"That is not a reason for you to intervene, Senior. Life and death are determined by fate; this was requested by your Disciple. If you appear to help the moment he is in danger, do you think this Three-Year Agreement still holds any meaning?" Sect Leader Yun said in a cold voice.
"Then what does Sect Leader Yun want?" Venerable Yao was also somewhat annoyed. If Yun Yun were not Xiao Se's woman, he would never have been so polite to someone who was merely a Dou Huang expert.
"Either admit defeat, or let them continue fighting. No one is allowed to interfere recklessly," Yun Yun said indifferently.
Hearing their conversation, everyone present realized the truth. They thought it was no wonder Xiao Yan could dodge Nalan Yanran's fatal sword strike at the critical moment; it turned out there was an Old freak secretly helping him, and that Old freak was currently possessing Xiao Yan's body.
Venerable Yao glanced at Yun Yun, then at Xiao Se, who was sitting in the VIP seats with his eyes closed, seemingly indifferent. He knew that if he didn't do this, the matter wouldn't end well. His agreement with Xiao Se was that after the duel, if the Cloud Mist Sect made things difficult for Xiao Yan, the latter would ensure Xiao Yan's safe departure from the mountain. Now, he had disrupted the duel, which was outside the scope of the agreement.
Having no other choice, Venerable Yao had to say to Xiao Yan in his heart: "Xiao Yan, admit defeat. If you continue to fight, let alone regaining your lost face, you won't even be able to save your life."
"Teacher, I…" Xiao Yan was unwilling, but from the powerful strength Nalan Yanran had just displayed, he knew he was indeed no match for her. After a long while, he finally let out a long sigh. With a gaze filled with unwillingness and humiliation, he looked at Nalan Yanran, raised his hand, and said with a trembling voice: "I admit defeat."
"Since that is the case, then there is no longer any connection between us. From now on, you walk your sunny path, and I will walk my single-plank bridge." Nalan Yanran did not mock him. In fact, Xiao Yan's strength had greatly exceeded her expectations. At the very least, without the help of the resources provided by Xiao Se, the probability of her losing to Xiao Yan would have been very high.
"Have I lost?" Xiao Yan did not reply. He covered his chest with his palm, enduring the pain from the sword wounds on his body, and muttered in a somewhat dejected manner.
The shame of three years had ultimately not been washed away. Instead, three years of effort had only led to him suffering humiliation once again.
"Why? Why, after working so hard to Cultivate for three years, was I still unable to regain this bit of face for myself and the Xiao Family? Even though I have such a powerful teacher, why am I still no match for this pampered Young Sect Leader of the Cloud Mist Sect! I even nearly lost my life. Why?"
"Little guy…" Inside the storage ring, Yao Chen did not know how to comfort Xiao Yan. Before coming to the Cloud Mist Sect, Xiao Yan had told him that he wanted to handle this battle himself. After obtaining the Heavenly Flame Three Mysterious Transformations, Yao Chen clearly held great confidence in Xiao Yan, so he had gone with the flow and agreed.
But he hadn't expected that Nalan Yanran, whom he had originally thought was pampered, possessed battle awareness and experience that were not inferior to the battle-hardened Xiao Yan. She was even slightly better in terms of battle strategy. Moreover, in Yao Chen's perception, Nalan Yanran's cultivation had already reached around the level of a two-star Dou Ling.
Although Xiao Yan had been raised to the Great Dou Master level with his help, just like in the original story, he lacked the help of the Purple Flame, Heavenly Flame, and flying Dou Technique from the original. With his Qi cultivation inferior to others, his Cultivation TechniqueRank inferior to others, and not much difference in the Rank of his Dou Technique, it could be said that Xiao Yan had already lost at the starting line. This was the gap and result created by his own strength. Even with the Heavenly Flame Three Mysterious Transformations, which briefly raised his strength by four stars at the Great Dou Master level, it was still impossible to make up for it.
"Three-Year Agreement, Three-Year Agreement, haha, so I, Xiao Yan, am just a joke, just a joke!" Xiao Yan shook his head self-deprecatingly, gazing at Nalan Yanran with a complex expression. A moment later, he picked up his xuan heavy ruler, took unsteady steps, and walked slowly and dejectedly toward the bluestone steps he had come from.
At this moment, although Xiao Yan wanted to vent, he could not easily start a conflict himself. Although he still had Venerable Yao as his trump card, it involved Venerable Yao's power, and Xiao Yan's strong self-esteem did not allow him to use someone else's power, especially for this Three-Year Agreement; he wanted to achieve final victory with his own strength.
But imagination is beautiful, while reality is often cruel. On his own, he was still unable to defeat Nalan Yanran.
Although Xiao Yan was confident that with Venerable Yao's power, he could be fearless even against a Dou Huang expert, there were several other Dou Huang experts present. In particular, Yun Yun, whose own strength was unfathomable, was also Xiao Se's woman. If he were to touch her, there was no guarantee that Xiao Se wouldn't use it as an opportunity to eliminate him; he did not doubt Xiao Se's ruthlessness at all.
The reason why he hadn't taken action against him was likely, apart from that transaction, due to his fear of Venerable Yao's strength.
Xiao Yan did not dare to take the risk. Moreover, he was not alone; he had the Xiao Family behind him, his father, and his brothers. Compared to the behemoth of the Jia Ma Empire, the Cloud Mist Sect, he could not afford to gamble…
Watching Xiao Yan's lonely back, no one present mocked him. After all, not everyone was Xiao Huohuo, and not everyone was Nalan Yanran. To possess the strength of a Great Dou Master at only seventeen years old was unheard of in the past.
"Finally here." The corners of Xiao Se's mouth curled up slightly, and he slowly opened his eyes. During this Three-Year Agreement, apart from occasionally paying attention to the battle between Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran, he had mostly been using the Returning to Origin Soul Technique to investigate, investigating this mysterious Soul Hall Protector.
Because of Venerable Yao's exposure, he, who was cautious and cunning by nature, could finally no longer hold back and was about to appear.
Just as Xiao Yan walked to the edge of the square and was about to descend the stone steps, a large amount of black mist suddenly surged out to cover the sky above the square. These black mists quickly condensed in the sky, finally turning into a deep black mist mass that was a zhang wide.
Xiao Yan and Venerable Yao in the storage ring looked at the emerging black mist, their expressions becoming solemn in unison.
"Teacher, what is this?" Xiao Yan whispered to Venerable Yao.
"It's actually the Hall of Souls. We're in trouble now." The jet-black storage ring surged with bone-white light, and Venerable Yao instantly possessed Xiao Yan's body. He turned his head and looked at Xiao Se, whose expression remained calm, with a complex gaze, thinking to himself: Could it be that he has already defected to the Hall of Souls?
"What is this?" As the black mist emerged in the sky, the expressions of Jia Xingtian, Hai Bodong, and others in the VIP seats of the square suddenly became ugly. Their eyes were filled with doubt and wariness; before this black mist appeared, they hadn't sensed a single thing.
Meanwhile, the Elders of the Cloud Mist Sect and Nalan Yanran, as if they had known beforehand, left the square one after another under the command of Yun Yun.
The black mist did not take the exclamations of the crowd and the retreat of the Cloud Mist SectElders to heart. Amidst the swirling black mist, a sinister, weird laughter echoed in the sky like fingernails scratching on aluminum foil. It was extremely piercing.
"Hehehe, it really is a case of 'finding what one is looking for without even having to look for it.' Yao Chen, letting you escape by luck back then cost my Hall of Souls a lot of effort. If I capture you today, I believe the Hall Master will be very happy."
"A bunch of dirty rats that only know how to hide in smelly sewers. Back then, you incited that beast Han Feng to murder his master. Today, I will settle this account with you properly." The bone-white Bone Chilling Flame surged around Xiao Yan's body, who was possessed by Venerable Yao. Venerable Yao looked at the black mist emitting the weird laughter with an indifferent gaze, his voice filled with anger and killing intent.
"If you were in your prime, I would naturally be far from a match for you. However, you are now just a mere Soul. Hehehe, my Hall of Souls has plenty of ways to deal with you." The black mist contracted for a moment, and finally, under the gaze of everyone in the square, it slowly condensed into a strange figure dressed in a black robe, with his whole body shrouded in deep black mist. Vaguely, a pair of blood-red eyes were revealed from under the black robe.
"Damn it, it's actually a mid-Rank Dou Zong." Looking at the Soul Hall Protector who had appeared, Venerable Yao narrowed his eyes, and his expression suddenly became somewhat ugly.
If it were a low-Rank Dou Zong, he would have the confidence to resist, or even escort Xiao Yan away calmly. However, from the other party's unmasked aura, he easily detected the latter's cultivation: a six-star Dou Zong. This exceeded the limit of the strength he could currently exert.
In addition, the Hall of Souls possessed secret techniques specifically designed to deal with Souls, so today was likely to be very dangerous.
"Yao Chen, accept your fate." Completely ignoring the various Dou Huang and Dou Wang in the VIP seats of the square, the Soul Hall Protector laughed sinisterly. With a movement of his palm, a jet-black chain extended clatteringly from his palm. Finally, with a slight shake, it circled around him like a venomous snake, then turned into a black line and pierced violently toward Venerable Yao.
Seeing that the Soul Hall Protector had already made a move, Venerable Yao could not care about thinking about Xiao Se. He controlled Xiao Yan's body to ascend into the sky. The bone-white flame rose in his hand, turning into a fire arrow that shot out violently, finally colliding fiercely with that black chain.
"Bang!"
The two collided, and a muffled sound suddenly rang out. The expected energy explosion did not come; there was only a circle of jet-black energy ripples mixed with bone-white color that spread out silently. Wherever the aura passed, the space trembled.
The black chain was retracted, and the Soul Hall Protector stood in mid-air without moving an inch. In contrast, Yao Chen's figure retreated dozens of meters. With one strike, the difference in strength was immediately apparent.
"Hehehe, Yao Chen, you have become weaker." After repelling Yao Chen, the Soul Hall Protector could not be happier. One must know that the former was the dignified Venerable Yao famous throughout the Fighting Qi Continent, while he was only an Earth RankProtector at the bottom of the Hall of Souls.
"Damn it, if only I had a real body." Being repelled by a six-star Dou Zong made Yao Chen, who was a Dou Zun Peak in his lifetime, feel extremely stifled.
"That's right, but unfortunately you don't." The Soul Hall Protector summoned four more chains, which turned into black lines, tore through the sky, and shot toward Yao Chen from all directions.
One black chain was already making Venerable Yao struggle, and this time, with four more added, Venerable Yao began to be a bit overwhelmed. One must know that these black chains had a very serious restraining effect on spirit power. Even with the Bone Chilling Flame, given his current condition, it was extremely dangerous.
After a round of fighting, Venerable Yao gradually fell into a disadvantage.
"Hehehehe, surrender, Yao Chen." The Soul Hall Protector laughed sinisterly, controlling four of the black chains to bind Yao Chen's limbs, and then urged the last one to pierce toward Yao Chen's chest.
"Oh no." Yao Chen's pupils were hollow. The Bone Chilling Flame desperately covered his whole body, intending to burn the black chains. Although the Heavenly Flame was strong, it would take some time to burn the chains.
"Fourth Spirit Ability — — Heavenly Flame Thousand Pound Wall." Just as Venerable Yao was about to be pierced through the chest by the black chain and pulled out of Xiao Yan's body, an indifferent voice echoed throughout the sky of Yun Lan Mountain. Immediately after, a golden flame barrier blocked in front of Venerable Yao.
The black chain collided with the golden flame barrier. The barrier merely rippled with a faint circle of flames and bounced the former back. Venerable Yao also took the opportunity to control the Bone Chilling Flame to burn off the black iron chains wrapped around his limbs. Amidst his palpitations, a rare faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Who is it? Who is playing god and acting the devil? Get out here!" The Soul Hall Protector looked around, but apart from the suddenly appeared flame barrier, he did not find any suspicious figures. He could not help but be shocked.
"No need to look, I am here." The indifferent voice sounded again. The golden flame barrier dispersed, revealing Xiao Se's familiar figure. He was seen stepping on the Void Realm, hanging in mid-air between the Soul Hall Protector and Venerable Yao, his whole body wreathed in a golden-yellow flame. In addition, he was holding a deep red flame of a different color in his hand.
Black, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red; seven circles of light rose from under his feet, and the gorgeous, dazzling light swirled up around his body.
"It's actually you." The Soul Hall Protector was shocked. As for Xiao Huohuo, whom Xiao Se was disguised as, as a hot figure in the Jia Ma Empire today, he naturally paid attention to him. After all, the Soul of an Alchemist was often the most popular in the Hall of Souls; otherwise, Yao Chen would not have become a key target of the Hall of Souls. It was just that he did not expect that Xiao Se had already broken through to Dou Zong, when just a moment ago he was still exuding the aura of a Dou Huang.
"Not bad, it's me. I have been waiting for you for a long time." Xiao Se smiled contemptuously, his peripheral vision glancing behind him, and smiled lightly: "Venerable Yao, why don't you and I keep him here today?"
"It seems this guy was intentionally lured out by you using me. However, considering you are confronting the Hall of Souls, this old man will not pursue it. Fine, today I will properly settle this account with him." Venerable Yao smiled coldly and looked at the Soul Hall Protector again, his eyes full of mockery. Now that the situation had reversed, he could properly settle the score with this Soul Hall Protector.
"Then let's begin." Xiao Se gave a soft shout in his heart, "Seventh Spirit Ability, Flame True Body."
As the shout rang out in Xiao Se's heart, the seven spirit rings swirling around his body lit up at the same time. The deep red flame in Xiao Se's right hand slowly merged into the golden-yellow flame around his body. The golden-yellow flame surged and suddenly expanded, instantly covering the entire sky above Yun Lan Mountain.
"Damn it, it's actually another Heavenly Flame, and it's even stronger than Yao Chen's flame." Feeling the might in the golden-yellow flame, the Soul Hall Protector cursed in his heart. While releasing the black chains to attack Xiao Se and Venerable Yao, he disregarded his face and shouted loudly: "Yun Shan, why don't you come out and help me?"
(End of Chapter)
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