Running…
it was too late.
At this point, Ma Hongjun, even if he could still maintain his rationality, let alone be completely insane, would never let the two of them escape.
Daring to harm her Zhu Qing, there was only one outcome.
With a flap of his seven-colored wings, bringing with it waves of fiery energy, Ma Hongjun moved incredibly fast, transforming into a streak of purple-red light, flying across the sky and instantly arriving in front of Hu Yiming.
Seeing Ma Hongjun blocking his path, Hu Yiming panicked and hurriedly retreated, colliding with Rong Xing who was running behind him.
Rong Xing had lost the ability to think; his mind was a mess, and fear made him only want to escape.
Suddenly, before he could react, Hu Yiming grabbed him, and then, to his disbelief, Hu Yiming threw him towards Ma Hongjun and ran away.
Flames burned in Ma Hongjun's eyes as he watched Rong Xing fly towards him in terror. Without blinking, he swung his right hand, unleashing five dark golden claws wreathed in purple flames. The rock-giant Rong Xing was instantly sliced into several pieces, the scene a bloody spectacle.
Hu Yiming didn't dare turn back. From Rong Xing's abruptly stopped screams, he was certain that the devilish Ma Hongjun was no match for him.
He charged towards Zhu Zhuqing. At this moment, Hu Yiming's only thought was to use Zhu Zhuqing as a hostage to force Ma Hongjun into submission.
Ma Hongjun was engulfed in flames as he hurled the Dragon Soul Spear, a golden dragon shadow spinning wildly on its surface. He charged towards Hu Yiming with the Dragon Soul Spear, the dragon's head piercing through Hu Yiming's back, followed by the Dragon Soul Spear.
"Ah!"
Hu Yiming screamed in agony as the powerful force pinned him to the ground, unable to move forward.
Ma Hongjun slowly approached from behind, his footsteps growing heavier and clearer, sounding like a death knell to Hu Yiming.
The devil was drawing near.
Hu Yiming struggled to his feet, the Dragon Soul Spear piercing through him, making escape nearly impossible.
Seeing the deaths of the three before him, he knew firsthand how terrifying Ma Hongjun was.
"Ma Hongjun, if we die, we die together!"
Hu Yiming roared, his martial soul, the Tiger Soul Blade, emitting a black light, wisps of black energy rising from his body.
"This is…"
The sudden appearance of black energy brought Ma Hongjun to his senses.
An evil soul master—
this was a huge surprise to Ma Hongjun; he never imagined Hu Yiming would be one.
This evil soul master's infiltration was too deep; besides Davis, there was another one in the Star Luo Empire's upper echelons.
Ma Hongjun now understood that the evil soul master's target was the Star Luo Empire.
Therefore, Davis's situation was related to the Tiger Soul Blade family; perhaps the Tiger Soul Blade family, like the Ganbei family in Soto City, had already fallen.
Ma Hongjun turned back to the Dragon Soul Spear; Hu Yiming was in danger now, facing the insane methods of an evil soul master—self-destruction.
With Hu Yiming's Soul Emperor strength, even a Soul Saint would be injured if he self-destructed.
Ma Hongjun is currently only a Soul King; despite having other methods, caution is still necessary.
Fortunately, Hu Yiming was severely injured at this moment; his soul power was almost completely exhausted, and coupled with Ma Hongjun's spear strike, his life force was rapidly draining away. The black evil energy was his last support.
"I'm not reconciled! Ma Hongjun, you ruined my plans!"
Hu Yiming roared unwillingly, his face already covered in black energy, his features contorted.
He was the chosen son of the evil god, possessing power bestowed by the evil god, his future filled with endless glory.
Unfortunately, now, his path had come to an end.
Black energy swirled around the Tiger Soul Blade, and the six soul rings lit up one after another, then all merged into the Tiger Soul Blade.
Ma Hongjun was somewhat surprised; Hu Yiming's methods seemed different from the self-destructing evil soul masters he had encountered before.
The Tiger Soul Blade had completely turned black and was held in Hu Yiming's hand.
Then, Hu Yiming charged forward with his blade. His body, pierced by the Dragon Soul Spear, was now filled with black energy, and he seemed to be in excellent condition, even stronger than at his peak.
However, Hu Yiming was no longer recognizable as human; he resembled a demon warrior from hell.
"Hmph, I don't care what kind of demons or monsters you are, you will all be reduced to ashes under my spear!"
Ma Hongjun was fearless, charging forward with his spear. At this moment, there was no room for retreat.
Golden dragon souls and purple flames swirled around the Dragon Soul Spear, colliding with the black mist-shrouded Tiger Soul Blade in mid-air.
Hu Yiming's power grew even stronger. The black energy intertwined with the golden and purple energies on Ma Hongjun's Dragon Soul Spear, mutually eroding and consuming each other.
"Is this the power of the Evil God?"
Ma Hongjun pondered inwardly. Without a doubt, the Evil God truly existed, and Hu Yiming might be one of his chosen inheritors.
The dark aura was incredibly strong; even the flames of Ma Hongjun's second martial soul, the Fire Phoenix, had little effect on it. The dark aura surrounding Hu Yiming was far more powerful than the one he had encountered in Soto City.
However, the golden energy of the Dragon Soul Spear was very effective; the dark aura retreated steadily before the golden light, but the golden light was also being consumed, and the solidified golden dragon soul began to fade again.
Soon, the dark aura gradually thinned, and Hu Yiming's power weakened step by step.
"Why? Aren't you an evil god? Why aren't you his match?"
Hu Yiming roared in frustration again. He clearly possessed divine power, so why was he being suppressed by Ma Hongjun?
Could it be that Ma Hongjun's power also came from a god?
"I should have chosen to self-destruct!"
Hu Yiming was filled with hatred. He still didn't want to die; he wanted to gamble that the power of the evil god could kill Ma Hongjun.
Unfortunately, there was no chance for regret now. He had no means to threaten Ma Hongjun anymore.
The black energy was completely swallowed by the golden light, and Hu Yiming had no power to resist.
Ma Hongjun didn't kill Hu Yiming directly as before, but instead severed his limbs.
Hu Yiming lay paralyzed and wretched on the ground, barely alive.
Ma Hongjun spared his life to force him to reveal the matter of evil soul masters.
However, Ma Hongjun was also severely injured at this time, his soul power almost completely depleted.
Ma Hongjun put away his Fire Phoenix Martial Soul, the fifth soul ring of the Dragon Soul Spear lit up, and the Jianmu Soul Bone in his chest and abdomen activated, rapidly restoring his life force and soul power.
"Cough cough!"
Yang Feng woke up.
Ma Hongjun rolled his eyes. Damn it, the battle's over and you're awake? You really know how to pick your timing.
Ma Hongjun ignored him and went to Zhu Zhuqing's side. Zhu Zhuqing had already fainted.
"Zhuqing, Zhuqing..."
Ma Hongjun called softly, checking Zhu Zhuqing's body. The knife wound on her back was deep enough to expose bone.
Yang Feng looked around, somewhat dazed. In the dim night sky, he could still vaguely see the figures lying on the ground, and the pungent smell of blood filled the air.
Ma Hongjun picked up Zhu Zhuqing and said to Yang Feng,
"Take him with you, come with me, let's get out of here!"
This place shouldn't be lingered, and their condition wasn't good.
Yang Feng didn't know what had just happened, but he roughly knew that Ma Hongjun had saved him.
When he saw Hu Yiming lying on the ground and the dead Lin Dong, Yang Feng understood the conspiracy.
Without saying much, Ma Hongjun quickly walked towards the hotel.
When they arrived at the hotel, Ning Rongrong and the others were already asleep.
"You wait here!"
Ma Hongjun pointed to the chairs in the hotel lobby, telling Yang Feng to wait there, while he carried Zhu Zhuqing and ran towards Ye Lingling's room.
Holding Zhu Zhuqing, Ma Hongjun had to knock on the door with his foot.
"Knock, knock, knock..."
"Who is it..."
"It's me, Ma Hongjun, Lingling, open the door quickly, Zhuqing is injured."
Soon, footsteps came from inside, the door opened, and Ye Lingling, her hair disheveled, eyes still sleepy, wearing a light white silk nightgown, was there. The room light was on, the view was partially obscured.
Ma Hongjun had no time to appreciate it; he carried Zhu Zhuqing inside, gently laying her face down on the sofa, revealing the gruesome, bloody wound on her back.
"What happened?"
Bai Chenxiang sat up on the bed, covering her body with the blanket, only her small head peeking out, asking in surprise and worry.
Ma Hongjun also sat down on the sofa, exhausted as well. He glanced at Bai Chenxiang, seeing her white, sunken collarbone and her smooth, fair shoulders.
It was easy to imagine that she slept without any burden.
Bai Chenxiang blushed and pulled the blanket up a little more.
Ma Hongjun casually rolled his eyes and answered seriously,
"I encountered some villains, and Zhu Qing was injured."
"Are you alright?" Bai Chenxiang asked immediately.
"I, I'm fine." Ma Hongjun was slightly taken aback.
At this moment, Ye Lingling had already summoned the Nine-Hearted Begonia. The four spirit rings, yellow and purple, moved rhythmically with her body. Under the light of the spirit rings, Ye Lingling's thin nightgown seemed to be barely concealing her.
Ma Hongjun subconsciously swallowed.
Hazy, hazy!
Ma Hongjun quickly lowered his head; this was too impolite.
He shifted his gaze to Zhu Zhuqing. At this moment, Ye Lingling had already pulled open the clothes on Zhu Zhuqing's back, revealing a hideous wound running from her shoulder to her waist on her once smooth and delicate back.
The deep red wound contrasted sharply with the pinkish skin on either side. Although Zhu Zhuqing usually appeared quite robust, that was only in certain areas.
Her body was actually quite slender, and this cut was very deep.
The bloodlust in Ma Hongjun's eyes slowly faded, and the romantic thoughts in his mind were dispelled by the horrific wound, leaving only heartache.
Ye Lingling's begonia petals drifted out, landing one by one on Zhu Zhuqing's wound, quickly covering the entire long wound with begonia blossoms she had conjured.
Ye Lingling stretched out her jade-like hand, a ball of pale blue light in her palm. She placed her palm on Zhu Zhuqing's wound, and as she stroked it, the begonia blossoms melted in her hand.
The area she touched immediately recovered, becoming as smooth and white as the other sides.
In a short while, Zhu Zhuqing's back was completely healed, without a single scar, showing no trace of injury.
However, Zhu Zhuqing remained unconscious, likely due to excessive consumption of soul power. After
treating Zhu Zhuqing, Ye Lingling's forehead was covered in fine sweat.
"Take off your clothes, I'll treat you,"
Ye Lingling said softly, yet with an undeniable authority.
Ma Hongjun's chest wound looked even more horrific than Zhu Zhuqing's. The wound inflicted by Lin Dong's strangulation was an irregular, circular gash, surrounded by six knife wounds of varying depths.
Although Ma Hongjun's soul bone had healing properties, due to excessive soul power consumption, he couldn't heal himself now, and it would probably take two or three days to recover.
Ma Hongjun didn't hesitate and forcefully tore open the front of his clothes.
Because of the torso soul bone, no blood flowed out, so Ma Hongjun's chest was relatively clean.
With his strong chest muscles and well-defined eight-pack abs, if it weren't for these scars, he would have been a true bodybuilder.
However, these scars also made Ma Hongjun look even more domineering.
Ma Hongjun thought of a popular saying from his past life:
Scars are a man's badge of honor!
It's the mark of a tough guy.
So many scars, tell me, isn't he tough?
Bai Chenxiang swallowed hard in bed, half-closing her eyes as she looked.
Ye Lingling felt a little sorry for him, and her face flushed slightly.
"Does it hurt?"
"It's alright, just minor injuries!"
Ma Hongjun smiled, now able to relax.
In the hotel, Sword Douluo and Poison Douluo were both there, so there was no need to worry about the Tiger Soul Clan chasing after them.
Ye Lingling seemed to be focused on Ma Hongjun's injuries, so she didn't notice her thin nightgown.
Ma Hongjun leaned back, otherwise, if Ye Lingling leaned down, he would really have a hard time controlling himself.
Ma Hongjun wanted to close his eyes, but that felt too artificial, adding to the awkward atmosphere and making people think he was disgusted by them.
But looking like this…
Ma Hongjun suddenly felt no pain; there really was a distraction therapy.
He thought of a scene from Stephen Chow's movie *From Beijing with Love*, where Chow removes a bullet while watching a film.
Ma Hongjun's current situation was somewhat similar, except this was a real scene.
Whether Ye Lingling did it intentionally or unintentionally, it truly made Ma Hongjun's eyes glaze over.
One could only say that a doctor's heart is compassionate; Ye Lingling had sacrificed so much to treat him.
Using the same method, Ye Lingling condensed a ball of pale blue light in her palm and placed it on Ma Hongjun's wound.
Perhaps because she had just come out of bed, her hand was warm, but the energy in it was cool.
Ye Lingling was very gentle.
The sudden change from hot to cold felt strange to Ma Hongjun. His heart was pounding, and he could feel the rhythm of his heartbeat throughout his chest.
"Your heart is pounding!"
"Really?"
Ma Hongjun didn't dare look Ye Lingling in the eye, his words mumbled incoherently. His mind was a jumble, the images in his head stirring his blood.
This rush of blood was a primal reaction, a manifestation of the body's power being activated.
The treatment, though brief and agonizing, passed, and Ma Hongjun finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Even as a seasoned major general, he felt an unbridled drive to explore the unfamiliar battlefield, just like a first-timer.
"What happened? How did you get injured?"
Ye Lingling asked with concern.
"Get up first, prepare yourselves. Something big is going to happen tonight.
I'll tell you later."
Ma Hongjun said, picking up Zhu Zhuqing.
They went to Ning Rongrong's room, where Ma Hongjun handed Zhu Zhuqing over without further explanation, changed his clothes, and left.
Next, Ma Hongjun went to Oscar and Xiao Yuanyuan's room. Unexpectedly, the two seemed to be awake; there was still movement inside.
Ma Hongjun knocked on the door.
"Xiao Ao, get up quickly, something's wrong."
"Hongjun, what is it?"
"Get up first!"
"Wait a moment!"
There was another noise inside, less than a minute later.
Oscar opened the door.
"What is it?"
"Give me a big sausage first."
"Boss, in the middle of the night, you woke me up just to eat my sausage!"
Oscar glared at Ma Hongjun with resentment.
"And a big round loaf of bread, give me one too."
"What's going on, boss? Has your passion died down?"
"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up!"
Oscar sighed helplessly.
"I have a big sausage!"
"I have a big loaf of bread!"
"Get up and meet us in the lobby downstairs."
Ma Hongjun finished speaking, holding a sausage in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other, and put them in his mouth.
Three minutes later, Ma Hongjun called everyone to the lobby.
"The evil spirit master has appeared again."
Ma Hongjun pointed at Hu Yiming, who was slumped on the ground.
Then he recounted what had just happened to everyone.
They all knew the Tiger Soul Blade family's status in the Star Luo Empire. The fact that an evil spirit master had appeared among their family members meant that their family was definitely connected to the evil spirit master.
Ma Hongjun's idea was to strike before the other side realized they had been exposed and became alert.
His purpose in calling everyone was to enter the palace, tell the Star Luo royal family about this, and then launch a joint attack to encircle and annihilate the Tiger Soul Blade Hu family.
The Tiger Soul Hu family's development over the years has become a hidden danger to the empire, a fact that is obvious to anyone with discerning eyes.
Coupled with the Davis incident, both involve the shadow of evil soul masters.
If the Tiger Soul Hu family has truly become a breeding ground for evil soul masters like the Gan and Bei families, then their ambitions are blatantly obvious.
Whether it's to eliminate evil soul masters or to help Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun felt it was necessary to thoroughly investigate the Tiger Soul Hu family.
Moreover, the investigation must begin as soon as possible, before they discover the deaths of the four people tonight. Otherwise, knowing their secrets have been exposed, they will certainly be prepared.
They might simply retreat, disappearing without a trace like the previous evil soul masters, or they might do something else outrageous.
"This matter should be addressed as soon as possible. Let's go to the palace now and discuss this with White Tiger Douluo."
(End of Chapter)