Gold Piercing

"Die." The six soul rings on the Great Holy Spirit's body ignited simultaneously, and a layer of white flames instantly erupted across his entire frame.

Within the white flames rising from the Great Holy Spirit, it seemed as if countless vengeful souls were emitting shrill, mournful cries. Immediately after, a small side door suddenly exploded.

A surging, terrifying wave of energy rushed out from that small door.

One could see clusters of transparent light in various colors pouring out rapidly from the door; each cluster seemed to contain a human face, though these faces were currently twisted in agony.

The Great Holy Spirit held a flag in his hand, looking at Ye Guyi with a ferocious expression.

"Let you taste the flavor of the Ten Thousand Souls Devouring Body. Your souls will be torn to shreds by them, and your bodies will become my puppets. Die."

The moment the pyramid sealed the Second Holy Spirit, Xiao Hongchen had already raised his eyes to scan the entire hall.

Over on Ye Guyi's side.

Nearly five hundred wraiths swarmed in from all directions, a pitch-black mass blotting out the sky as they bore down on her.

Anyone else seeing this formation would likely have had their legs turn to jelly.

Xiao Hongchen took one look and withdrew his gaze.

There was no need to worry.

He knew Ye Guyi's strength better than anyone; those wraiths colliding with her would only serve as her charging station.

His attention shifted to Nana.

That skeleton had forced her into a corner, and the space for Nana to dodge had been compressed to its limit.

She could only barely maintain the situation by relying on the speed of her Ghost Martial Soul and the brief intangibility of her third soul skill.

Xiao Hongchen raised his right hand naturally, pinching his thumb and forefinger together. Metal condensed at his fingertips, and a coin-shaped metal block formed in an instant.

After locking onto the skeleton, he flicked his thumb forward violently.

Under the enhancement of the Sacrifice of Gold soul skill, the coin tore through the air with a golden tail flame. Its kinetic energy was terrifying, and it struck the center of the skeleton's spine with a boom.

The skeleton shattered, dust scattering everywhere; not even a single intact bone fragment remained.

Nana stood frozen in place, her back still pressed against the stone wall, and blinked at him.

Xiao Hongchen had already turned around, pulling out two lumps of metal. He kneaded them a few times in his palms and tossed them toward the two skeletons entangled with Meng Hongchen.

The metal had been molded by Xiao Hongchen into long strips. Upon hitting the ground, they quickly expanded, rapidly elongating and branching out on the stone floor to sprout dozens of fine metal legs.

The two Metal Centipedes nimbly lunged at the two skeletons, winding up their frames with incredible speed. They clamped the skeletons tight from head to toe, the bones creaking as they became completely immobilized.

Meng Hongchen immediately raised her swords—one called the Sword of Fire, the other the Sword of Ice—and cleanly, decisively hacked the two skeletons into four pieces.

"Too slow!" Meng Hongchen shook the bone dust off her swords, her tone displeased.

On the other side, Ye Guyi was on the verge of being completely submerged by the wraiths, yet she showed not a hint of panic.

She raised her sword abruptly, channeling the Divine Body Sword to its limit; in that instant, person and blade seemed to fuse into one.

Golden holy power surged violently from the Divine Body Sword, transforming into a visible Golden Wave that swept outward with a roar.

The Golden Wave crashed head-on into the tide of wraiths, cutting through them like bamboo. Wherever it passed, the wraiths didn't even have time to shriek before they disintegrated directly within the golden light, turning into the finest black particles and vanishing into nothingness in the blink of an eye.

The wave did not stop.

Layer after layer, the Golden Wave rolled out like ocean tides, each wave wider and more intense than the last. Holy power was a natural restraint against evil souls; those wraiths were like dry tinder meeting a raging fire, leaving them no room to resist.

After three waves of the Golden Wave, only black particles remained floating throughout the hall where five hundred wraiths had once been.

The particles slowly settled, disappearing completely before they even touched the ground.

Ye Guyi landed from the holy light, her hair lifted and then settled by the air currents. The golden radiance retracted from her body bit by bit until it finally returned to calm.

She raised her eyes to scan the hall, her expression as usual.

The Great Holy Spirit had not expected that his infallible Holy Spirit Flag would be ineffective against the opponent.

This Holy Spirit Flag was not his own; it was the most important treasure of the branch altar elder.

Not only was it a level-seven Soul Tool, but it also required an Evil Soul Master proficient in soul manipulation to use. In this branch, only he and the elder could master it.

The elder had once said that as long as a powerful Soul Master above the eighth ring didn't arrive, this Holy Spirit Flag could handle any threat.

He never expected it to be broken by a four-ring Soul Ancestor.

The Great Holy Spirit glanced at the Second Holy Spirit, who was buried deep in the ground by the metal pyramid, and quickly calculated his odds.

The situation was dire; as long as the green hills remained, one needn't worry about firewood.

He made a prompt decision.

Blood-colored flames suddenly ignited around his body, and he transformed into a mass of Blood-Colored Wraith, flying toward the back door at high speed. Before leaving, he didn't forget to turn his head and throw out a harsh threat:

"I will definitely return! Along with the elder! Don't you dare leave if you have the guts!"

Xiao Hongchen's eyes darkened:

"Hmph, trying to escape?"

He would not let the Great Holy Spirit have his way; he was a man who held a grudge.

The metal in his belt transformed into a liquid state, surging out frantically and gathering rapidly around him.

Xiao Hongchen pressed his palms together, extended his arms, and took aim at the Great Holy Spirit.

Under the lock of his spiritual power, no matter how fast the Great Holy Spirit flew, he could not shake off the pursuit.

Liquid metal swirled into a vortex beside him, continuously compressed and re-compressed within his palms. Xiao Hongchen's palms glowed with a scorching golden light, and golden mist faintly seeped from between his fingers.

Xiao Hongchen took a deep breath; this was his new Self-Created Soul Skill.

Gold Piercing, activate.

The liquid metal suddenly constricted, its tip sharpening into an arrowhead, and it tore through the air at supersonic speeds. The airflow was ripped apart around it, emitting a sharp, piercing whistle.

Puchi.

The metal arrowhead struck the Blood-Colored Wraith square in the left chest, piercing straight through, yet it did not dissipate.

At the moment of penetration, it suddenly expanded. The liquid metal spread outward along the wound, rapidly reshaping itself into a small, dense cage, trapping the Blood-Colored Wraith—the form taken by the Great Holy Spirit—firmly within.

"Guyi, now!"

Xiao Hongchen could certainly have used Gold Piercing to blow the target's head off and kill the Great Holy Spirit on the spot.

However, the cultivation boost Ye Guyi would receive from purifying an Evil Soul Master at the Soul Emperor level was far more valuable than a dead Soul Emperor.

This strike was left for Ye Guyi.

Ye Guyi had already moved.

She stepped forward, and a Holy Spirit Slash descended with a brilliant golden radiance.

The cage parted at the perfect moment.

The instant the Holy Spirit Slash touched the Blood-Colored Wraith, the mass of resentment let out a sharp shriek. It struggled frantically within the golden light as the blood-red color was purified bit by bit, dissipating into nothingness.

Clean, efficient, a one-hit kill.

The golden halo slowly surged toward Ye Guyi, and she absorbed it naturally.

Xiao Hongchen withdrew his gaze and turned toward the Iron Sand Pyramid.

The Second Holy Spirit inside was still alive; his skeleton creaked under the metallic pressure, his struggles weak, but present.

"Go," he said.

Ye Guyi had already looked over.

Xiao Hongchen raised his hand, and the metal layer on the surface of the pyramid slowly loosened, peeling back to reveal an opening on the front—not large, but just enough for a sword to strike through.