The Bamboo Hat Knocked Down

"Such a powerful Dou Wang—"

After retreating some distance, Wu Ya lowered his head to glance at the wounds on his body and could not help snorting coldly.

"Brother Wu Ya, this woman is rather strange. Move quickly!"

Xie Shan glanced at the sword wounds on Wu Ya's body, his heart skipping a beat. If he had been struck by that woman's blade without any preparation, his fate likely would not have been much better than Wu Ya's now.

As soon as he spoke, Xie Shan immediately launched his attack.

"Blood Sea!"

The poisonous marsh around them stirred. It seemed as though Xie Shan had roused the Heaven and Earth Power itself. The once-deadly still marsh began to boil before transforming into blood-colored, towering waves that crashed toward the Glass barrier before them.

Yao Wan blocked the oncoming blood waves, but the barrier before her flickered and trembled, as though it could no longer bear the strain.

Yet Yao Wan had no time to worry about that. She merely turned back in haste and asked, "Xiao Yan, are you all right?"

"Don't worry about me, Miss Wan, you..."

Xiao Yan's gaze was complicated. Watching Miss Wan struggle alone while he could not offer even the slightest help, only becoming a burden to her...

"Don't worry too much. They are, after all, two peak Dou Emperors. It is not as though they are blind... This is only natural."

Old Yao noticed the Nether Poison Flame burning quietly in Yao Wan's hand.

The Glass Body was no longer upon Yao Wan, so it naturally could not continue protecting her from the corrosive burn of the poison flame.

Although Yao Wan had suppressed the purple poison flame with all her strength, its smoldering fire still gradually burned away half her sleeve, exposing a portion of her fair wrist.

Threads of deadly poison, troublesome even for a Dou Emperor upon the slightest contact, seeped from her palm into her major and minor meridians.

Beneath skin as pale as ice and bones as fine as jade, which already showed little color, the veins corroded by the poison were an eye-searing black.

"This girl..."

Old Yao sighed and shook his head, yet there was nothing he could do. Heavenly Flames were violent things by nature. For an ordinary person, touching even the slightest trace was a matter of life and death. It was already no easy feat for Yao Wan to suppress it to this extent through her own strength.

"Teacher, Miss Wan, she..."

"You cannot help her."

Old Yao shook his head.

"What about you, Teacher? I can lend you my body..."

Xiao Yan was naturally unwilling to simply watch her without being able to do anything. In his desperation, he wanted to seize every opportunity.

"You are only a Dou Zhe. The limit of my power that your body can endure is far too low, at most reaching the Dou Wang level. Power of that level cannot influence this battle at all."

Old Yao shook his head and sighed. Now, whether she lived or died depended entirely on that girl.

Yet while Yao Wan struggled to hold on alone, Xie Shan and Wu Ya outside the Glass Body only grew more fervent.

"Heavenly Centipede Fang!"

Seeing that even the Wan Xie Sect's famous ultimate technique could not immediately break through a five-star Dou Wang's protection, Wu Ya naturally held nothing back.

Dark clouds descended from the sky, as though a pair of deep-purple spikes had extended from within them. They churned the winds and clouds, upheaved the poisonous marsh, and struck the Glass Body supporting the Glass barrier behind Yao Wan from above.

As a veteran peak Dou Emperor who had immersed himself in his craft for years, Wu Ya's vicious gaze naturally saw that the barrier was merely a deception. The reason that five-star Dou Wang could withstand the combined assault of peak Dou Emperors lay entirely in the Glass Dharma Image behind her.

"Brother Xie Shan, her weak point is the Dharma Image behind her. She has only grasped the surface of this Dou Technique. There is nothing to fear."

"Haha, good!"

Xie Shan was naturally overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately attacked.

"Tail Stinger!"

A massive scorpion phantom appeared behind Xie Shan. With a flick of its tail, a poison needle gleaming with green light shot forth like an arrow, stabbing toward the Glass Dharma Image behind the barrier.

"Crack!"

In the end, the breach that the Nether Poison Flame had slowly eroded open like boiling a frog finally became the tiny hole that burst the dam. After holding on bitterly for over a dozen breaths, the Glass Body behind Yao Wan flickered, and the barrier above their heads shattered into fragments.

"You can break my Glass Body? You do have some skill."

She withdrew the Dharma Image behind her, then grabbed Xiao Yan's hand. Nine Soul Swords circled around them, blocking the renewed attacks of the two peak Dou Emperors.

You Li had been watching coldly from the side. With two peak Dou Emperors assisting him, there had been no need for him to act personally. But now, seeing that the extremely troublesome five-star Dou Wang appeared ready to flee, You Li naturally could no longer sit still.

He knew that even if he ambushed that Dou Wang, her sword formation might intercept him. It would be better to settle for the next best thing and kill the Dou Zhe brat beside her. Since he could not kill her in one strike, he might as well cut off one of her fingers first.

A cold thought glinted in his eyes as You Li slowly raised his hand.

That Dou Wang's Soul Power far surpassed his own. If he wanted to succeed, he had to catch her off guard and kill with a single strike.

"Nether Poison Fiend, go!"

You Li muttered softly. A dark-green glow appeared in his hand, silently merging into the endlessly churning Poisonous Barrier over the poisonous marsh.

For Yao Wan, using the Soul Sword Formation to kill two peak Dou Emperors was not impossible. After all, this was Soul Sword Transformation, not a Dou Technique restricted by her realm.

Even so, she still sensed the malicious intent coming from afar.

That was...

Xiao Yan's breath caught, and his entire body turned cold. It was as though some especially sinister and vicious existence had fixed its gaze upon him.

"Teacher..."

"Brat, danger!"

Old Yao's furious roar sounded beside Xiao Yan's ear. A barrier formed from Bone Spirit Cold Flame immediately lit up, blocking that sinister poisonous light.

Fortunately, Old Yao barely managed to stop it, and the barrier dissipated afterward.

As Xiao Yan let out a breath of relief, he could not help saying, "Miss Wan, let's retreat. We can't keep fighting here."

Yao Wan instinctively turned her head, only to see another faint dark-green glow light up behind Xiao Yan.

"Xiao Yan!"

She could only call out in haste.

Naturally, Xie Shan and Wu Ya would not let such a once-in-a-lifetime opening slip away. Dou Qi erupted from their bodies like mountains roaring and seas crashing. The two peak Dou Emperors struck with all their strength, holding nothing back.

"Corpse Mountain Blood River Suppression!"

The poisonous marsh turned crimson and crushed down toward Yao Wan and Xiao Yan.

"Heavenly Poison Eternal Wither!"

High in the sky, a massive dark-green hand slapped down upon them, who were as tiny as dust.

All three attacks came at once. Xiao Yan felt that he and Miss Wan might truly be finished here this time.

"...Hmph."

A soft snort seemed to sound beside his ear, almost like an illusion. All three attacks turned to nothing just before striking them.

Before Xiao Yan's eyes, the bamboo hat that had never left her head spun in the howling wind before swiftly falling into the poisonous marsh, vanishing from sight.

His eyes widened slightly.

"That was Miss Wan's...?"