"These two Spirit Kings aren't as strong as I thought."
Having burnt a huge amount of spirit power to pin the charging enemies with her Taiyin Majesty Domain, Xiao Wu suddenly felt it wasn't worth it. If she'd known they were this weak, she needn't have wasted spirit power on the spatial-freeze pinpoint of Taiyin Majesty.
Xiao Wu hadn't lowered her voice, so the immobilized Wu Chen and You Shang couldn't help but hear her.
Wu Chen clenched his fists and tried to circulate spirit power to break free—to prove he wasn't that weak—but failed.
Knowing this was a Domain, You Shang wanted to cry out to Xiao Wu, "I surrender!" Yet he couldn't even open his mouth, let alone speak.
Amid the standoff, everyone heard a thunderous boom nearby and saw a huge firework blossom in the sky.
We're finished!
The thought flashed through every member of the caravan; some timid ones already turned and ran.
Dark Snow, hidden nearby, sprinted around the caravan, slashing fleeing men with her claws.
Having successfully blown up the Bald Old Man, Yu Yan turned to see Xiao Wu holding everyone in a Domain and Dark Snow slaughtering escapees she couldn't fully stop.
With half his spirit power left, Yu Yan promptly unleashed his fourth Ice Fish Skill: Thousand Abyss Cold Current Array.
Nine phantom Ice Fish shot from his body, drawing moisture to form nine circling ice tornadoes at the limit of his control, sealing the area.
He took a spirit-restoring fruit from his Wishful Hundred Treasure Purse, tossed another to Xiao Wu, then quickly formed Profound Ice Chains toward the restrained Spirit Kings and Spirit Ancestors.
The chains wrapped around them; terrible cold greatly restricted their spirit power. The two Spirit Kings could still sense a trickle, but barely.
Seeing frost rising from her captives, Xiao Wu knew their spirit power was sealed and released her costly Domain.
Feeling her own scant spirit power and the dwindling Moonlight Energy in her second spirit ring, Xiao Wu understood why Yu Yan so urgently wanted to raise his spirit power cap.
Possessing tremendous abilities yet, for lack of spirit power, being no better than a glass cannon really stank.
"Everyone—surrender."
Yu Yan kept compressing the caravan's space with Thousand Abyss Cold Current Array while his chains sealed every Spirit Master's spirit power.
The supposedly fierce battle ended absurdly; the noble youth's elaborate scheme achieved nothing, and Yu Yan and Xiao Wu faced no real danger.
The reasons lay both in their own strength and in the Bald Old Man's refusal to take them seriously.
Had the old man gone all-out from the start, victory would have cost them far more.
But that was moot now.
Yu Yan began processing the caravan's Spirit Masters while Xiao Wu called Dark Snow to inspect the abducted victims.
"Friends, my surname is Xue. Please give me Face and leave; I'll pretend you were never here."
Seeing the youth even younger than himself approach, the noble straightened and stated his plea with confidence.
"What did you say? I don't understand."
Claiming the surname Xue and wearing such finery—only Heaven Dou Imperial Family came to mind.
Knowing it and acknowledging it were two different things.
Even as he replied, a Profound Ice Chain shot out and, to the noble's disbelief, sealed his spirit power, leaving him helpless.
Pathetic.
Other Two-Ring Great Soul Masters at least struggled; this scion hadn't even tried.
Until the cold chain touched him, the Xue youth couldn't believe a Spirit Ancestor had bound him. He drew on his noble bearing and shouted, "Hey, rude wretch, I'm Xue—of Heaven Dou Imperial Family—understand?"
"I don't understand. Also, you're too loud."
Finding him noisy, Yu Yan chopped the back of his neck and knocked him out.
With the World finally quiet, Yu Yan began leisurely processing his valuable test subjects.
Originally he'd planned to visit each family one by one and let them weed out wrong paths in his spirit-compression training; now they'd delivered themselves in bulk.
Quantity brought its own troubles.
Fifty-three bound Spirit Masters made him ponder how best to use them.
"Mm… why not run the wrong paths again? Leaving them idle is wasteful. Yes, I'm a Genius."
Deciding their fate, he turned to the escort guards and wondered what to do with them—and with the people shipped from Star Luo Empire to Heaven Dou.
Inexperienced in such matters, he rubbed his brow and thought hard.
After rescue came resettlement; he couldn't dump them in the wilderness and ride off.
Doing that would be worse than not saving them.
Drawing on what he'd seen and heard, he outlined a rough plan; specifics would wait for a talk with Xiao Wu.
He channeled spirit power into the chains Binding the fifty-three Spirit Masters, ensuring they couldn't resist.
As Xiao Wu walked over, he asked, "Any ideas on handling the victims?"
"I'm clueless. What do you think?"
Xiao Wu loved travelogues and curiosities; she had no idea and tossed the question back to the clever Yu Yan.