Yue Guan's Strength, Subversion

The old man had never been a match for either Yue Guan or Gui mei to begin with, and now that he was being suppressed by Xie Biyan's terrifying domain, how could he possibly outrun them? He was caught almost instantly.

Gui mei's figure drifted close like black mist, and his hoarse voice rang out at once.

"Fifth Spirit Skill, Ghost Shadow Earth Pool Hand."

As Gui mei's fifth Spirit Ring blazed with a ghostly light, the ground beneath the old man's feet instantly turned into a shadowy swamp. Countless ghostly hands formed from pure shadow energy stretched out of it in a frenzy, carrying an aura of coldness and deathly silence as they surged one after another toward the old man's legs, dragging him firmly in place.

Yue Guan's attack followed close behind. His posture was still elegant, and a flash of golden light passed through his eyes.

He did not even use his Martial Soul Avatar. The Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum at his fingertip merely trembled lightly, and a golden beam compressed to the absolute limit tore through the air with a piercing shriek, carrying a terrifying sharpness that could pierce all things as it shot straight toward the old man's heart!

"Eighth Spirit Skill, Myriad Streams of Flowing Light."

Faced with such a terrifying attack, the old man instinctively wanted to dodge, but the ghostly hands beneath his feet were incomparably tenacious. Each one contained icy Soul Power, and for a moment, he simply could not break free!

"Damn it!" Seeing this, a trace of resolve flashed through the old man's eyes. He could only grit his teeth and harden his heart. "Seventh Spirit Skill, White Tiger Avatar!"

A heaven-shaking roar rang through the field. The old man's body swelled instantly, and amid violent fluctuations of Soul Power, a majestic, ferocious white tiger with twin pupils, nearly ten meters long, appeared with a crash!

The moment the White Tiger Avatar emerged, its berserk power instantly broke free of the ghostly hands binding its feet, but that golden stream of light symbolizing death was already right before it. There was no time to dodge!

"Roar—!" The white tiger's furious roar shook the heavens. Without the slightest hesitation, the first, third, and fifth Spirit Rings beneath its feet erupted in dazzling light one after another.

"White Tiger Protection Barrier! White Tiger Vajra Transformation! White Tiger Demon God Transformation!"

In an instant, pitch-black patterns like those of a demon god surfaced over the already imposing white tiger's body, and its knotted muscles swelled by another size. Immediately afterward, a heavy suit of armor condensed from Soul Power covered its entire body out of thin air, and outside the armor, a pure-white light barrier as solid as substance opened up!

The instant the three layers of defense overlapped, the golden light slammed into them head-on!

Boom—!!!

A deafening explosion resounded through most of Heaven Dou City, and a shockwave visible to the naked eye spread wildly outward.

There was even a stray wave of uncontrolled energy like a runaway wild horse, transforming into a golden streak that shot beyond the residence. In the blink of an eye, it was about to raze a bustling street to the ground!

In the sky, Bai Shu frowned slightly and spoke in an indifferent tone. "Old Xie, this is too much noise. Control the aftermath of the battle. Try not to let it leave the garden. We still have to live in this mansion later."

Xie Biyan smiled. "Don't worry, Young Master."

Before his words had finished falling, that wave of energy, which was about to cause destruction, seemed to crash into an invisible barrier the instant it flew out of the garden. Without raising even the slightest ripple, it was silently annihilated.

Bai Shu nodded in satisfaction. "Good."

Although he did not consider himself a good person, he also could not bring himself to needlessly drag civilians into this. Since he had the ability to stop it, it was better to control things a little.

While the two of them conversed calmly in the sky, the dust and smoke in the garden had already dispersed.

Unexpectedly, the white tiger in the field was not in too terrible a state. Although the outermost light barrier had already vanished and the armor on its body was in tatters, its main body had not suffered a fatal heavy injury. Its aura was merely somewhat chaotic.

Seeing this, Bai Shu could not help but sigh at the strength of the White Tiger martial soul. As expected of the martial soul of an imperial clan, its ability to withstand blows was probably beyond even most top-tier defense-type martial souls.

Yue Guan's expression was somewhat hard to maintain at this moment. He glanced at the Young Master in the sky, whose expression remained calm, and his heart abruptly tightened. The corners of his elegant smile slowly fell, and the fingers holding the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum tightened slightly.

The gap between a Super Douluo and an ordinary Title Douluo was like the gap between cloud and mud, so he had not used his full strength earlier. He had thought that one eighth Spirit Skill would be enough to beat the other party into a severely injured, dying state, but he had not expected the other party to endure it head-on and only suffer light injuries!

The purpose of this battle was precisely to show his value in front of Bai Shu. How would Bai Shu view this situation? What if he thought Yue Guan was useless? Would he still give him the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum?

At this thought, a cold glint flashed in Yue Guan's eyes. The terrifying pressure belonging to a Super Douluo was no longer held back in the slightest. He had become completely serious.

"Old ghost!" A loud shout filled with anger rang out.

Gui mei understood at once and instantly grasped his partner's intention. The second and fifth Spirit Rings beneath his feet flashed at the same time, and icy Soul Power surged wildly in an instant!

"Second Spirit Skill, Ghost Gate Pass."

The next moment, a completely sealed ghost-domain cage rose thunderously from beneath the white tiger's feet. Countless ghost hooks carrying icy chains shot out from the inner walls of the cage, binding the white tiger's entire body tightly.

At the same time, the ground beneath its feet once again turned into the Ghost Shadow Earth Pool, and an endless stream of ghostly hands grabbed at its limbs, completely cutting off all possibility of movement!

And at the same moment Gui mei attacked, Yue Guan's most dazzling ninth Spirit Ring suddenly lit up as well. Pitch-black light instantly enveloped heaven and earth, making the wind and clouds lose color!

Countless golden petals flashing with a cold metallic luster instantly filled most of the sky, forming a blade tornado that covered an area dozens of meters across!

That terrifying sharp aura cut the surviving stone slabs on the ground into rubble, then swept straight toward the trapped white tiger!

"Ninth Spirit Skill, The Chrysanthemum Withers, Wounds Cover the Ground; When the Flower Falls—Hearts Break!"

"Roar—"

The moment the petal tornado wrapped around the white tiger, a miserable tiger roar came from within it. At the center of the tornado, countless golden and black lights flickered alternately.

But this powerful attack, which should have been able to topple cities and uproot fortresses, was shredded the instant it struck those seemingly fragile petals by billions of spinning blade-like petals! It could not break through in the slightest.

The miserable tiger roar was directly drowned out by waves of scalp-numbing tearing sounds and howling wind. Blood sprayed out through the gaps in the tornado, only to be instantly drawn back in, dyeing that brilliant golden tornado into a strange, blood-red hue!

Before long, the sounds within completely weakened.

Seeing that the other party could finally no longer resist, Yue Guan slowly withdrew his spirit skill and secretly let out a breath of relief. Good. He had not used his Martial Soul Avatar and had settled it in two moves. That should satisfy the Young Master.

As the petals scattered, only a somewhat mangled human body was left in the field. After struggling slightly, it fell heavily to the ground.

Because Bai Shu had given instructions in advance, although the other party's injuries were severe, Yue Guan had not taken his life.

Now that the battle was over, Bai Shu brought Xie Biyan and Dugu Bo slowly down from the sky, then walked up before them with his hands behind his back.

"Not bad. The other party is, after all, a Title Douluo with a long-inherited top-tier beast martial soul. To take him down so cleanly shows that your teamwork is truly seamless."

Bai Shu first praised Yue Guan and Gui mei, his tone carrying a trace of approval. Only then did he turn his gaze toward the old man lying on the ground, covered in blood. After thinking briefly, he asked:

"If I'm not mistaken, you should be a secluded consecrated elder of the Star Luo imperial family."

The old man, who had originally been playing dead and trying to find that last sliver of hope, suddenly snapped his head up at those words. His double pupils instantly overlapped, and he stared fixedly at Bai Shu.

He became even more certain of his guess. Those who knew of the imperial family's consecrated elders could be counted on one hand apart from the core members of the imperial clan. An outsider could never possibly know!

As if he had already thought of the fact that he was doomed to die, the old man instead calmed down. A smile uglier than crying suddenly squeezed onto his face, and he stared straight at Bai Shu as he said:

"I don't know who exactly wants to harm my Dai Family... but since you possess such strength, sir, why... work for someone else?"

"Now that the Dai Family has lost me... this is precisely its weakest moment. You could completely kill... the others, replace them, and sit upon Star Luo's throne yourself!"

"By controlling an empire, the resources you could obtain would absolutely be far beyond your imagination!"

After all, he had once been an emperor. In the time it took his thoughts to race, he had put forward the most vicious countermeasure—since someone wanted the Dai Family destroyed, then he would drag that person down with him.

If the master of the empire was not the Dai Family, then the empire had no need to exist. He would rather see the empire fall apart, see rivers of blood flow, than ever see it usurped by treacherous ministers and traitors.