The booming voice carried a Soul Douluo's pressure, and porcelain shattered one piece after another throughout the room.
Liang Wu and the others were forced to their knees. Only Toji remained unmoved, his robes snapping in the air, though the carpet beneath his feet had already split in a spiderweb of cracks.
Toji frowned and released the nobleman in his grasp. Under the pressure, his four Soul Rings emerged involuntarily.
Three were transparent, with a faint blood-red hue, rather different from ordinary Soul Rings. The fourth was a normal black Soul Ring.
The first three were Blood Essence Soul Rings, so naturally they were unusual. The fourth had been obtained by absorbing a Soul Beast's Soul Ring in the normal way.
Ever since absorbing that Soul Ring, he could release his Soul Rings just like a normal Soul Master.
With his Soul Ancestor cultivation, Toji was more than capable of slaughtering these noble Soul Masters, whose strength was nothing remarkable.
But he had never imagined that the poison Soul Master had someone at the Soul Douluo level backing him.
No wonder Father Zhang's family had been no match for him.
The Soul Douluo's expression turned peculiar when he saw Toji's Soul Rings.
Someone who didn't know better might really mistake the red Soul Rings for Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings, but there was a great difference between them.
Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings were deep red, but these were extremely pale and transparent, looking more like malnourished Soul Rings.
Meanwhile, the poison Soul Master nearly exploded with rage when he saw that Toji was only a Soul Ancestor.
He was a mighty Soul Emperor. His skill with poison let him strut around Heaven Dou City unchecked, and even ordinary Soul Saints dared not touch his thorns.
Yet he had been toyed with by a mere Soul Ancestor?!
"So this is the expert you were talking about?" The Soul Douluo glanced at the poison Soul Master beside him. "People would laugh their teeth out if word got around. And to think I placed so much importance on you, yet you couldn't even handle this little piece of shit."
"My lord, everything about this child is mysterious. Besides, he isn't afraid of my poison at all. He must have some treasure helping him."
"That makes sense." The Soul Douluo nodded in satisfaction. Only then did he notice that the other nobles were all present.
"What are you all doing here?"
"City Lord!" The nobles, seeing that the Soul Douluo had come to save them, hurriedly reported to him with tears and snot streaming down their faces. "This madman threatened us! He demanded that we hand over all our money, or he'd throw every last one of us down into the arena to feed the Soul Beasts!"
City Lord?
Toji looked at the Soul Douluo.
"You're the lord of Heaven Dou City?"
Since the Body Sect could find him, naturally, other people could too.
The City Lord's gaze swept across the Soul Fighting Arena like lightning. When he saw the nobles' severed limbs being torn apart by Soul Beasts, his pupils contracted sharply. Eight golden chains emerged behind him-a rare, top-tier Tool Martial Soul.
The chains turned into roaming dragons and shattered the Soul Fighting Arena's barrier in an instant. The hundred-year tiger Soul Beast was ground into a bloody mist before it could even howl.
"I never thought something so appalling would happen in my territory." Golden chains roamed around the City Lord, pointing at Toji as the air crackled explosively from the overload of Soul Power. "It seems there's quite a grudge between us. First you took my Soul Bone, and now you dare lay a hand on my people?!"
"For a mere Soul Ancestor, you've got some nerve. I just wonder whether you'll live to enjoy it."
Faced with the City Lord's threat, Toji grinned. Far from afraid, he sat back down on the sofa at his leisure and picked up a freshly poured glass of wine.
"I don't know whether I'll live to enjoy it, but I'm afraid you've picked a fight with the wrong person."
"You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. Looks like you won't hand over the Soul Bone unless I make you suffer." Veins bulged on the City Lord's forehead. His golden chains lashed toward Toji, intent on capturing him in one strike.
"No one in this world has ever dared snatch a Soul Bone I wanted. If you dare absorb it, you'll have to lose a hand!"
Just as the City Lord's golden chains were about to touch Toji's face, two presences like those of savage Ferocious Beasts descended on the scene.
The City Lord's golden chains began to crumble inch by inch, and two surges of Soul Power stronger than his appeared on either side of Toji.
One man's right arm was abnormally thick, while the other's head was three times the size of an ordinary person's. One look was enough to tell that both men's bodies were highly abnormal.
But when the City Lord saw the two men, his expression instantly stiffened, his earlier arrogance freezing on his face.
"B-Body Sect?"
The next second, the two men revealed the answer.
Eight Soul Rings shone behind each of them, every set identically arranged: purple, purple, purple, purple, black, black, black, black.
Their Soul Ring Configurations surpassed the perfect standard!
The big-headed man glanced at the City Lord and said calmly:
"My name is Lang Ya, and this is my brother Yu Tao. We're from the Body Sect. I trust you've heard of us."
Both men had Body Martial Souls and had cultivated to the Soul Douluo level.
The power of their Body Martial Souls, combined with their talent for Second Awakening, let them strut around unchecked among those of the same level. Even ordinary Titled Douluo were unwilling to provoke them.
When the City Lord heard that they really were from the Body Sect, cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
It was the most mysterious sect under heaven.
Although he had the imperial family at his back, he had heard that the Body Sect was a bunch of madmen, each neither wholly righteous nor wholly wicked. They were fiercely protective of their own and overbearing in their conduct.
As the saying went, the people of the Body Sect were as close as family. Offend one Body Sect disciple, and the Body Sect would bear a grudge against you. There was no resolving that trouble without paying a price.
"Now, then." Toji propped his feet on the coffee table. "Does the City Lord intend to tear out my bones, or get justice for these nobles?"
"A misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding." The City Lord tactfully withdrew all his Soul Power and even managed a stiff smile. "I merely came to check on the auction proceedings. As it turns out, this young friend from the Body Sect has ample wealth and won the Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone at auction fair and square."
With that, he tossed out a Storage Soul Tool.
"Inside is a small token of my goodwill. Please, everyone, calm your anger. I won't interfere in this matter any further. Do as you please."
"You may go." Lang Ya nodded in satisfaction and used his Spiritual Power to draw the Storage Soul Tool into his own pocket. "We'll act as though you were never here."
"Very well." The City Lord cupped his fists. "Thank you for showing mercy, sir. Let's go."
Lang Ya watched them leave without making any trouble. He merely gave Toji a calm glance.
If not for the sect master's orders, they would never have stepped in to protect Toji.
Even though Toji had proven himself to the entire sect, the fact that he had killed a team of Body Sect disciples still left them harboring resentment toward him.
Even though they were completely in the wrong in this matter, who would care about such things in a world where the strong preyed on the weak?
If you weren't strong enough and had no value, you had no chance of staying alive.
As for the City Lord's token of goodwill, they didn't give that to Toji either.
But Toji didn't care about any of that. As long as they helped him deal with this major problem, that was enough.
Besides, Toji might have something to discuss with the City Lord later.
"We'll be on our way. Carry on." Lang Ya disappeared from the scene with Yu Tao.
Toji glanced at the nobles, who were even more desperate now, and chuckled.
"You all saw that, didn't you? Your backer doesn't seem to be much use against me."
The nobles immediately fell silent, none of them daring to make a sound.
They had never imagined that Toji was actually from the Body Sect...
"Now that everyone's here, I'll state my demands again." Toji smiled calmly. "Hand over all your assets and most of your money to me."
"Next, we're going to make more money and obtain more resources, spreading our business throughout as much of the Heaven Dou Empire as possible."
"So this time, I'm extending a very sincere invitation to discuss a partnership with you." Toji sat up straight and looked at them.
"We provide the channels and open up the market. You provide the money, connections, and resources."
"Of course, you can refuse. At worst, we'll just throw you into the arena, cripple your Soul Power, and have you fight the Soul Beasts for our amusement, squeezing out whatever value you have left."
Hearing such unreasonable demands, they twitched at the corners of their mouths. One of them couldn't help asking:
"Is this a discussion?"
Toji interlaced his fingers and rested them on his knees.
"If you cooperate, it's a discussion. If you don't, it's a threat."