Chapter 203: Domain Battle
"Pfft—"
Mu En was the first to grunt, several blood arrows breaking through the barrier and grazing his shoulder.
Blood seeped out instantly, flowing down his arm and sizzling as it dripped onto the ground.
Where the blood arrows had grazed his dragon scales, a deep wound reaching the flesh remained, the edges of which were still emitting white smoke from the corrosion of Cursed Energy.
What made his inner fire rage even more was that the excrement had been scattered further by the explosive shockwave, with much of it staining his robes and dragon scales.
There was even a drop stuck to Mu En's mouth!
For a moment, the stench pierced his nose, nearly causing his two hundred years of composure-building to crumble on the spot.
Mu En hurriedly used Soul Power to clean the bit of excrement off his mouth.
Just thinking about how he had almost eaten it made the muscles on Mu En's face twitch uncontrollably in anger; he gnashed his teeth, and the veins on his temples bulged.
Long Xiaoyao was no better off; his left arm had been pierced by a blood arrow, and blood was gushing out.
His dark dragon claw was trembling slightly, and the stench was still constantly assaulting his nerves.
What kind of underhanded Moves had Long Xiaoyao not seen?
Poisoning, curses, sneak attacks—he had experienced them all.
Yet, no one had ever dared to use such low and filthy things against him.
It didn't even feel like a battle anymore; this young man was purely here to disgust them.
Because this Move was so sinister, he and Mu En were caught off guard for a moment, so angry and furious that even their circulation of Soul Power became sluggish.
Ye Xishui, watching from the rear, was furious, the muscles at the corners of her eyes twitching.
Her fingers, hidden beneath her dark red cloak, were clenched until her knuckles turned white. However, seeing Lu Ren rushing forward again, Ye Xishui hurriedly exerted her full power to activate the death god tower. Dark red light shot up from the tower, so intense it was like a blood-colored sun rising from the ground.
A dark red canopy spread out, shielding Mu En and Long Xiaoyao within it.
Seeing this, Lu Ren clasped his hands together once more and used Piercing Blood.
But countless vengeful Martial Souls surged out from the canopy, roaring as they devoured the incoming Piercing Blood.
The Martial Souls' teeth gnashed against the blood arrows, creating a piercing grating sound. Some Martial Souls were backlashed by the Cursed Energy contained within the blood arrows after biting through them, letting out shrill screams before turning into wisps of green smoke.
Seeing that she had forced Lu Ren back with the death god tower, Ye Xishui finally managed to buy the two of them a chance to catch their breath.
Yet, she still felt like she was dreaming.
This little brat Lu Ren was so unscrupulous when fighting.
His fighting style didn't follow any conventions; he didn't care about any rules or decorum of Soul Master duels.
Yet, this Move was the most effective.
The more old-school powerhouses who prided themselves on their status, the easier it was for such tactics to disrupt their state of mind.
They had spent their whole lives trading blows with opponents of the same level, accustomed to straightforward Soul Skill exchanges, and had no mental defense against such low-class tactics.
After gaining enough time, golden light surged around Mu En, and his power of light circulated frantically, completely purifying the filth on his body into ash.
The filth clinging to his robes and dragon scales dissipated into wisps of black smoke under the scorching light, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of burnt protein.
Yet, the anger in Mu En's heart was almost about to blow his lid.
As the Dragon God Douluo and the anchor of Shrek Academy, he had traversed the continent for two hundred years; where was he not revered?
Titled Douluo would bow respectfully upon seeing him, and emperors and generals dared not act presumptuously in his presence.
Today, he had actually been smeared in the face with filth by a brat under seventeen, and had even been truly injured—this was simply a supreme humiliation.
It was always he who embarrassed others; when had he ever been humiliated like this?
"Lu Ren!!" Mu En's voice changed pitch, his eyes almost spitting fire. "How dare you use such despicable and low-class tactics!"
Lu Ren shrugged, smiling with an innocent face. "They're just tactics; as long as I can win, it's fine. Don't tell me that when fighting three of you at once, I'm supposed to follow the rules?"
At the observation point dozens of kilometers away, everyone was stunned by the scene on the screen of someone getting their face smeared with a heap of excrement, and then burst into uproarious laughter.
Wu Yun was already slapping his thigh from laughing.
"This is too malicious; how did he even think of this Move?"
"I told you that iron bucket was suspicious, hahahaha!"
"When you saw what he was putting into that iron bucket, I knew he was definitely up to no good! That iron bucket was probably dug out by that thing in the middle of the night from the city sewers, right?"
"How stinky must that be?"
Ye Guyi turned her face away, but her shoulders were shaking.
She raised her hand to cover her mouth, her eyes curving into crescents, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl upward.
Her small face flushed red, and she muttered, "Too shameful—but, it seems quite effective."
She silently mourned for Mu En and Long Xiaoyao for a second in her heart.
If word got out that they had been smeared in the face with excrement, the dignity of these two Limit Douluo would likely never be recovered.
Sect Master Du Busi was already laughing so hard he was swaying back and forth, tears almost coming out, clutching his stomach as he laughed. "Amazing! Truly amazing! That old guy Mu En has held onto his airs his whole life, and today he's really fallen hard!"
Huo Yuhao stood where he was, his mouth twitching, completely at a loss for words.
The top-tier Soul Master duel he had imagined should have been refined Moves, brilliant light and shadow, with both sides showing off their Divine Ability.
He had imagined Mu En's heroic posture in battle countless times in his mind.
The Bright Sacred Dragon spreading its wings, the dragon's roar shaking the heavens, every Move carrying unrivaled majesty.
How did it get to Lu Ren, and the style suddenly went completely off the rails?
He looked at Mu En's livid face on the screen and suddenly felt that this Dragon God Douluo was a bit pitiful.
The majesty he had once looked up to was shattered into pieces in front of this bucket of excrement.
Ji Juechen also rarely relaxed his furrowed brows, a trace of a smile flashing in his eyes. "All warfare is based on deception; any Move that can disrupt the opponent's rhythm is a good Move."
In the center of the battlefield, Mu En took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his surging anger.
He closed his eyes for a moment, his chest heaving violently several times, each breath seemingly pushing that anger deep into his Dantian.
When he opened them again, the rage in his eyes had been suppressed, replaced by an intensely cold killing intent.
It was meaningless to dwell on these small tactics; today, no matter the cost, this Prodigy had to be killed.
"Be careful; I suspect he is deliberately trying to provoke us."
"Remember the intelligence I shared with you? He has a monster under his command that can continuously withstand our attacks and evolve, and can even produce an effect similar to damage immunity against our attacks." Mu En used mental transmission, his voice ringing in the minds of Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao, his tone filled with deep apprehension.
"The most critical thing is that the monster's power can get stronger the more it fights—"
That monster was the first true threat he had encountered today; that ability to get stronger the more it fought still left him with lingering fear when he thought about it.
"But he hasn't used that Move yet." Long Xiaoyao's face was solemn.
His gaze swept back and forth over Lu Ren, from head to toe, from toe to head, trying to find any sign of summoning Mahoraga.
"And there is no Dharma Chakra appearing above Lu Ren's head as you described."
"Yes, but the more he hides his Moves, the more we are restrained by fear." Mu En said in a deep voice, "The last time I fought that monster, after the Dharma Chakra above its head turned two or three times, my power of light had no effect on it at all."
"Later, when I unleashed Seagod's Light, it directly escaped into the shadows and avoided it completely."
"That monster went from being easily extinguishable at the beginning to my attacks not even being able to scratch its skin later; it took less than a few minutes."
"It evolved every time it took an attack, and each evolution was stronger than the last."
"This is why we haven't dared to use our stronger abilities until now."
"Every time we attack him, we might be providing nutrients to that monster."
Ye Xishui frowned, pondered for a moment, and transmitted, "Then if we all use our strongest Move now, can we kill Lu Ren and that monster?"
"If the three of us attack with full force at the same time, perhaps we can destroy it directly before that monster can react."
"As long as the speed is fast enough, it won't have a chance to adapt."
"It's hard to say." Mu En shook his head, his gaze never leaving Lu Ren.
He stared at the young man, looking at the relaxed, punchable expression on his face, and said coldly, "Lacking intelligence information, I cannot guarantee it."
"I thought the same thing last time, and the result was that my Seagod's Light was wasted in vain."
"I thought that blow was enough to purify anything, but it sank straight into the shadows, not even leaving a trace of energy fluctuation behind."
"Our Soul Power reserves for today are running low; we cannot afford to waste another trump card."
Facing the three's discussion, Lu Ren simply stood where he was, his face still wearing a calm and indifferent smile.
The smile was faint, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned, revealing no superfluous emotions.
At this moment, Lu Ren did not look at all like someone engaged in a life-and-death battle against three Limit Douluos; rather, he looked like someone who had stopped to admire the scenery while taking a stroll in the countryside.
Yet, in a place invisible to everyone, in a completely dark place, in the World belonging to shadows, Mahoraga's Dharma Wheel was hidden here.
That massive Dharma Wheel was slowly turning in the darkness, emitting a faint clicking sound.
As of now, it had actually finished a full rotation.
And Mu En and the others were completely unaware of this.
They were still cautiously probing Lu Ren, still worried about that "monster hidden who knows where."
Yet they did not know that the monster's Dharma Wheel had already finished a full rotation in a place they could not see.
At this time, in the spectator stands, Ye Guyi asked curiously again: "Come to think of it, why aren't they using powerful Martial Soul Abilities to deal with Lu Ren, but instead are fighting solely relying on their most basic abilities?"
"Even though all three of them are Limit Douluos and any powerful Soul Skill they throw down could destroy the heavens and extinguish the earth, why does it look like they're brawling? And they're getting more cautious as they fight; what exactly are they afraid of?"
She could see that Mu En's dragon claws and Long Xiaoyao's punches and kicks contained terrifying strength, each collision bursting with shockwaves capable of shattering mountains, yet none of those legendary hundred-thousand-year Martial Soul Abilities had appeared.
"This can be considered the Realm of returning to simplicity that these top powerhouses can achieve," Sect Master Du Busi said by way of explanation, his dark green eyes fixed on the figures crisscrossing the screen.
He raised his hand to explain: "Although they can certainly manifest their Martial Soul Avatar and enlarge their Martial Soul to a hundred meters in size, a casual strike in that form could flatten a mountain."
"If they throw a punch, the power covers the entire area—it's grand and looks scary. But if that power from a hundred-meter-sized form is compressed into a normal human form, the destructive power becomes even more terrifying."
"If a hundred-meter dragon claw comes down, the power is dispersed over the entire area, but if you compress that hundred-meter dragon claw into the size of a normal palm, that strike becomes power condensed to the extreme, and the point-to-point destructive power is actually greater."
"It's like using the same amount of water; splashing it out only wets an area, but compressing it into a water jet can cut through steel plates."
He paused halfway through, his brows slightly furrowed: "Mu En and Long Xiaoyao are both relying on this state to perfectly unleash their abilities."
"As for Lu Ren's side, I find it hard to say."
"This kid has too many abilities, all sorts of messy things, and even I can't tell what kind of scheme he's plotting."
"It seems neither side unleashed their trump cards immediately; is it because they are wary of each other?"
"The most crucial Domain battle hasn't started yet," Ji Juechen said abruptly, his gaze never leaving the screen, his sword emitting a faint hum in his embrace.
"I remember Lu Ren saying that Mu En has a Domain."
He recalled what Lu Ren had mentioned to him before.
"He has a Domain? For a powerhouse of that level, it's not strange to have a Domain."
Sect Master Du Busi bit his finger nervously, his thumbnail bitten into a jagged mess.
He himself was a ninety-eighth-level Super Douluo, the Sect Master of the Body Sect, yet he still did not possess his own Domain.
A Domain is not something you get just because your cultivation reaches a certain level; it requires Opportunity, Comprehension Ability, and the most fundamental understanding of one's own power.
Sect Master Du Busi watched the intense battle on the screen with a grave expression, his long hair fluttering gently in the wind, the tips slightly curling due to the energy fluctuations coming from the air.
If Mu En had a Domain—that meant Lu Ren would not be able to achieve absolute suppression.
Fighting someone without a Domain while possessing one is a dimensional reduction strike in itself, but if the opponent also has a Domain, then it becomes difficult to handle.
"I wonder how Lu Ren will handle this?"
"It's coming!" Just then, Wu Yun said excitedly, his finger pointing at the screen.
On the battlefield, Lu Ren, who was frantically engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Mu En and Long Xiaoyao, suddenly swept the blood arrow condensed in his hand horizontally, using a Piercing Blood as if it were a swung sword.
The blood arrow in his hand was like a flexible sword that could freely extend and retract; as he swept it, it carved a scarlet arc in the air. Where the arc passed, even the air was corroded, emitting a sizzling sound, and the remnants of rubble on the ground instantly melted into dark red liquid when brushed by the blood arrow.
This Move forced Mu En and Long Xiaoyao back.
The two retreated simultaneously. When Mu En's Bright Sacred Dragon claw collided with the blood arrow, it exploded with a wave of gold and red energy, while Long Xiaoyao's dark dragon claw narrowly avoided it by brushing past the tail end of the blood arrow. Both were pushed back dozens of zhang by the shockwave of the explosion, their feet carving long furrows into the ground.
"If I'm not mistaken, Mu En, that Seagod's Light of yours can either only be used once, or at most one or two more times, right?"
Lu Ren suddenly asked.
The blood arrow in his hand had not dissipated; it slowly rotated at his fingertips, the scarlet light reflecting on his face, making his smile appear particularly meaningful.
"Why don't you guess?"
Mu En said coldly.
He was expressionless, but a subtle, imperceptible flicker flashed in the depths of his eyes.
His fingertips trembled slightly.
Lu Ren was right; the power of the golden ancient tree could not possibly sustain him in this state forever.
Seagod's Light could not be used that many times either.
If he used the power of the golden ancient tree recklessly, and if the Seagod's Light wasn't used correctly, then he would have no trump cards left.
Lu Ren smiled without saying a word.
Immediately after, a large amount of Cursed Energy surged from within Lu Ren's body. Pitch-black energy gushed out like a tide, causing his robes to flap violently, the hem making snapping sounds as it whipped through the air.
At the same time, Lu Ren had already raised his hands in front of him, forming a hand seal, and Cursed Energy was gathering frantically around him.
"This is—"
While Long Xiaoyao was still confused, Mu En had already reacted. He hurriedly took a stance, drawing a golden arc in front of him with both hands. The power of light was gathering frantically in his palms, and golden flames shot out from between his fingers.
"Domain Expansion!!!"
Lu Ren and Mu En shouted simultaneously.
Their voices overlapped, shaking the very air, and as the sound waves spread outward, even the clouds in the distance were dispersed.
"Malevolent Shrine!"
"Dragon Emperor Shock Domain!"
Two roars exploded between heaven and earth simultaneously.
The next instant, two completely different Domain powers exploded outward with the two of them as the center. Visible energy ripples spread frantically in all directions; wherever they passed, the ground cracked, rubble flew into the air, and even space itself showed visual distortion at the boundary where the Domains collided.
The golden light swept out first.
The Dragon Emperor Shock Domain spread for a hundred li; dense golden dragon patterns appeared on the earth. Each of those dragon patterns was several zhang wide, winding and spreading on the ground like countless golden dragons swimming in the soil, the texture of the dragon scales clearly visible.
Ancient dragon roars echoed from all directions, the roars carrying a sacred and inviolable pressure, each roar causing golden ripples to appear in the surrounding air.
The massive phantom of the Bright Sacred Dragon hovered above the sky of the Domain; that phantom was larger than any Mu En had displayed before, its wingspan covering half the sky when spread.
Each dragon scale shed divine light that purified all things, golden light rain falling from the sky, coating the entire earth in a layer of gilded luster, and even the rubble on the ground took on a warm golden hue under the infiltration of the light rain.
Inside the Domain, the power of light was so dense it was nearly liquid; the air was filled with a warm and scorching aura, and with every breath, one could feel the energy of light surging through the trachea into the lungs.
All dark and evil attributes would be continuously burned and dissolved, and even space itself was coated with a layer of warm gold by this pure power of light.