them, this moment both the white clouds below as well as behind Tang San all turned into specks of blue light and instantly merged into his Seagod Eight Wings, becoming the purest water element.
Tang San’s Seagod Eight Wings came from the Eight Spider Lances, and afterwards their ability to devour and filter energy had geometrically multiplied under the effect of Tang San’s divine sense. Their absorption process even surpassed Qian Renxue’s Angelic Six Wings. This wasn’t just the advantage of two more wings. The Eight Spider Lances was an evolving external spirit bone, and before Tang San became a god, it’s quality far surpassed any spirit bone in the Angelic Raiment. Moreover, it had always been one with Tang San, while Qian Renxue’s Angelic Raiment had been fused with her one by one as she underwent the divine inheritance. In terms of unity, Tang San definitely held the advantage.
Even though Tang San’s Seagod Raiment were his own spirit bones transformed by and filled with the Seagod’s power, and not originally one set like the Angelic Raiment, the quality of Tang San’s spirit bones still surpassed a hundred thousand years, so the overall quality was still higher than Qian Renxue’s Angelic Raiment.
Tang San’s greatest advantage over Qian Renxue was that everything he had were things he had accumulated drop by drop on his own, while Qian Renxue relied on Spirit Hall, relied on Qian Daoliu, and even more borrowed strength. This was also the reason why Tang San’s strength was a head above hers when both were gods of the same level. It was the real reason Qian Renxue’s strength was less than Tang San’s in all respects.
While on the way back, Tang San had relied on his divine sense to master all kinds of abilities, directly becoming one with the identity of Seagod. This was also the source of his confidence. As for his previous comments, besides confidence, it was enve more to provoke Qian Renxue. In terms of wisdom, Qian Renxue was after all a level below Tang San.
Blue light flashed, and Tang San was scattered and smashed beneath the giant Angelic Sacred Sword, vanishing into nothing. But Qian Renxue still clearly sensed that this was only a Tang San made from water elements. The real Tang San floated gracefully a kilometer away, the eight wings on his back beating softly, looking at her like he was playing. He dodged Qian Renxue’s attack rather than stiffly meeting it.
If their positions were reversed, it would have been impossible for Qian Renxue to do the same. If she was targeted by Tang San’s divine sense, she would have had to stiffly meet Tang San, dodging would have been impossible. But Tang San was different, his divine sense was above hers, and forcefully broke her targeting the instant she attacked, then used the water elements absorbed from the clouds to create a clone, easily leaving Qian Renxue’s attack range.
Tang San used actions to prove to Qian Renxue that his strength was above her in all areas, and also constantly nourished the long planted seed of defeat in her heart.
“Are you scared?”
Qian Renxue looked angrily at Tang San, she didn’t know what was going on, why she couldn’t calm down when she again faced Tang San today.
Tang San’s expression suddenly changed, turning incomparably aggressive, his crystal clear blue eyes suddenly exploding with a berserk aura,
“Afraid? That word should only be used for you. Take my halberd.”
Tang San’s sudden change from the previous calm grace to the current wild aggression left Qian Renxue feeling unwell. But at this moment, surging blue light was already exploding from Tang San. With a single shake, he grew a hundred meters tall, the Seagod Trident growing with him, making the simplest and most direct, but also forceful throwing motion. His Seagod Trident turned into a blue stream, like a shooting star, screaming straight towards Qian Renxue.
The instant the Seagod Trident shot out, the light exploding from Tang San, including the energy that turned him giant, suddenly all infused into the Seagod Trident. To the eyes of Qian Renxue, the moment this weapon flew from Tang San’s hand, it seemed to cut the sky in two. Tang San also returned to normal after it flew off.
Indeed, this was the third form of the Seagod secret skills, One Goes Without Return. This was the complete version, the true One Goes Without Return.
Tang San’s eyes were as bright as sapphire, fixed on Qian Renxue. Surging divine intent instantly coalesced, basically never giving Qian Renxue a chance to dodge, forcing her to meet the strike.
This moment Qian Renxue immediately understood that she had been fooled. What Tang San said before was all to build an atmosphere, leading to her being tricked. She’d now just attacked with all her strength, and even though she had chatted with Tang San a while, and her divine power was quickly recovering, it still wasn’t back at its peak. And Tang San’s strike was clearly already charged up, exploding with all its might. With one side waning and one side waxing, the difference was clear.
But fully aware that she had been tricked, Qian Renxue could do nothing but meet this attack.
The Sacred Angelic Sword swept out, floating in front of her. Her hands moved like lightning, poking three different points on her body. Six golden specks of light exploded with intense golden light in the air, and at the same time, each of the six parts of Qian Renxue’s Angelic Raiment produced a speck of golden light that fused together, one golden six pointed star converging behind the Sacred Angelic Sword.
Right now, with Qian Renxue as the center, everything around turned vague. The Sacred Angelic Sword split into six, the six longswords crossing, then instantly spinning, aggregating a somewhat conical golden entergy. The instant all this was done, Tang San’s Seagod Trident also arrived.
An incomparable explosion instantly erupted. Qian Renxue shook, the Angelic Raiment growing incredibly dazzling, the golden mist she released visibly rushing behind her like a tidal wave, clearly pushed back by the Seagod Trident’s attack power.
Meanwhile, a series of glaring sparks also shot from her wildly spinning Sacred Angelic Swords and the Seagod Trident’s main blade. It was like a golden fireworks display in midair, making space twist and distort, the golden light covered a full square li.
Just as Qian Renxue blocked Tang San’s attack and the Seagod Trident’s attack power was dispersing, an intense energy attack came a second time. The blue light that was just weakening instead intensified, almost breaking through her Sacred Angelic Sword formation’s defensive barrier in one go.
What was going on? Qian Renxue was shocked, her original plan was to take advantage of when the Seagod Trident’s attack power weakened and Tang San still hadn’t pulled it back to use all her strength to sever the divine sense connection between Tang San and the Seagod Trident, just like in her first battle with Tang San after she became a god, and catch the divine weapon. Without the weapon, Tang San’s strength would at least sink thirty percent, substantially increasing her chances of winning the fight. But who knew that this Seagod Trident actually contained such enormous energy, enough to launch a second attack in circumstances like these.
As the God of Angels, Qian Renxue didn’t have an understanding of the Seagod, otherwise she wouldn’t be so shocked. This kind of layered wave divine power was characteristic of the Seagod, waves rising before the previous had receded, in endless layers. How could this complete version One Goes Without Return single attack ability end so easily? How could Tang San give Qian Renxue the chance to take his Seagod Trident again?
Not daring to be neglectful, Qian Renxue focused and used all her strength to meet attack after attack. The energy Tang San’s Seagod Trident erupted with had another strike of divine power appearing before the previous had completely disappeared, with altogether nine waves overlapping. The moment of the last energy explosion, Qian Renxue was blasted away by that terrifying divine power explosion, flying headlong several kilometers. And the Seagod Trident also flew in a wide arc, returning to Tang San’s hand.
Qian Renxue clenched her teeth in midair, forcefully swallowing back a trickle of blood that threatened escaping the corner of her mouth. She felt resounding echoes from her Angelic Raiment, intense energy fluctuations clearly appearing in the Angelic Raiment due to suffering too great a force. The Sacred Angelic Sword even more rang constantly.
Tang San caught the Seagod Trident, but frowned slightly. He had no intention of pursuing. He had used all his strength in the attack just now and needed time to recover. If he rashly pursued and was unable to kill Qian Renxue, her counter attack definitely wouldn’t leave him feeling any better. The divine power of the God of Angels was a bit stronger than he had expected. In Tang San’s original plan, even if this charged attack couldn’t seriously hurt Qian Renxue, it would at least ruin part of her Angelic Raiment. But now it seemed that even the Sacred Angelic Sword that had clashed directly wasn’t even damaged.
Actually, Tang San was overthinking it. His One Goes Without Return really was formidable, but Qian Renxue’s response had been perfect, and Tang San faced not only the Sacred Angelic Sword, but Qian Renxue had infused the Sacred Angelic Sword with the power of all the parts of her Angelic Raiment the moment the Seagod Trident reached her, the Angelic Raiment simultaneously clashing with Tang San’s strike, he naturally couldn’t break it. To loosen the Angelic Raiment was already quite terrifying.
Hong—— Dazzling pure golden flames exploded from Qian Renxue, and Tang San suddenly felt like the sun had grown in the sky. Qian Renxue and the sun were connected by a pure gold pillar of light. Qian Renxue grabbed her Sacred Angelic Sword, and as she caught her balance, her expression had already changed. Her eyes revealed a coldness that Tang San had never seen in her before, the God of Angels, the representative of the holy light, now emanated a smell of death.
Neither side was in any rush to move. Tang San swung his right hand, slashing out a circle of light with the Seagod Trident. A strange and vague seven-pointed star appeared beneath his feet, and the Seagod Eight Wings on his back also seemed to grow transparent, all extending, hanging motionless, just like carved from sapphire. The ring of light beneath his feet expanded, shooting behind him, and under the influence of this blue light, one golden speck of light after another began to appear behind him. Each moment, these blue lights seemed to multiply, converging into a blue river, flocking towards the Seagod Eight Wings on Tang San’s back. The scene was like a raging wave forming in midair.