Lu Jingming would only be able to permanently maintain the Deification Mode if he could successfully condense the Third Soul Core and step into the Half-God realm, formally condensing his Divine Sense.
In other words, with the Deification Mode, once he broke through Rank 99, he would be capable of fighting a Second-Rank God at full power.
And once he successfully ascended to godhood, with the foundation of his dual God-King positions, his strength would far surpass a First-Rank God right after the breakthrough, allowing him to touch the threshold of God-King level combat power.
However, the fierce intensity in Lu Jingming's eyes only grew stronger.
Facing the Sea God's colossal fist, which arrived with the crushing weight of the entire ocean and was capable of destroying the heavens and the earth, he felt an unprecedented threat of death, but even more so, a battle intent burning to the extreme.
His Deification State had reached its limit; his body and soul were crying out under the unbearable strain, but he had to deliver this final blow.
"In that case, let our Sea God, Great Lord, witness the true meaning of the ultimate technique!"
He let out a low roar, his hands suddenly clasped together before his chest. The Black Abyss and White Flower twin spears instantly transformed into a black and white streak of extreme lightning, melting into his body.
The moment the black and white lightning—the essence of Black Abyss and White Flower—fused with his body, he forcibly blended and compressed them.
In his left hand, the Lightning of Black Abyss, embodying extreme destruction and death, was inky black, devouring all vitality, like the end of all creation.
In his right hand, the Lightning of White Flower, embodying extreme creation and life, was sacred and dazzling, radiating infinite vitality, like the first note of creation.
These two diametrically opposed powers of authority, which should have mutually repelled one another, began to dangerously intertwine and fuse under the forceful unification of the Eon and Thunder God Positions and the willful mastery of Lu Jingming.
"Heaven's Absolute Ban, Earth's Desolate Extinction, Eight Thunders Converge, Divine Thunder Finale!"
He chanted the true name of the ultimate form of the Eight Thunder Restriction.
The power imprints of the previous eight restrictions of the Eight Thunder Restriction were simultaneously activated and recalled.
The sharpness of the Roaring Thunder, the tyranny of the Shock Thunder, the madness of the Violent Thunder, the solemnity of the Heavenly Thunder, the cunningness of the Thunder Whip, the judgment of the Thunder Emperor, the might of the Myriad Thunders, the void of the Ultimate Stillness—
Eight completely different true intents of thunder and vast energy surged wildly from all directions, pouring into the rapidly spinning, highly unstable sphere of chaotic thunder at his chest.
Boom-rumble-rumble!!!
The heavens and earth lost their color.
The world instantly paled. The entire world seemed to be muted, all light, sound, and even energy being frantically swallowed by the fist-sized sphere of chaotic thunder.
On the surface of the thunder sphere, black and white lightning snakes flashed and roared, sometimes expanding like a star, sometimes contracting like a speck of dust. Within it, contained the contradictory and terrifying power of finality, capable of returning all things to the void, yet also allowing all things to be reborn.
At this moment, even the rejection force of the plane seemed to be momentarily stunned by this transcendent power, experiencing a brief pause.
In the high sky far away, Fei Xiao and Celenova, who were locked in fierce combat, stopped simultaneously, their gazes shifting downward in horror.
Jing Yuan forced back Helektra with a single blade strike, his brows tightly knitted. Cerydra and Aglaea, among others, all felt a strong sense of crisis.
"Impossible!"
The Sea Giant, controlled by Tang San, let out a deep, thunderous roar. He felt a genuinely terrifying power from that thunder sphere, one that was enough to threaten the very existence of his wisp of Divine Sense.
He hesitated no longer. The Sea Giant's colossal fist, which embodied the weight of the entire ocean and the wrath of a God-King, smashed through layers of space like the collapse of Mount Buzhou, slamming down hard toward Lu Jingming.
"Go!"
Lu Jingming's seven apertures were already seeping Divine Blood mixed with lightning. He poured his last shred of power, along with his burning will, into the chaotic thunder sphere and violently thrust it forward from his chest.
The thunder sphere shot out soundlessly. Its speed appeared slow, but it crossed space in an instant.
It collided head-on with the world-destroying Sea Giant's colossal fist in mid-air.
There was no earth-shattering explosion as expected.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
In the next instant—
Extreme light and darkness erupted simultaneously.
Extreme white and dark burst forth at the same time, yet strangely, there was not a single sound.
The black and white lightning, like the Big Bang of a cosmic singularity and the final destination of the universe's heat death, instantly swallowed the Sea God Giant's fist, then spread to its arm, torso...
The massive giant, composed of endless seawater and divine power, melted, decomposed, and turned into the most primordial particles, returning to absolute nothingness, like snow under the scorching sun, starting from the collision point.
The black and white lightning was unstoppable. It surged backward, instantly engulfing the gigantic Sea Giant, and its momentum remained undiminished, heading straight for Tang San's Divine Sense avatar behind it.
"What?!"
Tang San's pupils shrank. He fully activated the Sea God Trident phantom to block the attack.
Boom—!!!
This time, the explosion was deafening.
The golden-blue Sea God divine power and the black and white finality divine thunder annihilated each other wildly.
Tang San's Divine Sense avatar violently trembled, the divine light around him instantly dimming to the extreme. He let out a muffled groan, his body uncontrollably flying backward. The divine power escaping from the wound on his already illusory left shoulder suddenly accelerated.
He had been repelled again, and this time, he was even more battered.
However, just as Lu Jingming exhausted his last ounce of strength to unleash this earth-shattering blow, the powerful divine might around him rapidly receded like a tide.
The black and red thunder divine ring collapsed and vanished, the magnificent battle armor disappeared, his hair returned to its original pale color, and his body staggered, falling straight down from the high sky like a kite with a broken string.
The Deification time limit had been reached. Extreme exhaustion and the pain of a torn soul instantly overwhelmed him.
"Ant, it's over!"
Tang San forcefully stabilized his body while flying backward. Though not lightly wounded and having consumed a massive amount of divine power, the killing intent in his eyes was now solidified.
He would never allow such a variable to exist in the world.
He forcefully rallied his remaining divine power, the Sea God Trident was raised again, and an extremely condensed, golden-blue beam of destructive light, enough to slay a True God, instantly gathered, ready to deliver a fatal blow to the falling Lu Jingming.
But at this moment of life and death—
A voice, as cold as eternal ice yet containing ultimate sharpness, resonated clearly in the Sea God Tang San's ears, as if from the Nine Netherworlds.
"My disciple, is not for you to touch."
Before the voice faded, a pale sword light, seemingly capable of severing karma and freezing time, appeared without warning, lying between Tang San and Lu Jingming.
Tang San's golden-blue divine power beam, which carried his killing intent, shattered like fragile glass upon colliding with this seemingly delicate pale sword light, dissolving into primordial light dots, failing to achieve any effect.
Immediately after, a figure quietly appeared beneath Lu Jingming, gently but steadily catching his falling body.
Her silver-white hair cascaded down like an ice waterfall. An aura of solitary isolation and icy coldness, as if she existed outside the rules of the entire world, emanated from her.
The longsword in her hand, sculpted from what looked like ten thousand years of cold ice, radiated an ultimate sharpness that made even the God-King's Divine Sense feel a bone-chilling cold, as if it could freeze thought itself.
Jingliu slowly raised her head. Her blood-red eyes, now uncovered, were like two burning cold stars, piercing the void and gazing toward the Sea God Tang San, whose face had changed dramatically in the distance.
That gaze was cold, pure, without a trace of impurity, containing only the most extreme sword intent and killing thought.
"Your opponent, is me now."
Her voice was calm and unwavering, yet carried an undeniable finality.
Tang San's Divine Sense avatar completely froze in place. Sensing the sword intent contained in that pale sword light, and the unfathomable aura of the white-haired woman before him—an aura that posed a fatal threat even to his wisp of Divine Sense—the shock and anger in his heart were instantly replaced by an incredible dread.
Who exactly are these people?! What on earth has happened to the Douluo Plane?!
Lu Jingming's face was ashen, his body swaying slightly, as if a gust of wind could topple him, but he finally stabilized himself and slowly stood upright.
Despite the screaming pain and extreme exhaustion throughout his body, the corners of his mouth lifted into an irrepressible smile, his eyes sparkling with bright amusement.
The all-out battle with this wisp of the Sea God Tang San's Divine Sense avatar, though brief, was incredibly precious.
He truly experienced the operation of divine power, the resonance and confrontation of Laws. That perspective of being high in the clouds and wielding authority gave him a revolutionary understanding of his own power system.
This experience far surpassed any amount of arduous cultivation or secret techniques, making it truly priceless.
He was naturally aware that forcibly activating the Deification Mode with his current foundation was akin to dancing on a knife's edge. Once the time was up, he would fall from the clouds, reduced to a vulnerable lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Yet, he still chose to fight with all his might without hesitation.
This confidence stemmed from the unshakable support behind him—Jingliu, Herta... He knew that even if he became powerless, these individuals would never allow him to suffer any real harm.
And his gamble yielded a reward far exceeding expectations.
This high-level experience had swept away all the fog on his future path to godhood.
The accumulation of soul power was not difficult for him. Whether it was searching for heavenly materials and earthly treasures, absorbing planar feedback, or even asking Herta to blast open a black hole again to extract Chaotic Qi, there were shortcuts available.
The true obstacles lay in the comprehension of Laws and the condensation of the Soul Core, especially the construction of the Third Soul Core, which required deep enlightenment and opportunity.
Now, having personally experienced the power of a God, the mystery of the Third Soul Core was no longer concealed from his eyes.
The path ahead was wide open. He merely needed to accumulate soul power methodically, and the Third Soul Core would naturally follow.
Beyond the Limit Douluo stage, soul power was no longer the key. The core path to the God-Seat was the insight into Laws, the forging of mental power, and the gathering of faith.
"Teacher, I am fine."
Lu Jingming's voice was a little hoarse, but it carried absolute trust and ease.
"I'll leave him to you. Send this wisp of his Divine Sense avatar... to annihilation."
Even with the creative power of Black Abyss and White Flower and the life authority of the Great Tree King as a safety net—allowing his physical body to be reformed even if it collapsed—the current over-exertion still required time to recuperate.
Accompanying a slight distortion of the surrounding space, his figure quietly vanished from the spot, leaving no trace.
Staying here would only force Jingliu to divide her attention to protect him.
Without the Deification State, even the subtle aftershocks of a clash between two powerhouses would be enough to severely injure or kill him.
In the center of the battlefield, Jingliu sensed Lu Jingming's safe departure. The last hint of fluctuation in her blood-red eyes receded, leaving only pure, ultimate coldness and killing intent.
She was not a person of many words.
She slowly raised her right hand, her index and middle fingers together, forming a sword-finger. The posture was casual yet contained the will to cut down everything.
The next moment—
Buzz!
An invisible but soul-freezing, terrifying sword intent soared into the sky.
In the sky, the temperature plummeted. Countless long ice swords, condensed from the ultimate sword intent and the Law of Ice, appeared out of thin air. They were dense and overwhelming, instantly covering the entire firmament.
Sunlight was completely blocked, and the world seemed to plunge into an ice age.
These ice swords were not chaotic but rotated and converged slowly in a mysterious, unparalleled trajectory, ultimately forming a colossal, slowly spinning wheel of cold ice swords in the sky.
At the edge of the sword wheel, space was continuously being sliced, frozen, and shattered, emitting a fine, grating sound.
Jingliu's figure quietly appeared in the very center of this Wheel of Destruction. Her silver-white hair danced silently in the frigid sword intent.
She exuded a coldness that kept all at bay. Her blood-colored pupils looked down, locking onto the Sea God Tang San's Divine Sense avatar below with apathy.
No words, no warnings.
Only the dead silence of billions of ice swords poised for attack, and the Sword Intent of Winter, capable of freezing even Gods.
She did not attack immediately, but the sword wheel, which obscured the sun, slowly rotated. Billions of ice sword tips slightly adjusted, all locking onto the sea-blue figure below.
The extreme cold spread, and the surging ocean below began to freeze at a visible rate. Even the fierce waves were solidified in their tumultuous posture, as if time had stopped.
The Sea God Tang San's Divine Sense avatar wore a look of unprecedented gravity.
He felt a purer, more fatal threat from the sword wheel and the white-haired woman than he had from the deified Lu Jingming earlier.
It was an absolute cold that reached the very root, capable of freezing all things, even Divine Sense.
"Who exactly are you?!"
Tang San looked confused. He could tell that Jingliu did not possess a God Position, yet her strength far exceeded that of ordinary Gods.
As he questioned her, he frantically channeled his divine power in secret. The Sea God Trident phantom shone brightly, attempting to dispel the bone-deep coldness that was invading his Divine Soul.
However, Jingliu paid no heed to his words.
In her eyes, this wisp of Tang San's Divine Sense avatar was merely a target to be cut down, requiring no further communication.
She simply raised her joined sword-fingers and, seemingly casually, sliced them in Tang San's direction.
"Frosted Heavens... Weave."
Her cold voice was like ice beads dropping onto a jade plate.
In an instant, within the sword wheel, tens of thousands of ice swords, like soldiers receiving an order, emitted a synchronized, heart-stopping hum.
In the next moment, they were no longer simple projectiles, but transformed into threads of interwoven, incredibly delicate, yet supremely sharp, ice Law. Like a net cast from heaven, they instantly enveloped the space where Tang San stood.
These ice threads were not physical entities but the embodiment of highly condensed sword intent and the Law of Ice. They sliced through space, froze energy, bypassed physical defense, and directly coiled around Tang San's Divine Sense avatar.
Tang San roared, waving the Sea God Trident. Surging golden-blue divine power erupted like a tsunami, attempting to destroy these ice threads.
However, the moment the ice threads contacted the Sea God divine power, they were not immediately destroyed. Instead, they emitted a "sizzle," and the extreme cold spread backward along the divine power, rapidly freezing and solidifying it.
Even the light, sound, and flowing divine power around him became sluggish.
This power of extreme cold seemed inherently to restrain his Sea God power, putting him in a highly passive position.