123: The final answer to the game between gods and the moon

Heaven Realm's Universal Pull arrived as expected.

The terrifying gravitational force, enough to distort light, was like an invisible giant hand of God, gripping every speck of dust on the battlefield.

Broken stones, snapped wood, and shattered weapons were all swept up, whistling towards the figure in the sky.

At the center of the storm, only Tang Yan stood unmoving.

"Hmm! He's been pulled away, hasn't he! That'll teach him to show off!" From the ruins in the distance, Deidara had just pulled himself out of the ground when he saw this scene, and immediately grinned gleefully, "This is the art of God; mortals should be torn to shreds!"

However, the anticipated sight of Tang Yan being yanked into the air did not occur.

He remained steadily in place, not even a corner of his clothes fluttering.

He even had the leisure to raise a hand and unhurriedly straighten his slightly disheveled collar, his demeanor as calm as if he were strolling in his own backyard.

"Want to pull me over?" Tang Yan looked up, a playful smile gracing his lips as he addressed Heaven Realm in the sky, "You can, but you'll have to ask the planet beneath my feet if it agrees."

Before his words faded, the sandy ground beneath him suddenly exploded!

Boom—!

Eight ferocious blade-limbs, gleaming with metallic and rocky luster, shot out from deep underground like colossal pillars reaching for the sky, firmly guarding Tang Yan at their center!

These blade-limbs plunged to unfathomable depths, their "Sand Iron Energy Absorbers" at the ends operating in overload mode, firmly locking the entire body of Shanxiao - Giyan to the rock strata deep within the earth!

The immense power of Universal Pull was thus forcibly withstood by a brute-force physical method!

Deidara's smile instantly froze, his wide-open mouth unable to close for a long time, and the half-kneaded explosive clay in his palm dropped to the ground with a "thud."

What in the world is this? Using a puppet to weld himself to the ground to resist Universal Pull?!

This idea is too preposterous!

Sasori, hidden within Hiruko, also experienced a momentary stiffness in his true body.

The puppet art he had pursued his entire life, in his understanding, was about exquisiteness, deadliness, and eternity.

But the scene before him had exceeded his comprehension of the word "puppet."

High above, Heaven Realm's Rinnegan, devoid of sorrow or joy, finally showed a hint of genuine fluctuation.

He realized that the man below was not confronting him with raw power, but rather engaging in an inconceivable tactical game using a logic he had never witnessed before.

Single-point capture was now meaningless.

Heaven Realm slowly raised his hands, his emotionless voice echoing like thunder across the entire Hidden Sand Village.

"Feel Pain, think about Pain, accept Pain, understand Pain..."

"Here we go again," Tang Yan picked at his ear.

"...Those who do not know Pain will never know what true peace is."

Pain's voice grew ever grander, as if resonating with heaven and earth.

"Now, let the world... feel Pain!"

"Shinra Tensei!"

Extreme repulsive force brewed in Pain's palm.

Just before that world-destroying power erupted, Tang Yan calmly manipulated his puppets.

Armor · Fortification, transform! Ultimate nesting doll form!

Verdant Forest · Myriad Unbinding, give him another eggshell!

Armor · Fortification responded instantly, its heavy body completing its transformation in a series of teeth-grinding mechanical clicks!

Countless metal and rock armors flipped, connected, and reconfigured, ultimately forming a massive round shield engraved with ancient mineral patterns, spanning before Tang Yan.

It was the reappearance of the Hidden Sand Village's legendary ultimate defense—the Shukaku Shield!

At the same time, dozens of scrolls simultaneously burst open from Verdant Forest · Myriad Unbinding's tree-like trunk, and endless yellow sand was compressed and condensed by high-density Chakra, forming a rapidly spinning giant sand egg that perfectly enveloped the newly formed Shukaku Shield!

Sand Armor, plus, Shukaku Shield! Double absolute defense!

The next second, the repulsive force erupted.

The world lost its sound and color, and only a destructive pure white light remained in their vision.

The outer giant sand egg was instantly evaporated within 0.1 seconds of contact with the repulsive force, leaving not a single grain of sand, but it successfully offset the first and most violent wave of impact.

The remaining destructive power slammed heavily into the Shukaku Shield!

Boom—!

After a sky-shattering roar, there was a long silence.

The shockwave spread in all directions, carving terrifying, spiderweb-like canyons into the ground for several kilometers.

At the center of the smoke-filled battlefield, in a massive crater, the Shukaku Shield still stood stubbornly, its surface covered in shocking cracks, as if it could shatter at any moment.

Shinra Tensei's five-second "cooldown time" began.

"Five seconds of golden time, let's get to work!"

Tang Yan's command was concise and clear.

Beside him, Pharmacist Qin's petite figure flashed red in her eyes, her medicine box opened, and hundreds of "Chakra surgical threads," finer than hair, shot out like a celestial maiden scattering flowers, precisely connecting to the cracked Shukaku Shield, the Shura, Modified damaged in the impact, and other puppets.

With the frantic injection of glowing green medical Chakra threads, the puppets' injuries were visibly repaired and mended!

"Hurry up," Tang Yan looked up at the sky, a smirk playing on his lips, "Five seconds is enough for me to be fully healed; what about you?"

This wasn't healing; this was rapid battlefield repair!

You thought I was a healer? Wrong! I'm actually a combat engineer with healing skills!

The existence of Pharmacist Qin gave Tang Yan's puppet army almost infinite sustainability, completely overturning the puppet master's combat common sense of "one less when one breaks."

During this race against time for repairs, Pain's attack did not stop.

"Boom!"

Asura Path's back thrusters spewed flames, and he transformed into a steel cannonball, all his mechanical weapons fully deployed.

Behind his three-headed, six-armed killing form, a massive metal chainsaw roared deafeningly, rushing directly towards the half-repaired Shura, Modified.

Shura, Modified showed no weakness, its six arms transforming into a blade storm.

Two mechanical constructs, born purely for slaughter, engaged in the most primitive and violent duel!

Clang—!

The chainsaw and the high-frequency vibrating particle blades extended from Shura, Modified's arms slammed together, sparks flying enough to ignite the air.

Asura Path's shoulder cannon spat fire, but the miniature missiles it fired were precisely blocked by a small shield on Shura, Modified's other arm.

Chainsaw versus drill, cannon barrel versus blade!

Sparks and parts flew wildly in the center of the battlefield, every collision the sound of money burning!

On the other side, Preta Path had already approached the pitch-black Netherworld, its five fingers spread, attempting to absorb the Chakra within it.

However, the moment of contact, Preta Path's expression subtly changed.

A cold, deathly, viscous power flowed backward along his hand, utterly unable to be absorbed and converted by his Rinnegan.

Instead, it was like a maggot clinging to bone, threatening to contaminate his own Chakra pathways.

This poison... is unreasonable!

Preta Path decisively cut off the absorption, switching to close-quarters combat, and delivered a heavy punch filled with immense power towards Netherworld's head.

But the moment he approached, a colorless and odorless mist silently spread from Pharmacist Qin, enveloping the entire battlefield.

This was not a toxin targeting the physical body, but a specially made "Chakra Channel Interfere" that Tang Yan had developed after analyzing Pain's Chakra mode through the All Things Creation Box.

In professional terms, it's called area-of-effect signal shielding.

In layman's terms, it's making all of you collectively lag and disconnect!

The next moment, Asura Path, who was passionately colliding with Shura, Modified, fired a missile that was supposed to hit the core, but its angle showed an imperceptible deviation, grazing Shura, Modified's shoulder armor as it flew past.

Preta Path's fist also showed a slight stiffness and delay the moment it was thrown.

This fraction of a second's flaw, for Tang Yan's computing power, was a colossal opportunity.

He smiled.

He finally found it, the fatal weakness of this so-called "divine system"—signal connection!

No matter what kind of god you are, if your internet is bad, you'll still kneel!

Through the shared vision of the Rinnegan, Heaven Realm instantly understood everything.

Double defense, battlefield repair, signal interference... He finally confirmed that the opponent's greatest threat was not the indestructible Armor · Fortification, nor the berserk Shura, Modified, but the seemingly most harmless medical puppet, Pharmacist Qin, who always stood in the rear!

That was the linchpin of the entire tactical system!

Heaven Realm's gaze sharpened, and his tactics instantly changed.

Animal Path in the air, Human Path in stealth, and Asura Path at range—three Pains simultaneously abandoned their respective opponents and launched a thunderous, fatal combined attack on Pharmacist Qin from three directions!

Focus fire on the healer! This is an ironclad rule of all combat!

Facing this certain-kill situation, Tang Yan, instead of being alarmed, smiled: "Only just noticed? Too bad. Did you think my formation was just randomly set up?"

He snapped his fingers with a crisp sound.

"Beehive · Queen's Guard Formation!"

Seven puppets moved instantly!

Shanxiao - Giyan burst from the ground, its massive body transforming into a Wall of Sighs, blocking the Animal Path's summoned beasts descending from the sky!

Shura, Modified abandoned its offense, taking a laser cannon blast from Asura Path with its own body, creating a 0.5-second blind spot for its comrades to shoot!

Netherworld, on the other hand, actively moved to meet Human Path, spreading its arms in a bizarre posture, as if enthusiastically saying, "Come on, hero, please enter the trap!"

All puppets completed complex cross-positioning within one second, firmly guarding Pharmacist Qin at the very center, forming an impregnable absolute defense formation!

Heaven Realm looked at this flawless formation, and for the first time, a hint of almost appreciative emotion appeared in his Rinnegan.

He slowly floated high into the sky, overlooking the battlefield below, which resembled a precise chess game, his voice carrying an unprecedented solemnity.

"Mortal, your wisdom is indeed worthy of touching the divine."

"However, in the face of absolute power, all tactics are meaningless."

He spread his hands, and a pitch-black, high-density energy sphere emitting terrifying gravitational force slowly formed in his palm.

The surrounding light and air began to distort, and loose stones on the ground floated uncontrollably upwards.

A tremor originating from the depths of the soul spread throughout the entire Hidden Sand Village.

"Now answer me," Pain's voice seemed to come from the heavens, cold and unquestionable, "Can your puppets... block the moon?"