"Taotie Douluo's fists really aren't so easy to take."
His voice was hoarse, yet it carried a trace of cold laughter.
"Still, I'm a level ninety-seven Super Douluo.
For you to take me down with just a few punches and kicks, aren't you looking down on me too much?"
Chen Xuan was not angered. Instead, he laughed.
"Good." His fists collided, and Earth-Yellow Soul Power surged up like flames. "Then this old man would like to see how many hits you can take!"
Before his words had even faded, he shot forward and pounced again.
This time, Chen Xuan no longer relied solely on his fists. His first soul ring lit up, and Earth-Yellow Soul Power exploded beneath Duanmu Yao's feet.
The ground suddenly split apart, and more than a dozen mud-and-stone tentacles burst from the earth, coiling around Duanmu Yao's legs like chains.
Duanmu Yao reacted swiftly. With a beat of his wings, he soared into the air.
At the same time, his second soul skill, Harrier Feather Blade, activated. Dozens of gray-black feather blades rained down on Chen Xuan like a storm.
Chen Xuan neither dodged nor evaded. His third soul ring lit up.
The power of the earth surged forth, condensing into a thick, heavy stone wall before him.
Every feather blade embedded itself in the wall. Black Qi splashed everywhere, yet not a single blade harmed Chen Xuan in the slightest.
"Tricks." Chen Xuan shouted coldly as his fourth soul ring flashed.
Duanmu Yao suddenly felt a crushing weight descend upon his head. A terrifying gravitational force slammed down, making even the air emit a deep hum.
Duanmu Yao's body plummeted sharply. Only by desperately beating his wings did he barely avoid smashing directly into the ground.
Immediately afterward, Chen Xuan's fifth soul ring also lit up.
The sky abruptly darkened. Countless Earth-Yellow spheres of light fell like meteors, blanketing the heavens and earth—the large-scale earth-element bombardment from Xuanzi's original technique.
Duanmu Yao's expression changed drastically.
He folded his wings, and his seventh soul ring shone to its utmost brilliance once more. A gray-black Soul Power barrier emerged around his true form, wrapping him completely.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The earth-element spheres crashed into the barrier, blasting black Qi into violent turbulence.
Duanmu Yao was blasted backward again and again, while dense cracks spread across the barrier.
When the final sphere of light fell, the barrier shattered with a thunderous crash.
Duanmu Yao fell from midair and spat out a mouthful of black blood.
Chen Xuan gave him no chance to catch his breath. Moving like lightning, he closed in instantly and threw a punch.
Duanmu Yao barely twisted aside, but the force of the punch grazed his left wing.
The sound of shattering bones rang with startling clarity through the night wind.
He could no longer hold on. His whole body was sent flying, smashing through a section of the city wall before he barely came to a stop.
"Cough—!"
Duanmu Yao crawled out of the rubble. One half of his wing hung limply at his side, and black blood continued to spill from the corner of his mouth.
Chen Xuan landed before him and said coldly, "What, can you still stand?"
Duanmu Yao gave a bitter laugh. "Of course. Otherwise, how would I drag you down with me?" Chen Xuan's gaze sharpened, and he abruptly turned around.
In the northern night sky, four auras were rapidly approaching.
The foremost was cold and razor-sharp, like a night owl tearing through the air. It was not much weaker than Duanmu Yao's.
The second was somewhat weaker, but its Evil Qi was equally dense. It was clearly also at the Super Douluo level.
Farther behind were two weaker auras, seemingly two elders who had only recently entered the Titled Douluo rank.
These two were the Dark Thunder Douluo and Nether Douluo, who had driven Huo Yuhao into a desperate corner in the original story and indirectly forced Wang Qiu'er to her death.
Chen Xuan stared into the darkness. First he froze, then his heart skipped a beat.
What the hell, were these bastards holding a group meeting at Shrek?
One level ninety-seven, one level ninety-five, plus two Titled Douluo elders.
Add Gray Harrier before him and Ghost Blade Douluo, who was holding back two senior elders.
That made a full six Titled Douluo. They sure were giving Taotie Douluo plenty of face.
Chen Xuan grumbled inwardly. He had thought he was merely investigating some embezzlement and might conveniently hook a big fish.
Instead, he had hooked the fish, only to find an entire school of sharks following behind it.
Mu En isn't even dead yet, and they dared to be this arrogant? But then he remembered that, in the original story, they had dared to steal Ma Xiaotao right under Mu En's nose. He was instantly no longer surprised.
When had these lunatics from the evil cult ever cared about reason?
Yet no matter how turbulent his thoughts were, his face revealed none of it.
He slowly turned around, putting his back to the north as he looked again at Duanmu Yao, who was half-kneeling amid the ruins.
The night wind whipped his grizzled hair wildly about. His level ninety-eight Soul Power was no longer restrained, crashing outward like an invisible mountain range.
"Quite a few ghosts have shown up." His voice abruptly turned icy, like cold iron striking cold iron. "I didn't expect trash like you to actually grow into a force."
Duanmu Yao did not answer. He merely laughed softly, black blood flowing from his mouth along with his laughter.
Chen Xuan no longer looked at him and strode toward the edge of the city wall.
With every step he took, the earth beneath his feet trembled more violently.
The Godly Taotie Bull martial soul flickered behind him, while Earth-Yellow light burned around his body like flames.
He gazed at the darkness drawing ever closer in the north. His voice was not loud, yet it made the entire stretch of city wall hum.
"But this is Shrek. With the likes of you crooked freaks, you think you can cause trouble here?"
His words were forceful, but his mind was racing.
So many of them. It probably won't be easy for me alone to keep them all here.
But that's fine. This old man isn't the only one at Shrek.
The commotion here is so huge that Mu En and the others can't possibly have missed it.
Old Song, Yan Shaozhe, and the others are probably already on their way.
Thinking of that, his confidence grew a little stronger.
Once everyone gets here, we'll see who is surrounding whom.
Chen Xuan clenched his fists, and Earth-Yellow Soul Power surged up like raging waves, shooting straight into the night sky.
"Since you're here, then stay!"
His body shot forward, heading straight for the weakest among them—the Dark Thunder Douluo.
The Dark Thunder Douluo only felt his vision blur before a shadowy Earth-Yellow fist smashed toward his face.
He hastily released his martial soul. Black-purple lightning exploded before him, intending to force Chen Xuan back.
But Chen Xuan did not retreat at all.
His third soul ring flashed. The power of the earth gathered across his body, and he forcibly charged through the lightning, landing a fist squarely on Dark Thunder Douluo's chest.
"Pfft—!"
Dark Thunder Douluo flew backward, every bone in his chest shattered. He slammed heavily into the city wall and did not rise again.
With a single strike, one Titled Douluo had been crippled. He would no longer have the chance to show off as he had in the original story.
But just as Chen Xuan prepared to turn and cripple Nether Douluo as well, the level ninety-seven and level ninety-five consecrated elders attacked simultaneously.
Nether Douluo also let out a strange cry, fully unleashing the Nether Sword martial soul as he charged from the flank alongside Duanmu Yao.
The four of them pounced at once, tangling Chen Xuan up in an instant.
Chen Xuan snorted coldly. The Heaven-Mending Light Barrier protected his body as he fought all four in a chaotic melee.
The level ninety-seven consecrated elder's martial soul was a Three-Eyed Ghost Jackal. It was incredibly fast, and its poisonous claws were vicious, specializing in attacks at Chen Xuan's lower body.
The level ninety-five consecrated elder drifted about unpredictably, his twin claws coated in poison as he harassed Chen Xuan from the side.
Gray Harrier and Nether Douluo relied on their speed, constantly launching sneak attacks from above and behind.
The five of them descended into a chaotic battle. Chen Xuan fought one against four, and for a time, he was actually held back.
But that was exactly what he had been waiting for.