Chapter 6

Lan Changsheng set the exotic flower in his hand aside and faced the two men.

Though his frame was slender, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo felt a heaven-shaking aura roll out of the handsome young man, bearing down on them with crushing pressure.

[Host, do you need me to conceal the disturbance caused by the coming battle?]

"No need."

[That may draw the Pope of Spirit Hall here. This Pope is also a powerful individual undergoing a Divine Trial and walking that path.]

"Then let her come!"

Standing opposite Lan Changsheng, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo felt cold sweat seep down their backs, despite having weathered countless storms.

We can't fight him head-on!

That was their first reaction. The pressure Lan Changsheng exerted on them was even greater than Pope Bibi Dong's!

Their eyes met, and with the understanding forged over sixty years as partners, each read the fear in the other's gaze.

"You love flowers too. Why did you hound my younger sister to her death?" Lan Changsheng's sharp voice reached their ears.

But Chrysanthemum Douluo could hear what seemed to be hatred and sorrow in that voice.

His heart sank. He feared this would not end peacefully today; the unfamiliar powerhouse before them would probably not let either of them go.

Chrysanthemum Douluo stepped forward. The petals of his Martial Soul, the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, turned into pieces of golden armor that covered him as he faced Lan Changsheng. "Sir, I assure you that I have never met you. How could I have harmed your younger sister?"

But before he finished speaking, a strand of Blue Silver Grass wound around Chrysanthemum Douluo like a roaming dragon and slipped into his shadow.

Ghost Douluo, who had just been about to escape through the shadows, had no choice but to reveal his true body, while the Extreme Stealth Clone behind Chrysanthemum Douluo dissolved into black mist and vanished.

"I'm here for both of you, so neither of you should think of escaping!"

As Lan Changsheng's words fell, countless strands of Blue Silver Grass unfurled behind him and swept toward Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo.

Ghost Douluo tried to use Dark Shadow Instantaneous Movement to escape again, but Lan Changsheng sensed it with Teleportation and flashed over ahead of him to block his way.

Just one punch sent Ghost Douluo flying backward!

Chrysanthemum Douluo stepped forward to catch him, but the impact sent both men tumbling across the ground. They only stopped when they hit the wall.

"Sir, we truly don't know when we offended you! Could there be some misunderstanding?" Chrysanthemum Douluo helped Ghost Douluo to his feet.

"Still haven't remembered? Take a look at the Blue Silver Grass around you!"

As though they had finally remembered something, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo stiffened. The injuries Tang Hao's hammer had dealt them all those years ago began to ache faintly again.

That had been their most dangerous mission since joining Spirit Hall.

"You're a relative of that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast! As a Soul Beast, you dare appear alone in Spirit City? Do you think nothing of our Spirit Hall?" Chrysanthemum Douluo's shrill voice was filled with shock.

The word "relative" stabbed Lan Changsheng with another pang of pain. The surrounding Blue Silver Grass turned into chains and shot toward the two men.

"Old Ghost, looks like we'll have to fight with everything we've got!"

Ghost Douluo nodded. Before he had even steadied himself, he turned into a ghostly shadow and charged toward Lan Changsheng, dodging the Blue Silver Grass reaching for his waist.

As he moved, dark-purple Soul Power carrying an aura of deathly stillness poured continuously from his ghostly Martial Soul.

Ghost Douluo's flesh dissolved and turned insubstantial at a speed visible to the naked eye. His entire body became a vast, dense, pitch-black ghostly shadow!

His formerly human outline stretched upward to several dozen feet tall. Fragmented phantoms of resentful spirits drifted around him, while chain-like black mist coiled around his phantom limbs and torso. Only two points of spectral green ghost-fire flickered in his eye sockets. His features were gone; there was only an endless, gloomy dark shadow.

This was Ghost Douluo's Martial Soul Avatar, Ghost! Against someone as powerful as Lan Changsheng, they had no choice but to get serious from the outset.

Layers of black mist spread, forming the Lightless Netherworld Domain in an attempt to disrupt Lan Changsheng's perception.

More chains formed from the black mist and closed in on him from all directions, binding his body. They even had a certain restraining effect on the soul.

What Ghost Douluo did not know, however, was that Divine Power protected Lan Changsheng's soul. These chains could not affect it.

The greatest benefit was that within this Netherworld Domain, Ghost Douluo could use Teleportation without any cooldown, greatly increasing his mobility.

One strike came from the left, the next from behind. Ghost Douluo began an unpredictable assault around Lan Changsheng, his attacks raging like a violent storm.

Yet Lan Changsheng did not attack at all from beginning to end. He merely kept blocking with the Blue Silver Grass around him. Before anyone realized it, Blue Silver Grass had spread across more than half the ground.

Chrysanthemum Douluo, who had remained where he stood, grew increasingly anxious at the sight.

He could already hear the commotion outside. People from Spirit Hall would probably arrive soon, but a few more Soul Douluos and Soul Saints would not be enough to handle the man before them.

Either Old Ghost or I have to hold him here while the other goes to report to the Pope!

With that thought, Chrysanthemum Douluo activated his Martial Soul, condensing a giant cluster of chrysanthemums beneath Lan Changsheng's feet. Golden petals formed a barrier in an attempt to restrain him.

Under the twofold suppression, Lan Changsheng finally felt a slight effect.

Chrysanthemum Douluo's fifth Soul Ring flashed, and he condensed two petal Moon Blades gleaming with cold light, one in each hand.

Their tips pointed straight at Lan Changsheng!

But the situation changed in an instant. Just as Ghost Douluo used Teleportation to move to one side and prepared to attack, Lan Changsheng moved second yet arrived first, seizing the claw Ghost Douluo thrust toward him.

"Have you had enough?" Lan Changsheng's voice was calm, but it exploded like thunder in Ghost Douluo's ears.

He tried to use Teleportation to get away, but it did not work!

"H-how is this possible?!"

He had activated his Martial Soul Avatar. He should have been immune to physical attacks!

"Old Ghost, watch out!"

Several sharp whistles came from behind. Golden petals glinted with cold light as they shot straight toward Lan Changsheng. Chrysanthemum Douluo himself charged forward with two blades of Gathering of Cold Blossoms in his hands.

But Lan Changsheng casually swung Ghost Douluo into the path of those petals. Every last one struck him, embedding itself in his body.

"Argh!"

"Old Ghost!" Chrysanthemum Douluo cried out in shock, hastily changing direction to catch Ghost Douluo.

Now, not only Ghost Douluo but even Chrysanthemum Douluo was beginning to question what had happened to his Martial Soul Avatar's immunity to physical attacks.

Of course, their ignorance was not to blame. It was because Lan Changsheng had used Life Divine Power.

Although his control over Life Divine Power was not yet sufficient to reverse life and death, he could still give a level 95 Titled Douluo's Martial Soul a measure of physical substance.

This was also his first time using Life Divine Power on an enemy. He had not expected such a remarkable effect; previously, he had only used it to accelerate the growth of Blue Silver Grass.

But this was clearly not the time to dwell on that.

"Martial Soul Avatar!"

The Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum behind Chrysanthemum Douluo, over ten meters tall, merged with him. Layer upon layer of chrysanthemum petals folded inward, becoming golden armor that covered his body.

"Eighth Soul Skill, Myriad Rays of Light!"

A luminous chrysanthemum image condensed behind him. Light from its entire form gathered at its center, and a beam shot toward Lan Changsheng at tremendous speed.

At the same time, he roared toward the outside, "Your Holiness!!"