Come Out, or Die

As his words fell, a dazzling golden flame rose from the palm of his left hand. The radiance of the Bingwu Primordial Yang Sacred Fire even outshone the flames around him;

in his right palm, a wisp of eerily cold, pale fire flickered into being. The chill of the Dingsi Nether Yin Spirit Fire made even the air congeal!

Purple, purple, purple, black!

Purple, purple, purple, black!

Two identical sets of Soul Rings suddenly rose from beneath his feet!

Immediately afterward, beneath the horrified gazes of all the black-clad men, the eight sharply distinct rings began to merge...

At last, they became a single, pitch-black Great Soul Ring, as deep as a black hole, quietly suspended behind him.

Ultimate light and ultimate darkness coexisted perfectly within him, divinity interwoven with the uncanny. His entire being emanated an indescribable pressure that made the soul tremble.

He slowly rose into the air, hovering at the center of the cage of flames.

"Kill him!"

The Soul Emperor, furious and alarmed, was the first to attack.

Violent Soul Skills carved dazzling, deadly paths through the night sky, raining down on Ji Jing like a meteor shower.

Yet as soon as those attacks came within several meters of him, they were like snow meeting the sun. An invisible field of scorching heat vaporized and incinerated them, leaving them unable even to touch the hem of his clothes.

"Now,"

Ji Jing looked down at the ants on the ground, his voice indifferent,

"I will judge your crimes!"

Such a tremendous disturbance had long since alarmed all of Shrek City.

The flames soaring into the sky stood out starkly against the night. Nearly half the city could see them.

Wang Dong, flying high overhead, looked back. Seeing the wall of flames surging into the sky and the godlike, demonlike figure at its center, a thought suddenly rose in her mind:

I was so worried about him just now for nothing...

At the same time, Beibei, Tang Ya, Huo Yuhao, Xiao Xiao, Jiang Nannan, Xu Sanshi, and the others had just returned to the dormitory area when they were drawn by the earth-shaking spectacle. They rushed out of the dormitories in shock and stared toward the flames.

Xu Sanshi's mouth gaped wide enough to fit an egg. Pointing at the indistinct yet incomparably powerful figure shrouded by the black Soul Ring, he stammered:

"S-so... when he beat me that day, he was holding back?!"

"Looks like it..."

Standing beside him, Beibei nodded with difficulty, his eyes filled with shock.

Far above, three figures hovered silently in the heavens.

Mu En, the white-haired Sea God Pavilion Master, had already been roused by the battle.

Behind him stood Taotie Douluo Xuan Zi and Martial God Douluo Xian Lin'er, who had also sensed something amiss.

Xian Lin'er's gaze was sharp as an eagle's as she fixed it on the Soul Emperor below and said coldly:

"A Black Tiger Martial Soul—a Mutated Martial Soul from Duke of White Tiger's Dai Family. He's one of the Dai Family! He actually dares to run wild in Shrek!"

Mu En's eyes were as still as an ancient well as he said calmly:

"Whatever Ji Jing does next, don't stop him. If anyone from the Dai Family comes looking for trouble afterward, the Academy will shield him."

"Why?"

Xian Lin'er was puzzled.

The Academy naturally had to protect its students, but openly showing such favoritism—even risking a direct clash with one of the Star Luo Empire's most powerful ducal families—was hardly reasonable.

Xuan Zi knew the reason. He simply bowed slightly to Mu En and said:

"Yes, Elder Mu."

Seeing that even Xuan Zi was on board, Xian Lin'er could only suppress her curiosity for the moment and refrain from asking more.

She had no idea why Elder Mu and Elder Xuan could remain so unruffled while a Soul Ancestor student was being besieged by a Soul Emperor and a Soul King.

Inside the cage of flames, the air warped between the extreme heat and bitter cold. Light and shadow crossed behind Ji Jing, making the pitch-black Great Soul Ring seem even deeper, as if it could swallow a person's soul.

The eight black-clad men on the ground had fallen into utter panic.

Every attack they launched—whether a direct assault, control, or ranged attack—was nullified by the terrifying, invisible force field as soon as it came within several meters of Ji Jing.

It was as though they weren't facing a Soul Ancestor, but a deity who truly commanded the laws of the elements.

"N-no... impossible! What kind of monster is this?!"

The Soul Emperor leading them let out a terrified roar. His prized sixth Soul Skill began to crumble inch by inch with a mournful wail, ten meters away from Ji Jing, and dissolved into the most basic Soul Power before vanishing into the air.

Above them, Ji Jing paid no heed to their struggle or terror.

He slowly raised both hands.

The Bingwu Primordial Yang Sacred Fire burning in his left palm suddenly surged, transforming into a dazzling miniature sun that illuminated the entire night sky more brightly than daylight.

The wisp of Dingsi Nether Yin Spirit Fire flickering in his right palm swelled as well, condensing into a ball of pale energy that radiated deathly stillness and cold. Wherever it passed, even light froze.

Light and darkness, life and death—two utterly opposite ultimate powers were now perfectly controlled between his palms.

"Forbidden, Thousand, Ten Thousand, Great Blazing Sun Cone!"

"Forbidden, Thousand, Ten Thousand, Great Nether Flame Ice!"

In an instant, the sun in his left hand contracted, transforming into a massive light cone dozens of meters long, composed entirely of highly condensed golden sacred fire.

The pale energy ball in his right hand erupted, transforming into a pale torrent of cold that swept across the heavens and earth.

Two utterly different forces of destruction stood ready. They hung suspended in the air, poised but not yet unleashed. Their terrifying pressure left the eight assassins below so terrified that their guts nearly burst, and they could barely breathe.

Ji Jing looked down at the ants below and delivered his final verdict.

"Judgment."

The instant the words left his mouth, the sacred golden light cone and the deathly pale torrent of cold came crashing down from two directions, unstoppable and impossible to evade!

As the two ultimate forces crossed, even space seemed to freeze for an instant.

The eight black-clad men, including the Soul Emperor, were annihilated in that instant along with their released Martial Souls and Soul Skills, as if they had never existed.

When the light and darkness faded, all that remained on the ground was a vast, circular mark, half glazed gold and half shadowy white.

As the wall of flames imprisoning everything quietly went out, an evil force instantly poured outward, sweeping in every direction!

Far above, Mu En, Xuan Zi, and Xian Lin'er's expressions changed drastically!

"This is... an Evil Soul Master!"

Xian Lin'er cried out, her face turning deathly pale. Almost instinctively, she was about to strike.

As high-ranking members of Shrek Academy, they had long harbored deep-rooted hatred and wariness toward Evil Soul Masters!

"Wait!"

Xuan Zi grabbed her. He was no less shocked than Xian Lin'er, but a trace of uncertainty had entered his eyes.

Even the composure in Mu En's eyes had given way to a tremendous upheaval. He stared fixedly at Ji Jing below.

As a Limit Douluo, his perception of auras far surpassed that of the other two.

Soon, all three understood what was so strange about this aura.

Although the evil aura was terrifying, it was strangely pure!

There was not the slightest trace of impurity or disorder in it. It wasn't like the auras of the Evil Soul Masters they knew, which were formed from a mixture of negative emotions such as resentment, cruelty, and slaughter.

It was fundamentally different from every Evil Soul Master they had ever encountered.

While they stood there, uncertain, Ji Jing continued to hover in the air, the sacred fire and spirit fire burning on his body without diminishing, the deep black Great Soul Ring behind him still turning slowly.

He slowly turned his head, his gaze falling on an unoccupied dark corner of Shrek City.

His icy voice rang clearly through the silent night.

"Come out, or die."

The night breeze swept past, and the shadows of the trees swayed.

No one answered, and no one emerged from the darkness, as if he had merely been speaking to the air.