Chapter 672: Both Sides' Arcane Arts (Combined)

The Demon Realm.

Clouds churned in the sky, and terrifying auras tore through the heavens.

Two graceful, slender figures, their auras blossoming mightily, appeared like two differently colored lotus flowers. From obscurity, they unfurled their buds, expanding from a reserved state to full bloom, stretching out their branches.

“Their auras have suddenly swelled, expanding tens of thousands of times over... The true forms of two True Gods have fully descended upon the mortal realm!”

Countless people looked up as vast waves of energy swept across the sky.

Space was torn asunder.

It was as if primordial ancient gods and demons, hidden in the void, had ripped through higher dimensions to descend upon this fragile lower dimension. A mere stomp of their feet sent ripples across the land.

It was like two giants wrestling on a thin sheet of Xuan paper.

“This is bad!”

Everyone’s expression changed.

Their minds went blank.

The struggle of two High Gods was enough to destroy the entire Demon Realm, let alone gods who had already stepped onto the Path of Nine Tiers?

Parts of their bodily cells were already transforming into the Ninth Tier.

“Are... are you kidding me...?” a Low God muttered, his face pale.

“This is why that entity didn't care about others teaming up with Ermin... The Path of Nine Tiers is considered a new realm beyond the Eighth Tier,” Dao Changsheng whispered.

While it wasn't a true grand realm, where power undergoes an absolute and insurmountable qualitative change like the transitions between the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Tiers, the difference was immense!

Just like the Lord of Reincarnation, who chose not to break through to godhood but continued to climb the ceiling of the Seventh Tier Heavenly Emperor, or super Heavenly Emperor monsters like Emperor Yun, whose combat power was hundreds of times that of Heavenly Emperors at the same realm.

The Path of Nine Tiers had no upper limit.

10, 20, 30... By fully merging flesh and soul, one reached the ultimate Ninth Tier.

“Everyone, activate the Dragon Vein Array of the Demon Realm to isolate this space-time.”

Next to them, Mother Earth Qingteng approached and said, “Preparations for reinforcing the world have long been made to prevent a divine battle from destroying it... Although my Dragon Veins cannot defeat her, if you all guard the major nodes, you can withstand the aftermath of their battle.”

“We are merely to withstand the aftermath of the battle?”

Liu Wenjian raised his sword, revealing a pale, handsome face.

“Yes.”

Mother Earth Qingteng’s eyes narrowed as she gazed at the two figures, silently observing their bodily structures. “From the start of her arms... Ermin has already merged 17% of her soul. As for that Pillar God, from her chest, her soul merge is at 28%. She’s still a way off, but almost comparable to Daojun in his prime.”

Everyone’s expressions changed. Had they already progressed so far on that path?

But if Daojun were still alive, there would be nothing to fear.

“Don’t worry, everyone; you will all eventually step onto the Path of Nine Tiers,” Mother Earth Qingteng said, looking around. “If the Alchemy Emperor hadn't come to Ermin's aid, and Ermin were still at her peak, she might struggle to handle this crisis. Therefore, the right path is for you all to fill the vacuum created by this transitional era, step into it, and reinforce our world's top combat strength as soon as possible.”

Dao Changsheng, Hu Rennong, Liu Wenjian, the Blood Emperor, Bai Xiaosheng, and the other gods did not refute her.

As the first generation of gods, they had carved their way out of godless eras through countless bloody conflicts. Now that they were re-entering secluded cultivation, they would naturally be able to step into that realm.

Stepping in was indeed possible.

However, they would likely only achieve it in the last one or two millennia of their lives. Whether they could surpass 10% or complete one-tenth of the path in their lifetime was another matter entirely.

On this Path of Nine Tiers, countless heroes had been buried, and untold suffering and struggle endured. Perhaps their paths would align with Ermin's, or perhaps they would fall far short, left to gaze only at her retreating back.

“Then, Mother Earth...” someone nearby suddenly asked.

Everyone looked at Mother Earth Qingteng with fervent gazes.

This entity was also one of the oldest beings in existence, a mysterious entity that emerged after Daojun, not far removed from Ermin's era. She was now a High God, her true combat power unknown and unfathomable.

Mengmei looked at the surrounding gazes, feeling bewildered internally. *Why are they looking at me?*

“Cough, cough, everyone, I have my own plans.”

She looked around, exuding a beautiful, pure, and noble aura, and said calmly, “The opponent came openly, without resorting to scheming. If I were to intervene, it would be two of us against one, which would greatly diminish the dignity of our world... We only need to wait quietly and observe the battle.”

“If necessary, I will intervene indirectly to make them retreat.”

The gods were greatly relieved, their hearts settling significantly.

While the gods were speaking...

The battle had already begun in earnest.

Ermin’s body rapidly swelled, and in an instant, she unleashed the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique, a peerless art from the Immortal Realm.

An ancient divine demoness of vast myth strode across the mountains and rivers, her feet crushing peaks, her head touching the heavens. For years, she had already incorporated the Underworld into her cultivation technique, using it as her own power furnace!

With the Three Realms merged for so many years, she had long since secretly integrated and mastered all major cultivation systems of the world!

She extended her fist and clenched.

Crack!!

The void was actually crushed by her bare hand.

She had also cultivated the Body Cultivation lineage of the Martial Palace. These two terrifying and supreme physical cultivation techniques made her virtually invincible.

Caroline paused, her expression solemn as she said, “Using an inner world as your power furnace? The unending cycle of countless billions of lives within your body, forming a world furnace that provides your power... The ultimate level of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique, the Pangu True Form?”

“It’s often said to be small and condensed, yet the reason your body becomes so massive is because you must use an entire world as your power furnace, which naturally makes you this large.”

The more she spoke, the more admiration she showed.

The concept behind this technique was terrifying, almost on par with the concept of the God of Death's Eternal Life technique. But then, she suddenly grinned,

“But I can do it too! Since arriving here, I discarded my original implanted space and fused with the extraordinary bloodline of the Primordial Humans. I directly opened an inner space within my body and cultivated the true Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique! This gives me ten levels of combat power, no longer a mere six-tenths of an imitation!”

Boom!

Amidst countless explosions of muscle and bone, a mushroom cloud of fresh red luster slowly rose like a nuclear bomb. Enveloped in mist was a ring of bloody light, and another beautiful woman, a white porcelain giant, slowly elevated her body. Flesh and blood proliferated, transforming her into a colossal divine demoness, tens of thousands of feet tall.

Holding her white porcelain umbrella, she trampled mountains and earth, her head piercing the vast distant sky.

That massive umbrella seemed to cover the entire sky.

She clenched her fist, thoughtfully,

“However, I am ultimately only superficially powerful... Because I haven’t had time to incorporate a world, my body is empty. Without a material world as a power furnace, my physical stamina and regenerative energy are insufficient... I cannot achieve the true Pangu Form’s immortality and indestructibility, but it’s enough.”

Caroline pointed to her own mind. “My mind contains a spiritual world power furnace, so I don't fear you. And at the same time...”

Rumble!

Her body expanded a second time; she was a body cultivator.

Clearly, she had also absorbed the concepts from the story and cultivated the body cultivation lineage.

She likewise possessed these two supreme body cultivation techniques, and at the same time, her own God-Porcelain body, a characteristic of her entire race: immense weight and high density. The superposition of these two techniques almost caused the entire space to collapse, forming something akin to a white dwarf star, much like the Lord of Reincarnation before her.

Infinite gravity seemed to draw everything around her.

She had become like a star in the cosmos, possessing universal gravitation.

Even without the core of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique—terrifying flesh and blood regeneration—her race's formidable bodily defense meant she was no less formidable than Ermin's current form.

Unbelievable!

Mengmei and the Alchemy Emperor watched from a distance, terrified.

The Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique had also been secretly learned.

Body cultivation had been secretly learned.

Their opponent was truly ruthless; she had come prepared, having secretly learned almost all their top-tier techniques. Just how detailed were the stories circulating?

Boom!

In the distance, vast mountains shattered as the two entities continued their struggle.

Their physical might was unexpectedly evenly matched for a time, and they began to contend with the depth of their Daoist arts.

However, Ermin's mental power was far inferior to Caroline's, who primarily cultivated Eternal Life of the God of Death and possessed a spiritual universe. Ermin began to steadily lose ground.

Snap!

Ermin suddenly struck, and flowers bloomed, transforming into ethereal phenomena of laws.

“Arcane arts, you've indeed learned them... the arcane arts of the Three Pillar Gods' world.”

Caroline smiled, stepping forward. “After all, on the Path of Nine Tiers, none of us have time to research personal law-based combat spells. And working in isolation, one can only research one or two law phenomena. It's better to directly study the era of the Three Pillar Gods; their block arcane arts, derived using the computing power of an entire world, fill the biggest void for people like us: combat methods!”

She chuckled,

“However, you've only learned them temporarily and are far inferior to me. I have been continuously monitoring the Three Pillar Gods' world, observing their arcane arts' evolution to this day.”

“The physical cultivation techniques you rely on, the two most powerful body cultivation systems in the Six Realms, I have already learned. Our bodies are now evenly matched, and you no longer have an advantage. We may not cultivate our bodies, but we cultivate spells. I will use the spell advantages of us Ishdarians, my spiritual universe, and even the arcane arts of the next civilization, to utterly defeat you!”

She raised her white porcelain umbrella high, slowly spiraling it,

“Eighth-Tier Arcane Art—Kaguya.”

Threads of light bloomed from the umbrella. The light suddenly defied the world's laws, beginning to curve and whirl at a certain curvature, transforming into tangible matter that possessed scorching heat.

It materialized into strands, enveloping Ermin, forming a prison of light.

“Kaguya?”

Ermin's expression changed drastically; she paused slightly. “It seems the arcane arts showdown has begun.”

In their battle, both simultaneously abandoned their originally cultivated spells and, by unspoken agreement, began to use arcane arts secretly learned from the Three Pillar Gods.

After all, having reached this realm, they had begun to utilize such power to twist laws.

But clearly, the more cells within oneself that transformed into a world, the more complete and powerful the law phenomena unleashed would be.

Red lightning continuously permeated the sky.

Ermin's combat prowess was exceptionally outstanding. Each move she honed was naturally formed, possessing an elegant posture that harmonized with the Great Dao. Although she was at an extreme disadvantage, lacking a vast spiritual universe for mental power and having less profound research in arcane arts than her opponent, her various clever combat techniques surprisingly allowed her to continuously resist.

Caroline, on the other hand, appeared mechanical and rigid, responding in a methodical manner.

The Spiritual Universe, Ancient Lava Land Research Institute.

A group of Ishdarian scientists in white lab coats stared at the screens, as if seated in a spaceship, continuously directing the battle.

“Calculating optimal response mechanism.”

“Calculating enemy movements.”

“Next combat move: 76.34% probability the opponent will launch a flanking attack. Best to deflect right, then block with defensive arcane arts.”

The Ishdarians relied on computational power for mechanized combat, striving for the optimal solution.

This led to their civilization's mechanical armored warriors having strong average combat power, but it also limited their upper ceiling. From beginning to end, no supreme monsters with exceptional combat talent emerged. They were all scientists on average, because they relied too heavily on combat AI.

This was also their weakness.

Knowledge was power, and they pursued an absolute crushing path by leveraging overwhelming knowledge and technology.

Xu Zhi sat in a chair, gently stroking Medusa’s sleeping hair beside him, and softly said:

“How ruthless! Caroline also learned from me, cultivating three supreme body techniques simultaneously: the Pangu True Form, the Nuwa True Form, and body cultivation that doesn't require a bloodline.”

A gust of wind—

The winter was bitter cold. He wore a thick black down jacket, his gaze fixed on the distance.

His gaze fell upon the Demon Realm, or rather, the open ground of his rural orchard, where two middle school girls, reaching only his waist, stood facing each other from afar.

Due to their physical size, it gave him a sense of déjà vu, like two middle school girls fighting in a classroom hallway.

“However, perhaps we were wrong from the start... Constantly raising combat power and cultivating multiple systems simultaneously previously, otherwise, if one's combat power was low, they would be weaker than others at the same realm and be beaten to death.”

“But the more systems one cultivates and the stronger one's body becomes, the greater the difficulty of integrating them into cells. The Path of Nine Tiers becomes harder to traverse, making one increasingly stuck...”

“If one only cultivates a single system, the difficulty would decrease. By not building one's 'skyscraper' too grand, perhaps there's a chance, a possibility of breaking through.”

He poured himself another cup of tea and drank it, completely at ease.

His detached expression, as if lounging on a Hawaiian beach chair, sipping coconut water, and watching pretty bikini-clad girls on the sand.

He continued to gaze into the distance.

He carefully observed the battle between these two figures who had stepped onto the Path of Nine Tiers.

This battle was an eye-opener for him and extremely beneficial.

Excluding Daojun, who had already lost his cultivation, and Emperor Qi, who was far away, this battle symbolized the peak combat power of his entire sandbox, holding great significance for the derivation of the Ninth Tier.

Boom!

Ermin's mental power gradually weakened, beginning to fall short.

In terms of mental power and arcane arts, she was far inferior to her opponent. After all, the Three Pillar Gods' arcane arts and law phenomena were still very new to her.

“Is she going to lose?”

Everyone’s expressions changed.

Mainly because her opponent had learned their two supreme physical cultivation techniques; otherwise, the outcome would still be uncertain.

They also noticed that their opponent was not skilled in close combat; in that regard, she was merely methodical and unremarkable.

But the next second...

“Everyone, don't worry.”

Mother Earth Qingteng suddenly chuckled, “It’s as if you think our world only has these two supreme systems. We have other systems as well.”

Everyone was puzzled.

Mother Earth Qingteng continued, “They research arcane arts, which are phenomena of laws. Do we not have our own law phenomena?”

*Could it be Incense? The Incense system?*

The righteous gods formed from the convergence of all beings' faith, and the evil gods formed from the convergence of all beings' evil – one positive, one negative – were indeed a type of converging law phenomenon.

“But?” someone asked.

“They use their arcane arts, but do we not have corresponding spell arts? We also have our arcane arts: causal law weapons.” Her expression became serene as she reached into the void.

“Our arcane arts? Arcane weapons?” Everyone's minds exploded.

The void violently trembled.

“All things return to ruin... All things return to ruin...”

It sounded like a hymn, like an incantation.

Countless black arms stretched into the void, like endless soft tentacles, and astonishingly dragged out an arched dark gate.

On the other side of the gate, a vast and terrifying world of dark, bizarre thoughts seemed to exist in the ethereal. It violently collapsed, transforming into a colossal, mysterious black serpent condensed from black mist, which was then fiercely pulled forth.