Translator: CinderTL
Splash!
A black curtain enveloped the world. Warships in the sea surged with the waves, firing relentlessly.
The sole platinum light, as radiant as the full moon, hovered above Hurricane Island, pushing back the darkness like a receding tide.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Cannons roared and gunfire crackled as Steam Warships activated searchlights, barely repelling some of the dark monsters.
"The situation is critical."
"This is a far more terrifying Black Tide. The mist has solidified into tangible form and its scope is immense, nearly engulfing the entire world."
"This surpasses even the level of angels."
The Star Spirit's voice echoed in Chen Feng's mind. Clad in black armor, his eyes flickered as he observed the scene, refraining from hasty action.
After the sun vanished and darkness descended, he had immediately ordered the Holy Shield Colossus to temporarily retreat.
Firstly, the suddenness of the darkness filled him with unease.
Secondly, the magnetic field of the Earth Vein Power was rapidly dimming, as if suppressed or blocked by the darkness, making it impossible to continue searching.
"Are you suggesting this Black Tide was unleashed by the King of Angels?"
Suppressing his thoughts, Chen Feng stood atop the Holy Shield Colossus's shoulder, surveying the surroundings.
Though the darkness had receded like a tide, barely revealing a few illuminated areas of Hurricane Island, the situation remained dire.
Yet, even in the darkness, pairs of eerie green and crimson eyes flickered into existence.
In the distant sea, massive shadowy silhouettes loomed, as if colossal creatures lurked beneath the surface, poised to leap from the darkness and devour any who strayed too close.
"Perhaps there are even more!"
The Star Spirit's small face grew grave as she voiced her worst fears.
Part of her consciousness remained submerged beneath Hurricane Island, attempting to activate the warship's Energy Module.
This suppression-class warship, though damaged, retained significant armaments and defensive capabilities. If activated, it would prove an invaluable asset.
Moreover, the warship's database contained crucial information:
This world had once been visited by the true form of an Evil God!
"Evil God..."
Chen Feng's gaze sharpened at the Star Spirit's words.
The situation was far worse than he had anticipated. The World of the Dead seemed on the brink of collapse.
This was a world-class Black Tide surpassing even the one that had ravaged Earth—at the very least, it was on par with the descent of the King of Angels.
"Should we retreat?" the Star Spirit asked, her efforts to activate the warship stalled.
She felt a growing urge to withdraw, fearing Chen Feng would suffer grievous harm here.
Earth remained her ultimate stronghold, and there was still time to gather strength.
"No."
She shook her head.
Far from retreating, Chen Feng instead focused his power, allowing the black light to crackle and converge on his Azure Armor.
The darkness receded only to the island's edge, where it began a tug-of-war with the Holy Shield Colossus's mental power.
The Tulip Kingdom's Steam Warships attempted to approach the shore, while the darkness on the sea gradually revealed more monstrous figures.
This was a Black Tide far surpassing any previous one.
Though the dangers were unpredictable, Chen Feng thought of the obstacle on the Martial Dao Heavenly Ladder—the sole flaw in his otherwise flawless spiritual world.
His heart remained calm as he recognized a perfect opportunity.
"This is my chance to break through."
Boom!!
The darkness shuddered as a hundred-meter-long, winged Giant Python swooped down.
A deafening sonic boom reverberated through the sky. Corrosive, phosphorescent green breath erupted from its maw, its razor-sharp fangs bared in a terrifying display.
This served as a signal.
The sea churned as countless non-human creatures surged from the dark depths, swarming the warships like locusts and charging toward Hurricane Island's harbor once more.
"Open fire!"
The Tulip Kingdom's noble officers aboard the Steam Warships, their faces pale with fear and rage, forced themselves to issue the command.
Cannonballs soared into the sky, followed by a barrage of gunfire.
Though the spectacle was terrifying, it was merely a ripple compared to the overwhelming, seemingly endless tide of Black Tide Creatures that poured forth as if the Abyssal Sea Passage had been breached.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
In an instant, the cannonballs were blocked by the Horned Crocodile monsters' armored bodies, the explosions failing to harm them in the slightest.
Like a tsunami's crest, the Black Tide Creatures surged onto the decks of the Steam Warships, nearly capsizing them. They bared their blood-soaked maws, revealing rows of jagged fangs.
"Ahhh!"
The Tulip Kingdom warriors stared in horror, their eyes wide with terror.
Even the grizzled, middle-aged officers paled, their faces etched with despair.
This was a calamity no ordinary mortal could withstand.
Unless... there was a god.
Buzz!
Black lightning tore through the sky, cleaving the heavens and earth like a razor-sharp sword.
Boom!
The hundred-meter-long, double-winged Giant Python was split in two, crashing into the ocean with a thunderous splash, sending towering columns of water erupting into the air.
A brief silence fell over the world. The desperate soldiers on the warships and the terrified civilians on the island port alike craned their necks, gazing upward in awe.
Buzz!
The black light swirled into a vortex, sweeping across the battlefield like a scythe.
Flying monsters plummeted from the sky in rapid succession, while mutated aberrant beasts on the sea's surface exploded into bloody mist upon contact.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sickening sound of flesh and bone shattering echoed continuously. A dark azure figure with blood-stained wings hung high in the sky, its single horn like a sword cleaving the world.
"Come out," Chen Feng said calmly, his figure floating down from the Holy Shield Colossus's shoulder.
He had already sensed several powerful auras lurking in the surrounding darkness.
The Holy Shield Colossus, meanwhile, needed to maintain the nascent projection of the spiritual world to resist the darkness and protect the people of Hurricane Island, making it difficult for the Colossus to act directly.
Splash!
As if provoked by Chen Feng's composure, or perhaps having planned to reveal itself all along, the sea churned violently. A massive black whale covered in festering sores breached the surface.
Far larger than a Steam Warship, its pectoral fins rose like mountains, creating tidal waves. This was a Pseudo-Angel-level mutated aberrant beast.
Simultaneously, the darkness above trembled. A Phosphorus Fire Bone Dragon of Envoy Rank soared into view, a black-robed figure perched atop its skull.
His crimson eyes burned with fanatical madness. As if blessed by a god, his aura surged, his body growing taller inch by inch until he reached the Angel Rank.
"Chaos is coming. The world will be annihilated."
"How can you withstand the gaze of our god?"
His deranged voice dripped with absolute certainty. He knew Chen Feng was extraordinarily powerful, but he refused to believe anyone could rival the divine being he worshipped.
At that moment, Chen Feng had already received divine favor.
If I can just hold out until your excellencies descend, then—
Boom!!!
A black flash erupted, flesh and bone exploding into fragments.
The black-robed figure was instantly stripped of life. The Bone Dragon soaring through the sky and the colossal whale surfacing from the sea were simultaneously pierced by Golden Steel Bones, impaled high above and pinned to the ocean's surface.
"Enough with the rambling."
His voice cold and detached, Chen Feng hovered high in the sky.
Streams of tainted Life Origin were forcibly extracted, reactivating the Heart of Life within him. It purified the corruption, seizing the Life Essence.
The scene left everyone on Hurricane Island in awe. Sosis, whom Chen Feng had rescued from the streets, gazed up with reverence, suspecting this man might be an agent of the gods.
"Wait a minute!"
Suddenly, someone noticed a crucial detail.
Their expression shifted as memories resurfaced, recalling the Steel Kingdom's old Wanted Poster.
The figures were strikingly similar, and the near-identical scene unfolding now carried a bitter irony.
In the face of despair—when the kingdom was helpless and the gods remained silent—
it was the very man once branded a criminal who had come to save them?
The realization flashed through the minds of many on Hurricane Island, their faces twisting with conflicted emotions.
But before they could dwell on their shame, the world darkened once more. The encroaching darkness seemed to draw strength from an expanding source, further encroaching upon reality.
Buzz!
The Holy Shield Colossus strained under immense pressure, its mental projection flickering momentarily high in the sky.
Sensing the anomaly, Chen Feng looked up.
A Blood Moon had suddenly appeared, as if the Evil God were gazing down upon the world.
"No!"
The Star Spirit's voice echoed in his mind, now filled with alarm.
"It's the Evil God! The Eye of the Evil God!"
"This world... it's truly going to be destroyed!" she trembled, her voice unusually agitated.
Chen Feng detected a hint of fear in her tone, as if some ancient, negative memory had been awakened.
In an instant, the air vibrated violently, and the pressure intensified.
The Holy Shield Colossus's Spirit Light was suppressed by darkness, and the projection of the nascent world began to shrink inch by inch.
His face grim, Chen Feng surveyed his surroundings.
Mutated aberrant beasts swarmed in overwhelming numbers once again.
Even the Small Stone Statues linked to his mind were now being assaulted by the Black Tide.
Throughout the World of the Dead, especially near the Bountiful Continent,
agonized screams and wails erupted. Whether in the land kingdoms or along the surrounding coasts, endless Black Tide Creatures emerged from the darkness, as if the gates of the Abyss had been opened, intent on devouring the entire world.
Boom!!
The air vibrated violently as tens of thousands of Black Tide Creatures swarmed into existence.
The darkness suppressed the mental projection of the Holy Shield Colossus, plunging Hurricane Island into a new crisis.
Both commoners and nobles were gripped by terror, their bodies exhibiting signs of aberrant mutation. Even the Sequencers leading the charge against the monsters were pale with fear, stumbling and falling repeatedly.
Seeing this, Chen Feng's eyes narrowed.
Forgetting all else, he cast aside his remaining reservations.
"Ocean Gate, open!"
Buzz!!
The earth and sky trembled as the ocean churned violently.
The seawater surrounding Hurricane Island surged skyward in colossal whirlpools, coalescing into towering walls.
Vortex-like tides formed, each resembling a colossal giant rising from the depths, merging into an awe-inspiring, majestic Great Sea Wall.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
In an instant, tens of thousands of Black Tide Creatures were crushed into bloody froth and mist within the churning tides.
The overwhelming repulsive force, a divine miracle blessed by the Sea God, proved insurmountable even for ranked angels.
"This...!"
Pupils contracted as the hearts of everyone on Hurricane Island trembled.
Figures craned their necks to gaze upward, witnessing the magnificent Great Sea Wall enveloping the entire island, leaving no vulnerability exposed.
No matter how the Black Tide Creatures surged, they couldn't breach the natural barrier of the Great Sea Wall.
"Who is he?" Sosis asked, his awe and curiosity about Chen Feng's identity growing.
The boy beside him, mistaking Chen Feng for a divine being descended from the heavens, etched his figure deep into his heart, silently cultivating reverence and fervor.
For a moment, countless eyes gazed upward in awe.
The Great Sea Wall protected the island, repelling every Black Tide assault.
Yet, conversely, Chen Feng felt his stamina draining rapidly.
The Golden Steel Bones emerged repeatedly, ceaselessly extracting the Life Essence from the surrounding Black Tide Creatures.
A frenzied cycle of plunder and purification, followed by continuous replenishment and sustenance.
The two forces clashed in a relentless tug-of-war, while the murmurs of corruption echoed in his ears.
"Is this still not enough?"
His heart heavy, Chen Feng sensed the immense strain on his Heart of Life as it approached its purification limit.
The Ocean Tide's consumption was overwhelming. He was essentially single-handedly holding back the Black Tide.
Thousands, tens of thousands, then over a hundred thousand Black Tide Creatures swarmed forth.
While the Heart of Life could continuously replenish his stamina, its purification rate had its limits. Eventually, the Ocean Tide's relentless drain would exhaust his reserves.
The thought flashed through Chen Feng's mind: Black Dream Light.
This unique ability could suppress the Black Tide, halting its relentless and overwhelming power.
But if he used it here...
He glanced up at the night curtain, feeling the Blood Moon's icy, malevolent presence.
He recalled the crimson lightning he had encountered in the Qinggang City Dreamscape. Had it not been for the Heroic Spirit Hall's intervention, he would have been annihilated.
Clearly, the Evil God would not tolerate the existence of Black Dream Light.
As his stamina rapidly drained, he hesitated, weighing whether to activate the ability.
Buzz!
A golden ray suddenly pierced the pitch-black canopy.
It was blindingly bright, like the first glimmer of dawn, visible to all.
The Steel Kingdom, the Tulip Kingdom, the Holy Star Empire...
Across countless locations, including maritime regions like Merman Bay, both humans and supernatural beings witnessed this radiant golden light.
"That's..."
Chen Feng's gaze sharpened as he tracked the source of the golden light.
A golden round sun was rising from the horizon.
Majestic, divine, luminous.
An inexplicable feeling surged through Chen Feng's heart as he watched the round sun slowly ascend, its entire body golden, surrounded by a swirling, iridescent halo.
"It's divine power!" the Star Spirit exclaimed excitedly in his mind, having identified the phenomenon by cross-referencing data in her database.
Chen Feng narrowed his eyes, clearly seeing the golden light erupt from the round sun like a newly risen sun, gradually dispelling the darkness that had shrouded the earth and sky.
"It's a miracle!"
"The gods haven't abandoned us!"
On the island, Sosis felt a familiar warmth, while the Church Saint in Riftsea Canyon gazed upward with hopeful eyes.
Throughout the World of the Dead, members of the True God Church saw a glimmer of hope. They raised their heads, each adopting a prayerful posture, as if sensing the True God's awakening.
Hum!
The golden round sun soared higher and higher into the sky.
The iridescent halo around it seemed to burn with divine power, like sacred mist merging with sunlight to illuminate the world.
The earth and sky fell silent. Every being in the World of the Dead froze in place.
The burning golden sun hurtled toward the Blood Moon, the darkness and light clashing in a cosmic tug-of-war across the earth.
Under the expectant gazes of countless eyes,
Boom!!!
A deafening roar reverberated through the air, as if the heavens and earth were being torn asunder.
An boundless golden light pierced the world, forcing people to shield their eyes.
Time flowed onward, each second ticking by.
The earlier malevolent chill had vanished without a trace. Chen Feng suppressed his discomfort and opened his eyes.
The sky was azure blue, the oppressive darkness that had blanketed everything now gone.
The earth was verdant, the sea vast and boundless.
A vibrant scene of life and vitality filled his vision once more.
His gaze flickered, Chen Feng felt momentarily disoriented.
He scanned the sky again. The golden sun had vanished, leaving only the crimson glow of the setting sun dipping toward the western horizon.
The sight left him stunned, as if everything that had transpired earlier had been nothing more than an illusion.
But then,
Crack!
A jolt ran through him. Chen Feng clearly sensed it:
The flaw in his spiritual world, the most arduous trial of the Martial Dao Heavenly Ladder,
Had been overcome.
(End of the Chapter)
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