Surrounded Again

The Spirit Hall Soul Saints watched helplessly as Yan's arm dropped down the rocky mountainside, and Ling Chen's Green Steel Sword came slashing toward him again.

Yan gritted his teeth through the pain and leaped down. As he dodged Ling Chen's attack, he caught his severed arm and ordered the Soul Saints.

"I'll hold him off. Focus on the target!"

At his command, the Soul Saints each unleashed their Martial Soul Avatars, gathering their strength as they pressed toward Tang San. Tang San released his Blue Silver Grass and Eight Spider Soul Bone, wrapping himself and Xiao Wu in layer upon layer of protection.

A faint smile curled Ling Chen's lips. A single clone had forced Yan off the rocky mountain. How was he supposed to dodge the attacks in midair?

Ling Chen's main body stood below the rocky mountain. In midair, Yan forcibly jammed his arm back into place, gritted his teeth, and bound it with strips of cloth.

"That's brutal!"

Ling Chen silently gave Yan a thumbs-up. Now that was a real man!

"Too bad you ran into me!"

Ling Chen assumed a stance and began gathering strength. The moment Yan was about to land, Ling Chen would swing his sword and cut him in half.

"Fifth Soul Skill—Flying Sand Wild Flame!"

A pillar of magma suddenly burst from the earth. With the all-attribute boost from his Peerless Domain, Ling Chen immediately put some distance between them.

The pillar shot skyward, swallowing Yan in an instant.

On the rocky mountain, Ling Chen's clone used its illusory form to put distance between itself and the blast. The magma shattered half the mountain, triggering a collapse.

Only after pulling back did Ling Chen notice the Green Steel Sword in his hand glowing faintly red. It had absorbed a trace of Soul Power drawn from Yan just moments ago.

The pillar of fire gradually sank, revealing Yan's body once more. The hand whose arm had just been severed had returned to its original state.

Still, healing such an injury must have cost him a tremendous amount of Soul Power.

"You're pretty durable! I like it! Hahahaha!"

Yan clutched the wound as it slowly healed, his face full of killing intent. But when he saw the strange grin on the little brat's face and heard the inhuman things he said, his expression darkened even further.

In a fair fight, he'd never taken a beating like this before. He was always the one breaking other people's bones, and few could pierce his defenses. As a member of the Golden Generation, he was already powerful among those of his level. But now...

A child had cut off his arm and taunted him. To him, this was the deepest humiliation imaginable.

Xiao Wu, huddled in Tang San's arms, had also seen Yan's wretched state. They had fought during the Soul Master Elite Tournament, so Xiao Wu knew exactly how strong Yan was. He had come through a two-on-one assault by Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing without a scratch. His fighting strength was terrifying.

But what had just happened had completely changed her opinion of the little boy called Li Tianyi.

"Brat, you've managed to enrage me! You two came out of Slaughter City, so neither of you is any good! You dare interfere with Spirit Hall's business? You're asking for death!"

Yan roared, and a scorching heat rose from beneath his feet.

It was Yan's fourth Soul Skill—Magma Surging. It could form a magma domain ten meters in diameter, where fiery hands rose from the molten rock to trap enemies and burn them continuously.

Ling Chen was completely unafraid. He couldn't use killing intent to strengthen his domain right now, but he could use sword energy! The boost might not be as terrifying as the one from killing intent, but it was enough to keep him from falling behind in the fight.

Ling Chen steadied his breath and focused, resonating with the Green Steel Sword in his hand. Sword intent, into energy!

The Peerless Domain expanded again, its 44% boost climbing to 46%, then 47%... and finally 50%. The boost stopped there, while the domain's range expanded by around sixty meters.

"Damn it! What did you do?"

Yan felt his Soul Power draining faster and glared at Ling Chen through clenched teeth. He had little Soul Power left, and unleashing Soul Skills already took a heavy toll. He was struggling to keep up.

Ling Chen said nothing. Magma Surging might be an area-of-effect skill, but it couldn't match the distance he could cover by swapping places with an illusion of his Hundred Demon Shadow Clone.

In the blink of an eye, Ling Chen vanished from Yan's sight and appeared beside the rocky mountain that had just collapsed.

Tang San was soon pressed down until he could barely raise his head. Fortunately, thanks to Ling Chen's domain, he wasn't suffering too badly. He had already exhausted his Soul Power, while some of the Soul Saints were starting to sweat.

"Crack, crack!"

Tang San's tough Blue Silver Grass finally gave way, breaking into pieces. He gritted his teeth and held on. Even as his Eight Spider Soul Bone creaked under the pressure, he kept Xiao Wu tightly protected in his arms.

"Damn it, this is too much!"

Ling Chen couldn't bear to watch. He'd been surrounded by those scum in Slaughter City himself, but Tang San had also once saved him from the jaws of death.

Ling Chen was still holding back some of his strength because he wanted them to take him to Spirit Hall, where he could get close to Qian Daoliu.

But Spirit Hall's attitude was no different from those scum in Slaughter City. Ling Chen was determined to slaughter every last one of them.

"Scatter!"

Ling Chen's Shadow Clone instantly split into a hundred figures, a thousand afterimages flashing among the Soul Saints. The sight left Spirit Hall's Soul Saints genuinely stunned.

"Not good!"

Ling Chen's clones darted and weaved through the battlefield. With the sword energy-infused Peerless Domain, any one of them could slice a Soul Saint in two at any moment.

They had no choice but to shift their focus to Ling Chen's clones. These lesser clones had become a threat.

"Destroy them!"

The Soul Saints poured out even more Soul Power. The pressure from their Martial Soul Avatars swept away all of Ling Chen's clones.

Tang San condensed a Clear Sky Hammer and braced it against the ground, holding on with all his might. The immense pressure forced him to break through to level 60.

"Hey!"

Ling Chen pointed up at the sky with his little hand. If only he'd gone to stand beside Tang San and taken some of that pressure too. Maybe he could've reached level 20.

But after thinking it over, Ling Chen gave up on the idea. With his little body, he'd probably be flattened.

"Can you still hold out?"

Ling Chen came to Tang San's side with his sword in hand. A fierce battle was about to begin. Tang San was ready to risk everything, prepared to stake his life in a fight against Spirit Hall's people.

Tang San gasped for breath, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and dripping onto the Manjushage blooming on the ground.

Ling Chen couldn't change the outcome of this battle, but he could alter the fate of a few Soul Saints. He needed to get ready to loot the bodies.

Ling Chen charged forward with his sword, moving so fast that afterimages appeared. Within Ling Chen's domain, all were equal—except him.

The Soul Saints were already badly depleted. Fighting in Ling Chen's domain, the gap between their combat strengths would only keep shrinking.

"Take Li Tianyi down first! His domain is too damn annoying!"

One of the Soul Saints couldn't help complaining. He couldn't think of any other word to describe Ling Chen's domain, because there simply wasn't one.

The Soul Saints swarmed him. Ling Chen was fast, but they still managed to surround him.

"Can't you do anything besides surround me?"

Ling Chen watched the encirclement slowly close in, looking utterly helpless. Couldn't they come up with something original to deal with him? Did they really have to force him to learn a flying Soul Skill?