"Boom!" Fang Chang and the Sea God's avatar collided in mid-air, and the resulting shockwave pressed the surface of the sea down by two to three meters, forming a hemispherical depression.
Fang Chang retreated about fifty to sixty meters, his gaze once again focusing on the Sea God's avatar.
Having fought Fang Chang for so long, the Sea God's avatar had gained no advantage whatsoever; perhaps due to energy depletion, his body had even started to become somewhat translucent.
Sensing this change, the Sea God's avatar grew anxious. His attacks against Fang Chang lost their earlier precision—becoming increasingly erratic and riddled with flaws.
Noticing his deteriorating state, Bo Saixi, who was leading the Sea Soul Masters on the island in their campaign, narrowed her eyes and prepared to fly up to aid the Sea God.
But the Sea God barked at her just then, "Do not come up."
Now that he had descended in avatar form to stop Fang Chang, not only had he failed to deal any substantial damage, but he was even being gradually pushed back.
Many gods in the divine realm were already watching, eager to see him suffer a setback. If Bo Saixi intervened at this point, it would mean complete disgrace for the mighty Sea God.
"Yes…" Bo Saixi responded immediately and withdrew, though she couldn't stop her attention from drifting back up.
If even the mighty Sea God could not handle that spider, then who else in this world could be its match? Could it be that the Sea Soul Master race was truly doomed?
No, the Sea God is invincible. He is a deity—how could he be defeated by a mere spider?
Bo Saixi quickly shook off the negative thoughts in her mind. As a subject of the Sea God, she had to believe in him unconditionally.
Fang Chang looked at the once-proud Sea God and found it amusing. He hadn't even played all his cards yet, and this Sea God was already faltering.
Seizing the moment while the Sea God spoke, Fang Chang swung his two shield-like forelegs heavily at the avatar. The Sea God's avatar raised his trident and forcefully struck downward, knocking Fang Chang into the sea.
But he failed to notice that the spot where Fang Chang fell was right near the Sea Spider clan.
"Little Gold, come."
That last move had clearly been intentional on Fang Chang's part. As he emerged from the water, he used telepathy to summon Little Gold for support, with the clear intention of "fusing."
Little Gold suddenly crawled onto the sea surface in front of Fang Chang, and then Fang Chang leaped high into the air. His body seemed to liquefy for a moment, landing on Little Gold and fully enveloping her.
Then, Fang Chang gradually re-solidified, merging Little Gold's body with his own. His soul power, which had already neared the million-year mark, surged once again.
Thanks to the accumulation of various marine treasures, Little Gold's soul power had reached nearly 100,000 years. After their fusion, their combined soul power shot up to 1.09 million years, temporarily surpassing the million-year barrier.
The Sea God's avatar narrowed his eyes—this was even possible?
A soul beast of one million years and one of 100,000 years might differ by only a word in description, but the difference in strength was vast. After forcibly crossing that threshold, Fang Chang felt his strength had increased severalfold, far beyond what it had been before.
And that was not all—next, he expanded the range of the Spider God Domain once more, enveloping all 70,000 of the small spiders within it.
Soon after, the Spider God Domain itself began to change. From the 70,000 spiders, threads of glowing energy streamed into Fang Chang's body, making his aura surge again.
This was the Spider God Domain's other function—power absorption. It allowed him to draw a portion of the soul power from all spider-type soul beasts within the domain.
Though the proportion was small—he estimated less than one percent per spider—it was enough. With over 70,000 spiders, that fractional power became an astronomical sum.
Fang Chang's soul power soared again, nearly tripling. Judging by his aura alone, he now utterly overwhelmed the Sea God's avatar in the distance.
But that was still not the end. Massive golden radiance, like glittering dust, drifted over from the continent behind him and surged into Fang Chang's form.
That golden light contained a strange energy, surprisingly similar to the Sea God's own blue light.
Seeing this, the Sea God's avatar could no longer stay calm. A trace of fear appeared in his eyes. The faith gathered by this wretched spider had actually far surpassed his own!
Having completed all this, Fang Chang's gaze once more locked onto the Sea God's avatar floating in midair. The corner of his mouth curled up slightly, revealing a taunting smile.
A massive greatsword of ice began to condense slowly above his head—not forty meters long as before, but now over four hundred meters.
Then, a blaze flared along the blade, making it resemble a weapon of apocalypse, further intensifying its presence.
Once the icy blade was fully formed, a layer of pure golden thunder light coated its edge.
Its overwhelming power was such that even the two warring factions on Sea God Island stopped their battle, their eyes fixed on this terrifying icy blade.
This was the first time Fang Chang had used the "Dragon-Slaying Technique" under such conditions. Even he hadn't anticipated its power would reach this level.
In the next moment, the massive blade came crashing down, aimed directly at the Sea God's avatar. The immense pressure seemed to lock him in place; no matter how he struggled, he could not escape its range.
"Swish"—the expected resistance or explosion never came. A flash of three-colored light swept across the air, and the Sea God's avatar split in two, gradually turning into scattered specks of starlight.
Only then did a delayed change appear on the Sea God's avatar's face.
It was an expression of sheer terror—an emotion one would never expect to see on the face of a supreme deity, and yet, here it was.
The avatar, on the brink of vanishing, seemed about to spit out a threat, but at this point, he realized that no words could change anything. All he could do was glare at Fang Chang with poisonous hatred, as if to burn his image into memory.
"Boom—" The Sea God's avatar finally dispersed entirely, exploding in the sky. The Sea Soul Masters who had just landed on the island felt a chill wash over their hearts.
Even Lord Sea God had been defeated...
At this moment, they felt something worse than defeat—a total collapse of resistance. They looked like stray dogs, for at the moment Fang Chang's icy blade fell, their faith had been shattered.
And just then, having dealt with the Sea God's avatar, Fang Chang slowly turned his head to look at those Sea Soul Masters—especially Bo Saixi, standing at the forefront.
Such a threat could not be allowed to remain. What's more, now that he had exposed himself, even if he didn't pierce the veil between realms, the divine world would surely send other means to deal with him.
Being stared at by such a giant spider made Bo Saixi's whole body tingle with fear. She mustered all her strength to raise a defense, trying to shield her clansmen behind her.
But in that moment, a dark vortex appeared in Fang Chang's mouth, unleashing a devouring force. Bo Saixi and the Sea Soul Masters behind her had their martial souls forcibly drawn out and swallowed by Fang Chang.
After devouring their martial souls, Fang Chang turned to the remaining thousand-plus ordinary soul masters on Spider God Island.
They had done nothing wrong, but they had seen his true form, and now knew he was a soul beast. Naturally, they could not be allowed to live. If word got out, his faith across the continent would surely falter.
His eyes hardened, and he devoured their martial souls too. Meanwhile, dark clouds rolled across the sky—an immense tribulation was about to descend.
For the first time, a million-year tribulation was about to strike the Douluo Continent.