As the winds howled and thunder roared without pause, the Tian Class Techniques finally took form—each one a manifestation of devastating might.
Boom!
Li Mei stepped forward, her sword dancing with elegant precision. The frost energy gathered at its tip erupted outward, forming a swirling storm of glacial force. From within that blizzard, a colossal sword began to take shape—hewn from glacial jade, its surface etched with ancient runes and infused with the essence of howling wind.
It stood tall like a divine weapon from an ancient era, the kind once wielded by gods of ice and storm. Its blade pointed directly at Gu You and his forces, exuding a cold so absolute that space itself began to freeze and fracture along invisible lines.
Bang!
At that same moment, Ming Cheng stepped forward with a thunderous stomp. The ground beneath his feet split open, unable to withstand the weight of the tyrannical energy swirling around him.
His Dou Qi surged violently as the heavens responded with a deafening rumble. The spear in his grasp pulsed with terrifying power—its shaft turning pitch-black, while veins of blinding thunderlight surged across its surface like divine lightning trying to escape. A weapon forged by chaos and storm, it radiated a destructive will that threatened to tear the world apart.
Rumble!
Thunder exploded like a divine beast awakening, roaring within the churning darkness of the storm clouds. A moment later, a terrifying energy shockwave rippled out in all directions, shaking the heavens.
The layers of dense storm clouds began to collapse inward, as though torn apart by a force that defied the very will of the sky. From the heart of that chaos, two colossal fingers slowly descended. One glowed with a golden-green radiance, while the other shimmered with the cold brilliance of sapphire blue.
The golden-green finger exuded sharp pressure, but it was the sapphire blue one that dominated the heavens—it emanated an overwhelming might, capable of drowning all beneath it. Strange and ancient symbols were etched across both fingers, glowing like divine marks, each one as profound and boundless as the heavens themselves.
They weren't mere techniques. They were heaven's judgments given form—unstoppable and absolute.
With a steady breath, the trio finally unleashed their Tian Techniques.
"—Arctic Heaven Collapse Sword."
Li Mei's voice was soft yet piercing. Her words did not echo—they descended, like a celestial edict, cold and final.
"—Thunder Desolation Lance!"
Ming Cheng's roar tore through the air like divine thunder. His voice was not a battle cry—it was a command of destruction from the heavens themselves.
"—Ancient Desolate Hand, Second Finger: Overturning the Boundless Ocean!"
Xiao Hua's tone was calm and icy, yet within it lay the weight of annihilation. His voice carried across the sky like a judgment long awaited, sentencing all before him.
And with that, the heavens trembled… as the wrath of three Tian Class Dou Techniques descended.
At the moment her voice fell, Li Mei thrust her sword forward—graceful yet bound with terrifying might. The colossal jade sword soared upward like a divine weapon of judgment, as if it intended to pierce not only its foes but the very heavens themselves.
The wind screamed, lightning roared, and the towering blade tore a rift through the sky, carving open the void as it ascended. The ground beneath shattered into countless frozen shards, spreading outward like a glacial storm. A boundless cold surged forth, freezing miles of land in an instant.
The majestic sword did not falter—it soared relentlessly until it pierced through its mark, bringing with it the weight of heaven's frost and silence.
At nearly the same instant, Ming Cheng thrust his spear with unshakable will.
The world seemed to pause. Then—
Boom!
A blinding pillar of thunder erupted from his spear, streaking forward like a divine lance hurled from the skies. Wherever it passed, space collapsed with explosive force. Hundreds of feet of spatial rifts tore open in its wake as heaven and earth alike were reduced to trembling dust.
The storm that followed was apocalyptic. The will of thunder surged behind the strike, sweeping everything before it in a cataclysmic cascade of lightning—as if the wrath of a thunder god had descended to the mortal world.
And above it all, Xiao Hua pressed his finger lightly forward.
The twin fingers behind him—towering, divine—rumbled to life and surged through the air with explosive force. Each finger was like a celestial pillar, rising from the mortal realm to prop the heavens.
Every inch they moved caused the fabric of space to collapse, the ground to sink, and the sky to tremble. Mountains were crushed in silence. The earth fractured like glass.
Yet through it all, the two fingers remained unmoved, undaunted by the chaos they created. Their intent was clear—they would not stop until their target was struck, or until everything standing before them was obliterated.
Everyone who witnessed this apocalyptic scene wore expressions of sheer terror. Their scalps tingled, and chills ran down their spines as the overwhelming chaos wrought by the Tian Class Dou Techniques of Xiao Hua, Ming Cheng, and Li Mei surged forth like the wrath of heaven itself.
Without hesitation, they retreated thousands of meters from the Lightning Mountain Range, fearing that even the residual shockwaves might sweep them into oblivion. After all, just a stray ripple from these strikes could severely injured any Dou Zun—or worse, death.
Within the epicenter of the storm, Gu You and the other Hall of Souls experts stood with ashen faces. The pressure weighing down on them was immense, each of their hearts gripped by dread.
With clenched teeth and grave expressions, they forcefully activated their strongest techniques to intercept the incoming devastation—the jade sword that threatened to pierce the heavens, the thunder lance that tore through space, and the twin celestial fingers that loomed like judgment itself.
"Darkness Skeleton King!" Gu You roared, his ancient voice echoing through the void.
In response, a surge of black fog erupted from the skeletal walking stick in his hand. It swept across the sky in the blink of an eye, thick and ominous, filled with a bone-chilling, sinister aura.
Within moments, the fog coalesced under Gu You's command into a towering black skeleton—ten thousand feet tall, its frame a grotesque fusion of death and darkness. It stood like a malevolent deity, cloaked in black mist, its hollow sockets glowing faintly with eerie light.
From its form emanated a soul-chilling cold, one that reached deep into the hearts of all present, as though it sought to drown their very souls in an endless night. The sky dimmed under its presence, and the atmosphere grew heavy—gloomy, oppressive, and filled with dread.
This black skeleton was Gu You's personal Tian Class Low-Grade Dou Technique—a sinister creation known as the Darkness Skeleton King. Once mastered, this technique allowed one to harness both their own Dou Qi and the surrounding energy to manifest a colossal skeleton king. Its bones were harder than divine metal, impervious to both flame and flood. More fearsome still, every part of its body radiated a potent, soul-eroding cold and darkness.
If an ordinary expert were to be touched by this energy, their body might appear unharmed—but their soul would silently wither away. It was a vicious and malevolent technique, feared even among Ban Sheng elites.
"Gu You actually used his own Tian Class Dou Technique to block all three at once..."
"Can it really hold them back, though? One Tian Class technique against three... it seems too much."
"Maybe the Tianzuns will assist. But even then… I doubt they have what it takes to stand against those strikes."
"Exactly. The Tianzuns' techniques might be devastating to us, but they're far from enough to match those terrifying Tian Class Dou Techniques unleashed by the Moonlit Chaos Mansion…"
The onlookers could only watch with held breath. None of them believed they could survive even one of those attacks, let alone three. All they could do now was wonder—would the combined strength of Gu You and the Tianzuns be enough to endure the fury that was now bearing down on them?
As countless thoughts surged like a storm within the minds of those watching, the colossal jade sword, the blinding thunder lance, and the towering twin fingers finally collided with the techniques unleashed by the Hall of Souls.
BOOOOMMM!
A heaven-shaking explosion erupted, and a deafening wave of sound rolled out like thunder crashing through the world. Terrifying shockwaves and a cataclysmic energy storm burst forth, sweeping across the entire Lightning Mountain Range like a raging sea, tearing everything in its path.
Space itself twisted violently, then shattered like glass. Countless spatial fragments broke off, revealing the pitch-black void beneath the heavens. The once-large Lightning Mountain caved in entirely—shattered into dust, wiped clean from existence by the apocalyptic clash.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Within the eye of the storm, the turbulent energy continued to churn. Explosions of force rang out like war drums as the energies of both sides—Moonlit Chaos Mansion and the Hall of Souls—violently clashed, neither side yielding. Each wave of power surged to dominate the other, refusing to be subdued, turning the world itself into a battlefield of absolute chaos.
Honglong!
The earth-shattering clash raged on for several more breaths before the overwhelming power within the jade sword, thunder ray, and towering fingers reached its peak—erupting with unstoppable might.
In that instant, the Dou Techniques unleashed by Gu You and the Hall of Souls' Tianzuns were utterly torn apart, disintegrated into motes of light that vanished into the void.
"Million Soul Wailing Fortress!" Gu You let out a sharp cry as vast torrents of Dou Qi surged from the surrounding Tianzuns into his body, pouring in like rivers flooding into the sea.
Waves of dense, pitch-black fog erupted from his body in every direction. Miserable, piercing wails echoed across the heavens—the anguished cries of countless spirits trapped within.
From within that ghostly fog, a towering fortress of pale spirit bones emerged. Formed from the remains of ten thousand vengeful souls, it stood like a chilling citadel amidst the storm. Each bone radiated a bone-chilling spiritual pressure, layered in a miasma of hatred and death.
The entire formation pulsed with eerie black light, encasing Gu You and the Tianzuns in a spectral bastion of despair.
At that moment, the jade sword, thunder ray, and twin celestial fingers, though slightly dimmed from their peak brilliance, crashed violently against the sinister fortress.
And then—
BOOOOM! Kacha!
A final, world-shaking explosion erupted. A devastating storm of energy and a thunderous shockwave swept across the shattered mountain range, flattening what little remained of the terrain. A few moments later, the storm finally began to scatter—its remnants fading beneath countless stunned gazes.
All that remained was silence—heavy, suffocating, and absolute.
As the final remnants of the energy storm faded, multiple figures slowly emerged before the countless stunned gazes of the watching experts.
Amidst the settling dust and fractured light, their gazes quickly locked onto Xiao Hua's group.
Xiao Hua's trio stood tall, their faces pale and breath slightly ragged. The brilliance that had once surged around them had faded, leaving behind only exhaustion and the subtle wavering of their auras.
But none of the experts watching found this surprising.
After all, to unleash a Tian Class Dou Technique required a consumption of Dou Qi that was simply immense. It was only natural that they now bore the weight of such expenditure. The cost of unleashing such terrifying power had drained them deeply—their Dou Qi nearly exhausted, yet their eyes remained sharp and unwavering.
The observing experts slowly shifted their gazes toward Gu You and his group—and what they saw involuntarily caused their hearts to tremble.
Astonishingly, Gu You's side was in far better condition than anyone had anticipated. Though their auras were clearly weakened and their bodies bore numerous injuries, it was far from the devastation many had expected after taking on three Tian-Class Dou Techniques.
"It's because of the Million Wailing Fortress," one of the more knowledgeable experts murmured. "Though it requires the power of multiple elites to activate, it is still a Tian-Class Middle Grade Dou Technique focused purely on defense. At its peak, even a five-star Dou Sheng would have to expend considerable effort to destroy it."
Several experts nodded in agreement, recognizing the final technique Gu You had unleashed. While not as famed as other signature arts of the Hall of Souls—largely due to the difficulty in its requirement—it was still considered one of the strongest defensive techniques in their arsenal.
"Xian'er, Old Yao, Zi Yan—are the three of you alright?"
Xiao Hua only cast a brief glance toward Gu You before turning his focus back to Little Fairy Doctor and the others, concern evident in his gaze.
"Thanks to Saint Yao, we're unharmed," Little Fairy Doctor replied softly as she took a steadying breath. Though she hadn't sustained any injuries, the chaotic aftermath of the energy storm left her slightly disoriented.
"Even so… how are they still alive?" Zi Yan asked, her wide eyes fixed on Gu You's group with visible shock and disbelief. "Is that fortress of theirs really that powerful?"
"It's not unexpected," Saint Tian Huo said, his gaze darkening as he stared at the distant figures. "With the Hall of Souls' background, it's only natural they possess multiple high-level Dou Techniques. That fortress… it seems to be a defensive technique that requires several powerful experts working in unison. Harsh to execute, but clearly effective."
"Are you alright, Xiao Hua?" Little Fairy Doctor ignored everything else, her full attention on him. Her lovely eyes trembled slightly as she saw the pallor on his face, concern rising in her heart.
"Don't worry about him," Ming Cheng replied with faint exasperation. "His condition is far better than the two of us."
"It's truly exhausting to unleash a Tian Class Dou Technique, even if it doesn't completely drain our Dou Qi," Li Mei added with a helpless smile, casting a glance at Xiao Hua. "Yet our little brother here still looks steady. That monstrous Dou Qi reserve of his is as ridiculous as ever."
Xiao Hua shook his head lightly and turned his gaze toward Gu You, who continued to glare at him with eyes like sharp blades. Even without releasing any killing intent, the withered elder's face brimmed with ferocity and hatred.
"How fortunate the Hall of Souls has such a deep foundation," Xiao Hua said with a soft chuckle, his voice laced with mockery. "If not, you might have been remembered as the first Ban Sheng in history to fall to a Dou Zong."
His words, laced with ridicule and amusement, were like salt rubbed into Gu You's wounds. The intensity of the killing intent in Gu You's eyes grew richer with each passing breath. Never in his long life had he suffered such humiliation at the hands of a junior.
The oppressive hatred radiating from Gu You's body was clear for all to see. Yet, none of the watching experts dared to mock him. After all, who among them could have predicted that this newly rising faction—barely four years in the making—would possess such terrifying depth of trump cards?
"What a razor-sharp tongue, little brat! But you're still far too lacking if you wish to kill this old man!"
Gu You roared in fury at Xiao Hua's words. His hands began forming a series of seals, each more complex than the last. As the seals continued to manifest, a dense, chilling black fog erupted from his body, swiftly converging into a formation before him.
In the blink of an eye, the formation expanded, enveloping the Hall of Souls' forces within a curtain of thick, ominous fog, obscuring them completely from view. Within that shroud, despairing wails of countless spiritual bodies echoed faintly, mingled with unsettling crunching noises that sent shivers down the spine.
"They're devouring souls to rapidly restore their Dou Qi and mend their injuries…" Ming Cheng muttered, his gaze sharp and narrowed as he locked onto the black fog, clearly sensing Gu You and the Tianzuns' auras gradually rising once more.
"What a vile technique… The Hall of Souls truly lives up to its reputation as a den of filth," Li Mei spat, her beautiful face twisted with disgust. Her eyes glinted with cold contempt, as though she were staring at something unworthy of existence—something she longed to cleanse from the world.
Xiao Hua remained silent. Though the Hall of Souls' method was undeniably cruel and twisted, he had to admit its effectiveness. Even now, he could snse the auras of the weakened Gu Yao and the other Tianzuns gradually recovering.
They wouldn't return to their full strength—but it was only a matter of time before they were strong enough to fight once more.
"Then why are we just standing here?" Zi Yan snapped, grabbing Xiao Hua's hand and pointing toward the swirling black mist. "We can't let them recover!"
"It's not that simple," Ming Cheng replied with a slight shake of his head. He stepped forward and casually swung his spear. A streak of lightning burst forth, tearing through the air and striking the edge of the fog.
Yet, just as the lightning entered the black mist, it abruptly twisted and shot out in a completely different direction.
"The space within the formation has become chaotic," Saint Tian Huo said with a sigh, his brows furrowed. "Even with Xiao Hua's mastery of spatial force—handling it as naturally as his own limbs—it would be difficult to locate them or destroy the formation within a short period."
"If that's the case, then let's use this time to allow Brother Ming Cheng and Sister Li Mei to recover," Xiao Hua said calmly.
With a flick of his wrist, a palm-sized golden bottle gourd appeared in his hand. Ancient and intricate patterns shimmered faintly on its surface, exuding a mysterious aura. Without hesitation, he removed the lid.
Wuuush—!
The moment the gourd was opened, waves of dense, pure natural energy surged out like a crashing tide, instantly transforming the atmosphere.
Ming Cheng and Li Mei's eyes narrowed sharply. Without delay, they sat cross-legged and activated their respective Qi Methods—Lightning Punishment Arts and Ethereal Heaven Mantra. The energy in the surroundings began to howl and spiral, forming visible, substance-like streams that rushed into their bodies like rivers returning to the sea.
"This…!"
"They're actually practice Tian Class Qi Methods?!"
"Tian Class Dou Techniques… Tian Class Qi Methods… How can a newly risen faction possess such terrifying foundations? Just what kind of backing does Moonlit Chaos Mansion have?!"
A ripple of shock spread through the crowd. Many experts narrowed their eyes in disbelief as they watched Ming Cheng and Li Mei absorb the boundless energy in a domineering manner, as though starving beasts devouring heaven and earth itself.
After refining and merging the Six Heavenly Lightnings into the Emperor Thunder, Ming Cheng's Lightning Punishment Arts had finally broken through, evolving into a Tian-Class Qi Method.
Li Mei was no different. By fusing six strands of Heavenly Lightning with six petals of the Celestial Ancient Frost, she had successfully condensed the Celestial Frost Thunder. As a result, her Ethereal Heaven Mantra had also ascended into the ranks of Tian-Class Qi Methods.
The experts watching from afar were left speechless. The Moonlit Chaos Mansion had already defied their expectations time and again. Such astonishing wealth, strength, and hidden foundations… unless one belonged to the Eight Ancient Clans, even long-established factions would find it difficult to contend with this rising power.
Regardless of their shock, everyone understood one thing clearly now—
The true clash between the Moonlit Chaos Mansion and the Hall of Souls was about to erupt.
This battle… would determine everything.
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