Chapter 432: The Might of the Dark God, Hard to Resist!

However, with Du En here, you can only remain in a stalemate with me; what spare strength could you possibly have left to resist?

Facing the scene of the renewed, stagnant standoff, the Holy God could not help but think this at the moment.

Because after exterminating the Dark God, the spare strength she had reserved could naturally accomplish the same thing as him; in fact, she was not under any substantial threat at all.

Even if the Dark God were to suddenly withdraw, she was confident she could prevent him from doing so, forcing him to continue this stalemate.

But, is it really that simple? Or perhaps...

Du En glanced at the hanging lamp that was deliberately revealing its gaze and blinked.

And right at this moment, those fifth-rank puppets he was controlling were completely wiped out in the blink of an eye, not even having time to self-destruct.

The god and the man naturally both noticed.

The situation had indeed become tricky.

Du En thought this, not surprised.

"Ming... have you grown to such a degree?"

The Holy God's words sounded surprised, with a slight pause, filled with emotion and a sigh; clearly, she had somewhat underestimated the growth speed of Ming, the former Holy God apostle and current Dark God general.

However, this was actually quite normal; the spread of the Fluorite Disease had created a suitable environment for her rapid growth, and at the same time, the Dark God's side had researched things like controllable Fluorite Disease. With these accumulated additions, it was quite normal for her to quickly reach the late stage of Spirit Transformation.

Of course, in terms of talent, it was the change brought about by Jiang Ying.

Because defeating this source mother allowed Ming to break through her past mental barriers, and thus, she, who had already been one step away, naturally stepped into the level of a heaven-gifted prodigy.

In fact, as long as she was given enough time to shed the prefix of being a "weak stream," reaching the perfection of Spirit Transformation would just be a matter of course.

Therefore, the Holy God's gaze became somewhat restless again.

Du En did not glance at her imperceptibly this time.

Immediately following, and very quickly, the god and the man noticed the changes outside: the reappearance of the apostles' fading shadows, and the violently increasing aura from Jiang Ying's side.

Scene after scene seemed to be happening right before their eyes, as if under some influence, the images were being transmitted directly into their minds.

Du En raised his eyebrows slightly, and the hanging lamp could not help but leap with joy.

In short, the battle outside had once again fallen into a stalemate, with no winner to be decided in the short term; everything was still as planned before.

Then the god and the man quickly returned to a silent calm, because they could not afford to be careless on their side either.

Unknowingly, they had stepped into the Dark God's trap again, or rather, stepped into the Dark God's hidden curtain.

When digging a lair and taking action in secret, one naturally has to put on a facade on the surface.

In fact, there was no expectation of truly obscuring the gaze cast from beyond the firmament; the key lay in making others feel that they had already seen everything clearly.

Therefore, this layer of the curtain was also exceptionally exquisite, without the slightest bit of perfunctoriness.

Based on great magic power, weaving a domain and space, layer upon layer, while also setting up arrays and engraving numerous restrictions, all gathered and converged upon that divine throne.

Startlingly, this hall was an unimaginably dense pocket of surface space; the inside and outside could be said to be two different worlds, separated by an extraordinary distance, which was why even that earth-shattering battle had not affected it.

However...

The Holy God had just made a move, using the divine-made spiritual vein to conduct it...

Du En could not help but think this.

Trapping Ming was only incidental; in reality, it was a diversion.

He did not care, only having figured out a few things.

At this moment, his eyes shining slightly, under the application of the Fiery Eyes of Truth, he finally saw another curtain beneath the curtain, and saw the god sitting upright on the divine throne.

It looked quite tall, ten feet high even while sitting, wearing a suit of pitch-black armor that covered even the head and face; it was quite ferocious yet possessed soft curves, as if it were a work of art, cast from some kind of crystal. The dim light flickering upon it carried some profound patterns invisibly, and it faintly exuded a trace of ominousness.

No, not exuded; it should be called residual.

The raw material of that armor was the Fluorite Disease, the crystal clusters derived from its pathological proliferation!

Purple is the normal color, red is the controllable color, and the black before his eyes was clearly the Dark God's further control over it, almost dispelling and removing all the disasters and ominousness; it could be called a masterpiece!

With Fluorite as the base, infused with dark light, engraved with restrictions, and refined into a vessel... all sorts of methods gathered together, mixed and combined, increasing in an orderly fashion. At this moment, as it entered Du En's eyes, it appeared quite unfathomable, and he could only barely make out a portion of it.

It was far more special than treasures like the Divine Skeleton Armor; in a sense, it was the Dark God's life-bound magic treasure. No, it seemed to lack that connection of being bound to one's life, still remaining in the category of a vessel, so, was it a divine artifact unique to a god?

Dark Fluorite Armor...

Du En's Fiery Eyes of Truth were constantly analyzing and acquiring information, but in the short term, he simply could not see through it, and naturally, he could not see the Dark God's true form beneath it.

His expression remained calm, but in the subtle details, it seemed somewhat heavy, and slightly tinged with a trace of doubt and strangeness.

Therefore, he stopped his actions and paused for the time being.

The Dark God was also silently gazing at his enemy, not speaking for a moment, as if he were earnestly analyzing something.

The atmosphere in the arena became stagnant.

Snap! Invisibly, it seemed as if there was a clash of energy, causing such subtle sounds to appear from time to time in the empty hall.

The Holy God's hanging lamp also swayed its candle flame slightly, the gaze revealed within it seeming somewhat shocked; she had not expected the Dark God to appear in such a posture.

It was just that Du En felt it was a bit fake, though the other side had not discovered this.

Calm would eventually be broken; after all, outside the hall, there were the raging waves driven by that battle of the supreme, and even if it seemed close, it was actually far away, but it would sooner or later spread here.

When all is said and done, the constitution of a supreme physical body is quite extraordinary; once it reaches the level of a heaven-gifted prodigy, it can gradually be called a Human Sacred Body. Among talents of the same level, it appears especially prominent, and when brought to the extreme to obtain one's own physical body divine ability, even shedding the hat of a "weak stream" is not considered a stretch.

Therefore.

The god and the man on Du En's side did not speak.

The Dark God, however, slowly spoke: "Looking at it this way, perhaps we are actually very similar. The final apostle, or should I say, the demon star fallen from the heavens?" Facing these pointed words, Du En did not make any reaction.

The Holy God, acting as the spokesperson for their side at this time, was naturally duty-bound: "At this point, isn't it a bit late to come and sow discord?"

"Late? Not late; rather, I would say, it is just right."

The Dark God seemed to smile, appearing confident, sitting high on the divine throne, looking down at his sister: "Although it seems you have indeed noticed something, at this point, it would be better to explain it directly."

"..."

"The pain of the god brought about by the conflict between defying the god's nature and insisting on one's self? To tell the truth, I have never experienced such a thing; it was merely a necessary act of deliberately showing weakness for the sake of one who achieves great things not being bound by trifles."

"Just because of this, you ignore the corruption and decay of your subjects?"

"Indeed. Although I do lament the rapid corruption of my subjects, in order to tear through the black curtain above the firmament, I can only endure it in silence."

An Shen sighed slightly, his gaze shifting away and moving outside, as if looking at that pool of An Wang bloodstains that had long since been wiped away, leaving not a trace behind.

Even now, the touch of that feeling left in his heart remained extremely profound.

Back then, having just hatched and just been born, the god who cherished his own life and was marveling at its preciousness saw lively, vibrant living beings with his first glance, and with his second glance, he saw living beings willing to discard their own lives just to save the lives of other living beings.

He was deeply shocked by this, and the fearlessness he tasted from it was the fundamental reason why he had looked at humans with new eyes ever since.

But because of this, he also had to endure the lament and pain brought about by the fact that his own inaction caused that preciousness to rapidly wither and decay.

However, these were all necessary stages.

"How about it? Do you want to try cooperating with me?"

An Shen extended an olive branch to Du En, just as he had done to Ming before, "If it is you, you should be able to understand and accept the principle of being able to bend and stretch, and of feigning weakness to plan for the long term. We actually don't have any direct points of conflict. If we were to be more blunt and calculating about benefits, I also have quite a few treasures here that I can take out as bargaining chips."

Du En was still using his Fiery Eyes of Truth even now, attempting to see through the An Ying Armor on his body.

Therefore, An Shen's words were also very blunt; since Du En was interested in its profound mysteries, he could completely take its refining methods, the extraction methods for its related materials, and so on, to make a deal in exchange for Du En's withdrawal and non-interference.

It wasn't that he was afraid of him, he just felt there was no need to fight to the death. Moreover, according to his observations, Du En's behavior did not seem to be that of someone who caused the source of life to be this way, or rather, he was not from that faction. In this way, making peace for the time being was also beneficial to subsequent plans.

"If possible, I do not wish to engage in meaningless struggle at this moment. After all, the most pressing matter at hand is to recover from the wounds left by the last great war, restore my previous cultivation of the Great Perfection of Transformation to Void, and then break through to the Void Refinement stage to achieve the position of a True God."

He continued to speak slowly, not hiding the fact that his realm had been knocked down to the late stage of Transformation to Void. His tone was like that of an old friend—steady, slightly hoarse, and low. He did not have that condescending air of sitting high on a divine throne; he was exceptionally calm and treated him as an equal, almost saying the word 'fellow Daoist'.

The Hanging Lamp of the Saint God flickered slightly, but did not refute anything.

As for these words from An Shen, Du En remained silent, like a mute, invisibly expressing his attitude.

Calculating gains and losses—that, he would not refuse.

Attempting to play the pig to eat the tiger—normally, he would do that too.

Being humble when weak and plotting great undertakings after becoming strong... actually, it seemed he had never done that.

Du En's gaze flickered slightly, ripples stirring within his calm.

Was he smiling gently?

Looking at his entire path of immortal cultivation, although there had been times when he was as weak as an ant, he had actually insisted on his true colors from beginning to end. He only used some small tricks to make people develop biases and misunderstandings about his perception, thereby achieving the situation of feigning weakness to plan for the long term in a roundabout way.

After Meng Changqing stood up for him, such things became even rarer, because the people he faced were not fools. It was very difficult to play the pig to eat the tiger, so he simply jumped out to show off in public.

However, speaking carefully, his encounters were not too difficult and were generally within a controllable range, whereas the situation of the people with lofty ideals within these star realms that were specifically valued was completely different.

Thinking of this, the ripples of emotion disappeared again.

Du En understood the other party's rational choice, but faced with such a strong enemy that he could hardly resist, he did not choose that kind of rational choice.

—Just a moment ago, he had roughly seen through the other party's strength level! A late-stage Transformation to Void at the level of a Strong Heaven's Pride—this was his current state of mana and primordial spirit. In reality, however, he still possessed the true realm and vision of a half-step Void Refinement, as well as a powerful divine artifact like the An Ying Armor, which was clearly just refined and sufficient to compensate for his unhealed wounds.

In this way, it was a Weak Heaven's Pride versus a Strong Heaven's Pride, a mid-stage Transformation to Void versus a half-step Void Refinement... Under normal circumstances, who would win and who would lose was a matter clear at a glance!

Therefore, An Shen advised him to be rational; if they really started fighting, he could suppress him with a backhand!

In the end, the fact that the enemy required Du En to exert his full Fiery Eyes of Truth just to capture and observe him already highlighted the gap in their strength! "My sister, your naivety lies right here."

An Shen appeared to sigh somewhat, exerting force to press down on the armrest of the divine throne as his figure slowly straightened and stood up, "And now, this naive stupidity seems to have infected the envoy as well. Heh, however, I am not angry. Rather, I am quite happy, because this further reveals some clues to me; the scene behind that curtain should not be as bad as I thought."

"That is really hard to say."

The Saint God sighed long, her words vague and seemingly implying something.

It was unclear whether An Shen understood, but it was only known that he had begun to urge the divine artifact's mana, and a terrifying momentum was rushing toward him, as if a continent were smashing into him head-on.

Du En could not help but retreat three steps, letting out a muffled groan involuntarily; he had actually already sustained some internal injuries!

"Now that things have reached this point, with your wounds unhealed and you still supporting the dwelling place of the remnant people with your own strength, what remaining power can you bring out to support those who support you?"

"Perhaps, I don't need to use that remaining power at all?"

The Saint God's Hanging Lamp spun around, and while An Shen was slightly stunned, it plunged fiercely into Du En's body.

To be precise, it plunged into the magic treasure he had transformed.

The two were like they had long agreed on a battle plan; following the emergence of the Myriad Transformation Shimmer, the Saint God also moved along with the light, and a suit of armor was instantly constructed.

With the Divine Remains as the foundation and dotted with An Ying, its performance was higher than Ming's Divine Remains Armor, but it was far inferior to the divine artifact An Ying Armor. However, the installation of the Saint God's Hanging Lamp was like adding a core to a puppet, extremely obviously enhancing its efficacy.

Two-in-one armor transformation, Saint Remains Armor!

Then came the blessing of the embryonic form of Dao Might, filled with the domain of the Brilliant Radiance, and amidst the armor that looked like a brilliant crystal, Du En's momentum was also soaring, easily reaching the level of the late stage of Transformation to Void, and even arriving at the boundary of the half-step Great Perfection.

(End of this chapter)