Another battlefield.
Though the Seven-Ring Evil Soul Masters who had been caught off guard and blinded were now all able to see again, the situation had not improved as the leading Eight-Ring Soul Douluo had hoped.
That was because Father Ye, whom they had surrounded, had also begun burning his Martial Soul and fighting for his life.
His Soul Power had surged directly from level seventy-one to level eighty-two!
If they were facing an ordinary opponent with Eight-Ring strength, their team's lineup would leave that opponent with no room to fight back. But Father Ye was different.
The Angel Martial Soul already had an attribute advantage over them. After his Soul Power surged to level eighty-two, it inflicted several times more damage on the Evil Soul Masters than before!
When Father Ye's Soul Power was at level seventy-one, the Seven-Ring Evil Soul Masters could just barely hold their own in a direct confrontation, provided they were prepared.
But once his Soul Power had surged to level eighty-two, they couldn't even hope to face him head-on. Even getting a little too close to his Angel Avatar made their bodies feel an almost instinctive discomfort, reducing their combat strength by at least twenty percent!
If they were unlucky enough to be struck by the holy sword energy from the Angel Sword, they would lose at least half their lives.
They had expected this to be a boring game, like a big bad wolf casually hunting little lambs. But who could have imagined the tables would turn? Father Ye had become the hunting wolf, while the Seven-Ring Evil Soul Masters were now lambs fleeing in all directions, terrified of being struck by his sword energy and left in unbearable agony.
Watching his subordinates scatter in every direction, the leading Eight-Ring Soul Douluo's face darkened. But for the moment, he had no good solution.
Though he was also an Eight-Ring Soul Douluo, he didn't dare meet Father Ye head-on while he was in this crazed state.
Under the circumstances, all they could do was keep their distance and wear him down, avoiding his attacks. The power Father Ye had gained by burning his Martial Soul was formidable, but it couldn't last long. As long as they held out, victory would be theirs in the end.
There was just one thing that made the leading Eight-Ring Evil Soul Master furious.
He had clearly taken advantage of the moment to fire a signal flare. Using the Holy Spirit Cult's secret code, he had ordered the three men keeping watch on the outskirts to capture Father Ye's wife and daughter as quickly as possible, so he could use them as leverage.
But as time dragged on, those three bastards still showed no sign of appearing.
His hatred burned so fiercely that his teeth ached. He assumed the three had been unable to keep their hands off the women in their pants, and silently vowed to settle the score with them.
He swore that once this was over, he would personally cut off the things in their pants as punishment for disobeying orders during battle.
But he had no time to dwell on that now. In the blink of an eye, another one of his subordinates had let his guard down and been run through the chest by Father Ye's Angel Sword.
Including the one who had been stabbed to death while they were blinded at the start, two of his seven Soul Saint subordinates were now dead.
The loss of two Soul Saints!
That price was already close to more than the Eight-Ring Evil Soul Master could bear.
When he sensed that after killing his subordinate, Father Ye's aura hadn't weakened at all—in fact, it had grown even stronger—a vicious glint flashed in the leader's eyes.
"No! We can't hold back anymore! This Angel Martial Soul is too damn strange. If we don't use our trump card now, we'll lose even more men!"
With that, the leader roared:
"Stop holding back! Form the Ten Thousand Soul Spirit-Binding Array! We can make up for some loss of our source later. But once we're dead, we lose everything!"
At his words, the five remaining Seven-Ring Evil Soul Masters hesitated for only two seconds before steeling themselves.
Their two companions' bodies lay nearby, still warm. If they didn't fight for their lives now, they might soon share their fate.
As members of the same team, they had long since learned to work together. The instant their leader produced the formation plate, the five still alive swiftly took their assigned positions.
In less than two seconds, thick black smoke suddenly appeared before Father Ye, obscuring part of his vision. Then, accompanied by mournful cries, black chains emerged from all directions and wound tightly around his body.
Father Ye refused to let himself be bound. He struggled with all his might, then swung his sword with the hand that was still free. One chain snapped with a sharp crack!
One of the Evil Soul Masters maintaining the formation immediately spat out a mouthful of blood. But he paid no heed to his injuries, instead pouring out his Soul Power source at an even faster rate than before, intent on holding Father Ye until he died.
Father Ye slashed wildly, and the chains snapped with ease. But as the Evil Soul Masters maintaining the formation supplied their Soul Power without pause, more chains continued to appear from every direction.
And so the battle fell into a stalemate. Victory would go to whichever side ran out of Soul Power first.
Maintaining the formation took a heavy toll on the Evil Soul Masters, but seeing Father Ye trapped eased their nerves somewhat.
With the limits of their five Soul Saints and one Soul Douluo, they could keep up the current pace for at least another half an hour.
As for Father Ye, who had traded the burning of his Martial Soul for power, his Soul Power was now being drained at twice the previous rate. It was hard to say whether he could last another quarter of an hour!
Just as the Evil Soul Masters thought the first light of victory was about to appear, a woman's voice suddenly rang out, mournful and utterly unexpected to everyone present:
"Husband! You've suffered so much!"
At her words, Father Ye, who had been hacking at the chains with all his might, suddenly froze. Then he turned toward the voice in disbelief.
The black fog blocked part of his vision, but the familiar voice and the vague outline were enough for him to recognize his beloved wife—the very woman who had just broken through the encirclement under his protection.
In an instant, despair unlike anything he had ever known filled Father Ye's heart.
He had fought desperately for so long, only to find he still couldn't do anything in the end?
Was his family of three fated to die in this Evil Demon Forest today?
It was no wonder Father Ye thought so. The leading Eight-Ring Evil Soul Master had said that three Seven-Ring Soul Saints were keeping watch on the outskirts. It was hardly surprising that his wife, who was only a Six-Ring Soul Master, had been captured.
The only reason he had been able to fight without distractions was that he had comforted himself with fantasies: that the Evil Soul Masters were lying, that good fortune would favor his wife, and that even if she met with danger, she would escape it and emerge into brighter prospects!
But now, the cruelest truth stood before him. His Soul Power was nearly exhausted, and in such a desperate situation, he could not see where any hope of survival lay.