"Ahhh! You'll die a horrible death!"
At that moment, the duchess felt as though her heart was about to split apart, and tears of blood streamed from her eyes.
Though her son's betrayal had hurt him badly too, how could she not feel heartbroken watching her son die before her eyes, especially when he was her most treasured and most gifted second son?
"Then let me send you on your final journey while I'm at it!"
Huo Yuhao shook his head gently. Though he now had Soul Skills as well, he still had to use the White Tiger Dagger against the people of the Duke's Mansion.
But before it could fall, a deep voice suddenly rang out.
"Insolence! How dare you, villain! Stop!"
Huo Yuhao looked up, unable to keep himself from muttering.
"Why is it this same old cliché again?"
He had already killed one, and just as he was about to finish things, someone inexplicably showed up.
But when Huo Yuhao saw who it was, a hint of amusement flickered across his face.
The Duke's Mansion was indeed not far from Star Luo City.
He had expected that reinforcements could arrive this quickly.
The newcomer was an old man of no great height, roughly average in stature. He was very thin, but his eyes were bright and alert. He looked to be in his sixties and had short, brownish-black hair.
"Guardian Douluo, Cheng Gang."
Huo Yuhao spoke softly without thinking. Seeing that Huo Yuhao had recognized him, Cheng Gang remained somewhat wary and instinctively shouted at him.
"Since you recognize me, release the princess at once. Perhaps I'll consider leaving your corpse intact today."
Cheng Gang spoke with an instinctively lofty attitude.
He could sense that the ancient dragon before him was a match for a Titled Douluo, and he could not even clearly gauge Electrolux's strength.
Still, he figured it was some sort of concealment method used by Evil Soul Masters.
Besides, they were so close to Star Luo City that he only needed to hold them off until the people from the Star Luo Empire's Worship Hall arrived.
That was precisely why Cheng Gang was so arrogant.
"Fool. Elder Yi, make your move."
Huo Yuhao shook his head with a sneer.
This fellow was also one of his enemies. He might as well get rid of him while he was at it.
Electrolux, standing to the side, gave a slight nod.
As Electrolux prepared to strike, Cheng Gang remained on guard and immediately summoned his Martial Soul Avatar.
Qian Jun Ant!
All of Cheng Gang's Soul Power boiled over as his enormous beast-form Martial Soul Avatar erupted into being. A thick barrier of Soul Power enveloped him, and the oppressive might of a Titled Douluo swept out in every direction. He felt certain he was already in an unbeatable position.
After all, his task was not to kill, but merely to hold Electrolux off for the time being.
As Cheng Gang saw it, that should have been entirely within his abilities.
Electrolux slowly raised a withered, pale hand. Wisps of murky gray-black death Qi drifted through the air around him, without the slightest violent disturbance. An invisible Blood Curse fell silently upon Cheng Gang, a dark red mark disappearing into the surface of his Soul Power. Any subsequent damage would be amplified many times over.
Before Cheng Gang could notice anything amiss, a vast Withering Spell carrying an air of deathly stillness suddenly poured down upon him.
Gray-white mist pierced the defenses of his Martial Soul Avatar. Like a bone-eating cold poison, it madly corroded his flesh, meridians, and soul.
His vigorous Soul Power withered and dried up at a speed visible to the naked eye. His bones faintly showed a withered gray-white hue, and excruciating pain swept through his body from his soul.
Cheng Gang let out a muffled grunt and spat out a great mouthful of blood. The light of his Martial Soul Avatar rapidly dimmed. In mere moments, he had been grievously wounded, and more than half his fighting strength had been lost.
Cheng Gang instinctively murmured in disbelief.
"No... how is this possible!"
Knowing that continuing the fight would only leave his soul scattered to the winds, Cheng Gang thought of retreat. He strained his remaining Soul Power, trying to burn his essence blood, tear open space, and escape.
A trace of indifference flashed through Electrolux's eyes as he casually raised a withered hand.
A long whip, pitch-black and densely condensed, entwined with countless vengeful souls, abruptly took shape and tore through the air. Ignoring the barrier of space, it passed straight through Cheng Gang's body and struck precisely at the very source of his soul.
His shrill scream stopped abruptly. Deprived of Soul Power to sustain it, the Titled Douluo's enormous avatar collapsed with a crash.
It gradually dispersed, while Cheng Gang's own life force grew ever fainter.
Before his death, he had not even possessed the ability to resist, or rather, even the chance to burn his essence blood. Under the Withering Spell, doing so would only have killed him faster.
The whole thing had taken scarcely more than ten seconds.
A Titled Douluo had been killed in an instant.
Huo Yuhao was momentarily dazed. Good grief, was Electrolux already this strong at the eighth tier?
As if something had occurred to him, Huo Yuhao looked at Electrolux and asked very seriously.
"Elder Yi, at your current strength, what level of opponent can you deal with at most?"
"By this world's measure of strength, I can probably kill anyone below rank ninety-seven."
Huo Yuhao instinctively drew a sharp breath.
Good grief, what about another year from now, or two, or even three?
He wondered when Electrolux would recover his god-level strength.
As Huo Yuhao was thinking, Electrolux looked at him and spoke very seriously.
"Yuhao, now that you've taken your revenge, I hope you won't let hatred blind you any longer."
Huo Yuhao nodded, then looked at Electrolux and spoke softly.
"Elder Yi, could I trouble you with something?"
"Could you use your abilities to make some images for me..."
Electrolux looked at Huo Yuhao with some confusion until the final images were complete.
He repeatedly checked Huo Yuhao's mental state.
After confirming that Huo Yuhao was indeed normal, he preserved the images.
Huo Yuhao seemed to think of something else and asked Electrolux, "Elder Yi, could you try calling my mother's soul back?"
At that moment, Huo Yun'er's soul was the greatest thing holding Huo Yuhao back.
She was his mother. If the Lord God King had already taken her soul away, things would be troublesome.
Electrolux gently closed his eyes, gripping his necromancer's staff tightly.
"Lost soul, I shall guide you on your journey home..."
As he softly murmured the incantation, Huo Yuhao watched nervously.
Huo Yun'er's soul gradually appeared once more, bit by bit. Huo Yuhao breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, as expected, the Lord God King had not yet had time to act.
But her soul was nearly transparent. Electrolux gently placed it in the necromantic vessel in his hand, then looked at Huo Yuhao and spoke softly.
"Once I recover my strength, she should be able to regain her reason and memories. Until then, I'm afraid she'll have to endure this."
Huo Yuhao nodded, and after Electrolux casually cast a spell of spatial magic, they left.
Only a peculiar blood-black vessel remained?
By the time Dai Hao returned after hearing the news and saw the necromantic vessel,
The vessel seemed to sense the call of his bloodline, and it slowly played a sequence of images.
They showed Huo Yuhao after he had personally used the White Tiger Dagger to kill the mother and son.
He extracted their souls and subjected them to torment until the end. Finally, Huo Yuhao smiled and looked at him.
"Dear Father, you're next. They were both waiting for you to come back before they died. You're next..."