"Boom!"
A beam of light tore through the sky, from the ground to the heavens. A spatial rift spanning the entire world appeared, and a scene from another world was displayed in Fang Ming's eyes.
It was the real world!
This guy's attack could actually destroy the world barrier!
"It's gotten stronger again!"
Chang Sheng's face darkened as he looked at the rift.
On the other side, in the real world, amidst the chaos of warring malevolent spirits, the entire sky rumbled. Immediately after, a colossal rift tens of thousands of kilometers wide appeared in the sky!
Through the rift, humans could clearly see the scene in the Soul Realm. A colossal "giant wolf" was spewing beams of light, relentlessly attacking a human the size of a speck of dust.
"Is this the end of the world..." some people murmured in a daze.
Blow after blow, the humans in the real world began to doubt if the end of days was upon them.
Of course, Fang Ming and Chang Sheng didn't have the luxury of worrying about the malevolent spirits that had escaped from Chang Sheng's realm. They could easily summon them back once they dealt with the soul demon.
If they couldn't handle the soul demon, these malevolent spirits would at least serve as a warning to humanity.
The soul demon would eventually grow strong enough to easily breach world barriers and descend upon reality, and that would be humanity's true doomsday!
In the Soul Realm, Fang Ming and Chang Sheng were still battling the soul demon.
The soul demon's attack missed. Its body was once again covered in runes, which then shattered into large and small fragments before Fang Ming and Chang Sheng's astonished eyes.
These fragments changed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Countless miniaturized soul demons formed an army that filled the sky. They then opened their massive mouths and unleashed beams of light.
"The coverage is too vast!" Chang Sheng exclaimed. "We can't dodge!"
Fang Ming, seeing the annihilating light descending like raindrops, knew they couldn't escape.
This soul demon was not mindless. The idea of defeating it through agile maneuvering was now impossible!
"Let's block it by force and find an opportunity to counterattack. We'll kill as many as we can!" Fang Ming transformed into his malevolent spirit form, his body stretching to thousands of meters. Runes flickered across his form, and a barrier enveloped him.
The soul demon's annihilating light splashed against the barrier, creating ripples. The barrier's brightness visibly faded, and its destruction was only a matter of time.
Chang Sheng, possessing superior strength to Fang Ming, pointed a finger, and a barrier also appeared around him, blocking the incoming annihilating light.
The rune abilities Fang Ming and Chang Sheng used originated from the soul demon itself. Both the barriers and the annihilating light were fundamentally the same in origin.
This confrontation, appearing as an exchange of offense and defense, was in reality a contest of the quality and quantity of energy within their bodies. The side with less energy would inevitably lose!
And in the current situation, it was obvious that neither Fang Ming nor Chang Sheng could match the soul demon in terms of energy quantity!
This creature had likely consumed countless things throughout history. In fact, a large portion of its body was filled with undigested energy, which could be converted into its own energy at any moment to replenish its combat reserves!
Fang Ming and Chang Sheng quickly realized this. They exchanged glances, seeing the helplessness in each other's eyes.
Continuing like this, their defeat was only a matter of time.
They had initially thought that two beings at the Chang Sheng realm working together could easily defeat the soul demon. Now, it seemed, that was a foolish fantasy.
Ordinary means were useless against a being like the soul demon, which was why Fang Ming and Chang Sheng had been using their rune abilities to counter it.
To a certain extent, soul spirits were a higher race than malevolent spirits. When at the same level, many of the malevolent spirits' abilities were ineffective against soul spirits.
Nannan's abilities, for example, might not even be enough to defeat a soul spirit of the same level.
Fang Ming and Chang Sheng were currently in this awkward situation, facing the soul demon. Their innate talents had little to no effect on the soul demon, or rather, their effects were negligible.
Chang Sheng's innate talent was related to time, allowing him to accelerate or decelerate the target's time. This was why Chang Sheng had many instant kills.
Against lower-level opponents, Chang Sheng could accelerate their time infinitely, leading to instant kills, or infinitely slow them down, making years seem like mere seconds in their perception.
This talent was incredibly powerful, almost limitless. However, the problem was that this talent had very little effect on soul demons of the same level. Furthermore, Chang Sheng's ability was not primarily offensive, making it impossible for him to defeat the soul demon alone.
"Do we have to resort to the final step?"
Both Fang Ming and Chang Sheng hesitated.
There was another way to defeat the soul demon, but neither of them wanted to use it.
If they did, it would mean their deaths.
Yes, it was to re-fuse into the original "Chang Sheng."
This would revive the true "Chang Sheng," but both Fang Ming and the current Chang Sheng would cease to exist.
Fang Ming had his own life path, his daughter Nannan, Qing Mian, Number One, and even his parents. Chang Sheng had a similar existence, just with different experiences.
Unless absolutely forced, they did not want to re-fuse into "Chang Sheng."
But looking at the current situation...
"No, let me try again!" Fang Ming was still unwilling to give up.
He leaped forward, his scales surging. A long sword of black scales appeared in his hand. He charged towards the swarms of soul demons amidst the rain of annihilation light.
The soul demon had split into tens of thousands of parts, naturally reducing its individual strength. However, the annihilation attack itself was incredibly potent. Even when unleashed by the fragmented soul demons, its power had not significantly diminished.
"Die!"
Fang Ming seized a soul demon spewing annihilating light and thrust his sword into its head. The flow of annihilating light from the demon's mouth ceased abruptly.
Suddenly, Fang Ming felt a sense of danger and quickly dropped the soul demon he was holding. But it was too late!
"Boom!" As the soul demon died, it self-destructed!
Its power was comparable to Chang Sheng's full-force attack!
Fang Ming's massive body retreated frantically. The left arm that had held the soul demon was gone, with green blood dripping from the wound.
"Are you alright?" Chang Sheng quickly flew over and gasped, seeing Fang Ming's injury.
The sheer power of the explosion was enough to heavily injure Fang Ming, who specialized in physical combat! He couldn't even withstand the self-detonation of a single soul demon clone.
Furthermore, the soul demon Fang Ming had killed wasn't particularly strong; it was only of average strength among the tens of thousands of soul demon clones.
If some of the ten-thousand-meter soul demon clones had self-destructed, wouldn't that have killed them both?!
"It seems we have no choice but to fuse," Fang Ming said with a wry smile.
Chang Sheng sighed. It had come to this, and they had no other options.
The soul demon's power had exceeded their expectations.
Meanwhile, the soul demon, unable to defeat the two for a prolonged period, and recognizing that their abilities were of the same origin and had been stolen from it, became increasingly agitated.
Suddenly, the annihilating light rained down. The tens of thousands of soul demon clones roared and reformed into drops of water, merging back into one. The original, colossal soul demon reappeared.
"Roar!"
It roared towards the sky, and the entire Soul Realm began to shake. Invisible hands reached out towards Fang Ming and Chang Sheng. The space they passed through trembled as if on the verge of tearing apart.
"It has already mastered the will of the Soul Realm. No wonder..." Chang Sheng immediately recognized these invisible hands as the will of the world itself. If caught by these hands, he and Fang Ming would surely perish!
There was no more time to hesitate!
"Fang Ming, quickly! Fuse!" Chang Sheng shouted.
Fang Ming, regaining Chang Sheng's memories, naturally understood what those hands were. Without further thought, he lunged towards Chang Sheng.
Chang Sheng also lunged towards Fang Ming.
They simultaneously let go of their reservations. Upon contact, Chang Sheng's body instantly merged into Fang Ming's. In that instant, Fang Ming fell into a deep slumber, and a will from another Chang Sheng realm descended upon him, enveloping him into a giant cocoon.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!..." The invisible hands arrived before Fang Ming, attacking his face, but they were blocked by the world will of Chang Sheng's realm.
The clash between the two world wills emitted thunderous roars. Cracks appeared one after another in the space around Fang Ming, and the real world began to shake violently, with severe natural disasters occurring in multiple locations!
Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis...
The impact of the subservient world on the real world was clearly displayed before everyone's eyes at that moment!
Seeing that even its summoned world will could not overcome Fang Ming, the soul demon became furious. It leaped forward with its four limbs and lunged at Fang Ming, its massive maw opening to take a fierce bite.
The size difference between them was like a giant wolf gnawing at an egg. There was no doubt that with that bite, Fang Ming would be reduced to a pulp!
"Crunch!"
A crisp sound echoed through the sky.
The soul demon howled and spat Fang Ming out.
It was like biting into a steel egg, shattering several of its teeth.
As the giant cocoon that Fang Ming had become landed, cracks appeared on its surface. Then, with a violent explosion, the entire cocoon shattered into pieces. A young man flew from the ground into the sky, facing the soul demon.
This man bore a seven-tenths resemblance to Fang Ming and three-tenths to Chang Sheng. He wore a long black robe, his expression indifferent, looking down at the soul demon opposite him.
At the same time, Shan Mian Nannan, still in the ancient tower, suddenly opened her eyes, tears flowing silently. E Mian Nannan also shed tears, her heart feeling empty, as if something most precious had been lost without her noticing...
"Fang Ming..." Both Nannans knew what this meant, but they could do nothing.
"Fang Ming..." Fang Daolong hesitated, his words catching in his throat. He had also vaguely sensed something, his eyes filled with bitterness.
Although he had been tricked by Chang Sheng's scheme and had raised the other half of Chang Sheng for years, he had developed a father-son bond with Fang Ming.
[Author's Note]: There are only about two chapters left until completion. In normal circumstances, the hospital and school arcs would involve a lot of content, but the situation of this book is not ideal, so it has to be rushed to a conclusion in this state. However, the ending and the main plot progression are still fine, and it at least provides an ending for those who have followed the story to the end.