"Right now, I am the strongest in the world!"
Seeing Du Busi's body frantically expanding, Huo Yuhao in front of him did not dodge. A vertical line slowly opened on his brow, which then transformed into a rose-gold vertical pupil. The pupil extended, and a touch of azure light rapidly condensed within it.
A faint premonition of disaster arose in Du Busi's heart. But before he had time to dodge, a deep blue pillar of light, a full ten feet wide, shot out from the vertical pupil on Huo Yuhao's forehead, instantly enveloping Du Busi's body.
The strongest soul skill of the Evil Eye External Soul Bone, from the Evil Eye Tyrant Overlord—the Light of Time and Space!
The circulation of Du Busi's level ninety-eight soul power stagnated. He only felt his spirit weaken to the extreme in an instant. The vortex of soul power flowing backward in his soul core tended towards normal, then stopped, and then resumed normal circulation, all happening in a flash.
In the original timeline, the Evil Monarch bestowed upon the protagonist Huo Gua's Spirit Eyes martial soul its most powerful divine skill—the Light of Time and Space, the Light of Destruction. This soul skill primarily caused the enemy's spirit, vitality, and life force to rapidly drain away with time until they withered and died. It contained the profound meaning of time, and its power was enough to destroy everything. Nothing in the path of the beam could survive. It was also one of the most powerful divine skills of Huo Gua's Spirit Eyes martial soul. In the Legend of the Divine Realm, it became the Light of Destruction, injuring the spiritual seas of several original sin gods with a single blow.
Du Busi's frantic figure finally came to a stop. He looked at his continuously withering and decaying hands in disbelief. The panic brought on by the rapid loss of life force instantly filled the heart of the Body Sect's Master.
He hadn't even managed to harm a single hair on Huo Yuhao's head, and yet he was already at the end of his life.
"What soul skill is this..."
"Want to learn it? Even if I taught you, you couldn't learn it." Huo Yuhao's expression was unreadable on his face, which was turned away from the setting sun. This one blast of the Light of Time and Space had nearly drained his spiritual and soul power, but its effect was indeed extraordinary. He would have to thank the Evil Monarch properly.
Sensing his current state, Zhongli Yu flashed to Huo Yuhao's side and supported his arm.
"So be it... so be it..." Du Busi smiled tragically. He was not an Ultimate Douluo like Xuan Zi, Long Xiaoyao, or Ye Xishui. Facing the Light of Time and Space, a single-soul-core Super Douluo had no way to resist this power that combined time and space.
"Sect Master..." Golden Body Douluo watched this scene, feeling his throat go incredibly dry. He hadn't expected even their sect master, who had few rivals in the world, to be defeated. This Huo Yuhao was truly too terrifying...
On the battlefield below, all the soldiers of the Heavenly Soul Imperial Army who had still been resisting Huo Yuhao's previous Sovereignty gave up their resistance. Their pride, the two Super Douluo of the Body Sect, had been easily defeated by Huo Yuhao. Moreover, he was accompanied by an evil soul master of the Titled Douluo level and a fierce beast with the strength of an Ultimate Douluo. How could they possibly continue this fight?
Including Golden Body Douluo, all the troops of the Heavenly Soul Imperial Army became Huo Yuhao's puppets under the effect of Sovereignty. It wasn't that Huo Yuhao's ability was not powerful enough, but rather that he had to divide his spiritual power into tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of parts to affect the enemy army, so its compulsory effect was naturally weakened a great deal.
"Huo Yuhao, give this old man a quick death." Du Busi had transformed from his previously invincible appearance into a decrepit old man. He knew that struggling was useless, so he simply closed his eyes and awaited death.
"Sect Master Du is quite carefree. Aren't you afraid that I will slaughter your Body Sect?" Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow slightly, his cold gaze sweeping over a group of people in Body Sect uniforms on the distant city tower.
"The winner becomes king, the loser a bandit. Since the Demon King has such intentions, how can this old man stop you?" Du Busi could barely even maintain his position in the air. He didn't plan to ask for anything more. When a man is about to die, he tends to see everything with detachment.
"Hehe..." Huo Yuhao gathered the soul power he had just managed to condense and focused it on his right eye. "Sect Master Du may wish to die, but this king insists on not letting you die. What will you do?"
"Huo Yuhao, do not toy with others as you please." Du Busi faintly guessed what Huo Yuhao wanted to do. A sense of foreboding instantly welled up in his heart, and he hastily circulated the last trace of soul power in his body, attempting to end his own life.
"Du Busi, go and offer up your life for the new People's Republic of Heavenly Soul." Huo Yuhao sneered, his face suddenly turning deathly pale. Countless dark birds could be vaguely seen flying out of his right eye, all disappearing into Du Busi's body.
The other soul skill of his fourth soul ring, the will-twisting Kotoamatsukami, activated.
"Bastard—Huo Yuhao, you dare..."
Du Busi's eyes nearly split from their sockets, as if something had rushed into his spiritual consciousness, attempting to tamper with his will, cognition, and even his beliefs.
Huo Yuhao rarely used this soul skill. Apart from its drawback of only being effective on one person, it also had the problem of a long cooldown time. As his spiritual power reached the Half-Step God King realm, its cooldown time was shortened to one week.
However, unless it was a critical moment, it was better to keep this ability as a final life-saving trump card. After all, no one knew if danger would arrive tomorrow or in the next moment.
Huo Yuhao withdrew the effect of the Light of Time and Space from Du Busi. The latter's expression was now incredibly complex. He stared fixedly at Huo Yuhao without a word.
As for Golden Body Douluo, Huo Yuhao handed him directly back to Du Busi. Having been hit by Huo Yuhao's Sovereignty, it was already impossible for him to break free, unless his spiritual cultivation surpassed Huo Yuhao's.
Du Busi's beliefs, will, and persistence had all been twisted by him. From now on, the Body Sect was his, and it would also become open-minded and accepting of soul tools.
"Fatty, inform Marshal Xie Long that he can directly overthrow the Heavenly Soul Imperial Family now. I won't participate in the subsequent matters." Seeing that the overall situation was decided and he was no longer needed, Huo Yuhao had no intention of getting involved in the twists and turns of politics.
"Alright." Xie Huanyue nodded and flew directly back to the commander's tent.
At this moment, the majority of the retreating Xie Long rebel army looked at Huo Yuhao as if they were seeing a god. It was this young man, known as the Demon King, who had single-handedly turned the tide of the battle, crippling an imperial power.
When Huo Yuhao landed back on the ground, Wu Feng, whose injuries had recovered somewhat, transformed into a girl like the wind and threw herself into his long-missed embrace. As fiery as her personality was, she couldn't stop her whole body from trembling.
"Alright, I'm back."
Huo Yuhao stroked her hair and comforted her.
Zhang Lexuan was also able to move freely with the help of a healing-type soul master. Watching the scene of the young man and woman embracing tightly, the figure of Bei Bei couldn't help but surface in her mind, only to shatter into pieces like a broken mirror.
She still had to live and face this cruel world...
"The Demon King Huo Yuhao's life-saving grace, Lexuan will remember it here." Zhang Lexuan seemed to have thought of something. She then walked towards Huo Yuhao and gave him a slight bow.
"Senior Sister, there is no need for this. I only intended to save my companion." Huo Yuhao gave her a faint glance, not showing a pleasant expression. In his view, this senior sister who had been raised by the inner court elders from a young age had probably been thoroughly brainwashed by the Sea God's Pavilion. Who knew if she would seek revenge against him for the academy in the next moment.
Zhang Lexuan was slightly stunned by his cold reaction, but fortunately, she was not stupid and quickly thought of the reason.
"Demon King, please rest assured. Lexuan will no longer do anything for the academy against you." Zhang Lexuan shook her head gently at him. "On the contrary, the academy and Elder Mu have played with and deceived me for more than twenty years. From a factional standpoint, we are on the same side."
What the hell? Huo Yuhao was completely bewildered by her words. Wasn't this woman supposed to be on Shrek's side? How did it sound like she had an irreconcilable feud with them?
Immediately, Zhang Lexuan no longer concealed anything and told Huo Yuhao the truth behind the scenes—the fact that the Heavenly Soul Empire's nobles had used the Tang Sect to harm her family, and that Mu En, after learning the reason, had pretended to seek revenge for her and made her vow to become his great-grandson's child bride, while also letting his great-grandson get close to the Tang Sect's heir to ease the relationship between the two sides.
Was it that explosive? Huo Yuhao only knew that the original novel had only briefly mentioned the cause and effect of the destruction of Zhang Lexuan's family. He never imagined there was so much shocking gossip inside!
Wu Feng, the returned Xie Huanyue, and the rest of the Straw Hat Brigade were also hearing Zhang Lexuan recount these matters for the first time. For a moment, they looked at this senior sister with nothing but sympathy and pity.
"Tch, it seems this world-famous Shrek is nothing more than a gathering of hypocrites!" Zhongli Yu was the first to express her disdain for Shrek. As the saying goes, if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beams will be crooked. The entire academy was probably not much better. Compared to her Holy Spirit Cult, neither could claim to be clean!
"You've had it rough." Huo Yuhao had experienced many things. His temperament had now become calm and stable, and he would no longer fly into a rage for a beautiful woman as he had in the past.
"Lexuan has no way to repay the Demon King's kindness. Please allow me to be so bold as to ask, has the Tang Sect heir, the former sect master with the Dark Blue Silver Grass martial soul, Tang Ya, joined the Holy Spirit Cult?"
Zhang Lexuan finally brought up the most crucial topic. With Tang Ya's talent, she would surely be valued within the Holy Spirit Cult. There was no reason for Huo Yuhao not to know of her existence.
Huo Yuhao finally knew what this inner court senior sister was looking for him for. Clearly, she had come to find her enemy.
"Tang Ya is indeed in the Holy Spirit Cult, and she is the current Blue Silver Saintess." Huo Yuhao had no intention of hiding it from her. Although the Holy Spirit Cult was now under his command, he ultimately found it difficult to feel any goodwill towards this evil soul master organization. It was only because they were still useful and for Zhongli Yu's sake that he had kept these incorrigible fellows around.
Finally obtaining the news she most desired, Zhang Lexuan's beautiful eyes instantly turned red. She actually knelt down before Huo Yuhao in front of him and the entire Straw Hat Brigade.
"Huo Yuhao, I know my request is extremely rude, but I hope your esteemed cult can hand over the Tang Sect heir, Tang Ya, to me!"
Hearing this, Huo Yuhao immediately fell silent. Let alone handing over one Tang Ya, even handing over ten or eight Tang Yas wouldn't be a great loss to him. The key was Tang Ya's special identity as the sole heir of the Tang Sect on the continent. This identity could be used to do many things to overthrow the belief in divine power.
Seeing Huo Yuhao's silence, his eyes just resting on her, Zhang Lexuan's beautiful eyes dimmed. She then bit her lower lip, raised a hand towards him, and sliced her palm with her fingernails, making an oath. "If the Demon King is willing to hand Tang Ya over to me, Lexuan is willing to become the Demon King's woman, to serve you loyally for this life, as your slave and servant, without hesitation!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Huo Yuhao's pupils suddenly dilated, and the expressions of everyone else instantly became extremely colorful.
Those who follow Hao shall prosper; those who oppose him shall perish. Today, the protagonist brings with him several beauties and ten thousand undead. How can the firefly's glow of the inner court compare to the bright moon of the Demon King? Xuan can take off her clothes and skirt and surrender herself, and she will not lose her noble position. To sleep naked on the saddle of pleasure, is that not beautiful!