The Sky-Piercing Spear shot forward at extreme speed, like a blazing beam of light, streaking down toward the Dragon Phoenix Hall building.
A black silhouette appeared out of thin air in front of the Dragon Phoenix Hall — it was Di Tian, now dressed in clean clothes, with six red and three orange soul rings rhythmically pulsing around him.
Faced with the spear flying at him, Di Tian did not dare to be careless. Both his palms turned into dragon claws, covered in jet-black dragon scales.
He pressed his palms together, gripping the oncoming Sky-Piercing Spear tightly. The moment they made contact, a terrifying surge of energy erupted.
Boom! The energy inside the Sky-Piercing Spear detonated like a ninth-grade soul-guided shell. The white-hot light grew increasingly intense, like a sun expanding, so bright it was blinding and impossible to look at directly.
The space nearby quaked violently; countless glass windows shattered instantly. Cars scattered chaotically on the streets, large numbers of people fell to the ground. Many bled from their seven orifices, writhing in agony, screaming heart-piercing cries.
Di Tian's body was pushed back; the Sky-Piercing Spear slid across his dragon claws with a harsh screeching sound. When he finally stopped, he was only a few meters away from the Dragon Phoenix Hall wall, and the spear's tip was just a few centimeters from his chest. His dragon claws bore obvious scratches.
Throughout the process, the Sky-Piercing Spear had been wrapped in his energy, its power constantly being dissolved with his soul power to prevent the Dragon Phoenix Hall from being destroyed.
When the spear's energy was unleashed moments earlier, its destructive power was terrifying — the shockwave alone could have easily killed ordinary people within several kilometers.
Yet the direct death toll at this moment was only in the teens; more people were merely knocked to the ground, suffering injuries ranging from minor to severe.
This was largely thanks to Di Tian. Without his soul power restraining the outpouring of energy, the death toll would have easily exceeded a hundred.
But it wasn't solely his doing. Yun Ming and Elder Song had also acted, confining the energy within a certain range to minimize casualties. If too many civilians had died, Shrek Academy would have faced unbearable consequences.
It was precisely because of the joint intervention of all three that such a catastrophic level of destruction resulted in minimal fatalities, keeping casualties as low as possible.
"Who dares to cause trouble at the Dragon Phoenix Hall!" Di Tian bellowed angrily, though he already knew the answer. His voice, infused with soul power, carried far into the distance.
Several people flew out from the Dragon Phoenix Hall, lining up behind Di Tian, for now keeping their martial souls unreleased.
The bustling street was already in chaos. Those who had fallen scrambled to their feet and fled in panic, their faces full of terror.
Many immediately called the Federal Police, their terrified, stammering voices describing what had happened here.
Those who had just been inside the Dragon Phoenix Hall buying pills and metals rushed out, all frightened out of their wits.
Yun Ming and Elder Song hovered in the air hundreds of meters away from the Hall, their expressions cold, their eyes filled with boundless killing intent.
Yun Ming raised his palm, and the Sky-Piercing Spear, still gripped by Di Tian, dissolved into a stream of flowing energy, shooting back to Yun Ming and reforming into a long spear in front of him.
"Avenge a grudge!" Yun Ming said coldly, his voice thunderous, the killing intent in it chilling the very air.
"Revenge?" Di Tian displayed an angry yet confused look, his voice low: "If I'm not mistaken, you are Yun Ming from Shrek Academy, yes?"
"My Dragon Phoenix Hall has no enmity with Shrek Academy. Where does this talk of revenge come from?"
"On the contrary, you dared attack the Dragon Phoenix Hall building. This is a blatant provocation against us. If we're talking revenge, it should be us seeking revenge on you!"
"Shrek Academy? So that's a powerhouse from Shrek Academy," the people fleeing nearby overheard this and were furious.
Whether there was enmity between the two sides or not, even if there was, Shrek Academy's people should never fight inside the city.
A battle between soul master powerhouses was a disaster for ordinary people like them. That previous clash had made them feel like they had one foot in the underworld already.
For the unlucky ones, it wasn't just a close brush — they were already dead.
Who was right or wrong no longer mattered to them. All they knew was that because of Shrek's attack, they had nearly died here.
Yun Ming's face darkened, Elder Song's expression turned extremely unpleasant. Judging from the other side's tone, they intended to feign innocence and shift all blame onto them?
"Dragon Phoenix Hall, how shameless can you be? Doing something and then denying it? Don't act like cowards who can't admit what they've done. That only makes me despise you more," Yun Ming sneered.
"We're shameless? Since when does denying something we didn't do count as shameless?" Di Tian retorted.
"Exactly. You can't just pin some random crime on us and expect us to confess," a woman in a purple dress — Zi Ji — said with a cold laugh.
"If not admitting it is shameless, and makes you look down on us, what kind of twisted logic is that?"
"You little bastard, you've got no shame!" Xiong Jun roared loudly.
"You—!" Yun Ming's fury burned hotter. The death of Elder Li, coupled with these shameless words, intensified his killing intent.
Gripping the Sky-Piercing Spear, that overwhelming aura — fierce, domineering, enough to shatter the sky and rend the earth — made the very heavens grow dark, the atmosphere oppressively heavy.
"If you want to fight, take it outside the city, so no innocents are harmed," Di Tian said coldly.
His strength hadn't fully recovered yet, but it was much better than before. Together with Xiong Jun and the others, they could definitely kill this man.
There were only two of them, while they had multiple ferocious beasts here. What kind of storm could they possibly stir up?
Yun Ming knew the other side likely intended to gang up on them, but since he dared to come here, how could he possibly be unprepared?
Over two hundred li of distance — at their top speed, he and Elder Song didn't even need an hour; half an hour would be enough.
The reason they took an hour to get here was because they'd made arrangements along the way — to put it simply, they'd called reinforcements.
"Fine. If you've got the guts, come with us," Yun Ming said, pointing his spear at Di Tian, his face full of provocation.
With that, he prepared to leave. This place indeed wasn't suitable for a fight; it was too cramped to go all out.
"Your Majesty Sky-Piercing, this is Mingdu, not Shrek City. You can't just leave at will," a voice called out from afar.
Everyone turned to the sound and saw a swarm of mechas flying in from the distance, led by two red mechas.
The voice had come from one of the red mechas, tinged with anger.
Seeing dozens of mechas in the distance, Yun Ming frowned, not leaving immediately. Instead, he turned his gaze to the red mecha and said forcefully, "I want to leave — do you think you can stop me?"
The two red mechas stopped a few hundred meters away from Yun Ming. The mechas behind them spread out, encircling Yun Ming and Elder Song, fully on guard, sweat pouring from their foreheads.
Facing this near-legendary, almost unbeatable figure, how could they not be afraid? If he got angry, he could slaughter them all — he had both the strength and the nerve to do it.
Not just the purple or black mecha pilots — even the Titled Douluo inside the red mechas felt a chill in their hearts. Being stared at by Yun Ming made every hair on their bodies stand up. It was deeply unsettling.
(End of Chapter)