Wherever Leng Yulai's flames burned, the shadows melted away completely, leaving him nowhere to hide.
After three exchanges, she sent him flying with a swipe of her claw, and he crashed through half a wall.
"Ghost Emperor, is that all you've got?"
Na Nali clicked her tongue. "And here I thought you two emperors were so impressive. Where's the Underworld Emperor? Tell him to come out. I'll deal with him too."
The Ghost Emperor crawled out of the rubble, covered in dust and grime. He was just about to speak when the entire island suddenly fell silent.
"You two fled as traitors, yet you dared to come back."
The sea breeze stopped. Black mist hung motionless in midair. Even the broken roof tiles were suspended where they were, no longer falling.
For the first time, Na Nali's bell fell silent on its own, as though it had sensed something that made it afraid to make a sound.
Na Nali's smile froze.
The phantom phoenix behind Leng Yulai abruptly shrank, and even its dark purple flames sank half an inch.
A figure slowly emerged from deep within the Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters.
His face could not be seen clearly, nor could any fluctuation of Soul Power be sensed from him. Yet with every step he took, the air over the island grew heavier.
By the time he stopped in front of the Ghost Emperor, Na Nali and Leng Yulai already felt as though a primordial behemoth had fixed its gaze on them.
The Ghost Emperor froze for two seconds, seemingly caught off guard that the person before him had come out to deal with this matter. His expression changed, then returned to normal.
"Your Majesty, Demon Empress!"
The Ghost Emperor hurriedly straightened up. He and the Demon Empress were equals in rank, but the Demon Empress was indeed far stronger than him. Especially after the God-Slaying War, her strength had faintly surpassed the Quasi-God level.
The figure waved a hand, and the Ghost Emperor immediately fell silent.
"You two youngsters."
The Demon Empress spoke. Her voice betrayed no hint of her age, sounding like seawater slowly surging in unfathomable depths.
"The Ghost Emperor did wrong. He was at fault. But isn't it also rather improper to beat up my subordinate on Holy Spirit Cult territory?"
Na Nali tightened her grip on her bell, all traces of her carefree attitude gone from her face.
She stared at the figure before her, whose strength she could not fathom. Alarm bells rang wildly in her mind.
Something's not right about this person.
She thought.
I'm a level 99 Quasi-God, and Yulai's a level 99 Demigod. Even together, we can't fathom the depths of the slightest trace of her presence.
This Demon Empress actually exists. I thought she was nothing but a lie the Underworld Emperor and the Ghost Emperor made up to trick us into joining.
"Who are you?"
Leng Yulai asked coldly.
"Me?"
The Demon Empress gave a laugh that echoed through the deserted ruins.
"You people from Shrek have probably heard a name. Twenty thousand years ago, there was a Deep Sea Demonic Whale King who roamed the seas unchallenged. He cultivated for a million years and came within one step of becoming a god. Later, Tang San became a god, hunted him down, and took his Soul Ring and Soul Bones."
"The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King." Na Nali's pupils contracted. "You're..."
"I'm his wife."
The Demon Empress spoke with a touch of madness.
"He died, and I've waited twenty thousand years. Waited for a chance to become a god, for a chance to take revenge on Tang San. The Holy Spirit Cult was willing to help me, so I joined it and became its empress."
Leng Yulai's flames sank to their lowest.
The widow of a Hundred Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, an avenger who had waited through two ten-thousand-year spans, now stood in the Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters, calling herself the Demon Empress.
An existence like that was already beyond what could be measured by the standards of a Limit Douluo.
"So, you two youngsters."
The Demon Empress spoke unhurriedly.
"Let's end today's business here, for my sake. How about it?"
"After all, I am rather magnanimous. I'm willing to overlook your desertion, since you did come from my Holy Spirit Cult."
Na Nali and Leng Yulai exchanged a glance.
They were smart.
Smart people knew best how to read the situation.
They had come today to vent their boss's anger and warn the Holy Spirit Cult.
Now they had vented that anger and delivered the warning. If they kept fighting, they would only bring humiliation upon themselves.
"Since Your Majesty has spoken, we'll do you this favor."
Na Nali put away her bell and took a step back.
"But let me make this clear. If the Holy Spirit Cult sends anyone after my boss again, the next time, it won't be just the two of us who come."
"Mm."
The Demon Empress nodded, noncommittal. "I can also give you two my word. The matter of the Dark Hummingbird ends here. The Holy Spirit Cult won't send anyone else to the East Sea for the time being."
"Really?"
"I always keep my word."
"Besides," the Demon Empress said, "I'd very much like to see what sort of person can make you two protect him so wholeheartedly."
Na Nali's heart tightened. The Demon Empress had actually taken an interest in their boss.
"Then thank you, Your Majesty."
Na Nali grabbed Leng Yulai, and with a leap, they vanished into the black mist over the distant sea.
She still had to report this matter to her boss when she got back. The Demon Empress's combat strength was a little beyond the limit. She was indeed a destabilizing factor on the continent.
After they left, the Ghost Emperor climbed to his feet, pretending to be shaken. "Your Majesty, why did you let them go?"
"One of them held a Demigod Artifact, and the other was at the Demigod level. If we'd truly fought, even I couldn't have kept them here. One of the two of us might even have died here."
The Demon Empress gazed in the direction they had gone.
"Besides, that boy surnamed Qing managed to kill the Dark Hummingbird. He's rather interesting. You have to let out a long line to catch a big fish."
"The God-Slaying Grand Array remains the priority. Becoming gods is what matters most to us. Once we become gods, these people will be no more than ants."
"I understand."
"Pass down the order. No one is to make another move against that boy in the East Sea for the time being."
"I want to see just how far he can go," the Demon Empress said.
"Yes!"
The Ghost Emperor bowed respectfully and did not straighten up until the Demon Empress had left.
He watched her retreating figure, his eyes dark and unfathomable. No one knew what he was plotting.
In the original story, the Ghost Emperor was no pushover. He was a master schemer who colluded with Qiangu Dongfeng and used a God-Slaying-level missile to destroy Shrek Academy.
In the end, he also plotted against the Demon Empress in secret and colluded with the Abyss Plane, preparing to sacrifice the entire Douluo Plane to forge his own divine kingdom of death.
At last, the Ghost Emperor vanished as well, leaving only a soft chuckle behind.
Eastsea Academy.
Wu Changkong had returned to the classroom to teach.
The students of Class Five were unusually well-behaved today-too well-behaved.
The classroom was so quiet that the scratch of pen tips on paper could be heard. The students communicated with glances, clearly somewhat wary of Wu Changkong.
Because something was obviously wrong with Teacher Wu today.
His face was paler than usual, and there were dark circles under his eyes. In the middle of teaching, he would suddenly lose focus and stare out the window for a few seconds before turning back and continuing.
More frightening still, the entire floor where Teacher Wu's office was located had reportedly frozen over that morning.
They knew Teacher Wu was an ice-type Soul Master, but they had never expected his ice attribute to be strong enough to freeze the entire hallway.
"Say, do you think something happened to Teacher Wu?"
Xie Xie lay sprawled on his desk, whispering to his deskmate, Tang Wulin.
"I heard Director Long stood outside his office shouting for ages this morning, saying, 'Teacher Wu, please come out. I won't interfere with you ever again.' Just listen to that. How scary is that?"
Tang Wulin sat there obediently, still clutching a half-eaten piece of osmanthus cake.
"Didn't Teacher Wu come back just fine?"
"He came back, sure, but look at his face."
Xie Xie lowered his voice.
"Wasn't he fine yesterday? How did he end up like this today? Someone also saw a layer of ice in his office. Even the flowers on the windowsill froze to death."
Lotus: "For my peanuts! For my peanuts!"