It was not just Gelong. Barto and Kazilan were stunned as well, utterly unable to believe their eyes.
Li Ziran had given him freedom, yet the instant he gained that freedom, he struck at his own benefactor.
That straight punch nearly covered the entirety of Hippo Ancient City.
"No! Don't!" Kazilan cried out directly. Countless fleas surged forward in a swarm. She had already sensed the terror of it, but she could not retreat now. She could only hope that, at the instant the fist descended upon Hippo Ancient City, she would be able to block it.
Yet in that instant, shadows of souls shot out from Jiawen's body. Each seemed proficient in every mystery of the soul. The phantoms pieced themselves together, condensing into a Soul Blade.
Like a sickle sweeping through the Void Expanse, it froze countless fleas in midair, turning them into floating corpses. The corpses wriggled and gradually reverted to their original source matter.
A faint ring of soul descended upon Kazilan, confining the continent formed by those fleas within it like a planetary ring.
No matter how the fleas leaped, they could not struggle even half a step out of the ring.
The entire Void Expanse was left with nothing but a series of booming collisions.
"Jiawen, you bastard! He's your benefactor! You treacherous, oath-breaking bastard!" Kazilan rammed herself against the ring again and again, trying to break free, but before the pure Soul Ring, her strength was nothing but futile effort.
Jiawen smiled faintly, as though mocking Kazilan's ignorance. With a tap of his finger, the ring contracted, seeming intent on crushing Kazilan into a single point. Then he slowly turned to Barto and sneered, "Lord Barto, do you also wish to oppose me, like this foolish woman?"
Barto instinctively shook his head. Hippo