Sun Qingge's body froze in midair.
In his deep-purple slit-pupiled eyes, his frenzied killing intent and obsession with Dijiang's bloodline gave way to utter bewilderment.
"How... is that possible..."
He struggled to lower his head and look at the powerful body he had believed invincible among his peers.
A thin red line ran from his crotch all the way to his jaw.
The next instant.
The line split open!
Squelch!
Purple-black ghost blood sprayed out like a torrential downpour.
Under the combined onslaught of the Ghost-Slaying Blade and Five-Element Hidden Force, Sun Qingge's massive body split straight down the middle!
The two mangled halves slammed into the ground with a dull thud.
His head rolled several times before coming to rest nearby. The life in his slit-pupiled eyes rapidly faded, leaving them utterly dull.
The leader of the Red-Rumped Ghost Apes, an elite in whom the Netherworld had placed such high hopes, had fallen.
Li Xiang stood amid the drifting gray-white bone ash and ghost blood. He flicked the blood from his blade, composed and cold.
He did not look at Sun Qingge's corpse.
The battle was not over.
With the last and strongest of the Ghost Clan fighters slain, an eerie silence settled over the vast underground chamber.
In midair, the blue-black Yin-Form Azure Dragon Soul flickered violently the moment Sun Qingge died. It let out a faint, mournful wail, then visibly dimmed, completely suppressed by the golden light opposite it.
Li Xiang sheathed his blade and turned.
His gaze swept past the battlefield strewn with wreckage, past Tang Hua'an, Lin Xuanshu, and the others as they caught their breath.
At last, like two unsheathed swords, it fixed on the figure who had stood at the very edge of the battlefield all along, never once fighting at full strength.