Chapter 954 - 432: Battle (8)
Titan, the first beings born in the Star Sea, almost everything within it emerged from the Titans’ demise. According to the Star Sea’s lore, this includes the three Primordial Deities, such as the Netherworld God.
As for why there are Titans at the bottom of the Netherworld River, only the Netherworld God might know the answer.
Let’s take another look at the appearance of Titans. They don’t differ much from humans in appearance, but these gigantic creatures are not composed of flesh and blood. Instead, they are made of rules, a species formed by the fusion of rules.
In the context of a fantasy world, calling these Titans the Children of the Dao or the incarnations of the Dao wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
Because their bodies are entirely composed of rules, they possess an inherent resistance to the power of rules governed by all Heavenly Gods, nearly reaching ninety-nine percent resistance.
Hoffman once again slashed with a strike enveloped in boundless fiery power.
With the massive chains and bone blade colliding once more, blazing flames instantly ignited the chains, swiftly spreading over the Titan’s body, as if the fire was consuming the Titan.
Yet, even with intense flames burning over its surface, the Titan’s actions showed no hesitation, as it retrieved the battle axe from the other end of the chain, lifting it from the Netherworld River.
Seeing the cold battle axe in the Titan’s grip, Hoffman took a deep breath, and the Divine Power that had spilled from within gradually returned to his body.
At the same time, the Bloodline Power within Hoffman also began to surge under his impetus.
Scarlet Divine Power gathered at the heart, as if adding massive amounts of combustible material to the Bloodline Power, making it boil even more vehemently.
The next second, dragon roars, tiger howls, lion’s growls, and nearly a hundred kinds of Primordial Fierce Beast roars emanated from Hoffman’s body.
Even the Netherworld God gave a slightly surprised look, discovering that Hoffman’s body contained not just one, but hundreds of Primordial Fierce Beast bloodlines!
Upon hearing these beastly roars, the Netherworld God could guess Hoffman’s bloodline secret. It seemed he used the extremely refined rule of fire he mastered to forcibly refine the bloodlines of hundreds of Primordial Fierce Beasts, gaining powerful bloodline abilities, thus acquiring the mighty physique of the Bloodline God, possessing the traits of two types of Heavenly Gods.
Now battling the Titan, since the rules had almost no destructive power, Hoffman could only activate his bloodline to its limits to contest with the Titan in pure strength, the only chance of victory.
"I’ve heard of the Titans’ wonders long ago, never expected in this life I’d battle a Titan!" Burning with Bloodline Power, Hoffman was already filled with unwavering battle intent, eyes fixed solely on the giant Titan wielding a battle axe.
"Come, let me see just how strong this supposedly mightiest Titan Clan truly is."
Before his words fell, Hoffman turned into a shadow, disappearing.
The Titan, with its formidable combat instincts, swung a mighty axe sideways.
Though this was a horizontal sweep, how could an axe belonging to a Titan with a ten-thousand-zhang body be small? The width of this sweep surpassed even the height of a mountain.
With a deafening boom, an explosion erupted.
Titan stumbled back two steps from a massive force, and at the same time, a shadow flew out but halted quickly, disappearing again.
The Titan sensed the opponent’s strength, dug its feet down hard, and stomped violently at the bottom of the Netherworld River.
Centered around the Titan, the Netherworld River surged high, shattering into layers of waves, sweeping everything with a destructive force.
This was the Titan compelling Hoffman’s figure to emerge.
The effect was significant; Hoffman was clearly hindered by the waves, having to break through the sweeping force.
But this also exposed his location.
With the Titan’s giant axe coming down, the booming resounded again.
Hoffman finally couldn’t resist spitting out a mouthful of blood, flying backwards, the raging aura dissipated abruptly, and his once robust muscles quickly shriveled, becoming a gaunt corpse-like figure in seconds.
Seeing Hoffman’s current appearance, the Netherworld God did not seem surprised, coldly laughed and mocked: "Stolen power is never your own, now facing the consequences, aren’t you?"
Indeed, Hoffman’s bloodline was forcibly plundered, and the Titan’s axe had thoroughly exploded the bloodline within him. That bloodline, originally without roots, destined to be an external force, could only perish under the violence.
Flying out, Hoffman’s eyes were void of his former arrogance and confidence, filled with remorse. He lost the reliance on Bloodline Power, reducing his strength by at least forty percent. And the Titan’s axe seemed to bring some strange force, devastating his control over Fire rules, weakening his fire manipulation ability. Repairing it would likely take a hundred eighty years.
Of course, if he could survive or escape.
Hoffman wasn’t foolish and seized this chance to flee, no intention of stopping.
Seeing Hoffman’s fleeing figure, the Netherworld God didn’t pursue, looking rather regretful at the Titan standing before her.
The Titan awakened from the depths of the Netherworld River clearly had self-awareness, and after defeating its foe, turned to gaze at the Netherworld God.
Their eyes met, and neither spoke.
After witnessing the end of the battle, Lu Hong dragged his heavily wounded body to the Netherworld God’s side.
Sensing Lu Hong’s approach, the Netherworld God turned with a slight smile: "So, do you now recognize my prowess?"
"Indeed, truly devastating, no need to act personally, driving Hoffman away. With this Titan present, I bet even if eighteen kings joined forces, they wouldn’t be your match."
As soon as Lu Hong spoke, the Titan suddenly asked: "Nether King, may I leave now?"
Uh..., Lu Hong was clearly embarrassed by the sudden words, he just said with the Titan present, and suddenly, it wanted to leave.
"You may, our agreement is fulfilled. However..., where will you go?" The Netherworld God nodded, though she cherished the Titan’s strength, its dormant state at the Netherworld River wasn’t her doing, rather a trade with the Titan.
Upon hearing, the Titan showed a reminiscent look, then spoke after a long pause: "I need to search for the world my clan once lost."
Hearing this, the Netherworld God nodded: "You can look in the Eighteen Realms. I’ve already explored these lands for you, no trace of your Titan homeland exists here."
Truth be told, there seemed to be some secret between the Netherworld God and the Titan. Lu Hong was curious but didn’t rush to ask.
After hearing the Netherworld God’s words, the Titan nodded and asked: "Where are the Eighteen Realms?"
"In that direction." The Netherworld God pointed towards Night Hunting Pass.
The Titan didn’t hesitate, immediately standing and crossing thousands of zhang in a stride, soon disappearing from their sight.
Watching the Titan’s departure, the Netherworld God glanced at Lu Hong, full of questions, and said: "It’s best not to ask anything. When you’re able to defeat a Divine Lord of Hoffman’s level, it won’t be too late to inquire."
Uh..., one sentence from the Netherworld God has firmly blocked the thousand questions in my mind!
Must it be so harsh?
Sure enough, Lu Hong recognized that perhaps this wasn’t the time to learn these matters, so he took a deep breath and nodded: "Understood."
The Netherworld God was pleased with Lu Hong’s attitude: "Knowing too much isn’t beneficial for you, might distract you instead. Defeating Hoffman today means the Eighteen Realms will likely guard against us, probing further boundaries seems unlikely. We’ll attempt again next time opportunity arises."
Then, the Netherworld God brought Lu Hong back to the Constant Domain.
Meanwhile, the fleeing Hoffman was intercepted by a sword pierced into his chest.
Though quick in reaction, Hoffman’s shrunken body was still punctured by sharp Sword Qi.
Nonetheless, despite being pierced, no blood flowed from the shriveled body.
Holding the Bone Blade, Hoffman vigilantly scanned the surroundings, lowly exclaimed: "Fourteenth Brother, what are you trying to do?! Now is our critical time to reverse the Nine Domains in favor of the Eighteen Realms, are you intending an internal conflict?!"