Tang San's attacks landed on Fang Chang in rapid succession, yet he remained completely unharmed. In contrast, Tang San's own flesh kept splitting open, his blood spilling with every blow.
Despite this, under the driving force of hatred, Tang San continued his frenzied assault on Fang Chang and his three clones. His attacks grew ever more savage, while the frequency and severity of the wounds on his body increased.
Fang Chang watched him with a twisted grin. There was a hint of wickedness in his expression—Go ahead, keep fighting. I'd like to see just how far you can push yourself to death.
Perhaps the physical pain had slightly brought Tang San back to his senses, as his attacks finally ceased.
He gasped heavily for breath, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Fang Chang, as though deep in thought.
Strangely, his left hand was forcefully pressing down his right hand, his body arched in an odd, sideways posture, as if more than one consciousness resided within his body.
Now, due to some internal conflict, those two wills seemed to be fighting for control.
From the way his body moved, Fang Chang noticed the problem: this body harbored not only a part of a god's power and consciousness but also Tang San's own soul.
It was as if Tang San's shell had been infused with the essence of a god, but for some reason, Tang San had seized the dominant role in the end.
Judging from the divine aura leaking intermittently from him, Fang Chang recognized this god—it was none other than the former Sea God, the founder of Sea God Island.
The internal struggle continued for over half a minute before Tang San finally suppressed the Sea God's consciousness and regained full control of his body.
He stared at Fang Chang with a fierce gleam in his eyes, and in the next moment, he directly unlocked a restriction within himself. His power surged dramatically, reaching a level close to a second-class god.
Faced with Tang San in this state, Fang Chang didn't dare let his guard down. His three clones and his main body all transformed into the Undying Evil Spider Emperor. Thirty-two eerie red eyes locked onto Tang San.
On the other side, Tang San's breathing slowly stabilized, but his gaze was dazed, as though he was fusing with some kind of entity.
Even so, he once again lifted the Clear Sky Hammer and smashed it toward Fang Chang. The impact was so intense that even Fang Chang, a hundred meters tall, was forced to stagger back several steps.
The surrounding sea soul beasts were instantly annihilated. Swallowed by waves, their bodies disintegrated under the sheer force of the battle.
While Fang Chang's main body held off Tang San's frontal assault, the three clones seized the opportunity to rush in, driving their spider legs into Tang San's back.
Several terrifying wounds, as wide as bowls and oozing black blood, tore open across his back, covering nearly a third of it.
Yet Tang San seemed unfazed, still wearing that dazed expression as he continued attacking Fang Chang.
Fang Chang's eyes narrowed. He stomped his eight spider legs hard, raising a golden light barrier in front of him—his old "Shield Wall" skill, and their strongest available defense.
Boom! The Clear Sky Hammer slammed into the golden barrier. Fang Chang retreated half a meter, while Tang San staggered back five or six steps, blood spilling from his mouth.
Immediately after, Fang Chang dispelled the barrier and lunged forward. One of his spider legs pierced Tang San's left chest, stabbing straight through his heart and lifting him high into the air.
It was only then that Tang San coughed violently, blood dripping from his mouth onto Fang Chang's face, forming a small bloody stain.
"Wh… why…" he murmured weakly. "Why, when I'm clearly a transmigrator, when I clearly possess the Tang Sect's secret techniques, do I still lose so miserably to you…"
"I… I refuse to accept this…"
As he spoke, the last glimmer of light in his eyes faded. After ten thousand years, he was once again killed by Fang Chang.
Whatever method he had used to gain the Sea God's power didn't matter—his fate was the same as back then, just as powerless before Fang Chang.
After his death, Fang Chang carefully inspected the body, once again confirming it was the real Tang San.
But his body had seemingly been used as a vessel in some kind of ritual. The consciousness that had been inside, and just dissipated along with him, had clearly belonged to the Sea God.
Yet whoever devised this ritual probably hadn't foreseen that in the end, all their effort would only serve someone else.
Though the Sea God had been resurrected, the vessel—Tang San—awakened as well. Under the overwhelming weight of hatred, he slowly eroded the Sea God and eventually suppressed him.
But who could have possessed the power to perform such a ritual?
Fang Chang's first thought was of the hundreds of gods who had once escaped from the God Realm. If anyone had the capability, it would be them—especially given that among them was the former Goddess of Life.
Over the past thirty years, Fang Chang had never relaxed his vigilance. At the slightest sign, he would dispatch forces to hunt down those rogue gods across all planes.
Thanks to these years of effort, most of the escaped gods had already been captured or killed. Only a dozen or so remained at large.
It now seemed likely that they were still hiding within the Douluo Plane—or at least had once been here, using it as a sanctuary to recover.
Could this so-called "great figure" mentioned by the members of the Holy Spirit Cult be related to them? Or even be one of them? Fang Chang continued to speculate.
Things had clearly progressed beyond his original expectations. He lifted his head toward the sky, and in the God Realm, Fang Chang's true body opened his eyes.
A spatial rift slowly tore open next to Fang Chang and Tang San's corpse. A giant hand reached out, grabbed the body, and dragged it back into the God Realm.
Moments later, three thousand gods of the God Realm gathered. To the surprise of many, more than half were Fang Chang's direct descendants.
"Do you still recognize him?" Fang Chang's voice echoed in each god's mind. One by one, they turned their attention to the figure he casually tossed onto the floor.
"Tang San…?" Qian Renxue covered her mouth, her expression full of disbelief. "Wasn't he supposed to be long dead? How could this be…"
Beside her, Bibi Dong seemed to recall something. After a moment, she finally remembered the name, though her only impression of Tang San was his decent performance in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament.
Ah yes—he was Yu Xiaogang's disciple, and Tang Hao's son.
"Mhm." Fang Chang nodded. "It's him. He was revived."
"Strictly speaking, the person who revived him didn't intend to bring back Tang San, but the Sea God. It just so happened that the ritual backfired and benefited him instead."
Nearby, Gu Yue, visibly pregnant, sat down on Fang Chang's lap and glared at him with gentle anger. "And you didn't think to call me when something like this happened?"
As the new Goddess of Life, she seemed to sense something. "This must be the work of the previous Life Goddess. Only the Tree of Life in her hands could achieve something like that."
Because she had never obtained the Tree of Life, her divine position as the Goddess of Life always felt incomplete—a fact that irked her endlessly.
After a brief meeting, the God Realm reached a unanimous decision: they would dispatch an army to return to the Douluo Plane and seek out the former Life Goddess who might still be hidden there.