Yao Feiyun was one of the few clansmen that hadnât taken part in the battle. Instead of him, his soulbeasts, Dao Mao, Er Mao, and San Mao were there on the battlefield and did his share of the fighting. Without the approval of the others, Yao Feiyun was forbidden from entering the battlefield.
It was the strange bursts of elemental energy coming from the clan compound that caught Yao Feiyunâs attention. He thought it was a mistake at first, but then the full might of Ceng Quanshi was revealed once he started to go all out. That was when Yao Feiyun knew something was wrong. Somehow, a stranger made their way into the city. A Soul King stranger!
The battle on the outskirts of the city was far too intense to have any reinforcements come back to the city. Calling someone now would only mean precious time would be taken, and time was not a commodity Yao Feiyun could afford to trade in right now.
As young as he was in age, Yao Feiyun always thought himself to be quite the âmanly manâ. With the situation as precarious as it was and his father busy with the battle outside, heâd deal with the enemy inside the city himself!
But by the time he reached the source of it all, the only thing he could see were the corpses of several strangers. The battle was already over.
âElder Cheng?!â
The first thing he saw when he reached the ruins of the pill repository was elder Cheng. Surprised, he called out to the elder and drew close to greet him.
The elder didnât respond to him. How odd.
âElder Cheng?â He repeated.Â
No response again.
He pulled at elder Chengâs sleeves, but the elder simply stood there as still as a statue.
âAre you alright, elder Cheng?!â Yao Feiyunâs heart pounded against his chest. He grabbed at the elderâs wrist and transmitted his soulforce into him, only to go pale in shock!
âHeâs unconscious?!â He cried out in disbelief. Something was wrong here. âI donât get it, how can he be unconscious like that?! Whatâs going on here?!â
âAwooâŠâ
Yao Feiyunâs ears perked at the sound of something crying out within the vicinity. Scanning the area with his soulsense, Yao Feiyun let out another gasp underneath his breath. âLao Sha?!â
He dashed nearly a hundred meters away where the bloody and battered figure of Lao Sha laid. Paling at the sight of the open wound on the dogâs stomach, Yao Feiyun touched at Lao Sha with his left hand and fed some soulforce into the dog. His right hand retrieved a red pill from his space ring and quickly turned it into a powdery mist to let fall onto the wound.
Several seconds passed before the blood started to coagulate and the wound itself start to knit together. Eventually, the wound began to heal at an extremely fast rate!
âAwooâŠ.â The pain reflected in Lao Shaâs eyes was noticeably less than before, but the dog was still barking softly and staring in a far away direction.
Yao Feiyunâs eyes followed the dogâs gaze shortly before realizing what the dog was getting at.
âBig brother Tang!â
Disappearing into a blur to reach the pile of rubble where Bai Yunfei was, Yao Feiyun began to use both hands to dig out the rubble to reveal Bai Yunfei.
Bai Yunfei was currently unconscious and had both eyes shut tight. His mouth was quivering and his eyebrows were knitted together as if he was in deep pain.
Strangely enough, his face wasâŠcovered by a faint black wisp of energy!
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Yao Wuchen was just about to start battling with a Late-stage Soul King from the Wind Lightning School when his head snapped back to look towards Yao City.Â
âSomethingâs happened within the city!â
He was far away from it, but the power released from Ceng Quanshi was still substantial enough for Yao Wuchen to sense it!
By the time he noticed it, another pulse of energy could be felt within the area where Ceng Quanshiâs aura came from. There was a small blip as the energy source died out before Yao Wuchen sensed nothing else. Both events happened so quickly that Yao Wuchen almost thought he was just imagining things for a momentâŠÂ
âCrackleâŠâ
A bolt of lightning as violet as a plum dropped down from the heavens to strike Yao Wuchen; the battlefield was the last place a person wanted to be distracted from!
Three golden shields manifested over Yao Wuchen and stopped the bolt of lightning stone-cold. The surface of the shields crackled with energy as the lightning bolt exploded, but they did an excellent job in protecting the person underneath from being hit.
These were the soul armaments of Yao Wuchen and were one of the strongest the clan had to offer. Each one of them was high-heaven tier soul armaments.
Concern flitted across Yao Wuchenâs face. He worried for the city, but his opponent wasnât giving him any time to do anything else other than worry. Heâd have to deal with the enemy first before anything else.
On the other side of the battlefield, a few other people had contemplative looks on their faces.
One of them wasâŠQin Bangjie!
The conclusion came to Qin Bangjie faster than it did to Yao Wuchen. Like Yao Wuchen, Qin Bangjie was currently busy fighting the four class seven soulbeasts, but he was still holding up fairly well and even had enough time to look off towards the city with a pleased expressionâŠ
âDid it succeed?!â
To Qin Bangjieâs side was Xu Qianqing. He too knew the circumstances behind the intruder in the city and was looking pleasantly surprised.
âEh?!â
Ma Xucheng was noticeably confused. He looked first to the city before turning to stare suspiciously at the soul refiners.
From there, he managed to catch hold of the satisfaction in Xu Qianqingâs eyes.
The suspicious gleam in Ma Xuchengâs eyes deepenedâŠÂ
Like him, the Late-stage Soul King from the Wind Lightning School realized that the Soul Refining School had to be behind whatever was happening within the city.
The world around Ma Xucheng trembled as he used his two class seven soulbeast puppets to force the two class seven soulbeasts and elder from the Yao clan away.
âElder Qin, why have you yet begun to fight seriously? What do you mean by this?!â
He was glaring at Qin Bangjie with a look of fury.
Several minutes passed since the battle started, but Qin Bangjie had yet to actually fight back against any of the four soulbeasts he was fighting.
Three late-stage class seven soulbeasts and a mid-stage class seven soulbeast. As strong as this was, a Half-emperor should still be able to fight an overwhelming advantage. A complete shut out wasnât possible, but Qin Bangjie shouldâve still been able to make do with a victory sooner rather than later.
âThis one has his reasons!â
Qin Bangjie replied coldly at this âinterrogationâ. Then, a wave of great power exploded forth from him!
âSwish!!â
Brandishing the blood-red sawtooth weapon in his hand, Qin Bangjie unleashed a black beam of light into the sky which later fractured into several smaller lines towards a giant three-eyed lizard!
âBoom!! Hssss!!â
There was an explosion where Qin Bangjieâs attack struck the lizard. The lizard flew out from the dust cloud with a shrill cry. The scales where it had been struck were heavily cracked and had green blood flowing out from underneath in copious amounts. This was a heavy blow!
With just one attack, Qin Bangjie managed to severely hurt a mid-stage class seven soulbeast!
The entire battlefield seemed to still as they watched the lizard fall. ThenâŠeveryone began to fight even harder!
Qin Bangjie was finally showing his true power!
âWhooshâŠâ
The same demonic figure from before reappeared behind Qin Bangjie. Itâs right arm became a black dragon and flew next at the gigantic python nearby!
âHsss!!!â
The late-stage class seven soulbeast hissed loudly and spat a beam of green light out from its mouth to strike back against this dragon!
âBoom boom boom!!â
The black dragon overwhelmed the pythonâs attack and exploded against its scales. Like the earlier soulbeast, the python let loose a shrill hiss in anger and pain. Unlike its companion, it wasnât blown away! It simply reared back for a moment before striking!
With the lizard needing to be left on the sidelines for the meanwhile, that left three more class seven soulbeasts for Qin Bangjie to deal with. Vast amounts of elemental energy gathered around his body to act as a buffer between him and the soulbeasts.
These soulbeasts werenât capable of soul attacks but they were also immune to soul attacks, so Qin Bangjie wouldnât be able to use any. Were it possible, Qin Bangjie wouldâve been finished with this battle a long time ago.
It didnât even matter much. These soulbeasts wouldnât be able to keep on fighting!
Qin Bangjie had the upper hand. And he wasnât the only one. He could tell from the battlefield that the Yao clan were losing!
Everyone was using their strongest attacks to fight and kill now. Countless casualties were being had by both sides, and even the Soul Kings were starting to have a few of their numbers thin outâŠÂ
As he prepared to kill one of the soulbeasts, Qin Bangjieâs eyes suddenly flicked to an area behind him!
Yao Wuchen, Yao Tianji, Ma Xucheng, and a few other of the Soul Kings followed suit. They had all noticed the same thing Qin Bangjie did and looked off towards the south!
Two beams of light were flying swiftly towards the area. Both of the people within these lights were extremely powerful!
The only question was: Which side did they belong to?!