King's Confidence

Tang Hao's action had caught Ling Feng completely off guard.

Ling Feng had considered more than ten possibilities. He had considered Tang Hao bursting forth and hammering him.

He had considered Tang Hao launching an all-out attack, only to be slain by a single sword strike.

Yet he alone had overlooked the possibility that Tang Hao would turn and flee without looking back after bursting forth.

The Soul Power unleashed by the Five Rings Simultaneous Explosion was vast and terrifying, causing Tang Hao to vanish beyond the horizon in an instant.

If Ling Feng had been Qian Daoliu, Tang Chen, or Bo Saixi, Tang Hao might truly have escaped from their hands.

But unfortunately, he was Ling Feng.

No one had ever escaped from his grasp.

The last person to flee from him had grass on his grave as tall as himself.

Watching Tang Hao flee toward an uninhabited area, Ling Feng slowly raised his right arm horizontally. In his hand was the Grand Void Wind Origin Sword, one of the martial souls of the Grand Void Nine Origin Sword.

White lightning flickered within the Grand Void Wind Origin Sword, whose surface flowed with wind.

In an instant, the Grand Void Wind Origin Sword transformed into another sword—the Grand Void Thunder Origin Sword.

"Even if you run fast, lightning will still catch you!"

Ling Feng shouted as he poured Soul Power into the Grand Void Thunder Origin Sword in his hand.

As Soul Power flowed into it, lightning flashed across the surface of the Grand Void Thunder Origin Sword, bolts of lightning covering its blade.

At the same time, the first soul ring on Ling Feng's body lit up.

"Grand Void Thunder Origin Sword!"

"First Soul Skill: Thunder: Universe Throw!"

"Whoosh~!"

As Ling Feng activated his first soul skill, a clap of thunder rang out.

The Grand Void Thunder Origin Sword in his hand instantly turned into a streak of white lightning.

The white lightning shot straight toward the direction Tang Hao had fled.

Although Tang Hao could no longer be seen, this strike was not a single-target attack, but an area-of-effect attack with an enormous range.

It did not need to hit Tang Hao directly. So long as it struck within a one-kilometer radius around him—

Everything within that one-kilometer radius would be swallowed by lightning and reduced to annihilation.

After throwing out that sword, Ling Feng paid it no further mind.

With utter confidence, he turned around and left Sacred Soul Village without looking back.

Tang San, Tang Hao, were dead!

They could not possibly survive that strike.

Old Jack watched Ling Feng hurl a sword in the direction Tang Hao had fled, then turn and leave with inexplicable confidence.

He stood there blankly for two seconds.

He had actually wanted to ask something.

Shouldn't he chase after him and take a look?

The man had already run so far that he was out of sight.

What if he escaped and the sword missed?

Old Jack had wanted to say something.

But Ling Feng had already departed with Sword Riding Flight, disappearing without a trace.

Old Jack swallowed the words lodged in his throat.

This seemed to have nothing to do with him anyway. Why was he worrying about it?

Thus, Old Jack turned and returned to his house.

The instant he turned around, a thunderous boom like a nuclear bomb explosion came from the distant horizon.

Hearing the sound, Old Jack instinctively turned back and looked into the distance.

Before his eyes, a mushroom cloud formed from countless bolts of lightning rose on the far horizon.

The mushroom cloud, thousands of meters high, was magnificent and immense. Its smallest diameter was roughly two kilometers.

The mushroom cloud formed by lightning directly blanketed the entire sky, turning that region into darkness and annihilation.

Seeing this, Old Jack's hand holding his cane trembled violently. His pupils contracted slightly as he sharply sucked in a breath of cold air.

"Clang~!"

With a clang, the cane in his hand fell straight to the ground.

"Th-this, this, this, this!"

Old Jack was incoherent, unable to utter a complete sentence.

"This is far too terrifying."

"The world has been destroyed!"

Only after a long while did Old Jack barely manage to say a sentence, his voice no longer trembling quite so badly.

"So this is the strength of Lord Law Enforcement Elder. Terrifying indeed!"

Before this, he would never have believed that a human could unleash such a horrifying sword strike.

At that very moment, Old Jack witnessed what true destruction was.

It completely changed Old Jack's understanding of soul masters. He had thought soul masters were merely a little stronger than ordinary people.

Now, it seemed that was not the case at all.

Old Jack finally understood why the Law Enforcement Elder had turned around and left with such confidence.

With such terrifying destructive power and such an enormous range, no one could survive.

However...

As he looked at that annihilated expanse, Old Jack was both terrified and deeply relieved.

Fortunately, that place was a desolate wilderness, uninhabited and barren.

Otherwise, with Ling Feng's sword strike—

Who knew how many innocent people would have died beneath it?

Old Jack did not dare imagine it at all.

If the direction Tang Hao had fled in had not been there, but somewhere else—

How severe would the consequences have been if Ling Feng had pursued him with that sword strike?

That sword covered a one-kilometer radius. With the lightning indiscriminately blanketing everything, how many innocent people would have died?

Elsewhere, thick and thin bolts of lightning surged within the center of the mushroom cloud, shattering countless stretches of space.

The space here had been affected by the lightning energy and had become extremely unstable. One black spatial crack after another split open.

Then they healed naturally as space repaired itself, only to be torn apart again by the residual energy, repeating endlessly.

At the center of the mushroom cloud stood a figure with a swaddled bundle strapped to his back.

That figure was blackened all over like charcoal, giving off a scorched smell. The life force within his body was extremely faint, nearly nonexistent.

Fortunately, some life force still remained.

Moreover, it was continuously recovering under the restoration of a mysterious power.

Vitality had begun to return to his body, though it remained exceedingly faint.

There was not a single patch of intact skin left on his body.

All of his skin had been scorched into charcoal by the lightning.

Twenty meters in front of him, a sword stood embedded in the ground.

Lightning flowed around that sword, and it contained an extremely terrifying power.

However, having lost the support of Soul Power, it was slowly dispersing bit by bit.

It turned into specks of starlight that scattered through heaven and earth, transforming into natural energy and returning to this world.

Once the sword completely disappeared, the charcoal-blackened figure could no longer hold on. His body fell straight forward.

"Bang~!"

He made intimate contact with the ground.

Fortunately, at the instant he fell, he retained the last trace of consciousness.

A father's instinct to protect his child made him try his best to fall forward, so as not to crush Tang San on his back.

Tang Hao collapsed onto the ground and completely lost consciousness.

Fortunately, the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone that Tang Hao held close to his chest quietly emitted a soft green glow.

The soft green light continuously repaired his ruined body, replenishing the life force within him that was nearly exhausted.

Even so, its effects were minimal.

In his current condition, if no one passed by and found him, Tang Hao would still perish here.

As for Tang San, who was in the swaddling clothes on Tang Hao's back, his entire body was completely dehydrated.

His body had nearly dried out entirely, and his weight had decreased by two-thirds.

He too remained unconscious.

However, he was in somewhat better condition than Tang Hao, as his skin had not been scorched into charcoal by the lightning.