On the ground, in the large pit blasted open by the aftershock, "Ye Xishui," this majestic Limit Douluo powerhouse, was ruthlessly suppressed by Chen Junting's spiritual coercion. At the same time, under the radiation of terrifying soul power, she had no choice but to kneel prostrate on the ground in a dispirited manner.
Several bone-deep wounds lay across "Ye Xishui's" body, and dark red blood beads bloomed in the dirt of the pit.
Under the watchful eyes of the Dou Ling Empire's entourage, plus Yan Shaozhe, Chen Junting just stood there casually. That invisible and formless, yet mountain-crushing terrifying coercion heavily permeated every inch of space in the surrounding area, making the air solidify like lead, suffocating anyone who breathed it. His eyes were clearly visible, calm to the point of indifference, like deep water in a cold pool, reflecting the sorry state of "Ye Xishui" being choked by the neck.
For a moment, "Heh, heh, heh—" Just like an ordinary person, "Ye Xishui's" breathing was rapid and chaotic. Every inhale brought a hissing sound like a broken bellows, as if it would completely stop the next second. At this moment, her eyes were dull and lusterless, but her resentment and venom were clearly visible.
But Chen Junting paid no mind to all this.
The tip of his index finger had already condensed a stream of spiritual power, transforming into a sword aura capable of piercing the soul, pointing precisely at "Ye Xishui's" slightly trembling glabella. At the same time, his other hand changed posture, switching from choking her neck to covering her cheek.
"Let me see what your purpose is."
His voice wasn't loud, but every word seemed to strike the dead silent air.
At this moment, Chen Junting's god-level spiritual power had already locked onto "Ye Xishui's" Spiritual Sea.
He was very clear that during those years when "Ye Xishui" disappeared even earlier than "Zhong Liwu," she must have been instructed by the Holy Emperor behind the scenes to carry out some mission.
So he planned to search her soul directly.
For "Ye Xishui," there would be no more secrets.
"Save me!"
As if realizing something, "Ye Xishui" suddenly widened her eyes, glancing at Yan Shaozhe from the corner of her eyes at this moment.
"I am..."
But just as she was about to speak, "Too much nonsense!"
A flash of white light passed through Chen Junting's eyes. Under the eruption of terrifying spiritual power, he completely interrupted "Ye Xishui," who was just about to speak.
Then, amidst a sound that made everyone around feel a chilling fear, "Ye Xishui's" expression gradually began to turn idiotic. And at this very moment, Chen Junting's complexion changed drastically!
At the same time, a sudden mutation occurred!
From "Ye Xishui's" eyes—which had started to turn idiotic due to Chen Junting's heavy-handed soul-searching methods—two horrifying and terrifying dark purple lights suddenly shot out!
That light seemed to come from hell; in less than half a breath, it illuminated her pale face like a vengeful ghost.
From the depths of her throat rolled out a string of harsh, hoarse, ancient syllables that did not belong to human language at all. Those syllables carried a sense of blaspheming the sacred, like a curse from the very bottom of the Nine Nether Abyss. Every syllable was like a soul rubbing against a red-hot branding iron, making one's scalp tingle and bone marrow chill.
"...γジЖ...Π...ぎ..."
"What is going on!?" As the emperor of the Dou Ling Empire, Xue Feng instantly felt things were bad.
Under this unease, his Swan Martial Soul had already possessed him.
Facing these syllables, Yan Shaozhe and Tianyang Douluo felt as if facing a formidable enemy. Even with Chen Junting, the "tall guy," shielding them above, it seemed difficult to alleviate their inner anxiety.
"Look at the good deeds you've done!"
Having roughly understood some content from the soul search, Chen Junting disregarded his demeanor and cursed out loud, but his hand movements were not slow at all.
Before the soul search could be completed, after "Ye Xishui" just uttered those incomprehensible syllables, Chen Junting's spiritual power had already penetrated deep into her soul, shattering it completely. At the same time, his finger swept down again, completely severing her head!
But all of this seemed to be in vain. Or rather, the syllables uttered by "Ye Xishui" were not the method to initiate the mutation.
On "Ye Xishui's" broken body, filthy blood as thick as black oil began to appear. And this blood seemed to have a life of its own, carrying a nauseating stench of sulfur mixed with rotting flesh. In just an instant, it dyed her into a blood person.
Even though Chen Junting burned everything of hers clean with a burst of fire, a complex and exquisite "Bright Phoenix" brand pattern still shone brightly where she had just died, and then, as if splashed with concentrated acid, it let out a "sizzling" sound!
"What the hell is going on!?" No one answered the person asking this question.
Chen Junting also only locked onto this mutation tightly for a while, then shifted his gaze, looking somewhat helplessly at Lingdou City not far away.
Immediately after, just as everyone's scalps went numb, the originally bright and sacred phoenix pattern crazily twisted, blackened, and expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye. The sacred phoenix posture disintegrated in the distortion, replaced by a hideous, chaotic, and endlessly malicious pattern—twisted horns piercing the skin, bat-like membranous wings spreading within the pattern, and a giant mouth burning with hellfire roaring silently! It was as if countless invisible, filth-covered hands were brutally molding the sacred mark into a demon totem from the abyss!
"This mark is!" In a flash, Xue Feng and Tianyang Douluo's eyes widened!
And this change did not only happen here.
"Hum—" A muffled resonance that could stop a heart abruptly erupted, sweeping across the entire Lingdou City with the brand totem that appeared after "Ye Xishui's" death as the center! This resonance was not a sound, but more like a violent tremor on the spiritual level, like an invisible heavy hammer ruthlessly smashing down on the spirit of every living creature!
The next instant, Lingdou City, this huge city with millions of people, seemed to be lit up in broad daylight!
Countless purple-black, blood-thick pillars of light soared into the sky from every corner of the city without warning! No matter where they were, as long as they had items branded with the "Bright Phoenix" from attending "Ye Xishui's" lectures, or people tattooed with such marks, they were all the sources of these erupting pillars of light.
These pillars of light were not real light, but more like connections to some kind of energy. The viscous purple-black energy surged and rolled like living things, carrying a suffocating sulfur stench and the wails of souls being torn apart, instantly enveloping everyone who possessed them!
In an instant, invisible fluctuations spread.
Multiple totems enlarged after the light pillars appeared, and then successively appeared in various corners of Lingdou City, igniting purple-black demonic flames turning into totems, swallowing up many soul masters and soul engineers.
In places no one could see, terrifying corrosive energy, like hungry poisonous snakes, madly drilled into the seven orifices of those swallowed by the totems, drilling into their skin, making their bodies violently expand and distort visibly!
Either their skin was torn apart, muscle fibers bulging and knotting like rotting vines, and bones crazily dislocating and proliferating with teeth-gritting "crack" sounds; or their eyeballs burst in their sockets, replaced by two clusters of faintly burning purple demonic flames; or sharp bone spurs pierced through their backs and joints, dripping with filthy blood...
In just a few breaths, under unimaginable agony, these soul masters were forcibly twisted into monsters of various shapes, yet equally hideous and terrifying—they hunched over, corrosive drool flowing from their mouths, uttering low roars of unknown meaning, with nothing but pure desire for destruction left in their eye sockets!
And these soul masters were still only the not-so-strong ones.
But even so, the demonification had already begun!
Spreading madly like a plague!
Lingdou City also quickly fell into a ruined battlefield.
Civilians were fleeing, and the army was dispatched to suppress. Many soldiers' eyes looked past the building debris... powerful generals had lingering fear in their eyes; weak-willed soldiers already showed deep terror.
Especially in their eyes, when several powerful generals leading them in defense were also swallowed by the totems.
It didn't take long for jet-black sharp claws to reach out from those totems. When familiar faces emitting terrifying auras, revealing bloody mouths with sharp fangs, growing giant bat wings on their backs, or other weird and demonic features, appeared, they began to tremble in their legs, and many soldiers directly lost their will to fight.
And such situations were still constantly happening in multiple places.
"Uwaaaah—!!!" The tragic howls, inhuman in their intensity, seemed to tear Lingdou City completely apart. Defenseless civilians died continuously at the hands of these demonified soul masters, turning the entire capital into a sea of despair!
Meanwhile, Bei Bei, who had taken Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan away earlier.
He was already bathed in blood, but it was all from others. It was just that the golden Bright Holy Dragon scales appeared dim under the shroud of the pervasive dark energy, undoubtedly receiving suppression from the opposing force.
Fortunately, he was strong, so it was no big deal.
It was just probably because of his Martial Soul attributes and relatively strong strength that the surrounding demonified soul masters began to surround them, including quite a few Soul Saints.
"Sanshi! Nannan! Hold on!"
Bei Bei raised his head and roared toward the chaotic battlefield.
"Understood!"
Not far in front of him, the battle was equally fierce.
After replying to Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi's giant Black Tortoise Shield stood in front of him, covered in cobweb-like cracks and corroded pits.
He held back the storm-like attacks of three demonified soul masters like a rock, but he himself seemed restrained under such an offensive.
After all, these demons were all fellow townsmen, and they weren't attacking subjectively, entirely because they were transformed into demons.
Those demons were probably Soul Saint powerhouses from the same sect, living peacefully in Lingdou City before their lives. Their muscles were knotted, their skin gray-white like stone, their claws sharp as knives, and their appearances were close to giant tigers. Every pounce brought a piercing shriek that tore the air, leaving deep claw marks and splashing sparks on his tortoise shell.
Moreover, every person after being demonified seemed to have been strengthened by this demonic energy. The huge impact force cracked the ground inch by inch under Xu Sanshi's feet. His burly body kept retreating under the impact, every step crushing stones to splinters.
Behind him, Jiang Nannan's figure was as fast as a ghost.
Her Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul gave her unparalleled agility. With her Waist Bow activated, her slender yet explosively powerful body drew incredible zigzag lines in the air, precisely avoiding the viscous poison webs sprayed by two demons flanking from the side, who had legs resembling poisonous spiders but wielded weapon Martial Souls.
Her tiptoes were like the sharpest razors, bringing ear-piercing sonic booms, precisely landing on the fragile joints of the spider demons. Every attack brought up a burst of foul-smelling filthy blood and tragic hisses.
However, there were simply too many demons, coupled with the inability to deliver fatal blows. At this moment, her face was already covered in filthy blood and sweat, and a trace of exhaustion and solemnity appeared in her eyes.
"No, we can't go on like this!"
Observing the current battle situation, the remaining soul power in Bei Bei's body boiled again. The aura of the Bright Holy Dragon burst forth, and golden arcs of electricity leaped across his skin.
Just as he was about to attack...
Hum—
Another terrifying resonance originating from the depths of the soul rang out. The dizziness brought by this caused Bei Bei's forward momentum to suddenly halt.
He violently shook his head, trying to dispel this feeling.
But the next second, his gaze instinctively, with a bad premonition, fixed dead on the direction of Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan.
He saw that Xu Sanshi's burly body suddenly stiffened!
He seemed to have already anticipated what would happen next.
But it shouldn't be!? That was clearly thrown away!?
Intense doubt and unease filled Bei Bei's heart!
Regarding how these soul masters turned into demons, the three of them naturally noticed.
So when they were besieged, Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan quickly destroyed the items bearing the "Bright Phoenix" totem.
Who would have thought it would still be like this!
Similarly without warning, a totem appeared under Xu Sanshi's feet, erupting with blinding purple-black light. That light was like a living thing, wanting to swallow Xu Sanshi up.
Seeing this, Bei Bei fired a Bright Thunder to sweep back the surrounding demons, and rushed to Xu Sanshi's side at the fastest speed.
Rumble—
Thousands of lightning snakes danced. The power of light and thunder directly bombarded the totem that had morphed from "Bright Phoenix" to "Demon," trying to use this method to shatter the totem and rescue Xu Sanshi.
However, his methods were to no avail; at best, they only slowed down the time Xu Sanshi was being swallowed.
But at this time, Xu Sanshi suddenly looked up and met Bei Bei's gaze. "Don't come over, kill me, and then protect Nannan and leave here!! I don't want to become that monster!"
His expression was in a trance, his consciousness chaotic, yet still somewhat clear.
Bei Bei was startled upon hearing this, his gaze also looking at the totem as his pupils contracted violently, subconsciously clenching his dragon claws.
"What kind of joke are you making!"
"If you want to protect Nannan, do it yourself! If you can't hold on, then Nannan will also become a demon that's neither human nor ghost!"
"Uh—" Suddenly, Xu Sanshi had a violent reaction.
But the final result was that Bei Bei's words didn't have much effect...
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