Sky-Reaching Divine Spear

The girl shot forward like a cannonball launched from a catapult, crashing precisely into the ruins.

Yun Ming stood there, while the man in black did not dare step forward. With a grasp of his right hand, the Sky-Reaching Divine Spear instantly returned to his hand.

The girl moved first. She knew that no matter what, she could no longer escape.

She brought her hands together, interlacing her fingers with her palms facing upward.

"Yun Ming! We never settled the score with your Shrek over Dark Hummingbird's downfall all those years ago. Today, you've all delivered yourselves right to our door!"

Dark crimson light exploded from above her head, tearing open a pitch-black rift. What poured out of it made one's scalp tingle—first one pale, translucent hand, then a second, a third. Countless arms stretched out from the rift like vines crawling up from the deepest pits of hell. Heads, shoulders, torsos—wraiths whose souls she had extracted in life surged out of the rift, instantly filling the entire field.

Some wore clothes of every color. Some were incomplete. Some had limbs blurred into nothing but light and shadow, leaving only mouths that opened and closed soundlessly. They crowded together, spreading out layer upon layer like a dark gray tide pouring down from the sky.

The wraiths did not attack the girl. They circled around her, accelerating with every revolution. A dark crimson storm swept from the ground into the air, lifting her body off the ground.

"Go!"

At her command, dozens of wraiths pounced on Yun Ming at once.

The instant they reached Yun Ming, the wraiths opened their mouths—silent shrieks rippled from their throats, dark purple waves layering atop one another like an invisible wall pressing down on him.

Yun Ming stood where he was. His white robes fluttered once in the wind raised by the wraiths, but he did not retreat even half a step.

The Sky-Reaching Divine Spear lay across his body. A ring of light lit up on its icy blue shaft and spread outward, colliding with the dark purple ripples. The two forces struck in midair without a sound, yet warped cracks appeared where the arc of light met the ripples. The air wrinkled like crumpled paper. The ground beneath his feet sank slightly, and a circle of fine cracks spread across the field's brick surface from beneath the spear tip before stopping several feet away.

The man in black moved at that moment.

He stood dozens of yards behind the girl and tore open the space beside him with his right hand. A dark crimson spear slowly emerged from the rift, inch by inch revealing its full form—entirely dark red, its surface covered in viscous black light that flowed like liquid. As it flowed, the things inside the spear could be seen—countless distorted faces churning, struggling, opening their mouths without a sound. They were Soul Masters, Soul Masters whose souls had been taken and forged into this spear. The resentment was so dense it had nearly solidified, seeping from the spear and corroding the surrounding air into rings of dark crimson ripples like oil slicks spreading endlessly across water.

Nine soul rings rose beneath his feet. Purple, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red, red. When the final two soul rings lit up, the temperature across the entire field dropped by several degrees. Bathed in the glow of those two scarlet rings, the wraiths inside the dark crimson spear opened their eyes at once—countless hollow eyeballs without pupils churned in the dark red liquid, all fixed on Yun Ming.

The man in black raised his hand and held the spear level before his chest.

"Wraiths Pierce the Body—"

He released it. The dark crimson spear left his hand with no flight path and no sound of tearing air. It became a dark red afterimage, and the distance between the man in black and Yun Ming seemed to fold away. Wherever the spearhead passed, the air tore open into a black gash fringed by crackling sparks. The wraiths' shrieks along its path were forcibly cut short, as though someone had seized them by the throat.

Yun Ming moved. The Sky-Reaching Divine Spear spun in his hand, changing from a horizontal guard into a forward thrust. Its icy blue tip met the point of the dark crimson spear with perfect precision. The two spears collided—the sound was as muffled as two mountains crashing together in the depths of the earth, so deep that everyone's chest shook with it. A shockwave erupted from where the spear tips met, flattening the remaining half of the broken wall at the edge of the field. The wraiths were blasted dozens of yards away, their shrieks breaking into brief, scattered hums.

The dark crimson spear was stopped by the Sky-Reaching Divine Spear. It did not advance even an inch, but neither did it retreat. The wraiths within its shaft churned madly, battering the icy blue barrier from the spear tip. With every impact, the shaft darkened slightly, and with every darkening, another crack appeared on its surface. The man in black maintained his controlling stance in the distance, the soul power of a rank ninety-seven Titled Douluo pouring endlessly into the spear. Veins bulged at his temples as though they were about to burst.

The girl's second wave of attacks arrived. The wraiths that had been blown away gathered once more and rushed at Yun Ming from three directions at once—charging from the front, grabbing for his ankles from below, and diving from above. Every approaching wraith brought dark purple waves of spiritual corrosion, layering over him from all sides and compressing the space around Yun Ming tighter and tighter until even the air became viscous.

Yun Ming raised his left hand. His palm faced outward, five fingers spread, and a pale blue curtain of light unfolded from his hand, rotating around him like a circular crystal wall. The wraiths lunging from the sides struck the light screen and were knocked away one after another. Ripples spread across its surface, but vanished upon reaching the edges without leaving a single crack. His right hand still gripped the Sky-Reaching Divine Spear as it faced off against the dark crimson spear. At the point where the two spear tips met, icy blue and dark crimson clashed, devoured one another, and burst apart without pause. Every collision sent another shockwave outward, shaving another layer off the field's surface and grinding broken stones into powder.

Yun Ming's voice emerged from the standoff, calm and unhurried. "This won't do."

The light screen around his left hand suddenly shuddered, blasting all the clinging wraiths several yards away. He drew back his left hand and placed it over the butt of the Sky-Reaching Divine Spear. The instant he held the spear with both hands, blue light erupted from its shaft. Icy blue light exploded from the spear tip and spread down the dark crimson spear. The dark red liquid began to slow, solidify, and crack—the wraiths churning inside the shaft stopped moving, their faces freezing one by one in shock. Starting from the spear tip, the dark crimson spear shattered inch by inch. Its fragments fell and broke across the ground, while the wraiths sealed within rose as strands of pale golden light, scattering in midair and fading into the morning breeze.

The man in black suddenly spat out a mouthful of dark red blood. His knees gave way, and he fell to the ground with both hands braced against it, breathing rapidly like a broken bellows. A rank ninety-seven Titled Douluo knelt among shattered bricks as the spear linked to his soul power broke into dark crimson fragments all around him.

The girl's wraiths gathered before her again. She looked at where the spear had shattered, then at the kneeling man in black. The expression on her face changed—her ferocity crumbled into fear. Gritting her teeth, she brought her hands together again. Every remaining wraith contracted into her palms, compressing into a dark purple sphere the size of a fist. The surface of the sphere was covered in countless wraith faces, all opening their mouths toward Yun Ming.

"Die—!"

She shoved the sphere forward. It contained all the wraith power she had accumulated over the years, a final desperate gamble. As it flew, the entire air trembled. Broken stones rose from the ground and wrapped around the sphere, forming a grayish-brown shell covered in churning dark purple patterns.

Yun Ming did not dodge. He stepped forward and swept his spear ahead with his right hand. The icy blue spear tip struck the dark purple sphere—there was no explosion. The sphere began to break apart from within. Its grayish-brown shell cracked, and the wraith faces churning inside fell silent one by one. The dark purple radiance was swallowed by icy blue, like ink dropped into clear water. When the sphere vanished, it took the last wraith with it. The girl's body jolted violently. The dark crimson blood essence surging over her body receded from the surface of her skin, withdrawing inward like a falling tide. Her lips turned pale, her knees buckled, and she collapsed limply, face-down among the rubble, without moving.

The field fell silent for a brief moment.

The man in black suddenly moved. Kneeling on the ground with his hands against the rubble, his remaining five soul rings lit up at once. Dark crimson light exploded from his body—the sign of self-destruction. His aura was already swelling and tearing apart. He opened his mouth, and a hoarse roar surged from his throat. Only half the roar emerged. The icy blue spear tip had already pierced his chest. The Sky-Reaching Divine Spear left Yun Ming's hand, entering through the man's chest, exiting through his back, and nailing itself into the ground several yards behind him. The spear tip sank a foot into the earth, its shaft still trembling slightly. The man in black's open mouth closed. Dark crimson light silently dissipated from his body, and he pitched forward, his face smashing into the rubble. He did not move again.

The girl's eyelashes twitched. She lay facedown, her fingers moving. Dark crimson blood essence surged up from within her again, spreading from her fingertips across the ground as it tried to seep into the cracks between the stones and escape. Yun Ming walked over, raised a hand, and recalled the Sky-Reaching Divine Spear from the man in black's corpse. It turned into a streak of blue light and returned to his palm. He stood before the girl, looking down at the dark crimson threads of blood writhing between her fingers.

"Trying to run?"

The girl abruptly raised her head. Her face had twisted—not from expression, but because the blood essence beneath her skin was flooding madly into her features. The contours of her face blurred and warped beneath the dark red liquid. She opened her mouth, squeezing out one last thin, piercing hiss. Yun Ming lowered his spear tip half an inch, and icy blue light seeped from it into the girl's brow. Her twisted face suddenly froze. The dark crimson blood essence peeled away from her skin layer by layer, sliding down like water over glass. Drop by drop, it fell to the ground and seeped into the broken stones, leaving nothing behind. The girl's body stiffened where she was, still holding her head up, no longer breathing.

The field was completely quiet.

Zhuo Shi walked over and looked down at the two motionless bodies. "Pavilion Master, what should we do with these two?"

"Wait." Yun Ming's voice suddenly tightened slightly.

The man in black's corpse moved.

His chest had been pierced through by the Sky-Reaching Divine Spear. He should have been thoroughly dead long ago. Yet among his remaining soul rings, the final black ring suddenly lit up—not steadily, but flickering erratically, like a flame struggling with its last drop of oil. Dark crimson light slowly gathered again from the shattered meridians inside his body, drawing bit by bit toward the center of his chest.

Zhuo Shi's brows instantly furrowed. "Is he trying to flee?"

"No." Yun Ming's gaze settled on the corpse. "He's self-destructing."

Before his words had faded, the man in black's eyes opened again. A murky dark crimson churned within those pupil-less eyes. His mouth hung open as a low sound escaped his throat, as though it had been ground out from the deepest part of his chest. His remaining soul power was contracting toward a single point, tightening and compressing until it resembled a string stretched to its limit, ready to snap with one more pull.

Yun Ming took a step forward. The Sky-Reaching Divine Spear condensed in his hand once more. The blue light on its shaft did not flare up, but glowed quietly like moonlight spread over water. The spear tip instantly pierced forward, continuously drawing in the gathered soul power

The dark crimson radiance contracting inside the man in black's body suddenly stopped. Like a tightening hand having its fingers forced apart from the outside, the soul power that had only half gathered loosened from its contraction and collapsed from its compressed state. It seeped through the spear tip into the Sky-Reaching Divine Spear before finally dispersing completely. The man in black's open mouth slowly closed. His reopened eyes shut once more, and his body went entirely limp, with no trace of life left behind.

"Leave them to the Federation. Taking them away ourselves would only arouse their suspicions."

Morning light shone over from beyond the horizon. The sky, muddied by blood-red and icy blue, gradually cleared bit by bit. It shifted from dark red to pale red, then from pale red to light blue, as though its colors had been washed with water and were slowly returning to normal.

Zhuo Shi came across the field carrying Wu Changkong in his arms. Wu Changkong leaned against his shoulder. Ya Li held the Heavenfrost Sword in her hand, its tip dragging across the ground and carving a faint white line. His blue hair hung over one side of his face, concealing half of it. The exposed half was smeared with a mixture of dust and blood, and a dried line of blood still marked the corner of his mouth. Most of his Three-Word Battle Armor had been withdrawn, though fine motes of soul power still leaked from the edges of the remaining armor, like shards of glass that had not quite broken apart.

Long Bing came down from the entrance steps.

She hurried toward them, the hem of her blue dress fluttering in the morning breeze. She stopped before Zhuo Shi and looked at Wu Changkong, her gaze traveling from his forehead to his chin, from his shoulders to his waist, as though counting every injury on his body with her eyes. She raised her hand. Her fingertips hovered beside his cheek without touching him, lingering there as though afraid she might break something.

Wu Changkong turned his head. Dust and blood were mixed across his face, but his amber eyes were bright—too bright, carrying the lingering exhilaration after a hard battle and the hollow weakness of total exhaustion. Seeing Long Bing's fingers hovering beside his face, the corner of his mouth moved. He seemed to want to smile, but lacked the strength to finish one.

"I'm fine," he said, his voice far hoarser than usual, like sandpaper rubbing against wood.

Long Bing's fingers lowered. Her fingertips gently wiped away the dried bloodstain on his cheekbone, so lightly that it felt like a feather brushing over skin. She said nothing. Once she had wiped the mark clean, she drew back her hand and let it hang at her side, a smear of dark red staining her fingertips.

Wu Changkong's gaze remained fixed on her face. His body leaned against Zhuo Shi's shoulder, unable to move, but the angle of his tilted head let him see her clearly. Morning light shone from the side, dyeing the edges of her hair warm gold. A trace of dust still clung to her lashes, and her lips were pressed tightly together, as though she was holding something back from him.

He looked at her for a while, then said, "It's good that you're all right too."

Long Bing's fingers curled slightly at her side, smearing the dark red bloodstain across her fingertips. She did not answer. Instead, she looked away from his face and turned toward the morning light, as though confirming that the day had fully broken.

Zhuo Shi coughed.

"That's enough." He adjusted Wu Changkong on his shoulder and tilted his head toward the entrance. "Save the lovey-dovey stuff for later. This place still needs cleaning up."

Wu Changkong was jostled and let out a muffled groan before closing his mouth again. Long Bing stepped half a pace aside to make way for Zhuo Shi, but after moving aside, she followed a couple of steps behind him, neither too close nor too far, walking in Wu Changkong's shadow.

Inside the entrance hall, people emerged carrying stretchers. Shrek's people were gathering the remaining soul power fluctuations around the field, checking beneath the broken bricks one by one for traces of aura.

Yun Ming walked at the very front. Morning light rested on his white robes as he walked at an unhurried pace into the depths of the teaching building, fading into shadows untouched by dawn.

He smiled naturally, very... gleefully. "Tell the children that Shrek's efficiency is guaranteed not to delay even one of their afternoon classes!"

Morning light gradually spread across the field, coating the charred craters and shattered bricks in warmth. The distant horizon had faded from pale blue into a clean, translucent blue-white. The clouds were thin, their edges fluffed with gold by the rising sun. Eastsea Academy was slowly recovering from the battle.