A Title Douluo-level evil soul master would never appear on the Douluo Continent.
But here they were on the Sun and Moon Continent, so Ning Tianchen wasn't surprised.
To be honest, since breaking through to the Soul Douluo level, he hadn't yet fought a proper battle against a higher-level Title Douluo.
Cooper's strength was at Level 94, which was considered average among Title Douluos—but for Ning Tianchen, he was the perfect whetstone.
Ning Tianchen let out a cold chuckle as eight hundred-thousand-year soul rings appeared beneath his feet.
The immense pressure emanating from the soul rings caused Cooper to shudder involuntarily.
Immediately after, Cooper burst into wild laughter. "So, there really is a god in the Butterfly Valley! Once I kill you, this power will be mine!"
Aside from divine intervention, there was no way to increase the years of one's soul rings.
The low years of his first five soul rings had always been a thorn in his side, but now he finally had a chance to make up for it!
Moreover, he had learned from Cassius that killing a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast would always yield a hundred-thousand-year soul bone. If he killed Ning Tianchen, the hundred-thousand-year soul bones on his body would also belong to him.
By then, he would undoubtedly become the strongest member of the Holy Spirit Sect, and might even surpass the Grand Priest Hurhan.
"Sixth soul skill: Bloodfiend Shadow."
The Blood Oath Bat martial soul split into countless duplicates, attacking Ning Tianchen from all directions.
In Cooper's eyes, Ning Tianchen's soul ring configuration was indeed monstrous, but his actual strength was only at the Soul Douluo level. The gap in the number of soul rings couldn't be bridged by quality alone.
On the ground, Cooper's team members were awestruck when they saw Ning Tianchen's soul ring configuration.
Of course, what filled their eyes more than awe was greed. If they killed Ning Tianchen, they'd have a share of the treasures hidden in the Butterfly Valley.
Just as they were lost in their fantasies, a green figure suddenly charged out from beside them.
While Ning Tianchen drew their attention upfront, Feng Xiaotian and the others had quietly maneuvered to the group's vicinity.
Taking advantage of their divided focus, Feng Xiaotian activated his True Body of the martial soul and moved like a force of nature, cutting through the group seven times in quick succession!
One Peter was already dead, and with Cooper being held back by Ning Tianchen, there were still eight people left in the squad capable of fighting.
These eight ranged in strength from high-level Soul Emperors to high-level Soul Sages. Even by the standards of the Douluo Continent, this was a force not to be underestimated.
Soul Sages with their True Body martial soul could hold their own unless there was a significant disparity in martial soul quality or an inherent disadvantage. In such cases, it would be difficult to determine a winner in a short amount of time.
Feng Xiaotian's sudden ambush had indeed caught them off guard, and he even managed to take down the squad's only Soul Emperor.
But once the others regrouped and organized their defenses, Feng Xiaotian found it much harder to make further progress.
Looking at the corpses of their fallen comrades on the ground, the remaining seven glared darkly. "How despicable—to think there are still people hiding in the shadows to ambush us!"
Feng Xiaotian didn't mince words. "Walking the path of an evil soul master means being the enemy of the entire continent. You should prepare yourselves for death instead of barking orders here!"
"Die! Everyone, attack together—he's only one person. He won't withstand our combined assault!"
Feng Xiaotian kept his calm demeanor, though inwardly he was grinning ear to ear!
After all, Zhu Zhuqing, Chen Huayu, and Oscar were all hiding in the shadows. Ning Rongrong, guarded by high-level spirit beasts, was perfectly safe.
These people didn't even show respect for fighting on foreign soil—their fate had already been sealed.
"Sixth soul skill: Dance of Breaking Bounds!"
The Gale Two-Headed Demon Wolf circled rapidly around the group. The sky began to darken, and a storm was brewing.
"Interrupt him!"
The seven evil soul masters simultaneously activated their True Body martial souls and unleashed their most powerful soul skills.
However, Feng Xiaotian's use of his sixth soul skill wasn't meant for offense—it was to create a storm to obscure their vision.
At the same time, Zhu Zhuqing and Chen Huayu activated their True Body martial souls and attacked from both flanks.
Oscar consumed a Copy Mirror Sausage, replicating Ning Tianchen's Coiling Dragon Seven Kill Sword, and unleashed sword energy attacks from afar.
Behind them, Ning Rongrong activated her Nine-Treasure Glazed Pagoda martial soul, providing buffs to everyone.
The casting range of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Pagoda martial soul was extremely long, allowing her to remain in a safe position without worrying about enemy ambushes.
…
The aerial battlefield.
Facing the ferocious onslaught of the Seven Kill Sword, Cooper struggled to keep up.
Even after activating his True Body martial soul, the situation didn't improve. His Blood Oath Bat was riddled with countless wounds, bleeding profusely.
He simply couldn't understand why Ning Tianchen's strength was so terrifying—his handling of combat details left Cooper in awe.
When had someone like this appeared on the continent?
Before he could dwell further, the squad he brought with him on the ground battlefield was already surrounded by Feng Xiaotian and the others, clearly showing signs of collapse.
Moreover, with Ning Rongrong's buffs, Feng Xiaotian's strength became overwhelmingly terrifying, firmly suppressing the seven opponents. Their defeat was only a matter of time.
"Boy, who are you people!"
Though Feng Xiaotian and the others' soul rings weren't as exaggerated as Ning Tianchen's, their all-black configurations were still formidable.
Cooper was well aware that despite his years of traveling the continent—and even the Holy Spirit Sect's informants—they had never heard of Ning Tianchen or his companions.
Ning Tianchen sneered. "Why don't you tell me first—who are you?"
Seeing a glimmer of hope for negotiation, Cooper quickly responded, "We are from the Holy Spirit Sect. Surely you can see our extraordinary strength."
"I can say without exaggeration that there isn't a single force on the continent that can surpass us."
Ning Tianchen thought to himself: *As expected.*
Though the Holy Spirit Sect's influence was vast, they didn't flaunt it openly.
They knew that provoking the hatred of the entire continent and inviting a crusade against them would result in heavy losses, possibly even their demise.
Most evil soul masters on the continent didn't act under the banner of the Holy Spirit Sect. While they might be affiliated with the sect, outer members couldn't compare to the core.
Seeing Ning Tianchen remain silent, Cooper added, "With your strength, why not join us? Together, we can work toward the great revival of Lord Cassius!"
Cassius? Where did this god come from?
Thinking about it, it made sense—if not for an evil god pulling strings behind the scenes, the Holy Spirit Sect wouldn't have grown to such a scale.
As for Cassius, this evil god would later be erased by Tang San. After all, ten thousand years later, the god worshipped by the Holy Spirit Sect would be none other than Tang San, the Sea God in disguise.
A god that Tang San could easily assassinate couldn't be that strong.
Ning Tianchen pointed to the blood-red Asura mark between his brows. "Do you recognize this?"
Cooper looked at it and shook his head. "What kind of mark is that?"
Ning Tianchen didn't hold back. "You're Cassius's lackey, while I am the inheritor of the Asura God. Your master probably wouldn't dare speak to me—yet you want to recruit me?"
The Asura God was one of the five great god kings and the enforcer of the god realm. How dare some unknown minor god try to claim superiority?
"You!" Cooper was enraged.
Insulting him was one thing, but insulting the god he worshipped was unforgivable!
"Arrogant scum!"
In his fury, Cooper activated his eighth soul skill.
Mystical patterns appeared around his Blood Oath Bat, and his entire body entered a berserk state.
Ning Tianchen sneered. The Seven Kill Sword slid lightly before him as the "Kill" character sword technique gradually condensed.
…
On the ground battlefield, under the combined assault of Feng Xiaotian and the others, the effective fighting strength of the evil soul master squad continued to dwindle.
After three low-level Soul Sage-level evil soul masters were slain, the battlefield evened out to four-on-four.
However, with the Eight Treasures Glazed Pagoda martial soul providing an 80% buff to Feng Xiaotian and the others, as the numbers dwindled, the evil soul masters clearly couldn't hold on any longer. It would only take a few more minutes for the fight to conclude.
In the sky, Cooper grew anxious.
If all the people he brought with him were killed and no progress was made, he'd face serious trouble upon returning.
Ning Tianchen also noticed the situation on the ground battlefield. Using telepathic communication, he reminded Feng Xiaotian and the others, "Leave one alive—we need to extract information about the Holy Spirit Sect from them!"
Assuming the Holy Spirit Sect's stronghold was somewhere within the Evil Demon Forest, the forest was vast and fraught with danger. Who knew how long it would take to find it by relying solely on manpower? Not to mention, Oscar's trial deadline was approaching, making a thorough search impossible.
And that was the best-case scenario. If the Holy Spirit Sect's base wasn't in the forest, searching the entire continent could take even longer.
Feng Xiaotian understood his concerns and deliberately left the strongest evil soul master alive.
After all, the stronger their position within the Holy Spirit Sect, the more useful information they could extract from him.
In the aerial battlefield, after receiving a single "Kill" character strike from Ning Tianchen, Cooper was severely injured, even suffering numerous irreversible internal wounds.
Even if he somehow survived this battle, these injuries would plague him for life and might even hinder any further breakthroughs in his strength.
"This is absolutely unforgivable."
Cooper went completely berserk.
Not only had he failed to complete the mission entrusted to him by Cassius, but he was also on the verge of losing his own life—this was unacceptable.
"Ninth Soul Skill: Blood Oath Annihilation!"
The body of the Blood Oath Bat was enveloped in a layer of crimson armor, its presence skyrocketing several times over.
Seeing this display, Ning Tianchen sneered. "I thought you were strong, but it turns out you're even weaker than I imagined."
Despite Cooper's high soul power level, his actual combat strength was only comparable to Huyan Zhen's level.
Such a high soul power level was, frankly, just bloated—impressive on the surface but ineffective in practice.
What Ning Tianchen didn't know was that Cooper's Level 94 soul power made him one of the top-tier powerhouses on the Sun and Moon Continent.
Unfortunately, there were very few strong individuals on the Sun and Moon Continent. After breaking through to Title Douluo, Cooper couldn't find worthy opponents, and his raw strength naturally stagnated.
On the other hand, even Chen Xin at Level 98 on the Douluo Continent still had insurmountable opponents.
The presence of enemies provided motivation to grow stronger. Without them, one would inevitably decline into complacency and eventual ruin.
Cooper clearly fell into the latter category. Accustomed to comfort, he relied solely on overwhelming force in battle, lacking effective offensive means.
"Evolved Skill of the Seven Kill Domain: Ten Thousand Peaks, A Thousand Mountains!"
The moment the domain expanded, Cooper's attack power was suppressed by 70%.
The sword energy converged into a continuous wall, forming a great barrier of sword qi that enveloped Cooper's figure.
No matter how desperately Cooper struggled and resisted, he couldn't make any significant impact.
When the battle ended, the Seven Kill Sword returned to Ning Tianchen's hand. Cooper's body was sliced into chunks of flesh, falling haphazardly toward the ground.
"Low-level Title Douluo? This is all he amounted to," Ning Tianchen scoffed.
Cooper's displayed strength simply failed to pique his interest.
…
On the ground battlefield, under the coordinated efforts of Feng Xiaotian and the others, only one opponent remained alive.
Facing the encirclement of Feng Xiaotian and the group, this person had no room for resistance.
By the time Ning Tianchen returned to the ground, the individual had already been subdued.
"Don't kill me! Please don't kill me!" The man was utterly terrified.
If Ning Tianchen could kill their priest, what hope did a mere Soul Sage like him have?
Initially, he wanted to put up a bold front, but his survival instinct forced him to swallow his words.
Ning Tianchen sat on a nearby rock, his gaze cold. "You answer my questions truthfully, and you live. Understand?"
The man nodded repeatedly and introduced himself as Hunter.
Ning Tianchen's first question was naturally about the purpose of their visit here.
Hunter quickly explained, "Priest Cooper ordered us to come. We heard there was something in the Butterfly Valley…"
As for the origin of the so-called "divine artifact," Hunter wasn't entirely sure. He had only heard Cooper mention that it was bestowed by the Evil God Cassius.
The divine artifact was naturally in Cooper's possession, but since Cooper was now dead, Ning Tianchen couldn't confront him. He instructed Zhu Zhuqing and Oscar to search for the soul tool in the direction where Cooper's body had fallen.
After a series of questions, Hunter answered almost everything, even providing additional details Ning Tianchen hadn't asked about.
When they heard about the Holy Spirit Sect's practice of sacrificing innocent lives to enhance their strength, Feng Xiaotian was so enraged he wanted to flay Hunter alive on the spot.
One could only imagine how cruel their methods were.
In comparison, the treatment the villagers of Hedu Village endured was relatively merciful.
Ning Tianchen's eyes hardened, but now wasn't the time to kill him. He had to suppress his impulse.
"Where is the Holy Spirit Sect's headquarters?!"
This time, Hunter hesitated, stammering, "I—I don't know. Every time we entered the sect, we were blindfolded. Only Priest Cooper knew the way."
Ning Tianchen sneered. "Don't think I don't see through your intentions. With Cooper dead, your words are impossible to verify, right?"
As he spoke, a strand of sword qi condensed at his fingertips, exuding an intimidating aura.
"This is your last chance. If you can't give me the answers I want, you know the consequences."
Earlier, Ning Tianchen had casually struck down one of their low-level Soul Emperors with a single blow. Hunter understood that the same fate awaited him if he failed to comply.
Fear and panic welled up within him, and his body trembled uncontrollably. "Great Masters, please spare me! If I tell you, Lord Cassius will surely kill me!"
Before Ning Tianchen could respond, Feng Xiaotian stopped him and whispered something into his ear.
Ning Tianchen immediately understood. Stepping forward, he grabbed Hunter by the collar. "How do you know we aren't here to join Lord Cassius?"
"Cooper was a fool who thought he was the incarnation of Lord Cassius, acting arrogantly and trying to make us his subordinates. Don't you think he deserved to die?"
The earlier conversation between Ning Tianchen and Cooper couldn't be heard by those on the ground battlefield.
Thus, when Ning Tianchen said this, he appeared utterly confident.
After all, there was no one left to contradict him.
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