"The Cult Leader (Imperial Preceptor), he, he's... dead!"
Zhongli Wu's fall shocked everyone.
The first to react was undoubtedly Jing Hongchen. Having vaguely seen that the five Super Douluo of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect had him surrounded, this old fox decisively made the decision to retreat.
Whoosh—boom!
A unique soul guide firework rose into the sky and exploded, and a resonant voice immediately spread in all directions, "All soul hunters, withdraw!"
As the voice fell, Jing Hongchen moved first. Relying on soul guide tools, he rapidly broke free from the five Elders' encirclement, and at the same time, took Zhongli Wu's corpse and his soul guide tools with him.
The Holy Spirit Cult's Title Douluo and the Sun-Moon Empire's ninth-level soul engineers, seeing this, no longer lingered in battle, each displaying their methods to leave the battlefield.
After all, they were powerhouses at the Title Douluo level. If they were determined to leave, opponents of the same level would find it difficult to capture them.
However, while they left, the remaining members of the soul hunting operation suffered terribly. The Ten-Headed Jade Phosphorus Serpent Emperor spewed poisonous mist—wherever it passed, not a blade of grass grew and no bones remained. Combined with the Sect Protecting Grand Array operating, with ice and fire energies crisscrossing, more than half of the remaining attackers were instantly killed. Only some relatively powerful evil soul master Spirit Douluo and eighth-level soul engineers escaped with their lives.
In the high skies, Boom—
Terrifying soul power fluctuations shook and swayed the heavens.
The Evil Emperor's tentacles waved, each one exploding the atmosphere.
And before him, although Ye Xuanji was at a disadvantage and appeared somewhat wretched, he had not yet shown signs of defeat. If the battle dragged on, the situation would absolutely reverse in an instant, becoming a disaster for the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect.
"What a pity."
The Evil Emperor's low and majestic voice contained anger, "If that human weren't so useless, I would definitely kill you before returning."
Ye Xuanji tightly gripped the Star God Sword, his hand stroking the Starlight Unicorn. Even though his condition was no longer at its peak, his mouth showed no mercy.
"If you have that ability, come at me."
Swish swish swish—
In an instant, seven pillars of light shot up into the heavens.
After the soul hunting party retreated, all the Grand Elders had their hands free. They immediately rushed to the high-altitude battlefield, displaying their martial soul true bodies. Almost instantly, their forms were level with Ye Xuanji.
Seven Super Douluo, one Limit Douluo. Eight auras instantly merged, and under Ning Bowen's enhancements, pressed toward the Evil Emperor.
"Hmph—"
A cold snort was like the wrath of heaven!
Under the abyss-like prison of spiritual power, the heavens were instantly enveloped in dark red. At this moment, even the weather was affected.
Rumble rumble—
Dark red rolling thunder was like thousands of electric serpents, crawling across the entire pitch-black sky. Dazzling light flickered, and the world of darkness seemed to enter daylight at this moment. A vast and profound aura fluctuation rose, contending with them as equals.
"Next time, you won't be so lucky."
With these words, the Evil Emperor leisurely turned around, directly ignoring the eight Grand Elders' expressions that were as gloomy as water, and departed with composure.
At this moment, no one dared to step forward to block him.
Only when the pressure in the sky completely dissipated did the eight Grand Elders release their respective martial soul true bodies and descend from high altitude.
But as their gazes swept across, all they saw was devastation.
Just as they sighed in their hearts, "Master."
A sudden voice called out to Ye Xuanji. Following the direction it came from, they saw Chen Junting recovering his massively consumed soul power under the dual effects of the Element Gathering Array and the sealed milk bottle.
"Are you alright, brat?"
Ye Xuanji hurriedly stepped forward with concern upon seeing this.
"What could be wrong with me?"
Chen Junting set down the sealed milk bottle, placed his hand on Ye Xuanji's arm, and a burst of emerald green light flashed. Dense life energy instantly filled Ye Xuanji's body, repairing the internal injuries caused by his battle with the Evil Emperor.
Feeling this vitality, Ye Xuanji couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"That Evil Emperor truly deserves to be the second-ranked ferocious beast, even able to injure Di Tian. With that previous move, the Light of Destruction, I nearly couldn't receive it. Otherwise, no matter what, this master would have said something to keep him here."
"After all, that is the Evil Emperor."
Regarding his master's words, Chen Junting quite agreed.
The Evil Emperor's true strength was absolutely stronger than estimated.
That nearly eight hundred thousand years of cultivation and hidden space-time power were sufficient to overpower all mortal creatures except Di Tian.
But strong as he was, since he had invaded the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, then when Chen Junting needed his ninth soul ring, it would be the Evil Emperor's death day. Even if he himself couldn't do it, he would call upon Di Tian to kill him.
Just as Chen Junting finished treating his master, Yan Shaozhe also came to bid farewell, and also with a request.
"Elder Ye, I wish to request your assistance."
Ye Xuanji, seeing the urgent Yan Shaozhe, couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "Shaozhe, it's not that this old man is heartless. But our sect's great enemy has just retreated—this old man cannot easily leave. Lest the Holy Spirit Cult and those Sun-Moon Empire fellows launch a counterattack."
Yan Shaozhe smiled bitterly upon hearing this.
He knew that Elder Ye's words were true.
He just didn't know whether Elder Xuan and the others could withstand the soul hunting operation. After all, if there were only one Limit Douluo, that would be manageable, but if two Limit Douluo-level combatants acted together, then...
And coincidentally,
The Holy Spirit Cult's Ye Xishui, and the Deep Sea Demon Whale that had ambushed them when they returned from Mingdu earlier, were both not at the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect. So where were they now? Did it even need to be said?
At this moment, Ning Bowen, who had sent people to tally the casualties and losses of the sect and Nine Treasures City, walked over and said to Yan Shaozhe, "Dean Yan, Elder Ye truly cannot move lightly at present. Please don't take offense."
Yan Shaozhe shook his head, "How could I?"
With that, he prepared to take his leave.
Because the academy would certainly need him very much now.
But before he could rise, Ning Bowen continued, "However, I can have Uncle Zhi and the others make a trip."
What is meant by a sudden turn of events?
This was it.
Yan Shaozhe was immediately overjoyed. Although they weren't Limit Douluo, having five Super Douluo was still a powerful fresh force.
"Thank you, Sect Leader Ning."
And just as Yan Shaozhe sought support, the battles of various combat forces in Shrek City had already entered a white-hot stage.
Chaos rose within the city, fires of war spread;
Chaos rose outside the city, corpses littered the fields.
In the high skies, Elder Song and Elder Lin fought together against Ye Xishui's clone. Although they hadn't been defeated, they similarly didn't hold any advantage.
And at an even higher position, the Taotie transformed from Elder Xuan and Elder Mu's combined power through the Golden Tree also continuously trembled. Clearly, Ye Xishui and the Demon Empress were frantically attacking, trying to break free.
However, just at this moment, Swish—
From within the void, a figure tore open space.
The moment he stepped out, terrifying pressure permeated, instantly causing everyone to instinctively stop fighting and look upward simultaneously.
Ye Xishui's clone, seeing the arrival, immediately widened her eyes.
"Di Tian! How could you possibly..."
"Truly unexpected."
Before the words fell, Di Tian had already spoken, not only interrupting Ye Xishui's clone's words, but his golden dragon eyes were more like a large hand, clutching the throat of Ye Xishui's clone.
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