Beastmaster of the Ages

The illusion didn't just work on Tianming, but Feiling as well. It also spread out from their battle to Ye Chen, Lingfeng, and Xiaoxiao. Fortunately, Lingfeng had already made great progress against Shenwu Fen, causing another wave of shock after Yanwu Dao's defeat.

His fight was now the focal point, drawing attention away from Tianming and Feiling. As the person with the most powerful soul in the Violetglory Star, he was the perfect counter to totemancers. He had been known as the night demon in the Divine Moon Realm because of his ability to consume totems. Even now, his threat to totems was considerable.

Shenwu Fen's three-pronged halberd and his zhurong firegods seemed more powerful than they had been half a year ago. His nineday sacrosun also covered a larger area, and the divine flames his totems unleashed had turned into countless dragons of fire that spread throughout the battlefield. But Lingfeng was a specter without a particularly powerful body who wielded the nondescript Evil Suppression Pillar. Among Tianming's party, he stood out the least. But when he fought, people only heard Shenwu Fen's pained cries. Lingfeng was the soul killer!

His fingers were linked to countless bloody threads. Like a puppet master, he shot out large numbers of Heartpiercer Soulneedles to bind the zhurong firegods. While the threads were incredibly fine, compared to the totems, they cut like sharp swords against their ethereal bodies and were strong enough to slice them into chunks. His Skyfiend Soulcrush Curse activated, spreading black flames along the threads to engulf the entire totems. The zhurong firegods themselves were covered in flames, but all they could do was shriek in pain when the black flames burned them. It was so effective that Shenwu Fen's expression immediately changed. Unlike Tianming, who had ended his misery relatively quickly, Lingfeng wasn't as powerful. That said, he had managed to draw out Shenwu Fen's suffering even more. He didn't think that something like this could cause him so much pain.

"Die!" Shenwu Fen was filled with disbelief that all nine of his totems were entangled, but he could tell that Lingfeng's physical capabilities were quite subpar, unlike proper specters. Thus, he charged out of the flames towards Lingfeng, attacking with Heavenly Cosmic Order. His weapon burst with flames as it coursed toward Lingfeng's head.

Lingfeng had to use most of his soul energy to bind the nine totems, so Shenwu Fen proved quite troublesome. He decided to let go of the totems and defend himself. Just then, twangs could be heard from not far away. Nine black arrows covered in bloody lightning bolts came flying at Shenwu Fen before the strike connected. They were the arrows of the Dragonblood Desecration, part of a grade-eight divine artifact. While they weren't too threatening to Shenwu Fen himself, they contained a deep explosive power thanks to being layered with the Archaionfiend's ability. Xiaoxiao had used a new move, called Soulscatter Shots. She wasn't far off from utilizing the Dragonblood Desecration to its maximum potential.

Shenwu Fen was frustrated to no end, having had his attack disrupted. He pulled back to deflect the arrows, only to be sent flying by their explosive force. One of the arrows pierced his thigh! He had already used face reveal, so he pulled out the arrow and recovered. However, the arrow had already absorbed quite a lot of his blood, making him lightheaded.

"Why're these people so annoying?!" He was quite shaken and could feel that Tianming's party was no joke. He'd had the chance to kill Lingfeng, but missed it, then Lingfeng had used the opportunity for an even more powerful move. The black vortex on his body manifested his primordium sacrosun, unleashing a terrifying gravity. Lingfeng, located at the center of his sacrosun, looked like a meat grinder for the soul.

The gravitational pull affected both Shenwu Fen and his totems. He felt like his arms and legs were bound as the sacrosun revolved faster and faster. Lingfeng leapt into the air, blood crystals materializing on his staff as he used his ability, Soulvisceration Thorns. The pull on Shenwu Fen almost instantly helped close the distance. Lingfeng then used a divine art, Firmament Godshaker. He had only recently learned that move. Despite the comprehension ability afforded by his fourth imperial soul and the legacy of the Primordial Demonlord, he had spared quite a bit of effort to learn this move. It was a soul attack that could bring his soul-shaking abilities to their full potential!

Shenwu Fen blocked using Eight Desolation Primordial Return. The two weapons clashed, creating a metallic grating noise. People watched as the Evil Suppression Pillar shattered immediately, sending Lingfeng smashing into the ground in the distance. However, they then noticed Shenwu Fen standing there with his face completely pale. Then he shrieked and grabbed his head, his eyes rolling white from his soul being shaken. He looked like a dead fish as he was knocked out. His totems then randomly crashed around. Lingfeng, however, simply got back up and turned his sights back to Shenwu Fen. He pulled back his Heartpiercer Soulblades, causing flames to cover his body. Then he raised both of his hands in the air and looked at the sky, as if he was praying for something.

"What's he doing? Praying for rain?"

Powerful soul power wafted out of his body, almost like it was leaking out of a crack in his face. A bloody silhouette emerged from his body and charged toward Shenwu Fen.

"What is that?!"

"That's the vita as simulated by the wondersky realm! He's able to do astral projection in the real world!"

Lingfeng's vita turned into a bloody flash as it formed a sharp, humanoid dagger and was shot out, instantly piercing Shenwu Fen's head.

"Huh?" Shenwu Fen widened his eyes and slumped to the ground before fizzling away along with his helpless totems. The number one genius of Skyway Bistar had not only lost to Tianming, but also a nameless pseudospecter, marking another huge blow to their pride. Even though it was achieved with Xiaoxiao's assistance, Lingfeng's final strike was mind shaking.

"He instantly killed Shenwu Fen after using astral projection.... If this was the real world, Shenwu Fen's soul would've been crushed!"

"That move is rather cool."

First, he had used Soulvisceration Thorns on his staff to shake his enemy's vita. Then he used his ultimate move to ravage their soul! His vita immediately returned and his seemingly torn face recovered. The crack on his face was actually an illusion caused by his vita leaving his body. It was a new ability he got as a member of the infernal soul race, called Soulcrush Slash. It was a simple name, but easily the most fatal move in his arsenal. Lingfeng's existence alone would spark conversations on how people should properly define specters.

The infernal soul race had existed within the chaos skyjail, thus there might be more to Lingfeng's actual background. Perhaps his roots stretched even further back than those of the faceless specters. As it was the first time he had shown such prowess, the uproar it caused didn't pale in comparison to that of Yanwu Dao's defeat. The entire Bloodbath Arena was silent once more. Crimsonjade Cang and the rest had never considered Lingfeng to be a fellow specter like them. Their foolish expressions now showed that they didn't even know what to make of him. One could only wonder how the mysterians all felt at the sight.

Weisheng Xi and comma girl's victory or defeat didn't really matter to them. Their own champions—Long, Shenwu Fen and Yanwu Dao—were losing more and more. By now, it no longer seemed impossible for Ye Chen to defeat Long with Chaos Deity and Xiaoxiao's support. Her Ninestar Chainshot was an eighth-realm divine art that allowed her to support Ye Chen and the Archaionfiend, who were fighting in close quarters. The three mysterian geniuses seemed destined for defeat in this battle, removing any and all doubts about the talents of the Violetglorian geniuses.

Ye Chen had also managed to prove himself. After defeating Long, he felt a wave of release from all the stress and weight and teared up. Those in the Divineglory Alliance cheered for him. He never would have had this chance if he hadn't joined Tianming's party. No doubt, Tianming deserved all of the glory.

The attention of the crowd turned back to Tianming's side. For fairness, Tianming had Lingfeng, Xiaoxiao, and Ye Chen stand back. Winning or losing this group battle no longer mattered. It was almost like Tianming was challenging the members of the Celestial Beings one by one.