But the problem was that Shi Jin and the others' combat specifications already exceeded those of ordinary demigods. Among the four totem-level beasts, the weakest, Susu, had once been Blue Star's strongest demigod!

Individually, none of them matched him in combat power, but combined they could pin him down, leaving him unable to break through Shi Ying's formation—he could only be batted around like a ball, finding no opening.

"Fallen Feathers of the Stars!!" The Phoenix Man unleashed his ultimate technique once more, launching an attack at Susu. These three quasi-divine skills, plus a move reinforced by three beastmaster talents—even Eleven, buffed by Shi Jin, could not withstand them, let alone Susu.

But the imagination was lovely; reality was cruel.

"Hm?" Seeing someone try to attack her dear sister, Chitong flicked the sword in her hand and sent it flying, booming like thunder as it swelled ever larger, crossing the void, and in an instant became four sword projections hanging in the heavens. The four sword clones—Zhuxian, Luxian, Juexian, and Xianxian—formed the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, sealing off the Phoenix Man's assault.

"A Sword Rule imbued with myriad transformations—"

Feeling himself trapped, the Phoenix Man did not panic. This move was far weaker than that black-and-white millstone; he had shattered even that, so he could break this one at will!

Rumble—

The sword formation quaked, and cracks appeared across the four divine sword phantoms.

The Phoenix wings, amid the myriad sword shadows, pierced through the formation and kept attacking Susu—but in the next instant, his eyes went wide.

"Here we go." Chitong, standing atop the Vermilion Bird, had somehow appeared behind Susu in her Sea-Spirit form, her palm pressing onto Susu's shoulder.

Susu pursed her lips and nodded. The massive Vermilion Bird clone immediately dissolved into Vermilion Bird divine fire and flowed into the water element's body. Crimson and blue light blazed dazzlingly, enveloping both Chitong and Susu—Chitong had clearly used Possession on Susu.

She fused her own power and Susu's into one.

"Water-and-fire possession—are you insane?" The attacking Phoenix Man did not halt, but the notion struck him as absurd, for energies that mutually restrain each other are exceedingly hard to harmonize, and the higher the level, the more so.

Perhaps at low levels, sheer control could achieve a cross-combination technique, but the water element and the fire deathling before him were both demigod-level combatants. In theory, it was simply impossible to fuse their strongest quasi-divine skills to achieve an explosive surge in power.

Yet in the next instant, the Phoenix Man's expression changed.

Blue and red light blazed from Susu and the others, and beneath the radiance a taiji-like pattern formed of water and fire actually appeared. Amid the whistling of "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh," the fusion of Chitong and Susu seemed to undergo some qualitative transformation of life!

Boom!!

Moments later, a water-element general with crimson hair and eyes, wielding a flaming longsword, appeared before everyone.

At the same time, a divine sword blending water and fire coalesced in their hands—Vermilion Bird Divine Fire · Spirit of the Pure Sea · Sword of Intersection!!!

Water and fire in harmony was indeed a fiendishly difficult operation; even its success here was not chiefly attributable to the Twin Star Silver Armor of old, General Mu Huiyin's Sword of Intersection.

It was the fruit of training Shi Jin had brought about by repeatedly assisting Chitong and Susu through the Taiji Domain. All of it together was why they could successfully combine and, with a single sword, effortlessly cleave forth a strike surpassing the attack limits of both.

Chitong and Susu's combined attack collided with the Phoenix Man's Phoenix Whirlwind Wings,

At the same moment.

Shi Yan and Chongchong established a spiritual connection and a resonance of mind and soul!

Once again, the Taiji Domain was activated! With Chongchong's cooperation, within its Genesis Domain, the Taiji Domain was unleashed!!!

Domain fusion.

It was as if heaven and earth had just been split apart; the power of the red-and-blue Taiji diagram merged into the body of General Mu Huiyin, formed by Chitong and Susu, elevating their strength to its absolute peak.

On Susu's side, the sound of rules pervaded the air—the purification rule of the ocean—while on Chitong's side, the fire of faith blazed. The interweaving of water and fire, of a quasi-divine skill and a faith skill, erupted in an instant with incomparably radiant power. Beneath the astonished expression of the Phoenix Man, a thunderous "boom" sent him flying like a tennis ball, his body purified and scorched in the explosion!

"Pff—" The triple assault on mind, spirit, and flesh turned the Phoenix Man's eyes white. He had just been about to surge up and counterattack when he felt the energy within his body churn violently.

He was actually suffering from水土不服—a kind of acclimation sickness—as a wave of weakness washed over his body: the unmistakable aftereffects of starry travel combined with descending onto a low-tier planet.

Whether it was genuine discomfort or the faint effect of Lin's luck-based divine skill, the Phoenix Man's movements stiffened for a long while.

"ROAR!!!!" Until Eleven came leaping over, the massive red-and-blue Taiji world suddenly transformed into a black-and-white Taiji world. Eleven, holding the dazzling Yin-Yang Millstone, smashed it directly onto the Phoenix Man, sending them plummeting from the sky toward the ground.

This time, the Phoenix Man's eyes truly rolled white, and he spewed a mouthful of blood, falling like a shooting star.

From beginning to end, he had been kicked around like a ball by Shi Jin and the others.

Lin Shuo, the Gem Cat, and the Seven Gods all gaped, watching the Phoenix Man being ruthlessly suppressed, their hearts pounding wildly. Shi Jin and the Phoenix Man—one the strongest on Blue Star, the other a cosmic prodigy—both seemed immensely powerful in their eyes. Now, seeing the Phoenix Man so thoroughly crushed by Shi Jin, an indescribable emotion welled up within them.

Holy shit, Shi Jin was a monster—could he really beat up even a cosmic prodigy like this?

What the hell, take it easy, don't kill him.

Below, the World See, rooted in the earth, took in the scene and realized that its turn had finally come. But just then, Zilan suddenly shouted with a grave expression:

"Wait, stop right there. He's lost."

"This is... the Ocean Faith God and the Vermilion Bird? A combination of a quasi-divine skill and a faith skill?" Her expression was grim. What kind of joke was this?

"Cough, cough." In the sky, the falling Phoenix Man suddenly split in two, tracing two separate descent trajectories. The human half was relatively fine, but the Star Phoenix was covered in wounds—a truly pitiful sight.

Eleven's final blow had directly obliterated the defensive layer on the weakened Phoenix Man, inflicting devastating damage on them!

Boom!

The two figures hit the ground and fell unconscious. The scene fell into dead silence.

"Huff, huff, huff..."

Shi Jin stood opposite, slightly out of breath.

"That's it, no more fighting."

"Shen Baobao, heal!"

Lin exited loading mode.

Shen Baobao sank into deep thought.

"Sister Zilan, I won. Remember our bet."

Shi Jin stood in place, silent for a moment, then smiled. Thinking it over, he suddenly felt that beastmasters from the cosmos didn't seem all that hard to beat after all.

Still, it wasn't that easy either. In a one-on-one fight, Shi Jin felt it would be quite tough—perhaps there was hope once he reached level nine.