The mountain range outside the Fallen Star Great Forest was vast and boundless. Naturally, there wasn't only one path to enter it.
However, this canyon had relatively gentle terrain, and the Dragon Wolf Territory's soul master squads often cleared out any wandering soul beasts near the inner parts of the mountains, making it comparatively safe.
Even soul masters who wanted to cross the mountain range to hunt soul beasts in the Fallen Star Great Forest and obtain soul rings for advancement could save themselves some trouble by entering through here.
As a result, this canyon was naturally firmly controlled by the Dragon Wolf Territory.
The prosperity of that city, dozens of kilometers to the north of the mountain range, was closely related to this special situation.
After all, any soul master within the Dragon Wolf Territory was permitted to enter the Fallen Star Great Forest through this canyon.
Soul masters were a wealthy group, and before entering the canyon, they would inevitably stop to rest and resupply in the nearest city.
Over time, this naturally drove the development of the city.
At the entrance of the canyon, some soldiers were usually stationed—one reason was to maintain order, and the other was to prevent any exiled pioneers from escaping through here.
The hundred blood-qi warriors previously brought from Hua'an City had been drawn from among them.
But now that the young master of the Dragon Wolf Territory from Hua'an City had fallen into Xu Zihuang's hands, to avoid provoking Xu Zihuang, the Dark Silver Bear Soul Emperor had ordered all the troops to withdraw from here. The perimeter had also been sealed off, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving the canyon.
The sun rose from the east, bringing warm, gracious rays of light.
Bathed in this gentle golden radiance, Xu Zihuang carried Hua Ancheng and arrived in front of a mountain on the right side of the canyon.
A solid, deep-purple light blade condensed in his left hand. With the extension of his left arm, a deep-purple light blade swept horizontally, slicing off the peak of the mountain and creating a flat area of about several dozen square meters.
The cut surface was mirror-smooth, reflecting the golden light.
Then, from his right hand, Xu Zihuang released a purple-golden light blade. Bringing both hands together, the deep-purple and purple-golden light blades instantly merged into one, becoming a profound black light blade.
The massive rock that had just been cut off was pierced by this black light blade and immediately turned into nothingness, vanishing without a trace, as if it had been completely erased from the world.
What Xu Zihuang had used was precisely the fourth soul skill of his second martial soul, the Purple Radiance Thunder Prison Dragon, Thunder Light Blade.
Like the previous three soul skills, this fourth soul skill also possessed multiple characteristics. The Thunder Light Blade with extreme thunder attribute from his right hand and the Destruction Light Blade with destruction attribute from his left hand, when fused, became the Annihilation Light Blade.
It perfectly complemented his first soul skill, Annihilation Divine Spear.
Xu Zihuang tossed Hua Ancheng behind him and simply sat down at the edge of this flat area. His profound gaze looked toward the distant outline of that city, quietly waiting for the arrival of the Dragon Wolf Territory's lord and the Qingfeng Territory's lord.
The mountain wind blowing toward him fluttered his clothes, and his thoughts seemed to drift along with it, making it impossible to discern what was on his mind.
Wang Qiu'er stood silently behind Xu Zihuang, arms crossed over her chest. But her gaze remained fixed on Xu Zihuang, complex emotions surging within her clear pink-blue eyes.
Her earlier action of blocking the Dark Silver Bear Soul Emperor's attack had been completely instinctive.
What troubled Wang Qiu'er was whether she had done so because of the habit formed while fighting sea soul beasts together with Xu Zihuang out on the ocean, or if it was because…
Thinking of this, the daze in her eyes cleared, and she lightly pursed her lips.
"This guy…"
The Dark Silver Bear Soul Emperor, who had left the canyon, didn't dare delay despite his injuries. After briefly using soul power to ease the pain, he gritted his teeth and set off back toward Dragon Wolf City.
As Hua Ancheng's personal guard, he could not shirk responsibility for such an incident.
Meanwhile, Feng Lingwei and her group were also rushing anxiously toward the Qingfeng Territory north of the Dragon Wolf Territory.
The leading elder among the guards shook his body and transformed into a golden roc bird more than ten meters long, with wings spanning over fifteen meters. Everyone, including Feng Lingwei, stood on its back.
Feng Lingwei was clearly deeply shaken by Wang Qiu'er's astonishing cultivation level.
A Soul Emperor under the age of twenty, this was simply too terrifying. If they hadn't personally witnessed Wang Qiu'er's fist shattering the Dark Silver Bear Soul Emperor, they might still have been able to comfort themselves in their hearts.
But the facts were right in front of them. Wang Qiu'er was indeed a genuine Soul Emperor, and her strength far surpassed that of ordinary Soul Emperors.
Feng Lingwei's expression was grave. Unable to hold back, she asked the elder who had released his martial soul true body, "Elder Zhao, what do you think their origins are? If such people really existed on our Star Sea Continent, their reputation should have spread long ago. How could there be no news at all?"
Elder Zhao hesitated for a moment before replying meaningfully,
"They may not be native inhabitants of our Star Sea Continent."
"What did you say?!" Not only Feng Lingwei, but even the seven guards behind her widened their eyes in shock upon hearing Zhao Xiao's words.
Zhao Xiao continued gravely, "Miss, do you remember the legend passed down from ancient times?"
"Roughly thirty thousand years ago, the seas surrounding our Star Sea Continent were extremely chaotic, with powerful sea soul beasts appearing from time to time, beings so strong that the soul masters of that era could not resist them. As the saying goes, heroes rise in troubled times. In other sea regions, a peerless genius emerged. Relying on his own strength, he spent his entire life traveling to every corner of the ocean. Holding a trident, with overwhelming power and unmatched charisma, he conquered one sea race after another. After one thousand and one years, he finally unified the seas and was revered by all sea clans as the Sea God, creating an immortal myth."
"That existence once reached our Star Sea Continent and left behind some scattered legends. Although the authenticity of those legends cannot be confirmed, there should indeed be other humans in the outer seas."
Feng Lingwei said in surprise, "Elder Zhao, are you saying they come from the same place as the legendary Sea God?"
"That is most likely the case." Zhao Xiao sighed with emotion.
"If my guess is correct, that young man's talent and strength should be even greater than that girl's. But even so, they shouldn't recklessly offend the Hua family of the Dragon Wolf Territory. Given the personality of the Dragon Wolf Territory's lord, he will not let this matter rest easily. Our top priority right now is to hurry back to the Qingfeng Territory and report all this to the lord."
What Zhao Xiao did not say was that prodigies like Xu Zihuang and Wang Qiu'er represented an unprecedented opportunity, if they could be befriended and the chance properly seized.
Of course, such decisions should be left to the Qingfeng Territory's lord.
The arrival of Xu Zihuang and Wang Qiu'er was invisibly influencing the changing situation of the Star Sea Continent. Their every action would affect the fates of countless people.
On the flattened mountaintop, Xu Zihuang sat from morning until dusk, until the sun began to set in the west.
The afterglow of the setting sun draped the entire continuous mountain range in a layer of beautiful light and shadow, overlapping through the gaps between the branches and leaves in the forest.
Perhaps deliberately sulking or throwing a tantrum, Wang Qiu'er did not, as usual, eagerly wait for Xu Zihuang to prepare food. Instead, she also sat cross-legged on the flat mountaintop and cultivated the entire day.
As for Hua Ancheng, because Xu Zihuang had deliberately controlled his strength, although he hadn't suffered irreversible damage, he would inevitably remain unconscious for a while; at least, he wouldn't wake up within that day.
At that moment, without any warning, the distant sky suddenly grew much darker.
Xu Zihuang, who had been meditating with closed eyes, opened them as if sensing something.
Dark clouds surged, and a low, cold snort exploded like thunder.
"Youngster, you want this old man to come personally to redeem someone? I'm here now—can you withstand it?!"
A spirited and vigorous old man appeared within the dark clouds, hands clasped behind his back, standing proudly in the air. The old man's appearance bore five or six points of resemblance to Hua Ancheng. He had a medium build and black hair combed meticulously without a single strand out of place. Although he appeared quite old, there were not many white hairs among his black locks.
He was none other than the current lord of the Dragon Wolf Territory, Hua Xiongyan.
Behind him, seven streaks of flowing light followed closely. These seven people were all soul masters of at least Soul Saint cultivation who could fly through the air, two eight-ring Soul Douluo and five Soul Saints.
To rule such a large territory and pass it down for so many years, how could the Hua family of the Dragon Wolf Territory possibly lack foundation?
Even on the Douluo Continent side, such a force would be enough to support a top-tier sect.
Hua Xiongyan coldly stared down at Xu Zihuang below. Noticing his unconscious grandson Hua Ancheng behind him, the thick killing intent in his eyes nearly overflowed.
"No matter where you come from, if you dare to act against my Dragon Wolf Territory's Hua family, today neither of you will leave here alive."
Since the founding of the Dragon Wolf Territory by their Hua family, no one had dared to provoke their authority like this for who knows how many years.
Hua Ancheng was his only grandson, the future of their Dragon Wolf Territory. The anger in his heart at such an incident could be imagined.
Moreover, people from the Qingfeng Territory also knew about this matter. If he did not handle it with sufficient strength this time, it might send out some undesirable signals.
This was something Hua Xiongyan did not wish to see. Although their Dragon Wolf Territory appeared powerful, it had one most serious problems, there was no successor.
Although his grandson's talent was good, reaching the Title Douluo level would still require at least thirty to forty years.
On the Star Sea Continent, Title Douluo represented the pinnacle of combat power. Only with a Title Douluo in command could a family maintain sufficient deterrence and ensure generational inheritance.
Hua Xiongyan was already old. He had to gradually pave the way for his grandson. This incident was one such opportunity. He wanted everyone to see that he was still as powerful as before.
Rings of soul rings rose one after another from beneath his feet: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black.
The formidable pressure of a Title Douluo instantly swept outward, oppressing Xu Zihuang and Wang Qiu'er.
Xu Zihuang raised his head without the slightest change in expression, his gaze ice-cold.
"Old thing, giving you face?!"
Xu Zihuang's indifferent voice rang out. The terrifying mental pressure he released instantly countered Hua Xiongyan's aura and even showed signs of rebounding.
Hua Xiongyan let out a muffled grunt and steadied himself, but the two Soul Douluo and five Soul Saints behind him fell embarrassingly toward the ground. Affected by Xu Zihuang's mental pressure, their control over the soul power within their bodies seemed to falter, their eyes filled with shock and terror.
By the time Hua Xiongyan recovered, Xu Zihuang's figure had already appeared right in front of him.
Xu Zihuang's body turned into a translucent, crystalline purple-gold color, swift as thunder.
The hundred-thousand-year Thunder Beast left leg bone soul skill, Thunder Light Origin.
What made Hua Xiongyan's heart tremble violently was the four blood-red soul rings that appeared around Xu Zihuang; his pupils lost focus.
"Four hundred-thousand-year soul rings?!"
Xu Zihuang gave a cold smile. The fourth soul ring around him suddenly blazed. Deep-purple and purple-golden specks of light drifted out from the palms of both his hands like countless fireflies, scattering across a radius of several thousand meters.
Flame fireflies formed by compressing destruction flames to the extreme, and thunder fireflies formed by compressing extreme thunder to the extreme.
This soul skill also possessed the characteristics of both attributes, but because its essence was to compress both attributes to the limit before detonating them, forcibly fusing the two would become something even the current Xu Zihuang could not control. So he did not risk attempting such a method.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—"
Deafening explosions rang out continuously across the space. Purple-golden thunder and deep-purple destruction flames raged wildly within. It was as if divine punishment had descended from the gods, turning this entire area into an absolute forbidden zone of life in this world.
The two Soul Douluo and five Soul Saints brought by Hua Xiongyan didn't even have time to release their martial souls before they were swallowed by the terrifying energy of the explosions, instantly reduced to flying ash and dissipated within this domain of divine punishment.
Their souls and spirits were utterly extinguished!
"Roar—" A low roar echoed as a massive figure struggled madly within the area. Under the scorching of the destruction flames and the bombardment of purple-golden thunder, it endured indescribable pain.
One could see that it was a giant wolf more than thirty meters long, its entire body covered in oval-shaped purple scales, its muscular lines brimming with the beauty of power.
It was none other than Hua Xiongyan after releasing his Dragon Wolf True Body.
In the blood-red eyes of the Dragon Wolf True Body, there was only fear and an intense will to survive. A layer of pitch-black light enveloped its entire body, surprisingly causing the radiance of the deep-purple destruction flames and purple-golden thunder to dim slightly.
This was the innate ability of the Dragon Wolf True Body, decomposition. It could decompose all elements. But that was merely theoretical. The quality of Xu Zihuang's extreme thunder attribute and destruction attribute far surpassed ordinary attributes.
At best, Hua Xiongyan could only slightly reduce the damage he received from these two types of attacks.
At the same time, Xu Zihuang's gaze suddenly locked onto a patch of void in the distance. He said calmly,
"Since you've come, all of you come out."
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