Sir, Times Have Changed

The explosion's savage shock wave swept toward them in an instant, carrying a skyful of shattered stone!

The rushing water was hurled high by the blast.

Like towering waves, it slammed against the pipe walls, driving the four of them several meters back.

"Ptooey!"

Yan Feng spat out a mouthful of filthy water and steadied himself, covered in grime.

His eyes blazed with menace, his voice icy:

"Fuck! These bastards don't listen to reason at all!

One disagreement, and they open fire with soul cannons!"

"Is everyone all right?"

Xu Yan's expression was grave as he asked in a low voice.

"I'm fine!" Xu He rubbed his chest and coughed.

Ji Juechen shook his head. Instantly grasping the intent behind the attack, he spoke calmly:

"Their shells only blocked the path ahead. They deliberately avoided the space above us. It looks like they don't intend to kill us just yet."

"Hmph. There are only two reasons for that.

Either they want to capture us alive and claim credit, or they think their strength is overwhelming and want to toy with us."

Xu Yan's gaze turned cold. He looked ahead, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

"Then let's see who ends up toying with whom."

Ji Juechen drew his longsword with a backhand motion, three soul rings flashing in turn beneath his feet.

Even facing powerful enemies, his eyes held no fear.

At that moment, through the broken opening in the pipe overhead.

A dazzling, ghostly blue soul-powered searchlight shone straight down.

It lit the pitch-black, foul-smelling sewer as brightly as day.

A second later, four imperial patrol soldiers clad in Gleaming Armor and carrying Level Four Soul Cannons leaped down.

They landed heavily in the sewage.

Close behind them came four assassins from the Aodu Chamber of Commerce, dressed in fitted black clothing with black cloths covering their faces.

A chilling murderous aura radiated from them.

Eight men in total.

Well equipped and perfectly coordinated.

They completely blocked the passage ahead, cutting off the escape route!

"First Prince, Second Prince. I trust you've been well."

The patrol captain at their head held a level five close-combat soul-powered longsword that gleamed with icy light.

He looked down upon the four bedraggled fugitives.

There was not a trace of reverence for royalty in his eyes, only the cruelty and mockery of a cat playing with mice:

"A sudden upheaval struck the Imperial City, and the traitors were executed on the spot.

Why should Your Highnesses cling to life in such a filthy, stinking place?

You might as well come back obediently with your subordinate and await the new emperor's judgment.

At least that would preserve the royal family's last shred of dignity."

"Fuck your bullshit!"

Yan Feng spat out another mouthful of sewage on the spot.

Pale skeletal phantoms quietly began drifting around him, sinister energy spilling in every direction.

"A pack of traitorous lapdogs like you thinks you're fit to talk to Yan about dignity?!"

"Still talking tough with death at your doorstep."

The leader of the Aodu Chamber of Commerce's black-clad assassins sneered.

His hoarse voice grated like sandpaper, setting their teeth on edge:

"Everyone, our superior has given his orders. Capture the First Prince alive. As for the Second Prince... kill him on the spot, regardless of casualties! Attack!"

Boom!

Seven men released their martial souls at once.

Four soul rings flashed beneath each of their feet.

Every last one was a Soul Ancestor!

A full twenty-eight soul rings lit up in succession within the narrow sewer!

Interwoven white, yellow, and purple light cast mottled colors over the foul water.

Their violent soul power pressure swept outward like a mountain.

Countless fine cracks split the pipe walls around them!

Meanwhile, the soul rings beneath the patrol captain at the front rose one after another.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black.

The instant that final, pitch-black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring lit up.

Xu He went deathly pale, his entire body stiffening:

"A... a Five-Ring Soul King!"

Beside him, Ji Juechen's expression darkened completely.

He was only a Soul Elder at present. Against a Battle Soul Ancestor, he could still barely hold his own.

Against a Soul King, he had no chance whatsoever.

"Looks like this is where we meet our end."

Despite those words, he still instinctively moved to shield Xu Yan.

The green radiance along the sword in his hand grew ever brighter.

"Hmph! So what if he's a Soul King? Who's afraid of whom?!"

Yan Feng forced down the fear churning in his heart and snorted angrily:

"If you want to kill Yan, you'll have to step over my corpse first!"

The two hundred-year soul rings beneath his feet lit up together.

His martial soul fully possessed his body.

Bone-chilling, sinister energy instantly filled the entire stretch of underground pipe.

The oppressive pressure soared.

Faced with certain death, none of the three even considered begging for mercy.

"An Evil Soul Master!"

The moment they saw Yan Feng's martial soul, their expressions changed.

The terror of Evil Soul Masters was known throughout the continent.

But once they saw that Yan Feng possessed only two hundred-year soul rings, they immediately relaxed.

Their faces filled with contempt.

"All that flashy nonsense, and he's just a Soul Grandmaster."

A mere Soul Grandmaster could not stir up so much as a ripple before a group of Soul Ancestors.

Mockery flashed through the patrol captain's eyes. He looked at Xu Yan and said derisively:

"Everyone has the right to slay an Evil Soul Master. To think the Second Prince would willingly associate with such an abomination.

It seems I shall purge you, this royal parasite, on the Empire's behalf today!"

"Purge a parasite?"

A deep, commanding voice suddenly rang out, carrying boundless icy menace.

Xu Yan stepped forward, his footsteps splashing through the sewage as he walked alone to the front of the group.

He raised his eyes and stared straight at the eight powerful enemies bearing down on them.

His gaze finally settled on the patrol captain.

There was not a trace of fear in his eyes.

His lips curled into an intensely bloodthirsty, contemptuous smile:

"You think you can?"

The patrol captain's face instantly darkened.

He had never expected a mere brat to dare mock him, a dignified Soul King.

Even with the royal family's resources nurturing him, Xu Yan could be no more than a Soul Grandmaster at his age.

"You're courting death!"

"I hope you can still talk so tough after I hack off your limbs."

He wasted no more words.

The soul-powered longsword in the patrol captain's hand abruptly shone.

Trailing a cold gleam, it stabbed straight at Xu Yan's arm!

Just then!

An indescribably terrifying, ferocious aura erupted like a volcano that had slumbered for ten thousand years.

It burst explosively from Xu Yan's still-youthful body!

Boom!!!

Incomparably violent ultimate fire instantly became a towering wave of golden-red heat, surging skyward!

The sewer's bone-chilling sewage, the instant it touched those flames.

Was directly vaporized into scalding, blinding white mist!

The extreme heat made the air twist violently.

Even the thick alloy pipe walls on either side turned red and melted at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Xu Yan's body swelled slightly as well, his height shooting straight from 1.6 meters to 1.8 meters.

His muscles became more tightly defined.

He looked several years more mature.

Even his originally short black hair transformed into flames, fluttering in the wind.

He stood like a Flame Emperor, his body martial soul fully unleashed.

"What terrifying flames!"

Everyone's expression changed in shock, and they instinctively retreated.

Under the utterly horrified gazes of the seven Soul Ancestors and one Soul King opposite him.

Two dense, profound soul rings exuding terrifying pressure slowly rose beneath Xu Yan's feet, their radiance reflecting off each other.

Purple!

Purple!

Both were unmistakably purple!

A sight that shattered an ironclad law upheld on the Douluo Continent for hundreds of thousands of years.

Was laid bare before everyone's eyes!

"P-purple?! His first soul ring is a thousand-year ring?!"

"H-how is that possible?!"

Even Ji Juechen and the other two behind him, who already knew his secret.

Were still shaken at the sight of Xu Yan's purple first soul ring.

A thousand-year first soul ring!

Not even the Shrek Seven Devils, who had become gods ten thousand years ago, had possessed such a configuration.

Opposite him, the patrol captain's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

His movements froze abruptly in midair.

As though struck by lightning, he screamed involuntarily:

"This is impossible! Absolutely impossible!

How could anyone in this world absorb a thousand-year ring as their first soul ring?!"

"A monster... he's an absolute monster!

No wonder our superior wants this brat eliminated at any cost."

Every one of the other assassins was consumed by horror.

In that brief instant when the patrol captain and the others lost focus.

Xu Yan's gaze suddenly sharpened.

He moved.

Beneath his feet, the first purple soul ring suddenly blazed with dazzling light.

First Soul Skill: Crimson Flame Golden Body!

The already raging flames swelled again, surging toward the sky.

A layer of searing, dazzling golden solar flames seeped from the surface of Xu Yan's skin.

It enveloped his entire body.

At that moment, his strength, speed, and defense all doubled!

Thud!

The sewage-covered ground beneath his feet abruptly caved in and cracked.

Xu Yan shot forward like a flaming cannonball!

He and the patrol captain were already extremely close.

For Xu Yan, now operating at full power, those scant three meters were crossed in the blink of an eye.

The instant Xu Yan closed in, the stunned patrol captain abruptly came back to his senses.

A flicker of surprise had barely crossed his eyes before it swiftly faded.

A cruel sneer took its place.

"I honestly don't know whether to call you fearless or foolish.

What if a mere Soul Grandmaster possesses two Thousand-Year Soul Rings?

Could such a paltry exception erase the absolute gulf in soul power levels?"

With his cultivation realm granting him an overwhelming advantage, he felt no apprehension whatsoever and was in no hurry to retaliate and kill.

A towering figure he had once been forced to look up to had now fallen into dire straits here.

All he wanted was to toy with him for a while, indulging his own selfish desires and taking pleasure in it.

Xu Yan's expression was cold and indifferent. He said nothing.

His right hand closed slightly, as though forming a fist and gathering strength.

He drove it straight toward the patrol captain's chin in a savage strike.

The patrol captain's sneer deepened.

With a thought, the fourth Soul Ring beneath his feet instantly flashed to life.

A thick, solid shield of soul power formed in an instant, firmly blocking his front.

In his eyes, even if the temperature of Xu Yan's flames was out of the ordinary,

they could never break through his soul power defense.

But just as the fist was about to touch the shield,

an exquisitely crafted pistol suddenly appeared in Xu Yan's previously empty palm!

The firearm was scarlet from end to end, with a thick barrel and a frame a full size larger than an ordinary pistol.

An intricate sun motif was engraved on its body.

As Xu Yan poured in his soul power, clusters of flames instantly sprang up across the gun.

The sun motif seemed to come alive, blazing brilliantly.

"That's—!"

The instant he recognized the firearm, the patrol captain's supremely confident expression changed drastically. Certain victory vanished, and terror nearly tore his soul from his body!

"A Level Six Fixed-Load Soul Cannon!"

He all but roared the words, his voice brimming with utter terror.

Instinctively, he stepped backward, trying to dodge.

"Too late!"

Xu Yan's gaze was sharp as a blade, and he pressed the muzzle firmly against the patrol captain's chin.

A cold sneer curled his lips as he decisively pulled the trigger.

"No!"

[PS: My new book is still in its launch period. Please, all you handsome, wealthy big shots, lend me a little support.

Toss me a few recommendation votes and monthly votes so I can get a taste.

If nothing else, even following the latest updates would do. I bow in thanks!]