The Soul Realm.
The plaza of Soul Saint City.
The Hun Clan's greatest fighters had all gathered here, waiting for their Clan Leader, Hun Tiandi, to deliver a stirring speech.
Burning gazes converged on a scholarly-looking young man. Many rubbed their hands together, their fighting spirit soaring. The strongest man in the Hun Clan stood in their midst.
"Since the Tu-Xiao War, our Hun Clan has lain dormant for a thousand years, enduring in silence. Now, the Six-Clan Alliance led by the Gu Clan covets our Ancient Jade and dreams of annihilating us." Hun Tiandi hovered above the center of the plaza, addressing the dense sea of clansmen in a cold voice.
"Clan Leader, what damned Six-Clan Alliance? They're nothing but clay chickens and pottery dogs!"
"They covet our Ancient Jade? Aren't they afraid of choking to death on it?"
"What gall! They're even more arrogant than the Xiao Clan was!"
The Hun Clan's many Dou Zun and Half-Saints shouted in righteous indignation, their outrage boiling over. Some of the Dou Sheng Experts nearby, however, blinked and quietly swallowed.
"Our Hun Clan has stood tall since ancient times. What storms and towering waves haven't we weathered? If we don't show them what we're made of, they really will think nothing of us!" The Soul Demon Elder's eyes shifted as he spoke.
In the sky, Hun Tiandi smiled faintly, then clasped his hands behind his back and raised his head to gaze into the empty space. His calm voice struck like thunder, making everyone's scalp prickle, including the Four Demon Saints of the Gu Clan.
"Gu Yuan, with your standing, why skulk about like this?"
Hun Tiandi's voice thundered out of a clear sky, making everyone present stiffen abruptly. The Hun clansmen jerked their heads up and stared into the Void Space in horror. The Four Demon Saints of the Soul Clan reacted first, Dou Qi surging within them before erupting in a torrent that blotted out the sky.
"Saints, form the array!"
The Four Demon Saints of the Soul Clan shot into the air almost simultaneously, their roars exploding throughout Soul Saint City.
Streaks of light flashed through the air as every Hun Clan expert revealed themselves. Within moments, their figures filled the sky, vast auras surging as immense pressure swept through the void.
Dou Qi churned across the heavens, but Hun Tiandi remained suspended in the sky, his hands clasped behind his back and his expression icy as he watched the Void Space. Nothing was visible there, yet he showed no intention of looking away.
The silence lasted for several minutes, but not a single Hun clansman dared relax. Countless gazes remained fixed on that patch of space.
Under everyone's scrutiny, ripples finally spread through the empty space. At the same time, a soft chuckle drifted out.
"Hehe, Hun Tiandi, after a thousand years, your perception seems less keen than it once was..."
At the sound of that voice, the Hun clansmen's Dou Qi roared like floodwaters, poised to erupt at any moment.
Space rippled, and a vortex slowly formed. A figure in blue robes emerged, finally appearing before everyone's eyes.
After he appeared, several more figures stepped out of the vortex behind him. Of the two at the front, one was dark-skinned and as brawny as an iron tower, with black lightning crackling around him and faint thunder rumbling with every breath. The other had rugged features and flame-red eyebrows. Flame patterns covered his crimson robes, and a flaming totem burned between his brows.
After these three appeared in succession, more figures emerged from the Spatial Passage. Yao Dan, Clan Leader of the Yao Clan, the Three Immortals of the Gu Clan, Fairy Fire Spirit of the Yan Clan, and Thunder Mountain, supreme elder of the Lei Clan, stepped out one after another. Across the entire Dou Qi Continent, it would have been difficult to find another lineup this terrifying.
As these people appeared, every Hun Clan elder's expression tightened. The Hun Clan's great array quietly began to operate, and in an instant, light and shadow interwove in a dazzling display of color.
"Hehe, our Hun Clan certainly is lively today. Gu Yuan, Lei Ying, Yan Jin, Yao Dan-perhaps it's been several thousand years since we last gathered together?" Hun Tiandi's expression was calm, his voice gentle.
"No, wait. We're still missing two old friends. Where have Ling Ya and Shi Pan gone?"
"They naturally have matters to attend to. What is it, Hun Tiandi? Are we not enough?"
Gu Yuan stared at Hun Tiandi as he spoke slowly.
"My Soul Realm isn't somewhere you can enter and leave as you please. Are the few of you enough?" Hun Tiandi smiled, his tone utterly casual, as though he were exchanging pleasantries with Gu Yuan.
"Hun Tiandi, cut the chatter. Call out Nihility Devouring Flame. At a time like this, why keep cowering like a dog?" Lei Ying barked. Though he had learned some of the hidden truth, he still wanted to hear Nihility Devouring Flame admit it personally.
The moment his words fell, a figure wreathed in black flames, its pupils filled with the power of nothingness, quietly appeared beside Hun Tiandi.
Everyone looked over. It was none other than Nihility Devouring Flame, the renowned second-ranked heavenly flame on the continent.
"You've all got some nerve. I haven't come looking for you, yet you dare come knocking at my door. Are you that eager to become my food?" Nihility Devouring Flame's gaze slowly swept over the people above, its mysterious black runes radiating a piercing light.
"Food? So it really was you!" At Nihility Devouring Flame's reply, Lei Ying's and Yan Jin's expressions instantly darkened.
"No wonder the Ancient Races kept disappearing one after another even after the Tunling Clan was destroyed. Some vanished without a trace overnight! So it really was just as that mysterious person's leaflet said-the Hun Clan was behind it all!" Yao Dan, Clan Leader of the Yao Clan, said furiously.
"Hmph, old fool. Why didn't you stay in the Yao Clan and obediently refine your pills? Why come here to join the commotion? Careful-the wind might throw your back out," shouted Hun Tu of the Four Demon Saints of the Soul Clan.
"Nihility Devouring Flame, had I known this would happen, I should have finished you with my own hands back then!" Gu Yuan said, looking at the figure wreathed in black smoke behind Hun Tiandi.
"Hehe, Gu Yuan, you think far too highly of yourself. I may be no match for you, but no one on this continent can erase me." Black flames churned as Nihility Devouring Flame continued, "Thanks to the bloodlines of your six ancient clans, I have now reached the Nine-Star Dou Saint realm."
At Nihility Devouring Flame's declaration, almost everyone present except Gu Yuan and Hun Tiandi paled. A Nine-Star Dou Saint was an existence at the very pinnacle of this world.
That meant the Hun Clan truly had two nine-stars under one roof.
"Hun Tiandi, were you also behind the sudden, rapid depletion of the Xiao Clan Bloodline back then?" Gu Yuan asked.
"Some answers need only be understood in your heart..." Hun Tiandi smiled carelessly, then swept his hand and said, "Gu Yuan, if you've brought this force here today to destroy my Hun Clan, I'm afraid these people aren't enough."
"Oh, is that so?" Gu Yuan sneered coldly.
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