Buried Beneath the Crimson Flames!

"Maybe I should use what little Soul Power I still have and self-destruct my Martial Soul."

"At least then, those dog-bastard beasts won't get off easy!"

"The only thing I regret is that I won't get to speak properly with the two of them before I die."

"I'm sorry. I've failed you both. If there's a next life, I'll make it up to you!"

At that thought, Father Ye's heart filled with the resolve to die. All he had to do now was gather up every last bit of Soul Power in his body as quickly as possible. Only then would the explosion of his Martial Soul have the greatest possible force.

But reality often loved to play tricks on people.

At the very moment Father Ye had given in to despair, just seconds earlier, the leading Eight-Ring Evil Soul Master heard Mother Ye's voice and first froze, then was overcome with uncontrollable delight.

Those three bastards on guard outside had caught the mother and daughter who'd just escaped and brought them back!

That was his first thought. After all, he couldn't imagine any other reason Mother Ye would return here.

If she hadn't been captured, did she think she could come back and save someone?

Don't make him laugh!

A Soul Emperor with a mere six rings, without even a Martial Soul that countered theirs—what use could she possibly be coming back alone, other than to die?

Wait... perhaps there was one use!

They could capture her and use her to threaten her husband, who fought like a war god!

Whatever the reason, though, Mother Ye's appearance here at this moment was a good thing for him!

But just as the leading Evil Soul Master was about to spare some of his attention to see what was happening in the direction of the voice, he and Father Ye, who was preparing to detonate his Martial Soul, suddenly heard a roar that seemed to come from a young man:

"You heartless beasts! Be buried beneath the crimson flames!"

Along with the young man's roar came an intensely scorching wave of heat.

Before the Evil Soul Masters or Father Ye could even react to what was happening, one of them—the one Father Ye had wounded most severely during the earlier chase, though he had somehow survived—suddenly let out a cry of pain. His body was then forced out of the array's center and plunged from the air.

The formation, set up through the combined efforts of six people, suddenly lost one of its members without warning. Without exception, the other five suffered a fierce backlash at the same time. They all spat out mouthfuls of thick blood, and one Evil Soul Master, whose injuries were also severe, could not withstand the backlash and fainted on the spot.

"Bang!"

With the crisp crack of the array disc shattering, the pitch-black chains that had bound Father Ye's body broke apart as well. Once the black smoke obscuring their view had completely cleared, the utterly bewildered Father Ye finally saw what was happening.

His wife and daughter stood not far away, their eyes brimming with tears as they looked at him with concern. In front of them stood an imposing old man who seemed strangely familiar to him and whose strength was clearly unfathomable.

Closest to him stood a young man wielding a greatsword, with a heroic air about him.

When the young man noticed him looking over, he took a deep breath but didn't speak to him. Instead, he turned to the old man whose strength was unfathomable.

"Uncle, can his injuries still be treated?"

At that, the old man shook his head regretfully.

"It's too late. If I'd arrived sooner, I could have forcibly stopped his burning Martial Soul. Now, I can only just barely keep him alive. Whether his Martial Soul can recover in the future will depend entirely on his luck and fortune."

As he spoke, the old man extended a finger toward him and lightly pointed through the air. Father Ye felt the Soul Power that had still been coursing through him, burning hot, vanish in an instant.

The state of his Martial Soul Avatar faded with it. The angel wings on his back disappeared, and then he plummeted from the sky.

Thinking he would be badly hurt when he hit the ground, Father Ye instinctively closed his eyes. But a few seconds later, what he felt wasn't pain. It was a soft, warm embrace.

He opened his eyes in surprise. His wife had caught him just in time, and now she was looking at him with an incredibly complicated expression.

It seemed happy, sad, confused, and relieved all at once.

"Keep your distance, but don't go too far. Uncle and I will handle things here. Once we're done, we'll take you out of the Evil Demon Forest."

Mother Ye nodded firmly. Then she lowered her husband from her arms, supporting him with one hand and taking their daughter's hand with the other as they walked in the direction they had come from.

She knew her husband was full of questions, but there was no need to rush. Once they reached somewhere quieter, she would explain everything that had happened.

Looking at the Evil Soul Masters sprawled across the ground, unable to move under his uncle's Soul Power, Xu Tianming's eyes were cold.

"Uncle, kill them all. Leave one alive so we can question him and find out what happened."

The helpless Evil Soul Masters were instantly seized by terror. But before they could even open their mouths to beg for mercy, a terrifying force crushed the hearts beneath their left chests. They died on the spot.

Seeing his subordinates, who had been full of life just moments ago, die so absurdly and easily before his eyes, the leading Eight-Ring Evil Soul Master felt his defenses collapse. Nothing mattered more to him now than staying alive.

Killing all these Seven-Ring Soul Sages stirred not even the slightest ripple in Kong Deming's heart. To him, it was as easy as crushing an ant.

But his nephew's sudden display just now had genuinely stunned him.

Had he not witnessed it with his own eyes, he would have found it hard to believe that his nephew, relying only on Level 20 Soul Power, the Soul Skill granted by a thousand-five-hundred-year Soul Ring, a self-created martial technique, and a mere Level Four soul-guiding greatsword, had actually gravely wounded a Seven-Ring Evil Soul Master!

It was true that his nephew had caught that Evil Soul Master completely off guard with a sneak attack, and that the man had already been seriously injured. Even so, it was still utterly absurd!

After all, an ordinary two-ring Soul Master—even a genius among two-ring Soul Masters, or even a three- or four-ring Soul Master—could never have done what Xu Tianming had just done under those circumstances.

The gap in Soul Power between two rings and seven rings was a chasm beyond imagining. Anyone else giving it their all might not even have managed to break through that Soul Saint's protective Soul Power.

Take the Shrek ancestor who had become a god ten thousand years ago, Sea God Tang San, for example.

Even after cultivating to Level 40, all he could do at most was cast Blue Silver Entanglement. To a Seven-Ring Soul Saint, it was no better than a tickle...