Chapter 554: The Old King’s Crowbar
After just one night’s sleep, the fishman youngster’s gains already surpassed what duelists achieved through prolonged effort.
“Another increase... This means it’ll likely keep growing!”
The fishman youngster felt both elated and anxious.
His joy stemmed from the fact that growth had become a trend. Enhancing his bloodline concentration was his most urgent need. He had originally planned to use Zhou Zhang's blood sacrifices to achieve this. Unexpectedly, while sleeping on the ship, his concentration rose naturally! Safe, simple, and convenient.
His worry, however, was that he had dreamt again.
“This time, I dreamt of the great whirlpool once more.”
“And the speed and depth of sinking into the ocean floor were both faster and deeper than the first time!”
The fishman youngster retrieved the recorded footage.
Ever since that first incident, whenever he rested again, he had commanded the tower spirit to secretly monitor him.
Both the magic footage and the surveillance results showed: while the fishman youngster slept, divine magic fluctuations erupted from his body.
Analysis of these divine magic fluctuations indicated at least the presence of Spiritual Navigation.
With this, the mystery was solved.
“As Cang Xu said, the great whirlpool I saw in the sea must have been my confrontation with the true form of the Charming Blue Goddess!”
“The divine are unfathomable. I cannot comprehend them, and I may even misunderstand them. The great whirlpool is the manifestation of that comprehension.”
“Then, does my growing immersion within the great whirlpool signify a deeper understanding of the Charming Blue Goddess?”
“Or perhaps... that I'm drawing ever closer to the deity?”
This was the fishman youngster's deepest concern.
Had he been a pure, devout believer of the Charming Blue Goddess, he would have rejoiced at this moment.
But he wasn't!
He was desecrating the ritual. Only by invoking fabricated memories did his level of devotion barely pass muster.
The heightened bloodline concentration allowed the fishman youngster to assimilate his previous clergyman and magician levels more swiftly.
“Half a day. At most half a day, and I can pray again.” The fishman youngster calculated, his heart both anxious and hopeful.
The cost was unknown, but the benefit was tangible and imminent.
Most crucially, the pressure of his grand plan for atonement weighed heavily. After deep contemplation, the fishman youngster still leaned toward continuing his prayers.
Tranquil Hill Divine Domain.
The duelists chanted loudly, praying in unison!
“Supreme and mighty Dueling God, my Lord.”
“You are the protector of duelists, the witness of justice, the embodiment of fearless valor.”
“Your power is unmatched, Your wisdom unsurpassed.”
“We battle within Your divine domain, yet our foes' defenses surpass shields and armor.”
"We beseech Your might to shatter their defenses. We beseech Your radiance to illuminate our path to victory."
“Guided by You, our blades shall be razor-sharp, our shields unbreakable, our eyes discerning truth from illusion, our ears attuned to every sound!”
The entire divine domain trembled faintly as colossal divine magic coalesced above the battlefield.
This was the divine domain of Tranquil Hill.
It was the domain of the duelists, and they had once again invoked divine favor through prayer, prompting an immediate, powerful response!
"Te-te-teacher, what should we do?!" In the control room, Bu Quan panicked, his face drained of color.
Shuang Lian's expression was grim as ever.
She stared intently at the ever-expanding divine power aura, her tone more serious than ever before. “Bu Quan.”
“Now, you will witness my true trump card!”
“This is a severe challenge, but equally an unparalleled opportunity.”
“Open your eyes wide and watch carefully!”
With that, Shuang Lian summoned the greatest trump card of her life, an alchemy artifact from the deepest recesses of the Honey Snow Tower.
The legend level alchemy artifact—The Old King's Crowbar!
The crowbar's primary material was a leg bone. The bone came from the most notorious womanizer king in the Main Plane's history.
In his youth, caught stealing a kiss, he had his leg broken.
He fashioned this broken bone into a growth-type crowbar artifact.
His famous words echoed through the ages: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the sun and moon!”
He ultimately ascended to legend level, and the crowbar became an legend level artifact.
The true point where Shuang Lian began to rise up was the accidental acquisition of this crowbar!
The crowbar's effect was immensely powerful, capable of prying open any object in the world, but it required at least one fulcrum.
In the present context, this fulcrum was Shuang Lian's understanding of this divine domain.
“Just as I suspected, this divine domain is ownerless!”
“Crowbar, pry it open with all your might!”
Shuang Lian screamed inwardly as the suspended divine power crashed down with thunderous force.
The mage tower was struck as if by a colossal divine energy waterfall spanning a hundred miles, violently crashing to the ground.
The divine magic, vast and overwhelming, pinned the mage tower down, inflicting devastating damage.
The gold level duelists retreated one after another, watching from afar, stunned by the breathtaking divine assault!
“Is this the power of a god?”
“Honey Snow Tower is finished.”
“If we'd known this would happen, we could have saved half our divine favor.”
Just as the duelists believed the battle was decided, the Old King’s Crowbar began to work.
The divine power washing over the Honey Snow Tower was successfully levered, causing it to flow back upstream. This portion of divine power not only collided head-on with the descending force but also formed a protective barrier.
The barrier shielded the Honey Snow Tower completely, top to bottom, left to right, with meticulous care.
The vast majority of divine power remained unshifted, crashing violently against the barrier.
The two forces collided violently, rapidly depleting each other!
By all logic, the divine power forming the surface barrier of Honey Snow Tower was vastly smaller than the opposing forces and should have been unable to sustain such a prolonged battle.
Yet the Old King's Crowbar continued its relentless work. It constantly leveraged the external divine power, converting it for its own use. Thus, the divine barrier enveloping Honey Snow Tower maintained its scale.
The divine power shockwaves generated by the gold level duelists, expending vast amounts of divine favor, were instead harnessed by Shuang Lian to shield herself.
Even so, the mage tower was paying a heavy price.
A shrill alarm echoed relentlessly throughout the tower's interior.
Shuang Lian's students were thrown into utter chaos.
The tower shook violently. Even the residual shockwaves from clashing divine energies were overwhelming. Large chunks of brickwork crumbled from both inside and out, while magic circles of all sizes shattered. The entire structure rapidly slid toward the abyss of collapse.
In the control room, Magician Shuang Lian gritted her teeth, clinging to her resolve.
Never before had she pushed the tower's power to such frantic extremes. Sparing no cost, she operated the tower at an unprecedented maximum output, forcing it to unleash its full potential!
Could Shuang Lian succeed?
When the divine power struck for the first time, Bu Quan instinctively closed her eyes in tension.
The tower's violent tremors made her stumble, nearly causing her to fall.
The shrill alarm almost pierced her eardrums.
The initial dozen seconds felt like an eternity, Bu Quan enduring each moment as if it were a year.
As she gradually adjusted to the tower's violent tremors and the maddening, piercing alarm, she summoned her courage and slowly opened her eyes.
The first person she saw was her beloved mentor.
Magician Shuang Lian wore an expression of solemnity and intense focus.
Her posture was perfectly straight, her figure commanding, the absolute anchor of the control room!
From her teacher, Bu Quan felt a powerful sense of security, drawing unexpected confidence from it.
Gradually, the alarm faded, the tower's tremors rapidly subsided, and it swiftly stabilized.
Throughout this time, the tower spirit had been overseeing critical emergency repairs.
Finally, the magnificent divine power that had swirled in the sky was completely exhausted.
The battered Honey Snow Tower crashed onto the land of the divine domain, struck by divine power.
Huge holes gaped in the topmost control room, offering a view of the open sky.
The Honey Snow Tower resembled a warrior who had fought a bloody battle, covered in wounds yet stubbornly holding its head high and refusing to fall.
Without a doubt, the Old King's Crowbar played the most crucial role!
Countering divine power with divine power, using force against force, this allowed the Honey Snow Tower to weather the storm. Had it relied solely on the mage tower's own strength, it likely wouldn't have lasted even the initial ten seconds.
Secondly, there was Shuang Lian's unwavering persistence. She refused to be intimidated by adversity, fighting back with everything she had until she narrowly escaped death.
There was also her unwavering investment in the mage tower, she never skimped on resources. It was precisely this foundation that allowed Honey Snow Tower to rush repairs and escape the brink of destruction.
Wealth was also a component of a magician's combat power.
Shuang Lian was wealthy and never hesitated to convert her riches into tangible strength.
The nature of divine power bombardment also played a role.
The divine power steadily weakened over time.
Its peak power lay in the earliest stage.
Failing to destroy the mage tower early made success in the mid-to-late stage far less likely.
“We made it!” Bu Quan cried out in disbelief, her voice trembling with joy, though traces of lingering terror still clung to her face.
Facing the divine power's assault head-on for the first time, she had felt a terror unlike anything she'd ever known.
Shuang Lian's body was actually trembling slightly, but with Bu Quan present, she maintained a facade of composure.
The gold duelists were utterly stunned!
“They actually held their ground!”
"What did Shuang Lian use? A legend level aura emerged from the mage tower!"
“They harnessed much of the divine power, so the divine strike didn't achieve its intended effect.”
"Such a blasphemous act against divine power, why doesn't our Lord punish them severely?"
“Could that conjecture be true?”
"Our Lord never truly appeared, is that it? Lady Mei Lin!"
The duelists swarmed around Mei Lin, demanding answers.
Under the scrutiny of countless gazes, Mei Lin offered no explanation.
Bao Li Gen pressed relentlessly: "Mei Lin! You were certain Shuang Lian would fall for the trap. The mage tower must have uncovered some secret of the divine domain. You must know something!"
Mei Lin nodded with a smile. "I did indeed discern some truth. Today's battle was a test to verify it. But the specific truth, I will not speak it aloud. You must all grasp it for yourselves."
“The most crucial task now is to decimate the mage tower.”
At this point, Mei Lin's expression darkened. “I fear I may have made a grave mistake!”
“I should never have lured Shuang Lian, along with the entire tower, into this trap.”