Word Count: 2,466 Words
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A thunderous boom rang out as Hun Diao's powerful Heaven Seal, a Dou Technique of unknown grade, smashed against the insect sphere.
The entire white sphere hummed. In an instant, an incomparably thick crystalline layer spread across its surface, actually withstanding the terrifying Heaven Seal!
"Ancient Devouring Insects!!"
"Heavens, did Xiao Yan actually subjugate the Ancient Devouring Insects?!"
Hun Ya and Hun Li felt their scalps crawl. How could they not recognize these creatures? They had barely survived an encounter with them not long ago!
Everything clicked into place. Xiao Yan must have discovered some method to control those Ancient Devouring Insects. His explosive growth in strength was very likely due to those energy crystal layers!
"Out of my way!" Hun Diao's heart lurched as he recognized the Ancient Devouring Insects. A powerful surge of force swept forth like a raging tide.
Those crystalline layers might be incredibly resilient against Dou Venerates, but in the face of Dou Saint-level power they were nothing more than slightly reinforced ice, unable to withstand a single blow.
"I told you, you're staying here today!"
Hun Diao, however, had no idea that Xiao Yan never intended to rely on the insect sphere's defense. It was only bait to draw his attention for a heartbeat and open a window to unleash a Soul Technique.
Xiao Yan seized that opening. His Spiritual Strength exploded to its absolute limit as he released a piercing cry and launched himself skyward. A three-faced Asura soul shadow materialized behind him. This Asura soul body appeared incredibly lifelike, especially its dark, demonic Asura face and its radiant, sacred Asura face. Both looked almost completely real.
The second face had reached the major level of mastery!
Even Xiao Yan hadn't expected six level-nine energy cores to be so effective. Combined with a pile of other energy cores and his cultivation of the Emperor Soul Technique, he had pushed the second face to major mastery in just a few months inside the crystal passage!
This was precisely why he dared to challenge this Hun Clan Dou Saint energy body.
He had earned that confidence!
'Asura, Sacred Demon Severance!!' Xiao Yan roared in his heart. A violent spiritual wave burst forth, sweeping through the entire Heavenly Tomb with a resonant hum.
The Asura soul body extended four arms. Aside from the still-ethereal third face, both the demonic Asura face and the sacred Asura face snapped their eyes wide open. Two heads, four eyes—all fixed on Hun Diao with an unnervingly eerie stare!
That single look made Hun Diao's soul shudder, stirring fragments of memory in his mostly vacant consciousness.
"Th-this Soul Technique is… it's…"
The Asura soul body's four hands clapped together with a sharp crack. Pitch-black soul energy and golden soul energy merged, forming a colossal blade half darkness and half light. The enormous spiritual greatsword took shape in an instant.
Xiao Yan's right hand closed as if grasping a hilt. Through his control over the Asura soul body, he raised his arm high, and the soul construct mirrored the motion, lifting the greatsword.
"How do you possibly know this Soul Technique?!" A flicker of recognition sparked in Hun Diao's normally cold, barely conscious eyes as memory returned.
This was unmistakably the Hun Clan's secret Soul Technique, a forbidden Soul Skill that supposedly no one had ever been able to master. How could a Xiao Clan descendant possibly know it?!
Xiao Yan's lips curved into a cold smile as he sent a voice transmission. "An old ghost from the Hun Clan taught me."
Thunder seemed to shake the air as Xiao Yan slashed his right hand downward. An endless arc of spiritual light cleaved through space, radiating terrifying power that pushed his Heavenly State Spiritual Strength to its absolute peak!
Just as the description of the Asura Soul Reaping Technique claimed: when cultivated to perfection, it could reap Heavenly State souls!
Two faces united their power into a single, devastating slash capable of sundering the surrounding world. Cleaving through the void was child's play.
Hun Diao frantically summoned his Heaven Seal to defend, but he was no true Dou Saint anymore. He had been dead for ages and only persisted thanks to the Heavenly Tomb's special nature. Compared to a living Dou Saint, he was far, far inferior, unable even to match a Half-Saint.
How could he possibly withstand Xiao Yan's ultimate killing move?
Had Gu Qing Yang faced such a soul-severing slash from the current Xiao Yan, and had Elder Tong Xuan not intervened, even his soul would likely have been severed!
"No!!" Hun Diao shrieked in horror as his Heaven Seal split cleanly in two. At that knife-edge between life and death, when he was at his weakest, instinct erupted. Terror flooded what remained of his mind as he whirled around to flee.
But it was far too late. Even if Hun Diao could somehow retrieve his former Dou Saint speed, he still would not escape.
A soft sound rang out. His energy body froze in place.
After the spiritual slash passed through, Hun Diao's energy body couldn't even manage a scream. Without so much as a whimper, he instantly disintegrated, dissolving into scattered light that faded away without leaving a trace.
Off in the distance, all the other energy bodies watched Hun Diao's form vanish before their eyes. Those few who still retained consciousness sucked in cold breaths and shivered involuntarily.
Though some among them surpassed Hun Diao in strength, most were merely level-nine energy bodies or Half-Saint level. If Hun Diao couldn't withstand that slash, they stood even less of a chance!
If Xiao Yan chose to attack them, they weren't certain they could defend themselves at all!
To put it bluntly, the energy bodies on the Heavenly Tomb's third layer were essentially like 'wild monsters in a game,' creatures that had been penned up.
Though they could attack the juniors who entered, doing so came with consequences. Before long, the Dou God Clans would dispatch true Dou Saint experts inside to wipe them out.
Why else would some tombstones here stand empty? Their occupants had been destroyed!
Did people really think only Dou Venerate juniors could enter the Heavenly Tomb? Dou Saints could enter as well!
The entire Heavenly Tomb was under the control of the Dou God Clans. Unless an energy body possessed strength great enough to disregard genuine Dou Saints, they generally refrained from killing visiting prodigies. The unspoken understanding was simple: you don't provoke me, I won't provoke you.
The Heavenly Tomb was a secret inheritance realm controlled by the Dou God Clans!
Hun Diao's energy body dispersed into light. That signaled the true death of this so-called Hun Clan Dou Saint. Hun Diao no longer existed in this world. The once-renowned powerhouse had vanished forever.
Xiao Yan beckoned, and a faintly glowing crystal flew into his palm.
'A Dou Saint-level energy core!' Golden light gleamed in his eyes. If level-nine energy cores were already so potent, how terrifying would a Dou Saint's energy core be?
This Heavenly Tomb was truly making him grin from ear to ear!
His gaze immediately shifted toward the other Hun Clan Dou Saint. He absolutely could not let this one escape.
Though Xiao Yan had expended tremendous energy, as Sacred Demon Severance had drained more than half his Spiritual Strength, he and Xun Er together could definitely destroy this energy body.
At that moment, the other Hun Clan Dou Saint was locked in fierce combat with Xun Er. He fought desperately, repeatedly trying to break free and rush to his clansman's aid, but Xun Er's relentless assault kept him completely suppressed.
The instant Xiao Yan's gaze fell upon him, the Dou Saint energy body trembled violently. Even stripped of most memories and intelligence from life, his instincts remained!
"Run!!" He roared at Hun Ya and Hun Li. Abandoning all defense, he took Xun Er's heavy strike squarely in the chest, then used the force to sweep up both younger clansmen and bolt.
When a Dou Saint energy body chose to escape, even Xiao Yan and Xun Er together couldn't necessarily keep him. After all, they still retained a Dou Saint's mastery over spatial manipulation.
However, just as the Hun Clan Dou Saint tore open a spatial rift with the two in tow, the entire surrounding space suddenly solidified with a sharp hiss!
"Who's there?!" The Dou Saint's expression changed greatly as he roared in fury. This kind of suppression could only be exerted by someone at the Dou Saint level!
"You think you can simply leave after causing trouble? The people of my Xiao Clan are not so easily bullied."
As the Dou Saint's angry bellow faded, a faint voice suffused with an ancient air slowly resonated through the space. The entire sky above the Heavenly Tomb churned, and the energy of the world began to boil!
"Xiao Xuan?!"
Horror flooded the Hun Clan Dou Saint energy body's face the instant he heard that voice. It struck him like a nightmare!
In truth, the Hun Clan's methods hadn't been limited to just these two 1-star Dou Saint energy bodies. But their stronger Dou Saint energy bodies and tomb mansions had all been destroyed. Dozens, even hundreds of Hun Clan energy bodies, regardless of who they had been in life, how famed their names were, or how high their cultivation, had proven as helpless as infants before this man.
All had been annihilated!
These two had survived only because their strength had been too low, allowing them to hide and escape his notice!
Xiao Xuan!
The man who had stood at the absolute pinnacle of the Dou Qi Continent a thousand years ago. The Xiao Clan's Clan Head and the clan's final glory!
A peak 9-star Dou Saint powerhouse!
"Xiao Xuan?!"
Xiao Yan's body shuddered violently at that name. The trace of Dou God Bloodline activated by the Skyfire Three Mysterious Change suddenly pulsed with a strange fluctuation, one that carried an extraordinarily familiar feeling.
Under everyone's watchful gaze, ripples spread across the empty air before Xiao Yan and Xun Er. A figure clad in light green robes silently emerged. His appearance drew no signs or omens from the world, yet everyone present instinctively felt that this entire realm wouldn't withstand a single punch or kick from this person.
The figure raised his head, revealing a face that wasn't especially handsome but possessed a distinctive quality. Black hair draped over his shoulders, and ink-dark pupils resembled black holes, deep and filled with a peculiar wisdom that radiated a compelling charisma.
"Xiao Xuan!"
The surviving Hun Clan energy body locked its gaze on that all-too-familiar face, terror and dread flashing in its eyes. Despite its formidable strength, before this man it was nothing more than a helpless chick, unable even to flee!
"S-S-Senior…" Hun Ya stammered, trembling as he stared at the stranger who had suddenly appeared. Though he didn't recognize the man, he instinctively sensed a deathly aura emanating from him.
"Xiao Xuan is powerful, but the Heavenly Tomb suppresses him! He cannot leave his tomb mansion at will. He can only depart once every ten years. The ten-year term isn't up yet. You shouldn't be able to appear!"
Xiao Xuan smiled faintly at the Hun Clan Dou Saint energy body's words. "I don't need to appear personally to kill you. Someone else will naturally make the move."
His gaze shifted to Xiao Yan. That look was incomparably profound, as if it could see through everything about him.
Xiao Yan's heart sank under that scrutiny. He instantly realized that before this person, he had no way to conceal anything, no room to lie.
'His Spiritual State must have reached the Emperor State in life.' As someone at the Heavenly State, Xiao Yan only needed a single glance to understand that this ancestor had been absurdly powerful while alive, far beyond a simple perfected Heavenly State.
He drew a deep breath. Xiao Xuan wouldn't act directly; he was merely preventing their foes from fleeing. In a certain sense, this was also a test.
"Xiao Yan ge-ge, I'll help you," Xun Er said softly.
"Mm."
Xiao Yan didn't refuse her good intentions. The two attacked together. Though his exhaustion was severe and he even summoned his puppet, after an intense battle, the remaining Hun Clan Dou Saint energy body still fell under the Soul Technique of his own clan. Xiao Yan harvested a second Dou Saint-level energy core.
Hun Ya and Hun Li were easily defeated in passing.
"If you kill me, my Hun Clan will definitely never let you go!" Hun Ya shrieked.
"Relax, I'm not killing you now." Xiao Yan pressed his hand down. Golden light surged from his palm and seeped into Hun Ya and Hun Li's bodies in countless fine threads.
Their bodies trembled uncontrollably. Foam spilled from their mouths. Finally, their eyes rolled back. Once they had become mindless walking corpses with no trace of consciousness, Xiao Yan stored them away in his Nihility Space.
Both possessed Grade 8 Dou God Bloodlines. Since they had delivered themselves to his door, he naturally wouldn't be polite.
Xiao Xuan silently watched everything Xiao Yan did. He neither acted again nor spoke.
Once all matters were settled, Xiao Yan turned to face the green-robed man. Their gazes met, and in that silent exchange, certain things became mutually understood without words.
"This isn't a suitable place for conversation. Come to my tomb mansion," Xiao Xuan said calmly. There was no joy or sorrow in his voice, as if he had already lost the seven emotions and six desires that a living being should possess.
He glanced at Xun Er. "Little girl from the Gu Clan, you come along as well."
As his voice fell, Xiao Xuan waved his hand and tore open the Heavenly Tomb's space. He stepped through, arriving directly at his tomb's location.
Xiao Yan held Xun Er's jade-like hand and crossed the spatial rift with her, arriving before the tomb mansion.
At the sight of the massive tombstone, Xiao Yan fell heavily to his knees and kowtowed, performing the Xiao Clan's most solemn ceremony, the rite used when paying respects to ancestors.
Standing half a step behind him, Xun Er followed his lead and executed the same grand salute.
"Unworthy descendant Xiao Yan pays his respects to the Ancestor!" Xiao Yan said slowly as he rose and bowed to Xiao Xuan.
At the very least, his etiquette was impeccable. He truly was the Xiao Clan's Little Clan Leader, properly raised from childhood.
"Xiao Yan." Xiao Xuan nodded. A strange light flickered through his eyes as he spoke in a somewhat subdued tone. "Enter the tomb mansion. I have something to discuss with you."
Xiao Yan's eyes sharpened, and he nodded without the slightest hesitation.