With a cry of alarm, Commander Yuan dashed into the cloud of dust. Upon seeing the scene inside, panic instantly seized him. Sun Hang was kneeling on the ground, his right eye a bloody mess. A gaping hole pierced the back of his head, with blood and gore gushing out continuously.
Everything that had just happened took long to describe, but occurred in a fleeting instant. Ye Xuan had unleashed his strongest attack, piercing straight through Sun Hang’s head before the man could even react. His sword had simply been too fast. Furthermore, Sun Hang had never anticipated that Ye Xuan possessed the capability to turn the tables and kill him.
“Ah! Damn it! After him!” Commander Yuan bellowed, thoroughly enraged. The oppressive aura of the Earth Spirit Realm violently erupted from him. His body turned into a streak of lightning as he took the lead in pursuing Ye Xuan.
Even before the commander reached him, a terrifying pressure bore down on Ye Xuan’s shoulders like a Big Mountain, causing his legs to give way. The gap between them was simply too massive! In his current state, he lacked the strength to contend against any Earth Spirit Realm expert.
The Blood Princess had gone off to hunt Beasts and was nowhere near. This meant no one could save him from this fatal crisis! He thought frantically, “What should I do? Am I really going to die here today?” This was undeniably the greatest danger he had ever faced. Yet, amidst the panic, a nagging doubt remained: why had Sun Hang suddenly tried to kill him? “Did he recognize my identity?”
“Jingyun Body Technique!”
With no time to overthink, Ye Xuan executed the high-grade Ghost-tier Martial Technique and fled madly. However, he couldn’t escape. Behind him, Commander Yuan was drawing closer and closer. In a mere matter of breaths, the gap had closed to less than a hundred meters.
“Still running?” Commander Yuan sneered, thrusting a finger through the air.
A hundred meters was just barely within his attack range. Surging Spiritual Qi rapidly materialized into a Cheetah that easily caught up to Ye Xuan, blasting toward him with lethal force.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion rang out. Under the moonlight, a massive sphere of Spiritual Qi erupted. The terrifying shockwave leveled everything in the vicinity, uprooting massive trees and reducing boulders to fine powder. The strike of an Earth Spirit Realm expert was truly terrifying.
Amidst the dust, Ye Xuan’s body was sent flying a hundred meters away. When he crashed to the ground, he found himself entirely unable to stand. Moments later, Commander Yuan appeared before him, pressing the cold blade of a longsword against his neck.
Ye Xuan’s mind raced as he desperately searched for a way out of this fatal crisis. Standing at the precipice of life and death, he could no longer afford to hold back. “Must I unleash the full might of my Dragon Soul Power today?” he thought. While the gap between him and a first-level Earth Spirit Realm expert was indeed immense, if he allowed the Golden Dragon to soar through the sky, killing his foe was not impossible!
However, if his Dragon Soul Power was exposed, his future path would become a hundred—even a thousand—times more perilous, assuming he survived at all. Who in this entire world didn’t crave Dragon Blood? Even if one failed to awaken a Dragon Soul, the sheer physical transformation granted by the Dragon Blood far surpassed any Treasures of Heaven and Earth. If a Demon obtained Dragon Blood, they would evolve into a peerless Demon! That was exactly what had happened to Ye Xuan. If his secret were revealed, he would instantly become like Tang Monk’s Flesh. Every Cultivator in the world would seek to drink his blood and feast on his flesh.
This meant that if he unleashed his Dragon Soul Power, he had to slaughter all one thousand people present, leaving no survivors. Only then could he ensure no one learned who had awakened the Dragon Soul.
“Then… I’ll just have to exterminate them all!” he resolved inwardly.
Today, he would let his Dragon Blood thoroughly boil. He would unleash the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon to soar and ascend freely across this world! When that happened, every Wild Beast and Cultivator in the Secret Realm would tremble in absolute terror. No one would be able to withstand the sheer oppressive aura of a fully unleashed Dragon Soul.
In a split second, Ye Xuan made his decision. The Dragon Blood within his body had already begun to thrum with power. But just as he prepared to release his Dragon Soul, the sword pressed against his neck was suddenly pulled away. Commander Yuan had stayed his hand.
Since Sun Hang was dead, it would be difficult to explain the situation if he killed Ye Xuan now. He had to hand the boy over to Sun Zhenwu alive. Retracting his sword, Commander Yuan fiercely struck Ye Xuan’s Dantian with his palm. However, his goal wasn’t to shatter the Dantian entirely, but merely to sever a few of Ye Xuan’s primary meridians. With his meridians severed, Ye Xuan could no longer circulate his Spiritual Qi, rendering him completely crippled. Afterward, Commander Yuan hoisted both Ye Xuan and Sun Hang’s corpse onto his shoulders and hurried deeper into the area.
Meanwhile, in the deepest reaches of the wilderness.
Hua had just spotted a Rank Nine Beast and was preparing for the hunt when her body violently trembled. She suddenly sensed her Young Master’s aura spike dramatically. Although she couldn’t visually see Ye Xuan’s Divine-Demonic Overlord Body from her vantage point, she knew without a doubt that he was unleashing his full strength. Why would he go all out? There was only one logical explanation: he had encountered a deadly threat.
“It’s coming from that direction… Young Master, wait for me!”
Abandoning her prey, Hua sprinted madly. Her body erupted in brilliant Spiritual Light, making her look like a blazing shooting star as she raced to his aid.
Time passed as Commander Yuan continued to rush deeper into the region. He knew that Sun Zhenwu and the others were currently scouring the inner depths for any trace of the blood-haired woman. Soon, dawn broke. He estimated that a few more hours of travel would be enough to catch up with Sun Zhenwu’s group.
Just then, a Golden Armor Guard spoke up from behind. “Commander Yuan, there’s something on my mind, though I don’t know if it’s my place to speak.”
“What is it?”
“Commander Yuan, Lord Sun Hang is dead. The City Lord will very likely direct his fury at you. Are you absolutely certain you want to turn yourself in?”
Commander Yuan frowned, genuinely stumped by the question. Sun Hang’s status within the Sun Family was undeniably high. For him to be instantly killed by a perceived weakling right under the commander’s nose was a monumental failure. He would undoubtedly be held responsible. Did he truly want to march back and willingly face the consequences?
After a brief moment of deliberation, Commander Yuan suddenly dumped Ye Xuan and Sun Hang’s corpse onto the ground. He turned to glance at the Golden Armor Guards trailing behind him and said flatly, “My apologies.”
Before the words had even faded, he lunged at the Golden Armor Guards with lethal intent. The man who had just spoken up was the first to die!
“Commander Yuan, what are you doing?!”
“He… he’s trying to silence us! Run! Run for your lives!”
The surviving Golden Armor Guards scattered in a panic. But how could they possibly outrun an Earth Spirit Realm expert intent on wiping them out? A terrifying surge of Spiritual Qi rippled outward, instantly obliterating the majority of the guards. Commander Yuan then systematically hunted down the stragglers. In a mere matter of minutes, the entire company of a thousand Golden Armor Guards lay dead.
Once the slaughter was complete, Commander Yuan fiercely slapped his own face and deliberately stabbed himself with his sword. These self-inflicted wounds were a show for Sun Zhenwu. If he reported that Sun Hang had been killed by some lowly resident of a Three-Star Main Town, the crime of failing to protect his master would be inexcusable. It would likely cost him his own life. Even if Sun Zhenwu spared him, Sun Juguang would never let him walk away. However, if he claimed that Sun Hang had been slain by the demonic woman of the Gongsun Family, his culpability would be significantly reduced. He could claim he had fought valiantly and sustained severe injuries, only managing to escape with his life because the woman’s old wounds had suddenly flared up.
“Now it’s your turn!” Commander Yuan sneered as he advanced toward Ye Xuan step by step. With his subordinates dead, he now had to silence the boy from the Three-Star Main Town to tie up the final loose end.
But just as the commander was about to strike, a subtle smile curled the corners of Ye Xuan’s lips.
“Perfect timing.”
At that exact moment, the Blood Princess’s voice echoed in his mind. “Master, I have arrived.”
Hearing her voice meant she was already in close proximity. The Blood Princess had finally made it back! This was the exact reason why Ye Xuan hadn’t attempted a futile escape throughout the night, nor had he resorted to fully unleashing his Dragon Soul Power. The moment he deduced that Commander Yuan intended to deliver him to Sun Zhenwu alive, he had mentally summoned the Blood Princess. Even though she had wandered a considerable distance from the Demon Subduing Scripture, she was still able to sense his urgent call.
“Blood Princess, kill him!” he commanded internally.
Now, as long as the Blood Princess eliminated Commander Yuan, this entire crisis would finally be resolved. However, just as the Blood Princess prepared to strike from the shadows, a shocked voice rang out from nearby.
“Commander Yuan, what in the world are you doing?! I just saw you cut down your own Golden Armor Guards… Does this mean you slaughtered all these men?!”