The Might of a Million Year Soul Beast

En Ci's long silver-white hair drifted behind his battle armor mask.

"We'll know once we try."

As the number one figure of the Star Luo Empire, a true veteran Limit Douluo and Four-Word Battle Armor Master, En Ci naturally possessed his own pride.

Perhaps he had been invincible and lonely for too long, making him unwilling to believe that anyone in this world could surpass him by too much. Even Yun Ming, the continent's number one, could not possibly defeat him in a short time.

What was more, his old friend Hu Jie was backing him up. Hu Jie's cultivation had nearly reached the absolute peak of the Super Douluo rank, and with his Four-Word Battle Armor equipped, even ordinary Limit Douluos would find it difficult to take him down.

With the power of their Qilin Arms, honed through many single years as two best bros, who among the world's powerhouses could stand against them?!

Filled with incomparably strong confidence, En Ci's Four-Word Battle Armor shone brilliantly. He slapped his right hand through the air, producing successive sonic booms. A terrifying aura spread out, crushing toward the Demon Empress, as though the entire space were collapsing.

Though the move was simple, that did not mean En Ci had held back.

Once one's cultivation reached the Limit Douluo level, soul skills were no longer important. Every move followed the Great Dao in its simplest form, returning to the essence; each was supremely powerful, all fused into one and wielded at will.

"Hm?"

Yet the other party's reaction left En Ci startled and suspicious.

The Black-Robed Woman before him did not move at all. She did not even use her battle armor, as if she intended to withstand his attack head-on.

How could this not astonish him? Even Yun Ming, the continent's number one, would not dare receive his full-force attack with his bare body!

Crossing the final fleeting stretch of space, the force of his palm finally landed on the Demon Empress. Yet there was no bloody sight of her exploding into a mist of blood, as En Ci had expected.

The Demon Empress's loose black robe billowed violently, the impact spreading from the point of contact across her entire body.

That palm strike was like hitting the surface of a vast ocean, stirring up raging waves all around without causing any real damage to the sea itself. All Rivers Run into the Sea had actually manifested upon a person.

"How is that possible?!"

However, while En Ci was frozen in shock, the Demon Empress had already made her move. The moment she acted, she went all out, carrying the intent to kill.

The Purple-Gold light around her body compressed violently, forming a cocoon of light almost instantaneously.

At the same time, the Purple-Gold cocoon spun violently and shot outward like a top, carrying the boundless power of the sea.

The next instant, the place they stood transformed into a small world. The sky was dyed Purple-Gold, and with heaven pressing down upon earth, she crashed fiercely toward Hu Jie like a Purple-Gold meteor.

This was her strongest technique: Vortex Kill!

It was enough to kill even Limit Douluos with relatively weak defenses in a single blow.

To be safe, she had chosen Hu Jie—a soul master infinitely close to the Limit realm, yet not a Limit Douluo.

Relying on the body of a soul beast with Nine Hundred Ninety Thousand Years of cultivation, possessing a strength no less than a divine body, she had withstood Limit Douluo En Ci's full-force strike head-on. She had to seize the initiative and kill Hu Jie first.

After that, only En Ci would remain. There was a vast difference between pursuing one person and pursuing two.

He was merely an ordinary Limit Douluo. So long as she paid a certain price, she could kill him in a short time, preventing them from spreading the news and drawing more people here to disturb Di Tian.

It would also allow her to return sooner and continue Protecting the Dao for Di Tian.

She did not believe Di Tian could have perished without a sound. If he was alive, she had to see him; if dead, she had to see his body!

Yet, just like En Ci's attack, her full-force strike failed to achieve its intended result.

Smiling Douluo Hu Jie's reaction speed naturally could not allow him to actively defend against the Demon Empress's Vortex Kill. However, battle instincts forged over many years made his body move before his mind could react.

Sensing the threat of death, his Twin Martial Souls, Golden Belly Silver Hips, activated at the same time. Gold and silver radiance reflected off one another, and even the air grew heavy. His figure stood as towering as a mountain, as if bearing Qian Jun's weight.

Vast vitality and golden-silver light formed a vortex. Attraction and repulsion shifted back and forth, blocking the strike before the gleaming Golden Belly.

Clang—

Vortex Kill crashed violently into the gold-and-silver vortex. Like an iron hammer striking a thin bell, it shattered upon contact. The powerful Four-Word Battle Armor collapsed and broke apart as well. His bulging stomach pouch caved in from the impact, and the Golden Belly Martial Soul shattered irreversibly.

A deep crater was smashed into the ground. Hu Jie was ground into its depths, his life force faint, but he ultimately did not perish.

"Self Martial Soul Fusion Skill!" The words were practically forced out between the Demon Empress's teeth, and her face beneath the mist was incomparably ugly.

But she quickly realized that this was not a true Martial Soul Fusion Skill. It was still short by a sliver, yet it possessed defensive power at the instantaneous Limit level, surpassing even ordinary Limit Douluos.

This delay from that same strike gave Hu Jie and En Ci the chance to flee separately.

Their years of friendship had given them flawless coordination. Each knew what the other was thinking. The Black-Robed Woman was far too powerful; fleeing together meant certain death, while splitting up at least gave one of them a chance to contact reinforcements and overturn this hopeless situation.

The decisive Demon Empress immediately split off a clone, preparing to pursue them separately. Even if she had to pay an enormous price, she would kill them before they could spread the information!

At that very instant, a familiar voice stopped her forward-leaning figure.

"You've worked hard. Rest for a moment."

"They won't escape."

Di Tian, enveloped in a Seven-Colored Halo, strolled forth. Seven-Colored Divine Light swept out, shooting into the distance like a rainbow in an instant.

The Seven-Colored Divine Light changed the color of heaven and earth as it spread in both directions, intercepting the fleeing Hu Jie and En Ci in an instant. As the Seven-Colored Divine Light swept over them, their bodies abruptly froze, unable to move even the slightest bit.

Of their entire bodies, only their minds could still move—and those were filled with terror.

Not even the Demon Empress had given them such a feeling before. At least she remained within the limits of what they could sense. But the person acting now could not even be sensed at all, as though he had struck from nowhere and immobilized them in an instant.

Smiling Douluo Hu Jie was one thing. Having just been critically wounded and left on the verge of death by the Demon Empress's full-force strike, it was understandable that he would be immobilized by a stronger expert while struggling to flee.

But Saint Dragon Douluo En Ci was different. He was still at full strength, a Limit Douluo clad in Four-Word Battle Armor.

Even if the courage to fight had vanished, even if his body could not move, surely he had not lost even the right to ignite the Flame of Life and make a desperate final stand?

This doubt was only resolved when his sluggish mind finally caught up.

His powerful Light Sacred Dragon bloodline had unexpectedly begun to wither. This was a tremor from the depths of his bloodline—the absolute suppression of a superior over an inferior. Even his own strength had been suppressed by more than half. He could not even ignite the Flame of Life on his own; his life and death were firmly clenched in the other party's hand.

A trace of misery was the last change in his emotions.

The Seven-Colored Divine Light swept over them like a beam of illumination. Beneath the seven-hued radiance, the two experts standing at the pinnacle of the continent faded away bit by bit—not merely their bodies vanishing completely, but their souls collapsing as well.