104: Chapter 104 Night Emperor's Last Strike

The process of ascension for that towering golden giant had finally reached a critical threshold.

The billions of streaks of light rain formed by the players' sacrifices were like brilliant kindling, all cast into the mythological furnace known as the "world"—the creation furnace.

The furnace fire blazed bright; the godhead was about to be formed.

The divine chains of laws spreading from beneath the giant's feet were no longer illusory shadows. They began to deeply embed and blend with the mountains, geography, and spatial dimensions of the real world, as if redrawing golden veins for a damaged ancient painting.

A brand-new world was being tenaciously nurtured at this terminal point of destruction, accompanied by the wails of the old world.

Above the sky, that black sun representing ultimate terror also seemed to sense the threat brought by this root-level "restoration."

For the first time, its ever-changing geometric form stagnated. Like a giant beast whose feeding had been interrupted, it cast down a cold and displeased "gaze."

It no longer indiscriminately cleared away those players who were like moths to a flame.

Because it had found its true target.

That golden giant who was condensing a godhead and was about to transform from a "Core" into the "Heavenly Dao."

Without any warning.

There was no earth-shattering convergence of energy, nor any fluctuations of laws that tore through the firmament.

A streak of ultimate "nothingness" quietly pierced out from the Core of the black sun.

It was a spear.

A God-Slaying Spear condensed from the very "concept" itself.

It had no physical form, ignored distance, and did not follow any laws of physics.

Its existence was solely for "erasure"—erasing divinity, erasing laws, and erasing all sublime things currently being "born."

The spear tip was pointed exactly at the ancestor's godhead Core, which was about to take complete shape!

At this moment, every surviving creature on the entire battlefield, regardless of their cultivation level or race, simultaneously felt an unspeakable shudder originating from the deepest depths of their souls.

It wasn't fear, but the instinctive withering of life when facing "nothingness."

It was as if an invisible giant hand had gripped the heartbeat of the world.

"No..."

Ninth Prince Ji Haoyue's face was as pale as paper. He could feel that the flame called "hope" that had just been ignited was being rapidly extinguished by an absolute, irresistible chill.

"Stop it!"

Sword Saint Returning to Dust's eyes nearly split from strain. He forcibly suppressed the cracks in his Dao heart and poured his lifelong pride and newfound insights entirely into the life-bound flying sword in his hand.

"My sword exists to protect—!"

A sword cry resounded through heaven and earth, and a sword light so brilliant it could rival the sun and moon carried Returning to Dust's ultimate understanding of the word "protection" as it fiercely slashed toward that invisible, intangible God-Slaying Spear.

However, in the next instant, a scene occurred that almost caused Returning to Dust's Dao heart to completely collapse.

The sword light passed straight through that "nothingness."

It was as if he had slashed into a phantom; it didn't stir a single ripple, nor did it cause any obstruction.

His strongest sword strike, in the face of that conceptual spear, was like a breeze brushing over a boulder—laughable and powerless.

The spear continued on its set trajectory, unhurried yet unstoppable, piercing toward the brow of the golden giant.

Despair.

Like thick ink dripping into clear water, it rapidly spread through the hearts of every survivor.

Everyone understood that this was not a battle of power levels, but a crushing blow from a higher dimension of existence.

All their efforts and the magnificent sacrifices of the players seemed destined to turn into a futile tragedy before this final strike.

...

In a distant void interlayer, before the Obsidian Throne.

In Fairy Yunshang's beautiful eyes, which were usually as calm as an ancient well, a ripple of emotion appeared for the first time.

"Finally... has the 'God-Slaying Law' been used?" she whispered to herself. The cold smile at the corner of her mouth was finally tinged with a hint of genuine excitement and greed. "Good, very good. If the old god does not die, the new god cannot rise. Once that 'Core' godhead is completely shattered by this strike, the world source and the torrent of wills from billions of players that scatter will become ownerless things..."

The Black-Robed Apostle behind her felt her emotional fluctuations and said respectfully, "At that time, it will be the best opportunity for you to replace it and ascend the divine throne!"

"Exactly."

Fairy Yunshang slowly closed her eyes, as if she could already see the image of herself taking its place, incorporating all that majestic power into her own body, and becoming the only true god of this new world.

She was even prepared to activate the "God-Stealing Array" she had long ago laid down the moment the godhead shattered.

But at that moment, she suddenly snapped her eyes open.

Within the water mirror, a sudden change occurred!

...

Just a fraction of a second before the God-Slaying Spear was about to touch the golden giant's brow.

A ripple quietly spread through the void between the spear tip and the giant without any warning.

From the center of that ripple, a figure slowly stepped out from a non-existent dimension.

He wore an outdated, even somewhat tattered black demonic sect robe. His figure was illusory and nearly transparent, as if a gust of wind could blow him away.

His face was shrouded in a blurry shadow, making it impossible to see clearly, save for a pair of eyes that were so clear they made one's heart skip a beat.

What kind of eyes were those?

They held the accumulated vicissitudes of ages, burned with a bone-deep hatred for the entire world, and flowed with an inexplicable sense of relief that comes after absolute dead silence.

This person just stood there quietly, and it was as if an epic spanning the heavens—filled with searching, madness, and final despair—had been condensed into a solitary back.

Demon Sovereign, Night Radiance!

He... actually still existed in this world!

No one knew what he had experienced, nor did anyone know why he would appear at this moment.

He looked at no one—not at the golden giant about to become a god, nor at the black sun in the sky representing the source of all calamity.

His gaze seemed to penetrate time, space, life, and death, falling upon a void that existed only in his memory.

He saw a mountain valley filled with blooming peach blossoms.

He saw a woman with a charming smile and a faint crescent moon mark on her brow.

He had traveled through various realms and walked across ruins, seeking forbidden methods to reverse life and death, only to taste failure and despair time and time again.

He once thought it was the laws of this world, those high and mighty so-called "Heavenly Daos," that had taken everything from him.

It wasn't until the evil god awakened and the apocalypse descended that he suddenly realized the truth amidst his endless wandering and searching.

It turned out the culprit was never this world.

But rather that... monster from outside the world that wanted to devour even "spring" itself.

Night Radiance slowly raised his head and looked at the God-Slaying Spear close at hand. For the first and last time, a smile that was hard to distinguish as sorrowful or relieved appeared on his face.

He did not resist, nor did he dodge.

He simply opened his arms and used his battered, fragile final soul body to meet that strike representing the "end."

As if embracing his own destiny.

"Boom—!"

This time, it was no longer silent.

The moment the God-Slaying Spear pierced into Night Radiance's soul body, the most violent explosion originating from the soul level occurred!

Night Radiance's remnant soul, at this moment, turned into the ultimate fuel.

His lifelong cultivation, all his obsessions, his endless longing for his lover, his heart full of resentment toward the world... everything was ignited at this moment, turning into a pitch-black, reverse-burning demonic fire!

The black flames, like a giant blooming lotus, tightly wrapped and imprisoned the God-Slaying Spear, frantically wearing down the concept of "erasure" contained within it.

The price was his own complete annihilation.

In this violent combustion, his soul body was becoming thin and transparent at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He stood with his back to all living beings, back to the world he once wholeheartedly wanted to destroy, but was now protecting with his life.

In the moment before he completely dissipated, a whisper filled with weariness and tenderness, accompanied by those black flames, softly, softly echoed in the hearts of all survivors.

"This world... still owes Yue'er a spring."

His voice fell.

The black flames and the God-Slaying Spear perished together.

The figure of Demon Sovereign Night Radiance also completely turned into nothingness as if he had never appeared, leaving not even a trace of his existence.

Between heaven and earth, only that soft, heart-wrenching whisper remained, lingering for a long time.

And that golden giant, who now faced no more obstacles, was about to have its godhead reach complete perfection.