Tang Hao let out a desperate cry of grief as a mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips. He seemed to age several centuries in an instant; those eyes, which had always been filled with overbearing dominance, were now left with nothing but the grey desolation of death.
They had come to find Xiao Wu. They had come to investigate the anomalies of the lower realm. They had come carrying the entrustment and expectations of Tang San.
But now?
Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing had been captured, their fates unknown.
Ning Rongrong and Oscar, the juniors who were like family to them, had both marched to their deaths just to cover their retreat.
And they themselves were heavily wounded, their divine power exhausted. They were like fish on a cutting board, without even the slightest room for resistance.
Ah Yin was also stunned. She held Tang Hao, watching the nine-colored specks of light dissipate across the sky as silent tears fell. A soul-deep sense of helplessness and terror, unlike anything she had ever felt, completely overwhelmed her.
She suddenly remembered the footage Lu Jingming had played earlier—the image of Xiao Wu snuggling in another man's arms with a face full of happiness. Before, she had firmly believed it was an illusion, a conspiracy by the enemy.
But now, looking at this man before her who was like a demon god—capable of erasing two Second-Class Gods at will and easily swallowing even a strike from a God-King... the trust in her heart began to waver.
Perhaps... perhaps all of that was real?
That thought was more terrifying and despairing to her than death itself.
Lu Jingming stood quietly where he was. He looked toward the spot where Oscar and Ning Rongrong had vanished; there wasn't much joy in his heart.
He... actually hadn't really intended to kill them.
After all, Ning Rongrong and Oscar were complete deities. If he had captured them and handed them over to Ruan Mei, she surely would have been very happy. They would have been such precious experimental materials.
However, he hadn't expected that the Abyss Flower, in its Overlimit Mode, would possess such terrifying power.
He looked down at the lance in his hand. The black-and-white interlaced shaft was currently emitting a hum of satisfaction. The Abyss Flower had amplified his power by far more than a hundredfold... The energy output of that moment was at a level that even a true God-King might not dare to face head-on.
Oscar... was only a Second-Class God in the end. He had used a trick to temporarily borrow a God-King level attack, but his essence—his fragile divine body and soul—simply could not withstand the power of the Abyss Flower. Thus, he died, vanishing silently without even having time to struggle.
This was an accident.
As for Ning Rongrong...
Lu Jingming's gaze fell upon the place where the nine-colored light had finally faded, a trace of imperceptible pity flashing in his eyes. Her death was an inevitability. When her beloved was annihilated in front of her, body and soul, her heart had died at that very moment. What remained was merely a shell driven by hatred, seeking only death. He had simply... granted her wish.
Lu Jingming retracted his gaze, the ripple in his heart smoothing over.
In truth, he had no deep personal grudge against people like Ning Rongrong and Oscar. They simply had different positions. It was not about right or wrong, or good or evil. In this massive game of chess sweeping across the entire plane and involving several worlds, they stood on opposite ends of the board. They were natural enemies.
Since they were enemies, there was only life and death. The winner takes all. History is always written by the victors.
Thinking of this, Lu Jingming put away the Abyss Flower and slowly turned. His gaze fell upon Tang Hao and Ah Yin, who had completely lost their will to fight. A gentle smile once again graced his face, as if nothing had happened.
Exactly one month after the conflict with the Divine Realm Investigation Team, the clamor and tension in Sea Abyss City gradually subsided.
Within a unique space that was completely isolated, Lu Jingming appeared alongside Gu Yuena and Ye Guyi.
This was Ruan Mei's exclusive laboratory.
There were no bottles, jars, or cluttered blueprints here. On the contrary, the entire space presented an extreme sense of futuristic simplicity and cleanliness. The dome was constructed from a special energy crystal that simulated soft, constant daylight. Beneath the light, rows of sophisticated instruments—none of which Lu Jingming could name—operated quietly, emitting subtle, rhythmic hums.
The air was filled with a faint, fresh scent like grass after rain—the fragrance naturally emitted by highly concentrated life essence.
However, within this nearly sterile, orderly sci-fi scene, there were numerous vibrant elements that felt utterly discordant with the environment.
Several fluffy, round yellow electric mice—Pikachus—were chasing and playing on the smooth floor. The red electric pouches on their cheeks occasionally flickered with tiny sparks, letting out cute "Pika Pika" cries.
A few Vulpix with fluffy tails, resembling small foxes, lay elegantly on the warm casings of some instruments, napping with their six tails spread out like blooming flowers.
There were also several Eevees with large ears and brown fluffy neck fur, curiously rubbing their small heads against a light screen that was analyzing data, seemingly intensely interested in the complex symbols flowing across it.
These cute little fellows were Ruan Mei's little creations.
Lu Jingming remembered that he had only summoned a single Pikachu on a whim and had handed over some basic data about Pokémon from his memory to Ruan Mei, who was curious about life forms from all worlds.
He originally thought Ruan Mei would at most study the genetic structure of the Pikachu. He never expected that this genius of life sciences would, in a short time, not only perfectly replicate and optimize the Pikachu's genetic sequence but even extrapolate from it. She had directly created beings like Eevee and Vulpix, which also existed in the data, from scratch.
Lu Jingming had no doubt that with Ruan Mei's terrifying ability to learn and create, as long as she was given enough time and cell samples, she truly might be able to mass-produce legendary Pokémon.
"Pika~ Pi!"
A Pikachu spotted Lu Jingming just as he entered the lab and immediately gave a joyful cry, dashing over on its short legs. This was the one Lu Jingming had originally summoned; they shared the most primal contractual link.
It skillfully tugged at Lu Jingming's pant leg, climbed up to his shoulder in a few quick motions, and then intimately rubbed its red cheek—carrying a faint current—against Lu Jingming's face, expressing its joy and longing. As an Electric-type Pokémon, it felt a primal affinity for Lu Jingming, who also wielded the authority of lightning.
Lu Jingming laughed and scratched the Pikachu's chin, causing the little fellow to squint its eyes in comfort.
His gaze passed over these lively Pokémon and settled on the two core devices in the deepest part of the lab. They were two massive, cylindrical cultivation tanks. The tanks were made of a translucent crystal, and the interiors were filled with a cultivation fluid emitting a soft green life-light. Countless tiny specks of energy floated in the liquid like a miniature galaxy.
Within the tanks, two figures floated quietly.
In the left tank lay Shangguan Weier. This former leader of the Ordinary Alliance now looked peaceful, her seductive and charming face free of its former pain and struggle. Her body, which had been broken and eroded by the power of Destruction, was now completely repaired. her skin was as smooth as new, even gaining a touch of strange allure compared to before.
Faint wisps of destructive aura—somewhere between black and purple—swam like fish in the green fluid near her skin, yet they no longer harmed her body. Instead, they had formed a wonderful symbiosis and balance with her own mental power.
The scene in the right tank was even more shocking.
Inside lay the God of Beasts, Di Tian. This former Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King had now returned to his human form—a cold-faced middle-aged man with black hair and golden pupils.
However, his aura had undergone an earth-shaking change. Back then, Lord Ravager Phantylia had occupied his body, which caused Di Tian's soul and physical form to suffer erosion from the power of Destruction infinitely more severe than that of the unlucky Shangguan Weier. His originally pure Ultimate Darkness attribute had been forcibly injected with a massive amount of Destruction.
Currently, in his cultivation tank, that destructive power was no longer a force of chaotic ruin. Instead, it had condensed into countless visible, deep purple divine runes. Like living things, they were branded onto his skin, flowing slowly along his meridians. This made his entire aura unprecedentedly powerful and dangerous.
Lu Jingming could clearly perceive that even though Di Tian had not yet truly condensed a Godhead, his life tier and energy intensity were already enough to face a Rank 100 True God without a godhead head-on, or perhaps even surpass one.
This was the power of Destruction; even a mere sliver of it was enough to cause a qualitative metamorphosis in life. But similarly, Destruction was the sharpest of double-edged swords. While it granted the holder great power, it would also affect their mind at every moment, causing them to irrepressibly walk the path of ruin. Whether it was destroying others or destroying oneself, it was all part of the Path of Destruction. Its end point was heat death—the final conclusion of all things in the universe.
"Di Tian, he..."
A voice full of worry sounded beside Lu Jingming. Gu Yuena had walked to his side at some point. Her purple eyes, which were always cold and noble, were now fixed unblinkingly on the right cultivation tank, her beautiful face filled with complex emotions.
Ever since he was possessed by Phantylia, Di Tian's mental state had been extremely unstable. When he was conscious, he would suffer agonizing pain due to the uncontrollable destructive power within him. He had even knelt before Gu Yuena several times in the most humble posture, begging the master he had served his whole life to kill him with her own hands to find release.
But how could she bear to kill the God of Beasts, who had always followed her with unwavering loyalty and protected the soul beast race? In her desperation, she had sought out Lu Jingming, placing her last hope in him.
Beside Gu Yuena, Ye Guyi was also nervously watching the left tank belonging to Shangguan Weier.
"Don't worry," Lu Jingming comforted the two women, sensing their tension. "They are fine now. You can take them back in a little while."
His tone was full of confidence—a confidence born from absolute trust in Ruan Mei's abilities. "Don't question the ability of a top-tier genius in the field of life sciences. For Ruan Mei, Di Tian's problem isn't a problem at all."
Just then, a figure walked over from the other side of the lab. It was Mobius.
It was rare for the leader of World Serpent, who also possessed extremely high attainments in life sciences, to appear here today. To Mobius, Ruan Mei's existence was a fatal attraction. It was the excitement of finding a worthy opponent, the desire to discover an even higher peak, and a subtle sense of competition and recognition between those of the same kind.
Unfortunately, while Ruan Mei was socially adept, her core was that of an extremely reclusive scholar who was only immersed in her own world of research. Aside from Herta and Lu Jingming, almost no one could establish a truly friendly personal relationship with her. Even Elysia had been rebuffed; she had only managed to see Ruan Mei's face a handful of times. Compared to Herta, who was sharp-tongued but actually easy to talk to, Ruan Mei was, in a sense, much harder to get along with.
Mobius herself had only seen Ruan Mei a few times. Back when she heard that an interstellar genius on par with Herta had arrived in Sea Abyss City—and that her research focus was also life sciences—her proud and competitive heart as a top scientist had been instantly ignited. She had visited actively, wanting to conduct an academic exchange, but like Elysia, she was kept outside the door. Given Mobius's arrogant personality, she naturally wouldn't try to force a connection where she wasn't wanted.
However, the scale of Ruan Mei's work since arriving in Sea Abyss City had indeed left her deeply shocked. Whether it was creating entirely new life species out of thin air or the drastic plan to modify the planet's ecological environment, it demonstrated a god-like creative power that she currently could not fully comprehend.
At this moment, Mobius ignored Lu Jingming and the others. Her emerald snake-like pupils were fixed unblinkingly on the two cultivation tanks, especially the one containing Shangguan Weier. After all, when Shangguan Weier was first rescued, she had been sent to Mobius first. She understood Shangguan Weier's terrible condition—eroded by Destruction—better than anyone.
But Mobius's understanding of the power of the Path of Destruction was not deep enough, and she lacked effective means to handle it. Therefore, she could not cure Shangguan Weier's problem. All she could do was use her life science technology to continuously repair the woman's damaged body, prolonging her life and keeping her hanging by a thread until Ruan Mei arrived.
She looked at the flawless Shangguan Weier in the tank, whose life tier had even undergone a leap, and a flash of extremely complex emotion crossed her eyes.
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A new Demon Slayer fanfic has been uploaded! Don't forget to check it out—it's really good and I think you'll love it.