PROMO ENDS IN 40 HOURS: 40% OFF WITH CODE 97167. If you've wanted to check out the advanced chapters and Patreon exclusive novel, now's your chance! Promo ends on January 1st 2026 11:59pm AEDT!
---------------------
Zhongli Wu was furious, yet his voice turned icy calm: "Good, good, good. I won't let you die easily."
His silver hair whipped wildly without wind, and around him, deathly gray-black soul power churned like a boiling abyss.
"Death God Demon Puppet, possess!"
A hoarse roar echoed as a massive, grotesque gray demon puppet phantom—wreathed in countless vengeful soul phantoms—merged with his body. His aura instantly became profoundly chilling and terrifying.
Simultaneously, his ninth soul ring blazed beneath his feet—a blood-red hundred-thousand-year soul ring.
"Bone Dragon King, appear!"
Amidst ear-splitting bone-grinding sounds, a colossal skeleton dragon materialized, its eye sockets flickering with ghostly blue soul flames, radiating suffocating dragon might and death energy.
This was Zhongli Wu's painstakingly cultivated powerful beast spirit.
"Eighth soul skill, Death God's Needle!"
Zhongli Wu struck with a hundred-thousand-year soul skill from the outset.
Countless needle-thin gray energy projectiles—each containing ultimate deathly stillness and corrosive power—shot toward Gu La like a torrential downpour. Where they passed, even the air emitted "hissing" wails, as if life force was instantly drained.
Behind him, the three evil Titled Douluos simultaneously released their martial souls, radiating sinister energy, but they did not immediately attack. They clearly believed their Sect Leader's personal attack would be enough to crush this boy.
Gu La's eyes narrowed, his mind racing.
Zhongli Wu's enraged strike was terrifyingly powerful. Though his Angel spirit soul was strong, its essence remained an energy form, lacking true fleshly protection. If damaged at its core—or worse, consumed—by the Death God Demon Puppet's soul-subduing power, the loss would be catastrophic.
"Return!" He immediately recalled the Holy Sun Angel spirit soul.
Simultaneously, he instantly entered Angel Attachment state. Brilliant golden light enveloped him again, but this time purely driven by his own soul power. More crucially, his formidable telekinetic power surged like a tidal wave!
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—!
The next moment, densely packed—over one hundred and fifty dark red "Evil's Bane No. 6" devices—appeared around his body as if controlled by invisible hands, circling and dancing like loyal bodyguards.
Zhongli Wu's expression finally changed drastically. The explosive power of dozens had already threatened them—over one hundred and fifty detonating together…
He dared not imagine that apocalyptic scene. Yet confident in his strength, he chose not to dodge. Instead, he roared: "Bone Dragon King, shield the front! Martial Soul True Body!"
The massive Bone Dragon King let out a soundless roar, instantly positioning itself before Zhongli Wu, its bones radiating thick, deathly gray light.
Zhongli Wu himself transformed into a ten-meter-tall Death God Demon Puppet, its gray scythe seeming capable of severing souls—Eighth Soul Ring's Second Soul Skill: Death God's Scythe!
He intended to withstand the explosion head-on, then seize the chance to close in and kill Gu La in one strike.
However, Gu La had no intention of clashing directly.
Watching Zhongli Wu charge toward him, Gu La's lips curled into a mocking smile. Silently, he mouthed "Goodbye."
The next second, spatial fluctuations shimmered.
Gu La's figure—along with the one hundred fifty-plus "Evil's Banes"—instantly vanished from the spot, reappearing directly among the three evil Titled Douluos who were watching the battle, completely unprepared.
"No—!" The trio's pupils shrank violently, their terrified screams just beginning to escape…
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!!!!!!!
A super-explosion several times more violent than before—a truly world-shattering cataclysm—erupted without warning in that area.
Ultimate Light and Fire expanded wildly, instantly devouring everything! The terrifying energy shockwave tore the earth apart, vaporizing rocks!
The three evil Titled Douluos couldn't even mount proper resistance. Their protective soul power shattered like paper under such close-range, high-quantity simultaneous detonation of "Evil's Banes."
Their bodies were instantly purified and annihilated in the pure lightstorm. Only brief, despairing wails echoed amidst the explosion before vanishing completely.
As the light dimmed slightly, Gu La's figure reappeared like a ghost at the explosion's edge. In his hand, a long sword condensed from ultimate light and fire slashed down fiercely—Holy Sun Sword!
He severed and purified the residual purest evil essence of the three evil Titled Douluos, along with the soul resentment bursting from their deaths at the moment of explosion. He transformed it all into the purest sacred energy, channeling it like a torrent into the Sun Angel spirit soul that had just returned to his spiritual sea.
"Buzz—!"
The Holy Sun Angel spirit soul emitted an incredibly satisfied hum. Its body's solidified light fluctuated intensely, its aura surging wildly at a visible rate.
Eighty-five thousand years… ninety thousand… ninety-five thousand years… hundred thousand years!
Its cultivation level broke through the hundred-thousand-year threshold in a single breath, and continued rising.
The vast sacred power was too much to absorb immediately. With a flash of light, it voluntarily returned to Gu La's spiritual sea, entering slumber to digest this enormous gain.
As its host, Gu La also received immense feedback. Torrents of pure energy flooded his limbs and meridians. The sturdy barrier at his soul power level shattered instantly.
Level 70! Soul Saint!
Without hesitation, Gu La shifted his focus.
Emerald green light replaced the brilliant gold. The phantom of Celebi—brimming with life and time energy—materialized behind him.
Simultaneously, a green-gold soul ring, containing indescribable ancientness and life force, rose from beneath his feet. It shone for an instant before quietly vanishing, as if it had never appeared.
…
In the distance, Zhongli Wu—who had just weathered the explosion's shockwave—sensed the instantaneous disappearance of his three capable subordinates' auras. His eyes nearly burst with rage.
Only now did he abruptly realize: Gu La's target had never been him from the start—it was his subordinates.
He had killed three evil Titled Douluos, fed their souls and essences to that Angel martial soul, and used it to cultivate himself.
"Scoundrel! You dared trick me!"
Zhongli Wu watched his three capable subordinates vanish into ash amidst the earth-shattering light explosion. Overwhelming fury drowned his reason, nearly making him spit blood.
In this moment, Gu La transformed in his heart from an insignificant insect to be casually crushed into a meticulously calculating, ruthlessly insane mortal enemy!
He even vaguely sensed that Gu La's previous madness at the Rì Yuè Academy might have been deliberately provocative—to lure them out as cultivation fodder.
"Good, good, good! So good of you, Gu La! To scheme against our Holy Spirit Cult—you deserve death! You deserve ten thousand deaths!" Zhongli Wu raged like a madman, silver hair whipping wildly.
Though he had withstood the explosion's main force using the Bone Dragon King and his True Body—only suffering massive soul power depletion—his precious Bone Dragon King now bore multiple cracked and shattered bones. The sight pained him deeply, pushing his hatred for Gu La to its peak.
"Bone Dragon King, Ultimate Wind! Ultimate Fire!"
Zhongli Wu frantically channeled soul power, fusing his strength with the Bone Dragon King's to unleash its powerful ultimate technique.
Instantly, howling gales arose, ghostly flames spread across the land. Wind fueled fire, and terrifying destructive energy began gathering wildly—sufficient to flatten mountains.
He refused to believe Gu La's mere Soul Ancestor—at most Soul King-level—instantaneous movement soul skill could escape such a vast destructive strike.
However, just as that world-shattering energy was about to erupt, Gu La had already adapted to his surging soul power.
A faint smile touched his lips. Emerald light flashed across his body—
Seventh Soul Skill · Martial Soul True Body—Forest Guardian · The Time Pokemon!
Simultaneously, a clone was created, disguised as his main body standing in place.
His true body instantly donned a wide black robe capable of blocking spiritual detection.
The mysterious black-robed figure who had once met Xuan Zi in the Great Star Luo Forest reappeared.
Beneath the black robe, Gu La had already secretly equipped his Battle Armor, instantly skyrocketing his combat strength.
A green-gold soul ring pulsed beneath his feet. Vast life and time energy surged forth.
In True Body state, all his attributes doubled. Moreover, he developed a mysterious connection with the surrounding Jingyang Mountain Range—fighting in the forest, damage and consumption would be shared by the entire forest.
More terrifyingly, he gained the monstrous ability to summon past and future selves to aid in battle!
"Breath of the Forest!"
Gu La raised his hand. His voice, muffled by the black robe, emerged low and authoritative.
Plants within a ten-mile radius seemed to obey his command, growing wildly. Countless emerald green light points gathered from all directions of the forest, coalescing in his palm into an incredibly condensed green beam radiating terrifying energy.
This was one of Celebi's ultimate techniques—gathering the forest's energy to deliver a defense-ignoring lethal strike.
The Jingyang Mountain Range was one-third the size of the Great Star Luo Forest. Though time was short and he couldn't gather its full power, this strike's might had already firmly reached the terrifying level of a ninety-nine-level Limit Douluo.
Almost simultaneously, Zhongli Wu's "Ultimate Wind · Ultimate Fire" also roared out. The destructive torrent of evil winds and ghost flames violently collided with that seemingly gentle, yet infinitely vital green beam.
Amidst earth-shattering roars, the cliff beneath their feet could no longer endure. It completely collapsed and disintegrated.
All plants, life, and rocks within a one-mile radius were instantly reduced to ashes by the terrifying energy ripples.
However, Gu La's True Body effect activated. Forest authority and time power took effect simultaneously.
The plants just destroyed seemed to rewind in time, rapidly regrowing at visible speed—destroyed, then instantly restored, repeating endlessly.
Though this consumed considerable soul power, it truly protected the forest and demonstrated his absolute control over this territory.
Besides, the forest bore the consumption—he feared nothing.
"What?!"
Zhongli Wu stared in horror at the seemingly unharmed black-robed figure and the bizarre scene of constant destruction and rebirth around him. He roared in disbelief:
"No wonder! No wonder that thief Gu La dared risk luring our Holy Spirit Cult out! You were backing him all along! Who are you?! To oppose our Holy Spirit Cult—our Grand Worship will never spare you!"
Gu La altered his voice, making it ancient and ethereal, like a whisper from primeval forests:
"You may call me… the Forest Guardian. Your Holy Spirit Cult slaughters soul beasts, refines beast souls, disrupts ecological balance—you deserve this calamity!"
"Nonsense! The strong prey on the weak—it is the natural law! Die!"
Zhongli Wu refused to listen. Death God's Needles shot out again while he commanded the Bone Dragon King to pounce.
The black-robed figure shook his head, seemingly regretful: "Zhongli Wu, your death hour has come."
He raised his hand—not to attack directly—but to activate the True Body's most BUG-like ability: summoning past and future selves.
Buzz!
The sky seemed to tear open a massive black hole. An indescribable time fluctuation permeated the air.
Next, under Zhongli Wu's horrified gaze, one after another, figures clad in identical black robes stepped out of the black hole.
Each radiated an aura no weaker than the current black-robed figure.
Their eyes were lively, their presences solid—far beyond ordinary clone soul skills.
The next moment, ten "black-robed figures" simultaneously raised their hands.
"Breath of the Forest!" * 10
Ten emerald green beams—each no weaker than the previous one—instantly condensed. They fused into one, transforming into a world-shattering green torrent that crushed everything toward Zhongli Wu.
"No—!"
Zhongli Wu let out a despairing scream. His Bone Dragon King took the brunt. Under that terrifying power—ten times amplified forest breath—it couldn't last a second. It was instantly shattered, purified, and reduced to ashes scattered across the sky.
Zhongli Wu suffered a heavy blow, spewing a mouthful of black blood. His ninth soul ring instantly dimmed, severely counter-recoiled.
But he had no time to care. The intense death crisis triggered his most instinctive choice—flee!
He flung several life-saving ninth-grade defensive soul devices he carried, not even looking at the result. Burning soul power, he transformed into a gray-black streak of light, fleeing madly toward Mingdu without looking back—his speed astonishingly fast.
The black-robed figure Gu La had transformed into pretentiously chased a short distance before stopping.
With the True Body and Celebi's various BUG abilities, he truly no longer feared Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao. But his Angel spirit soul was still slumbering to digest its gains. Killing Zhongli Wu now would waste a future "big gift" and bait to provoke Ye Xishui.
He looked at the not-yet-completely-dissipated fused "Breath of the Forest," controlling its remaining energy to gently return it to the forest below.
Vast life energy sprinkled down. The previously destroyed area regenerated at an even faster pace, growing even lusher.
Having done this, Gu La dissolved the summons of his past and future selves. Those black-robed figures nodded slightly to him, then one by one stepped back into the time-space black hole, disappearing.
Gu La sighed in relief, silently grateful: "Fortunately this was in a forest. Otherwise, summoning so many 'mes' would probably drain me completely."
The battle ended. Time to check the spoils. He landed on the ravaged ground, finding several fairly high-quality hundred-thousand-year spirit bones left by the three evil Titled Douluos, casually collecting them.
Then he immediately sat cross-legged, beginning to circulate soul power, thoroughly transforming the spirit's feedback power into his own stable cultivation.
…
In the distance, Huo Yuhao's trio spent a heart-stopping night.
The initial terrifying explosion and the subsequent aura burst comparable to Elder Xuan's made them fearful and apprehensive.
Huo Yuhao had wanted to investigate, but Tianmeng Ice Silkworm and Ice Empress sternly forbade him. Later, when that life-filled yet boundless power appeared, they completely abandoned the idea.
The three continued their experiment with anxious hearts, already distracted.
Only later, when surrounded by golden wolf packs, in the moment of crisis, Huo Yuhao remembered Gu La's instruction. He gritted his teeth and detonated the "Evil's Bane." The violent explosion instantly severely wounded the wolf pack, allowing them to barely escape—but all were injured, appearing wretched and disheveled.
…
Zhongli Wu fled back to the Holy Spirit Cult's secret base, burning his core essence all the way, appearing utterly disheveled. He immediately announced he was closing the gate to cultivate—in truth, silently licking his wounds and healing the trauma from his martial soul's counter-recoil.
He wanted to immediately go to his mother Ye Xishui to complain and seek help, but this loss was so severe—he couldn't face the shame, still hesitating.
But he did send people to warn Crown Prince Xu Tianran, to prevent this reckless fool from causing more trouble and ruining the Holy Spirit Cult's plans.
The message was simple: Gu La is backed by a Super Douluo likely at Level 98 and possessed extremely bizarre, special abilities. Do not act rashly for now.
In the Crown Prince's residence, Xu Tianran received this message, nearly smashing his beloved teacup in rage, silently cursing: "Useless trash!!"
But he was powerless. He wasn't Emperor yet, unable to mobilize the empire's true foundation to deal with such a mysterious powerhouse. He could only temporarily suppress his endless frustration and killing intent, planning for the long term.
The undercurrents of Mingdu, because of this battle in the Jingyang Mountain Range, temporarily sank into an eerie calm.
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)