Qian Fan's nails dug deep into his palms, tearing flesh open. Blood wound down the lines of his hands, staining his dark gold team uniform with sinister patterns.
The veins in his neck bulged like writhing earthworms, and his pupils shrank violently to pinpoints as he stared fixedly at the blood-red sky overhead.
The fallen angel martial soul behind him trembled wildly. Wisps of black mist seeped from its six dark-purple wings, every feather shaking uncontrollably as though some terrifying force were tearing at them.
Within his sea of consciousness, the phantom of his Zeus martial soul darted about like a trapped beast. Silver-white lightning ran wild across his body, blasting every strand of his long hair upright and leaving an eerie, charred blackness at the tips.
"This is impossible..." Qian Fan's Adam's apple bobbed, his hoarse voice sounding as though it had been squeezed from a shattered chest.
Two utterly different oppressive auras bore down from the depths of the void like solid mountains. He could even feel his bones groaning beneath their unbearable weight.
Bibi Dong's soul-devouring spider emperor martial soul abruptly manifested, but its eight long, venom-spiked legs shook uncontrollably; the golden light of Qian Daoliu's six-winged angel martial soul dimmed. His aged hand clenched his scepter so tightly that his knuckles turned almost translucent, and the Angel's Tear set into its head silently cracked.
The referee's hand froze in midair, microphone raised, still poised to present the awards yet seemingly pinned in place by an invisible force. An eerie silence engulfed the arena, broken only by heavy breaths rising and falling like the gasps of the dying.
Chen Xin's Seven Kill Sword gave a mournful hum as fine, spiderweb-like cracks appeared across its blade; Tang Hao dropped heavily to one knee, his Clear Sky Hammer smashing deep into the ground, yet the scattered rubble froze in midair. He gritted his teeth and propped himself up, veins bulging at his temples. Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth onto the hammer's handle, instantly evaporating into a bloody mist.
"Look at the sky!" A scream edged with sobs shattered the silence.
The clouds above Qian Fan churned violently like boiling magma. Dark-red vapor gathered into a gigantic, distorted human face, eerie blue light flickering within its hollow eye sockets.
Those eyes slowly swept over the arena. Every Titled Douluo spat out blood at once, and the barrier jointly erected by the Spirit Hall elders shook violently. Its soul power radiance dimmed by nearly a third, and fine fractures even began breaking apart its edges.
Qian Fan forced himself upright, gathering dark-purple soul power into a shield around him, but the runes flowing across its surface warped beneath the pressure.
His spine gave a wrenching series of cracks, as though it would snap in the very next second.
He shakily opened the system interface. Dazzling static filled his entire field of vision, and amid the shrill buzzing in his ears, he could faintly hear the electronic interference preceding the system's collapse.
Large beads of cold sweat rolled down and dripped onto the Spirit Condensation Wisdom Skull cradled against his chest. They instantly vaporized into white mist, leaving tiny scorch marks on the soul bone's surface.
"Don't just stand there!" An almost imperceptible tremor ran through Bibi Dong's voice, and a trace of fear flashed in her scarlet pupils. "Form the array!"
The Spirit Hall elders immediately formed a circle. Soul rings of various colors wove a brilliant web of light, their gold, purple, and black radiance intertwining into a gigantic six-pointed star array in midair.
Yet just as the array was about to take shape, spiderweb-like fissures suddenly split the sky, and a teeth-grating metallic scraping rose from the pitch-black cracks.
It was as though some colossal creature were forcibly tearing through the barriers of space. Viscous black matter seeped from every fracture, and the air hissed with corrosion wherever it passed.
The instant Xu Fangyuan stepped out of the rift, the entire world seemed to have been paused.
He wore a plain white robe. His seemingly casual strides sent ripples through space, and ancient star-chart patterns appeared on the ground with every step.
Xu Weiran followed close behind, arms folded across his chest and a contemptuous smile on his lips. The archaic longsword hanging at his waist still dripped an unknown black liquid. Wherever he passed, the ground rapidly rotted into charred pits, and twisted vines burrowed out of the soil only to turn to drifting ash an instant later.
"Let him go!" Qian Daoliu's furious roar set the air humming. His six-winged angel martial soul erupted with dazzling golden light, all nine soul rings lighting up at once as golden soul power gathered into an enormous Angel Phantom.
But Xu Fangyuan merely cast him a casual glance. Qian Daoliu recoiled as though struck by lightning and flew backward, smashing through three Coiling Dragon Pillars. His golden blood splashed onto the ground, sending up clouds of white smoke, while the Angel Phantom disintegrated into specks of golden light in midair.
Xu Fangyuan lightly crooked a gaunt finger, and Qian Fan flew toward him against his will.
Qian Fan's body twisted into grotesque angles in midair. Every inch of his skin throbbed with tearing agony, as though countless steel needles were churning through his bone marrow.
"Grandpa... help..." Violent coughing cut off Qian Fan's cries. Blood sprayed onto Xu Fangyuan's sleeve, only to vanish without a trace an instant later, as though it had never existed.
"I am Xu Fangyuan, lord of the Seven Star Domain. Today, I ask for two people." Xu Fangyuan's voice was as calm as though he were discussing some trivial matter, yet every word struck their hearts like a heavy hammer. "Tang San and Qian Fan. In the name of the Star Domain, I pledge to keep this realm safe for a hundred years."
As he spoke, Tang San hovered beside him. Blue silver grass grew wildly but could not draw even a fraction closer to Xu Fangyuan. Tang San's eyes were empty and lifeless, as though his soul had been drawn out, and his blue silver emperor martial soul was dull and lightless, even beginning to develop charred black spots.
Xu Weiran suddenly burst into laughter. The sound made everyone's eardrums ache, and dust showered down from the arena's dome.
He slowly drew his longsword. Densely packed human faces surfaced along the blade, every one screaming soundlessly, their twisted expressions filled with despair.
"A swarm of insects that don't know when to die." With a slight flick of his wrist, sword light streaked across the sky like a bolt of black lightning, carving a gigantic gulf through space itself.
Eighteen Titled Douluo unleashed their strongest defenses at once. Soul power shields of every color intertwined into a dazzling curtain of light in midair, but at the sword light's slightest touch, every defense shattered like fragile glass.
Snake Lance Douluo raised his lance in despair. The soul power gathered at its tip looked pale and feeble beneath the sword light. Before he could even scream, the sword light cleaved him in two, his blood gathering into an enormous crimson mist in the air.
Despite his grievous injuries, Qian Daoliu charged forward, brandishing his scepter. The Angel Statue atop it released its last radiance, only for Xu Weiran to strike him in the chest with a backhanded slap. Qian Daoliu flew away like a kite with its string severed, plowing a hundred-meter furrow through the ground. The stone paving shattered inch by inch along his path, and tiny golden feathers mingled with the rising dust.
"Remember this, insects of an inferior plane." Xu Weiran slid his sword back into its sheath without so much as glancing at the devastation around him. "This was only a little lesson."
With that, his figure flickered and vanished into the spatial rift. A casual stroke of sword energy he released before leaving sliced away a corner of Spirit City. Enormous remnants of buildings collapsed with a thunderous crash, sending smoke and dust billowing into the sky.
All of Spirit City fell into deathly silence.
Meanwhile, in the distant Seven Star Domain, within a palace floating among the stars, Qian Fan slowly opened his eyes amid excruciating pain.
The first thing he saw was a dome as brilliant as the Milky Way, specks of starlight swirling overhead.
A young girl wearing a Star-Patterned Dress crouched before him, studying him curiously. Light like the Milky Way flowed within her pupils, and the Starlight Hair Ornament pinned in her hair swayed gently with her movements.
She extended a fingertip and touched Qian Fan between the brows. All his pain and injuries vanished instantly, replaced by a warm, tranquil sensation. "Grandpa, who are they?" The girl turned toward Xu Fangyuan nearby, her voice as clear as silver bells. "Why did you bring people back?"
Xu Fangyuan walked over slowly and stroked the girl's long hair, gazing deeply at the unconscious Tang San and Qian Fan. "Yuan'er, these are guests from the Edge of the Universe..."
His voice gradually lowered, and a meaningful smile curled his lips. "But given time, perhaps they will stir waves that shake heaven itself.
"Look at this child with twin martial souls. Even the laws of this Star Domain tremble at the power within him..."
Before he finished speaking, Qian Fan's fingers suddenly twitched involuntarily. Within his sea of consciousness, his fallen angel martial soul and Zeus martial soul were slowly awakening, and a faint radiance began flowing through his body.
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