The black-clad man's pupils suddenly constricted. Seeing the other's spirit ring configuration, the overwhelming shock made him briefly forget to breathe.
"Three purple, one black... How is that possible?! The first spirit ring is actually a thousand-year one?!"
His voice trembled with disbelief, and a crack appeared in his previous absolute confidence.
The shock of having common sense utterly overturned was far greater than merely hearing about it.
"No need to be surprised. I stand at a height you will never reach, even in death."
Su Changqing's tone was calm, yet it carried an icy arrogance.
"Arrogant!"
The black-clad man forcibly suppressed the horror in his heart and shouted, "No matter how old your spirit rings are, you're still only a Soul Ancestor!"
"Sixth Spirit Ability, Earth Splitting Slash!"
He knew he had to end this quickly. The youth before him was far too strange.
His sixth spirit ring lit up, and the Soul Breaking Axe in his hand abruptly swelled. Vast Soul Power condensed into an almost tangible, enormous axe blade several meters long!
He brought the axe down!
A full-force strike from a Soul Emperor was terrifyingly powerful, compressing the surrounding air until it shrieked!
"Changqing, be careful!"
Hu Liena cried out in alarm. Her innate charm ability activated instinctively as she tried to interfere with the black-clad man, but his Soul Power far surpassed hers. With his mind focused, her interference had little effect.
She had not expected him to give Su Changqing no opportunity at all and immediately seek a swift victory!
Yet Su Changqing seemed as though he had been frightened senseless. He neither dodged nor evaded, and he could not even be bothered to use his Second Spirit Ability. He simply stood there quietly, waiting for the attack to hit.
"Seeking death!"
Seeing this, a savage grin flashed across the black-clad man's eyes, as though he could already see Su Changqing being cleaved in two.
Just as his attack was about to land, Su Changqing's fourth spirit ring suddenly lit up!
"Fourth Spirit Ability, Holy Light Armor!"
A low command rang out, as though it contained supreme majesty.
"Bzz—"
Dazzling Golden Light instantly burst from Su Changqing's body, like a miniature sun erupting around him!
A sacred, majestic, indestructible aura spread outward as a magnificent suit of golden-white armor covering his entire body instantly formed over him.
At the very instant the Holy Light Armor took shape, the opponent's attack landed upon it!
"Boom!!!"
The massive Soul Breaking Axe blade struck solidly atop Su Changqing's head!
A deafening explosion rang out, and a violent circular shockwave of Soul Power suddenly spread outward, shearing the surrounding trees in half and carving the ground down by more than a meter!
Hu Liena was forced back again and again by the blast, her beautiful eyes filled with horror and despair.
A victorious smile had already appeared on the black-clad man's face. He was certain that no Soul Ancestor, not even a defense-type Soul King, could survive his all-out Sixth Spirit Ability head-on!
Even if Su Changqing's spirit ring configuration defied heaven, it could not change the fact that he was merely a Soul Ancestor!
But in the next moment, the smile on his face completely froze, turning into utter bewilderment and terror.
Before him, there was no scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere, nor was there any piercing clash of metal.
The terrifying axe blade capable of splitting the earth, upon touching that golden-white armor, had silently... melted away like ice and snow beneath a blazing sun???
No, it had not melted!
The Golden Light flowing across the surface of the armor had formed a tiny, nearly imperceptible vortex the instant it met the attack, absorbing every bit of its energy!
The axe blade shattered, its energy vanished, yet Su Changqing and the Holy Light Armor upon him remained completely motionless. Even the small patch of ground beneath his feet was utterly intact!
The attack he had unleashed with all his strength felt as insignificant as a gentle breeze passing by.
"No... Impossible!!!"
The black-clad man screamed, his eyes widening so far they nearly split apart. His worldview had suffered an unprecedented blow.
His Sixth Spirit Ability, unleashed at full strength, could not even force the other party back a single step?!
What kind of monstrous defensive spirit ability was this?!
However, what frightened him even more was yet to come.
At that moment, after perfectly blocking the fatal blow, Su Changqing's magnificent golden-white armor seemed to have fulfilled its mission. It abruptly transformed into countless tiny motes of light and scattered into the air.
Yet at the same time, an energy fluctuation far more terrifying, pure, and violent than his Earth Splitting Slash erupted from where Su Changqing had originally stood!
The nature of that energy was identical to his attack from moments ago, but the power it unleashed was incomparably greater. Even the black-clad man himself felt fear!
This was the effect of Su Changqing's Fourth Spirit Ability!
After the Holy Light Armor received a fatal blow, it vanished and returned the attack in full!
While the armor lasted, it ignored control effects. Contact-type attacks received fifty percent damage feedback, energy-type attacks had fifty percent of their damage negated, and Light Attribute damage was increased by fifty percent.
Its only drawback was that after blocking a fatal strike, this spirit ability could not be used again for one day.
"What?!!"
The black-clad man had no time to make any effective defensive or evasive move. He could only watch helplessly as the attack he had launched with all his strength returned to him in such a bizarre and terrifying manner!
"Pfft—!"
The dull sound of a sharp blade slicing through flesh made one's teeth ache. The terrifying force instantly blasted him back to his original position.
"Pfft—"
He spat out another mouthful of blood. The black-clad man had already been severely wounded.
"It's over."
Su Changqing's second and first spirit rings lit up simultaneously, while Hu Liena skillfully closed her eyes.
"Second Spirit Ability, Rainbow Flowing Light!"
"First Spirit Ability, Holy Light Radiance!"
"Bzz—"
Light flared, and searing heat instantly descended upon the black-clad man. Flesh peeled away and blood spilled out, creating an exceedingly grotesque scene.
A few seconds later, the black-clad man no longer made a sound.
A six-ring Soul Emperor had died just like that!
Hu Liena's red lips parted slightly, and her delicate hand instinctively covered her mouth. Her seductive peach-blossom eyes were wide open, filled with utter shock and confusion.
She had imagined that Su Changqing was powerful, even capable of challenging opponents above his rank, but she had never imagined the battle would end in such a way—with absolute defense followed by an instant counterkill!
Su Changqing walked over to the black-clad man's corpse and searched it. Aside from some Gold Soul Coins and ordinary healing medicine, he found nothing that could prove the man's identity.
"We can't determine his identity. I don't know whether Heaven Dou City discovered us," Su Changqing said calmly.
He turned to Hu Liena, who was still staring blankly, and smiled slightly. His smile dispelled the cold killing intent from the battle moments earlier. "Sister Nana, it's all right now. Let's go inside. The immortal herb should be in there."
Only then did Hu Liena suddenly come back to her senses and nod lightly.
Before you continue