Their martial souls and defensive abilities were indeed exceptional.
But they were ultimately only Soul Ancestors.
The Death Messenger's Corpse Explosion Technique could easily inflict severe injuries even on Soul Kings.
Even Soul Emperors could be severely wounded if they were the slightest bit careless.
The two of them were substitutes who had joined later. Faced with something like this, they wanted even more to prove themselves, so they had charged far ahead, with many corpses still around them.
They had no way to withstand the continuous bombardment.
At this moment, both had lost consciousness and were drenched in blood. If their martial souls had not been strong enough, they would already have died.
Xu Sanshi had even taken the blast on his back to protect Bei Bei, and his entire back had been blown apart.
Even if he could be saved, whether he would ever be able to stand again was uncertain.
Had Ning Que really plotted anything against these two?
They were simply unlucky.
Elsewhere, Xuan Zi was leisurely searching for something delicious to eat.
Under normal circumstances, after being provoked so blatantly by Jin Heng, he should have paid at least some attention as the team leader.
But the problem was, Xuan Zi was not normal!
Of course, he had his own reasoning. According to the intelligence, the strongest among the enemies this time was only at the Soul King level. With Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng there, it was no problem at all.
An easy win!
"Heh, are they really afraid I can't protect them? Ridiculous!"
"The Nine Treasures Glazed Sect is becoming more and more cowardly. Making such a big fuss over a tiny trial."
Xuan Zi's tone was filled with disdain.
He had figured it out. No matter how talented Ning Que and Ye Guyi were, no matter how high their cultivation was, they were still useless.
They relied on their sect's protection for everything and had never experienced real hardship or battle.
They were merely flowers raised in a greenhouse.
Pretty but useless.
Boom!
Just as Xuan Zi was intently examining a soul beast egg, the sound of an explosion reached his ears from afar.
"What was that?"
"Thunder?"
At first, Xuan Zi did not think much of it and instinctively looked toward the source of the explosion.
"Not good!"
Suddenly, Xuan Zi seemed to realize something, and his expression changed drastically.
"Damn it, damn it..."
With Martial Soul Possession, Xuan Zi's power as a Rank 98 Title Douluo erupted wildly, and he charged straight toward the explosion.
He was extremely fast and arrived at the scene in the blink of an eye.
"This is..."
His spiritual power swept out for an instant. Upon sensing that the reserve team members were not seriously hurt, Xuan Zi subconsciously let out a breath of relief. But soon, his face twisted viciously.
Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi had actually been grievously injured, their lives hanging in the balance.
"Children... you... I... it was all me..."
"It was all my fault, my fault..."
Seeing the scene before him, images from the Star Dou Great Forest in the past uncontrollably surfaced in Xuan Zi's mind.
This was practically history repeating itself.
Tears streamed down his face as he cried like a child.
Overwhelming self-blame and guilt flooded his heart.
For a moment, he did not even know what to do. He completely lost his reason.
"What a talent."
Even Ning Que, who had long been mentally prepared, did not know what to complain about when he saw this.
How had someone with such a temperament become a Rank 98 Title Douluo?
No matter how much this world valued cultivation over character, it should not be this absurd!
"Elder Xuan, what are you doing?"
"Hurry up and save them! Catch the culprit and avenge them!"
Wang Yan was heartbroken at the sight.
At this moment, he could no longer care about status or propriety. He shouted angrily at Xuan Zi, trying to awaken his reason.
"Right, revenge!"
"Avenge them!"
Hearing those words, a sharp glint suddenly appeared in Xuan Zi's eyes. The power within him surged wildly as he spread out his spiritual power and began tracking the Death Messenger.
As for Wang Yan's earlier words, he ignored them completely.
Boom!
As Xuan Zi crazily unleashed the power within him, the cave, already unstable from the explosion, collapsed once more.
Massive rocks came crashing down one after another.
Only then had many of those present begun to recover from their terror.
Seeing Elder Xuan arrive, they subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
But once that breath had been let out, it took time to gather themselves again. Xuan Zi, however, gave them no such time.
The boulders rained down wildly, continuously smashing into everyone.
Ning Que did not dare relax in the slightest. Especially after Xuan Zi appeared, he became even more tense.
"Gongyang Mo, what the fuck are you standing there for? Get out of the way!"
Seeing a massive boulder hurtling toward Gongyang Mo, Ning Que could not help but curse as he warned him.
At the same time, he moved, rushing at top speed toward Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi.
No matter what, he bore no grudge against those two and had never intended to plot against them. On the contrary, he thought rather well of Bei Bei.
Naturally, he would not just watch them die.
Other than Ning Que, Ling Luochen had suffered the lightest injuries.
Despite still being injured herself, she forcibly activated her martial soul, condensed ice, and helped everyone block the falling boulders.
"*********"
Wang Yan looked in the direction Xuan Zi had recklessly departed and could not help swearing loudly.
Clearly, Wang Yan had lost his reason, and his curses were filthy!
They had thought that Elder Xuan's arrival meant they were finally completely safe.
Who would have thought that they would become even more endangered instead?
Besides Wang Yan, Dai Yueheng also could not help swearing aloud.
Using his own body to shield Zhu Lu from all kinds of harm, Dai Yueheng had suffered considerable injuries. Yet he remained conscious and chose to pretend to be unconscious.
He kept himself pressed tightly over Zhu Lu, using his body to block all harm for her while letting himself fall into grievous injury, his life hanging in the balance.
This infinitely magnified Zhu Lu's gratitude and guilt.
To make the act more convincing, he had even deliberately forced himself to spit out a huge mouthful of blood.
He continued pretending like that, waiting for the others to come help and rescue them.
He had never expected that Elder Xuan's appearance would bring them a second round of injuries.
But to keep the act convincing, he could only endure the rocks smashing into him.
Crack!
A crisp sound of breaking bones rang out. Dai Yueheng could clearly feel that at least five or six of his ribs had broken.
Not only that, in this posture and condition, the broken ribs had clearly pierced into his internal organs.
This time, he had truly suffered a massive loss.
If it was not handled properly, even his cultivation might be affected.
If anyone present was most grateful to Xuan Zi,
it was the Death Messenger.
With Xiaotao half out of her mind, she pursued the Death Messenger relentlessly, determined to kill him.
Just as he saw no way out, at that critical moment, Xuan Zi's rage caused the cave rocks to block Xiaotao's path of pursuit.
Before you continue