"Leave it to me!"
Gu La's voice was unusually calm, even tinged with a hint of disdain. Facing the fatal strike from a Title Douluo, his eyes betrayed no trace of panic.
He did not unleash his own unfathomable power but instead released his soul rings. A wide expanse of soul space unfolded, and in midair appeared a crimson, translucent feather-like apparition.
The feather bore intricate flame patterns engraved naturally upon it, radiating an oppressive heat that sent shivers down one's spine.
"Master, lend me your True Fire!"
Gu La murmured softly. The feather instantly erupted with a terrifying surge of soul power.
Buzz!
The feather blazed with blinding crimson light! A clear and piercing phoenix cry seemed to pierce through the heavens! A terrifying wave of heat capable of burning away all creation surged forth with overwhelming force!
Boom—!
A condensed line of golden-red fire, seemingly composed of countless tiny phoenixes, shot out from the tip of the feather, transforming into a flaming phoenix that charged toward the sky-obscuring dark ghost claw!
Hiss—!
There was no earth-shattering explosion—only the ear-piercing sound akin to red-hot iron plunging into cold water.
The dark ghost claw, imbued with the terrifying strength of a Super Douluo, dissolved and vaporized like ice upon contact with the golden-red fire line!
The black-robed Super Douluo let out a bloodcurdling scream of terror. He hastily activated the trump card given to him by the Ghost Emperor to block the True Fire of the Phoenix.
Gu La frowned slightly. His soul rings flickered as he unleashed a second golden-red feather. In an instant, the Super Douluo's entire arm and half of his shoulder were reduced to ash! Had his body not suddenly turned incorporeal, he would have been completely annihilated.
The golden-red fire line showed no sign of slowing. Like a sentient entity, it made a nimble turn in the air and swept precisely toward the three evil soul master Title Douluo below who had just launched their attack and were now attempting to flee.
"No—!"
The three Title Douluo unleashed their soul power frantically, deploying every defensive soul skill they had without hesitation. But before the True Fire of the Phoenix, all their defenses crumbled like paper.
The golden-red flames ignited on contact, spreading across their bodies in an instant. They managed only a half-formed wail of agony before their bodies were consumed by three towering pillars of fire, their martial souls obliterated along with them. They were reduced to three wisps of ash, scattered by the wind, leaving behind not even a trace of residue.
Leng Yaozhu's True Fire of the Phoenix was as domineering as its reputation! Truly worthy of the name "Heavenly Phoenix"!
Just as the old force had dissipated and the new force had yet to emerge, capturing everyone's attention with the terrifying True Fire and the grievous injury inflicted on the Super Douluo—
A silent, ghost-like shadow, blending seamlessly into the surrounding space, suddenly slipped through a crack in the damaged hull of the flying vessel!
A dagger gleaming with icy blue light, clearly coated with potent poison, streaked toward Gu La's back with a ruthless trajectory!
The timing was impeccable, striking precisely when Gu La had just expended his soul power controlling the feather, leaving him at his weakest and most vulnerable!
The attacker was none other than a Title Douluo! Cloaked entirely in shadows, he had been lurking silently like an assassin, waiting for this lethal strike.
His presence was so deeply concealed that his movements bore none of the characteristic coldness of an evil soul master. Instead, they exuded the disciplined, icy aura of a trained killer.
"Be careful!"
Liu Niandao had been standing quietly behind Gu La, seemingly aloof. However, his spiritual force had already spread like an invisible web, enveloping the entire battlefield.
The moment the assassin's murderous intent flared, Liu Niandao's usually indifferent and lazy eyes suddenly turned as deep and cold as a frozen abyss!
Buzz!
A vast, overwhelming spiritual pressure, far surpassing the Soul Emperor level, erupted like an invisible tsunami!
"Spirit Abyss-level spiritual power!"
This terrifying spiritual force instantly locked onto the assassin, binding him like an invisible shackle, causing his movements to falter!
Gu La smirked inwardly, using his own spiritual power to assist in controlling the assassin.
Liu Niandao's Telekinesis martial soul activated!
Fourth Soul Skill: Recovery Lockdown!
Powerful telekinetic force mixed with spiritual energy enveloped the assassin like an invisible, sticky glue.
It was not a direct attack but formed a bizarre field that ruthlessly suppressed the flow of soul power, recovery of spiritual energy, and even the natural surge of vitality within the assassin's body.
The assassin was horrified to discover that his prized speed and explosive power had been weakened by thirty percent under this intangible restraint!
"Die!"
The assassin's eyes flashed with murderous intent. Forcing his weakened soul power, he accelerated the dagger's thrust! Even though weakened, he was confident that with his Title Douluo cultivation and this ninth-rank Soul-breaking Dagger, he could pierce through most defenses and strike Gu La's heart!
However, Liu Niandao's attack was only beginning!
His Willow Leaf Blade martial soul materialized instantly, the fourth soul ring blazing brightly!
"Fourth Soul Skill: Heaven and Earth Blade Array!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—!
Twelve elegantly shaped, razor-thin nine-leaf throwing knives shot out from around him! But what was more astonishing was that the moment these knives left his body, they split apart! Each knife divided into nine finer, thinner, and sharper willow-shaped blades!
One hundred and eight sharpened blades!
This was the core of Liu Niandao's first martial soul—the twelve nine-leaf throwing knives! They were not mere weapons; each blade was imbued with the sharpness honed by Liu Niandao's merciless blade intent.
At the same time the blades split, a faint silver glow flashed on Liu Niandao's shoulder. It was a small, finger-length silver knife-shaped shadow, simple in form, resembling a basic carving knife.
It had no features, just the outline of a blade, exuding a metallic, cold hardness. Its intelligence was rudimentary, but it resonated perfectly with Liu Niandao's spiritual power—this was his artificial metal spirit soul.
This spirit soul had been custom-forged by Gu La at great expense, using advanced metal-soul forging techniques from the Spirit Pagoda.
The Spirit Pagoda had long developed methods to awaken metals and create artificial spirit souls, but due to cost-effectiveness issues, large-scale experimentation had stalled, leaving artificial metal spirit souls stuck at the century stage.
Though its intelligence was low and incapable of independent combat, it was an excellent auxiliary tool for Liu Niandao to control his throwing knife martial soul.
With its faint spiritual enhancement, Liu Niandao's precision and responsiveness in controlling each blade reached an unimaginable level.
The soul-forged metal itself held the potential to be nurtured to the Heavenly-Refined level. Though with Gu La's funding and foresight, they could currently only produce a 1000-year-old spirit soul, it was an indispensable foundation for Liu Niandao's future growth.
One hundred and eight blades, guided by Liu Niandao's mind-boggling, supercomputer-like Spirit Abyss-level spiritual power and assisted by his metal spirit soul, instantly transformed into an impenetrable death net, covering all possible evasion paths of the assassin!
The blade array was complete, and the power of all the knives interconnected and amplified, forming a unified force! This was the true terror of the Heaven and Earth Blade Array—turning many into one, concentrating the power of a hundred blades into a single point!
"First Soul Skill: Thousand Cuts!"
An intangible, razor-sharp aura instantly infused each blade. Already thin as cicada wings, the sharpness of the blades surged again, and their speed became as swift as silver lightning. The air was effortlessly torn apart, emitting a piercing shriek!
"Fifth Soul Skill: Blade Soul Resonance!"
A cold, merciless blade intent, capable of severing emotions and desires, merged with Liu Niandao's will and instantly infused each blade!
This was not just physical cutting but also spiritual dissection. The blade's edge targeted the soul itself!
The ambushing Title Douluo felt a terrifying spiritual force that froze his very soul lock onto him. Bound by the invisible telekinetic shackles, his vision was instantly filled with countless silver flashes imbued with cold killing intent and merciless blade intent!
Unbelievable horror erupted in his eyes as he tried to block, evade, or burst forth with soul power to break free… but it was too late!
Under the combined effects of the Spirit Abyss-level spiritual lock, the weakening of Recovery Lockdown, the amplification of the Heaven and Earth Blade Array, the acceleration and sharpening of Thousand Cuts, and the mental assault of Blade Soul Resonance, this Title Douluo was rendered as helpless as a lamb awaiting slaughter!
Pfft pfft pfft pfft pfft—!
Like a torrential rain beating against banana leaves!
One hundred and eight willow-shaped blades, each imbued with multiple terrifying effects, penetrated the assassin's body in a fraction of a second with machine-like precision!
There was no explosive clash of soul power, only the spine-chilling sound of dense, relentless slicing!
"Third Soul Skill: Flowers Falling from the Sky."
The third soul ring had not yet activated. Even without it, the blade array composed of the base one hundred and eight blades, combined with other soul skills, was already lethally effective!
And the effect of the third soul ring? It multiplied the number of nine-leaf throwing knives by the number of soul rings, with proportional increases in consumption. Its instantaneous burst of power far exceeded the defensive capabilities of any ordinary human body.
But this was not the end.
"Second Soul Skill: Shadow of the Blade!"
As the blades pierced through the body, each blade left behind trails of even more ethereal yet equally sharp phantom blades!
These shadows clung to the cutting paths of the real blades like parasites, slicing through the assassin's body once more, inflicting secondary damage! And the cold, merciless blade intent also struck his soul again through these shadows!
The assassin's body remained frozen in a forward-leaning posture.
The next moment, countless fine lines of blood erupted all over his body. Like a meticulously crafted model being dismantled, he instantly collapsed, shattered into countless fragments no larger than a fingernail, mixed with organs and bones, scattering everywhere in a bloody, brutal scene! His spirit was utterly annihilated by the mental impact of Blade Soul Resonance.
He didn't even have time to release his battle armor or let out a scream, nor did he have a chance to see who killed him before he vanished completely from the world, leaving behind no intact corpse!
The brutality of his death sent a chill down even the seasoned Zhuo Shi and Cai Yue'er.
Silence reigned. Only the howling wind from the damaged flying vessel and the sharp whistling of the fleeing, one-armed evil soul master Super Douluo tearing through the air remained.
Gu La slowly turned around, looking at the unrecognizable pile of flesh and blood on the ground, then glanced at Liu Niandao.
The coldness in Liu Niandao's eyes quickly faded, returning to his usual aloof and lazy demeanor, as if the cold-blooded killing machine from moments ago wasn't him.
One hundred and eight willow-shaped blades silently returned to his side, reassembling into twelve nine-leaf throwing knives and vanishing into his body. The small metal spirit soul on his shoulder also disappeared.
If asked which of the five incarnations was the strongest, even Gu La couldn't say for sure. But if asked who had the strongest attack power, there was no doubt—it was Liu Niandao.
He lacked Bai Yuan and Yin Wansheng's innate domains, Mu Yi's numerous secret techniques, or Qing Liuli's pervasive mental attacks. Yet he was the only one with dual martial souls, which complemented each other perfectly. All his soul skills were designed for the sole purpose of efficient, lethal killing.
Just like the soul beast that shaped him—the Killer Willow.
"Not bad." Gu La retracted his thoughts, speaking indifferently. His gaze, however, turned sharply toward the direction the Super Douluo had fled, sharp as a blade.
There was no escape. With the ability to lock down techniques over time, even if the evil soul master fled to the other side of the planet, Gu La would hunt him down and kill him.
Zhuo Shi and Cai Yue'er quickly stabilized the falling flying vessel, their faces grim.
Evil soul masters had actually dispatched a Super Douluo-led team to ambush them! Their target was clearly Gu La and his companions, who had helped Shrek restore its honor. Moreover, the final assassin seemed to have deliberately concealed his identity.
"Such ruthless tactics, such precise timing for infiltration and assassination… This doesn't seem like the usual methods of evil soul masters."
Cai Yue'er spoke gravely, staring at the pile of fragments on the ground, her brows furrowed. "It feels more like… a well-trained army soul master."
"You mean…" Zhuo Shi's expression changed.
Gu La walked over to the pile of flesh and blood, crouching down. Ignoring the heavy stench of blood, he picked up a small fragment of black fabric that hadn't been completely shredded.
The fabric's texture was unique, bearing traces of an extremely faint, non-soul power fluctuation.
"Not an evil soul master, nor an army soul master." Gu La's voice was icy, carrying an omniscient chill. "This last one didn't have the nauseating soul power stench of an evil soul master. His movements were methodical, his presence nearly perfectly concealed, and the timing of his assassination precise. This style can only belong to the hidden resources of a certain faction."
He stood up, flicking the fabric fragment away. His gaze seemed to pierce through the void, landing on a distant place where a vast power was controlled.
"Qiangu Dongfeng… Have you finally decided to take matters into your own hands?"
Gu La sneered inwardly. Qiangu Dongfeng might have thought this assassination attempt was foolproof, but no one understood better than Gu La the cooperation between the Spirit Pagoda and the Holy Spirit Sect.
"A Title Douluo acting as an assassin—there aren't many on the continent capable of such a feat. Not releasing battle armor was clearly to avoid being recognized, but unfortunately, the body was too badly damaged."
Cai Yue'er and Zhuo Shi were both hot-tempered individuals, already prepared to return and find the culprits, even if it meant turning the world upside down.
As the two analyzed the assassin, the shrill sound of alarms and the roar of mech engines grew louder, tearing through the silence of the mountains.
Several federation-standard high-altitude patrol mechs descended from the clouds like steel birds, their blinding red and blue lights flashing. Their heavy metal frames hovered above the chaotic battlefield, searchlights sweeping over the smoking wreckage of Shrek's soul-guided flying vessel, the massive charred pits left by the Heavenly Phoenix True Fire, and the scattered ashes belonging to the evil soul masters.
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