Looking at the corpses of the Earth Armored Centipedes in front of them and the circles of white soul rings condensing and rising, the five soldiers only gradually came back to their senses after a long while. The joy of surviving a calamity made them all let out a sigh of relief.
After cultivating for so many years and finally crossing the class barrier to leap from ordinary civilians to blood-qi warriors, they naturally were unwilling to perish here.
The corpses of those Earth Armored Centipedes gradually melted away completely in that azure sea of flames, leaving not a single trace. Yet the azure flames still did not extinguish, continuing to burn those circles of white soul rings.
As pure energy bodies, the soul rings were actually being burned by this azure flame, becoming illusory.
This was the Azure Jade Phoenix's Azure Jade Flame, capable of incinerating everything in the world, including all forms of energy. Although it could not compare to the destruction attribute of Xu Zihuang's second martial soul, it possessed a similar effect.
Taking all of this in, the five soldiers, whose emotions had slightly calmed, finally recognized the identity of the azure-haired girl.
The Azure Jade Flame and the Azure Jade Phoenix martial soul, this was the direct-line inherited martial soul of the Wind Family from Azure Phoenix Territory. Just like the Hua Family of their Dragon Wolf Territory, the Wind Family was also one of the rulers of this Star Sea Continent. Moreover, the Wind Family's Azure Jade Phoenix martial soul was superior in quality to the Hua Family's Dragon Wolf martial soul.
And among the direct descendants of the Wind Family in Azure Phoenix Territory, the only one with such talent who could cultivate to the four-ring Soul Elder realm at this age was Feng Lingwei, the only daughter of the current family head of the Wind Family.
The Wind Family and the Hua Family had always been on good terms. Since Feng Lingwei had taken action to save them, these five soldiers loyal to the Hua Family immediately knelt on one knee and saluted toward Feng Lingwei.
"Thank you, Miss Feng, for saving our lives."
"Mm." Feng Lingwei nodded indifferently and withdrew her Azure Jade Flame at the same time.
Although, unlike other lofty children of great soul master families, Feng Lingwei had a relatively kind heart, due to her special background, she could not avoid being instilled from childhood with certain deeply rooted concepts.
Feng Lingwei would not consider these people to be equal to her in status. In essence, her kindness was more like the charity of a superior toward the lower classes.
Moreover, at this moment, what Feng Lingwei cared about more was Xu Zihuang and Wang Qiu'er not far away.
Seeing the stunningly perfect appearances of Xu Zihuang and Wang Qiu'er, she could not help but be slightly dazed. Her gaze lingered on Xu Zihuang for a long time until Xu Zihuang also looked toward her. Their eyes met in midair, and only then did Feng Lingwei slightly unnaturally withdraw her gaze.
Behind Feng Lingwei, an old man with white hair and a steady demeanor showed a hint of peculiarity in his eyes. He asked very politely,
"You two must have come from the side of the Fallen Star Great Forest, right?"
"You could say that." Xu Zihuang replied faintly. With his tangible and corporeal spiritual power, he instantly probed the old man's exact soul power cultivation.
Seven-ring Soul Saint. Such cultivation should be considered a renowned powerhouse across the entire Star Sea Continent.
Comparing the old man's accent, Xu Zihuang also noticed a detail: the accent of people from the Star Sea Continent was very similar to that of the southern part of the Star Luo Empire.
However, he had no intention of hiding anything now and did not deliberately change his accent.
Sure enough, as soon as Xu Zihuang spoke, Feng Lingwei, the old man, the remaining seven guards behind them, and even the five soldiers all showed slight changes in expression.
Although they could understand what Xu Zihuang said, they could be certain that this was definitely not the accent from Dragon Wolf Territory, or even the entire southern part of the Star Sea Continent.
The northern and southern large territories of the Star Sea Continent had formed alliances, and the two major alliances frequently clashed over their respective interests, with extremely tense relations.
So upon hearing Xu Zihuang's accent, they almost instinctively tensed up.
A suspected soul master, and possibly from the Northern Alliance of the Star Sea Continent—this identity was far too sensitive.
The white-haired old man's aura subtly changed as he protected Feng Lingwei. Although he did not think that such young people as Xu Zihuang and Wang Qiu'er could pose a threat to them, it was always better to be cautious.
Meanwhile, Feng Lingwei herself continued to stare straight at Xu Zihuang.
"Did you kill an Earth Armored Centipede on your way here?"
Feng Lingwei's voice was very pleasant, crisp yet carrying a touch of softness. But perhaps due to habit, her tone seemed to carry an air of scrutiny that was unpleasant.
"It was me who killed it. So what?" Wang Qiu'er raised her proud head first, speaking coldly and indifferently before anyone else.
Feng Lingwei had always been very confident in her own appearance since childhood, but in front of Wang Qiu'er, she could only pale in comparison.
At this moment, the two women faced each other from afar, faintly giving off a sense of confrontation.
Just then, neat and uniform footsteps rang out from the direction behind Xu Zihuang and Wang Qiu'er.
A squad of well-equipped soldiers hurried over from the end of the canyon adjacent to the plain. This squad numbered over a hundred, and every soldier's blood-qi power was quite vigorous.
Leading them at the front were a cold and stern young man, around twenty-five years old, and a burly middle-aged man.
The young man's appearance was ordinary, but he looked very steady and carried the air of someone in a superior position.
Upon seeing the arrivals, the five soldiers who had been chased by the Earth Armored Centipedes earlier respectfully knelt and kowtowed toward the cold young man.
"Young Master!"
Hua Ancheng expressionlessly glanced at the five soldiers, then looked toward Feng Lingwei opposite him. His stiff face forcibly squeezed out a fawning smile.
Facts proved that simps exist regardless of status.
"Lingwei, congratulations on successfully advancing to Soul Elder. I just saw you using your martial soul and soul skills here. What happened?"
"Ask your own subordinates." Compared to Hua Ancheng, Feng Lingwei's attitude was quite cold. The main reason was naturally that she had just suffered a setback with Wang Qiu'er, leaving her in a bad mood.
Any woman, especially those with ample confidence in their appearance and temperament, would have a competitive mentality in this regard.
Moreover, she had no good feelings toward Hua Ancheng, who had always been pestering her. And the fact that Hua Ancheng had appeared here so quickly meant he must have been waiting at the other end of the canyon for her return. This made her even more disgusted.
Hua Ancheng was not annoyed. He sternly shouted at the five soldiers, "What happened?"
"Reporting to Young Master, we were escorting those exiles to open up wasteland at the periphery of the mountain range earlier, but near the end, we were attacked by a group of Earth Armored Centipedes. It was Miss Feng who saved us." The leading middle-aged burly man did not dare conceal anything. But when he reached this point, he hesitated for a moment.
"The reason the Earth Armored Centipede group attacked us was that these two soul master adults killed one Earth Armored Centipede on their way here."
"Hm?" Hua Ancheng frowned slightly. When he arrived here, he had actually already noticed Xu Zihuang and Wang Qiu'er. But his eyes were only on Feng Lingwei, and Xu Zihuang and Wang Qiu'er had their backs to him, so he had not paid much attention.
But now, learning that Xu Zihuang and Wang Qiu'er had killed one Earth Armored Centipede and drawn the vengeance of the Earth Armored Centipede group, his face instantly darkened. He immediately scolded coldly, "Who are you people? Don't you know that privately killing Earth Armored Centipedes is prohibited in the mountains?"
There were quite a few Earth Armored Centipede groups in the mountains. Due to the special nature of their groups, if someone privately killed an Earth Armored Centipede and provoked retaliation from the rest of the group, it could easily cause large areas of farmland that Dragon Wolf Territory had opened up at the periphery of the mountains to be destroyed. Moreover, the exiled commoners and slaves could suffer heavy casualties.
Xu Zihuang turned around indifferently. The faint yet palpable pressure made Hua Ancheng's voice suddenly falter. And upon seeing Wang Qiu'er, whose appearance surpassed even Feng Lingwei's, Hua Ancheng, like Feng Lingwei, briefly fell into a daze.
The leading burly man among the five soldiers could not help but stand up and come to Hua Ancheng's side, whispering his speculations about the identities of Xu Zihuang and Wang Qiu'er.
Hua Ancheng's pupils contracted sharply. With a wave of his right hand, the hundred elite soldiers composed of blood-qi warriors immediately blocked the path. He himself stepped in front of Xu Zihuang. Although shorter than Xu Zihuang, his gaze did not evade in the slightest.
"No matter what your identities are, since you have violated the laws of our Dragon Wolf Territory, you must come with me now."
"There are two things I want to tell you. First, we are not from that so-called Northern Alliance. Second, you cannot stop me." Xu Zihuang's expression remained unchanged as he walked past Hua Ancheng with perfect composure, merely stating a fact.
"However, my destination is indeed the main city of Dragon Wolf Territory, Dragon Wolf City. But this is my own choice. No one can force me to do what I do not want to do."
The moment their figures crossed, Hua Ancheng suddenly looked ugly and reached out his right hand, grabbing Xu Zihuang's wrist. As the young master of Dragon Wolf Territory, he absolutely could not back down in such a situation, especially with Feng Lingwei watching.
"I said, no matter what your identities are, now you must—"
But before he could finish, a terrifying, immense force came from Xu Zihuang's wrist, causing Hua Ancheng's face to fill with horror as he released his martial soul.
Two yellow, two purple, one black, five soul rings with the optimal configuration instantly rose from beneath his feet. Although the natives of the Star Sea Continent had limited integration between spiritual power and martial soul, making it difficult to absorb ten-thousand-year soul rings at level 50, for someone with a top-tier martial soul and prominent family background like Hua Ancheng, possessing such an optimal soul ring configuration was perfectly normal.
His body became instantly robust, his head somewhat wolfish, his lips sticking out with fangs. But no fur grew on its body, instead, blocks of purple scales emerged.
Unlike the sharp, distinct dragon scales of Xu Zihuang's second martial soul, Purple Radiance Thunder Prison Dragon, the scales on Hua Ancheng were strangely oval-shaped. The scales covered his entire body, causing his frame to swell beyond two meters, his muscular body brimming with a powerful sense of strength.
The right hand grasping Xu Zihuang's wrist had also transformed into a sharp purple wolf claw.
"You?!"
What shocked Hua Ancheng even more was that even after releasing his martial soul, his supposedly indestructible wolf claw still could not break through Xu Zihuang's physical defense.
"Scram!" Xu Zihuang's expression turned cold. His left leg turned into an afterimage as it swept across, smashing into Hua Ancheng's abdomen.
The speed of this whip-leg was simply too fast, even the air emitted a piercing sonic boom. Hua Ancheng only felt a massive force hit him, and in the next instant, he slammed heavily into the rock wall on one side, his vision going black.
"Boom—"
Dust scattered, the ground shook. The entire canyon seemed to tremble.
Under everyone's stunned gazes, Hua Ancheng's body was deeply embedded in the rock wall, instantly losing consciousness in a miserable state.
Not only Hua Ancheng's group, but even Feng Lingwei and her guards behind her were completely unprepared for what had just happened.
Who could have imagined that with Hua Ancheng's cultivation and after releasing his powerful Dragon Wolf martial soul, he still could not injure Xu Zihuang in the slightest? Moreover, Xu Zihuang's attack was far too decisive and fearless. Hua Ancheng was the only grandson of the current lord of Dragon Wolf Territory, the designated future successor to the lord.
This was tantamount to making an enemy of the entire Dragon Wolf Territory.
"Young Master?!"
The middle-aged, burly guard who had come with Hua Ancheng reacted first, roaring as he charged toward Xu Zihuang in large strides.
During the charge, his already burly body swelled to over five meters. His muscles bulged exaggeratedly like small mountains, densely covered in dark silver fur, yet his body surface emitted a deep black radiance. His eyes had also turned scarlet.
The middle-aged guard's martial soul was likewise unique to the Star Sea Continent—the Dark Silver Bear.
Although the Dark Silver Bear could not compare to the Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear or the Darkgold Bear, it was still a very powerful martial soul, especially excelling in strength and defense.
And the six soul rings that appeared around him were clearly visible: two yellow, three purple, one black, six-ring Soul Emperor!
The purple third soul ring shone. The middle-aged guard's massive bear paws instantly burst with dazzling silver light. His right hand clenched into a fist, carrying unparalleled might as it smashed toward Xu Zihuang.
Having allowed the young master to be severely injured, he bore inescapable responsibility. To have something to report, he had to subdue Xu Zihuang.
But in that split second, Wang Qiu'er, who had released her martial soul, blocked in front of Xu Zihuang and threw a punch as well, colliding with that enormous silver fist.
"Bang—"
A terrifying, explosive sound rang out, unleashing waves of sound.
Wang Qiu'er had not used a soul skill; merely mobilizing her martial soul power and soul power, she shattered the middle-aged guard's massive silver fist. The dense silver light instantly broke apart, and even his right arm drooped powerlessly as if it had lost its bones.
And apart from Xu Zihuang, everyone's gazes froze on the six soul rings beside Wang Qiu'er.
Likewise, a six-ring Soul Emperor, but Wang Qiu'er's configuration was two yellow, two purple, two black, the optimal soul ring setup.
What shocked their worldview the most was that Wang Qiu'er appeared to be absolutely no older than twenty. On their Star Sea Continent, reaching a four-ring Soul Elder at twenty was already considered a top genius of the era.
Feng Lingwei, advancing to Soul Elder at eighteen, was hailed as a genius unseen in the Wind Family of Azure Phoenix Territory for centuries.
A Soul Emperor under twenty, was this really something human soul masters could achieve?
The shock in Feng Lingwei's beautiful eyes was soon replaced by self-doubt.
In every aspect, Wang Qiu'er crushed her utterly.
Piercing pain invaded from his right arm. The middle-aged guard with the Dark Silver Bear martial soul could not stop his burly body from trembling. And the hundred blood-qi warriors behind him were all intimidated by Wang Qiu'er's aura.
Xu Zihuang calmly walked to Wang Qiu'er's side, then extended his right hand, using soul power to pull the unconscious Hua Ancheng over.
He grabbed Hua Ancheng by the collar, holding him like a dead dog, and said indifferently,
"He's not dead yet. Have your Dragon Wolf Territory's lord personally come here to redeem him. Remember, I give you only one day."
The Dark Silver Bear Soul Emperor's expression flickered uncertainly, but given the terrifying strength displayed by Xu Zihuang and Wang Qiu'er, he suppressed the urge to fight desperately and led his people away.
"Leave!"
At this moment, Xu Zihuang glanced sideways at Feng Lingwei, speaking in a completely commanding tone.
"Azure Phoenix Territory's Wind Family, right? Have your Azure Phoenix Territory's lord come here as well."
People are like this; they always refuse to yield until given no choice. Only in the face of absolute martial power will they submit and bow low.
Before Feng Lingwei could speak, the old man beside her smiled bitterly and said, "Sir, I believe we have not offended you. Although we know those from Dragon Wolf Territory, we did not intervene earlier."
Xu Zihuang repeated indifferently,
"I said, have your Azure Phoenix Territory's lord come here. I won't say it a third time."
Feng Lingwei opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, the old man stopped her first. He solemnly said to Xu Zihuang,
"I will guarantee to convey your words to the lord."
After saying this, the old man quickly led Feng Lingwei and the others away from the canyon.
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