The Demon Empress's icy gaze slightly condensed. She naturally recognized Xu Zihuang.
In the past few years, she and Xu Zihuang had crossed paths twice. The first time was in the deep sea south of the original Douluo Continent. At that time, Xu Zihuang, who was only at the Soul Emperor level, had displayed half-god-level spiritual power and successfully escaped from her grasp along with another human woman. The second time was in a sea area not far from the Star Ocean Continent. Xu Zihuang had helped her slaughter the entire Demon Soul Great White Shark clan.
There was only a little over a year between the two encounters, yet she had personally witnessed Xu Zihuang's strength leap forward. Among human soul masters, this kind of talent could absolutely be called heaven-defying, even unprecedented in history.
At the very least, the despicable person who had killed her husband back then was far inferior to Xu Zihuang in this regard.
And now, four years later, when Xu Zihuang appeared before her again, she instead felt a vague sense of oppression and palpitation.
If all of this still made the Demon Empress somewhat dismissive, the fact that her left hand was clearly being restrained by an invisible force, preventing her from crushing Ma Xiaotao's throat, was something else entirely.
"Spatial imprisonment force?" The Demon Empress's icy gaze began to change. It seemed as though she had regained some rationality, and a grave expression emerged deep within her eyes.
Thanks to the powerful physical talent of the Deep Sea Demon Whale clan, she had also cultivated dual complementary yin-yang soul cores. However, because she lived in the deep sea, her cultivation direction and insights differed from those of the soul beasts on the continent.
The Demon Empress had not condensed a second soul core with the space attribute like the Beast God Di Tian or the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler. The two soul cores she had condensed were water attribute and lightning attribute, corresponding respectively to the two origin attributes of her original body, the Deep Sea Demon Whale. Moreover, she had not pursued the direction of spatial power but had instead taken a different path and mastered the mysteries of gravity and repulsion. Her earlier casual suppression of Ma Xiaotao, Feng Tianyao, and Jin Chenghong had been achieved through her control over gravity and repulsion.
Although the Demon Empress's comprehension of spatial power was not as good as that of the Beast God Di Tian or the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler, having cultivated dual complementary yin-yang soul cores, her vision was still present. This level of spatial imprisonment force would be difficult for even a human Limit Douluo with a space-attribute martial soul to control.
Unless it was a human Limit Douluo who had also cultivated dual complementary yin-yang soul cores and gained a deeper understanding of spatial power through them.
Such a thought instantly arose in the Demon Empress's mind, but soon the corners of her mouth curved into a mocking arc.
Not to mention whether the frail bodies of human soul masters could successfully cultivate dual complementary yin-yang soul cores, even if Xu Zihuang really was a Limit Douluo who had cultivated them, what did she have to fear?
Feeling the Demon Empress's killing intent, which had become extremely dense, Ma Xiaotao's heart suddenly tightened. She subconsciously turned her head to look at the Demon Empress.
An unparalleled vast energy exploded from the Demon Empress's body. In that instant, the surrounding space seemed to solidify. Deep blue light rose from the northern sea and spread toward this side. The overcast sky once again became filled with dense dark clouds, from which nine massive lightning bolts of astonishing power descended.
The water-attribute and lightning-attribute energies fused perfectly here. Intense purple-golden light began to spread across the Demon Empress's body.
Whether it was the deep blue light spreading from the sea or the purple lightning falling from the sky, both were covered with a faint golden glow.
A layer of blue-purple crystal condensed on the surface of the Demon Empress's skin, sparkling and noble, with golden halos flowing across it. At this moment, the Demon Empress's incomparably beautiful face displayed only endless majesty. The previous sickly and frenzied appearance had faded considerably.
"You spoke up to defend that despicable hypocrite. No one can save you. Go die for this seat!"
The Demon Empress snorted coldly. The layer of blue-purple crystal condensed on her body exploded. In mid-air, it formed a massive blue-purple vortex that forcefully broke through the seal of Xu Zihuang's spatial imprisonment force. The shattered crystals were like countless sharp blades, possessing extremely powerful and fierce cutting power. Inside them surged the violent energy of dual water and lightning attributes. If an ordinary ten-thousand-year sea soul beast were caught in it, it would likely be torn apart in an instant.
And Ma Xiaotao was located right at the center of this blue-purple vortex.
Xu Zihuang, who was floating in the void, maintained a calm expression on his face the entire time, completely unmoved. Six red and three gold soul rings quietly appeared around him, slowly pulsing.
The ninth silver-gold soul ring shone, radiating a divine and noble light. At the same time, countless brilliant golden light points began to flicker between heaven and earth.
These golden light points did not appear large, but each contained thousands upon thousands within, forming their own independent worlds. Moreover, there seemed to be some commonality between each golden light point, resonating with one another. As a result, this phenomenon quickly enveloped the entire sky of the Star Ocean Continent.
The originally dim sky now looked as if it were adorned with countless golden, resplendent stars.
The native inhabitants of the Star Ocean Continent all looked up at the sky without exception, bursting into exclamations of surprise and praising it as a divine miracle. Within each golden star, scenes from the northern part of the Star Ocean Continent were projected.
What the Star Ocean Continent natives were seeing in those projections right now was precisely the confrontation between Xu Zihuang and the Demon Empress.
"Ninth soul skill: Eternal Time and Space." Xu Zihuang chanted softly. The golden light point closest to him shattered, and Ma Xiaotao's figure immediately appeared.
Having regained control of her body, Ma Xiaotao gasped for breath in lingering fear. She looked around, completely unaware of what had just happened. Noticing the gloomy-faced Demon Empress opposite her, she seemed to understand something and turned her gaze sideways toward Xu Zihuang beside her.
Yu Tianhuang's appearance was no different from what she remembered, but his facial expression had clearly become much colder, and his entire aura seemed to have undergone a heaven-shaking change.
Is it my illusion?
Ma Xiaotao muttered to herself in her heart. Then, when she saw the incredibly shocking nine soul rings around Xu Zihuang and the phenomenon in the sky, her pupils contracted sharply once more.
"You…"
"Step back. She is not an opponent you can handle." Xu Zihuang did not even look at Ma Xiaotao, his voice cold. As he spoke, he extended his right hand forward. A simple black colored Annihilation Divine Spear condensed in his right palm. In that instant, every golden star-like light point in the sky was stirred. At this moment, he was the incarnation of heaven and earth, the ruler of this time and space.
The soul skill Eternal Time and Space was the second soul skill brought to Xu Zihuang by the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler's ninth soul ring. However, during the process of absorbing the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler's ninth soul ring, whether by coincidence or because of perfect attribute compatibility, the divine imprints of the God of Time and the God of Space had perfectly fused into it.
Consequently, both soul skills attached to his ninth soul ring were exceptionally powerful.
Earlier, Xu Zihuang had used the Space-Time Barrier to annihilate a group of Holy Spirit Cult Title Douluo evil soul masters, including Zhong Liwu and Feng Ling, which fully proved this point. And the power of the Eternal Time and Space soul skill was even greater than that of the Space-Time Barrier.
Each of those golden light points was actually a space-time node existing within the Douluo plane. Every space-time node existed independently among countless times and spaces, containing a universe within a mustard seed and forming its own world, with endless profundity.
As the controller of these countless space-time nodes, in theory, Xu Zihuang's power would be infinite. Of course, with his current cultivation, he could not achieve that yet. Perhaps only after he attained the position of a god would he be able to fully comprehend the mysteries of the Eternal Time and Space skill. It was even possible that he could project his divine sense into thousands upon thousands of planes, as well as the past and future, becoming a truly immortal and eternal existence.
Ma Xiaotao looked at Xu Zihuang with a complicated expression. Having personally experienced the crisis of life and death and recognized her own capabilities earlier, she ultimately did not stubbornly insist as she had in the past.
However, before leaving, she turned her back to Xu Zihuang and, as if possessed by a ghost, moved her red lips.
"Although I don't really like how you look right now, my intuition tells me you can defeat her. Don't let this continent become filled with corpses and blood."
After saying this, Ma Xiaotao released her Fire Phoenix martial soul. The golden-red flame wings behind her flapped, and she flew downward. On the other side, Feng Tianyao and Jin Chenghong, who had just escaped, also noticed the change here. Their gazes converged on Xu Zihuang in unison.
"It's him?!" Feng Tianyao recognized Xu Zihuang at a glance, his heart filled with shock and uncertainty.
Back then, Xu Zihuang had only been at the Soul Saint level, yet already possessed the strength to easily kill an old Title Douluo like Hua Xiong Yan. Now that he had broken through to the Title Douluo realm, coupled with such a terrifying soul ring configuration, just how powerful had his strength become?
In the midst of despair, he saw the final hope.
Jin Chenghong, beside Feng Tianyao, was equally shocked. Seeing the unusual expression on Feng Tianyao's face, he couldn't help but ask in a deep voice with profound eyes, "Brother Feng, is he the unparalleled genius from another continent you mentioned?"
"Yes, it's him." Feng Tianyao nodded heavily, then continued with burning eyes.
"Moreover, the fate of our Star Ocean Continent from now on will all depend on him."
At this moment, Ma Xiaotao flew over and loudly reminded the two, "Leave here first."
Feng Tianyao and Jin Chenghong both turned solemn. They activated their soul power to fly through the air and followed behind Ma Xiaotao, each with their own thoughts.
Xu Zihuang and the Demon Empress were still confronting each other high in the sky, neither yielding an inch in their gazes. Although the Demon Empress's total soul power, cultivated over tens of thousands of years, was extremely terrifying, Xu Zihuang was using the Eternal Time and Space soul skill to control the energy within countless space-time nodes across the Star Ocean Continent, which was more than enough to make up for the gap in this aspect. Each of these space-time nodes was equivalent to an alternative soul core. Moreover, Xu Zihuang's soul power quality and spiritual power realm were both superior to the Demon Empress's.
As for the physical body, the Demon Empress had already reached the same level as the Deep Sea Demon Whale King from back then through the whale pearl left behind by her husband as a contingency, infinitely approaching the god level. If not for this, she would not have been able to so unscrupulously devour large numbers of humans and sea soul beasts to increase her cultivation.
Taking all of this into consideration, from the surface, Xu Zihuang held a comprehensive advantage.
The Demon Empress narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze icy as she spoke mockingly.
"Hypocritical human, do you want to become the savior of this continent and be like that bullshit Sea God, a fame-seeking hypocrite?"
Hearing the Demon Empress's words, Xu Zihuang gave a cold laugh.
"Actually, what I want more is your soul rings and soul bones."
"Hahahahahahaha—" The Demon Empress was first stunned, then laughed wildly as if she had gone mad.
"You are indeed more honest than that hypocrite."
Xu Zihuang said nothing more. He slowly raised the Annihilation Divine Spear in his hand. The surrounding light dimmed as he moved. The spear tip pointed directly at the Demon Empress opposite him. The golden light points behind him became even more dazzling, and his entire aura surged once again.
"If you want this seat's soul rings and soul bones, come and take them with your ability. I'm just afraid you don't have what it takes." The Demon Empress's laughter suddenly stopped. Her eyes icy cold, she abruptly raised her right hand. Although Xu Zihuang, before her, was more honest than the person who had killed her husband ten thousand years ago, that did not mean she would show any mercy.
In her eyes, all humans were greedy and shameless, and they all deserved to die!
Black light surged. The invisible repulsion force erupted from the Demon Empress's right palm, attempting to destroy all the space-time nodes behind Xu Zihuang.
Although the Demon Empress's mental state had never been very stable since her husband, the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, had died at Tang San's hands, her long years of battling other sea soul beasts in the deep sea meant she was by no means lacking in combat experience. She made the most accurate judgment in the first instant.
Xu Zihuang's expression remained unchanged as he thrust the Annihilation Divine Spear forward. A black gleam expanded at the spear tip, instantly reducing the powerful repulsion force erupting from the Demon Empress's palm to nothingness.
The most powerful aspect of the annihilation attribute was its ability to erase everything that existed in the world, whether it was real physical matter or energy bodies such as soul power and spiritual power.
The repulsion and gravity that the Demon Empress had comprehended and controlled also fell into this category.
With a light and casual move, he neutralized the Demon Empress's attack. Xu Zihuang immediately seized the initiative. Behind him, within those countless golden star-like space-time nodes, strange silver pupils suddenly emerged. These silver pupils were miniature versions of the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler.
Immediately after, streaks of black spiritual paralysis rays shot out from them. These rays had no other colors, only pure black. The dense black light connected across the space, giving off the feeling that heaven and earth were changing color.
This was not purely spiritual paralysis rays. On top of that foundation, Xu Zihuang had also fused the most origin time and space power through those space-time nodes.
A single black ray naturally could not compare to the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler's time-space light, but when these spiritual paralysis rays, fused with time-space power, were combined, they became extremely terrifying.
Moreover, due to the effect of the time-space power, they were almost impossible to evade.
The Demon Empress's mind sank. With a shake of her body, she reverted to her original form, her entire body flashing with black-purple light. At that very moment, the countless black rays that were difficult to distinguish with the naked eye pierced through the Demon Empress's enormous body from all directions.
The Deep Sea Demon Whale, nearly eight hundred meters in length, was as if imprisoned in the air, falling into a state of stagnation.
Ma Xiaotao, Feng Tianyao, and Jin Chenghong, who had already moved a certain distance away, happened to witness this scene. Feng Tianyao and Jin Chenghong, who had pinned their hopes on Xu Zihuang, could not conceal the joy in their hearts, while the emotions in Ma Xiaotao's pink eyes became even more complicated.
The facts proved that her intuition was correct. The current Yu Tianhuang was already vastly different from before, making her feel extremely unfamiliar.
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Here are the chapters for today (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
"Don't forget there are chapters available on Patreon."
"From Douluo to Godhood by Defy 30 Advance chapters."
"Douluo: Far North Invincibledo 30 Advance chapters."
"Douluo Peerless: Living as an Evil Soul Master the novel is already finished on Patreon."
"Douluo Dalu 2:Peerless Tang Sect Dawn of Sun and Moon the novel is already finished on Patreon."
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