Chapter 1374: Evil Born Authority (Combined Part)

Chi! Chi!

Light and shadow flashed first, sound arrived later.

The cracked fragments of the mantis king's carapace, carrying unmatched might, shot out swiftly.

Three fragments the size of human heads in total, two scraping against the plaza's white jade, bursting into violent sparks, rebounding upward, shattering and vanishing into the water. One fragment, with just the right angle and shape, plunged straight into the Long Gong Plaza, sinking halfway, leaving a sharp corner exposed.

The mantis king extended its left arm; beneath the cracked hard shell, twitching, contracting crimson muscle was revealed, within which two carapace fragments and shattered bone were embedded, oozing traces of fresh blood that dispersed in the water, while its two eyestalks trembled wildly.

Accompanying the blood dispersed by the mantis king, a thicker, pale red drifted over from the opposite side.

"This———"

"Right———right punch?"

Outside the plaza, inside the great hall, the Whale King, the Crow King, the Hornshark King, the Sword King—all spectating demon kings widened their eyes in shock.

What is talent?

What others lack, I have; what others have, I excel in; what others excel in, I surpass.

As fellow masters, if one overlays their three offensive divine abilities into one, they can easily pierce through an opponent who has overlapped two defensive divine abilities into one.

If further blessed with talent, one can stack their own advantages to an unparalleled height.

The most typical example is the Stone-Split Clan, whose entire abilities are focused on defense, self-preservation, and heaviness; and where there is a shield, there is a spear.

The mantis king is the utter opposite of shattered stone—indeed, this spear is stronger than the shield, and what the mantis shrimp clan loves to eat most are plump shellfish. The mantis king is such an ultimate athlete; even though its realm is merely that of a high-ranking demon king, relying solely on its slaughtering ability, it is in no way inferior to any hegemon, indeed has the upper hand, and is famed for being nearly impossible to block its punches, dubbed as surpassing lightning.

Bai Yuan, damn it, a right punch?

And just now, that body-turn like spatial translocation———

Humans have flesh outside, bones inside; the mantis king has bones outside, flesh inside—without its carapace fragments, it is equivalent to a giant weak point.

In just one glance, Bai Yuan's this punch rendered what should have been a heaven-shaking, earth-moving duel directly silent.

"Is this the Ape King's authority?"

"How was this done?"

At this moment, the demon kings seemed to have seen many things, yet also seemed to have seen nothing.

Back in the days of the Yellow Sand River, Bai Yuan did not conceal his position fruit; in monkey form, through the ritual of swallowing and spitting the river, it was nearly half-public, almost as if obtaining it meant one could———

No, even if obtained, it cannot be refined, for not everyone possesses an internal space. In short, whether Bai Yuan's arrogance or confidence, regardless of motive, most information has been made known to the world—except one thing: the specific abilities of the position fruit's authority, unknown to anyone!

"Hualala."

The shrimp tail flicked, the mantis king retracted its eyestalks, dared not be dazed, and with near-spatial-translocation speed opened distance; the crimson muscle inside the shrimp claws writhed, squeezing out fragments embedded into its body.

The Sea Lion King's expanding pupils contracted, urgently withdrawing a wave of offense, quickly adjusting direction, ready to cover at any moment.

No pursuit of victory.

A probe, the result utterly frightened the mantis king and the Sea Lion King; Bai Yuan scanned.

In the golden eyes, the mantis king's two shrimp claws were strikingly red, the Sea Lion King's entire body surged with rainbow hues like poisonous insects, like a pot of boiling paint—the latter being the true source of danger!

It raised its arm, the pale white hand bones bare in the water flow; it too was injured, worse than the mantis king, bleeding more, as it itself had dyed the river water redder—but———

The corners of its mouth split open, revealing sharp canine teeth; Bai Yuan straightened his waist and back, first gazing at the distant mantis king, then looking up at the Sea Lion King.

Seventeen percent damage boost, Hong Sha authority boost, Shen God armor support—minor broken mantis king arm armor, reflecting damage back to it, already proves the opponent's strength is no empty reputation.

That "sudden turn" just now was also his first application after understanding the true marvel of Ze Guo.

Ordinary translocation divine ability is merely self-movement across space, forward or backward, leaving traces, unable to one-key turn; wanting to change one's orientation requires either circling around or twisting the body, exposing the wind-up.

But the Hong Sha authority merging into Ze Guo, transforming into Hong Guo, Liang Qu's【Water Travel Thousand Miles】, as if aided by authority, and not entirely uncontrollable "chaos," but only drawing upon the trait of being goable up or down, traceless, letting translocation divine ability directly metamorphose into a divine skill capable of twisting one's spatial orientation.

Clearly, the more authority merges into Ze Guo, the more the inner divine abilities can undergo corresponding metamorphosis!

As for the injury———

Breath exhaled, swirling into a dragon.

Just one breath.

Visible to the naked eye, the rotting flesh around the bones, like living things, pulled into thread-like strands, flesh rapidly regenerated, re-wrapping around the pale white finger bones.

The mantis king and Sea Lion King's gazes tightened again, swiftly scanning over the leaping Sea Palace Master inside the Long Gong, confirming the Sea Palace Master had not fused with Bai Yuan, using talent to help replenish flesh.

"Undying and indestructible!"

The Whale King gasped in shock.

In the past, the flood dragon occupied the true dragon's legacy marsh, seized the Long Gong; aside from its own formidable strength, it was the rumored terrifying news that the Jianghuai region refused to submit, and it would not die.

Indeed.

Undying and indestructible, minor position fruit authority, peak Yao Dragon, Heaven and Earth True Spirit—several conditions stacked together———

This damn, even if the White Dragon King came to Jianghuai, he might not necessarily defeat the monkey on home turf?

Bai Yuan clenched his fist, rotated his wrist.

【Endowed by Heaven and Earth, the spirit of all things! Greatly favored by Jianghuai, wandering in water, physical consumption greatly reduced, divine ability consumption greatly reduced, injury in water greatly reduced, recovery in water greatly increased!】

Governing degree surpasses favor by far, able to link authority, grasp position fruit; however, favor degree does have this one benefit: a governing degree it cannot match.

Heaven and Earth's assistance!

The Ze Ding can hold favor up to a hundred; exceeding a hundred, it will slowly dissipate; a hundred favor can convert to one point of governing, yet cannot be split. To avoid wasting any favor, Liang Qu has always converted upon reaching a hundred favor, not each time's remainder being able to be precisely capped like today.

As long as recovery is fast enough to not affect combat, that means no injury!

"Boom!"

A dazzling white light shot from the periphery, vaporizing the river water, at incredible speed.

After a brief stalemate, the Sea Lion King, seeking opportunity, spat out a streak of azure light beam, straight as an arrow, rushing toward Bai Yuan.

Bai Yuan's strength exceeded all demon kings' expectations, terrifying to the point of being able to trade punches with the mantis king; the two beasts' pre-arranged containment plan before arrival was utterly useless, so the mantis-Sea Lion King had to abandon the plan and attempt a fierce assault.

The Sea Lion King originally had no design on contending for the Jianghuai Dragon Lord's position, but Bai Yuan gave him a great opportunity; the Sea Lion lizard, likewise a great clan of the Eastern Sea, also has position fruit inheritance in the clan, but has always remained in obscurity—if only one could———

The heart-eye burned like blazing fire, all movements within range clearly seen, superior to the enemy, Bai Yuan's Water Travel Thousand Miles, suddenly vanished, then reappeared, already behind the Sea Lion King; he embraced with both arms, a water column shot up to the heavens, standing tall between heaven and earth, Bai Yuan twisted his waist and lunged forward, fiercely charging downward.

The floodwaters parted, white vapor flowing.

The floodwaters surged mightily; from the very start of the war, they filled every corner of heaven and earth, and even the casual water pillars here were as solid as refined steel.

The water pillars tore through the air, the mantis king's shrimp tail flicked, darting forward, appearing solidly behind the sea tyrant king; facing the water pillars, even with only a single shrimp claw remaining, it flicked just as swiftly, striking repeatedly to produce vacuum, as if snapping a dry, withered branch, shattering the water pillars inch by inch.

Bai Yuan heaved and threw, sending the entire water pillar surging forth with great force, using the residual momentum to crash down on its own, while Bai Yuan vanished, reappearing elsewhere, repeating the same maneuver with a thunderous impact.

The mantis king, however, seemed to have a doppelgänger—its shrimp tail flicked with extreme speed, not quite teleporting but nearly so, once again repeating the tactic, shattering the water pillars.

Seven or eight water pillars were hurled in succession, to no avail; the sea tyrant king continued gathering power, Bai Yuan pointed with fingers joined like a sword, the water domain suddenly surged, countless vortex blades emerged from the water, forming a meat grinder, tearing through the flow, trapping and slaying the two kings.

Astonishing white vapor surged upward rapidly, flooding the high-altitude battlefield, obscuring everything, as if a vast swamp were boiling.

Not a single demon king knew what was happening inside.

"Move aside!"

The sea tyrant king roared violently.

The mantis king vanished abruptly; the sea tyrant king's spine-mounted triangular plates stood upright, countless light pillars erupted from their tips, blinding light sweeping across, wherever the light reached, all vortex blades broke free from Liang Qu's control.

Boom!

The astonishing light pillars pierced the white vapor, evaporated the vast swamp, and the battlefield situation became clear once more.

Hundreds and thousands of scorching light beams shot in all directions, while Bai Yuan, who had previously launched fierce attacks, continuously darted between the light pillars.

Liang Qu repeatedly darted and leapt, carefully avoiding the sweeping light pillars, only feeling that the vortex blades he controlled and launched were like one becoming two, two becoming three—uncontrolled "proliferation"—yet the manner of this "proliferation" was truly wrong: small vortex blades sprouted from within the vortex blades themselves, large and small, like tiny broken teeth filling the mouth; simultaneously, the vortex blades pointed in both positive and negative directions, and within moments they canceled each other out, internal conflict erupting, rendering them useless.

The scene stalled briefly; Bai Yuan continuously manipulated the horizontal currents, probing the sea tyrant king, who resembled a turret, bombarding in all directions.

Wherever the light pillars passed, the turbulent water flow remained unchanged.

Yet wherever they touched the smooth ground tiles, a dense layer of tiny bumps suddenly appeared, as if the smooth mirror surface had turned into a rough, uneven frosted surface; any water algae touched exploded into a mass of green liquid.

"This————"

The strange situation left everyone, man and beast, staring agape.

Even inanimate objects were like this—one dare not imagine what would happen if living things touched it; outside had practically become a forbidden zone no one could step into.

The fat fish utterly failed to comprehend this attack, gazing at Whale Strong, hoping it would explain.

Whale Strong scratched his head: "Me? I don't even know what the sea tyrant king's authority is, but these light pillars are indeed its means of attack; from the information source, it seems to be a peculiar kind of proliferation," called "evil proliferation."

The affected fish seemed to have contracted the cancer that beasts get—just a touch, and that patch of tissue would wholly mutate," completely alien to itself.

If the mutated tissue is not promptly excised, it will swell, drawing nutrients from other parts of the body to sustain itself, ultimately rotting and collapsing to death.

To preserve life, the only option is to excise the mutated tissue—like a warrior severing his wrist; if it's limbs or skin, it's still manageable, but if it's the brain, it's tantamount to instant death!

To unleash such an attack, the sea tyrant king cannot even save itself, unless there is another antidotal position fruit."

The fat fish gasped in shock.

"Even the sea tyrant king can't?"

"Of course." Whale Strong said matter-of-factly, "I heard my lord say that with authority, especially minor position fruits, minor authorities, one cannot simply do whatever one pleases.

Just like this proliferation, the sea tyrant king has indeed refined the authority, can use it freely, but it can only choose to use or stop—it cannot reverse, because its authority is proliferation, not restoration or reversal.

As soon as it strikes or touches, mutation and proliferation have already begun; even if the sea tyrant king retracts its claw, it can only maintain the state at retraction, not worsening if mild, but if severe, it will still be ruined."

The fat fish gaped.

Hai Fangzhu's wrists and feet twisted, tangled in tension.

The other demon kings, locked in sky combat, were already utterly dumbstruck, feeling the two battles overhead were on a completely different level from theirs, dazzled and confused.

The Crow King couldn't help but glance at the Whale King; with the Crow King leading, the Sword Shark King, Sword King, and Horse King also couldn't help but turn their heads, unconsciously entertaining the same thought.

How does it feel like both are overlords? The gap between Whale King and Sea Tyrant King is not small?

The Whale King grew slightly annoyed: "Why are you looking at me? The Sea Tyrant King is indeed special—its position fruit is inherited, its entire system from childhood revolves around this evil proliferation position fruit, its application of authority is perfected through generations, nearly deserving the title of Eastern Sea Overlord Supreme! That is, according to the records of my tiger-whale clan, the Sea Tyrant King has long remained withdrawn."

All the kings nodded in sudden understanding.

The Horse King muttered darkly, "Are the top three kings and bottom three kings truly not divided by strength?"

Crackle.

Scorching light swept across the plaza; the kings inside the great hall simultaneously retreated half a step.

"Damn, I finally get why the Sea Tyrant King brought only the Mantis King!" the Whale King suddenly exclaimed.

The kings all turned their heads sharply.

"The Sea Tyrant King's authority is too fierce, so it actually isn't suited to have too many comrades—just one or two is still acceptable; if more, they'd easily become the enemy's shield, backfiring on itself.

And the Sea Tyrant King's Hai Tong is entirely built around authority, so it's actually not strong in itself; melee combat would become its weakness, while the Mantis King happens to have Hai Fu and Hai Ji, helping to cover its shortcomings—a perfect match.

Crucially, the evil proliferation even counters the Ape King's restoration! Ordinary minor position fruits are merely common destruction understandable by all; applied to the Ape King's immortality, they may not work, but the Sea Tyrant King's destruction is not simple destruction!"

The kings' hearts tightened.

Frankly, given this scene, with light pillars flying wildly, they wouldn't dare go up to help—without being tightly wrapped, without Hai Tong for teleportation, going up would just be suicide.

Long Yin, listening, grew even more tense; originally thinking only two kings had come as a probe, he hadn't expected such danger upon arrival.

Long Eying gazed at the distant Bai Yuan in the sky.

Bai Yuan flashed with lightning speed, seeking gaps to strike; when the light pillars brushed against the 【Vortex God Armor】, the armor plates shattered on the spot, nearly contaminating the flesh, necessitating abandonment and reconstruction.

Vortex blades and light pillars collided, mutually annihilating, mutually persisting; the sea tyrant king was like a hedgehog, Bai Yuan like a hunter wielding a steel fork—neither could gain the upper hand.

Attempting the Abyssal Sea Prison, before the light even spread to the sea tyrant king's side, it would self-destruct.

Authority, founded upon Hai Tong!

Liang Qu's understanding deepened further.

Vortex water and essence water were rapidly consumed.

Authority consumes nothing, the Divine Ability Boundless Sea— the sea tyrant king is practically a perpetual motion machine, a fixed turret, while Liang Qu will eventually run dry, with no floodwaters left to use.

"I don't know what Hai Tong the sea tyrant king cultivates, yet it aligns so perfectly with its position fruit authority?"

Liang Qu wondered silently, his gaze sweeping up and down, searching for the mantis king, preparing to strike at the sea tyrant king's comrades.

He possessed the Hongsha Authority, able to melt iron spheres, throw the water into chaos, and shatter the Mantis King's carapace with a single punch — more ferocious than the Mantis King himself.

However, the Yao Dragon's "Root" was so formidable that many internal manipulations proved ineffective; only physical contact could work.

Damn it, the Sea Hyena King is practically the natural nemesis of Hongsha —

Wait.

Natural nemesis?

A flash of insight struck him.

Liang Qu, shuttling through the pillar of light, gazed at the brilliant beam, his eyes narrowing.

Does Evil-Life truly counter Chaos?

His Mind's Eye pierced the light pillar's trajectory; it grazed past his scalp, and within his golden pupils, the drifting white hair trembled violently, splitting into eight forks.

The White Ape abruptly leaned back, reaching out to grasp the spirit water, instantly condensing it into a long spear, then executing another mid-air side flip to evade the follow-up, seizing the opening created by the dodge, twisting his waist and hurling it forth in a sudden strike.

The water spear undulated in mid-air, transforming into a streak of black light, turning into a dragon.

Water Dragon Threads the Bend!

The long dragon roared, faster than the light pillars, seemingly possessed of a spirit, continuously dodging the light pillars.

The Sea Hyena King frantically manipulated most of the light pillars to close in, all bombarding the water dragon at once, intending to make it collapse in mid-air; however, the instant the light pillars and water dragon collided violently, the light pillars seemed to have slammed into a "mirror."

No, not a mirror — simply a "kaleidoscope"!

In that split second, the Evil-Life light pillars that collided with the water dragon fell into the water dragon's body, as if hitting countless prisms — refracted, decomposed into countless fine threads, exploding outward!

Just like the chaotic currents in the waters now, without pattern, without direction.

Scattered across the sky, reaching the four wildernesses and eight desolates.

Denser, finer, more terrifying rays of light erupted.

Countless light spots slammed onto the White Ape, the Wo Hai Armor completely ulcerated and rotted away; however, correspondingly.

The Sea Hyena King's and Mantis King's pupils violently dilated, immense fear enveloping them from above.

The Mantis King even screamed in terror.

At the critical moment, the Sea Hyena King abruptly withdrew his Authority.

Sizzle!

Without the amplification effect, the light pillars landing on his body were merely somewhat scalding.

"Ha!"

The corners of the White Ape's mouth curled up; he reassembled the Wo Hai Armor — he had grasped the knack, grasped the key to using "Chaos" to counter "Evil-Life"!

The Mantis King lingered in fear, panting heavily, mouthparts trembling rapidly.

The Sea Hyena King's mind went blank, completely clueless as to what had happened, why the offensive had "refracted" back like hitting a mirror; all his Hai abilities were constructed for the sake of results, so naturally he had defenses — how could he possibly be "reflected" by a mere mirror or something?

The White Ape's Authority?

Unwilling to accept it, he tried firing light pillars again.

The White Ape was not polite in the least — another Water Dragon Threads the Bend.

Black light crisscrossed, the water dragon roared again.

Light pillars and firelight collided violently.

The orderly light pillars were instantly beaten into "chaos," "chaos" into countless fine rays, bursting outward like fireworks.

The Sea Hyena King was shocked out of his wits — that move just now wasn't a fluke!

"I'll do it!"

Boom!

The Mantis King seized the opening, mustering his courage, leaping again to arrive behind the White Ape, striking out with his shrimp pincers, the torrent surging.

However, the exact same situation occurred again.

The Mantis King only felt space change; the White Ape who had just had his back turned abruptly spun around, as if he had been facing him all along.

Just what kind of spatial ability is this!?

Meeting those golden eyes, the Mantis King no longer dared to throw a punch; panic-stricken, he flicked his tail and retreated in defeat.

Scalding water temperatures flowed into the great hall; though they had not faced it directly, those inside the hall glimpsed the leopard through a tube — not a single one was unmoved.

In the heavens above, wrapped in white vapor, with brilliant light trailing behind like the dimmed lightning within a thunder transformation, the Mantis King jumped up and down, yet no matter what, he did not dare to throw a punch.

The Mantis King dared not advance; the Sea Hyena King dared not use his Authority.

No one understood what had happened; in the blink of an eye, the two Peer Kings' strongest methods seemed to have been firmly pinned down!

Sizzle!

The final burst of light rays, massive amounts of river water evaporated, scorching hot currents rushing in.

The intense battle abruptly turned silent.

White vapor slowly dissipated, revealing his true form; long hair drifting behind him, the White Ape hovered in the water, looking down on the Sea Hyena King; the Sea Hyena King's heart struggled faintly, and he lowered his head.

"I concede."

The Ze Ding trembled.

【Intimidating the unsubmissive, virtue spreading across Huaijiang】

【River Rule Degree +0.2】