Chapter 350: The Phoenix's Thin Veil – Ma Hongjun!

Chapter 350: The Phoenix's Thin Veil – Ma Hongjun!

The God of Destruction stared at the fragmented consciousness for a long time, sighing deeply.

To be honest, the God of Destruction had always appreciated talent and had a good impression of Zhou Weiqing, feeling that this newcomer to the Divine Realm had a lot of potential.

But, as the saying goes, you can know someone's face but not their heart.

He never expected that even he, the God of Destruction, could misjudge someone.

The Goddess of Life noticed his sorrow. Flying over, she held his hand and looked at the God of Purification.

"Purification, take the late God of Destruction's final words to his three widows. If they wish to stay in the Divine Realm, give them his former residence. If they don't, send them back to the Hao Miao Continent."

"Yes, Goddess." The God of Purification nodded.

The God of Destruction handed over the memory fragment to her to relay the message.

Watching her leave, Du Qianjue couldn't help but glance a few more times.

Mainly because this woman was so pale. Except for her red lips, everything about her was pure white — even her eyebrows and pupils were snow-white. She truly embodied her divine title: Purification.

"What are you planning next?" the God of Destruction asked Du Qianjue.

Du Qianjue withdrew his gaze and smiled, raising his eyebrows.

"Of course, I'm going to give Tang San a taste of his own medicine. He loves to plot, doesn't he? But under absolute knowledge, his schemes are worthless. I want him to know how it feels to be outwitted!"

"Very well, go ahead and do what you must. If it comes to it, just initiate the final battle!" the God of Destruction nodded in agreement.

"You guys can go familiarize yourselves with the Divine Realm with the two elders. I'll handle this on my own," Du Qianjue told the women behind him.

"Alright, follow me," the Goddess of Life said gently to the women Du Qianjue brought. She was friendly towards them.

In the Divine Realm, it wasn't uncommon for gods to have families. A god like the God of Destruction, who had only one wife, was actually rare. So, the Goddess of Life had no other thoughts about it.

Although she was mistaken — out of all those women, the only true wife of Du Qianjue was Xue Linglong.

After everyone left, Du Qianjue glanced at the Divine Realm map the God of Destruction had given him and stealthily made his way to the Phoenix Volcano.

With his power, currently the strongest in the Divine Realm, not even the former gods of Good and Evil could rival him unless they both returned and reclaimed the positions from Ji Dong and Lie Yan.

If Du Qianjue wanted to hide his movements, no one could detect him.

Since no one knew when the final battle would happen, Dai Mubai and the others couldn't just stay in Tang San's Sea God Temple forever. After the secret meeting, everyone returned to their respective domains.

Ma Hongjun, of course, did the same.

After leaving, he returned to the Phoenix Volcano, sitting hollow-eyed in the magma, lost in thought.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Evil Fire Phoenix, Ma Hongjun. It's been thousands of years, and look how pitiful you've become." A mocking voice echoed in Ma Hongjun's ears.

The empty look in Ma Hongjun's eyes flickered slightly. Slowly, he stood up from the magma and looked in the direction of the voice.

"Tsk, so this is the 'Phoenix of Pleasure,' huh? You've become quite the sentimental fool, still pining over Bai Chenxiang?" Du Qianjue sneered at Ma Hongjun's calm face and sorrowful eyes.

For someone like Ma Hongjun, there was no need to approach gently like with Tang Wutong. No need to subtly guide him, then change his values... no, that wouldn't work here.

Ma Hongjun was close to Tang San, trusting in the bond the Shrek Seven Devils shared over the millennia. He had no reason to suspect his comrades.

The only way to sway him was to stir up his grief over Bai Chenxiang's death, insult him by saying he was powerless, and then break him down.

Sure enough, Ma Hongjun snapped.

"Who are you?!" Ma Hongjun stared intently at Du Qianjue, flames starting to ignite in his eyes.

"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is who you are," Du Qianjue smiled faintly, his tone mocking.

"Are you Ma Hongjun, one of the legendary Shrek Seven Devils, the Phoenix God? No, you're nothing more than a pathetic loser who could only watch as his wife withered away, powerless to do anything."

"Shut up!" Ma Hongjun roared as a massive flaming phoenix formed from the fire and screeched as it flew toward Du Qianjue.

"Hmph, you think your little tricks can impress me?" Du Qianjue sneered and casually crushed the fiery phoenix with one hand.

After brushing the remaining sparks off his hand, Du Qianjue looked at Ma Hongjun with undisguised disdain.

"See? This is who you are — weak, helpless, a worthless failure wallowing in self-pity."

Boom—

"Die!!" Ma Hongjun completely lost it, unleashing his godly power, causing the Phoenix Volcano to erupt with a deluge of magma and scorching stones.

The sky seemed to rain molten fire, crashing down toward Du Qianjue. This scene would have been impossible to witness on the Douluo Continent. This was the power of a god.

"AAAAAH!!!"

Consumed by rage, Ma Hongjun triggered his most powerful attack, drawing upon all the fire element he could muster and unleashing a rain of magma.

As the sky darkened with molten lava, Du Qianjue almost felt like the world had flipped upside down, as if the heavens and earth had swapped places.

Not bad! There's even a trace of a first-level god's power in this attack. It seems the Phoenix God's position really was more significant than the rumors said! Du Qianjue thought, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

However, this level of power still didn't mean much to him. As the God of Chaos, Du Qianjue's control over fire completely outclassed Ma Hongjun's. With just a casual wave of his hand, Ma Hongjun's volcanic eruption was gently pacified.

The once all-encompassing firestorm settled back into the Phoenix Volcano like a calm river.

When Ma Hongjun triggered it, the volcano unleashed its greatest fury. Yet, under Du Qianjue's control, the eruption was silenced without a sound.

This was absolute control over fire, a total domination of Ma Hongjun's most powerful element.

No matter how furious Ma Hongjun became, the magma in the Phoenix Volcano now flowed like dead water.

"Huff... huff..." Ma Hongjun panted heavily, looking down at his trembling hands in disbelief, a flicker of fear creeping into his eyes.

'How... how can he be this strong...?'

Was the gap really this vast?

Ma Hongjun's heart filled with bitterness. For thousands of years, he had trained harder than any of the Shrek Seven Devils, even more so than Tang San.

While Tang San spent his time collecting faith on the Douluo Continent, Ma Hongjun had devoted himself entirely to cultivating in the Phoenix Volcano.

This was why his strength had almost reached that of a first-level god, the result of his relentless effort.

Even so, in front of Du Qianjue, all he felt was helplessness.

Not only had he been defeated, he had been utterly crushed.

"How about now? Do you surrender?" Du Qianjue smiled, casually playing with a firestone he had plucked from the molten rain.

"Are you ready to admit you're a failure? Do you have any objections when I call you useless? A fool who couldn't protect anything, and for millennia has been kept in the dark about everything?"

"In the dark... for millennia?!" Ma Hongjun froze, then abruptly raised his head.

"What did you say?!"

(End of Chapter)

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