Divine Emperor of Death

"Hoho?"

Girias scoffed, "You think you can withstand attacks from the eight of us all alone?"

"Why not?" Isabella lightly raised her chin, "When our cultivation base is the same, none of you can match me in terms of prowess. I wish people would know their place and back out like I did a while ago when necessary, but it seems like only a fist would make retards understand."

Isabella took a step forward and shot towards the nearest inheritor.

"…!?"

That cultivator flinched and turned back.

*Bang!~*

His entire figure exploded into a thick fountain of blood, splashing everything in its wake except Isabella, who put up an immortal martial barrier. Her fist rumbled with the power of the mighty earth dragon, its remnant aura causing intense fear to rock the hearts of the others.

The others nearest to Isabella quickly retreated while Girias and Harmon fled for their lives without looking back.

However, Isabella didn't follow them for some reason.

At the same time, Flamerose and Frostrose landed behind her, leaving enough distance. They appeared as though they were also wary of her power. However, the truth was that they left enough distance for something else.

Isabella watched everyone escape except Hayley without much of a fuss.

She smiled and nodded as though becoming pleased with herself before turning to look at Hayley.

Hayley went stiff. She took a step back, appearing careful.

"W-What do you want?"

"Relax. I just want to know the method you used to obtain that sapphire sphere, but if you can't tell me, that's fine too. I won't bother you unless some time limit was introduced or I'm really… really… lagging behind…"

Isabella waved her hand coolly.

She then turned around and left as though she was a valiant hero who saved the day, leaving Hayley quite confused.

Watching Isabella diffuse this situation and not going after the opponents or bothering to kill them, the twin phoenixes couldn't tell what her thoughts were. They followed her, wondering why she didn't force Hayley to tell her methods as this was supposed to be a competition.

"Wait…"

'There is it…'

Isabella hid a wicked smile as she stopped.

Turning to look back, she saw Hayley appear hesitant, as though she was still considering.

"Let's… share information."

"That works too~"

Isabella raised one of her brows before she cupped her hands. She tried to get closer, but Hayley raised her hands.

"This distance is fine…"

"Alright."

Isabella giggled. She felt that it couldn't be helped that everyone was afraid of her.

Indeed, Hayley could tell that Isabella's prowess was ten levels higher. That was ridiculous by her standards as she could barely reach nine levels with Divine Technique, but with just a slightly boosted punch, Isabella reached ten levels higher.

She was not someone who could be fought against with their current cultivation level.

That was why most of them banded together to force her to leave while their cultivation base was still above hers. Otherwise, they knew she would crush them with ease. If they wanted to do anything against her, then they could only do it after they exited the Fourth Hidden Pagoda.

Nonetheless, Hayley and Isabella began sharing information.

After a minute, Isabella blinked.

"Impossible… I already tried lighter martial energy on the ruby sphere… they didn't work…"

"Well," Hayley wryly smiled, "I'm telling the truth. The soul force used in the soul attack need to be much more tranquil and soft as though you're trying to cuddle a baby with the utmost care yet at the same time, there should be enough force."

"…" Isabella had her brows raised, appearing confused.

"I'm a practitioner of the Tranquil Lotus Nirvanic Mantra cultivation manual, so the innate tranquility in my attacks could be the reason why I was able to successfully capture this soul sphere you're talking about…"

"It still took me three tries though~" Hayley couldn't hide a smile. Didn't this mean she was better than Isabella when it came to certain battle methods like soft attacks?

'Well, the other party is an earth dragon-blooded human, so I guess brawn is her forte… it can't be helped…' She thought.

On the other hand, Isabella gave her words some real thought.

In fact, it already aligned with her theory but she scrapped it since lighter attacks didn't work but it seems that her lighter attacks wasn't tranquil and soft at all. Her lips pursed, thinking if Natalya entered this competition, she would easily win it.

'It was a good thing I asked for Natalya's input on applying yin force on my brute strength…'

Isabella thought, deciding to apply some Yin Laws to her attack. However, she didn't know how effective it would be since she felt like she hadn't practiced them much.

"Alright, thanks for the information."

Isabella cupped her hands and turned around to leave.

Hayley watched Isabella leave and heaved a sigh of relief. The pressure she exuded without even trying was incredible. However, she was confused as to why Isabella didn't ask for her to prove it.

Didn't she believe her words?

"Watch me."

Hayley declared and suddenly pounced in another direction.

She jumped, her silvery-blue energy swirling around her palm ever so lightly. Reaching out her hand, a sapphire sphere appeared to pass by that side. However, as soon as her silvery-blue energy came in contact with that sapphire sphere, the sphere shuddered, looking like it was going to expand and go poof.

However, it calmed and sank into her palm without exploding.

Hayley closed her fist and smirked.

What she did might've been easier in someone else's perspective but right now, she perspired ever so lightly, having spent a significant amount of focus which left her mentally exhausted slightly even though she had a huge amount of soul force left.

"See? I captured the sapphire ston-sphere using the same method I told you but fret not, as I didn't do it easily. It takes a significant amount of focus enough to cast a Divine Technique. Since you saved me, I'll give this to you."

Hayley reached out her hand, flicking the sapphire sphere to Isabella.

"…"

However, Isabella dodged the sapphire sphere and turned to look at Hayley.

"Nice try."

"…?" Hayley narrowed her brows, not understanding what she meant by that before her brows raised.

"Wait? Have I offended you somehow?"

Isabella stared at Hayley, wondering if she was playing dumb but looking at her eyes, she saw she hadn't understood the point of the spheres, causing her to sigh.

"Why do you think I didn't give them chase? It's because if I haphazardly launched attacks and if it were to fall on the spheres randomly flying around, I would be harmed. Therefore, only close-ranged attacks should be used here, but if you want to use long-ranged attacks, you can always use the spheres you obtained. If I touched that sapphire sphere you obtained, I assume my soul would be harmed."

"…!" Hayley shuddered, "Wait… I didn't have such an intention when I threw it."

Isabella shrugged, "The fact that you can obtain a second sapphire sphere only proves you can use it to your advantage. A few others realized this fact way before you obtained the second sapphire sphere since when they escaped from me, their figures were eerily closer to the spheres, hoping that my attacks would fall on them, causing me to be harmed."

"…"

Hayley was shocked as she hadn't thought of it much ahead.

On the other hand, Isabella cupped her hands again and left.

As much as she knew she was powerful, she already knew a few ways to impede herself if she was the enemy. Staying closer to the spheres was dangerous, but it also prevented one from being attacked randomly or intentionally by someone.

If her energy touched the sphere, and she failed to capture it, then it would explode on her, removing a limb, injuring her soul, or dispersing her essence energy. She didn't want to be reckless in moving around and accidentally hitting a sphere.

That would prove to be very dangerous in certain situations.

Flamerose and Frostrose were also aware of the intricacies but they certainly hadn't thought ahead like Isabella did, using the captured sphere to attack. They wondered if it would be able to recapture a sphere someone else had captured and throw it against them.

In that case, they felt that this trial would certainly be interesting as it also had a good chance of harming Isabella regardless of her cultivation base.

"Isn't it good to take out everyone right now then?" Flamerose asked Isabella, "After all, you could only be harmed by the spheres."

"That's true. I doubt Isabella could be harmed by any one of us here, even if all the other twenty-nine-no, twenty right combined to attack."

Frostrose agreed.

Hearing their doubts, Isabella remained silent.

"…" She didn't answer.

"Is it because it's dishonorable and unfair? " Frostrose inquired, "You must know how important it is to-"

"If it were that simple… I would've gone all out." Isabella's lips couldn't help but curl.

"…?"

Just as Flamerose and Frostrose inclined their heads confusingly, they heard Isabella's voice in their heads.

"Just as I eliminated that nameless cultivator, half of my immortal essence energy, martial energy, and soul force have all dispersed."

"…!?" Flamerose and Frostrose went shocked.

"In other words, fifty percent of my total energy was gone just like that. Therefore, I guess the only way to eliminate opponents without incurring a loss is if I used the spheres on them."

Isabella wryly smiled.

If it weren't for this, she certainly would've chased them all through the randomly flying spheres and had them crushed underneath her fists.