The void rippled like water, and a green skull emerged from the emptiness. Upon seeing it, Bone Dragon Douluo was instantly startled:
"Your Majesty Ghost Emperor, how did you…."
Come personally?
Before he could finish, Ghost Emperor's voice cut him off.
"If this one did not come, could you have handled it?"
The green skull gazed indifferently at Bone Dragon Douluo, staring until the latter lowered his head in shame, then turned back toward Huo Yuhao, praising with a smile:
"For a Soul Emperor to fight a Super Douluo to such an extent, truly impressive."
Huo Yuhao met the skull's gaze, his expression growing increasingly solemn.
Ghost Emperor, one of the Nine Ghost Kings, a Quasi-Deity of the Control System, one of the two Emperors of the Holy Spirit Sect in the original story, ranked among the most powerful Limit Douluos.
Leaving aside those who broke the rules or somehow surpass the divine level, Ghost Emperor's cultivation already stood at the peak.
His death was just a bit bizarre, killed by Holy Spirit Douluo's self-destruction, followed by revival, then another self-destruction. But that didn't mean he was weak.
Ghost Emperor's death was equivalent to two and a half gods sacrificing themselves to take him down. Compared to Abyss Emperor Hua Di, who perished alongside Wu Changkong, Ghost Emperor at least preserved his dignity.
If this weren't just a clone before him, Huo Yuhao would have already called for help or used his trump cards.
Seeing that Huo Yuhao, though serious, showed no fear or cowardice, Ghost Emperor's admiration for him grew even stronger. Without further words, he acted without hesitation.
The green skull suddenly spat out a stream of green mist. Wherever the mist passed, even space emitted a sizzling, corrosive sound.
Ghost Emperor had watched Huo Yuhao's battle with Bone Dragon Douluo. The youth had relied on his superior spatial power to remain unbeaten. But now, facing a clone of a Limit Douluo equally profound in spatial understanding, Huo Yuhao could no longer maintain the upper hand.
Sure enough, when Huo Yuhao tried to activate spatial power to evade, he found the surrounding space as solidified as amber, completely immovable.
Ghost Emperor's voice came like a chilling wind from the netherworld: "Playing with space before this one? You're still too young. Even if your mastery of spatial power rivals mine, your current cultivation is too weak to defeat me."
As his words fell, the green poisonous mist was already within arm's reach. Huo Yuhao could even smell its nauseating stench of decay.
Even more terrifying, the skull's eyes flickered with eerie green light, wave after wave of mental assault crashing against him like a tide, causing his consciousness to waver.
Yet, as Huo Yuhao's eyes suddenly blazed with brilliant golden light, Ghost Emperor's psychic attack was instantly neutralized.
Their spiritual energies clashed like needle against awn, colliding in the void with invisible sparks. At first, neither could gain an advantage, but as time passed, the battlefield slowly tipped in Huo Yuhao's favor.
Ghost Emperor's skull clone, composed mainly of spiritual power, began to tremble slightly under the pressure, gazing at Huo Yuhao in surprise.
Although he had only sent a fraction of his strength, his spiritual power remained at the Soul Domain level in quality. As a Limit Douluo, his control over spiritual power far surpasses extraordinary masters.
Even if Huo Yuhao had also reached the Soul Domain, it shouldn't have been this easy to block his spiritual assault, let alone gradually gain the upper hand in the contest.
Could the other's spiritual control actually be superior?
Ghost Emperor stared at Huo Yuhao thoughtfully, finding the situation increasingly intriguing.
Once he had secured him, he would definitely take time to thoroughly study this "Saint Son" of theirs.
With this thought, Ghost Emperor changed sideways at Bone Dragon Douluo.
"What are you waiting for? Why haven't you attacked yet?"
"Yes, Ghost Emperor!"
Bone Dragon Douluo was momentarily stunned, then quickly snapped to attention. The Soul-Seizing Eye, which he had been carefully guarding, instantly appeared on his forehead, radiating an eerie glow, with grayish light churning within.
Seeing this, Huo Yuhao felt a rare sense of crisis. He didn't ignore the feeling and immediately responded, his fourth ring, which he had never used in front of others, suddenly blazed with light.
The moment the Soul-Seizing Eye fired its strange rays, Huo Yuhao's eyes suddenly shimmered with dark golden ripples. He raised his hand and pressed it forward, unleashing an invisible ripple that spread outward. Centered on his body, it covered an area of a hundred meters.
In an instant, the space within a hundred meters cracked like glass crushed by an invisible hand, with distorted gray-white light seeing through the fissures.
Domain-typeskill, Temporal Collapse!
Having responded, Huo Yuhao didn't expect the Ghost Emperor to simply watch. The latter also attacked, attempting to further restrict Huo Yuhao. But as his assault and the strange rays entered the warped space, they slowed dramatically, as if sinking into thick mud!
"This is... a time-based skill?" Ghost Emperor's tone carried disbelief for the first time.
Huo Yuhao's spiritual and spatial power had already shocked him, now he revealed a time-based skill as a trump card? How many more surprises would this opponent bring?
Yet after the initial shock, Ghost Emperor looked at the strange rays steadily advancing within the domain and let out a light chuckle. "What a pity. If you had used this skill to escape before I arrived, you might have had a chance to survive. Now, however, there is no way out for you!"
The two one-time divine artifacts studied by the Holy Spirit Sect had different properties. The Soul-Seizing Eye, a spiritual attack-type divine artifact, possesses most of the basic traits of spiritual attacks.
Spiritual attacks were generally extremely fast and difficult to evade, this artifact shared that characteristic.
Thus, this one-time divine artifact was far more practical than the Demon God Sword. As long as the enemy remains within the user's vision or spiritual perception range, they could be locked on.
This was exactly why the Holy Spirit Sect entrusted Bone Dragon Douluo with carrying this artifact.
Given Bone Dragon Douluo's mastery of spatial power, in theory, he should have no trouble keeping Huo Yuhao within his spiritual detection range, sufficient to handle any sudden situation.
Yet Huo Yuhao defied logic.
His grasp of spatial power surpasses Bone Dragon Douluo's. He frequently disappears into the void, making him impossible to lock onto. This made Bone Dragon Douluo, wary of exposing his trump card, hesitate to act rashly and instead opt for a war of attrition, waiting for the right moment to strike.
But now, Ghost Emperor himself had arrived, sealing the surrounding space. Was there a better opportunity than this?
Bone Dragon Douluo saw the strange rays, though slow, steadily approaching Huo Yuhao, and a hint of joy flickered across his face.
"Huo Yuhao, resist no further. The control of the Soul-Seizing Eye is perfect. Once bathed in its light, even a peak Soul Domain Limit Douluo will become a member of our Holy Spirit Sect."
"With your cultivation and strength, you cannot withstand its divine might. Accept it peacefully. From this day forward, you are the Saint Son of our sect!"