One Against Four

The group wore black mage robes, with the Dark Church's emblem embroidered on their chests and sleeves. Even the magical beasts they rode bore the Dark Church's emblem.

The two men at the head of the group were distinct from the others. One was entirely shrouded in a loose black robe and rode a Level Nine Magical Beast, a Two-headed Black Lion. The other was exceptionally muscular, stood two meters tall, and carried a gigantic sword even larger than himself on his back. He rode a Level Nine Magical Beast, a Unicorn Elephant.

Besides those two, there were five other ninth-rank experts. Their lineup was clearly formidable.

When the two men detected the Saint-level Tyrannosaurus with their spiritual force, they also noticed Fang Yun, who hadn't concealed himself.

Two Saint-level experts!

Even so, they weren't afraid of facing two Saint-level experts. Besides the magical beasts they rode, each of them had a contracted Saint-level magical beast following far behind. In other words, there were actually four Saint-level experts among them.

The group soon drew close to Fang Yun. At the same time, they immediately noticed the Doham brothers.

Prequet looked at the people in the distance, releasing his dragon's might. The magical beasts beneath them began trembling at once.

The two men at the head of the group looked grim. They resisted the dragon's might, finally calming their mounts, but the beasts still felt fear deep in their hearts.

The dragon's might unique to the Dragon Race had a powerful intimidating effect on other magical beasts. That was why other magical beasts were at a disadvantage when facing dragons.

"Who are you? Why are you opposing the Dark Church?"

Fudolin, the leader, spoke first. His voice sounded like a child's. "Aren't you afraid of offending the Lord of Darkness?"

"Enough. Don't try to scare me with that nonsense you use to fool people."

Fang Yun waved a hand dismissively. The Lord of Darkness was the Highgod of Darkness. Back when Highgods competed for faith, perhaps the so-called Lord of Darkness would have paid attention to the Material Plane. But now, even if the Dark Church were destroyed, the Lord of Darkness wouldn't spare it a glance.

Even if he conceded the worst-case scenario and the Lord of Darkness descended, Fang Yun still wouldn't be afraid.

"Heh. The Dark Church is just as hypocritical as the Radiant Church."

Prequet snorted disdainfully, releasing a puff of white smoke.

Among the magical beasts, the only powers they truly cared about were the Temple of Life and War God Mountain. They generally looked down on the other factions.

Fang Yun and Prequet's words darkened Fudolin's expression. "Blaspheming against the Dark Church is a grave crime! Prepare to face the Lord's punishment!"

As Fudolin spoke, he shot into the air.

Clem flew up at the same time, surrounded by dark energy.

In the distance, two magical beasts came racing toward them: a Thunder-flowing Electric Leopard and a Blood-eyed Mane Lion, both among the most powerful Saint-level magical beasts.

In the blink of an eye, the two beasts grew to dozens of meters tall and nearly a hundred meters long before landing.

The two men each stood atop their own magical beast's head.

"Roar!"

Prequet's body expanded in an instant, growing a hundred meters tall in the blink of an eye.

The atmosphere became tense at once.

Fang Yun remained calm as he floated into the air, facing Fudolin and the other three Saint-level experts. "Let's see what the Dark Church is capable of."

As for Prequet, he stood beside the Doham brothers. With him there, the other ninth-rank experts Fudolin had brought didn't dare approach.

"Mr. Prequet, the lord..."

Doham was worried.

Saint-level experts stood at the peak of the Yulan Continent. It was rare to even see one, yet the Dark Church had sent four at once. That was a terrifying force.

Just thinking about it was enough to make them despair.

"Heh, don't worry. Those Dark Church scum aren't a match for our master."

Prequet sounded perfectly casual.

Back in the Sunset Mountain Range, Fang Yun had faced multiple opponents alone more than once. That was why Prequet revered him from the bottom of its heart. Even without the Master-Servant Contract, it wouldn't have dared go against Fang Yun's wishes.

Seeing that Fang Yun had flown up alone and the Saint-level Tyrannosaurus had no intention of helping, merely guarding the two Bolei Clan descendants, Fudolin's expression darkened. "Arrogant."

Saint-level experts varied in strength, but even the pope of the Radiant Church wouldn't dare face four Saint-level experts alone. Fudolin was at the second stage of the Saint-level peak, and his strength wasn't much lower than the pope's.

"Stop wasting your breath. Blaspheming against the Lord of Darkness is punishable by death!"

Clem spoke up and took the giant sword from his back. Battle energy surged into it at once.

Fudolin nodded. "Get ready to attack. Let's finish this quickly!"

Clem answered, then separated from the Thunder-flowing Electric Leopard beneath him. He and Fudolin, along with the Blood-eyed Mane Lion, formed a triangle around Fang Yun.

Fang Yun watched them get ready. Otherwise, given his speed, they wouldn't have had time to react.

"Are you ready? I'll attack once you are."

Fang Yun looked nonchalant.

"Arrogant."

Fudolin snorted.

The Blood-eyed Mane Lion beneath him let out a roar and opened its mouth, spewing a huge mass of flames. The flames coiled together into a gigantic tornado and spread toward Fang Yun.

The ground melted into what looked like lava wherever the flames touched it, showing just how powerful they were.

Elsewhere, countless arcs of electricity crackled around the Thunder-flowing Electric Leopard. It seemed to turn into lightning itself as it charged toward Fang Yun in an instant.

Clem wielded his greatsword, sending countless streaks of black battle energy slashing toward Fang Yun. Each sword beam could easily cut the top off a mountain.

This wasn't their first time working together. They had once joined forces to kill a Saint-level expert, and their teamwork was exceptionally well coordinated.

The flames filled the sky, bolts of lightning flashed erratically, and enormous black sword beams converged on the space where Fang Yun stood.

The space itself began to tremble.

In the distance, both the Dark Church experts and the Doham brothers turned pale.

The scene before them looked like the end of the world.

Even Prequet wore a solemn expression. If it had faced that attack, it would have been gravely wounded even if it survived.

Their world-shattering attack drew the attention of countless people. They all stared at the area in shock. This had to be a battle between Saint-level experts!

In an instant, countless eyes turned toward the area above the nameless hill.

At the center of the attack, Fang Yun sensed the strength of the energy and didn't feel particularly nervous.

The three attacks looked powerful, but only to ordinary people. To Fang Yun, they were all flash and no substance.

It wasn't just Fang Yun. Any Saint-level expert at the peak could easily break through the four-man attack.

However, although other Saint-level experts could easily break through their combined attack, enduring all four attacks head-on would still be dangerous.

Light-style elements swirled around Fang Yun's body, forming a defense that effortlessly blocked the flames and sword beams. At the same time, he moved and punched rapidly, firmly stopping the Thunder-flowing Electric Leopard's enormous claw as it came crashing down from the sky.

Fang Yun and the Thunder-flowing Electric Leopard were vastly different in size, but the leopard couldn't hurt him at all. It even felt as though a tremendous force had struck its huge body, and the sound of bones cracking rang out. Then came a furious roar.

"Dark Annihilation!"

At that moment, Fudolin stared at Fang Yun in the center of the attack and spoke.

Dark magic rarely appeared on the Yulan Continent. After all, dark mages mainly operated in the Dark Alliance.

And since there were very few Dark Saint Magi to begin with, people knew little about dark magic.

Dark Annihilation was one of the forbidden spells of dark magic.

As Fudolin's voice fell, the entire sky visibly darkened, as if all its light had been sucked away. It became darker than night.

A powerful pressure bore down on their souls.

Night didn't affect the vision of Saint-level experts, but Dark Annihilation was different. Even a Saint-level expert couldn't see what was happening inside the spell's range.

The people watching from afar were shaken to their core by the sight.

Fang Yun watched as the sky went completely dark, but he still didn't reveal too much of his true strength. Instead, he took out the longbow he'd obtained in the Sunset Mountain Range. "Let's see how powerful you are."

As he spoke, Fang Yun held the bow in one hand and drew the string with the other. Battle energy surged into the bow, and hazy halos appeared. They flowed like currents of air, swirling and winding around one another before forming the phantom of an arrow made of battle energy.

The bow curved like a full moon; the arrow looked like a spear!

"Whoosh!"

The arrow shot toward the sky, trailing countless beams of light.

A beam of light suddenly shot through the space shrouded in Dark Annihilation, drawing everyone's attention.

Fang Yun hadn't poured much battle energy into the bow, but the bow itself was an extraordinarily powerful divine artifact. With the artifact's enhancement, even that small amount of battle energy easily broke through Dark Annihilation.

That was the power a mighty weapon added to an attack.

Dark Annihilation had only just descended. Before the crowd could finish marveling at it, a dazzling beam of light appeared and pierced right through the darkness. It was like a tiny hole punched in a black cloth covering a lamp. Then countless more beams appeared.

From a distance, the darkened area seemed to erupt with countless shafts of light shooting into the sky.

Then came several tremendous booms.

Dark Annihilation broke apart like shattered cloth and vanished in an instant.

As the spell dissipated, the scene appeared before everyone's eyes.

Fang Yun stood unharmed with the longbow in his hand. The Blood-eyed Mane Lion's flames had gone out, and red lava still covered the ground, giving off white smoke as it slowly cooled...

Clem's face was embedded in a nearby mountainside, his body buried in the rock and covered in blood.

The Thunder-flowing Electric Leopard had shrunk back down and lay trapped beneath Fang Yun's foot, unable to move at all. No matter how hard it struggled, it couldn't escape. The electricity around its body flickered weakly, and its aura had grown feeble.

As for Fudolin, standing atop the Blood-eyed Mane Lion's head, his aura was extremely unstable after Fang Yun directly broke Dark Annihilation. The arrow seemed to have carried a spiritual attack as well, and his face had turned deathly pale. He had clearly been badly injured.

The Doham brothers' eyes widened, filled with disbelief.

"This... my lord... he..."

Doham couldn't find the words.

What had happened? How had everything changed in an instant?

Prequet had told them Fang Yun was very strong, and that other Saint-level experts weren't a match for him, but... one against four, effortlessly crushing them? This...

That was right. To them, it was a complete rout.

The Doham brothers weren't the only ones shaken. Even Prequet was stunned by the sight.

Our master is so strong!

It had already tried to imagine just how powerful Fang Yun was, but now it realized it had still underestimated him!

Of course, the most shocked were the Dark Church members.

Fudolin's eyes were especially full of terror.

"You..."

Fudolin's voice trembled. "Who exactly are you?!"

After casting Dark Annihilation, he'd seen Fang Yun take out his bow. Then he'd felt a terrifying surge of spiritual force, like an ocean crashing into his mind. He'd nearly fainted.

It was a terrifying spiritual attack, pure and simple!

He couldn't resist it at all!

That bow was an incredibly powerful weapon!

And no one on the continent had ever heard of a powerful expert who wielded a longbow! Even among reclusive experts, no one could possibly be this strong...

A Light-style expert—could he be from the Radiant Church?

If the Radiant Church had an expert like this, the Dark Church would have been destroyed long ago.

But if he wasn't from the Radiant Church, who could reach this level of power with light elements?

Impossible!

Fang Yun stepped down on the Thunder-flowing Electric Leopard. "Stay still."

Only after the leopard quieted down did Fang Yun look at Fudolin. "Tell Affleck I want these two. And I want the Tiger-striped Secret Manual, too. That's all."

Fang Yun was just about to leave when he suddenly remembered something and looked back at Fudolin. "Oh, right. Remember, my name is Fang Yun. I'm from the South Sea. If you still want revenge, come find me."

A faint smile touched Fang Yun's lips. "Of course, next time you won't be so lucky."

Fudolin and the others didn't dare respond to Fang Yun's words.

The Dark Church was one of the strongest churches on the Yulan Continent, and it had a well-informed network. If Fang Yun wanted to find the Tiger-striped Secret Manual, the Dark Church could do it far more easily than he could on his own.

With that, Fang Yun put away the longbow and flew over to Prequet and the Doham brothers.

The brothers still looked utterly disbelieving, their bodies trembling with excitement.

Seeing their expressions, Fang Yun smiled casually. "Let's go. We're done here. After looking around the Dark Alliance, we'll go take a look around the Holy Union, too. I hear there are quite a few interesting places there..."

"Oh, oh..."

The Doham brothers hurriedly came back to their senses and nodded without thinking.

Prequet quickly recovered as well. It shrank down, glanced at Fudolin and the others, then turned to the Doham brothers. "Haha, let's go."

Fudolin and the others didn't dare breathe freely until Fang Yun rode off on Prequet. They had been afraid he would simply kill them.

After all, with the strength Fang Yun had just shown, destroying the Dark Church wouldn't have been difficult.

When had such a terrifying expert appeared on the Yulan Continent? It was as if he'd come from nowhere.

Fang Yun?

It seemed the Yulan Continent had gained another Saint-level expert at the peak.

Another figure they couldn't afford to provoke.

"What... cough, cough... what do we do? Cough..."

Clem was still coughing up blood. Fang Yun had kicked him once, and that single kick had left him gravely wounded. It was terrifying.

Fudolin slowly closed his eyes and steadied his injuries before speaking. "Give up on those two. Report what happened today to Affleck exactly as it happened. Provoking an expert like that would be a disaster for the Church!"

Fudolin knew very well that even if they took the Doham brothers back and summoned a Fallen Angel, it still wouldn't be a match for Fang Yun.

He's too strong.

The Dark Church.

After listening to Fudolin and Clem, Affleck looked at their condition and fell silent.

Fang Yun from the South Sea? Already at the Saint-level peak?

The master of the Saint-level Tyrannosaurus was actually a Saint-level pinnacle expert? And a Light-style one, at that?

"What else did he say...?"

Affleck's tone was grave.

He knew very well how powerful a Saint-level pinnacle expert was. They were absolutely not to be provoked.

Besides, weren't people like that all supposed to be in seclusion, striving to break through to godhood? Why had one appeared in the Dark Alliance?

"He also wants us to give him the Tiger-striped Secret Manual."

Fudolin said it directly.

"The Tiger-striped Secret Manual..."

Affleck fell silent for a moment, then said, "Mobilize everyone. Issue a first-level Black Blood Order and search everywhere for the Tiger-striped Secret Manual. Report any news immediately."

The Black Blood Order was something everyone in the Dark Church had to obey. A first-level Black Blood Order, in particular, had not been issued for hundreds of years.

Issuing a first-level Black Blood Order required the unanimous consent of the Church's senior leadership.

But faced with Fang Yun's demand, Affleck bypassed everyone else and issued a first-level Black Blood Order. Facing a Saint-level pinnacle expert, they could only find a way to mend the rift they had caused.

Fudolin nodded, unsurprised. As long as Affleck knew Fang Yun's strength, he would certainly do this.

Whether the others agreed or not didn't matter. No one with any sense would object.

No one wanted to make an enemy of a powerful Saint-level pinnacle expert.

"As for the South Sea..."

Affleck fell silent for a moment, then said, "I'll go there myself."

Simply completing Fang Yun's task wasn't enough.

After Fang Yun single-handedly defeated the Dark Church's four Saint-level experts, his name—Fang Yun of the South Sea—began to rise across the Yulan Continent.

Countless experts began to admire this suddenly emerged powerhouse.

Even ordinary people started inventing tales about Fang Yun's "adventures," which they compiled into storybooks and circulated.

For a time, Fang Yun was unrivaled in fame across the Yulan Continent.

The nameless hill where the two sides had fought also became a famous landmark.

Because six Saint-level experts had gathered there during Fang Yun's battle, many people began calling the place "Six Saint Mountain."