The Cold Ash Black Flood Dragon Emperor, a Narrow Escape, and Long Xiaoyao: Are the Continent's Ordinary Soul Masters Doomed?

The environment in Death Canyon's Core Zone was somewhat different from what Yu Tianjun had imagined, worlds apart from the outside.

Amethyst-like earth and mountains filled his view. Green hills and clear waters seemed to lie on the horizon, while thin yet pure, deep-purple death energy seeped from the ground.

Uncle and nephew drew deep breaths and quickly surveyed their surroundings.

"An environment perfectly suited to dark soul masters' cultivation. How many soul beasts are here?"

His mind raced, and Yu Tianjun quickly narrowed his eyes.

Yu Xiaoying swept past mountains and ravines. Beasts roamed in herds, scales and claws flashing. Thousand-year soul beasts were almost nowhere to be seen, while those over fifty thousand years old were common. Among them were many with powerful bloodlines: Dark Earth Dragon Kings, Soul-Eating Spider Emperors, Six-Winged Demon Tigers, Golden Crocodile Kings...

But none could match Yan Shaozhe.

"Tianjun, can you sense which direction has the densest dark elements?"

His second uncle's hoarse voice drifted up from beneath him. Yu Tianjun concentrated, sensed their surroundings, and pointed out a direction.

"Several powerful dark presences are approaching us from the Southeast. One is no weaker than Yan Shaozhe. It might be a hundred-thousand-year king."

"Good."

Ahead, uncle and nephew worked together on the knife edge between life and death. Behind them, the bright phoenix seethed with ferocity, its face a jumble of countless emotions.

Things had reached a dead end. If the Dark Qilin did not die, Yan Shaozhe and Shrek would.

Ultimate darkness—the fourth ultimate attribute to appear in ten thousand years. The three glorious eras in Shrek's history had all been achieved under the leadership of ultimate soul masters, wielders of ultimate wood, ultimate wind, and ultimate fire respectively.

Light and darkness were inherently higher in rank than wood, wind, and fire.

Hidden within his Martial Soul Avatar, Yan Shaozhe's face alternated between pale and ashen. Regret consumed him. If he failed to kill his opponent this time, he would become a sinner condemned for all eternity.

Even if he succeeded, he would still have to explain the matter of the two Inner Court disciples to the Sea God's Pavilion.

Those consequences...

Yan Shaozhe shuddered.

Surely the aged Radiant Sacred Dragon would not flare with rage and summon his final breath to drag his personal disciple down to hell?

"No. Back when Feng Ling's incident happened, Teacher only confined me for three years. I'll be fine..."

Yan Shaozhe desperately comforted himself. Missing out on the Dark Qilin would, at worst, serve as a warning to the Sea God's Pavilion for a thousand years, with his name inscribed on the Sea God's Monument for future generations to ridicule. His life would not be in danger.

After Xuan Zi, the Sea God's Pavilion still needed him to take over.

"Humans, leave Death Canyon. This is not a place you should have come."

A voice that froze the soul rang out without warning. From a pitch-black pool beside the pursuers and their quarry, an enormous creature suddenly surged upward.

A flood dragon's body, over a hundred feet long, emerged from the water. Its bloody maw breathed purple-gray poisonous miasma, and dripping venom dissolved stone like water. Its scales were sharply divided: dark-red flame patterns spread across its left side, while frost-white ice patterns covered its right. Even its eyes were entirely different colors, though both shared the same icy expression and piercing chill.

One of the overlords of Death Canyon's Core Zone, the hundred-thousand-year Cold Ash Black Flood Dragon Emperor, commanded both ice and fire poisons. Its body possessed boundless strength, and its scales were impervious to water and fire.

Suddenly encountering an unexpected hundred-thousand-year soul beast, Yu Tianjun reacted swiftly and shouted:

"Flood Dragon Emperor, we had no intention of disturbing Death Canyon. The man behind us has pressed us too hard and driven us into the Core Zone."

Yan Shaozhe cursed, "Despicable evil soul masters! You came here to hunt soul beasts. The Flood Dragon Emperor should slaughter you right here!"

Hundred-thousand-year soul beasts varied in strength. A hundred-thousand-year lone bamboo could, at most, rival a rank ninety-one or ninety-two Titled Douluo, while the Cold Ash Black Flood Dragon Emperor rivaled a Super Douluo.

Yan Shaozhe was badly injured and had no desire to fight such a formidable opponent lightly.

The Flood Dragon Emperor looked toward the Dark Shadow Dragon and Yu Tianjun.

"What I killed was a Dark Demon Evil God Tiger." Yu Tianjun revealed his Evil God Wings.

"Oh? Well done, then."

The Flood Dragon Emperor spoke its second sentence since appearing, and Yan Shaozhe's heart chilled.

"I won't interfere. Carry on."

The enormous flood dragon withdrew its body, leaving only its head exposed, as though saying they could keep fighting while it kept watching.

The first hundred-thousand-year soul beast refused to join the battle. Both sides continued their frantic flight, and Yan Shaozhe's grin stretched almost to his ears.

Trying to use the hundred-thousand-year soul beasts here to shake me off? Every hundred-thousand-year soul beast is intelligent. How could they be so easily manipulated?

"Ptoo!"

As the bright phoenix swept through the sky, the Flood Dragon Emperor raised its head and spat.

"What?"

Caught off guard, Yan Shaozhe darted upward to evade it. His dimmed, numb left wing reacted a fraction too slowly, and the purple-gray poisonous miasma struck it squarely.

With a bang, the bright phoenix crashed onto a mountain peak. Having tumbled into the posture of a stray dog scavenging for food, Yan Shaozhe whipped his head around and glared at the Cold Ash Black Flood Dragon Emperor.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"If I'm watching a show, it ought to be fair."

The Cold Ash Black Flood Dragon Emperor said unhurriedly, "That Soul Douluo ahead has lost a hand, while your left arm is merely badly injured. Crippling it for you makes things fair. After all, they did rid this canyon of a scourge."

"You think you can take my arm? I simply didn't want to expend a great deal of soul power earlier!"

Yan Shaozhe laughed in fury. Letting the flesh-corroding poison spread through his left arm, he ignited brilliant golden flames along the phoenix's feathers.

The flames burned everything away. When Yan Shaozhe reappeared, his body shone as brightly as before.

The bright phoenix's innate ability, Phoenix Nirvana.

The Cold Ash Black Flood Dragon Emperor narrowed its eyes. "Fight me now, and you will lose. Either get lost or leave your life here."

"Farewell."

Beneath another's eaves, one had to bow one's head. Upholding the fine tradition inherited from the Horn of Wisdom, Yan Shaozhe took Shi Xing and Mo Yun with him and resumed chasing the Heavenly Dragon uncle and nephew, who had fled far away.

"Spineless weakling."

As Yan Shaozhe escaped in a streak of light, the Cold Ash Black Flood Dragon Emperor spat. Had it known, it would have increased the dose.

Extending its perception, the enormous flood dragon's ice and fire eyes filled with identical surprise.

"The Chaos Bird has come out to watch the fun too?"

On the aerial battlefield, Yan Shaozhe caught up with Yu Xiaoying after his nirvana. Using his brief return to full strength, he forced his opponent into a desperate corner, and his ninth Soul Ring abruptly lit up.

"Ninth Soul Skill, Phoenix Descent!"

In an instant, the Phoenix True Body Yan Shaozhe had assumed swelled enormously, its wingspan reaching nearly a thousand meters.

Intense Phoenix Flame suddenly rose, shooting forward in a sky-blotting deluge. Every cluster of flame took the form of a fire phoenix.

"Eighth Soul Skill, Dragon Domain Shadowkill Formation!"

"Qilin Domain, Darkness Escape Technique!"

Yu Xiaoying lit his Eighth Soul Ring, while Yu Tianjun released his domain to amplify him. The Shadow Dragon struck the phoenix head-on. Covered in wounds, uncle and nephew appeared to be launching their final, desperate resistance.

The battle between dragon and phoenix drew to a close. In the end, the phoenix defeated the dragon. The Heavenly Dragon uncle and nephew burned rapidly beneath the phoenix's sacred flames, turning to ash.

Yu Tianjun's presence vanished first, followed by Yu Xiaoying's. The latter seemed to attempt one last counterattack before dying, and one of his legs burst into bloody mist.

Bi Yangde's two soul bones appeared in the air and fell.

Yan Shaozhe beat his wings and burst out of the Shadowkill Formation, then left his Martial Soul Avatar state and landed. With one hand pressed to his chest, he gasped for breath.

"After chasing them for so long, I finally killed them..."

Yan Shaozhe muttered to himself. Perhaps the shadow those two had cast over him was too deep. Successfully killing them left him relieved, yet also feeling that it was somewhat unreal.

But he also knew full well that they could not possibly have survived his ninth Soul Skill while he was using his Martial Soul Avatar.

A Qilin was not a phoenix. It could not undergo nirvana.

"Dean, are we leaving?"

Mo Yun lay limp on the ground, her sharp, delicate face deathly pale. What she had experienced in Death Canyon was simply too terrifying.

Shi Xing had been knocked unconscious by the shock waves and sent rolling across the ground, periodically tumbling like a gourd between the mountain peaks.

Yan Shaozhe slowly exhaled. "We'll retrieve the soul bones."

"Humans, leave Death Canyon. This land does not welcome you."

A thunderous voice rang out without warning. A small mountain dozens of meters tall strode through the air toward them, and an imperious pressure crashed down upon Shrek's trio.

Looking up, Yan Shaozhe's body abruptly tensed. Another hundred-thousand-year soul beast, its imposing presence surpassing the earlier Flood Dragon Emperor's. It seemed to possess an intensely oppressive ability akin to a domain.

High in the air, an enormous beast stood with its head raised and its bloody maw open. Its lion eyes blazed like lamps, and its towering body resembled a mountain. Dark force churned around it, seeming to form a void prison in every direction. Its claw marks radiated the pressure of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast king.

A hundred-thousand-year soul beast, the Dark Prison Lion Emperor.

The Lion Emperor extended a claw, and Bi Yangde's two soul bones disappeared into the void prison. It had no intention of handing them to a human.

In the first second their eyes met, Yan Shaozhe confirmed that he could not defeat it in his current state. He snatched up Shi Xing, who was rolling all over the mountainside, and the limp Mo Yun, then turned and fled.

"Farewell."

The Heavenly Dragon uncle and nephew had already been reduced to scattered souls. Failing to retrieve the soul bones was regrettable, but compared with his life, that loss was nothing.

Soul masters could advance by hunting soul beasts. Likewise, soul beasts could increase their cultivation by devouring soul masters.

Yan Shaozhe had considerable confidence in himself. Devouring him would give any hundred-thousand-year beast the foundation to attempt the breakthrough to ferocious beast status. Exhausted as he was, when would he flee if not now?

With his excellent martial soul and cultivation, even if he died, he had to follow the sages of past generations: dedicate everything to the Golden Tree and leave his power to Shrek.

Watching Yan Shaozhe scurry away with disdain, the Dark Prison Lion Emperor turned sideways and looked back. Suddenly, it saw an old silver-haired human standing before the Yin-Yang Chaos Bird, which was balancing currents of yin and yang on an ancient tree atop a mountain.

This old fellow was no ordinary man. His strength was unfathomable, his silver hair impeccably combed, and his face ruddy and handsome. He must have been a very good-looking man in his youth.

"Human, who are you?"

The Lion Emperor shot downward, shielding the Yin-Yang Chaos Bird behind it as it watched the silver-haired old fellow warily.

"As you can see, I'm a human soul master who is rather fond of the environment here."

The silver-haired elder chuckled and looked toward the shadows beneath the ancient tree. "Come out. The youngster's escape technique is exquisite, and the older fellow was willing to make sacrifices. You also have a fine Level 9 Soul Tool.

"Without any one of those, you would have had a very hard time escaping Yan Shaozhe today."

"You have a keen eye, Senior..."

A hoarse sigh sounded through the air. Where light could not reach beneath the shadows, two figures suddenly appeared, leaning against each other.

More precisely, Yu Tianjun was half supporting Yu Xiaoying, whose body was covered in blood and whose black armor had shattered completely.

Yu Xiaoying's right arm and left leg were missing at their roots. He remained unconscious, though Yu Tianjun's bandages had stopped his wounds from bleeding.

Yu Tianjun's face was pale as paper, and blood streamed from the corner of his mouth. Veins bulged on his right hand as he channeled soul power into Yu Xiaoying, his five fingers drenched in blood.

In their final exchange, Yu Xiaoying had activated Red Dust Protection, while Yu Tianjun had used Darkness Escape Technique to take him away.

To make the act convincing, Yu Xiaoying had deliberately blasted off his most badly injured right leg, using the bloody mist to conceal them both, while Yu Tianjun threw out Bi Yangde's two soul bones.

At that moment, Yu Tianjun rapidly refined a pill that restored soul power, turning it into a gentle, balanced current of warmth to dispel the phoenix-flame soul power within Yu Xiaoying.

Studying Yu Tianjun's youthful features, the elder suddenly asked, "What is Yu Yuanjue to you?"

Hearing this, Yu Tianjun looked up at him. "You know my grandfather, Senior?"

"More than merely know him."

The silver-haired elder sighed. "A pity. Both families have ties to me. Otherwise, for the sake of your great-great-grandfather, my teacher, I would have intervened to help you just now."

"My great-great-grandfather was your teacher?"

Questions sprang up in Yu Tianjun's mind. He knew nothing of that history, but he had roughly established the identity of the man before him.

"Are you the Dragon Emperor Douluo, Long Xiaoyao, the Dark Sacred Dragon who once commanded the winds and clouds?"

"I am Long Xiaoyao. Time is like a wild donkey. Teacher's descendants have already reached the fifth generation. I once swore to protect three generations of his descendants, and you two happen to be the fourth and fifth."

Long Xiaoyao nodded lightly, then looked at Yu Xiaoying with regret. "Yu Yuanjue's son. A fine temperament, but his future has been severed."

He strode forward. Before Yu Tianjun could see how he moved, a gentle force pushed him aside. Long Xiaoyao's paired fingers flashed like lightning, touching acupoints all over Yu Xiaoying's body.

In moments, Yu Xiaoying spat out several mouthfuls of clotted blood. Long Xiaoyao helped him sit upright to regulate his breathing, and color gradually returned to his face.

"This one is out of danger. Your turn."

Long Xiaoyao shifted his gaze, and Yu Tianjun was brought before him. Seven powerful currents of dark soul power surged into his body, circulating dozens of times and clearing his blocked meridians.

"Cough, cough."

Yu Tianjun expelled the clotted blood, and his entire body felt lighter.

"Thank you for treating my uncle and me, Senior."

Having recovered some strength, Yu Tianjun cupped his hands and bowed to Long Xiaoyao.

"Calling me Senior makes us sound like strangers. Just call me Elder Long. I have something to ask you."

Long Xiaoyao waved a hand, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper. "You've only devoured one person, and that person was an evil soul master. Why did Yan Shaozhe call you an evil soul master and chase you so relentlessly?"

With his extraordinarily extensive experience, Long Xiaoyao was certain that Yu Tianjun had not merely devoured only one person—he had only ever killed one person.

Yu Tianjun's voice was low. "I obtained an external soul bone while soul hunting, and they discovered it... The evil soul master I devoured was a graduate of the Shrek Inner Court..."

"I hated Yan Shaozhe for bringing people to ambush us, for injuring my uncle and me, for forcing me to reveal my Ultimate Dark Qilin, for slandering me as an evil soul master, and for forcing me to increase my soul power in a way I despised. So I accused him and Xuan Zi of being undercover agents for an evil soul master organization."

"I also said that if I truly encountered evil soul masters, I would become their king, step by step, command countless evil souls to reign over the world, and wipe out Shrek's legacy."

"Calm down first. You cannot become an evil soul master. An evil soul master organization could never accept you!"

Long Xiaoyao's powerful frame shuddered, and his words became incoherent. His head seemed to explode into an unending buzz, his eyes filled with shock and horror.

Xuan Zi had indeed sent him a letter, but when had Yan Shaozhe started colluding with the Holy Spirit Cult? Why did he know nothing about it?

Had Shrek already been completely infiltrated by the Holy Spirit Cult? Were the continent's ordinary soul masters doomed?