Word Count: 3,185 Words
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Ten thousand miles above the earth, three spheres of gold, black, and crimson light collided without pause. Heavenly hymns mingled with dragon roars and phoenix cries, and the sound echoed across the horizon without end.
The Angelic Domain pushed outward and crushed the Silent Darkness Domain and the Demonic Phoenix Domain beneath its weight. The holy spirit power within it transmuted into annihilating thunder, forming storm clouds that blanketed a hundred-mile radius. Radiant Thunder Dazzles the World descended like a judgment of lightning loose from the hand of a god. Streak after streak of dragon-shaped electricity hurtled down upon the two Limit Douluo!
"Mu En!"
The blood flames burning across the Demonic Phoenix guttered for a heartbeat. Ye Xishui shrieked Elder Mu's true name the instant she recognized that familiar spirit skill.
Radiant Thunder Dazzles the World had once been Dragon God Douluo Mu En's ultimate technique. Even Sovereign's Descent had been modeled upon the dragon's might of the Radiant Thunder Hell Dragon. For Ling Bai to strike the two of them down with Radiant Thunder Dazzles the World was practically Mu En himself reaching up from the grave to take his revenge!
A low, heavy dragon's roar rumbled through the sky. Long Xiaoyao swept in front of Ye Xishui like her most loyal guardian. The Darkness Holy Dragon opened its enormous jaws, and deep within its throat gathered a breath black as ink. It formed a stark contrast against the golden thunder dragons.
BOOM—
The collision of Limit Douluo-level spirit skills blossomed into countless halos of light high in the air. Fissures seemed to race across the very fabric of the sky. The dragon-shaped lightning forced the dark breath back step by step, until the Demonic Phoenix beat its demonic blood-wings and swept both surges of energy into mutual annihilation.
Ling Bai stood upon the clouds, and the Angel Sword blazed radiantly in his hand. After several exchanges, the outcome had already begun to take shape. Long Xiaoyao had made no progress compared to before, but Ye Xishui had been reborn from the ashes. The Demonic Phoenix could be called the foremost evil Martial Spirit beneath the Death Abyss Spider Emperor. Its terror surpassed even that of the Death God Demon Puppet.
Having devoured far too much flesh and soul, Ye Xishui's spirit power had faintly transcended the Limit Douluo threshold and brushed against the Demi-God realm. If one discounted her catastrophically fractured mental state and measured by combat strength alone, even Jianmu Douluo and Dragon Emperor Douluo, two properly cultivated Limit Douluo, would assuredly be no match for her.
Ling Bai's brilliant golden pupils flashed. The depths of his eyes held something like an endless night sky. Holy, luminous power surged upward as though the Angel God had descended into the mortal world, and his entire being burned like a blazing sun.
Ling Bai unleashed the angel's power to its utmost, with no intention of drawing upon the Death Abyss Spider Emperor. He had used it against Du Busi once, but then his audience had numbered under a hundred, all veteran Spirit Masters with families and sects to think of. He had possessed ten thousand ways to make them hold their tongues and behave like quails.
Before the eyes of hundreds of thousands of Heavenly Soul soldiers, however, he confined himself to displaying the Seraphim. The hearts of mortals naturally turn toward the light, and the Angel God bore the secondary names of God of Light and Sun God. Word that he had cut down Evil Spirit Masters with the angel's sacred power would spread on its own and make the future harvest of faith all the easier.
His nine spirit rings kindled to life one by one. Their radiance cast the Seraphim in ever more towering and majestic form. The sheer grandeur of that display dyed the sky into a golden ocean. Holy, light, and flame, three ultimate elements, leapt and danced with exultation. The Angelic Domain expanded without cease, and within its boundaries burned the angelic holy fire that purified the world!
Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui sensed a pressure beyond anything they had ever known. The former found himself utterly suppressed by the Seraphim. The latter fared somewhat better, but going back to the root of the matter, she could not escape the nature of an Evil Martial Spirit. Beneath the Seraphim's sacred radiance, both Martial Spirits wailed as though on the verge of breaking apart!
"Xiaoyao, together!"
Ye Xishui's voice was shrill and horrific. Her ninth spirit ring erupted. The Demonic Phoenix flapped its wings, and ten thousand resentful spirits wailed in unison. Blood light blazed so densely that the Demonic Phoenix seemed condensed out of solid ruby. That surging blood-aura coalesced into enormous resentful spirit masses that bared their fangs and claws and hurled themselves at the Seraphim.
Long Xiaoyao unleashed his ninth spirit skill in the same moment. The Darkness Holy Dragon stretched to three thousand feet in length and spiraled through the sky to trace a perfect circle. Head and tail joined like a black hole devouring all things. The sky itself collapsed toward that void. Ravine-deep fissures cracked open through the surrounding space and spread outward toward Ling Bai!
"The angel for whom faith outlives death... let the Demon-Banishing Holy Light descend."
The soft incantation had scarcely faded when an enormous mushroom cloud surged up in the high sky. Magnificent rings of golden cloud formed a spectacle to shake the world. They ground both ninth spirit skills to nothing with the ease of rotted wood snapping. Explosive angelic fire threaded through the Demon-Banishing Holy Light, and every wisp of golden flame bombarded the Demonic Phoenix and the Darkness Holy Dragon without a shred of mercy!
"AAAAHHHH—"
The agonized howls of the two Limit Douluo tore across the sky. Blood streamed from their bodies. The Demon-Banishing Holy Light was the bane of all evil under heaven, and it scoured their Martial Spirit Avatars with savage abandon. The Demonic Phoenix's blood-red wings turned to ash in an instant. Searing holy flame engulfed Ye Xishui, and every passing second wrung another shriek of unbearable agony from her throat!
Long Xiaoyao, weaker than Ye Xishui, fared far worse. A whole section of the Darkness Holy Dragon's body melted straight through. The fire burned from the left wing down into the abdomen. The charred, coal-black cross-section was grim enough to set anyone's scalp crawling.
"Xishui!"
His abdomen pooled into a shallow pond of black-red dragon blood. His ruined, wound-riddled dragon body told plainly of the horrors Long Xiaoyao had endured. Yet the moment he heard Ye Xishui's screams of agony, he somehow wrung out his final shred of strength. Darkness spirit power gathered all around him, and he threw himself toward her without a trace of hesitation!
Darkness wrapped around her body, and Ye Xishui's pain eased considerably. She opened her eyes in bewilderment and looked at Long Xiaoyao. His life force was draining away at terrifying speed, and he was already at death's door.
"Xiaoyao! Xiaoyao!"
Ye Xishui finally panicked. Long Xiaoyao could no longer sustain the Darkness Holy Dragon Avatar and reverted to human form. In a soft voice, he said:
"Xishui, you were right. Those who aid the wicked deserve no good end. The truth is, I... stopped wanting to live a long time ago. I simply... could not let go of my obsession with protecting you.
To die before you do... is for the best."
The Dragon Emperor Douluo, Long Xiaoyao, had fallen!
At the moment of death, there was no hatred in his eyes. There was no unwillingness. Only deep, overwhelming relief remained.
For more than a hundred years, his had been a clear-eyed fall. He had known perfectly well that he was in the wrong, yet he had been forced to err again and again. For this Dragon Emperor Douluo, death was the breaking of iron chains that had long ago bitten deep into his flesh.
"Xiaoyao...
Kill... I'll kill you!"
Long Xiaoyao's death dealt another devastating blow, and Ye Xishui's mind collapsed completely. The blood flames burning across her body turned violent and vicious. The Demonic Phoenix soared upward, and brilliant light blazed from both her dantian and her chest!
Her expression twisted with savage malice. The one she had truly loved had always been Long Xiaoyao. Now her lover lay dead, her son had fallen, and every member of the Holy Spirit Cult had been reduced to fodder for the Seraphim. She could find no reason left to go on, so she simply detonated her Resonant Twin Spirit Cores, determined to drag Ling Bai with her into the Yellow Springs!
How immense was the power of a Limit Douluo's self-detonation? Not even a Class 9 Stationary Spirit Cannon shell could compare. This was one of the chief reasons Limit Douluo so rarely fought to the bitter end. Death-driven detonation was fully capable of trading one life for another against anyone beneath the level of a God!
Ling Bai gazed at the shrieking Demonic Phoenix hurtling toward him. From the depths of his pupils, a beam of deep blue light burst forth.
The instant that deep blue light appeared, time seemed to halt. Ye Xishui, bent on mutual destruction, was frozen in midair. The surrounding space compressed at an astonishing speed. The sky turned deep blue. The clouds turned deep blue. All the world seemed dyed in that single, fathomless shade.
Evileye Tyrant Emperor Skull Spirit Bone Skill, Space-Time Light!
A power of time and space born of spiritual origin, imprisoning space-time itself and stripping all living beings of their spiritual essence!
"It's over..."
Ling Bai regarded Ye Xishui's disbelieving face with cold indifference. The Angel Sword swept out, and a fierce streak of golden sword energy flashed across the sky. The Demonic Phoenix split cleanly in two and perished without a trace, until nothing remained in the empty sky but the spirit bones shed by the two fallen Limit Douluo.
Spirit power advanced. Rank 98.
He had already stood a single thread's width from Rank 98, and slaying the twice-fallen Ye Xishui carried his spirit power through the bottleneck as naturally as water finding its course. Once he condensed a third spirit core and became a Limit Douluo in the truest sense, Ling Bai would be able to inherit and evolve both God Positions.
Ling Bai's slaying of the two Limit Douluo coincided precisely with the six Worships of Spirit Hall annihilating the Evileye Tyrant and Terror Claw Beast King-class Spirit Guidance Legions.
Both Beast King-class legions fell, and Crimson Dawn had already blasted the four ordinary Spirit Guidance Legions to the afterlife. The Sun Moon Empire's fighting spirit collapsed in an instant. Its soldiers transformed into lambs awaiting the slaughter.
The soldiers of the Spirit Empire joined forces with the Heavenly Soul legions and smashed the Sun Moon army into ruin. The Heavenly Soul troops in particular fought like freed serfs finally singing their song of liberation. Every drop of humiliation and bottled frustration accumulated over the years came roaring back in that single battle, poured out in a frenzy of slaughter. In the end, only a tiny remnant of defeated soldiers managed to flee Jialing Pass.
Not one member of the Sun Moon Spirit Guidance Legions emerged alive. The few survivors were ordinary soldiers fortunate enough to slip away. Whatever the case, Ling Bai was a Titled Douluo in his own right and had no interest in lowering himself to chase down fleeing stragglers. The Angel Sword dissolved into drifting specks of golden light, and he drifted calmly back toward Jialing Pass.
"Holy Evil Douluo! Holy Evil Douluo! Holy Evil Douluo!"
The Heavenly Soul army welcomed him like a returning hero. Every soldier raised his weapon high and cheered without restraint.
They knew all too well what it meant for two Limit Douluo to set foot upon a battlefield. They had not forgotten that it was Ling Bai who had fought one against two and personally slain Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui. In their eyes, Holy Evil Douluo had become the very synonym of invincibility.
The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, Shrek Academy, and the Spirit Empire received the same highest measure of respect from the Heavenly Soul soldiers. Empire Marshal Ge Peng led the Heavenly Soul legions in a deep, ceremonial bow, expressing heartfelt gratitude to all who had stepped forward in the empire's darkest hour!
"If only, ten thousand years ago, we had been able to hold Jialing Pass for Xue Er..."
Golden Crocodile Douluo gazed upon the scene with a torrent of feeling, then lifted his eyes to Ling Bai. His meaning was plain beneath the words. "Little fellow, we're leaving. I look forward to the day you break through to Rank 99."
Before Ling Bai could reply, the six Worships of Spirit Hall and the soldiers of the Spirit Empire dissolved into streams of air and vanished. They had fought only for the descendant of the angel and would accept no one's gratitude.
Ye Guyi stared at the empty space where the Spirit Empire had stood. Her eyes were a turbulent sea of emotion.
The night before, when Ling Bai told her she could summon the Spirit Empire to their aid, she had not truly believed him. Yet the Spirit Empire had hurled itself into war at a single sentence from her. That was the six Worships' unshakable faith in the angel, and it was the tacit consent of Rakshasa God Bibi Dong.
Perhaps the Rakshasa God, too, wished to help a younger generation win the battle she herself had once lost, as though laying an old regret finally to rest.
…
The Battle of Jialing Pass ended in overwhelming victory. As night fell, Heavenly Soul Marshal Ge Peng slaughtered chickens and sheep for a grand celebration feast. The upper echelons of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan and Shrek Academy all attended. Cups clinked, and host and guests alike reveled to their hearts' content.
When the banquet drew to a close, there came the inevitable and by now classic question: just where would Ling Bai be spending the night?
At Jialing Pass, Ning Tian, Wu Feng, Ling Qiuxi, Ma Xiaotao, and Han Ruoruo formed nothing short of a Five Nations Hegemony, while Ye Guyi and Ling Luochen were both visibly tempted to join the fray.
As an ironclad member of Ning Tian's faction, Wu Feng naturally waved the banner and rallied support on her behalf. Ning Tian, however, merely smiled with serene composure and declared that the proper wife could claim her turn whenever she pleased. She did not begrudge this one and graciously bowed out of the contest.
Ling Qiuxi, still an untried maiden, turned up her nose at the rough conditions of a military camp. That left only two contenders for Ling Bai that night: Phoenix Douluo and Golden Fairy Douluo.
Ma Xiaotao and Han Ruoruo were on quite friendly terms. In the future, one would become Master of the Sea God Pavilion while the other would oversee a branch of the Angelic Sanctuary, and the two would be working side by side in Shrek City. After a brief discussion, they reached an accord. Ma Xiaotao would enjoy the first half of the night, and Han Ruoruo would take the second, doing her utmost to conceive a child.
Ling Bai did not sleep a wink that night. Come morning, he emerged bracing himself against the wall on unsteady legs, thoroughly wrung dry by the insatiable pair. Amid the respectful chorus of "Holy Evil Douluo" from the Heavenly Soul soldiers, he made his way into Empire Marshal Ge Peng's central command tent.
Ge Peng was delighted and quickly produced a treasured jug of aged wine. The two sat across from one another, raised their cups, and drank.
"Holy Evil Douluo, let me offer you this toast. The victory at Jialing Pass was owed entirely to all of you who came to our aid!" Ge Peng said, his face glowing ruddy with wine.
"Only what was right. We are all people of the Douluo Continent." Ling Bai smiled faintly. "That said, Marshal, when the nation teetered on the brink of collapse, not a single member of the Heavenly Soul imperial family came to the front lines to share life and death with their soldiers. That is... deeply disappointing."
"Ah..." Ge Peng let out a heavy sigh. "The Heavenly Soul imperial family's inherited Martial Spirit, the Snow Lotus, is an auxiliary type. Aside from Princess Wei Na with her mutated Twin Martial Spirits, the combat strength of the imperial clan has always been exceedingly low. In the past, they relied entirely on their former Guardian Sect, the Body Sect, for protection. One cannot be too harsh on them..."
"So it seems Marshal Ge Peng still holds out hope for the Heavenly Soul imperial family. What if I told you that the Body Sect was not the only one in league with Evil Spirit Masters? That the Heavenly Soul imperial family had a hand in it as well?"
"What? This..." Ge Peng's pupils contracted violently.
"Marshal, what manner of man do you take me for?"
Ling Bai continued, his gaze sharpening by degrees.
Facing the strongest man in the world, Ge Peng felt the pressure come down like a mountain. Beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down his cheeks, and his lips worked soundlessly before he answered, "Holy Evil Douluo... you have rendered immense service to the Douluo Continent and saved the Heavenly Soul Empire from ruin."
Ling Bai swirled the wine in his cup and said lightly, "Marshal, consider the Star Luo Empire. When the Sun Moon Continent collided with the Douluo Continent, the White Tiger lineage had already declined and failed to hold its own nation.
The Star Crown Clan rose from seclusion and led the soldiers and people of Star Luo in fair fighting against their enemies. Afterward, the imperial mantle changed hands. The Xu family became the new imperial house of the Star Luo Empire.
This moment is exactly like that one."
"Hiss—"
The implication could not have been plainer. Ge Peng sucked in a sharp breath and cupped his fists. "Holy Evil Douluo, I, Ge Peng, am merely a soldier. I obey only the orders of the imperial family."
The meaning beneath those words was clear enough. He would obey the imperial family. As for who that imperial family happened to be, it made no difference to him.
"Marshal, you are a wise man."
Ling Bai rose and clapped Ge Peng on the shoulder, visibly pleased. "The Nine Treasure Legion and the Shrek Legion will each return to their cities to rest. The task of reclaiming the empire's lost lands, I leave in your hands, Marshal."
"It falls within my duty. I shall spare no effort."
Ge Peng watched Ling Bai walk out of the central command tent. Only once the figure had disappeared did the marshal wipe the sweat from his brow and murmur to himself:
"The Heavenly Soul Empire... is about to see a change in its skies..."