Ninth Soul Skill: Purification

"Brat!"

"I don't care who you are. If you dare play tricks before me, Yu Yuanzhen, I'll make you repay your blood debt in blood today!"

The enormous lightning dragon spoke in a human voice, each word sending the surrounding arcs of electricity surging wildly.

The next instant, the dragon rose from the ground and shot into the sky.

"Dragon Transformation!!!"

A thunderous roar shook the heavens.

At that moment, heaven and earth changed color, and dark clouds blanketed the sky.

The blue lightning dragon circled among the clouds. Before long, he had transformed into a humanoid dragon beast.

Dragon horns sprouted from his head, dragon wings from his back, and a thick dragon tail extended from his tailbone. Dragon claws replaced his hands and feet.

He looked neither human nor ghost.

With the transformation complete, Yu Yuanzhen's aura had reached its absolute peak.

He looked down imperiously at Lu Xuan, his eyes brimming with arrogance.

"Brat!"

"This is a secret art unique to my Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul. Even if you're a level 98 Titled Douluo, you're doomed to die today."

"Heh..."

"You dare keep a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast? Then I'll rid the continent of an outcast like you!"

Whether Yu Yuanzhen's Dragon Transformation required him to take flight or he was afraid of harming innocent bystanders, he had moved the battlefield into the sky.

Everyone thought Lu Xuan would rise into the air to face him, just as he had in his earlier battle against Chen Xin.

But Lu Xuan merely glanced up from the ground and sneered.

"Done rambling? What a racket!"

[Ninth Soul Skill: Purification!]

Nine Soul Rings appeared at once-three purple, five black, and one red. The final scarlet ring abruptly lit up.

The second skill within the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring: Purification!

Skill effect: using this skill removed all buffs from the target, including Martial Soul Avatar, support enhancements, and so on...

Blue-gold ripples spread like a water sphere expanding in an instant, enveloping Yu Yuanzhen in midair in the blink of an eye.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

One second, Yu Yuanzhen had been displaying his divine might, thunder swirling around him as he gazed down upon the world.

The next, the dragon scales covering his body began shattering inch by inch.

His dragon horns melted away, his wings withered, and his tail snapped clean off. The claws on his limbs turned into tiny fragments of dragon scales, drifting down like snow.

"This... how is this possible?"

Yu Yuanzhen's eyes filled with horror.

As he felt the Soul Power gradually draining from his body, fear gripped him.

"What skill is this? Why? Why was my Dragon Transformation forcibly canceled? Even the enhancement from my Martial Soul Avatar is gone!"

"No... impossible! Who exactly are you?"

Boom!!!

As he frantically questioned Lu Xuan, an enormous phantom sword descended from the heavens and slammed him into the ground.

Dust billowed, the ground cracked inch by inch, and the blue-gold phantom sword slowly faded amid an uproar from the crowd.

No one had imagined that such a grand, imposing display would shatter at a single thought from Lu Xuan.

As the dust settled, everyone finally saw the situation clearly.

Lu Xuan stood with his foot on Yu Yuanzhen, the blue-gold longsword in his hand pressed against the man's throat.

"Old dog! You thought you could kill me?"

Pinned beneath his foot, Yu Yuanzhen struggled several times to no avail, disbelief once again filling his face.

"This is impossible... impossible..."

Lu Xuan:

"Is that the only thing you can repeat? You're pretty boring, then."

With that, Lu Xuan raised his longsword, poised to drive it between Yu Yuanzhen's brows.

"No! You can't kill me!"

Yu Yuanzhen threatened him:

"The Upper Three Sects are branches of the same tree. If you dare lay a hand on me today, the Clear Sky Sect and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect will hunt you without end!"

"You'll spend the rest of your life on the run."

"You can't kill me."

At those words, everyone around them held their breath.

The Upper Three Sects!

The most powerful forces on the entire continent.

In Nuoding City, even a Soul King could become city lord, let alone someone from the Upper Three Sects.

Could Lu Xuan really afford to offend someone like this?

No matter how powerful a Titled Douluo was, surely he couldn't rival an entire sect's fighting strength? No, three sects...

"Ridiculous!"

"So only your Upper Three Sects are allowed to kill other people, and nobody else is allowed to kill anyone from your Upper Three Sects?"

"Is that it?"

Lu Xuan curled his lips.

He still remembered how Yu Yuanzhen had demanded that he destroy his own Martial Soul and sever both his arms.

Now that Yu Yuanzhen was at a disadvantage, he wanted to use his sect as a bargaining chip? Now he wanted to talk about being branches of the same tree?

How ridiculous!

Squelch!

With a sweep of his sword, Lu Xuan severed one of Yu Yuanzhen's arms at the shoulder.

Then came the rest of his limbs...

In the blink of an eye, the once-imposing leader of one of the Upper Three Sects, a level 95 Titled Douluo, had been reduced to a "human swine" in Lu Xuan's hands.

"Aaaaargh!"

"I'll apologize! I'll compensate you! Please spare me!"

It had to be said that Yu Yuanzhen still had plenty of vigor. Even after losing all four limbs, his wails were louder than Yu Xiaogang's.

"Just say the word, and my Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan will agree to anything. Whatever you want, name it!"

Lu Xuan did not answer.

He simply looked down at Yu Yuanzhen with a smile, and Yu Yuanzhen naturally grew increasingly desperate.

"Say something! What do you want? Soul Bones? Resources? I'll give you anything the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan has!"

"I'll make Yu Xiaogang apologize! I'll hand that useless Yu Xiaogang over to you! Kill him!"

"Father... you..."

Nearby, Yu Xiaogang abruptly stopped wailing at those words and stared in despair at his once-proud father.

Yu Yuanzhen roared!

"You unfilial son! Hurry up and kowtow to this lord and apologize!!!"

Yu Xiaogang was stunned, unable to believe those words had come from Yu Yuanzhen's mouth.

Until Yu Yuanzhen began hurling abuse.

"Yu Xiaogang, fuck your mother!"

"You fucking stayed away from the sect for forty years, and the moment you came back, you brought a clan-annihilating calamity down on us!"

"Fuck your mother! How did I ever father a useless piece of trash like you?"

"If you don't want your father to die here, then get on your fucking knees and apologize!"

In the end, Yu Yuanzhen and Lu Xuan had no old grudges or recent enmity. Every bit of this conflict had arisen because of Yu Xiaogang.

If he could get Lu Xuan to vent his anger on Yu Xiaogang, then Yu Yuanzhen might still have a sliver of hope.

Yu Xiaogang soon came to his senses.

He propped himself up on the ground with his one remaining arm and his sole remaining right leg, then looked at Lu Xuan.

"Lu Xuan, I was wrong. Please spare me. Spare my father."

"I swear on my Martial Soul that I'll never trouble you again."

"I'm truly begging you. Please spare my father."

At those words, a mocking smile once again curled Lu Xuan's lips.

He neither spoke nor gave any indication of agreement. He simply raised his longsword high and aimed its tip at Yu Yuanzhen's head.

"You... what exactly are you trying to do?"

"Killing the leader of one of the Upper Three Sects and keeping a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast-aren't you afraid of becoming the enemy of the entire continent?"

"Aren't you afraid of Spirit Hall coming to settle accounts?"

Yu Yuanzhen was already rambling incoherently. He had lived freely for decades, yet had never experienced this feeling of approaching death, this tightness between his brows.

Now he realized that whether he begged for mercy or threatened him, the young man before him remained unmoved.

So he unconsciously began trying to mask his terror with roars...

Yet Lu Xuan merely replied in an indifferent tone.

"Do you think Spirit Hall has a second Supreme Pontiff to spare?"

Yu Yuanzhen was dumbfounded! He tried to retreat, only to realize that all his limbs were already gone.

As he watched Lu Xuan raise his longsword again...

"You're insane! Insane!"