Lin Ran's offensive was unstoppable. The vast waves of Dou Qi made even Hai Bodong, a Dou Huang expert, pale with fear and tremble inwardly.
'If I were the one facing this strike, even if I didn't die, I'd be seriously injured!'
"Teacher!!!"
Xiao Yan's panicked shout echoed through the heavens. Under countless shocked gazes, Yao Chen—the one directly targeted—suddenly closed his eyes.
At the same time, a swelling mass of Dou Qi emerged from his palm, violently vibrating. Its terrifying energy waves pulsed more rapidly by the second. By the time Lin Ran's golden sword neared him—
That seething sphere of Dou Qi had already begun to radiate a dazzling light, so intense it was blinding, like a miniature sun.
In the next instant, Yao Chen's eyes shot open. Accompanied by a furious roar, the searing orb in his palm shot toward the incoming golden sword.
"Radiant Light Seal!"
A blinding beam tore through the void. Within that light was an enormous imprint of a hand, like a sun descending from the sky, brimming with horrifying power that made one's skin crawl.
Both forces, equally terrifying, ripped through the heavens like twin meteors. Under the watchful eyes of the masses, they collided with earth-shaking force.
BOOM!
At the moment of contact, a thunderous roar cracked across the heavens. Shockwaves of energy surged like a stormy sea, unleashing wave after wave of devastation.
The entire world seemed to fall silent. The violent eruption of energy blanketed the skies, obscuring the sun itself. Heaven and earth were shrouded in an oppressive twilight.
The blast raged on for nearly ten minutes before gradually dispersing.
Stone Desert City below had fallen into complete silence. Everyone was stunned into speechlessness, horror painted across every face.
'If that explosion had happened inside the city... the entire city would've been flattened in an instant!'
Such overwhelming power—this was what it meant to be a Dou Zong!
As the sky-high tide of energy ebbed away, the figures of the two combatants gradually reappeared.
Yao Chen's hair was disheveled, his breathing labored, his figure flickering faintly as if about to vanish. He looked utterly spent—his soul form had clearly taken a massive hit.
In contrast, Lin Ran floated calmly in the air, his aura undisturbed, not even a hint of exhaustion on his face.
As spatial ripples stirred once more, Lin Ran didn't allow any reprieve. As the residual energy dissipated, his figure flashed and reappeared in front of Yao Chen. The golden sword in his hand condensed again, slicing toward Yao Chen's throat.
Yao Chen leaned back just enough—the golden sword grazed past his face, slicing off a few strands of white hair.
In the instant his body leaned away to dodge, Yao Chen didn't retreat. Instead, his fists clenched and his arms trembled strangely. In the blink of an eye, an explosive force condensed on his knuckles and then, like a hammer, he drove it toward Lin Ran's chest.
"Eight Extremes Collapse!"
His low shout rumbled through the air. The punch carried a burst of fierce power that even made Lin Ran raise an eyebrow.
But that was all.
He didn't dodge. Instead, Lin Ran merely coated his body with a layer of Dou Qi and took the blow head-on. At the same time, his golden sword pierced toward Yao Chen's chest.
Yao Chen's pupils shrank. A massive plume of Bone Spirit Cold Flame burst from his sleeve, enveloping his body. Even so, his soul body's right arm was still pierced by the golden sword and instantly destroyed!
Buzz!
Eight Extremes Collapse detonated. Lin Ran was pushed back half a step, while Yao Chen's entire body was sent flying, his right arm obliterated, his form nearly dissipated.
"I already told you—even with the Bone Spirit Cold Flame, you're only delaying the inevitable."
Lin Ran stood high in the sky, wreathed in crimson-gold Dou Qi like a deity of war.
His icy gaze fell on Yao Chen. Lin Ran raised his hand. A new surge of Dou Qi erupted, and golden light flooded from his palm. Within the expanding glow, a crimson-gold crystalline pattern spread across his skin and focused into a palm imprint on his hand.
The moment the crimson-gold handprint appeared, the surrounding space rippled violently. A powerful pressure surged outward, making Yao Chen feel an overwhelming sense of suffocation.
"Teacher!!!"
"Great Sun Sacred Yang Palm!"
BOOM!!!
As Lin Ran's palm fell, the very air around him screamed in agony. It was as if even the world itself couldn't endure the overwhelming force of this attack.
A palm imprint brighter than the blazing sun in the sky exploded outward from Lin Ran's hand. Radiating an aura of unstoppable dominance, it struck with devastating momentum.
"Teacher!!"
Xiao Yan's Purple Cloud Wings trembled violently as he tried to fly toward Yao Chen, but the power of the technique was simply too vast. He couldn't even rise from the ground—the crushing pressure pinned him to the earth.
"You fool! You'll die like this!"
Hai Bodong gritted his teeth. He resisted Lin Ran's terrifying aura and summoned icy wings to forcibly pull Xiao Yan away.
But at that very moment, two figures silently appeared before them.
"This boy... seems to be the one the Lord wants. Mind handing him over?"
Lü Yi smiled sweetly. Bai Ya had already blocked Hai Bodong's escape route.
At the same time, Lin Ran's Dou Qi roared louder and louder. The massive palm imprint had already arrived.
Yao Chen looked on in despair as the air in front of him twisted unnaturally.
In a blink, a shadowy figure emerged, suddenly appearing in everyone's field of view.
The man wore a dark robe. He gave a cursory glance at Hai Bodong and Xiao Yan, then flicked his sleeve. A flood of black shadows surged up behind him, blotting out the sky.
"Damn it. The young lady sure knows how to give orders. First time stepping in, and I have to face someone like this..."
As the black-robed man emerged, Lin Ran narrowed his eyes, while the others—Hai Bodong, Xiao Yan, Lü Yi, and Bai Ya—also looked on with changed expressions.
"Another Dou Huang?!"
"What an overwhelming aura… peak Dou Huang?!"
That vast surge of Dou Qi temporarily forced Lü Yi and Bai Ya back. The man placed himself in front of Xiao Yan and Hai Bodong, and in the blink of an eye, he teleported to Yao Chen's side.
"Kid, get your teacher out of here!"
The man stood at the heart of the black storm. He grabbed Yao Chen's weakened soul body and flung it toward Xiao Yan.
At the same time, his body fused into the rolling darkness. His hands moved in complex patterns, and the black mist boiled, releasing an endless stream of tendrils.
"Ten Thousand Shadow Binding!"
A clash of golden and black split the sky in two. Under countless stunned gazes, the two forces collided with an earth-shattering explosion.
Then, suddenly—the black-robed man's confident expression froze. His body stiffened in midair.
He looked down in disbelief as Lin Ran's blazing palm, with absolute force, shattered his Dou Qi, his technique, his defenses—and landed directly on him.
His expression turned blank.
"This technique... a Heaven-tier skill?!"
The next instant, his figure cracked apart under the crimson-gold palm, splintered into fragments—
And vanished.
(End of Chapter)