Kong Deming hovered before that silver moon, and the oppressive aura he emanated was in no way inferior to Long Xiaoyao's earlier presence.
The nine soul rings pulsing around him, while not as shocking in configuration as Xu Zihuang's, still far exceeded conventional understanding. They were nine pitch-black ten-thousand-year soul rings.
Kong Deming had not appeared in public for nearly fifty years. Very few people knew that the head of the Sun Moon Empire's Imperial Household Supply Palace, who was over 150 years old, possessed the extremely rare twin martial souls. He was not only a powerful soul engineer but also a soul master with profound foundations.
The advantages of twin martial souls had manifested during his subsequent cultivation. By attaching high-year soul rings to his second martial soul, the Silver Moon, the moment his second martial soul also reached nine rings, his soul power naturally broke through to rank 94. After decades of secluded cultivation and research into soul tools, his soul power had recently broken through to rank 95 smoothly, officially entering the ranks of Super Douluo. He had also successfully created the only rank-10 soul tool in the world at present, the Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier.
With his own martial soul as the foundation, he communicated with the power of heaven and earth, fully fusing his body and soul with this Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier. This Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier was also Kong Deming's natal soul tool.
Others might not be able to discern the capabilities of this Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier, but Xu Zihuang understood it very clearly. This Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier was not drawing power from the moon at all, but from spatial power.
In fact, he had sensed Kong Deming's presence very early on, but he could not confirm whether this Silver Moon Douluo had already completed the creation of the Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier at this stage.
Now the matter had become clear.
Kong Deming's appearance first caught Zhang Lexuan's attention. The moment Kong Deming released his martial soul, the soul power within her body began to boil.
Looking at the two identical silver moons in the sky, her delicate body immediately began to tremble. A segment of memory she was unwilling to recall gradually surfaced in her mind.
That dust-sealed memory was fragmented and intermittent. But her memory of one particular matter was extremely clear: the reason her entire family suffered that extermination calamity seemed to be related to her mother's background.
Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Wang Qiu'er guarded behind Zhang Lexuan. Whether it was Bei Bei's awakening of the Bright Sacred Dragon or Xu Sanshi's Xuanwu bloodline power, once unleashed, both possessed considerable combat strength and could even turn the tide in a short time.
Therefore, the three of them, along with Wang Qiu'er, had been assigned to the reserve team from the very beginning of the plan. If the situation turned unfavorable, they would provide support at any moment.
Earlier, with the situation going very well, Bei Bei and the other two naturally did not face much pressure. They had fully witnessed Xu Zihuang's assassination attempt on Xu Tianran and the subsequent process of Kong Deming intervening to save Xu Tianran.
At this moment, gazing at the two silver moons reflecting each other in the night sky, Bei Bei subconsciously looked toward Zhang Lexuan in front of him. Not only his, but Xu Sanshi's and Wang Qiu'er's eyes were filled with astonishment.
Zhang Lexuan's and Kong Deming's martial souls were clearly of the same origin.
Those who noticed this included the others in the assault team. However, due to the shared mental detection and the pressure from the enemies they faced, they did not turn back.
But in their hearts, they all invariably gave rise to an extremely absurd thought.
Zhang Lexuan, the inner court senior sister who had almost been designated as the next dean of Shrek Academy, could she actually be connected to the Sun Moon Empire?
Xu Tianran looked at Kong Deming before him, his heart greatly reassured. Relying on his own Titled Douluo-level cultivation, he stood in the air beside Kong Deming.
But he discovered that Kong Deming was staring intently at Zhang Lexuan in the distance. He quickly followed Kong Deming's line of sight and looked over, his pupils instantly contracting.
Earlier, when Zhang Lexuan had displayed her martial soul abilities, Xu Tianran had not realized anything and had only thought her martial soul was an ordinary moon. But now, with Kong Deming's martial soul as a contrast, he immediately noticed the connection between the two.
Within the Sun Moon Empire's imperial family, three extremely powerful martial souls were actually inherited: the Silver Moon was the third inherited martial soul besides the Sun and the Purple Radiance Heaven-Destroying Dragon. However, due to special historical reasons, the current possessor of the Silver Moon martial soul was only Kong Deming.
Moreover, the thirty-something-year-old Xu Tianran had never seen Kong Deming display his martial soul abilities before, which was why he had not noticed the connection between Zhang Lexuan and the Sun Moon Empire's imperial family right away.
"Kong Lao?" Xu Tianran respectfully called out to Kong Deming. Not to mention that he had not yet inherited the throne, even if he ascended and became the emperor of the Sun Moon Empire, he would still have to treat this number-one powerhouse of the Sun Moon Empire with utmost respect.
Furthermore, Kong Deming carried one-quarter of the imperial bloodline, so in terms of kinship, he was actually Xu Tianran's elder.
The surging emotions deep in Kong Deming's eyes gradually returned to calm. He meaningfully withdrew his gaze, not knowing what he was thinking. But in the next instant, his expression suddenly became grave as he sharply raised his head.
A massive golden eye pupil abruptly appeared above Kong Deming and Xu Tianran's heads. The patterns within the golden eye pupil were precisely the fusion of the patterns in both of Xu Zihuang's Golden Pupil martial soul eyes, mysterious and brilliant. Like a golden sun, it bloomed with dazzling golden light. Amid the sky filled with silver radiance, it was exceptionally conspicuous.
Immediately after, a terrifying silver light pillar three meters in diameter burst forth from that golden eye pupil, engulfing the bodies of Kong Deming and Xu Tianran like a natural disaster descending.
When the golden pupil phantom shot out the silver light pillar, the entire sky and earth were completely dyed in gold and silver hues, and time seemed to have frozen. Every figure engaged in combat within the imperial palace was briefly immobilized.
The only one who could still move was Xu Zihuang alone. His left leg bone skill, Source of Thunder Light, was fully activated, transforming his entire body into a streak of purple-golden lightning that shot upward into the sky. At some point, the soul rings around him had switched to seven.
Five black, one red, one gold, the seventh-positioned bright golden soul ring bloomed with noble golden radiance.
The first in the imperial palace to regain mobility was Wang Qiu'er. A strange, blood-red thin line lit up between her eyebrows. Looking at the heaven and earth now dyed gold and silver before her, she could not help but narrow her eyes and exclaim:
"The Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler's Light of Time and Space?!"
Back when she was in the Star Dou Great Forest, she had personally witnessed the earth-shaking battle between the Beast God Di Tian and the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler, Evil Emperor. Her impression of the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler's ultimate soul skill, Light of Time and Space, which had severely injured Di Tian, was far too profound.
But soon she discovered that the power of Xu Zihuang's Light of Time and Space was still much weaker compared to the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler's.
The Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler's ultimate soul skill, Light of Time and Space, was essentially its self-created soul skill. It was based on its strongest innate soul skill, Evil Eye Gaze, and then fused with its own understanding of the powers of time and space.
Xu Zihuang perfectly met these conditions. The Golden Pupil's martial soul itself possessed both time and space attributes, giving him an innate advantage. It was through these that he had replicated the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler's Light of Time and Space.
When he fully perfected this Light of Time and Space in the future, it absolutely would not be inferior in any way to the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler's original.
Wang Qiu'er had seen Xu Zihuang's memories from his childhood and knew of the blood feud between him and Xu Tianran. After a slight hesitation, a golden long spear was already thrown by her. It seemed to pierce through the void and instantly appeared at Xu Zihuang's left side.
It was precisely the Golden Dragon Spear.
Xu Zihuang, seeming to sense something, instinctively reached out with his left hand to grasp the Golden Dragon Spear. At the same time, he turned back, and his gaze met Wang Qiu'er's in midair.
"I said before, I won't owe you anything," Wang Qiu'er murmured with a complicated expression.
Meanwhile, Xu Zihuang had already turned around. The Thunder God's Spear, controlled by his right hand, fused with the Golden Dragon Spear. As that terrifying silver light pillar extending over a hundred meters dissipated, he swept a spear horizontally toward Xu Tianran.
Silver radiance enveloped the bodies of Kong Deming and Xu Tianran. At this moment, Kong Deming's mood was filled with incomparable shock.
This person had actually reached such a level of control over spatial power?! No, not only that. The attack just now also contained the laws of time.
If the Jade Tianhuang before him were at the same Titled Douluo boundary as himself, then even with the might of the Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier, he probably would not have survived that strike unscathed.
The profound mystery of the Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier lay in borrowing spatial power to redirect any attack, no matter how powerful, into space.
But Jade Tianhuang's attack just now could not be fully redirected into space by him; both he and Xu Tianran had endured a certain degree of the assault.
Thanks to the protection of his natal soul tool, the Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier, Kong Deming suffered no serious harm, but Xu Tianran directly lost consciousness on the spot. After all, the defensive soul tools on him were not designed to resist mental-attribute attacks.
The spear tip crossed through the void, pointing straight at Xu Tianran's chest. At the critical moment, Kong Deming fully activated the Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier, causing Xu Zihuang's attack to deviate from its original path, yet he still could not completely spare Xu Tianran.
In terms of control and understanding of spatial power, Xu Zihuang surpassed Kong Deming. The only reason Kong Deming could influence Xu Zihuang was purely due to his advantage in cultivation level and the assistance of the Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier.
"Puff—" A flash of purple-golden spear light passed by, and Xu Tianran's right arm was severed at the root.
Whether it was the battlefield in the imperial palace or the Titled Douluo powerhouses clashing high in the air, everyone's minds were drawn by this scene.
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