Between the pillars, a swirling vortex churned—the entrance to the second layer of the "Taishi Grotto-Heaven."

"Hiss!"

With a violent, ripping sound, two colossal azure claws tore a massive rift in the void, and the figure of the Sea Dragon God Venerable, several meters tall, flashed through.

The Sea Dragon God Venerable immediately fixed his gaze upon the vortex.

"It seems I am the first to arrive here!"

His feet struck the ground, and the Sea Dragon God Venerable sneered, turning back toward the boundless desert. "Invincible beneath the Tai Zun? Nie Kong, I truly wish to see if that title suits you!"

With that, the Sea Dragon God Venerable closed his eyes and sat down to meditate.

A boundless surge of Water Divinity surged forth, coalescing into a barrier spanning tens of meters, completely obscuring the vortex entrance behind him.

Simultaneously, an intangible aura pulsed constantly from within the Sea Dragon God Venerable’s body, rippling outwards in successive waves, like the tide.

"Hmm?"

After a prolonged silence, the Sea Dragon God Venerable’s eyes snapped open...

Across the endless sands, Nie Kong flew like a shooting star.

"Sea Dragon God Venerable?"

Suddenly, those four words burst from Nie Kong’s mouth, a relaxed smile playing on his face as his tightly wound nerves eased considerably. "Tai Yan, Hulu, it seems our luck isn't bad; only the Sea Dragon God Venerable arrived before us... Wait, who is that approaching from the rear right? It’s the Night God Venerable?"

Tai Yan grew somewhat tense. "Brother, what do we do now?"

"Ambush?" Hulu’s eyes darted left and right with an idea.

"Charge straight through and seize the time!" Nie Kong, however, laughed heartily.

As he spoke, Nie Kong made no attempt to conceal his aura; instead, he unleashed it wantonly, condensing it into a substantial column of white smoke that shot straight into the heavens.

As Nie Kong sped onward, the smoke column hovered above his head like a tempestuous tornado, its ferocious roar shaking the void for hundreds of miles.

"Boom!"

As if summoned in response to Nie Kong, a massive pillar of azure smoke erupted a hundred miles ahead, stirring waves of deafening noise like raging tempests.

Immediately following, from the desert a hundred miles behind and to the right, a dense plume of black mist shot up.

In that instant, the world seemed to dim perceptibly.

The black mist rapidly condensed into two enormous, ink-black eyes, their gaze piercing through a hundred miles of space to fix upon Nie Kong, their pupils brimming with contempt and killing intent.

Nie Kong acted as if he hadn't noticed the Night God Venerable’s provocation, keeping his head down and pressing forward.

His speed reached its absolute zenith, causing the very void to crackle with explosive reports. The distance between the blue and white smoke columns rapidly closed: one hundred miles, fifty miles, thirty miles...

Ten miles! Five miles!

Faintly now, Nie Kong could even make out the figure standing at the edge of the desert.

"Nie Kong, you have finally arrived. I have waited a long time for you!"

The Sea Dragon God Venerable’s eyes flashed like lightning, and he sprang upward.

Instantly, a cataclysmic roar erupted from his towering body, unleashing torrents of azure energy. The surrounding yellow sands were swiftly engulfed, and within moments, an area spanning several thousand meters transformed into a sapphire ocean—waves churned violently, their crests soaring a thousand meters high, seemingly intent on shattering the very sky.

"Sea Dragon, I cleared out the rot within the Immortal Zither Sea for you. Not only are you ungrateful, but you dare obstruct my path? Do you even know the meaning of the word 'shame'?" A mocking laugh echoed across heaven and earth. Nie Kong's body suddenly swelled to a hundred meters, and in just a few strides, he plunged into the ocean ahead.

"Whoosh!"

His divine power surged, igniting the fierce "Chaos Heavenly Fire." The crushing waves slammed into him, only to be instantly vaporized by the flames enveloping Nie Kong’s form.

"Serpent Dragon Dharma Sword, kill!"

The Sea Dragon God Venerable’s pupils constricted as he bellowed the command.

Before the words faded, the small dragon coiled around his arm suddenly sprang free, straightening and swelling in the void, instantly transforming into a colossal serpent-shaped greatsword.

Grasping the sword, the Sea Dragon God Venerable swung down savagely toward Nie Kong.

As the greatsword moved, the surrounding ocean, spanning thousands of meters, roared in chaos. Countless droplets of water burst outward; each crystalline drop reflected the sword's shadow, then transformed into sharp, tiny swords that descended upon Nie Kong in a relentless deluge, threatening to cleave his enormous form into pieces.

"Sea Dragon, let’s see whose is mightier—your Serpent Dragon Dharma Sword or my 'Blood Prison Sword King Tree'!" Nie Kong laughed loudly. The "Blood Prison Sword King Tree" materialized at once.

"Whoosh!"

Nie Kong grabbed a root and gave it a shake. All the sword-shaped leaves detached from the branches, shooting out in dense clouds in all directions.

Clang, clang, clang, clang...

The continuous, crisp collision sounds, like striking metal, accompanied the simultaneous shattering of countless sword-shaped water droplets and leaves, detonating fissures in the void across thousands of meters.

Nie Kong roared with laughter again, stepping forward a hundred meters. The now-bare trunk of the "Blood Prison Sword King Tree" phenomenon crashed into the tip of the "Serpent Dragon Dharma Sword."

Bang!

The "Serpent Dragon Dharma Sword" actually splintered inch by inch.

The Sea Dragon God Venerable’s true form was a "Viper Sea Serpent Dragon" from the Immortal Zither Sea. After achieving Ninth-Grade Spirit God status, he had further refined a Dharma Image avatar of a "Viper Sea Serpent Dragon." This "Serpent Dragon Dharma Sword" was now formed from that avatar; to think it shattered on impact.

"The Serpent Dragon Dharma Sword is nothing special!"

Nie Kong scoffed. The "Blood Prison Sword King Tree" in his hand paused for no instant after shattering the sword, continuing its lightning-fast trajectory toward the Sea Dragon God Venerable.

The Sea Dragon God Venerable’s expression turned sinister. "The Blood Prison Sword King Tree is indeed indestructible! However, I have cultivated for over ten thousand years since becoming a Spirit God—surely I possess more than just this single technique?"

"Ten Thousand Dharma Images, gather the sea to form an army!"

With an angry shout, the shattered fragments of the "Serpent Dragon Dharma Sword" coalesced into a hundred-meter-long "Viper Sea Serpent Dragon," which opened its massive maw and inhaled ferociously. All the surging waves within a thousand-meter radius rushed inward and were instantly swallowed clean, revealing the sandy ground once more.

"Buzz!"

The Viper Sea Serpent Dragon snapped its mouth shut, its abdomen rumbling, and in the next instant, its mouth opened again, spitting forth phantom images of "Viper Sea Serpent Dragons."

A vast aura saturated the void...

Nearly every phantom image was equivalent to a peak Eighth-Grade powerful Spirit God.

Nie Kong’s gaze sharpened. The "Blood Prison Sword King Tree" in his hand spun like a gyroscope, grinding dozens of the phantom images into dust, yet countless more figures hurtled toward his body.

Nie Kong did not attempt to evade in the slightest; he even extinguished the "Chaos Heavenly Fire," concentrating all his Chaos Divinity solely on the "Blood Prison Sword King Tree."

Bang bang bang bang!

Thousands of "Viper Sea Serpent Dragons" engulfed Nie Kong, the explosive sounds merging into a massive torrent that kicked up towering clouds of yellow sand. Nie Kong stumbled back two steps, his indestructible "Crimson Star Battle Body" cracking with countless fine fissures, resembling fragile porcelain on the verge of shattering after a violent impact.

This was the Sea Dragon God Venerable’s most potent maneuver, one that took him several millennia to master.

He never used it lightly even when sparring with other God Venerables; this was its first true display today, and it was effective. This technique consumed an enormous amount of divine power; he would never have used it had the Night God Venerable not been imminent. He was determined to claim Nie Kong's Chaos Divinity.

"Nie Kong, your time to die has come!"

The Sea Dragon God Venerable’s body shimmered, transforming into his true form—the "Viper Sea Serpent Dragon," stretching several thousand meters long with an extraordinarily thick torso. He swung his head, and his mouth, which opened to a height of tens of meters, lunged toward Nie Kong’s face. His twelve fangs, like twelve peerlessly sharp scimitars, slashed toward Nie Kong's skull.

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