The avatar of the azure dragon claw is swift, but as long as its target direction can be discerned, its path can be predicted, allowing preemptive interception.

Moreover, in the environment of the fire sea, the three avatars of the fire monsters can freely change positions through flame transmission. In a split second, they intercept the attack path of the azure dragon claw avatar.

One avatar of the fire monster blocks the front, relentlessly torn apart by the azure dragon claw avatar, shattered with a single strike. Meanwhile, the other two avatars of the fire monster charge forward, only to be torn apart and routed by the azure dragon claw avatar.

Comparing purely in terms of raw power, the avatars of the fire monsters fighting the azure dragon claw avatar is like me just becoming Impermanence fighting Ming Zhuo, with a decisive density difference between both sides. However, the fire monster avatars have a numerical advantage, and like the azure dragon claw avatar, they are not true living beings but mana-condensed automatons, able to regenerate completely regardless of how many times they are destroyed in the fire sea environment.

As the third fire monster avatar is torn apart, the second already swiftly recovers halfway, and the first finishes its repair process completely, attacking the azure dragon claw avatar as if nothing happened. The cycle repeats, and although the azure dragon claw avatar is stronger and faster, it cannot escape the entanglement of the three fire monster avatars.

If the azure dragon claw avatar had mana as powerful as mine, it could definitely break the three fire monster avatars simultaneously and escape their entanglement. Considering their not-so-high intelligence, even if I were to fight, placing five together would struggle to entangle me. In fact, my past success in simultaneously killing five Meng Zhang avatars was because their intelligence was not as high as Meng Zhang himself.

No, to say "intelligence degree" might have some margin of error. Purely in terms of processing capability, the Meng Zhang avatars are like advanced artificial intelligence, likely surpassing real humans in many aspects, but they lack a spirit. I'm not elevating the human heart as something sacred, but from an Impermanence perspective, intelligent beings without soul are much easier to predict in action.

My fire monster avatars, being made for the first time, only have a rudimentary level of intelligence, as their goal is rather simple: merely to block the azure dragon claw avatar, aided by the fire sea environment's conveniences, even if the azure dragon claw avatar breaks their blockade, it cannot do so within a short timeframe.

With the help of the flame giant hand, the Water Navy Xuanwu returns to the battlefield here.

"Not good..." Meng Zhang's expression changes dramatically.

Without waiting for him to prepare, Water Navy Xuanwu fires a black water cannon, resembling a galaxy filled with silvery phosphorescence, without any hesitation.

A strike with the gold element counter force forces Meng Zhang into evasive action. Almost simultaneously, I advance to his side, delivering a palm strike to his face.

His face instantly forms an armor woven of azure lightning, but it is futile. The massive flame erupting from my palm instantly blows away the armor along with his head. His body follows, knocked far into the distance, then suspends in midair, and Paradise's power of restart descends upon him, restoring his head to its original state.

The attack doesn't end here, as Water Navy Xuanwu's second black water cannon follows closely behind. Just restored, Meng Zhang's heart gets pierced through, and taking advantage of his newly suffered injury, I advance to the forefront once again, my stellar-like body crashing into him.

Far away, the azure dragon claw avatar frantically moves toward us, repeatedly deterred by the three fire monster avatars, failing to approach smoothly. In a two-against-one situation, Meng Zhang becomes highly passive, his body repeatedly destroyed and repaired. The power of restart seemingly inexhaustible, but I know very well that the power of Paradise is not something he can use without cost. Continuing like this, the power born of Paradise will inevitably become insufficient.

That said, if Meng Zhang stops using the power of restart, he will surely die under the assault of me and Water Navy Xuanwu, and the birth of Paradise becomes impossible. His plan seems trapped in a dead end, stepping on a narrow bridge, with failure ahead, and failure behind.

After enduring and repairing from severe injuries a dozen times, Meng Zhang finally finds an opportunity to escape from the siege of me and Water Navy Xuanwu. The situation seems improved, but it's not. In my prediction, his only chance of winning now is to first eliminate Water Navy Xuanwu, then face me in a one-on-one battle; but in actual combat, he faces the same dilemma as the azure dragon claw avatar.

No matter his speed, as long as the attack target can be predictably determined as Water Navy Xuanwu, I can surely intercept him while traversing the fire sea. And each encounter with me plunges him into a cycle of trading injury for injury. Without Water Navy Xuanwu, trading injury for injury favors him; but now he endures more attacks, making trading injury for injury too heavy for both him and Paradise's burden.

He could, of course, delay until the azure dragon claw avatar arrives for support, diverting Water Navy Xuanwu's firepower; but doing so would only re-enter the previous pattern. I merely need to send the three fire monster avatars to divert the firepower of the azure dragon claw avatar again and rescue Water Navy Xuanwu.

Although the loop is not overly solid and secure, Meng Zhang might find a way to break it. However, based on his current reaction, I become increasingly convinced. He may truly possess that method, but he cannot achieve it before the consumption of Paradise surpasses the red line.

He has already lost.

Another collision occurs, and suddenly Meng Zhang erupts with a far more powerful lightning storm than any previous attack, blowing me to a distant place, and simultaneously shattering Water Navy Xuanwu's incoming black water cannon with the sudden explosive storm. This terrifying eruption seems to declare that the battle's nature is entering an irreversible phase.

Water Navy Xuanwu halts his offensive abruptly, his expression becoming very serious, his body even trembling slightly. My feeling is not much better because I know what Meng Zhang intends to do next.

With a gaze full of hatred, Meng Zhang moves his eyes back and forth between me and Water Navy Xuanwu.

He exhaled heavily, letting out a breath of turbid air.

"Very good... very good, I'll admit it... Zhuang Cheng, I have lost." He said.

Even though he was admitting defeat, he still seemed to think he could control the situation.

He lifted his head again, gazing at the azure sun floating in the sky.

"After so much preparation and struggling for so long, I still couldn't accomplish it in one go," Meng Zhang said, "The plan can only end in failure. This time, I cannot complete 'Paradise'; it will have to wait for the future. Although there are mana resources left, continuing to tangle would be futile. Since that's the case—"

As he spoke, he raised his hand, pointing to the sky. Immediately, something unimaginably vast descended.

It seemed to be a gaze. The gaze of 'Paradise' fell upon Meng Zhang. Until now, 'Paradise' had been peering at the outside world through Meng Zhang's eyes, but now all its attention was focused on Meng Zhang himself.

Following this gaze, countless azure mana surged from the abyssal seeds, pouring into Meng Zhang's soul. Such overwhelming mana even gave me a sense of déjà vu— in the past, when I had not yet become Impermanence, I felt this way upon first encountering Ming Zhuo. In its presence, I seemed nothing more than a puny existence.

Undoubtedly, at this moment, Meng Zhang was no longer conserving his power for the plan, but had shifted his primary goal to completely obliterating me and Water Navy Xuanwu; what he wielded was not his own power, but the power of 'Paradise'.

Therefore, our real opponent thereafter could be said to be no longer him, but this ultimate existence, equivalent to another universe, even though it had not yet truly descended.

I wasn't unprepared for this, but only when facing it in reality could I deeply comprehend— as such an entity's enemy, we had no chance of victory.

At this moment, Meng Zhang seemed transformed into a higher-dimensional being. His mana fluctuations were so immense that they gradually left my perception. Just like sound waves of too high a frequency cannot be detected by human auditory organs, his power seemed to rise to a field even Impermanence cannot reach.

"Your souls will become nourishment for 'Paradise', hopefully allowing me to recover some of the costs of making a move. As for the seeds of the Four Symbols, I will confiscate them all." He said indifferently, "Vermilion Bird, Xuanwu, White Tiger, and my Azure Dragon, even though they cannot gather the Five Elements, the number of Four Symbols is enough to form a system of its own.

"Throughout the ages, aside from Shan Liangyi himself, perhaps only I could acquire four seeds of the Four Symbols at once. This victory might yield me unexpected gains and could help in the future birth of 'Paradise.'

"So, it is concluded, Zhuang Cheng, and Xuanwu.

"Dying under the power of a new universe, you should feel honored."

With that, he raised his palm.

However, the next moment, an unexpected change occurred.

It was not until I witnessed this change that I suddenly remembered something.

Logically, I should never forget this, but for some reason, I ignored it until now. In this city, besides me, Water Navy Xuanwu, Meng Zhang, Xuanming, and Xu Gou, there is an unknown sixth Impermanence.

This Impermanence has been lurking until now, with both identity and purpose unknown. Because of its unknown nature, it should have been the most guarded against. However, not only I, but even Meng Zhang and Water Navy Xuanwu were obviously oblivious, wholeheartedly advancing their plans until this moment.

"—You should be ending too, Azure Dragon."

An unfamiliar voice sounded behind Meng Zhang.