"Have you thought this through, daring to stand in Spirit Hall's way?"
Looking at the several Titled Douluos closing in around him, Qianjun Douluo spoke calmly.
Demon Subduing Douluo moved closer as well, drew his Coiling Dragon Staff, and surveyed their surroundings coldly.
These Titled Douluos had clearly all disguised themselves, making it impossible to tell which factions they belonged to.
But their positions showed that they were also wary of one another.
"We don't want to obstruct Spirit Hall either. If you two are willing to stop and talk with us, we're willing to make concessions."
An older Titled Douluo spoke.
Quite a few factions had already joined the Anti-Spirit Hall Alliance, and he came from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
Besides them, the Clear Sky Sect and the two empires, Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empire, had reportedly all sent Titled Douluos to the border.
They were among the first to arrive, their aim being to hold up Spirit Hall's experts until further reinforcements reached them.
"You want to bargain with Spirit Hall?"
Qianjun Douluo smiled faintly, seemingly considering it.
But just as the Clear Sky Sect's Titled Douluo breathed an inward sigh of relief, a Coiling Dragon Staff came smashing down toward his head.
"Who do you think you are?"
"Quick, attack together!"
Seeing that Qianjun Douluo and Demon Subduing Douluo had no intention of holding back, the other Titled Douluos hurried to intercept them.
But Qianjun Douluo had seized the moment when the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's Titled Douluo was distracted, putting everything into this strike.
As his pitch-black ninth Soul Ring lit up, the other Titled Douluos felt a powerful shock wave mire their steps.
This was Qianjun Douluo's ninth Soul Skill, Collapsing Heaven and Earth, an exceedingly nasty, wide-area crowd-control Soul Skill.
By the time the other Titled Douluos finally broke free, Qianjun Douluo's and Demon Subduing Douluo's Coiling Dragon Staffs had already struck the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's Titled Douluo simultaneously.
The full-force eruption of two level-96 Super Douluos was simply beyond what an ordinary Titled Douluo could withstand.
As the defensive Soul Skills surrounding him shattered, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's Titled Douluo was smashed apart by a staff blow, bursting into a cloud of blood.
In just one exchange, Spirit Hall's two enshrined elders had displayed fighting strength far beyond that of ordinary Douluos.
"They're too strong! Don't meet them head-on!"
The other Titled Douluos also felt the power of Qianjun Douluo's and Demon Subduing Douluo's explosive attacks and hurriedly retreated.
At the same time, they acted together to hold off Qian Jun and Jiang Mo's second assault.
Once they had reached a safe distance, the sight of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's Titled Douluo, already smashed into bloody mist, sent a chill through them.
We're all Titled Douluos. Why is the gulf between us so vast?
As expected of Spirit Hall. What terrifying reserves of strength.
Seeing fear appear on their faces, Qianjun Douluo took several more strides forward, forcing the Titled Douluos back.
Then he gave Demon Subduing Douluo a meaningful look.
The brothers had worked together for years and naturally understood each other well.
After gaining some distance, Demon Subduing Douluo turned straight around and flew toward Zi Tian Palace.
"This is bad! He's going straight for the hundred-thousand-year transformed soul beast!"
Seeing Demon Subduing Douluo's movements, the Titled Douluos finally realized what he intended.
They tried to move forward to stop him, but Qianjun Douluo's ninth Soul Skill slowed them all again.
Then an enormous Coiling Dragon Staff smashed down toward their heads.
By the time they used their respective methods to dodge the blow, Demon Subduing Douluo had already reached Zi Tian Palace.
Yet before Demon Subduing Douluo could fly inside, a powerful sense of dread suddenly rose in his heart.
It felt as though, if he dared take just one more step forward, he would die without even a place to be buried.
Hastily halting his flight, Demon Subduing Douluo hovered in the air and looked at the lavish purple-and-gold palace before him, a chill creeping into his heart.
That threat of death, and the pressure accompanying it, seemed even more terrifying than the pressure Great Enshrined Qian Daoliu exerted on him.
"What's going on?"
After that brief delay, the other Titled Douluos hurriedly caught up, watching Qianjun and Jiangmo with guarded expressions.
"Brother, something's wrong. There's something strange about Zi Tian Palace."
He quietly described what he had just felt to Qianjun Douluo, who also realized that something was amiss.
The stronger someone was, the more keenly they sensed danger.
As a level-96 Super Douluo, Demon Subduing Douluo naturally felt a warning arise within him when faced with danger.
For even stronger figures such as Qian Daoliu, that instinct had reached the point of foreseeing events before they happened.
Thus, Qianjun Douluo did not doubt Demon Subduing Douluo's words.
Moreover, now that Demon Subduing Douluo had mentioned it, something occurred to him as well.
He had never heard of such an enormous palace at the border between these two empires.
After all, conflict could erupt between the two empires at any moment. Anyone who dared build a palace on their shared border clearly had great confidence in their own strength.
Furthermore, the materials used in the palace alone revealed that its master was immensely wealthy and extravagant.
Could this be some secluded expert's new residence, then?
"What should we do? Go back and tell the Great Enshrined?"
Recalling what he had just felt, Demon Subduing Douluo still felt a chill down his back.
He truly felt that he had come within a hair's breadth of dying there.
"No, we can't just go back like this. How about this? I'll knock and ask whether we can pay this Palace Master a visit."
After all, he was an enshrined elder of Spirit Hall. Whoever the master of Zi Tian Palace was, surely he would show Spirit Hall some courtesy.
Bringing Demon Subduing Douluo down to the ground with him, Qianjun Douluo straightened his clothes, walked up to Zi Tian Palace's entrance, and knocked gently.
"Senior, I am an enshrined elder of Spirit Hall. I have come expressly to pay my respects."
Yet Zi Tian Palace remained utterly silent, without the slightest sound from within.
After waiting a while and still hearing nothing, Qianjun Douluo placed his hand against the palace doors and slowly began to exert force.
But no matter how much strength he used, Zi Tian Palace's doors did not budge.
Inside Zi Tian Palace, Zi Tian genuinely had no time to receive visitors.
At that moment, he was in the independent space he had carved out, watching Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue embrace and sob.
"Xue'er, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken my hatred out on you..."
Zi Tian had been listening from the sidelines earlier.
At first, mother and daughter had both maintained their icy aloofness, stubbornly refusing to speak.
In the end, Zi Tian could no longer bear watching and quietly released some life energy.
Under the infusion of powerful life energy, the two grew dazed from sheer comfort and finally opened their hearts, revealing the truth they had hidden for years.
Along the way, Zi Tian had also stepped forward to bear witness for Bibi Dong, telling Qian Renxue that Bibi Dong's words were true.
Then he vanished from sight again, leaving the space to mother and daughter.
There was just one thing Zi Tian could never understand.
Life energy was clearly an excellent thing, something every living being loved.
But why did using it always feel so strange in my hands?
Before you continue