Word Count: 3,196 Words
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Feng Ling, Nangong Wan, Ancient Demon Douluo…
The number of Evil Douluo from the Holy Spirit Cult who had fallen to Ling Bai's hand had already broken into double digits. The stronger Ling Bai grew, the deeper the unease gnawing at Zhongli Wu's heart. Now that they had successfully encircled the three allied forces in the Western Mountains outside Mingdu, every other target could wait. He absolutely had to behead this natural nemesis of every Evil Spirit Master first!
His seventh spirit ring blazed to life. Martial Spirit Avatar, Death God Demon Puppet!
The Death God Demon Puppet was descended from Ye Xishui's first Martial Spirit, the Bloody Demon Puppet, and had undergone a positive mutation in its evolution. Its evil attribute now surpassed the original by a full step. Blue could come from indigo yet grow bluer than indigo; in the same way, Zhongli Wu believed himself far more worthy of the 'Death God' title than Ye Xishui herself!
A vague, featureless illusory shadow rose behind him. Zhongli Wu gripped a pitch-black scythe that radiated a shudder-inducing evil aura, as though the Death God himself had descended to brandish his Scythe!
His cultivation already approached the Limit Douluo realm, second only to the three great Limit Douluo and to Kong Deming, who possessed the Class 10 Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier. Under the Martial Spirit Avatar's blessing, he shot forward like a streak of black lightning. The group that had only just emerged with Ling Bai couldn't begin to react in time; terror froze their expressions in place.
A sword light swept outward, dazzling to the extreme even beneath the midday sun. Holy radiance slashed horizontally and wrapped Zhongli Wu and his scythe in overlapping layers of light and shadow.
This was no clean, smooth cut. As Ling Bai swung, his wrist gave a subtle tremor, and the Angel Sword traced a graceful arc through the air. To Zhongli Wu, that holy, scorching aura felt instead like a chill that sank straight into his bones!
BOOM—
The explosive clang of metal striking metal stabbed at the eardrums like a drill. The Light of the Death God had been blocked. Shreds of torn black robe fluttered away in tatters as Zhongli Wu stared at the Angel Sword hovering a mere handspan from his face, pupils contracting to needle points.
His heart screamed in alarm. One half-step more and his throat would slam straight onto that holy edge. The terrifying purifying power of the angel made the Death God Demon Puppet recoil in instinctive fear.
The blazing golden light slowly retracted and poured completely back into Ling Bai's body. Yellow, purple, purple, black, black, red, red, red—eight spirit rings that defied common sense rose around him, their glow forming a mesmerizing spectacle. Holy swords of light descended from the sky like torrential rain.
Fourth Spirit Skill, Ten Thousand Blades Radiant Glory!
The Seraphim innately countered all evil in the world. No matter how powerful the Death God Demon Puppet might be, so long as it had not crossed into Ultimate Evil, it would be suppressed by the three great Ultimate Attributes.
Ten Thousand Blades Radiant Glory screamed downward. A rain of holy swords fell from the sky. The attack range was so vast it dragged several nearby battlefields into its scope. The Evil Douluo especially felt their backs prickle; for an instant, they had the vivid illusion of ten thousand blades piercing their hearts at once.
Ning Tian summoned the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda at the same moment. Six spirit rings lit up in unison.
Strength, Speed, Attack, Defense, Spirit Power, Attribute Amplification—six grand attributes, each boosted by seventy percent, bundled into a single luxurious gift package and delivered unto Ling Bai. Under that amplification, Ten Thousand Blades Radiant Glory baptized the land below!
BOOM—
The evil miasma gathered by the Evil Spirit Masters shredded apart, revealing the blazing sun that symbolized light. Brilliant sunlight poured across the land. After the sword rain passed, the glazed earth seemed coated in a thin golden film that refracted rainbow light.
A black cloud streaked past. Zhongli Wu reappeared clutching his chest, his face twisted in pain. Half of the Scythe of the Death God had been sheared clean away. Absolute suppression was not just empty boasting.
In another time and space, a two-ringed Huo Yuhao could easily suppress a five-ringed Ling Luochen with his Ice Jade Scorpion Empress. Here, the gap in spirit power between Ling Bai and Zhongli Wu was less than ten ranks, yet Ling Bai had already condensed his first Angel Spirit Core, and behind him stood the continent's number one support-type Martial Spirit: the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.
If Zhongli Wu hoped to crush him with raw spirit power alone, that dream was destined to shatter.
"Damn it…"
Zhongli Wu spat out a mist of blood. He suddenly caught the slightly disordered fluctuations in Ling Bai's spirit power, froze for half a second, then a savage grin split his face:
"Hahaha, your aura is unstable. Your injuries haven't healed?"
The Angel Sword spun a gorgeous golden flower. Ling Bai didn't bother hiding it. "Indeed," he said evenly. "But can you kill an injured Seraphim?"
Though his body rivaled a humanoid Great Beast in toughness, the Death God Pagoda in Ye Xishui's hands was far more ferocious than anything Zhongli Wu could muster. Ling Bai needed a few days of quiet rest, and now was no time for a real fight.
Zhongli Wu seemed to instantly regain his peak at that admission. His aura surged like an evil dragon taking flight, and a cruel gleam flashed in his eyes, the look of a starving wolf eyeing prey.
"This Seat is not skilled in direct assault. Every one of my spirit skills exists to support beast souls. That is the only reason you've gained the upper hand!"
He raised his voice to a triumphant roar. "Now I'll show you the true power of the Holy Cult's master. Come out, Bone Dragon King!"
The broken scythe twisted and warped, reshaping itself into a skull-topped staff. Zhongli Wu chanted under his breath, and the Bone Dragon King tore free from a separate dimension to release a world-shaking roar!
"ROAR—"
A single dragon cry sent the air into violent convulsions. The weaker Spirit Masters reeled as though struck by a hammer, blood trickling from their ears like winding red serpents.
Jianmu Douluo sensed an unfamiliar Limit-level spirit power ripple across the battlefield. He turned, and his expression changed drastically when he saw that Zhongli Wu had summoned a Bone Dragon King at the Limit Douluo level!
"Oh no, Xiao Bai! Xiao Tian!"
His face drained of color. A Limit Douluo stood entirely beyond ordinary Titled Douluo. Even Ling Bai at full strength was no match for a Limit Douluo, let alone in his current injured state!
His disciples were in peril, and Jianmu Douluo immediately moved to rush down to their aid. But the figure wrapped in silver light stepped into his path at exactly the right moment. An aged voice drifted out from within that silver radiance:
"Zhou Jiren, stop worrying about them. Just stay here obediently with me."
"Kong Deming, get out of this old man's way!"
A vast flood of life force surged outward like a torrent. The Sacred Jianmu Tree's branches lashed viciously toward Kong Deming. But the Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier was a true Class 10 Spirit Guidance Device, and with it, Kong Deming's combat power had leapt straight into the Limit Douluo realm.
As the man standing at the very pinnacle of the Sun Moon Empire's spirit guidance technology, the empire's foremost native expert, Kong Deming was absolutely not the kind of obstacle one could break through with ease.
The Sun Moon Empire had thrown out every powerhouse it possessed, clearly determined to settle everything in a single decisive battle. Even with the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, Shrek Academy, and the Star Luo Empire combining their full strength, the three forces still found themselves at a disadvantage.
Ning Fengyu, who usually slacked off and hid her true strength, finally erupted with everything she had. Beneath the Life Unending Domain's amplification, the Sky Azure Vine Emperor single-handedly held the line against three Evil Douluo at once: Crow Douluo, Myriad Soul Douluo, and Abomination Douluo. Even Ye Guyi, leaning on the inherent advantages of her Holy Angel Martial Spirit, could only barely hold her own against Dark Lightning Douluo.
Taotie Douluo Elder Xuan and Greenshadow Douluo Elder Song fought desperately to keep Dragon Emperor Douluo Long Xiaoyao and Death God Douluo Ye Xishui pinned down.
Ye Xishui was paranoid and violent by nature. The more the Greenshadow Godly Eagle relied on speed to evade her, the more obsessively she tried to land a strike with the Death God Pagoda on Elder Song.
Long Xiaoyao, meanwhile, was suspected of holding back. His Rank 99 Darkness Holy Dragon was somehow only fighting the Rank 97 Godly Taotie Bull to a draw.
With the Bone Dragon King joining the fray, it now stood practically unrivaled on this battlefield!
Zhongli Wu surveyed the ashen, defeated faces of the allied forces and felt a heady rush of triumph, as though he already held the winning hand and now stood atop a mountain gazing down upon all lesser peaks.
His fifth, sixth, and eighth spirit rings flared together. The skull staff pointed toward the Bone Dragon King, and beast soul after beast soul streamed into its body as nourishment. The Bone Dragon King's aura surged higher still!
'Seems Death Abyss had some use after all.'
For a fleeting instant, Zhongli Wu's resentment toward Death Abyss Douluo eased. If nothing else, the man had helped forge the Bone Dragon King into something incomparably perfect!
"Bone Dragon King, tear them apart!"
Zhang Lexuan, Han Ruoruo, Wu Feng, Ling Qiuxi…
Everyone threw everything they had into halting the Bone Dragon King's advance. But how could a Limit Douluo–level beast soul be stopped by such attacks? The Bone Dragon King beat its skeletal wings once, and that colossal dragon body hurled itself straight at the crowd!
The Bone Dragon King swooped down, an evil shadow blanketing the earth beneath it. Facing what they believed to be their final moments, everyone instinctively turned to look one last time at the person they were most reluctant to leave behind. Then, under the horrified gazes of Ning Tian and the others, the Seraphim rose into the sky, his handsome face seeming to shimmer with pure, holy radiance as Ling Bai shouted sternly:
"Vile creature, why have you not yet converted to the righteous path!"
"…Hold on, you're seriously just talking at it?!"
Wu Feng clapped a hand over her face in despair. She had been certain Ling Bai was sitting on some hidden trump card, perhaps that purple-gold giant dragon making another appearance. Instead, he was relying on nothing but his voice!
What, did he think he could lecture the Bone Dragon King into surrender?!
"What a joke!"
Zhongli Wu laughed, wildly at first, then loudly, then stiffly…
And then, all at once, he couldn't laugh at all!
Because the Bone Dragon King had genuinely turned its massive maw, and now that maw was aimed at him. Its jaws yawned open and unleashed a blazing orb of cyan-red fire, a churning fusion of howling gale and raging flame!
Bone Dragon King's Innate Spirit Skill, Wind Fire Transformation!
"Bone Dragon King, have you gone mad?! I'm your master!"
Zhongli Wu scrambled frantically aside as the Wind Fire Transformation tore past him, his eyes bulging with disbelief as he roared his fury. The Bone Dragon King ignored him completely. Its jaws split wide once more, and another fireball came hurtling forth!
"It actually turned to the righteous path? That worked?!"
Jaws hit the ground across the battlefield. Was the Seraphim's mouth really that powerful?
Wu Feng cast a sidelong glance at Ling Bai's lips. Whether they were powerful or not, she couldn't say, but they certainly looked very, very kissable!
"Bone Dragon King, heed my command!"
Ling Bai's voice rang out across the sky. "The lost may yet find their way home. Turn from darkness while time remains. I, in the name of righteous angels, grant you this chance to redeem yourself. Slay that Evil Spirit Master!"
"Roaaar—"
The order seemed to send the Bone Dragon King into a frenzy, as if it had been pumped full of pure stimulants. Fireballs and wind blasts erupted in a relentless barrage toward Zhongli Wu. The Holy Spirit Cult Leader scuttled about like a cornered rat, desperately dodging attacks from the very beast soul he had once been so proud of!
'Why… why has the Bone Dragon King lost control? I spent ten full years refining it. Ten years!'
Zhongli Wu felt as though his entire world had crumbled. Fragments of his time with the Bone Dragon King flashed through his mind in a frantic whirl.
He flatly refused to believe in something as absurd as 'conversion by mere speech.' That wasn't cheating. That was outright hacking!
Ling Bai must have tampered with the Bone Dragon King somehow!
'I personally oversaw the Bone Dragon King's care. There was absolutely no way an outsider could come into contact with it…
Even the beast souls it devoured were refined by my own hands…
So when, exactly, could anyone have interfered…'
Zhongli Wu's mind raced into overdrive.
'No… that's not right… there was one other person who came into contact with the Bone Dragon King!'
Memory finally surfaced. One person. Someone he had once trusted. Someone whose current whereabouts were unknown. Someone whose negligence had brought the foundation of the Holy Spirit Cult to ruin.
A sinner!
'Death Abyss! Only Death Abyss Douluo! He touched the Bone Dragon King!'
A wave of icy dread washed over him. His spine stiffened vertebra by vertebra. In a trembling voice that even he could scarcely believe, Zhongli Wu spoke his conclusion aloud:
"Seraphim, you are Death Abyss Douluo!
You are Death Abyss Douluo!"
The words struck like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. Every heart on the battlefield skipped a beat. Yet Ling Bai's expression didn't so much as flicker. He fired back with righteous fury:
"Heretical wretch, what nonsense are you spouting?!
Audacious! What an Evil Spirit Master indeed, slandering others even at death's door. But you forget, since ancient times, the Holy and the Evil have never coexisted!
I am the Seraphim!"
"You're full of shit!"
Zhongli Wu had the look of a man driven mad. As he stared into Ling Bai's eyes, he seemed to glimpse two overlapping faces: one bathed in sunlight, basking in the world's praise; the other hidden in shadow, lips curling into a bloody, cruel smile.
"Leader, that is the Seraphim. He is not Vice-Leader Death Abyss. Have you forgotten? The Vice-Leader once fought the Seraphim face to face!"
Netherworld Douluo couldn't help but cut in.
"He has a clone! He must have a clone!"
Zhongli Wu carried himself with all the conviction of a sober man in a world of drunkards. Eliminate every impossibility, and whatever remained, however absurd, had to be the truth!
"The Bone Dragon… the Bone Dragon is your second Martial Spirit, an Ultimate Evil Martial Spirit!
The Bone Dragon King's betrayal, the fall of the Holy Cult, all of it was your doing!"
His crazed roars rang through the land. Starsky Douluo Ye Yulin, after sweeping aside the Star Luo Empire's Worship, Shattered Star Douluo, only shook his head helplessly. This Holy Spirit Cult Leader clearly couldn't bear his Bone Dragon King's defection on the battlefield and had finally cracked.
The Seraphim was the continent's foremost Holy Martial Spirit. Ling Bai might well possess a second Martial Spirit, but how could it possibly be the evil Bone Dragon?
Everyone knew Death Abyss Douluo as a Super Evil Douluo, while the Seraphim was 'only' a Spirit Douluo. Their cultivations didn't even line up.
The infamous assassination attempt on the Seraphim by three great powerhouses, Dragon Emperor Douluo, Death Abyss Douluo, and Scorpion Tiger Douluo, was no secret either. The two stood on opposite sides of an unbreakable divide!
To accuse him out of nowhere of being Death Abyss Douluo, hiding behind some clone spirit skill, was simply preposterous without a shred of evidence to support it!
Not a single Class 9 Spirit Guidance Master of the Sun Moon Empire, nor an Evil Douluo of the Holy Spirit Cult, could bring themselves to believe a word of it.
Over on Shrek Academy's side, the assembled Titled Douluo openly scoffed. By the principles of Martial Spirit Core Theory, the Seraphim was the world's number one Holy Martial Spirit. Branding Ling Bai an Evil Spirit Master was even less plausible than slandering Elder Xuan as one!
Jianmu Douluo and Han Ruoruo, who knew for a fact that Ling Bai possessed Twin Martial Spirits and that his second was a spider, frowned inwardly.
What connection could there possibly be between a spider and a Bone Dragon?
There didn't seem to be one. So he couldn't be Death Abyss Douluo after all!
Even Huo Yuhao didn't believe Ling Bai was Death Abyss Douluo. Zhongli Wu's standing was simply too low to lend any credibility to his words, and his reasoning was wildly extreme.
Holy and evil twin spirits, clone spirit skills, a spider turning into a Bone Dragon, spirit power disguise, facial disguise…
Ling Qiuxi kept her expression carefully neutral, though inside she was quietly laughing. She was the only one who had seen every last one of Ling Bai's 'faces,' yet she had no reason whatsoever to help Zhongli Wu. She could only laugh inwardly at how no one in this world would ever take a lone Evil Spirit Master's accusations seriously!
Over on the Star Luo Empire's side, Xu Jiujiu used her Star Crown Martial Spirit in support of the battle, her delicate brows knitting together. Her expression carried thoughtfulness, edged with a trace of hesitation and inner conflict.
The price of being the only one who saw clearly was being branded a madman. Zhongli Wu darted around the Bone Dragon King's relentless pursuit, his bloodshot eyes sweeping across every face around him, only to find shaking heads and mocking smirks at every turn. Not a single soul believed him!
"Bone Dragon King, send him on his way!"
Ling Bai's voice was as cold as shattering ice!
"Roaaar—"
The Bone Dragon King threw back its head and let out a thunderous howl. It had once received the Silver Dragon King's grace and held dominion over both wind and fire. Howling gales surged forth, a tide of flame swept skyward, and in an instant, both engulfed Zhongli Wu's body!
"You're wrong! You're all wrong!"
Through the firelight, Zhongli Wu glared at the smiling, mocking Ling Bai with eyes brimming with hatred. His struggling roars grew weaker and weaker.
"Sooner or later… you'll all see his ravenous wolf's ambition for what it is…"
In the final second before consciousness slipped away, Zhongli Wu glimpsed a magnificent flash of golden sword-light!
The Angel Sword!
Holy Spirit Cult Leader Zhongli Wu, fallen!