Long Xingyu muttered under his breath, unable to resist grumbling.
He believed it now. Tang San really was the "Chosen One."
He was just about to check his injuries while investigating whether Tang Hao was alive when he sensed new auras.
Six more ninth-rank powerhouses? Long Xingyu quickly assessed the situation. His brows furrowed, and the skin on his face twitched involuntarily.
They were only killing some brat in the thirties or forties! Was all this really necessary? One expert after another kept showing up. Were they going to let him finish his mission or not?
He could think whatever he liked, but he knew his condition was terrible.
He didn't overestimate himself and decisively abandoned the pursuit.
From the Holy Demon Federation's perspective, they were natural enemies of the Douluo natives. There was no room for negotiation.
Taking advantage of the energy aftershocks, he simply fled in another direction. He didn't even have time to finish off Tang Hao.
As a result, the one who had just detonated his domain was left on the brink of death, surviving by sheer luck and marveling that he'd made it out alive.
But for him, the matter wasn't over either. Long Xingyu was at odds with the newcomers, and so was he.
"That aura... Those are the Spirit Hall reinforcements who came to support the imperial family in Heaven Dou City!"
Cough, cough. No, I have to get out of here while things are chaotic. It'll be trouble if they find me.
Enduring the agony of the backlash, Tang Hao fled into the distance, of course in a different direction from Long Xingyu.
By the time the mist from the domain's detonation had completely faded away, both men had vanished.
Qian Jun and Jiang Mo were the first to arrive. Their mental power swept cautiously across the surroundings, and the more they looked, the stranger the battlefield seemed.
This kind of destruction didn't look like something Ghost and Chrysanthemum Douluo could have caused. It looked more like the result of two Power Attack System Soul Masters going all out in a desperate fight.
Before the two could carefully examine the clues, they suddenly spotted a figure lying in a nearby crater.
With the plan suffering one setback after another, Long Xingyu hadn't even had the chance to confirm whether Tang Hao was dead.
Much less deal with Gui Mei's corpse. Now that his life had run out, he still lay there with a hole through his chest.
"Damn it! We're too late!"
"What on earth happened here?"
"Where's Yue Guan? Gui Mei died here, so where did he run off to?"
Although the Worship Hall and the Pope's faction had always been rivals, both were still part of Spirit Hall.
Seeing a Titled Elder lying dead in the wilderness for no apparent reason, Qian Jun and Jiang Mo, as well as Pufferfish and Snake Lance, all looked furious.
But soon, everyone grew wary again. Ghost and Chrysanthemum Douluo might not have been particularly powerful on their own, but together they had considerable strength.
How could they have been killed so easily?
Whoever had attacked them had to be incredibly powerful!
The only thing that puzzled them was that no one—not even Chen Xin or Yu Yuanzhen—could sense the enemy.
It seemed that after killing Gui Mei, the other party hadn't stayed nearby. The trail ended there.
"Let's go ask Shrek. They should know what happened. At the very least, we need to find out if this was the Holy Demon Federation's doing."
In an instant, Ning Fengzhi came up with a new plan. The group had arrived in a rush, and now they left just as quickly, carrying Gui Mei's broken corpse as they immediately retraced their route.
The turmoil had ended, and the area returned to calm.
But the effects of the battle had only just begun.
Long Xingyu didn't return to the City of Slaughter. This area was closer to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
He took a slight detour and entered Sunset Forest from another direction. Chen Zidian immediately sensed the aura of a ninth-rank powerhouse.
The next second, he appeared in front of Long Xingyu. Realizing that the Demon God Emperor's son-in-law had suffered serious injuries, he quickly took him back to the base to rest.
"How did this happen? Did you run into a powerful enemy?" Chen Zidian called over a healer teammate, who carefully treated Long Xingyu with holy power. Once he had mostly recovered, Chen Zidian finally asked curiously.
"Ha! To be precise, I ran into a lunatic who kept setting off explosions." Long Xingyu replied casually, giving an overview of the recent battle and placing special emphasis on Tang Hao. That man had left a deep impression on him.
After talking, he finally got a chance to catch his breath.
The mission had failed. He hadn't managed to kill his target, Tang San.
Long Xingyu's face fell as he wondered how to report it.
Before he left, his father-in-law had said to treat it as an attempt, nothing more.
But failure was failure. There was no point making excuses, so he steeled himself and activated the communication array.
"From the look on your face, you didn't kill Tang San?"
"Tell me what happened."
On the other end, Lin Feng sat in the Demon Emperor Palace, resting his chin on one hand.
After hearing the report, he wasn't surprised at all. Tang San was famous for being difficult to kill.
He asked with interest, and Long Xingyu didn't dare hide anything. He quickly recounted the whole process.
He included how he'd learned that Spirit Hall was trying to establish the Douluo Federation, which had delayed his attack.
Then there had been the misunderstanding with Ghost and Chrysanthemum Douluo, followed by Tang Hao, who loved his "art of explosions" and kept getting in his way.
In the end, he'd even alarmed the Heaven Dou Empire, drawing six Titled Douluo. With no way to continue the pursuit, he'd had to retreat and report back.
"I told you this wouldn't be simple. So be it. If you couldn't kill him once, keep trying!"
"Recently, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and the City of Slaughter have both been steadily transporting legions. There won't be many important missions in the short term."
"As for Tang San, keep looking for an opportunity. If I'm not mistaken, he only has a few places he might go..."
Since Lin Feng hadn't had high hopes from the beginning, his expression remained unchanged. He didn't mind this failure.
Instead, he briefly shared with Long Xingyu the places Tang San might go, based on what he remembered.
For instance, the Clear Sky Sect and Sea God Island... Of course, the City of Slaughter was out. That man wouldn't get another chance to go there.
After saying that, Lin Feng waved casually and ended the communication through the array. Tang San was a threat, but he hadn't grown powerful yet.
Now, Lin Feng's attention was entirely drawn to a possibly greater threat that was quietly closing in.
"When did this information come in?"
Lin Feng rose from the throne and teleported down.
Before him, a Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon guard named Huang Shuo knelt on one knee, his expression reverent.
He clutched a sheepskin scroll in his hand. The confidential information written on it was downright alarming.
"Your Majesty, this report came in half a day ago. A strange man and woman deliberately approached Dugu Bo and his granddaughter."
"I suspected something was wrong, so I used the data access privileges you granted me. But strangely, I couldn't find any information about them."
Huang Shuo's words put Lin Feng on high alert.
The so-called data access privileges referred to the household registration system.
Ever since he had unified the Holy Demon Continent and brought about coexistence between humans and demons, he had continued using this system.
In theory, every citizen of the federation, whether human or demon, should have corresponding identity information.
Yet there was a man and a woman whom even Huang Shuo couldn't identify. That was certainly strange. When things went against the norm, there was always something behind it.
As for why Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan were on the Holy Demon Continent, that wasn't strange. Lin Feng had personally allowed them in.
The grandfather and granddaughter had joined the Holy Demon Federation. Naturally, they were curious and asked to come take a look around.
The large-scale teleportation array had already been completed, and he thought it would be a good opportunity to promote it, so he'd agreed to let them visit.
But he hadn't expected them to be targeted so soon. Lin Feng pondered to himself, a suspicion taking shape. If his guess was right, this would be difficult to handle...
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