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*****
However, with Du Bushi personally stepping into the fray, Xu Tianran instead felt a strange sense of ease.
"So these are all the people they've brought this time," he muttered to himself.
Xu Tianran couldn't imagine that anyone aside from Du Bushi would dare to come and attempt his assassination this time.
So now, the most critical thing was to deal with Du Bushi's assault.
In an instant, Du Bushi erupted. The power of his blood and qi, previously suppressed and concealed, suddenly surged forth—gathering around his body and igniting into a blazing aura of bloodfire.
It was as if his blood essence had truly been set aflame, burning fiercely as an overwhelming pressure exploded from within him.
Du Bushi's martial soul was his own body. It allowed him to strengthen his blood essence and unleash greater power through its activation. At the same time, it enhanced his own physical body—essentially reinforcing the martial soul itself.
Under this mutually reinforcing synergy, Du Bushi's eruption was utterly terrifying.
This time, he had chosen to ignite his blood essence entirely—burning every drop within him to achieve a moment of transcendent power.
Boom!
Du Bushi transformed into a streak of dark green light and shot forward, leaving a deep crater in the ground where he had stood.
Reaching the protective barrier around the podium, his momentum didn't slow in the slightest. Instead, his soul power and blood essence fused, spiraling together and forming a drill-like vortex around his body.
"Sixth Soul Skill: Hell Poison Dragon Drill!"
Boom!
The soul tool barrier shattered instantly, and Du Bushi broke through, charging onto the podium.
Meanwhile, on other fronts, the attacking Soul Douluo and Spirit Masters were largely being suppressed. The Royal Soul Engineer Legion had taken control of the surrounding soul tools and soul arrays, pinning them down and putting them at a disadvantage.
If Du Bushi were also to be taken down now, then this entire assassination operation orchestrated by the Star Luo Empire would end in complete failure.
And if that happened—it would mean the Star Luo Empire had lost its final hope.
Many of the Soul Douluo on the field began unleashing their soul power, even at the cost of damaging their foundations—desperately burning their own vitality to erupt with even greater force.
Yet all they could do was stall the hundreds of soul engineers in the Royal Legion—just enough to keep them from assisting against Du Bushi's assault.
As the Light of Destruction faded, the five Titled Douluo reappeared.
Though they hadn't been killed outright by the attack, their injuries were severe.
Now, seeing Du Bushi charge in, they instantly ignited their own power as well.
Boom!
The five Titled Douluo exploded with full strength, intercepting the two bodyguards at Xu Tianran's side.
Du Bushi, burning all his essence and unleashing everything he had, charged straight toward Xu Tianran.
Boom!
A punch infused with a mixture of blood essence and soul power blasted forth a powerful energy shockwave, carving a deep trench across the podium.
However, Du Bushi's expression was extremely grim.
Xu Tianran had evaded the strike.
Now, he stood more than a dozen meters to the side of his previous position.
That's right—he was standing.
Beneath him were a pair of fully metallic, soul tool-crafted legs.
Soul tool prosthetics!
And judging by the complexity of the core array etched into them and the energy fluctuations emitted by their circulating soul power, they were clearly ninth-grade soul tools.
"What a pity," Xu Tianran thought to himself, "The mechanical prosthetic technology I envisioned still hasn't been realized. These soul tool legs remain somewhat awkward to use."
What he had envisioned were mechanical prosthetics fully fused with his own flesh and blood—limbs that functioned as natural extensions of his body, capable of feeling and responding just like real ones.
Instead, what he had now were cold, lifeless soul tools—merely enhanced for easier control through soul fusion technology.
Still, while they didn't meet his ideal design, these soul tool prosthetics were undeniably practical.
Ninth-grade soul tools, after all!
Though they lacked offensive capabilities, they were built for one thing: speed.
They might have some built-in defensive activation features, but their primary function was mobility.
The contrast was striking—someone supposedly crippled now moving at such incredible speed. Even Du Bushi, who had ignited his entire blood essence and barely pushed his strength to the level of a pseudo-Limit Douluo, had completely whiffed what should've been a basic strike.
But it wasn't a major issue.
Du Bushi turned swiftly, blood essence surging into both fists.
He closed the distance again in an instant.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each punch exploded through the air with force, compressing it to the point of real detonations, blasting crater after crater across the distant podium.
With the aid of his soul tool legs, Xu Tianran moved with surprising agility, narrowly dodging several of Du Bushi's attacks.
Even those strikes he failed to fully avoid were intercepted by his soul tool barrier, shielding him from fatal damage.
Still, anxiety crept into Xu Tianran's heart.
Du Bushi's power was overwhelming.
Even as a Titled Douluo himself, Xu Tianran found himself completely unable to resist in direct combat. He was barely managing to evade with the help of his high-tech prosthetics—soul tools powered by advanced technology.
He glanced toward Jing Hongchen's position.
Jing Hongchen, what the hell are you doing?
Why aren't you making a move?!
There was fury in Xu Tianran's eyes.
Could Jing Hongchen really be planning to let the Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire die here, assassinated by agents of the Star Luo Empire?
"Your Majesty!"
Just then, two figures dashed out from the crowd and rushed toward the podium.
Though they had long been positioned in the crowd under Xu Tianran's secret orders, they had not anticipated that the Star Luo Empire's trump card would be Du Bushi. They couldn't keep up with his explosive speed.
By the time Du Bushi was already pummeling Xu Tianran, the two of them had only just reached the edge of the platform.
They were both ninth-grade soul engineers.
Upon seeing this, the five Titled Douluo from the three nations immediately attempted to intercept. However, Xu Tianran's two personal soul engineer guards erupted in turn—activating soul skills between their soul tool operations to engage the five attackers directly.
Naturally, the two guards were gravely wounded in the exchange, but they succeeded in holding off all five Titled Douluo.
Du Bushi cursed internally.
Five against two and they're still getting held up? Do they even know how to fight?
Looks like everything still depends on me!
"Xu Tianran, DIE!"
Multiple soul rings around Du Bushi began to glow simultaneously. And then, outside his nine regular soul rings, a dark golden ring appeared—radiating an intense, blood-rich energy as it encased the others in its light.
Jing Hongchen's soul power finally surged, martial soul manifesting, soul rings flaring into view.
The two ninth-grade soul engineers who had just arrived also activated the soul tools they had been charging up.
Xu Tianran's pupils contracted sharply as he screamed with manic rage:
"The one who's dying—is YOU!"
(End of Chapter)