The Great Battle Begins

The Battle of the Heaven-Burial Mountain Range

Central Plains, Heaven-Burial Mountain Range.

The range was shrouded year-round in a cold, black mist. Deep in the mountains stood a colossal hall built from pitch-black boulders. Like an ancient ferocious beast lying in wait, it radiated a chilling aura that made the soul tremble.

This was the Soul Clan's headquarters, its most powerful stronghold in the open, responsible for gathering souls and suppressing the west.

Ordinarily, this was a forbidden land where no living soul dared venture. Countless powerful figures turned pale at the mere mention of it.

Yet today, an irresistible force suddenly tore open the space above the Heaven-Burial Mountain Range!

Rumble—!

As though the heavens were collapsing, dozens of figures radiating an aura of world-destroying power stepped through. Their vast pressure swept down like a tsunami, scattering the black mist shrouding the mountains!

"Enemy attack!!" A piercing alarm instantly rang throughout the Soul Clan headquarters.

Countless Soul Clan guards and protectors stared up in horror. When they sensed that every one of those terrifying auras was at least that of a Four-Star Spirit Saint—and especially when they saw the imposing figures at the front, whose mere presence made space collapse again and again—they were scared out of their wits!

"Gu Yuan! Yan Jin! Lei Ying! You're asking for death!" A furious roar rang out from deep within the Soul Clan headquarters. The hall master, Hun Miesheng, shot into the sky, followed by several deputy hall masters and Heavenly Venerables. All were Spirit Saints, yet before the allied army, they seemed so small and fragile.

"Hun Miesheng, today is the day your Soul Clan headquarters falls!" Gu Yuan's voice was icy. He wasted no words, simply sweeping his hand down. "Kill! Leave no one alive!"

"Kill!!"

The allied army surged into action like tigers bursting into a flock of sheep!

There was no need for top experts like Lin Hai and Gu Yuan to act.

The Three Immortals of the Gu Clan, the Seven-Star Spirit Saints of the Yan and Lei Clans, and the four beast Spirit Saints under Lin Hai's command charged into the Soul Clan's ranks like seven torrents of destruction.

Against one- and two-star Soul Clan Spirit Saints, Seven-Star Spirit Saints slaughtered them with overwhelming ease!

The Heaven-Burning Crocodile threw a punch, and dark-red flames devoured the world. A deputy hall master whose strength was that of a One-Star Spirit Saint turned to ashes before he could even scream!

The Flowing Fire Sky Owl spread its wings, sending thousands upon thousands of flaming feather-arrows down like a torrential downpour. A vast swath of Soul Clan guards was wiped out in an instant!

The Three Immortals of the Gu Clan joined forces. Three surging streams of Dou Qi swept through like dragons, tearing apart the Soul Clan's carefully laid defensive formation as easily as if it were made of paper!

The powerful fighters of the Flame and Thunder Clans were just as fierce. Flames and lightning intertwined, and wherever they passed, Soul Clan members were either dead or wounded!

The battle was an almost complete rout.

The Soul Clan headquarters was not without strength, but against the alliance's meticulous preparations and utterly overwhelming high-end force, it was no match at all.

Buildings collapsed in swathes, formations crumbled one after another, and screams rose and fell without end.

Hun Miesheng's eyes bulged with fury. He tried to stop the slaughter, but Gu Lie, the Ancient Clan's grand commander, blocked him.

An Eight-Star Spirit Saint facing a peak Four-Star Spirit Saint—the outcome was never in doubt. After only a few exchanges, Gu Lie struck Hun Miesheng with a palm, gravely wounded him, and captured him, sealing off all his Dou Qi.

In no more than the time it took for an incense stick to burn, the once-feared Soul Clan headquarters had been reduced to rubble.

Every Soul Clan elder and Heavenly Venerable-level expert had been exterminated. Countless low-ranking disciples were dead or wounded. Only the hall master, Hun Miesheng, had been taken alive.

The allied army hovered above the ruins, their killing intent soaring as they waited for the counterattack they knew was coming.

Sure enough, not long after the Soul Clan headquarters was destroyed, an aura far more terrifying and chilling than before erupted from the depths of distant space!

"Vmm—!"

That stretch of space tore open like a curtain. Figures wreathed in endless death and the wails of vengeful spirits stepped through.

At their head stood a man in gray-white robes. His face was handsome, yet tinged with an eerie, sinister air. His gaze was indifferent, as if all things in the world were but ants beneath his feet.

His aura was as deep as the sea, in no way inferior to Gu Yuan's or Lin Hai's!

He was the Soul Clan's patriarch, Hun Tiandi, at the peak of Nine-Star Spirit Saint!

To Hun Tiandi's left, a human-shaped mass of black flames roared, radiating a strange aura that devoured all things. It was the Void Devouring Flame, ranked second on the Heavenly Flame Ranking. Its strength had astonishingly reached the late stage of Eight-Star Spirit Saint!

To Hun Tiandi's right stood four elders in ancient black robes. Their faces were withered, and soul fires flickered in their eye sockets.

The four shared a single aura, cold and sinister. Every one of them was a terrifying late-stage Eight-Star Spirit Saint!

They were the Soul Clan's Four Great Elders, concealed deep within the clan. Their generation was even older than Hun Tiandi's!

Behind these five top experts, the Soul Clan's elite forces also appeared in full:

- Six fierce-looking Seven-Star Spirit Saints!

- Five sinister-eyed Six-Star Spirit Saints!

- Thirteen Five-Star Spirit Saints!

- And eighteen Four-Star Spirit Saints!

The Soul Clan Army descended. Their terrifying pressure was like the arrival of the Netherworld on earth, instantly matching the allied army's immense presence. Their cold, uncanny aura even seemed to hold the advantage!

The entire Heaven-Burial Mountain Range seemed to fall into absolute stillness.

The powerful figures on both sides faced off across the distance. Their gazes collided, and space continuously shattered and reformed. The tension reached its breaking point.

Hun Tiandi first glanced over the Soul Clan headquarters reduced to ruins. His expression did not change in the slightest, as if it were nothing more than an insignificant stronghold.

Then his eyes fell on Hun Miesheng, captured and sealed by Gu Lie. His expression remained indifferent.

At last, his gaze slowly swept over Gu Yuan, Yan Jin, and Lei Ying before settling on Lin Hai, whose aura was the most mysterious and unfathomable.

"Gu Yuan, Yan Jin, Lei Ying..." Hun Tiandi's voice was calm, yet carried a chilling undertone that made the heart tremble. "And an unfamiliar friend... It seems you've found a little courage and think you can dare to provoke my Soul Clan?"

Behind him, the Void Devouring Flame let out a cackling laugh as black flames surged.

The Four Great Elders stood silent as dead trees, yet radiated an oppressive aura of deathly stillness.

The faces of the allied army's fighters were solemn. They had expected this, but the Soul Clan's displayed elite strength still surpassed their estimates.

Four late-stage Eight-Star Spirit Saint elders!

Together with the Void Devouring Flame and Hun Tiandi himself, the Soul Clan seemed to be only slightly behind in top-tier strength!

A peak battle that would sweep across the entire Dou Qi Continent was about to erupt!

Gu Yuan stepped forward, his voice crashing like thunder. "Hun Tiandi, your Soul Clan has defied all justice. Today, you will pay for your blood debts!"

A strange smile tugged at Hun Tiandi's lips. "Blood debts? You think you can make me pay? Very well. I'd planned to let you live a little longer, but since you've delivered yourselves to my doorstep... none of you will leave."

As his words fell, the terrifying, long-suppressed auras of both sides crashed into each other!

The great battle began!