Deep within the mine, the lights were dim and yellow, and the damp air was thick with a mixture of rust, blood, and an indescribable scent of decay.
Over a dozen Evil Soul Masters dressed in black robes sat around a crude stone table. Several spirit tool blueprints and maps were spread across the table, one of which clearly marked several key nodes in Heaven Dou City.
A gaunt old man with a snake-shaped tattoo on his face tapped a spot on the blueprints with his finger. "This batch of fixed-mount Soul Guidance Cannons must be transported into designated locations within the city in stages this year. As for shells above rank seven, it's too difficult to move them in; we'll disguise them as ordinary spirit tool parts and slowly use the black market route over the next two or three years."
"Remember, it's better to be slow than to alert any of the major powers."
Another burly bald man, radiating a fierce aura, said in a booming voice, "Elder Snake, why go through all that trouble? In my opinion, we should just detonate a few peripheral outposts to create chaos. It would be faster to send the goods in during the confusion."
"Fool!" the gaunt old man known as Elder Snake barked sharply. "If you want to die, don't take me with you. Don't forget the plan from above. Heaven Dou City is just one of the storage points; the true feast isn't here. We cannot expose ourselves prematurely!"
The bald man's face flushed from the reprimand, but he didn't dare to talk back.
Just then, a cold, shrill voice came from the shadows in the corner. "Elder Snake is right. However, I have an uneasy feeling. Hasn't it been too long since the sentries outside reported back?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere around the stone table stiffened. Elder Snake's eyes sharpened, and his gaunt fingers instantly flicked out several threads of grayish-black Soul Power, which crept toward the cave entrance like living creatures to investigate.
Almost at the same moment his Soul Power reached out—
BOOM!
"Enemy attack!" The bald man reacted the fastest, letting out a roar as dark red Soul Power erupted from his body. Eight spirit rings rose abruptly, and his body expanded rapidly, his skin becoming covered in thick layers of keratin and bone spurs. It was clearly a powerful Beast Spirit.
Elder Snake was no slower; his figure drifted back like a ghost. With a wave of his sleeve, a large cloud of grayish-black poison mist spread out, accompanied by a piercing soul-shriek.
It not only blocked vision but also carried strong mental and physical corrosive effects.
His seventh spirit ring also lit up, and his entire being transformed into a flickering gray shadow. This was his Martial Soul True Body, the Nether Ghost Shadow.
The other Evil Soul Masters also released their Martial Souls one after another. For a moment, the depths of the mine were filled with the flashing light of spirit rings, and the sinister fluctuations of Soul Power were like a boiling oil pan.
However, while their reactions were fast, the attacker's speed was even faster!
A streak of blazing gold and red fire, like the morning sun tearing through the darkness, slammed violently into the spreading poison mist!
Wherever it passed, the grayish-black poison mist hissed as if it had met its natural enemy, being purified and evaporated.
Leng Yaozhu's figure appeared within the firelight. Her face was cold as frost as she raised a slender hand and made a grasping motion with her fingers.
"Incinerate!"
Buzz!
With her as the center, the temperature of the surrounding space suddenly soared to a terrifying degree. The air distorted, and the rocks turned red.
It wasn't just physical high heat; it also contained a certain Concept. The poison mist released by Elder Snake melted like snow and quickly dissipated.
"Heavenly Phoenix Douluo?! Impossible! Why are you here!" The gray shadow that was Elder Snake let out a shrill scream, filled with unbelievable panic.
Leng Yaozhu's appearance was completely beyond their expectations.
Her answer was to point her fingers like a sword and slash through the air.
A line of violet-gold fire, condensed to the extreme and no thicker than a hair, appeared out of thin air. Ignoring spatial distance, it instantly pierced through the bald man's seemingly indestructible Beast Spirit defense, passing straight through his expanded chest and leaving a charred hole that was transparent from front to back.
The bald man's forward momentum came to a dead stop. He looked down in disbelief at the large hole in his chest.
His violent Soul Power instantly collapsed, his Martial Soul deactivated, and his massive body crashed to the ground, the life in his eyes quickly fading. A powerhouse close to the Titled Douluo level had been killed in a single strike.
"Old Bear!" Elder Snake was both shocked and enraged, but he knew he was no match for Leng Yaozhu. His Nether Ghost Shadow avatar faded rapidly as he prepared to use a secret technique to flee.
"You won't be getting away!"
Arthur had appeared at some point on the path Elder Snake's avatar intended to take. He raised the strange holy spear in his hand and lightly thrust it toward the void where Elder Snake was.
"Suppress."
Elder Snake suddenly felt the surrounding air become as thick as glue, and the space seemed to be locked and reinforced layer by layer by an invisible force.
His Nether Ghost Shadow avatar, which should have been able to pass through walls and shadows, was trapped like it was in the solidest amber. Movement became extremely difficult, and his Soul Power circulation became sluggish.
"What is this?!" Elder Snake screamed in horror, boundless fear rising in his heart.
This young-looking boy's methods were actually so strange and unpredictable!
Arthur did not answer; he only looked at Leng Yaozhu.
Leng Yaozhu took a step forward and arrived in front of the imprisoned Elder Snake. She grabbed him and dragged him out. "I'll interrogate him first. You handle the aftermath."
"No problem."
Arthur watched as Leng Yaozhu carried the immobile Elder Snake, vanishing into the depths of the mine as a streak of fire.
He didn't disturb them, instead turning his gaze toward the remaining Evil Soul Masters in the cave.
These Evil Soul Masters no longer possessed even a shred of their former ferocity; every one of them was pale with terror.
Some tried to struggle, but under the indestructible spatial suppression Arthur had casually laid down, they couldn't even circulate their Soul Power smoothly. They could only squirm their bodies in vain, their eyes filled with fear and despair.
"I'll ask, and you'll answer... No, actually, never mind." He wouldn't be able to get any useful information out of such low-level lackeys anyway.
He flipped the holy spear in his hand, and golden light filled the entire space.
Silently, the Evil Soul Masters, along with their spirit tools and storage equipment, were crushed and annihilated by that strange golden light. Only a bit of ash remained to drift away; they didn't even have the chance to scream.
The entire process was quiet and swift, as if these people had never existed.
Specks of ash drifted down.
Arthur lightly raised the holy spear, letting the ash land on the tip of the spear.
"Xia Xi."
The Auspicious Beast Xia Xi jumped out, slowly crawling forward on the shaft of the spear and lowering her head to sniff the wisp of ash.
"Find them."
Xia Xi twitched her nose and activated the Spirit Ability, Destiny. Since it was originally her own Spirit Ability, she naturally used it more profoundly than Arthur could.
"Why is she acting like a dog?" Guang also popped out and remarked with a click of the tongue. "Who raised her? She doesn't have any of the lion-like vigor of the first Three-Eyed Golden Lion at all."
Xia Xi, who was in the middle of searching for people, suddenly turned back and bared her claws at him... Golden radiance flowed around Xia Xi's body. She closed her eyes, and the vertical pupil on her forehead glowed slightly.
Those nearly invisible particles of ash in the air seemed to be drawn by invisible threads, slowly rotating and reorganizing around her.
"Eeya." Xia Xi's voice carried a strange sense of ethereality.
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