At this moment, all the noise between heaven and earth seemed to have been muted.
All humans and Soul Beasts, regardless of allegiance, regardless of strength, could only stare futilely at the golden ancient tree, which violently shook and seemed on the verge of collapsing, like ants gazing up at the sky.
Their senses were completely occupied by the two terrifying auras that burst forth from deep within the tree's heart and fiercely collided.
One was the familiar yet now precarious azure sacredness, and the other was the alien purple-black evil, filled with cold silence and death.
Every clash and tear between these two powers generated not only the twisted humming of space but also a chilling tremor that struck deep into the soul.
They were overwhelmed by boundless fear, sensing their own extreme insignificance under such immense power, and confusion about the ensuing situation.
The surging offensive of the Soul Beast army had already completely stalled.
Even the savage Bear Lord (Xiong Jun) and the Myriad Beast King Yao Ling were now firmly suppressed in place by the aura of the divine battle, which vastly exceeded the limits of their life-level understanding. Their massive beast eyes were filled with astonishment and instinctive dread.
As for the Soul Beasts below the ten-thousand-year mark, which acted purely on instinct, they had long lost all ferocity, densely prostrating themselves on the ground, trembling, and squeezing out desperate, suppressed wails from deep within their throats.
Inside the Golden Tree, the earth-shattering collision that determined the fate of countless lives finally yielded a victor.
Tang San's final attack—the spear-and-body fusion, which gathered all the power and will of this divine sense clone and moved forward relentlessly—did indeed reach the limit that this world could bear. Wherever the golden light passed, it cleansed all evil, as if capable of slaying even true gods and demons.
However, the Lord of Destruction, Fallen Star, represented a power that transcended the conventional laws of this world, originating from the end of the universe.
Especially in the final moment, she ruthlessly sacrificed the Golden Tree's origin power to forcibly transform its immense life energy into the purest power of Destruction. This instant burst elevated her Myriad Aspects of Annihilation to a new, despairing height.
The energy sphere, pitch-black as an abyss and seemingly capable of swallowing all light, did not produce a typical energy explosion upon clashing with the Sea God's golden light. Instead, it displayed an extremely bizarre and terrifying characteristic: consumption and annihilation.
It was like an unimaginably greedy, bottomless black hole, frantically tearing at and sucking the Sea God's divine power and life energy contained within the golden light, transforming and absorbing it inch by inch to become part of its own destructive power.
With this shift in power, the originally dazzling and unstoppable golden stream of light visibly dimmed and shrank. Its divinity was rapidly polluted and assimilated.
Finally, under Tang San's gaze, which contained utter disbelief and deep unwillingness, his all-out strike was completely swallowed and digested by the pitch-black sphere of light.
And that Seed of Destruction, reduced to nearly half its size but even more condensed, radiating an ominous, cold glow, pressed onward, fiercely slamming into his now-exhausted divine sense body.
"Puff—!"
There was no predicted, earth-shattering explosion, only a dull, chilling sound of energy corrosion.
Tang San's divine sense body instantly became translucent and illusory. Countless hideous, purple-black destructive runes spread and rooted themselves wildly across his body like living, venomous thorns, frantically corroding and polluting the core origin of his divine sense.
He couldn't even manage to send out a final word or warning. His form disintegrated inch by inch within the absolute stillness of the black light, turning into countless scattered, dim golden-blue light particles, finally dissipating entirely into the still-boiling, roaring sea of life.
Only the Phantylia of the Sea God Trident let out a humming sound filled with unwillingness, and then slowly vanished into nothingness.
—The divine sense clone of the Sea God Tang San was completely obliterated, body and soul extinguished.
"Little San!!!"
Ah Yin, pushed back by the battle's aftershock in the distance, cried out in alarm. The stable blue divine light surrounding her violently fluctuated due to the extreme shock, almost collapsing.
She tried to rush towards the spot where her son vanished, but Fallen Star casually and effortlessly waved her hand. An extremely condensed purple-black destructive restraint instantly materialized, tightly wrapping around and confining her from head to toe, preventing her from even making a sound.
She could only watch helplessly as her son's divine sense clone was completely annihilated, her crystal-blue eyes filled with powerlessness.
Her own refining process was also forcibly and instantly interrupted by this violent emotional shock and Fallen Star's energy interference. She suffered a backlash from the Golden Tree's instinctive will, and her divine sense became extremely dim and weak, on the verge of collapse.
"Hehehehe... Hahahahaha!"
Fallen Star stood at the center of the Sea of Life, bursting into unrestrained, joyful, and arrogant laughter, filled with conquest and satisfaction.
She spread her arms wide, as if to embrace this boundless Sea of Life, which had lost its last protector.
Thanks to Ah Yin's continuous refinement and assimilation over the past ten thousand years, and the voluntary fusion of the souls and powers of successive Sea God Pavilion Masters of Shrek Academy, the possibility of the Golden Tree developing an independent consciousness had already been completely stifled. All that remained was its most primitive, purest life instinct.
And a plane core that acts purely on instinct, no matter how high its life level or how vast its energy, its resistance was even weaker than Ah Yin, who had been refining it before, when facing an Annihilation Lord like Fallen Star, who was skilled in spiritual corrosion and energy transformation.
"What a vast, tempting life force... What a perfectly foundational element."
Fallen Star's voice was intoxicated.
"Now, it belongs to me."
She no longer hesitated. A massive and pure will of Destruction surged out, wildly beginning to corrode, pollute, and assimilate the very core origin of the Golden Tree.
The Phantylia of the giant Tree of Destruction, suspended behind her, seemed to have found the perfect host. Countless thick, black roots violently plunged into the Sea of Life, sucking up the nearly infinite life energy like the most greedy vampire, and transforming it into even more terrifying power of Annihilation.
Purple-black corruption runes rapidly spread outwards from her standing point like a plague of death within the Golden Tree. Wherever they passed, the originally bright, vibrant golden-green was quickly replaced by a deadly, withered black. The sacred, warm life aura was completely covered and swallowed by a cold, despairing will of Destruction.
The entire internal space of the Golden Tree was rapidly sliding from a sanctuary of life toward the abyss of destruction.
Outside, the remaining people on Sea God Island watched in horror as the sky-piercing column of golden-blue light was completely swallowed and replaced by an ominous purple-black glow.
The Golden Ancient Tree, which carried ten thousand years of Shrek's glory and faith, was visibly losing all its luster and vitality.
Its flourishing leaves instantly withered, fell, and turned into ash. The thick trunk became shriveled, gray, and covered in cracks, as if it had been forced through tens of thousands of years of existence in this short span, rapidly descending into decay and death.
And the heart-chilling, suffocating pressure of Destruction climbed exponentially, like a massive, tangible mountain, crushing everyone, scattering their Soul Power, and leaving only bone-deep coldness and endless despair in their hearts.
"The Sea God... The Sea God's aura... is gone..."
Yan Shaozhe was ashen-faced, mumbling listlessly. The faith that had sustained his entire life seemed to completely crumble and shatter at this moment, leaving only emptiness in his eyes.
"It's over... Shrek... ten thousand years of foundation... everything is over..."
Elder Lin slumped to the ground, tears streaming down his cloudy eyes, his wrinkled face etched with boundless grief and despair.
Just as this atmosphere of despair reached its zenith—
The Golden Tree, now almost completely black, violently shuddered.
An unimaginably massive, purple-black ring of light, condensed with pure Destruction energy, spread out silently yet swiftly from the Golden Tree's center, like the swirling skirt of a goddess of death.
The target of this destructive ring seemed to be undirected. It represented pure, indiscriminate finality.
The first to bear the brunt was Sea God Island and all the life remaining upon it.
All members remaining at the Sea God Pavilion, whether they were Soul Master teachers and staff or merely ordinary people, were instantly disintegrated, dissolved, and reduced to the finest black dust the moment they came into contact with the purple-black light ring, like paper thrown into strong acid. Their soul imprints were also utterly wiped clean before they could even finish a frightened scream.
"RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE—!!!"
The Ring of Destruction expanded outwards at a seemingly slow, yet utterly irresistible, speed.
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