Thank you, everyone

I'm very sorry, everyone. I don't know which eunuch read my book and started reporting it like crazy.

Six chapters were flagged yesterday, which left me so shaken that I couldn't bring myself to write. I'll make up for it today.

Would that eunuch please step forward? I'll arrange for you to become Dai Mubai's page and make you a eunuch for the rest of your life.

Main text

The Soul Power Sacred Tree, hard at work cultivating, sensed a vast surge of soul power. It opened its eyes and saw the sky falling.

Golden flames ignited along its thick trunk. Even ants struggled to stay alive, let alone a sixty-thousand-year-old soul beast.

Even if defeat and death lay at the end of its path, the Soul Power Sacred Tree refused to give up. Today, it would pit its battered body and old bones against the Snow Empress!

A boiling sphere of light condensed above its crown, then hurtled head-on toward the enormous palm shrouding heaven and earth, carrying the momentum to burn all things to ashes.

Hiss!

With a soft hiss, the enormous palm extinguished the fireball in an instant, then continued descending toward the Soul Power Sacred Tree without losing momentum, driving it underground like a blow in a game of whack-a-mole.

Ye Yan, already prepared, opened straight away with his ultimate move: Heavenly Light Illuminates All, Moonlight Returns to Dust!

X-shaped sword energy pierced the earth and ground its remaining roots into ash. Faint gray motes gathered above the deep crater, forming a ring of profound black-a soul ring.

Soul Power Sacred Tree-deceased. Cause of death: not being the protagonist, and therefore unable to fight against six hundred thousand years of cultivation.

Afterward, Ye Yan began absorbing its soul ring while the others stood guard.

The moment the soul ring settled over the Blue Silver Emperor, Ye Yan sensed that the tree's lingering soul was rather feeble. He guessed its earlier desperate strike had drained it too heavily, which also made absorbing it much easier.

He successfully absorbed it in just half a day, obtaining a passive enhancement soul skill called Azure Soul Return to the Void.

As he had expected, its effect permanently increased his maximum soul power by three hundred percent, with every new soul ring he acquired afterward adding another fifty percent.

Unfortunately, only soul rings added to the Blue Silver Emperor counted. Otherwise, he would have been invincible.

For the next seven days, they remained on the outskirts, waiting for Er Ming to arrive.

Hmm?

Through his Blue Silver Domain, Ye Yan detected violent tremors in the ground and warned the women to stay alert. Bibi Dong's figure turned illusory, and no one knew where she had hidden.

By the time the Titan Giant Ape appeared before them, only Ye Yan and Xiao Wu remained. He briefly sized Ye Yan up, confirmed that he wasn't coercing Sister Xiao Wu, and reached for the pink figure.

Suddenly, the phantom of a dark green spider appeared in the sky, a scarlet soul ring shining around her.

"Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor, sixth soul skill: Eternal Wound!"

Bibi Dong swung her scythe-like spider pincers. The instant the two curved blades of light slashed outward, they tore through space, crossing several hundred meters in the blink of an eye and striking the Titan Giant Ape.

The Titan Giant Ape felt only a chill against his back. His eyes filled with disbelief as he looked at the two charred, bloody holes in his chest. Aren't I a hundred-thousand-year-old overlord of Star Dou? How... how is this possible?

Thud!

The Titan Giant Ape's ruined body crashed to the ground, throwing up a wave of dust as scarlet light shot into the sky.

Far away at the Lake of Life, the Sky Azure Bull Python sensed that aura and let out a piercing cry of grief. Who killed my younger brother?!

He charged toward the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest like a mad beast, grinding every ancient tree, boulder, and soul beast in his path into powder.

Meanwhile, Ye Yan activated the Vast Sea Protective Shroud to shield Bibi Dong as she absorbed the soul ring, keeping her safe from the coming battle.

"Let's go, Xiao Wu. Remember not to give anything away~"

Leaving the Snow Empress to watch over Bibi Dong, Ye Yan took the little rabbit deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest.

The Ice Empress shook her head. These humans really were cunning. Then she assumed her true form and began chasing them.

With three hundred eighty thousand years of cultivation, the Ice Empress's true form was enormous. Her pursuit shook the earth and mountains, while the gleaming scorpion tail behind her became a machine gun.

The diamond-shaped ice spikes she fired formed an almost unbroken line, and booming explosions rang out without end. Xiao Wu's soul power was too low, so Ye Yan could only carry her as he darted through layer upon layer of tree shadows.

To make it more convincing, he deliberately took several glancing blasts, leaving his clothes in tatters, then circulated his soul power to make blood seep from all over his body. His appearance would have pained not only an uninformed outsider-even Xiao Wu, one of the leading players in this act, felt her heart ache.

Since both sides were rushing toward each other, they encountered the furious Sky Azure Bull Python in less than half a day. Seeing a human man fleeing with Xiao Wu in his arms, he shouted:

"Sister Xiao Wu! Come over here! I'll protect you both!"

Hearing his voice, Ye Yan instinctively looked down at Xiao Wu in his arms. Xiao Wu excitedly pointed at the python and said that he was her dear younger brother, and that they would definitely be safe with him around.

Only then did Ye Yan dare to use repeated teleportation to escape onto the python's head. The Sky Azure Bull Python blocked the Ice Empress's path with his enormous body and demanded to know why she was harming one of their own.

The Ice Empress said disdainfully, "A rabbit dares call herself one of my own? And you, great snake-out of consideration for how hard it was for you to cultivate this far, put them down and get lost!"

Xiao Wu seized the chance to burst into tears. "Sob... Da Ming, it's all my fault. When Er Ming came to pick me up, she discovered him. He's already been killed."

"What?! So she's the one who killed Er Ming! Ice scorpion, you're courting death!"

The Sky Azure Bull Python flew into a rage at her words. You killed my brother, bullied my big sister, and still dare humiliate me like this!

"Slow Domain! Sky Azure Annihilation Thunder!"

He abruptly spat out a blue vortex of soul power that enveloped his opponent, followed closely by a raging beam of lightning from above his head.

"Getting too big for your boots? Little loach, if you've had too much to drink, get lost! Eternal Frozen Domain!"

The Ice Empress summoned her domain to counteract his. At the same time, she swung her right pincer, sending an enormous icy claw crashing out to swat the dark purple beam into oblivion.

What?!

The Sky Azure Bull Python was shocked. He had never imagined that his signature finishing move would be blocked so easily.

"Heh, finished with your moves? Then it's my turn. Abyssal Frost Spikes!"

The Ice Empress slammed her enormous pincers against the ground. Countless ice spikes radiating supreme sharpness condensed in the sky, surrounding the Sky Azure Bull Python at the center from every angle, leaving no blind spots.

He was about to use his breath attack to see whether he could blast open an escape route when he suddenly remembered Ye Yan and Xiao Wu were still on his head. Whether the human lived or died was no concern of his, but he couldn't watch Sister Xiao Wu die.

Gritting his teeth, the Sky Azure Bull Python coiled into a circle and sheltered his head at its very center, intending to endure the attack head-on.

The Ice Empress chuckled. So soul beasts this foolish really did exist. The ice spikes filling the sky poured down like a waterfall of rain.

Squelch!

As the Sky Azure Bull Python's protective soul power was worn away completely, the sounds of flesh being torn rang out one after another. His enormous python body was pierced until he resembled a hedgehog.

"Da Ming, hurry and leave! Don't worry about us. I've already gotten Er Ming killed. I can't get you killed too."

Seeing his pained expression, Xiao Wu couldn't stop her tears from falling.

"No... I can't, Sister Xiao Wu. I promised Auntie that I would protect you."

The Sky Azure Bull Python's weak voice rang out, his eyes full of resolve as he looked at Xiao Wu. Even setting aside his love for her, the fact that she was Sister Ah Rou's daughter alone made her worth protecting with his life!