The Rubber Divine Tree, being rather close, felt the lethal blast of heat, and its pupils still held a look of utter incomprehension.

"Flame—" Even as it retreated in frantic steps, the astonishing firelight before its eyes arrived in an instant.

"What on earth—" At this very moment, it still had not grasped what had just happened.

Nor could it understand why the self-detonation of a mere Monarch-rank Ginseng Baby could unleash such a powerful shockwave.

"I won't eat it anymore, I won't eat it anymore, just let me go..."

Amid its despairing cries, its body gradually vanished.

That swarm of Starry Void Insects was, without question, devoured by the light in an instant.

The Overlord-rank Starry Void Insects were all but annihilated in a flash, not even dregs remaining, while the Totem-rank ones, depending on the toughness of their constitutions, were likewise enduring an unprecedented impact.

As for the contestants from the Totem Nation who had fled the battlefield from the very start, they were still running for their lives—but the massive explosion that inexplicably swept up from behind them left them utterly bewildered and trembling to the depths of their souls!!

They had no idea at all what had happened over there.

In that moment, a startling will to survive drove them to quicken their pace once more, fleeing desperately into the distance.

Yet the explosion spread faster still!

The light of the blast, centered on the Ginseng Baby, shrouded the vast majority of the trial barrier, and the destructive force it wrought wiped everything out clean in the span of a single breath.

The speed of those Totem Nation contestants was nowhere near enough to carry them clear of an explosion of such magnitude; they were among the creatures who lost their lives in almost total bewilderment.

In that instant, as the trial barrier wrought by the Eternal Divine Tree was swallowed in a sea of light, many gods gaped open-mouthed, many demigods stared in shock at it all, and the Legends of the Seven Nations were left utterly dumbstruck, finally understanding what the Source God Legend Zhong Xiao had meant by certain death.

Self-detonation.

A self-detonation on par with that of a Totem-rank mechanical lifeform!

This was the might of the ultimate forbidden weapon beneath the divine prohibition!

Why!!

In the outside world.

The scene visible within the trial barrier was a magnificent spectacle.

At the barrier wall nearest the epicenter of the blast, as a wave of energy swept past, cracks burst into being with a thunderous roar.

When a deafening sound rang out, the energy barrier of the trial shattered outright, and scattered motes of energy light instantly filled the entire sky.

The nearby Totems and Overlords were all given a fright, their hearts nearly leaping from their chests.

At this very moment, the whole island could see, within the barrier, the colossal phantom of explosive energy diffusing through the sky.

It was a white energy form resembling a Ginseng Baby, seemingly ten thousand meters tall, its plump arms spread wide, having already burst through the barrier, as though it were embracing the sun and moon of the starry sky, looking utterly delighted.

It was delighted, but one spectator after another had been frightened half to death by it, shocked to the core, their ears all but ceasing to function.

"Madman!!! Madman!! Madman!"

At once, the demigods, with the Source Divine Tree at their head, began screaming frantically.

It knew that the fire-weak Rubber Divine Tree could not possibly have survived this blow.

It could only feel that Shi Yan's Ginseng Baby was a madman through and through.

Never had it imagined that Shi Jin and the others would possess such a self-detonation sure-kill.

And that, for the sake of the Eternal Flower, they would not hesitate to sacrifice a life—so long as they obtained the divine legacy.

No wonder Shi Jin had vanished without a trace in advance; he had simply run off.

Yet was it truly worth sacrificing a Ginseng Baby comparable to a god-level resource, all for the Eternal Flower?

In that moment, the Source Divine Tree, the Black Dragon Sovereign, and the Tyrant Dragon King all felt a touch of fear as well. They did not fear enemies of immense potential—but they did fear madmen of immense potential.

If Shi Jin could go so far as to sacrifice a pet beast for the sake of a god-level resource, what was there he would not do?

In that instant, everyone was struck dumb, left stunned by the self-detonation tactic Shi Jin had chosen.

The fierce wind of the explosion spread madly outward, and at a speed of several hundred meters per second it soon reached the whole of the barrier, causing damage of varying degrees.

Though the destructive force it wrought continued to weaken, in an instant it had reduced the entire trial barrier to a scene of utter ruin, with not a single plant left standing.

As the light dissipated, the contestants of the Totem Nation had, quite obviously, been wiped out entirely.

Of the Overlord-rank Starry Void Insects, not a trace remained either.

Only a single massive, mangled Totem corpse, along with four colossal Starry Void Insects that retained the barest flicker of life but likewise looked wretched in form, lay relatively intact upon the scorched black earth.

A single self-detonation had slain two totems outright, gravely wounded four more, and left them teetering on the brink of death.

With countless Starry Void Insects dead, the essence of life drifted through the air in shimmering clouds.

Such an immense concentration of life essence made many spectators beyond the barrier widen their eyes.

Yet what stunned them far more was a lone figure standing upon the scorched earth, upright among the totem corpses.

That figure was none other than Shi Jin.

Buffeted by the chaotic tide of energy, Shi Jin's black hair whipped about. He lifted his head, gazing at the corpses one after another and at the life essence filling the sky, and wore an expression of satisfaction.

At that same moment.

The Time Mark activated.

As time-force gathered, before the stunned eyes of every Legend, demigod, and divine beast, a Ginseng Baby that appeared utterly unscathed—the six-pointed star pattern of the Time Element swirling in its pupils—

reassembled in the sky.

Within its petals burned a rich fire of life. Its condition was superb, its eyes brimming with an air of invincibility.

"Eeh." Then it settled lightly upon Shi Jin's shoulder and, together with him, looked out at the life essence filling the heavens.

In that instant, the Black Dragon Sovereign, the Genesis Tree God, and the other demigods—who had been shaken to their core—very nearly had their eyeballs pop out of their skulls.

And not only them. At this moment, no one—whoever they were—could accept that the Ginseng Baby which had just unleashed that brilliant strike at the cost of its own life and self-detonation was now reappearing on Shi Jin's shoulder completely unharmed, looking not the least bit affected.

If that strike had not been a self-detonation paid for with its life, how could it possibly have possessed such devastating destructive power?

Those were six totems and dozens of top-tier overlords!!!

"Impossible—absolutely impossible!!!!" the Genesis Tree God shrieked in horror, while the Violent Dragon King wore a look of utter disbelief.

And the divine beasts, too, now stared in astonishment at Shi Jin and the others within the barrier, understanding with perfect clarity what had just happened!!!!

"A Time Element skill."

"After its self-detonation and death, it used a Time Element skill to reverse life and death, completing its resurrection!!!"

The Pig God declared from the sky, its face drained of color. A resurrection-type Time Element skill—even at merely transcend tier, its rarity far surpassed that of the vast majority of divine skills. How could such a thing possibly appear on a Ginseng Baby!!!