"Nobody can hope to stop me from killing this trash today, not even if the king of gods is here himself," declared Linggu Haonan as he continued swinging his saber.
Xiang Shaoyun had suffered heavy injuries. Thus, even with Devouring Ghost controlling his body, it was still unlikely that he would be able to avoid the attack.
"Damn it! You want to kill my young master? Let me eat you up!" At the last minute, Devouring Ghost gave up control of Xiang Shaoyun's body and attacked with his soul power instead.
He was once among the strongest existences in the entirety of the Nine Gods Dominion. He had lost his body, and his soul was no longer as powerful, but if he decided to throw caution to the wind and fight with everything he had, he could still be extremely scary.
He flew out of Xiang Shaoyun's head and drilled straight into Linggu Haonan's. Linggu Haonan was in a hurry to kill Xiang Shaoyun and had not expected a soul attack to come. Thus, he was caught by surprise.
But that did not mean that Linggu Haonan would thus be devoured by Devouring Ghost. Rather, their souls were now fighting each other in the head, and the final victor was still unknown for now.
What Devouring Ghost did had successfully saved Xiang Shaoyun from the fatal attack. The seriously injured Xiang Shaoyun started falling from the sky. If he continued falling like this, the fall would likely kill him. At this moment, Liu Sandao attacked again, evidently not giving anyone a chance to rescue Xiang Shaoyun. However, the slight extra time Devouring Ghost bought Xiang Shaoyun was enough for the newcomers to rescue him.
"You dare hurt my young master? Die!" Duo Ji's roaring voice rumbled through the air as a massive palm appeared out of nowhere and slammed at Liu Sandao.
The palm seemed to have phased through space itself and arrived directly before Liu Sandao's saber. Before Liu Sandao could react, he was swatted away like a fly. Both him and his mount slammed right into the ground.
Bang!
By the time the dust settled, a massive crater had appeared on the ground. As for Liu Sandao, all that was left of him was a pile of mincemeat.
Not far away, Yuan Ling shivered in fear as he cried out, "I-it's Duo Ji, the old bastard..."
Without any hesitation whatsoever, he turned tail and fled at the highest speed possible. The other surviving Dragon Ascension Realm experts also started fleeing, completely abandoning Linggu Haonan.
"Thirteen Eagles, kill every single one of them!" a murderous voice commanded.
"Yes, young lady," answered 13 voices.
Then, 13 figures streaked across the sky, chasing after the fleeing people. Eagle cries reverberated throughout the area while massive eagle wings blanketed the sky and covered the sun, making it look like a storm was coming. Not far away, Chen Jiayan, Du Xuanhao, Murong Qing, and the others were completely stupefied.
"W-who are those people? They are so strong!" exclaimed one of the Chen Clan Emperors.
"Don't talk. We need to leave," said Chen Jiayan as he dragged Chen Zilong and Li Yaxuan away.
The others did not dare wait around and left as well, moving even faster than when they had come. However, none of them were able to get far before a one-armed figure appeared before them. A massive forcefield shrouded them, bringing them to a halt. The suffocating sensation was too much for them, and they nearly started dropping from the sky. It was a sense of oppression on both their body and soul, something extremely unbearable.
"L-lord, this has nothing to do with us!" said Chen Jiayan with great difficulty.
"It doesn't matter. All of you will wait. My young master will decide your fate. If anything bad happens to my young master, all of you can depart to the afterlife alongside him," said Duo Ji indifferently.
His heart was filled with fury at this moment. The sect master had entrusted the young master to him, yet he had failed to protect the young master. He even had the urge to commit suicide in shame.
Xiang Shaoyun was no longer falling from the sky. A nimble figure had appeared and caught him. This figure was a mighty demonic cat with a smooth and glossy black coat of fur with a tiny patch of green on its neck. It had a pair of translucent eyes that looked like precious gems. The eyes seemed capable of seeing through everything and dazing all who stared into them. With its strong body, it looked more like a tiger than a cat. This was an extremely rare mutated green-eyed demonic cat.
Seated on the cat was an incredibly beautiful woman. She was dressed in a black muslin outfit. She possessed a face beautiful enough to cause the fall of kingdoms and enchanting enough to tug at the soul of any man. The skin of the exposed part of her arms looked as fair and tender as the skin of a baby, giving one an urge to gently caress them.
She was none other than Xiang Shaoyun's sister, Ye Chaomu. Why was her surname different from Xiang Shaoyun? That was because she was an adopted child Xiang Shaoyun's father had raised since young and was not his actual biological sister. However, the relationship between them was far closer than regular siblings.
Currently, Ye Chaomu's arms were wrapped around Xiang Shaoyun as tears dripped out her eyes. Her hand gently rested on his pale face as she wept, "Big brother!"
A boundless melancholy and pain filled that voice.
There was a saying that an elder brother was akin to one's father. For Ye Chaomu, she respected Xiang Shaoyun like a father and loved him like a lover. With Xiang Shaoyun in her arms, scenes from their childhood appeared in her mind one after another.
"Big brother, I'm so hungry! I want to eat Grandpa Wei's red peach! It looks so good!"
"You glutton. That peach is more precious to Grandpa Wei than his life! But since you want to eat it, even at the risk of getting cooked alive by Grandpa Wei, your big brother will get you the peach!"
"Big brother, I really like that flying crane!"
"You do? Your big brother will get someone to capture it and turn it into your toy!"
"Big brother, w-why am I growing fat on my chest? I feel so ugly!"
"Oh? Don't worry. Let your big brother give you a rub. You won't look ugly anymore."
...
"Big brother, I don't want to go cultivate with that person. I want to stay by your side. We can continue reading and sleeping and doing everything together. Wouldn't that be good?"
"Your big brother does not want you to leave either, but according to Father, that person is very powerful and famous. Go cultivate with him. In the future, you will be strong enough to tame beasts for your big brother."
"But I need to be away for no fewer than five years. I'm afraid that big brother will forget me then! I'll be very sad if that happens!"
"Don't worry. Even if your big brother forgets everyone in the world, I won't forget my little Mu Mu."