Protector Wu at the Xiao Family? Imperial Seal Annihilates Heaven!

Misty Cloud Sect.

"I have urgent business. Stay here by yourself. I'll come find you again."

A light yet indisputable voice transmission rang by Yun Yun's ear just as she had regained the dignity of a sect leader. She abruptly turned around, but only caught a golden afterimage flashing out of sight.

That mysterious and powerful youth, Xiao Yao, had vanished without a trace, as though he had never appeared at all.

"Soul Hall..." She softly savored those two words. In her beautiful eyes, now bright with renewed spirit, flashed an unprecedented gravity and... killing intent.

She understood that Xiao Yao's sudden departure was undoubtedly connected to the true culprit that had corrupted her sect and caused her teacher to fall!

Elsewhere, high in the sky, Xiao Yao had already transformed into a streak of light too fast for the naked eye to follow, making one ultra-long-distance spatial shift after another through layered space!

"Grandpa Lu! What level are the enemies who came?!" he calmly asked in his mind, though a trace of suppressed fury lingered in his voice.

"They're still just insignificant little trash!" Grandpa Lu's voice was full of amusement and disdain. "The leaders are two Protector-level fellows like the ones you fought before. Beneath their black robes, they have no physical bodies, only strange soul-body fluctuations. Their strength is around three-star Dou Zong!"

"One of them has an aura on par with that Iron Protector you killed in the Chu Yun Empire last time! The other has a cold and sinister aura, originating from the same source as the residual aura in the Misty Cloud Sect's forbidden grounds. He should be that Soul Hall 'Protector Wu' you kept going on about! Behind them are over a dozen subordinates at the Dou Emperor and Dou Wang levels. They're soul bodies too, not even qualified to serve as fuel for this old man's furnace!"

"Protector Wu... it was actually him!" Xiao Yao's icy killing intent nearly solidified, freezing the surrounding space!

"So that's why he wasn't at the Misty Cloud Sect. He moved ahead of schedule."

He instantly understood the chain of events.

In the original plot, Soul Hall should have waited at least another two years before joining forces with the Misty Cloud Sect against the Xiao Family. Yet they moved so far ahead of schedule!

It seemed my appearance had completely changed the course of the plot, making Soul Hall and the Soul Clan behind them unable to hold back any longer from seizing the Tou She Ancient God Jade!

"Don't worry, kid!" Grandpa Lu said solemnly, with a trace of pride in his voice. "The divine-sense imprint I left in the Xiao Family may not have any offensive power, but the defensive barrier it forms cannot be broken even if those two pathetic little Dou Zongs joined hands and smashed at it with magical artifacts for a lifetime! The Xiao Family is safe!"

Hearing that, Xiao Yao relaxed slightly, but he continued speeding through space.

Wutan City, the Xiao Family residence.

The Xiao Family was no longer as peaceful as before. In its place was an apocalyptic terror and oppression.

A massive barrier as thin as cicada wings, gleaming with the sacred radiance of Golden Flame, covered the entire Xiao Family residence as tightly as an inverted glass bowl.

Outside the barrier, black mist surged into the heavens, accompanied by howls of ghosts and wails of spirits!

Protector Wu and another Hall of Souls Protector hovered in midair like two demonic gods. Behind them, over a dozen black-robed Soul Hall experts stood in a row, radiating terrifying auras powerful enough to make even Dou Emperor experts quake in fear!

"Strange... truly strange..."

Protector Wu's ghostly green eyes, hidden behind the black mist, stared fixedly at the seemingly fragile golden barrier below. His voice was filled with deep confusion and wariness.

"This barrier looks weak, yet it can withstand this Protector's full-force strike! Such power is far beyond what a Dou Wang could create! How could this tiny Xiao Family possess such protective power?!"

Within the barrier, Xiao Zhan and several Xiao Family elders who had just been raised to the Dou Wang realm through medicinal pills were pale as paper, trembling as they watched the terrifying enemies in the sky, as though demonic gods had descended.

That overwhelming, horrifying pressure weighed upon their hearts like countless towering mountains, making even breathing incomparably difficult! Had it not been for the golden barrier that had suddenly risen from Xiao Yao's courtyard and protected the entire family, this aura alone would have been enough to shatter all their souls and make them explode to death!

"W-What is going on?!"

"It's Xiao Yao! It must be a safeguard Xiao Yao left behind!" The Great Elder was the first to react. His voice trembled, yet was filled with wild joy!

"That's right! It must be Young Master Xiao Yao's master! That mighty figure capable of reaching the heavens and earth! He must have foreseen this little situation long ago!"

In the depths of despair, every member of the Xiao Family, without prior agreement, placed all their hopes upon the youth who had created miracles for their family! Like drowning people clutching their final lifeline, they firmly believed that their Young Master Xiao Yao would surely come to save them!

"Hmph! Frogs at the bottom of a well!"

Hearing the cries from below, Protector Wu let out a disdainful sneer. It was as piercing as the cry of a night owl.

"You think a turtle shell from who knows where can keep you alive? How laughably naive!"

He coldly ordered his subordinates behind him in a voice full of cruelty, "All of you, attack together! Slowly grind this barrier to pieces! At worst, we'll invite one of the Elders to come! This Protector wants to see exactly how long it can hold! And while we're at it, let these ignorant mortals experience what true despair is!"

"Yes, Lord Protector!"

The dozen or so Soul Hall experts answered in unison, letting out shrill, sinister cackles!

"Soul Chains! Pierce!"

In an instant, dozens of strange chains condensed from pitch-black soul power filled with resentment and curses shot forth from every direction. Like tentacles reaching out from hell, they wrapped frantically around the golden barrier with sizzling corrosive sounds!

As they tried to wear down the barrier's energy with their chains, they also manipulated the black mist, forming all manner of shrill and horrifying illusions.

Sure enough, uncontrollable panic and unrest began to spread through the Xiao Family crowd. Some of the more timid younger members had even collapsed to the ground, weeping bitterly.

"Young Master Xiao Yao! Where are you?!"

"Young Master Xiao Yao, come back and save us! We can't hold on much longer!"

Desperate cries rose one after another, filled with hopelessness.

Protector Wu listened with twisted delight, but suddenly saw that the Xiao Family members below, who had been panicking like lambs awaiting slaughter, all stopped crying out in an instant. They raised their heads in unison, their faces erupting with an indescribable ecstasy and worship, as though they had survived a great calamity!

"It's Young Master Xiao Yao! Young Master Xiao Yao has returned!"

"Hm?"

Protector Wu's heart suddenly lurched. An intense, fatal sense of danger instantly enveloped his entire body! Instinctively, he jerked his head up!

He saw only that the sky above had suddenly... darkened.

Then, an unimaginable and vast pressure that made his soul nearly leave his body—one that caused even the origin of his soul to tremble madly—came crashing down from the ninth heavens!

He struggled to raise his gaze, only to see a terrifying giant seal as enormous as a mountain, seemingly blotting out the entire sky. Carved with countless profound golden runes, it tore through the clouds and crushed space as it descended slowly yet irresistibly upon their heads, carrying the supreme momentum to destroy all ages and suppress all heavens!

Upon that massive golden seal stood a young, upright figure with his hands behind his back! His robes fluttered in the wind, his gaze indifferent, like a god who held dominion over life and death and judged all living beings!

A cold, domineering voice brimming with endless killing intent resounded through heaven and earth like divine thunder from the ninth heavens!

"Soul Hall scum, are you ready... to die?"

"Imperial Seal Art... Heaven Annihilating Seal!"