Inside the council hall, waves of scorching heat surged like an invisible beast, instantly sucking the air from the room until it grew thin. Even the light warped under the extreme heat. The black basalt tiles on the floor heated unevenly, cracking with a series of tiny pops, while a heavy, terrifying oppression descended over everyone.
Chiyan stood in the center of the hall, her flame-like hair whipping wildly in the violent fluctuations of Soul Power. As she listened to Zhu Ganglie's blustering roar, she curled her lips into a cruel, contemptuous sneer.
"Hold me off? With those trash outside who treat scraps of iron like treasures? Or with you, you doddering old housecat?"
The moment her words fell, the Red Lotus Karma Fire around Chiyan suddenly collapsed inward, forming a massive crimson cocoon several meters across that wrapped around her. This was no ordinary flame, but fire elemental energy compressed to its absolute limit. The cocoon exploded with a deafening boom, and raging streams of fire shot outward like a tidal wave. The precious Ironwood furniture in the Zhu Residence council hall instantly turned to dust.
When the flames died down, Chiyan's appearance had undergone a complete transformation—
Fire Dragon Spirit Armor form.
Her long hair had become flowing, liquid magma, golden flames leaping from its tips and tracing brilliant arcs through the dark hall. The dark golden dragon horns on her forehead had turned translucent, and within them ancient dragon runes pulsed faintly like heartbeats. A close-fitting suit of armor formed entirely from crimson dragon scales hugged her fiery curves, while dragon crystals like rubies gleamed at her shoulders and breastplate.
The skirt of her armor was woven from translucent fire silk. It flowed over the ground like streams of magma with every movement she made, leaving charred furrows in the black stone floor wherever it passed. Behind her, nine crimson ribbons of condensed Soul Power unfurled like phoenix wings, radiating the sacred yet savage aura of war. Chiyan now looked more like a fire dragon goddess returned from an ancient battlefield.
"Since you Zhu Family members enjoy ganging up on the weak and throwing your weight around, then today I'll let you mortals experience what true despair feels like."
Chiyan swept her right hand outward, fingers slightly spread, as if grasping some rhythm in the space around her.
"Red Lotus Karma Fire: Burning Heaven Prison!"
Boom—!
A terrifying ring of dark red fire spread out from the council hall, rapidly expanding across the entire Zhu Residence. The flames were not a brilliant, bright color, but a thick, bloodlike crimson. They shot into the sky, forming a circular wall of fire three meters thick and over a hundred meters high, completely sealing off the fortress within the Zhu Residence from the outside world.
The three thousand personal guards who were charging in with heavy crossbows were hurled away by the sudden, destructive heat. Their fine steel bolts flew into the wall of fire, but could not even pierce the flames before melting into drops of molten iron. Outside, the defenders could only watch helplessly as their marshal's residence was swallowed by a sea of hellfire. Even Soul Emperors had their hair and eyebrows scorched by the radiant heat of the Ultimate Fire when they tried to approach. Beyond despair, they could do nothing.
"Gu Yue, Na'er, guard the edges of the barrier. We can't let any powerful outsiders interfere in the fight." Gu Tian helped Zhu Zhuqing to her feet, his gaze icy as he faced the Zhu father and daughter.
"Yes, young master." Gu Yue's expression was cool. She casually beckoned with her right hand, and the elements of ice, wind, and earth instantly coalesced in her palm. She exchanged a glance with Na'er, and the two vanished from the spot, reappearing at the four corners of the residence. Gu Yue continuously scattered greenish-blue wind blades and deep yellow gravity barriers. Together with Na'er's unpredictable spatial folds, she sealed off every unstable point in the wall of fire.
Now that the council hall was cut off from the outside, a deathly, terrifying silence settled over it.
"Resist? With what?" Chiyan took a step forward, and the oppressive heat of the Ultimate Fire bore down with every heavy footfall. Zhu Ganglie's legs went weak. His Nether Civet Martial Soul nearly forced him to the ground under the pressure of the true dragon.
"I'll hold this madwoman off! Zhu Yun, move! Kill that brat! As long as we capture him, we still have a chance!" Zhu Ganglie had completely lost the courage to face Chiyan head-on. Sweat poured down his forehead as he frantically drove his Soul Power to give his daughter even the slimmest opening.
A vicious glint flashed through Zhu Zhuyun's eyes. As a level-28 Soul Grandmaster, she was indeed one of the best among her peers. She knew that Zhu Zhuqing had only reached level ten a few days ago and had not yet had the chance to obtain her First Soul Ring. In her deeply ingrained view, Gu Tian looked about the same age as Zhu Zhuqing. No matter how strong he was, at most he would have just passed level ten and become a Soul Master.
"Martial Soul Possession! Nether Civet!"
Zhu Zhuyun cried out. Her body instantly grew slender and lithe, and three-inch-long black claws sprang from her fingertips. Two bright yellow Hundred-Year Soul Rings revolved in alternating rhythms beneath her feet.
"You little bastard, die!" Zhu Zhuyun's body became a streak of shadowy light. With a shrill whistle that ripped through the air, she lunged straight for Gu Tian's throat.
Watching the shadow rush toward him, Gu Tian's lips curled in scorn.
"Roar—!"
A low, desolate dragon's roar rang through the council hall, carrying supreme majesty as though it had crossed countless millennia. Nine-Colored Divine Light swirled, and a faint Dragon God apparition flickered behind Gu Tian. A gale swept through the once-quiet hall. Then, before Zhu Zhuyun's constricting pupils, a deep purple Soul Ring rose steadily from beneath Gu Tian's feet, radiating nobility, mystery, and an ominous oppression.
"Pur—purple?! His First Soul Ring is purple?!"
Zhu Zhuyun's forward momentum abruptly froze in midair. The sight shattered ten thousand years of common knowledge on Douluo Continent, transcending the limits of Soul Masters. Her mind went blank, and the killing blow she had been about to land faltered, leaving a fatal opening.
"Surprised? The best is yet to come."
Gu Tian dug the tip of his toe into the floor and shot forward like a drawn crossbow bolt. With the terrifying physical enhancement granted by the Fire Dragon King Right Arm Bone, he swung his right arm.
Bang!
A dull impact rang out. Gu Tian moved so fast that Zhu Zhuyun had only enough time to raise her right claw in front of her chest before he was upon her. He leaned slightly to one side, evading her claws with an almost textbook sidestep, then drove his hips into the movement and instantly lowered his center of gravity.
Whoosh—
The force of the wind tore through the heat in the hall. Gu Tian's left leg swept out like a heavy iron pillar, leaving a sharp arc in its wake.
It was a precise, domineering left hook kick. Gu Tian's foot slammed into Zhu Zhuyun's ribs. A force like a landslide surged through her body; the protective Soul Power of a level-28 Soul Grandmaster was as flimsy as paper before it. Amid the crisp crack of breaking bones, Zhu Zhuyun screamed. She spun sideways through the air several times, like a heavy sack of sand.
Gu Tian's gaze was cold. He gave her no chance to catch her breath. He bent his knees and sprang up again just before Zhu Zhuyun hit the ground, fingers pressed together into a palm. Dragon markings glimmered faintly at the center of his hand as he thrust forward, striking Zhu Zhuyun squarely in the chest.
Boom!
Zhu Zhuyun threw her head back and spat out a mouthful of blood. Her body was struck as if by lightning, flying more than ten meters like a kite with its strings cut before crashing into the heavy Ironwood table in front of Zhu Ganglie. The massive table, capable of withstanding ten thousand jin of force, shattered instantly, sending splinters flying.
"Cough, cough... You... what kind of monster are you...?" Zhu Zhuyun struggled to curl up amid the wreckage, her right hand clamped over her sunken ribs. All her former arrogance had vanished, leaving only deep terror.
She had thought this would be a sure-win game of cat and mouse. But before this young man, she—a level-28 genius who had been able to look down on her peers—couldn't even withstand a single complete fighting move.
Gu Tian slowly lowered his left leg, his toe touching the ground. He looked down at the Zhu father and daughter, who were like stray dogs, and spoke in a voice cold as a blade:
"Other than throwing your weight around and bullying the weak, does the Zhu Family really have not a single skill that's worth... taking seriously?"