"An Ancient Sacred Dragon? Your lightning is admittedly not weak, but this dragon is nothing more than a crawling reptile! A thing driven by a dragon--are you a dragon or a human? Complete garbage!"
The angry roar of Six Lives and Five Realms echoed through the Ancient Golden Tree. With a single punch, he blasted the condensing Ancient Sacred Dragon apart, sending it flying into the distance along with its un-spat lightning ball and dragon head.
"An Evil Fire Phoenix? Purifying the evil fire? Laughable! It should be the evil fire tempering the body; one must command and conquer power rather than be controlled by it... Only by facing death can one be reborn through Nirvana! That is a true phoenix!" He slapped his palm toward that fire-spitting "little sparrow," twitching his fingertips to agitate its core evil fire. In an instant, billowing black flames swept over its entire body, causing it to be burned alive by its own dark side.
"Reptiles and little sparrows shouldn't come out to make fools of themselves! Ignorant beasts! Control the beast, do not become the beast! Humans are born fragile, lacking the strength of bone and muscle, and the sharpness of claws and teeth, yet they can harness all things for their use--weak in form, but strong in spirit!" He backhanded away the energies that had been worn down by time into the semblance of beasts, his tone brimming with disdain.
The moment he finished speaking, a ferocious tiger charged at him! Six Lives and Five Realms instantly perceived that boundless, slaughtering force interwoven with the aura of war and weapons, rushing straight at his phantom.
"Not bad! A tiger in the heart, guided by the mind! What a white tiger! Finally, something worth fighting!"
The phantom of Six Lives and Five Realms shifted rapidly through several forms before finally locking into the appearance of "Huang." His hands tensed as he met the charging tiger's maw. His silhouette, which had looked somewhat slight against the backdrop of the white tiger, swelled in an instant. His hands forced open the bloody maw--one hand propping up the lower jaw, the other pressing against the sharp upper teeth. Staring at the hideous tiger fangs right in front of his mask, he engaged in a contest of pure strength between man and beast.
The chilling offensive of the white tiger, which governed slaughter, ultimately held the upper hand. In the contest of strength, Huang fell into a disadvantage. Facing the continuously closing tiger maw, two robust fangs pierced deeply into his back.
"Worthy of the name of the fierce beast, the White Tiger!"
Huang gave a low shout and activated his divine ability--Otherworldly Arm! A powerful, crimson arm suddenly materialized from his flank and smashed a ferocious punch directly into the white tiger! The white tiger was instantly sent flying, crashing heavily against the branches of the Ancient Golden Tree.
"A pity. Your most primitive 'Natal Divine Ability' is the Martial Soul. External things like soul skill and Soul Bone cannot accompany the soul. You so-called supreme experts are still far too weak in your development of the Martial Soul."
Huang rolled his neck, completely indifferent to the slaughtering force that roamed wildly through his soul body. Moving his body, a divine ability arm extended from each side of his lower abdomen. He held out his right hand and hooked his index finger in a gesture full of mockery. Behind him, a giant crimson Law wheel continuously expanded, its powerful aura shaking the entire space.
The white tiger transformed into a demi-human form, retaining its robust tiger claws and sharp fangs. Crouching low on all fours, its fierce and brutal eyes revealed a few hints of human intellect.
"Oh? Emulating the aura of the white tiger from the Martial Soul Avatar, while blending the habits of a real beast to evolve a combat technique! Before your death, you must have been the supreme expert of that era!"
Seeing this, Huang also abandoned his previous upright stance. He turned his body and lowered his waist, sinking into a horse stance. Extending his right hand into a fist, his piercing gaze locked onto the white tiger's movements.
The white tiger let out a roar first--as the old saying goes, "the tiger roars in the mountain forest." This roar was surging and majestic, earning it the title of King of Beasts by aura alone. It had also thoroughly grasped the essence of the tiger species. As "dragons follow the clouds, tigers follow the wind," a protective astral qi enveloped its entire body, and its figure charged forward swiftly, riding the wind.
The white tiger lunged at Huang once more, its right front claw aiming directly for his chest. Watching the expanding tiger palm, Huang actually chose to take it head-on! Five deep claw marks instantly appeared on his chest, but he also took the opportunity to seize the white tiger--his right hand clamped onto the tiger claw, while his Otherworldly Arm locked the tiger's neck in a death grip. With a twisting side kick, he firmly planted himself on the tiger's back.
He drew back his right hand deeply as visible power continuously condensed upon his fist. Just as he was about to smash his fist into the white tiger's spine to pierce right through it, a serpent tail suddenly wrapped around his arm, forcefully dampening the punch's power.
Though it failed to snap the white tiger in half, the blow still shattered nearly forty percent of its radiance, causing its aura to dim instantly.
"Oh? The tiger's roar was meant to awaken the other consciousnesses that can still remain independent? You still want to try one more time? Come on!"
Huang looked completely unbothered at the phantoms before him--seventy percent were beast Martial Souls, thirty percent were tool Martial Souls, and rare among them was one complete human form. He glanced at the feathered serpent wrapped around his arm, thirty percent of whose body had still not faded, and shook it off with a casual flick.
At this moment, Huang was like an invincible warrior fighting against heaven and earth. At first, he merely paced slowly, but as his aura continuously escalated, his steps grew faster and faster, until he charged directly into the souls that were still able to stand.
Leaping slightly, he brought his hands together like a massive sledgehammer, smashing down fiercely onto the head of an unknown wolf-type beast. Then, pivoting his body, he swung his fists, scattering the surrounding phantoms into total disarray using nothing but his bare hands!
A flying dragon spitting fire? Broken with a single punch!
A tiger roaring in the forest? Slashed in half by a single palm!
A serpent binding the body? Shattered by a stable stance!
"A crowd of defeated remnants..." Huang tilted his head to dodge a decapitating strike from a swordsman, seizing him with a reverse palm as the Anatta Avatar instantly attached to his body. He casually condensed a longsword, shaking the blade slightly in his hand before sneering, "The very purpose of a weapon's birth is to kill! What sword qi, what sword soul? All of it is a heretical path! Just swing the sword!"
Crossing his arms, Huang held the longsword horizontally in front of his body and dropped into a horse stance before executing a fierce slash! A wave of violent, slaughtering aura swept across the surroundings. The flash of the sword fell like lightning, piercing straight ahead--every obstacle dissolved within the sword light.
This sharp sword light pierced straight through the Ancient Golden Tree, sliced open a corner of the Sea God Pavilion built inside the tree core, and even severed the divine sense left behind by Yun Ming.
Huang looked at the mess everywhere: the decapitated Ancient Sacred Dragon, the white tiger sliced at the waist, the shattered feathered serpent, the broken divine spear, and several weapons thrust deeply into the ground. Shaking his arms, he retracted his "Otherworldly Arm" divine ability. He cast a casual glance around as his form reverted back to the appearance of Baili Yuan.
Dragging the now-comatose Ah Yin in his hand, Baili Yuan was just about to leave when a powerful light orb blending light and fire suddenly smashed toward him, striking him dead-on while he was completely unguarded!
A massive cloud of smoke and haze erupted within the consciousness space. A Radiant Phoenix spread its wings and flew out from the pile of corpses, transforming back into a well-dressed, mustachioed middle-aged man--none other than Yanzhi Zhe. He dove toward Baili Yuan, intending to snatch Ah Yin from his grasp.
Suddenly, a hand parted the smoke directly. Baili Yuan, dressed in his suit and leather shoes, found himself staring eye-to-eye with him. Yanzhi Zhe's heart filled with shock--Baili Yuan, whose aura had clearly weakened by a large margin, showed absolutely no reaction after taking his full-force strike!
Instead, Baili Yuan revealed an expression of extreme surprise. His mouth hung slightly open, and then he slowly began to clap, his eyes filled with "admiration."
"Excellent! In this life, what I, Baili Yuan, admire most are people who dare to launch a sneak attack--because if you fail to kill the target, you yourself will die a miserable death!"
He sized Yanzhi Zhe up from head to toe and laughed eerily, "Could it be that you are also some kind of peerless expert? This Baili Yuan admires you! Yanzhi Zhe, Rank 97... a dragon and phoenix among men! Truly a dragon and phoenix among men!"
Laughing with a sinister "jie jie jie," Baili Yuan extended his "demonic claws," reaching toward Yanzhi Zhe, who still possessed life and consciousness.
No one knew what exactly transpired within the consciousness space that day.
It wasn't until Yun Ming returned and questioned the Titled Douluo guarding the Sea God Pavilion that they managed to piece together fragments of the situation: the Ancient Golden Tree had suddenly erupted with four layers of life energy, transforming into a sky-blotting Sea God's Light before flying away.
Following that, the straight tree trunk began to twist and wind. Whenever anyone attempted to draw near, countless chaotic soul skills would shoot out through the bark. Not only did this destroy the Sea God Pavilion, but it was also accompanied by various forms of mental deterrence--anyone below the level of a Super Douluo simply could not get close.
Even more bizarrely, the Golden Tree also let out waves of miserable, tragic wails.
The Titled Douluos did not dare to advance rashly. They could only seal off the scene, quietly awaiting Yun Ming's return...