But Dai Mubai's White Tiger Intense Light Wave hit nothing!
Dai Yunzhao, who had been right in front of him, had vanished.
When he appeared again, he was already right in front of Dai Mubai's face!
"First Soul Skill, War King Blood Wheel Mark!"
A short-range spatial shift let Dai Yunzhao evade his opponent's attack.
The Blood Wheel in his hands instantly amplified his Soul Power sixfold!
Pfft!
The Blood Wheel plunged straight into Dai Mubai's chest!
An assassin's fighting style was all about killing in one strike.
If you couldn't kill your target, then you weren't a fit assassin!
Before Dai Mubai fell, all he could see were two Blood Wheels.
That first Soul Skill was actually stronger than all three of his Soul Skills combined!
Ma Hongjun cowered in terror behind Flender.
Looking at Dai Mubai lying on the ground, he stammered, "Dean, didn't you say he was only a Soul Grandmaster? How is he a Level 35 Soul Elder?!"
"What a powerful Soul Elder! Boss Dai never stood a chance. He died in an instant."
"Boss Dai is dead!"
As the fat man wailed, Flender finally came to his senses.
But he was completely unable to do anything now.
His own Soul Power was spent, while Yu Xiaogang was either raving or unconscious.
And Dai Mubai had been killed in a single move!
He'd thought Dai Mubai could buy them some time to recover.
He never expected him to lose so completely!
Flender slid to the ground, his face ashen.
"Do it. We've lost completely."
The enemy could wipe them all out at a tiny place like Three Gorges Pass.
Dai Yunzhao was far, far stronger than Dai Mubai.
They'd been full of confidence, convinced they could defeat Dai Yunzhao.
Yet at their very first encounter, they'd been routed in a thousand-mile rout!
Dai Yunzhao let out a breath and waved his hand. "Get lost."
He paid them no further attention. Instead, he called for his men to collect Dai Mubai's body.
"Send him to the welcoming party from Star Luo City. Tell them the Dai Mubai Star Luo Emperor wanted has been brought back to him!"
Then Dai Yunzhao swung onto his horse and rode away with everyone else, without looking back.
Flender, still crouched where he was, shuddered with fear.
He was just... letting them go?
Zhao Wuji stared in disbelief.
Flender, too, let out a long, heavy breath.
Drip!
Drip!
Raindrops the size of beans pelted the ground, stirring up dust.
Then the damp air rushed into their nostrils.
A torrential downpour broke loose in an instant.
Yet they felt as though they'd been given a new lease on life.
Flender watched Dai Yunzhao and his party ride away, unable to understand why they'd been spared.
Hearing no more sounds from within, Zhao Wuji began carrying the others up toward the mountaintop.
From the top of the sheer cliff, they could survey everything below.
The more than one thousand elite cavalrymen behind them had been burned alive.
At the place where they had been, the Azure Vine still clung to the cliff face, but now hung limp and lifeless.
The Heavenly Star Furnace had long since been smashed to pieces, and Bai Baoshan's massive body was riddled with bloody holes.
Meng Shenji, their leader, had all four limbs severed. He'd been reduced to a human stump!
Three Soul Douluos had faced one Soul Sage, and the Soul Sage had killed all three!
Zhao Wuji dropped onto the ground.
The mighty Immovable Wisdom King actually wanted to cry!
Ma Hongjun had already been scared senseless.
He covered his eyes with both hands and crouched off to one side, retching.
Flender's eyes reddened in an instant.
"We shouldn't have brought him back..."
Who could they even take revenge on?
They had brought Dai Mubai back to kill Dai Yunzhao.
They simply couldn't accept that Dai Mubai was the one who had died.
He'd been killed without even taking a single move!
He was the student they'd spent so long raising, and yet he'd died so abruptly.
Flender sat on the ground, utterly disheartened, letting the rain fall over his face.
"We lost. We lost completely..."
The wind and rain grew more and more frantic, like the whimpering of a band of defeated men.
The eight hundred men rode onward, never expecting such a resounding victory.
Not a single man or horse had been lost. They had nearly wiped out the other side.
If Dai Yunzhao hadn't shown mercy, those last few men wouldn't have escaped either.
Shadow rode at the front alongside Dai Yunzhao.
Dai Yunzhao asked with concern, "Shadow, you're hurt."
They had known each other for so many years that Dai Yunzhao could notice even the slightest change in Shadow.
Shadow remained as wooden as ever. "The three of them worked well together. Killing them came at a price."
"It's nothing. I'll heal by tomorrow. No matter what injuries I suffer, I recover completely by the next day. Don't worry."
Shadow's healing mechanism was still ahead of the curve.
Dai Yunzhao planned to spend a few days recuperating at the border, giving Shadow time to recover.
He also needed time to win over the border troops.
Word of this battle would surely spread to every pass along the Star Luo border.
They certainly cared whether Dai Mubai and Dai Yunzhao lived or died.
But Dai Mubai had returned in grand fashion, intending to use every one of them as a bargaining chip.
Dai Yunzhao, on the other hand, had kept the conflict between the brothers from beginning to end.
Even though he'd set out with eight hundred men, every last one of them had returned safe and sound.
Behind them, Xiong Ao saw Dai Yunzhao still frowning and risked speaking out of turn as he came forward.
"Your Highness, every other option has now been eliminated. You're the only one left."
"Whether they're court officials or border generals, they'll all firmly stand with you."
"You don't need to worry about anything anymore. You can go back and get a good night's sleep."
Dai Yunzhao looked at Xiong Ao.
Xiong Ao had indeed waded through mountains of corpses and seas of blood at his side.
This time, he'd even risked public condemnation to escort him out of the imperial capital and join him in rebellion.
But that wasn't what Dai Yunzhao was worried about.
His gaze fixed on the road ahead.
A figure slowly emerged from the curtain of rain.
"His Majesty sent me to intercept you. At least I managed to catch up on your way back!"
The figure was barely visible in the rain.
But the poisonous aura he released had already revealed his identity.
Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo!
Xiong Ao reined in his horse and shouted, "Dai Mubai is dead. What did you come here for?"
Poison Douluo lifted his gaze through the rain.
"What does his death have to do with me? I'm here to kill Dai Yunzhao!"
"Dai Yunzhao is a far greater threat than some Dai Mubai."
Poison Douluo had come to kill Dai Yunzhao.
Shadow gripped the dagger in one hand.
"I'm immune to poison. He can't poison me. I can get you and Xiong Ao out of here."
Shadow spoke softly, but he said it right in front of Dugu Bo.
Dugu Bo let out a cold laugh. "You dare boast in front of me?!"
The dagger slid into Shadow's hand from his waist. He was ready for a fight.
Behind him, the Black Armor Warriors spoke up as well. "We are all willing to fight to the death for Your Highness!"
Poison Douluo laughed wildly.
"Heh heh heh heh heh... Good! Very good! Then let this old man see if every last one of you is truly so loyal and dutiful!"
At that moment, Dai Yunzhao's voice rang out, calm and even:
"Dugu Bo, do you want revenge?"
Before you continue