Divine Emperor of Death

"Elder brother, don't you think that those two are acting overly familiar?"

Top Disciple Vito Rein narrowed his eyes as he continued, "The amount of soul transmissions Shirley is sending her protector is rather over the top. What could they be discussing secretly? If it's about the battle, then there is no need to be so secretive about it, right?"

"What are you thinking?" Top Disciple Azzuren Rein furrowed his brows, "You know how Shirley dislikes men as it is rather clear that she openly avoids them, right? That protector must probably be her family, perhaps her relative, if she trusts him that much. After all, we don't know her true background, right? Not that it matters, I guess..."

"True... If she is here, then that means her background wouldn't be any greater than our Burning Phoenix Ridge itself..." Top Disciple Vito Rein snickered.

"In any case, she must face me before facing my beloved Verona. I think I won't let her harm my beloved, so I might get rather violent with Shirley. I hope that elder brother won't mind it, right?"

Top Disciple Azzuren Rein turned his head to look at his little brother, his flaming crimson hair floating in the air as his eyes flashed.

"You want to die?"

"Of course not!" Top Disciple Vito Rein also matched his elder brother's gaze with his fiery eyes, "We're both fighting to claim our women. Why would you want to harm me, brother?"

"Hmph! Don't act like you're ignorant." Top Disciple Azzuren Rein returned his gaze to the battle stage, "You're not allowed to take advantage of Shirley when battling. You can wound her a bit and make her surrender, but that is the limit. If you dare to overly injure her, I will kill you!"

"Ah, I'm so scared. I better call our father to protect me..." Top Disciple Vito Rein made a funny face as he taunted.

"You...!"

Top Disciple Azzuren Rein almost stood up in anger as he let out an angry shout. However, realizing that all the surrounding gazes were on him now, he sat back and harrumphed.

"I said my piece, and it is up to you to follow it."

Top Disciple Vito Rein looked at his brother with an odd look in his eyes before he too returned his gaze.

Davis looked at these two brothers having some differences in the soul transmission conversation.

He could listen in on them through brute-forcing his way to their conversation as he knew that he could do so from Old Man Garvin's King Soul Stage Records. However, he also knew that the other Soul Kings present here would come to know if he were to intrude on their soul transmission, most likely because the intrusion would create disturbed soul waves that might alert them, not to mention that the victims might also realize if their souls were just strong enough.

If their soul conversation could be compared to a messaging app from modern Earth, it would be like the app suddenly announced that an unknown person had joined the chat.

But in this case, Davis felt that it was unlikely that these two brothers could find him peeking on their soul transmission, of course unless they had a protective soul talisman, charm, or an artifact that protected them from such meddling and prying.

Even Shirley had one, so it was obvious that they had it too.

However, Esvele did not have something like a protective soul artifact, making it clear to him that it was only for the privacy of top disciples from the Grand Elders. After all, since they were also Soul Kings, they could obviously listen in on their soul transmissions as well.

'I wish Old Man Garvin left me some techniques that might help me listen to soul transmission. Perhaps with my darkness or death-like laws overlayed with the technique in a fused manner, I might be able to conceal my intrusion. Mhm? Now that I think about it, there's still something left with my friend Alexi Ethren...'

While Davis wished, the battle on the stage was over with the challenging top disciple winning and moving up the rankings. However, his ranking was about fifteenth. In Davis's eyes, not much could be said as he didn't even bother to remember his name feeling rather bored yet excited, perhaps because he did not get to fight for the former and was waiting to see Shirley battle for the latter.

The two top disciples returned to their seats with contrasting reactions when a person suddenly stood up.

Davis looked towards his right and saw that Shirley had stood up. It garnered a sigh from the crowd as another person stood up as if it were natural.

He turned to look at Shirley and clasped his hands, "Please go easy on me."

With that unembarrassed voice, he leaped back and flew towards the battle stage.

Davis looked at that person and saw that he was at the eleventh ranking, named Rudolf Mair.

When Shirley stood up, Top Disciple Rudolf Mair knew that he would be challenged as she needed to get past him to defeat others and reach first place for the Law Dominion Stage category. Hence, he didn't tarry and quickly made his way to the battle stage, which made Davis appreciate his instantaneous response.

He was like an emperor, gazing with a 'you better give respect to my woman or face death' look even though he was aware of what kind of arrogant person he was becoming with the constant increase in his cultivation.

He couldn't help but recall that Shirley was the one who told him not to be humble and act arrogant like the crown prince he is, making him inwardly chuckle before he once again couldn't help but feel what kind of gem he had missed until a while ago when he finally reunited with her.

Esvele, who had seated herself on the opposite side of the same row, clenched her fists in excitement. She didn't care about her new image as a top disciple as she opened her mouth and screamed loudly.

"Senior sister Shirley, make everyone know the difference between heaven and earth!"

Shirley landed on the same place where Esvele landed before. She turned to look back, a smile hidden behind the veil while her red brows curved joyfully. Esvele's screech made the other top disciples frown while the others began to cheer like crazy over the battle.

Shirley could hear numerous cries and applause for her. It was deafening, even, and it made her aware that her popularity was perhaps the topmost amongst the top disciples, perhaps only second to Top Disciple Verona Stein as she mostly didn't show her face to the public and acted mysteriously, not really socializing.

She looked at her opponent and recalled that she didn't have any trouble with him, and neither did he disturb her in the name of pursuing her, probably because he was aware of his limits and was in a neutral position, not really aligning with Grand Elder Valerian or Sect Master Lea Weiss.

In fact, he was more like Esvele, where he had a life of humble beginnings, comparatively as it seemed like he was a crown prince of a humble kingdom situated in this Burning Phoenix Ridge Territory. Except, she knew that he was a top disciple from many generations ago.

'Well, I think I'll go easy on him as he requested...'

Shirley clasped her hands and slightly bowed, giving the cultivator's classic greeting yet something that denoted basic respect. Top Disciple Rudolf Mair looked rather honored and deeply bowed to her bow as if he possessed immense respect and admiration for her.

Once the referee saw them exchange greetings instead of provoking each other, he nodded in approval before he raised and dropped his hand.

"Let the battle begin...!"

*Whoosh!~*

Shirley instantly darted off with a tremendous speed, closing the kilometers of distance in half in an instant.

'Fast as a burning phoenix...!'

This thought ran on everyone's mind, even on Top Disciple Rudolf Mair's mind, before he began retreating in an instant. However, instead of forming a defensive barrier, he clasped his hands and bellowed with all his might.

"Burning Feather Domain!"

Abruptly, fiery crimson flames burst out as the surrounding one kilometer radius was instantly encased in a translucent reddish-brown barrier that was filled with little feathers all over the place.

The crowd was instantly over the edges of their seats as they saw Top Disciple Rudolf Mair invoking his Impeccable Domain. They saw Shirley entering it, defenselessly leaping into the domain, making their faces congeal into an ominous expression.

"No!"

"Don't!"

Screams echoed from the crowd, afraid that Shirley would be injured. The sight of a red-haired beauty's flesh tearing apart welled up in their minds, causing a cacophony of worries to echo. They didn't want to see such a sight as they all kept shouting like mad people.

Top Disciple Rudolf Mair also saw Shirley entering defenselessly, but recalling how Esvele won her match, he gritted his teeth and pointed his hand towards her.

"Excuse my rudeness, fellow disciple Shirley!"

Harmless feathers floating in the domain suddenly shone with crimson light as they all shot towards Shirley in an instant! The feathers looked endless as they kept congealing into existence and ruthlessly shot towards the target!

*Boom!~*

Crimson feathers caught up to Shirley as they exploded!

It was just a single moment before she was besieged by tens, hundreds, and thousands of feathers as they exploded, causing the expressions of numerous people to change.

*Boom!~* *Booom!~* *Boom!~* *Booom!~*

Top Disciple Azzuren Rein stood up, his expression looking ugly as he saw 'his' Shirley be blown to smithereens by the ceaseless explosions. The crimson feathers still kept flying towards her, her figure stuck inside the domain as countless of Top Disciple Rudolf Mair's attacks kept exploding on her.

"Do you want to die, Rudolf!?"

His enraged bellow reverberated throughout the battle arena as the surroundings became silent.

*Boom!~* *Booom!~*

Only the incessant sounds of crimson feathers exploding on Shirley could be heard in the dead silence of the battle arena.

While the Elders, Grand Elders, and even the Sect Master didn't say anything, the referee looked at him and frowned.

"Shut up and watch..."

Top Disciple Azzuren Rein became stunned at the blatant disrespect while hearing it made Top Disciple Rudolf Mair feel a terrible chill climbing up his spine. The fact that the referee and the others didn't say anything about Shirley's safety instantly made him doubt if Shirley was even there in the first place!

'Could it be... An afterimage!?'

He took back his hand and stopped using the feathers, gathering it all around him for defense in an instant.

'It's fine... I'm the one with the advantage. Fellow disciple Shirley hasn't even released her domain yet. If she did, I might instantly lose as her Supreme Domain isn't anything to laugh about...'

Top Disciple Rudolf Mair felt his heart pound like crazy. However, his expression froze when he saw a figure in the slowly receding explosion, wrapped in an enormous yet beautiful manifestation of two burning phoenix wings, revealing her fiery yet fairy-like figure as they spread open.

Shirley stood elegantly in mid-air while her figure looked unharmed. Not even a speck of dust could be seen on her crimson robes as she possessed a smile in her eyes.

"Satisfied...?"

Her melodious voice echoed, causing Top Disciple Rudolf Mair to become dumbfounded.

"What...?" He subconsciously let out a voice of dismay, not really understanding what she meant.

She was there but unharmed? Not even a single scratch when their cultivation bases were the same!? How could it be!? He was in a state of wretched disbelief!

At this moment, Shirley lifted her arm and extended her index finger as if she was going to touch something when she suddenly tapped the empty space.

*Crack!~*

The reddish-brown domain let out cracks and instantly crumbled, causing the look on everyone's faces to become dumbfounded while Top Disciple Rudolf Mair's practically froze as his body went stiff like a statue!

A crimson sword radiance was already hovering in front of his forehead, making him know that his life was in fellow disciple Shirley's hands!