Corpse Explosion!

The group was about to press onward.

Chen Tianyuan stopped Ma Xiaotao again. "Senior Sister Ma, you'd better burn the bodies of any Soul Masters you kill from now on. Otherwise..."

"All right, all right, I get it," Ma Xiaotao said impatiently.

She inwardly scorned Chen Tianyuan. If he was afraid of dying, he should simply have stayed outside.

Wang Yan and the others caught up from behind. Along the way, Huo Yuhao had frozen every corpse they encountered solid as a precaution, then had Bei Bei destroy them completely.

The fighting up ahead was fierce. Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng had become gods of slaughter, and these low-level Soul Masters generally lasted less than a second against them.

As for the bandits, they had long since been scared out of their wits and were hiding in the tunnels, not daring to emerge.

Another dozen or so Evil Soul Masters rushed out from the depths of the cave. Most were out of their minds and had no sense for combat, mindlessly hurling Soul Skills with pitiful accuracy.

But their sheer numbers still left the group scrambling for a moment.

Ultimate light erupted within Chen Tianyuan.

The instant the Evil Soul Masters touched the ultimate light, they began to howl. This was no ordinary power of light.

Ultimate lightning had been fused into it...

Just as the Inner Court disciples were getting into the slaughter, Huo Yuhao's terrified voice rang out behind them.

"Watch out!"

Through his Spirit Eyes, he sensed that the corpses on the ground were actually heating up and swelling.

There really was a Corpse Explosion technique...

But it was already too late. The Inner Court disciples were surrounded by the corpses of Soul Masters.

The next second, explosions thundered through the cave.

Charred corpse dust scattered throughout the cavern, rather than the flying blood and flesh they had expected.

Chen Tianyuan breathed a sigh of relief. Every Soul Master he had killed had been electrocuted into charcoal, which had prevented...

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom...

A succession of massive explosions snapped Chen Tianyuan back to reality.

The explosions were coming not from behind, but from ahead.

The bodies of the Soul Masters Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng had killed had never been dealt with!

Terrifying explosions erupted one after another, almost deafening Chen Tianyuan.

Scarlet blood and flesh splattered throughout the cave with each blast.

Chen Tianyuan was at the very rear of the group, at least twenty meters from the center of the explosions,

but the tremendous shock waves still sent him flying, slamming him hard against the stone wall.

Damn it! Chen Tianyuan cursed inwardly as searing pain coursed through his body.

He had warned Ma Xiaotao once more before they ventured deeper into the cave, but she clearly hadn't taken it to heart and had simply left the dead Soul Masters lying on the ground...

The dust stirred up by the explosions slowly settled...

Chen Zifeng, a Power Attack System Soul King without a single defensive Soul Skill, had only been able to protect himself with soul power. His right leg was gone, corpse poison was steadily eating away at the stump, and he lay on the ground screaming.

Although Ling Luochеn had protected herself with ice, she had still suffered grievous injuries. She now lay beneath the stone wall, her breathing weak.

Gongyang Mo, a purely support-type Soul Master, had stood at the rear of the group, just two meters from Chen Tianyuan. Chen Tianyuan had pulled him away at the crucial moment, leaving him with only minor internal injuries.

As for the four at the center of the explosions...

Yao Haoxuan, who had transformed into a giant, had shielded Xixi from most of the blast with his body, leaving only his upper half...

Even with Yao Haoxuan sacrificing his life to protect her, Xixi had fared little better. An Agility Attack System Soul Master, she had lost her entire left leg in the blast and would likely spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

And Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng, who had the highest cultivation and had been closest to the corpses...

Ma Xiaotao, a rank-67 Soul Emperor, had lost both legs and lay on the ground, her fate unknown.

Dai Yueheng, rank 64, was missing his left hand and right leg, and black blood still flowed from all seven of his facial orifices.

A single Corpse Explosion had left one of the seven Shrek Inner Court disciples dead and five crippled.

Gongyang Mo broke down instantly. He collapsed to the ground, clutching his head and sobbing.

These were teammates he had spent every day with...

"How... did it end up like this?"

What had been an overwhelmingly one-sided battle had turned into this utterly horrific scene in an instant.

Had all this really come without warning? Chen Tianyuan had warned them about Corpse Explosion long ago. He had already told Ma Xiaotao to burn the bodies...

But what had Ma Xiaotao done? She had ignored the corpses and let them pile up.

"Hehehe! How did you like this messenger's Corpse Explosion? No matter how gifted you are, death is certain beneath my Corpse Explosion! Even if the blast doesn't kill you, the corpse poison will!"

"Hehehe!" The black-robed [Strongest Soul King], the Death Messenger, laughed savagely.

Entrails now littered the entire cavern, and the thick stench of blood filled the air.

The Outer Court students were shaken to their cores and began vomiting.

"Die!"

Chen Tianyuan cursed and drove all his soul power into an attack on the Death Messenger.

Ultimate lightning and ultimate light erupted together.

Surging lightning took the form of a golden dragon and roared toward the Death Messenger, about to swallow him whole.

Cold sweat poured off the Death Messenger. He grabbed a Soul Ancestor-level Evil Soul Master beside him and hurled him forward.

The Evil Soul Master flailed his arms in midair, tears and snot streaming down his face. "Don't kill me! Don't ki-"

The golden dragon surged relentlessly forward and devoured him in an instant, leaving not even a fragment of bone.

The Death Messenger snarled, "Brat, you forced my hand."

With that, five Soul Rings-two yellow and three purple-appeared beneath him.

Just as he was about to act, Xuan Zi's furious voice came from outside the cave.

"Bastard!"

Immediately afterward, a streak of white light shot toward the Death Messenger, about to seize him.

Yet, astonishingly, a mere Soul King dodged the attack of a rank-98 Super Douluo.

He simply dodged it. He hadn't even used a Soul Skill.

The next second, the remaining half of Yao Haoxuan's body began rapidly swelling, about to explode.

Yao Haoxuan had been a genuine Soul King. If his body exploded, the grievously wounded survivors would certainly die, and the blast might even collapse the entire cave...

"Don't you dare!"

Soul power instantly enveloped Yao Haoxuan's corpse.

With a boom, the remaining half of Yao Haoxuan's corpse imploded within the soul power. Fortunately, it did not trigger a larger explosion.

The Death Messenger froze for a moment. Anyone capable of stopping his Corpse Explosion had to be at least a Titled Douluo...

Chen Tianyuan seized the opening, activating Purple Lightning Thunder God Dash and flashing instantly before him.

His right hand underwent Dragon Transformation, and a single swipe of his claw smashed the Death Messenger's head apart.

For a moment, only vomiting and sobbing could be heard within the cave.

Xuan Zi hurried forward to examine their injuries: one dead, four crippled, one grievously injured, and another whose remains had been utterly destroyed...

These had all been seedlings destined to become Titled Douluos...

Gongyang Mo rose and grabbed Xuan Zi's grease-stained collar. His eyes were bloodshot, but he couldn't get a single word out. In the end, he could only shove Xuan Zi hard.

Chen Tianyuan looked at Xuan Zi with ice-cold eyes. Without a word, he quietly pulled Gongyang Mo away.

Xuan Zi staggered and sat on the ground in a stupor.

Wang Yan fought back the urge to curse Xuan Zi. "Xuan Zi, stop blaming yourself for now. Take them back to the academy immediately so Elder Zhuang can treat them!"

Coming to his senses, Xuan Zi immediately stabilized their lives with his soul power.

His voice was hoarse. "I cannot escape responsibility for this..."