Yue Guan's Disdain

Bai Changhe had never run this fast in his life.

The Wings of Holy Light trailed two searing white streaks of radiance behind him, illuminating the broken walls and ruined rubble along his path until they were as pale as paper.

The soul power within his body poured out like a breached dam, every passing second draining the final reserves of his aging frame.

Bai Changhe didn't even have the courage to look back; he feared that if he did, he would see that sky-obscuring palm of the Titan Giant Ape descending upon him.

The terror of that strike was something he would never forget for the rest of his life!

The full-force defense of a level 73 Soul Saint had been as brittle as wet rice paper before that blow; had the Wings of Holy Light not snatched him from between the beast's fingers at the last moment, he would have been reduced to a puddle of meat by now.

He had to find Chrysanthemum Douluo and beg for help!

Even more bizarre was that young girl.

A little girl who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen had actually managed to plunge nearly a hundred soul masters into a hallucination of mutual slaughter in an instant.

Such a large-scale ability felt very much like a domain.

A domain controlled by someone in their forties?

Bai Changhe had lived for over sixty years, and he had never heard of such a thing!

Finally, Bai Changhe's figure swept past the last stretch of ruins, and the still-intact side halls of Martial Soul Hall appeared ahead.

He gritted his teeth, the Wings of Holy Light flared violently, and he flung the few remaining low-level soul masters into the pillars of the side hall.

At the same time, he exhausted his final strength, tearing his throat to let out a shrill, desperate roar:

"Lord Chrysanthemum Douluo, save me!!!"

Deep within Martial Soul Hall, inside a side hall that remained intact.

Yue Guan sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, a faint scent of chrysanthemums swirling around him as nine soul rings rotated slowly beneath his feet.

During the battle earlier that day, he hadn't faced the Titan Giant Ape's Thunderlight Fist head-on like Gui Mei, so his injuries were the lightest among the Title Douluos.

But that didn't mean he wasn't seething with frustration.

The dignified Martial Soul Hall, the supreme seat of power where the Pope resided, had been trampled in and out by a group of soul beasts in front of every soul master on the continent.

The dome had been torn off, the main hall reduced to ruins, and Title Douluos had been smashed into the ground one by one with single punches.

And he, Yue Guan, a dignified Chrysanthemum Douluo, hadn't even had the courage to make a move in front of that Titan Giant Ape.

He couldn't swallow this insult.

As a Title Douluo, he had his own pride.

Martial Soul Hall had stood on this continent for hundreds of years; when had it ever suffered such humiliation?

He was just wondering where to go to reclaim his honor when he suddenly heard a shrill cry for help from outside the hall.

Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan snapped his eyes open.

A flash of long-suppressed ferocity flickered in his feminine eyes. His nine soul rings suddenly hummed around him, and a majestic wave of soul power pressure swept out in all directions like a storm.

Did someone really dare to treat Martial Soul Hall like a soft persimmon?

It had been trampled by soul beasts during the day, and now someone was coming to stir up trouble at night.

He was just looking for a place to vent his anger!

"What kind of petty thief dares to come to my Martial Soul Hall to cause trouble?!"

Yue Guan let out a roar, the scent of chrysanthemums on his body suddenly intensifying a hundredfold. He transformed into a stream of light, shattering the window of the side hall and shooting toward the direction of the voice.

With nine soul rings circling and humming around him, the pressure of a Title Douluo was unleashed without reservation.

When Bai Changhe saw that familiar stream of light breaking through the air, he didn't feel relieved; instead, he was so anxious he nearly coughed up blood on the spot.

"Lord Chrysanthemum Douluo! Don't go alone!" He waved his arms frantically, his voice cracking, "The ones coming are..."

Yue Guan's figure didn't slow down in the slightest mid-air as he let out a sinister, cold laugh.

"Who is coming? Could it possibly be Tang Hao?"

"And even if it is Tang Hao, so what?" Chrysanthemum Douluo's gaze grew increasingly vicious, his orchid fingers slightly curled within his sleeves.

"He ran wild in my Martial Soul Hall during the day only because the soul beasts were there and we had to protect the hall.

Now that he is heavily injured, do you really think I would fear a crippled Clear Sky Douluo?"

Chrysanthemum Douluo's speed increased rather than decreased. The soul power of a Title Douluo exploded into rings of air pressure beneath his feet, and he streaked toward the outside of the hall like a chrysanthemum-colored meteor cutting through the night sky.

A faint sense of excitement even welled up in his heart.

If he could take down Tang Hao, his name, Yue Guan, would once again resound across the entire continent.

Those scumbags who mocked him for only knowing how to pose with orchid fingers would all shut their mouths tight!

Bai Changhe finally managed to shout the second half of his sentence, his voice now laced with a sob:

"The ones coming are the soul beasts from earlier today!!!"

Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan's figure came to a sudden, jarring halt in mid-air.

"???"

The hell, why didn't you say so earlier?!

At the same time, three figures appeared at the edge of his vision.

Leading them was a young girl dressed in a pink and white gown.

She stood beneath the moonlight, a faint golden halo shimmering around her, while the faint phantoms of a bright moon and a silvery-white laurel tree intertwined behind her.

Beside the girl was a giant eagle covered in feathers of interwoven cyan and gold; its dark golden eyes were filled with mockery, looking incredibly punchable.

Behind the girl, a patch of seemingly flat ground suddenly bulged upward.

Under the moonlight, a pair of arms as thick as mountains slowly emerged from the soil.

Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan's pupils constricted to the size of pinpricks.

"!!!"

He tried to stop his momentum almost instinctively, but having charged too recklessly, the inertia of a Title Douluo moving at full speed was far more than ten thousand jun.

By the time he forced himself to a halt, he had already entered the range shrouded by that moonlight.

Then, he saw the girl extend a fair hand and gently clench her five fingers.

Laurel Domain.

A cold mental force surged in like a tide from all directions, piercing through the soul power barrier on his skin and drilling directly into the depths of his mind.

Yue Guan felt his vision blur.

The ruins beneath his feet suddenly transformed into a boundless sea of flowers, every single one a chrysanthemum, each petal shimmering with an eerie silver glow under the moonlight.

Then, the petals of those chrysanthemums began to peel off one by one, spinning into the sky and transforming into countless moon-white blades.

The tips of every single blade were pointed directly at him.

"An illusion!"

Yue Guan let out a muffled grunt as his Title Douluo-level mental power erupted violently, forcibly expelling that cold mental force from his mind.

The sea of flowers dissipated, the blade light shattered, and the scene before him reverted to the ruins of Martial Soul Hall.

He had been trapped for less than half a breath.

But that half-breath was enough.

As Yue Guan's consciousness cleared, he suddenly realized that less than three feet above his head, a golden feather was silently slicing through the air.

And then...

It landed at his feet.

Yue Guan froze for a moment, only to find that there was nothing wrong with his body.

He could move his hands, his feet, and his soul power circulated freely throughout his entire body.

In other words, that Golden Light Eagle's attack had simply missed?

"Hahaha, is that all?"