The figure that appeared before Long Xiaoyao was a golden-yellow silhouette, standing perfectly straight, with no trace of aging on its body.
In a daze, Long Xiaoyao seemed to see the person who had once traveled the continent alongside him in their youth.
But his eyes instead filled with a deeper sorrow.
"Let Xishui come out as well. Everything should come to an end now."
"Yes, appearing before me in this state means it really is time to end things." Long Xiaoyao also let out a long sigh, slowly raising his hand. The cloak on his body slipped off and drifted gently toward the ground.
His right palm lifted, and pitch-black light spread outward from within his body. In the blink of an eye, his entire arm had completely transformed into a dragon claw.
Mu En waited for a moment, but still saw no sign of Ye Xishui. The golden-light-shrouded figure seemed to lower its head slightly. "Since you don't wish to see me, that's fine as well."
As the words fell, the golden-yellow light shot straight into the sky, like a passage connecting heaven and earth.
At the top of Heaven Dou City, the Shrek Academy group felt a sudden uplift in spirit as a gentle sensation lightly brushed over their bodies.
On the other side, Yan Shaozhe seemed to have recovered considerably. Four words rose in his mind.
The Light of the Sea God.
Inside the Ming Capital's imperial palace, Xu Tianran seemed to sense something. He pushed his wheelchair to the window and gazed distantly in the direction of the Heavenly Soul Empire.
"The bet between Shrek Academy and us should have already begun, right?"
"Yes, Your Highness. According to the timing, it should have started by now," the palace servant who constantly attended him replied softly from behind.
"At last, this moment has come." Xu Tianran gripped the armrests of his wheelchair, exerting slight force with his hands. "How is Father Emperor's condition?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, still the same as before."
"Sigh." Xu Tianran let out a soft sigh. "Father Emperor has been ill and unconscious for so long, merely enduring pointless suffering. It's better to let him be freed soon."
The palace servant's expression changed slightly, but he quickly bowed. "This subordinate will handle it personally."
"Good. Pass down the order: the side at the Evil Soul Forest can begin."
"Yes."
The servant responded and slowly retreated from the room.
The room fell silent at once. Xu Tianran pondered for a moment in his wheelchair, then suddenly threw off the blanket covering his legs. Beneath his robes, soul tool-crafted prosthetic legs supported his body as he steadily stood up.
To the west of the Ming Capital, within a continuous mountain range, something like an earthquake seemed to occur. Soil continuously tumbled down from the peaks of the mountains, carrying the plants atop them rolling along with the earth and stone.
The rising dust seemed capable of enveloping the surrounding mountains entirely. And within this dust, accompanied by bursts of metallic rumbling, a dazzling beam of light rose and sped toward the Evil Soul Forest several thousand meters away.
No, not just one. This was merely the beginning. The earth shook again, the rumbling continued, and two more beams of light soared into the sky, following the same trajectory as the first.
Meanwhile, several thousand meters away in the Evil Soul Forest, the life there had yet to sense the approaching danger.
In the complex and winding passages of the Holy Spirit Cult headquarters, Huo Yuhao was supporting Lin Huiqun as they hurried toward the end of one corridor.
"Elder Lin, it's just ahead." Huo Yuhao's tone carried some urgency. "Hold on a little longer. I can feel we're getting closer and closer to the surface. This should lead to the escape tunnel that the Holy Spirit Cult prepared."
"Yuhao, thank goodness for you." Lin Huiqun took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the numbness in half her body. With one hand pressing the wound that kept bleeding, she leaned on Huo Yuhao and moved forward quickly.
Lin Huiqun's heart was far from calm. Her martial soul was never suited for direct combat. If not for Huo Yuhao's prior mental detection warning when facing the Netherworld Thunder Douluo, she probably wouldn't have been able to rescue Huo Yuhao, and she herself might have been left behind.
The Holy Spirit Cult had cooperated with the Mingde Hall for a long time, so soul tools prepared to defend against external enemies were naturally plentiful here. Lin Huiqun had never fought the Netherworld Thunder Douluo before and hadn't expected someone could actually merge with a soul tool.
In that instant, it felt as though she were facing the entire colossal entity of the Holy Spirit Cult headquarters.
"Elder Lin, please don't speak for now. You've already expended a great deal, and you even forced yourself to eliminate the remaining evil soul masters with your last breath, delaying far too long. If you spend more soul power, your injuries will likely worsen."
"My injuries are fine. We can't just let these evil soul masters escape like this…"
As Lin Huiqun spoke, she suddenly detected something through the mental detection Huo Yuhao was sharing with her and halted her steps.
Exchanging a glance with Huo Yuhao, the two slowly moved forward. After turning a corner, they saw more than a dozen Holy Spirit Cult disciples gathered there.
Lin Huiqun took a deep breath and was about to circulate her soul power when a figure swiftly rushed out and blocked their path.
Beneath a black cloak, a pair of dark purple eyes stared intently at Lin Huiqun.
The figure was not tall, but for some reason, Lin Huiqun felt a dangerous aura emanating from her.
"Who are you?"
"I am a Holy Envoy under the Grand Elder." Even facing Lin Huiqun, a Super Douluo, the figure stood firm without flinching or evading.
"Grand Elder?"
"Holy Envoy?"
Huo Yuhao and Lin Huiqun spoke almost in unison. Lin Huiqun naturally did not know the Holy Spirit Cult's internal affairs, while Huo Yuhao had heard some rumors but had never seen the Grand Elder, so he immediately grew vigilant.
Of course, it wasn't just Huo Yuhao; even the vast majority of people in the Holy Spirit Cult did not know that their Grand Elder had long since perished and become Lin Xiao's soul ring.
As for the one who knew the truth, Lin Xiao, he was currently at the other end of the Holy Spirit Cult headquarters.
Lin Xiao's eyes were tightly shut. In his sea of consciousness and the world of the dead, gray mist had almost filled every corner.
Atop the Saint Emperor statue, a layer of gray light also enveloped it. Within it, one aura seemed to be summoned, slowly emerging from inside the statue.
"Prut—A—Bi—"
Lin Xiao's lips moved slightly as obscure incantations emerged one after another from his mouth. An invisible force spread outward, calling back the scattered fragments of Electrolux's divine sense to his main body.
Behind him, Electrolux's figure grew increasingly solid, almost like a real person. The single gray soul ring behind him pulsed continuously, flashing with dazzling light.
Lin Xiao only felt his entire sea of consciousness shaking. The gray mist permeated everything, completely obscuring the other objects in the stone chamber.
"Rui!"
After an unknown amount of time, the incantations from Lin Xiao's mouth finally ceased. With a soft shout, the divine sense fragment within the Saint Emperor statue finally completely detached and drilled into the space between Lin Xiao's brows.
In an instant, countless pieces of information spread through his sea of consciousness.
However, before he could even attempt to comprehend this information, a majestic voice exploded like thunder.
"Who dares to ruin my ten-thousand-year plan?"
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