At this moment, from the distant southeastern sky came eight powerful auras.
One of them, in Chu Chengzhou's perception, was no weaker than level-97 Chen Xin, perhaps even faintly stronger.
At once, Chu Chengzhou's expression changed.
Good grief, eight Titled-level Nether White Tigers.
The Star Luo Empire was indeed formidable: five Titled Douluo plus eight Titled-level Nether White Tigers, a full thirteen Titled-level forces.
By sheer headcount at the Titled level, the Star Luo Empire ranked only behind Spirit Hall, the hegemon of the spirit master world, and that was after already losing four royal elders and the reigning Star Luo Emperor.
Not daring to slacken, as his valiant, devout follower Azure Dragon Douluo unleashed his Martial Soul Avatar and pressed the attack on Tyrannosaurus and Wind Thunder Douluo, golden light flashed around Chu Chengzhou. The Nine Heavens Mystic Spirit Armor, the Nine Heavens Mystic Spirit Bow, and three Flowing Gold Armor-Piercing Arrows took form.
Drawing the bow and nocking the arrows, he stirred fire-and-earth dual-attribute soul power in his hands. Crimson and yellow blended perfectly as Chu Chengzhou took aim at the Heavenly Wolf Douluo.
Simple reason: this Douluo had the lowest soul power level and, as an agility-attack Titled Douluo, the weakest defense.
As for the speed and nimbleness of an agility-attack Titled Douluo? His arrows were faster, and he had toggled the "auto-lock," locking on via spiritual power, so missing was not an option.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.
His right hand loosened. Three Flowing Gold Armor-Piercing Arrows infused with fused fire-and-earth soul power exploded from the string.
In an instant, the three streaks, crimson and yellow perfectly interwoven, crossed a hundred meters and landed squarely on Heavenly Wolf Douluo's Silver Moon Heavenly Wolf Avatar.
Puff puff puff.
The arrows, charged with dual-element fused soul power, were like three high-powered anti-tank shells, sinking into the Heavenly Wolf Douluo's Avatar.
In a blink, fine cracks webbed across the Silver Moon Heavenly Wolf Avatar. His soul power aura roiled, and he was nearly blasted out of his Avatar on the spot.
"Damn, how can it hit this hard?!"
Straining to control his soul power to keep the Avatar from collapsing, Heavenly Wolf Douluo Du Ze cursed inwardly.
Just one move and he had nearly been forced out of his Avatar. Even as he cursed, a bad premonition rose in Heavenly Wolf Douluo's heart.
Even with the empire laying bare its heritage, could they really kill Chu Chengzhou, a super-genius unprecedented on the continent?
The next second, Heavenly Wolf Douluo had no mind to think further.
One strike failed, but Chu Chengzhou would not let up. Another three Flowing Gold Armor-Piercing Arrows infused with dual-element fused soul power shot out and struck the enormous Silver Moon Heavenly Wolf Avatar again.
A mere wolf, and wingless at that, daring to fly in the sky? As the continent's number one archer (self-proclaimed), Chu Chengzhou would not abide it.
Bow-type martial souls were rare on Douluo Continent. As for true experts, aside from himself there was only Lightplume Douluo among Spirit Hall's Five Worships at level 96.
But level-96 Lightplume would certainly lose to Xiao Hei at 110,000 years, and Xiao Hei was part of his own strength, thus he was naturally the continent's number one archer.
Qian Daoliu: By that logic, if I pick up a greatbow, wouldn't I be the continent's number one archer too?
Puff puff puff.
Three arrows bored into the Silver Moon Heavenly Wolf Avatar. This time the Heavenly Wolf Douluo, only level 92, could no longer hold out. The massive Avatar fractured inch by inch, then with a bang shattered midair into a flood of soul power fragments.
With his Avatar broken, backlash from his martial soul left Heavenly Wolf Douluo gravely wounded, and he plummeted straight from the sky.
Just then, Dai Tao and the others, a step late, finally arrived.
Only the situation was somewhat beyond what they had expected.
Good news: there was no sign of Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's Chen Xin or Gu Rong, and no Heaven Dou experts in sight.
Bad news: the Ice Bear Douluo had disappeared; from the blood reek in the air he had likely fallen. And Heavenly Wolf Douluo had had his Avatar blasted apart and was now crashing to the ground like a corpse.
Also, why were Tyrannosaurus Douluo and Wind Thunder Douluo fighting Azure Dragon Douluo?
"Your Majesty, Tyrannosaurus and Wind Thunder have been controlled by the enemy!"
Seeing Dai Tao and the rest arrive, Azure Dragon Douluo Cao Lie blocked the two and immediately disengaged, falling back to Dai Tao's side.
Chu Chengzhou: Nice.
At once, Tyrannosaurus and Wind Thunder Douluo were furious. How dare he cry thief while being the thief?!
Before they could speak in their defense, Azure Dragon Douluo repeated his trick. His eighth soul ring lit up and he jabbed his staff at the Nether White Tiger formed by the royal Eighth Elder, Dai Kang.
"Hmph!"
A cold snort came from the largest and most imposing of the eight Nether White Tigers. A huge claw gleaming with cold light slapped down, blocking Azure Dragon Douluo's eighth soul skill.
Dai Tao was no youngster. Old and shrewd, what had he not seen?
Fine, even if he hadn't seen this exact scene, he wouldn't be fooled so easily.
At the first sight of infighting among the three, he immediately realized someone had been controlled by Chu Chengzhou.
And if the ones controlled were Tyrannosaurus and Wind Thunder, then with the advantage theirs after they arrived, Azure Dragon would never have abandoned the fight. He would have pressed the attack.
After all, he had previously ordered that Chu Chengzhou be executed at the first opportunity.
Now that Azure Dragon had fallen back, wouldn't that just give the controlled Tyrannosaurus and Wind Thunder time to delay their execution of Chu Chengzhou?
Therefore, the ones controlled could not be Tyrannosaurus and Wind Thunder, but the thief crying thief, Azure Dragon.
"Second Elder, you pin down Azure Dragon!"
After fending off the "traitor" Azure Dragon in one move, Dai Tao gave the order to the Second Elder, Dai Wei, in his Nether White Tiger form, then took the other six Nether White Tigers and winged toward Chu Chengzhou.
What he needed now was not housecleaning, but to kill Chu Chengzhou as fast as possible to prevent any accidents.
Besides, Azure Dragon Douluo was merely controlled. If they eliminated Chu Chengzhou, he would naturally be freed. So restraint was enough, no need to kill.
After all, he was a Titled Douluo loyal to the royal house. The empire did not have many. If they could avoid the loss, they should.
Though one of their side had fallen, one was severely injured, and one controlled, Dai Tao was not pessimistic, because the current situation was far better than earlier estimates.
Dai Tao was certain that within at least twenty li there were no other Titled Douluo and no high-level ambushers. In other words, tonight they only had to deal with Chu Chengzhou alone.
With the empire's heritage on full display, setting aside the heavily injured Heavenly Wolf and the Second Elder restraining Azure Dragon, it was nine against one. Nine of us, one of him. The advantage is ours. Why worry about failing to take Chu Chengzhou's head and bring it back to Star Luo to honor his yet-unburied kin?
T/N: For up to 30 chapters ahead on my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle