Because Gu Yuena was holding back, the Demon Empress hadn't been pushed to the brink and could still occasionally check on the Killing God's situation.
Suddenly seeing the Killing God groan and stagger back, blood seeping from his ears and nose as if severely wounded, the Demon Empress's heart sank sharply, her pupils contracting.
"What happened? How could the Killing God be suddenly so badly injured?!"
The Demon Empress couldn't understand the situation at all.
The Killing God had been clearly in the advantage—why had the situation suddenly reversed? What had Huo Yuhao done in that instant?
"Still watching others?" Gu Yuena's voice suddenly sounded beside her ear.
She turned sharply to see the silver-white figure had somehow closed in, seven-colored elemental light flowing in her palm, slowly condensing into a brilliant seven-colored lotus.
Petal by petal, each containing a different elemental power—breathtakingly beautiful, yet deadly to the extreme.
The Demon Empress's pupils contracted. Instinctively, she summoned the world's power and laws to form a water barrier to block—
BOOM!
The seven-colored lotus exploded before her. The seven elemental forces erupted in sequence—ice, fire, wind, thunder, light, dark, space—layering like a tsunami that engulfed her.
The Demon Empress was thrown back dozens of zhang, her hands split and bleeding.
Yet she paid it no mind, nor did she dwell on Gu Yuena's retort.
The Killing God was severely wounded—the situation had completely spiraled out of control. She had to retreat now.
With that thought, a gleam of resolve flashed in the Demon Empress's eyes as she began preparing.
Above, though his divine consciousness was wounded and his aura had plummeted, the Killing God still gripped his sword tightly, its blood light dim but not extinguished.
He assessed his mental state, then looked at Huo Yuhao across from him, suppressed fury and humiliation churning beneath his gaze.
"Good, very good! To surpass me in the spiritual path, you truly have skill. I must admit, you are the most dangerous and foundationally strongest human I have ever encountered."
"But—" the Killing God's eyes flared with blood light, his voice low as thunder, "you ultimately failed to seize the chance to kill me. And to heavily wound me, you paid a price as well. Your divine consciousness is nearly depleted, isn't it? In this state, how much combat power do you have left?"
The Killing God was right—Huo Yuhao's Creation Awakening had ended, his brow throbbing with pain, his Sea of Spirit empty; his divine consciousness was indeed greatly drained.
To severely wound the Killing God's divine consciousness, he'd almost exhausted his own power and was now relying on the Creation Divine Persona, Gold of Life, and other sources to recover.
Facing the Killing God's words, his expression barely changed. He simply smiled faintly. "Just some consumption—I'll recover gradually. It's nothing compared to the severe wound you've suffered."
He paused, a hint of undisguised mockery in his tone: "Being bested by a mortal again—how does it feel?"
The Killing God's face turned ashen. The hated image of Ji Dong rose in his mind, the veins in his sword hand bulging, blood light surging violently on his blade.
"Looking for death! Outside that spiritual space, let's see what other means you have to harm me!"
"Bloodbath Eight Directions!"
The killing move he hadn't been able to unleash before entering the spiritual space was brought out again.
BOOM!
A ten-thousand-zhang blood-colored sword light burst from the Killing God's blade, carrying world-destroying killing laws like a blood-colored dragon, roaring toward Huo Yuhao.
Not only that—the sword light also encompassed Tiandou City behind Huo Yuhao.
Previously, both had been careful to control the residual energy, minimizing damage below.
But now, enraged and out of patience, the Killing God held nothing back. The sword light left a bottomless trench in its wake as it descended upon Huo Yuhao and Tiandou City.
If it landed, the entire city would likely be annihilated.
On the ground, the residents of Tiandou City—who moments ago had been praying for the Killing God—now stared wide-eyed, their faces ashen. The blood-colored sword light painted the sky red, reflecting the endless fear in their eyes.
"Lord Killing God... he's going to destroy us too..." one voice trailed off as the descending sword pressure flattened him to the ground, unable to breathe.
"Run!" More reacted, cries and screams mixing into chaos as people scattered in all directions, not knowing where to flee.
That sword light seemed to devour everything.
Where could they run?
Even the Tower experts in the city changed expressions.
But that apocalyptic sword light never fell.
A massive Ice Fire Taiji Diagram had interposed itself between the sword light and Tiandou City.
Huo Yuhao had activated Reincarnation True Body again, Ice-Devouring Extreme Flame blazing around him. Under the collision and unification of opposing ice and fire laws, he erupted with power far beyond his normal state.
Ninth Spirit Ability—Yin-Yang Burning Heaven Transformation.
This was Huo Yuhao's other ninth spirit ability for the Ice Empress martial soul, aside from Ice Fire Infinite. By igniting the Ice-Devouring Extreme Flame—a true fire containing both ice and fire laws—it greatly amplified his power, similar to how the Fire Dragon King lineage burned Crimson Gold Mysterious Flame for strength.
But burning his true fire came at a cost. If pushed without restraint, it could cause irreversible damage to the Ice Empress martial soul's origin, impossible to repair. So this spirit ability was meant only as a trump card.
Still, its explosive power was impressive and worth the cost. Though his divine consciousness was greatly depleted, with full mobilization combined with Yin-Yang Burning Heaven Transformation, Reincarnation True Body, and other boosts, his current power barely reached late third-class deity level—enough to face the Killing God's attack head-on.
Huo Yuhao clenched his fist.
The Ice Fire Taiji Diagram exploded instantly, swallowing the blood-colored sword light and killing intent, scattering into a rain of light that swept in all directions.
Seeing this, the Killing God's expression grew darker.
If he were at his peak, this attack's power would reach around late third-class deity level, and Huo Yuhao wouldn't have been able to block it so easily.
But now, his divine consciousness was severely wounded. For a divine-level expert, divine consciousness was fundamental—even for those not specializing in the spiritual path, it was a crucial part of their strength.
Whether for combat detection, condensing killing intent and sword intent, mobilizing laws and the world's power, or amplifying attacks—all relied on divine consciousness.
Now, with his divine consciousness severely wounded, he dared not use it freely. His killing intent had declined, and the sword light's power was less than seventy percent of its peak. Meanwhile, though Huo Yuhao's divine consciousness was depleted, it wasn't wounded, making it much easier for him to resist.
Still, the Killing God's situation was actually better than most—ordinary divine-level experts with such spiritual wounds would have lost most of their combat power long ago.
But the Killing God was different. He'd once been sealed in the Fire God's Sword by Ji Dong, suppressed and refined daily, nearly destroyed. Having survived that ordeal, his divine consciousness had far greater resilience than most.
So even with such severe wounds, he could grit his teeth and maintain a certain level of combat power.
Having returned from hell, his willpower was second to none!
Huo Yuhao was somewhat surprised by this.
But in the heat of battle, he didn't dwell on it. He raised the Tian Fen Shen Chu, Crimson Gold Mysterious Flame and seven-colored divine thunder reigniting, and shot toward the Killing God like a streak of light.
The Killing God steeled himself and met the charge.
The two divine artifacts clashed again, sparks flying.
"I didn't expect you to still have another trick up your sleeve."
The Killing God stared at the blue flames surging around Huo Yuhao, his tone low.
In their previous exchanges, Huo Yuhao had only used Reincarnation True Body, never revealing this technique.
"Just a trump card. You must have some too." Huo Yuhao's tone was flat. "Why not show me? You won't get another chance."
"Trying to provoke me?"
The Killing God snorted. "You're not worthy."
As he spoke, his blade turned, a blood-colored sword light striking like a serpent at Huo Yuhao's throat. Fast and vicious, killing intent condensed to a single point.
But Huo Yuhao was ready. The Tian Fen Shen Chu blocked horizontally; Crimson Gold Mysterious Flame exploded, firmly holding the blood light. Not only that, he used the momentum to counter, sweeping the divine weapon in an arc, unleashing an intent that rivaled laws, forcing the Killing God back two steps.
In the subsequent exchanges, Huo Yuhao held the advantage.
The Killing God was driven back, his expression dark.
His wounded divine consciousness had greatly reduced his power, even slowing his perception of Huo Yuhao's movements.
Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao had grown thoroughly familiar with his techniques through their prolonged battle, his application of divine power and laws becoming increasingly refined, even his "intent as law" having entered the door. And now he'd revealed trump cards like Yin-Yang Burning Heaven Transformation.
With these shifts, even outside the spiritual space, he was no longer a match for Huo Yuhao!
But what the Killing God found even harder to accept was something else.
Through these exchanges, the Killing God suddenly realized—Huo Yuhao hadn't truly stepped into the divine level yet!
This discovery made his pupils contract sharply, like ice water poured over his heart.
When he'd first seen Huo Yuhao, he'd assumed he was using the Fire God's divine seat to re-enter godhood.
But later, Huo Yuhao's various anomalies showed he wasn't the Fire God.
At the time, the Killing God had formed various theories about this strange situation, but never quite understood.
Only now, with Huo Yuhao's divine consciousness greatly depleted, the connection between his divine consciousness and divine power had been exposed—revealing the truth:
Huo Yuhao's divine power wasn't entirely his own. There was a barrier between it and his divine consciousness. His cultivation had reached the divine level through that divine artifact-level Battle Armor—a false divine realm built on Battle Armor!
In other words, Huo Yuhao was still just a mortal who hadn't become a deity!
An existence that hadn't even fully crossed the divine threshold, yet had held out against a former second-class deity for so long, and even improved throughout the battle.
Who could accept such a fact?
The Killing God took a deep breath. The shock in his eyes gradually turned to gravity—and deeper killing intent.
A mere mortal, not yet a deity, had reached mid-third-class deity level, and with all his trump cards could even touch late third-class.
If he truly became a deity, what level would he reach?
Godhood was a qualitative transformation—all abilities would improve dramatically. If he could touch late third-class without godhood, becoming a deity would likely push him to mortal-world second-class deity level!
At that point, whether or not Huo Yuhao had a divine seat, the Douluo Plane would struggle to suppress him.
No—whether for revenge or for his great plan, this child must die!
"I must use those two techniques. He must die here today!"
Having been hesitant to use his trump cards due to his spiritual wounds, the Killing God now steeled himself.
Even if using those techniques worsened his divine consciousness, left permanent scars, or set him back to square one—he didn't care.
The Killing God retreated, putting distance between them. He flipped his left hand, holding the Killing God's Sword horizontally before him, and raised his right hand, fingers together like a blade, slowly drawing across the blade.
"Spirit—Subduing—Art!" The Killing God's gaze grew heavy as he chanted strange syllables.
A strange light rippled in his eyes. As the white halo spread, his body seemed to freeze in midair, and Huo Yuhao lost control of his body, even his thoughts slowing.
Not just Huo Yuhao—all living beings within thousands of zhang felt an invisible pressure. Their consciousness remained, but their bodies couldn't move.
The Demon Empress, Gu Yuena, Snow Empress—none were exempt.
This was the Killing God Shupuros's exclusive divine technique—Spirit-Subduing Art. At its peak, this technique could stun all deities below first-class, rendering their divine consciousness and souls immobile.
Now, though his cultivation was only at early mortal-world third-class deity level, it was enough to render any existence below mortal-world second-class deity completely helpless.
But using this technique also took its toll. The Killing God spat out a mouthful of blood.
To prevent accidents, he'd expanded the technique's range several times, intending to restrain even Gu Yuena and Snow Empress from interfering. But this further aggravated his already wounded divine consciousness, his face pale as paper.
Yet this didn't affect his next move.
The Spirit-Subduing Art affected not only enemies but himself—his consciousness couldn't control his body either. But he'd already used his divine consciousness to give his body its next command, executing another technique.
"Killing—God—Possession!"
As the Killing God chanted, a faint red glow first lit at the Killing God's Sword's hilt, then spread rapidly, turning the entire blade crimson.
Finally, that red layer reversed and wrapped around the Killing God's body. A strange rune blazed at his forehead.
A terrifying power began to manifest on him.
The Killing God had once mastered a divine technique called Asura Possession, which could channel the Asura God's power to destroy all.
But now, he had no faith left in the Asura God—only hatred. With the Divine Realm gone and the second-generation Asura God vanished, he could no longer use Asura Possession.
Still, the Killing God had his own solution.
Since he couldn't reach mortal-world second-class deity level on the Douluo Continent to unleash the Killing God's divine seat's full power, he'd modified Asura Possession.
Through this improved Killing God Possession, he could channel his divine seat's full power for a single mortal-world second-class deity-level strike. Though it could only be used once and would temporarily disable his divine seat afterward, as a trump card, it was terrifying.
But this technique required time to prepare—hence why he'd used Spirit-Subduing Art to control all variables.
With time to complete it, everything would end.
After all, a mortal-world second-class deity-level strike, uncontained, could devastate the entire Douling Continent—killing Huo Yuhao and the others would be trivial.
Forcing his divine seat's power caused the Killing God's injuries to worsen. His wounded divine consciousness was crumbling; blood seeped from his mouth, staining his robes.
If he truly unleashed his divine seat's power, he might be set back to square one, needing to re-cultivate again.
But the Killing God's expression, frozen by Spirit-Subduing Art, remained unchanged—only a savage glare fixed on Huo Yuhao.
"Killing Huo Yuhao—what do I care if both he and Douling pay the price?"
"At worst... I'll sink Douling!"