By this time, Zhou Yi had barely managed to recover from the agonizing pain of her disfigured face.
She looked at the seven members of the preparatory team, and then at the Shrek Seven Monsters. In an instant, she felt as though her entire world was collapsing around her.
"How... How did it turn into this?"
Everywhere she looked, devastation met her eyes. Of the seven preparatory team members, Dai Huabin and Huo Yuhao had been blasted to the point of vomiting blood. He Caitou—the eldest disciple of her own husband—was left with nothing but a pair of legs and half a head, his single remaining eye staring wide open, refusing to close in death.
Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi were in an even more wretched state; they would have been better off dead. One had both his legs severed, while the other had his lower body completely corroded away, reduced to a ruined eunuch who could no longer perform as a man.
As for Wu Feng and Wang Dong'er, who possessed the lowest cultivations, they had vanished without a trace after the blast. Unsurprisingly, they had likely been vaporized, leaving not even a fragment of bone behind.
The situation was not a shred better for the Shrek Seven Monsters. Aside from Ling Luochen and Xi Xi, who had been protected by the Dark Gold Talismans at the critical moment and escaped relatively unscathed, the rest were devastated.
Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yaoheng were heavily injured. Gongyang Mo had both feet and one hand blown off. Chen Zifeng had been blasted clean into two segments. Yao Haoxuan, though his body remained relatively intact compared to his original fate of being halved, had been killed on the spot.
Five dead, nine injured, and three among them permanently crippled.
With a casualty rate exceeding fifty percent, the Shrek Inspectors had never suffered such a monumental loss since its inception.
To make matters worse, she herself had destroyed the very face she took pride in. She didn't even dare to tear off her old woman mask, terrified that doing so would rip the remaining flesh right off her visage.
How was she supposed to account for this to Shrek Academy? How was she supposed to face her husband, Fan Yu?
Zhou Yi wailed in silent despair within her heart!
Even Wu Feng, who had been rescued by Feng Piaoling, couldn't bear to look and whispered, "So... so brutal..."
As she spoke, she buried her head right back between Feng Piaoling's neck and shoulder.
This action caused Wang Dong'er to roll her eyes. She voiced the confusion in her heart, "Isn't Ma Xiaotao an evil soul master? Why was she also caught in this ambush?"
"You'll find out in a moment. Just keep watching," Feng Piaoling said.
Wang Dong'er nodded.
The moment the explosions erupted, Xuan Zi, who had been hiding in the distance drinking wine and eating meat, finally reacted. He was about to transform into a streak of light to rush into the cavern.
Suddenly, a blood-colored sickle-light sliced through the air straight toward him. Caught in a sneak attack, Xuan Zi's nine soul rings—two yellow, two purple, four black, and one red—flashed intensely. He only had enough time to unleash his Taotie Divine Bull martial soul and instinctively cross his arms in front of his chest.
However, the power of that sickle-light was extraordinary. It actually sent his entire body flying backward, crashing deep into a desolate mountain.
Boom—
When he burst out from the shattered rocks, a deep wound that bared his bones had already appeared on his chest. Furthermore, he discovered that more than ten evil soul masters had materialized before him.
"Xuan Zi, with this seat here today, you aren't going anywhere."
The leader wore a suit of bone armor, held a massive scythe, and stood atop a bone dragon. His soul power was at the ninety-eighth rank, identical to Xuan Zi's. His soul ring configuration, however, was a terrifying six black and three red.
Behind him, apart from two Titled Douluo whose configurations consisted of two yellow, two purple, and five black rings, the rest were uniform seven-ring Soul Saints.
"Dammit! How could so many powerful evil soul masters appear here all at once, including three Titled Douluo? Blast it, could the Ming Dou Mountain Range actually be the headquarters of the evil soul masters?"
Seeing the Shrek group inside the cavern facing a fatal threat while he himself was injured by a sneak attack, Xuan Zi was filled with anxiety and rage. If he had known sooner, he wouldn't have been so gluttonous. Now, he had landed himself in such a passive predicament.
"Elder Seven, Elder Five, make absolutely sure to bring back the Phoenix Holy Virgin and the Glacier Conjoined ApeHoly Son." Saying this, Zhongli Wu ripped off his long robe, raised the Death Scythe in his right hand, and pointed it at Xuan Zi. "As for this old codger Xuan Zi, leave him to this seat."
"Understood, Hierarch," the two Titled Douluo of the Holy Spirit Cult replied respectfully. With that, they led their followers and transformed into streaks of light, charging into the cavern.
"Don't even think about it!"
But how could Xuan Zi allow them to easily enter the cave and seize the disciples?
His seventh soul ring lit up, and he transformed into a Taotie Divine Bull over thirty meters long, charging furiously toward Zhongli Wu and the others.
"Eighth Soul Skill: Divine Needles of Death." Zhongli Wu sneered. His seventh and eighth soul rings flared up as his right hand gripped the scythe and his left hand condensed a sphere of blood.
In the next instant, a massive Death Avatar manifested behind him, unleashing a thick, blood-colored pillar of light.
Upon striking Xuan Zi's Taotie Avatar, the light pillar sustained its force for merely a few seconds before plowing straight through. It leveled half of the desolate mountain before finally dissipating.
Xuan Zi burst out from the rubble once more, but he was already covered in wounds.
Seeing Xuan Zi in this state, Zhongli Wu was in no hurry to finish him off. He merely looked down upon him from above. "Xuan Zi, you are already injured. You cannot pass this seat. Give up."
"In your dreams!" Xuan Zi roared in fury, and the two clashed in battle once more.
While the battle outside raged fiercely, the group inside remained entirely oblivious.
"Cackle, cackle... How does the taste of this messenger's corpse explosions feel? No matter how strong you are, before my chain corpse explosions, your death is certain. Even if the blast doesn't kill you, the venom will."
The voice of the Messenger of Death echoed from all directions within the cave.
The entire Shrek party, including Zhou Yi, was scared out of their wits.
"Brother Skydream, hurry up and possess my body to kill that Messenger of Death!" Huo Yuhao had never witnessed such a tragic scene before. Disregarding whether the Skydream Iceworm's identity would be exposed, he shouted urgently.
"It's useless. Even if I help you kill that Messenger of Death, you won't escape doom today. Two evil-natured Titled Douluo and over ten Soul Saints are already rushing over from the outside."
The moment Skydream's words fell, more than ten streaks of light shot into the cave.
As the light receded, the figures of Myriad Soul Douluo and Masquerade Douluo materialized.
Myriad Soul Douluo scanned the Shrek group. Based on their auras, he instantly identified the identities of Ma Xiaotao and Huo Yuhao. Seeing that they were both alive, he nodded in satisfaction.
"Messenger of Death, you did well. To heavily injure all the Shrek students using merely your cultivation as a Soul King—once we return, I shall request a reward for you from the Hierarch."
"Thank you, Elder Seven." A thin figure completely shrouded in a black robe, whose face remained hidden but displayed the glowing light of three yellow and two purple soul rings, stepped out from the darkness.
"Alright, stop wasting time. Hurry up and scoop out the brains so I can harvest the souls of these people afterward."
Masquerade Douluo urged impatiently. He raised his right hand, and nine soul rings—two yellow, two purple, and five black—rose from beneath his feet. A massive flag as black as ink materialized in his hand.
The moment it appeared, countless aggrieved souls flickered upon its surface, and the entire cavern echoed with the sound of ghostly wails and howling spirits.
This scene instantly terrified Wu Feng and Wang Dong'er, who were deep underground protected by the spiritual barrier. They clamped their hands over their mouths and buried their heads even deeper into Feng Piaoling's embrace.
Masquerade Douluo's gaze swept across the room and locked directly onto Dai Huabin, who was closest to him and unsoiled by the toxic fluid.
He chuckled evilly, walked over, and hoisted him up with one hand. "Hehe, kid, seeing how delicate your skin is and how your face is whiter than a girl's, your brains must taste excellent. Let's start with you."