The next moment, Golden Crocodile Douluo's mouth suddenly burst into a shout.
"I was not up to the task... I beg the Grand High Priest to step in!"
A sigh came from deep within the Worship Hall.
It was not loud, yet it seemed to pierce through layer upon layer of space, ringing in everyone's ears.
In the next instant, Holy Light flared.
It was light of the purest kind, so white that it held not a trace of any other color, as if all the light in the world had been gathered into a single point.
A pillar of light surged skyward from deep within the Worship Hall, piercing through the layers of halls and the scattered clouds in the night sky, straight into the heavens.
Within that pillar of light, a figure slowly rose.
He was a tall, slender old man, with hair and beard as white as snow, yet a face smooth and taut in a way that belied his age.
He wore a snow-white ceremonial robe. Countless halos circled him, each slowly turning and radiating a gentle yet irresistible holy pressure.
Behind him, an enormous Angel Phantom slowly unfurled six wings.
The angel wore golden armor and held a holy sword. Its six pure white wings spread behind it, each feather reflecting a metallic sheen in the moonlight.
The angel's face was blurred, but its eyes, burning with golden flames, were clear. They held no emotion, yet radiated an authority and judgment that stood above all things.
Nine Soul Rings revolved slowly beneath the old man's feet.
Apart from one red ring, the rest were black.
Nine Soul Rings, all ten-thousand-year or higher!
Qian Daoliu.
The Grand High Priest of Spirit Hall's Worship Hall.
The inheritor of the Angel Martial Soul.
Renowned as invincible in the sky, he was a Level 99 Limit Douluo of the present age!
Qian Daoliu's gaze fell on the enormous, dark-golden figure on the ground, and he frowned slightly.
Something was wrong.
There was something strange about the aura surrounding that Titan Giant Ape.
Qian Daoliu had lived for nearly two hundred years and dealt with countless Soul Beasts.
Though the Titan Giant Ape was an emperor among the Soul Beasts of the Star Dou Forest, its strength reigning supreme throughout the Soul Beast Realm, it had nothing special about it when faced with the Angel Martial Soul.
Angels were blessed by the light of heaven and earth, and naturally countered all evil attributes.
But what he sensed from this Titan Giant Ape was not the usual savagery or wildness of a Soul Beast.
It was an extremely subtle aura, hidden deep within the Titan bloodline.
That aura was cold, dark, and violent, like malice seeping through from another world, bearing a taboo evil that did not belong to the Douluo Continent.
Faced with this power, even his Angel Martial Soul trembled faintly.
For the first time, deep confusion surfaced on Qian Daoliu's usually unruffled face.
How could an angel fear evil?
That was like saying fire feared ice, or light feared darkness. It was utter nonsense, turning everything upside down.
Light countering darkness was a law of heaven and earth. An angel purifying evil was a divine gift.
Ever since the day he inherited the Angel Martial Soul, no evil force had ever gained the upper hand against him.
But this time was different.
The evil aura surrounding that Titan Giant Ape gave him the feeling of a more fundamental suppression.
It was as if the evil behind the giant ape was older and purer than his Angel Martial Soul, closer to the very source of power.
How was that possible?
Qian Daoliu's frown deepened.
Could there be forces in this world that no one knew about?
Or even factions no one knew about?
He thought of the wings that should not have grown on that giant ape, the Golden Light Eagle's unbelievable speed, and the girl's mental domain, which rivaled that of a Titled Douluo.
With so many anomalies gathered together, it could not possibly be a coincidence.
Qian Daoliu took a deep breath, golden light flashing in his eyes.
He had to capture these three bizarre Soul Beasts and uncover the truth!
He beat his six angel wings, turning into a streak of golden light that shot toward Er Ming like a falling star.
Holy Light Judgment!
A tremendous force of Holy Light surged from his palm, pouring into Er Ming like a breached dam.
The power burned with such intensity that it seemed poised to purify his internal organs—and the Demon Emperor Bone along with them—into ash.
Er Ming grunted. His enormous body was actually forced back half a step by the palm strike.
It was the first time he had retreated that day.
But he had only retreated half a step.
Under Jiang Li's enhancement, the Demon Emperor Bone was naturally attuned to evil-attribute powers, and the Abyssal Demon Emperor's remains had belonged to one of the supreme beings of the Abyss Plane.
Qian Daoliu's Angel Martial Soul was undeniably powerful, but expecting it to purify the Abyssal power within the Demon Emperor Bone in an instant was pure wishful thinking.
The cold Abyssal aura in Er Ming's chest suddenly surged back, like an ancient Ferocious Beast roused from slumber, jaws gaping wide.
The Holy Light and Abyssal power clashed head-on inside him. The shockwave sent Qian Daoliu's robe snapping in the wind.
Qian Daoliu's pupils contracted sharply.
His Holy Light had actually been repelled!
In nearly two hundred years of battle, it had happened only once before, when he faced a deep-sea Ferocious Beast that defied all reason.
But now, a Titan Giant Ape—a land-dwelling Soul Beast from the Star Dou Forest—had done the same?
"What exactly is inside you?"
Qian Daoliu's voice carried unconcealed shock.
Er Ming did not answer.
He swung his Thunderlight Fist.
Countless bolts of lightning rained down from the sky, colliding head-on with Qian Daoliu's second palm strike.
Lightning and Holy Light intertwined into a blinding white glare, so bright that everyone within several hundred yards squeezed their eyes shut.
RUMBLE!
As the two forces exploded, Er Ming's massive body was driven back several steps, and the gash across his fist deepened.
Behind Qian Daoliu, his six wings also trembled slightly, and a strand of white beard drifted down from his temple.
They were evenly matched!
A full-force palm strike from a Level 99 Limit Douluo had been met with a punch that held it even.
Qian Daoliu's doubts grew heavier.
He stopped holding back. His six wings beat, and he became a golden whirlwind, unleashing a storm of attacks around Er Ming's massive body.
Every palm carried tremendous Holy Light, and every strike landed precisely on the weakest points in Er Ming's defenses.
Er Ming was thick-skinned and possessed the Demon Emperor Bone's heaven-defying defense, but even he began to struggle against a Limit Douluo who had lived for nearly two hundred years and possessed an almost horrifying wealth of battle experience.
His Thunderlight Fist was domineering, but Qian Daoliu was simply too fast. Er Ming could barely track his movements, and by the time he threw a punch, Qian Daoliu had already attacked him three times from another direction.
Holy Light scorched the Demon Emperor Bone's surface, leaving streaks of charred marks. In some places, it even began to crack, and wisps of blood seeped from beneath the dark-golden bone.
He couldn't win!
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