Chapter 84
"If even you are willing to stand unconditionally at this Demon Emperor’s side, then I trust you."
"My disciple is brave enough to do this. How could I, her master, act the coward?"
Lysara’s eyes went slightly moist. "Master, you shouldn’t have done this."
"Say no more. This is my own choice too." Basil smiled, kind and gentle as ever in her memory.
"Interesting." Inside the golden prison, the corners of Soren’s mouth curled at the same moment.
"Laugh? What the hell are you laughing at?"
"You fiend, death’s staring you in the face and you can still laugh?"
"Let’s see how you laugh after we rip your head off, and Lysara and Basil with him!"
"They’re all scum of our race!"
The cultivators spat curses, Neal signaled Caspar with his eyes.
Kill this master and disciple, rip their heads off, he’d hang them before the Imperial Palace, so everyone knew what betraying him, and the human race, cost.
Caspar gave a slight shake of his head, reluctant. Reluctant or not, he had no choice, he needed Neal’s help.
"You two, allow me to send you off to sacrifice to the Dao." Caspar formed a seal, a cluster of Dao fire igniting in his palm and condensing into a Dao Print.
The Print grew from palm-sized to several meters across, radiating a terrifying binding force.
It left his hand and shot toward Lysara and her master.
"What a terrifying binding force! Master, I can’t move!"
Even at a distance, Lysara felt nailed in place, able only to open her mouth and blink.
As a Middle-Tier Human Emperor, Basil fared a little better, the Print still dragged at him, his movements slow, his spiritual energy draining fast, shifting his foot half a step cost a full tenth of everything in his body.
An ordinary Upper-Tier Human Emperor held dozens to a hundred times the combat strength of a Middle-Tier. Caspar was no ordinary Upper-Tier, he was a Domain Protector, his lineage passed down through generations.
The Dao Print was several meters wide, even burning every last drop of spiritual energy, Basil couldn’t dodge it.
They were doomed.
Watching, Soren curled his lips.
"I was planning to put on some master-class acting, toy with these moron cultivators a while longer."
"Looks like I’ve got no choice but to move now."
"The world just lost a Best Actor."
Soren stomped the void. Ferocious demonic might erupted from his body, violent and explosive as a detonating warhead.
The golden Demon-Subduing Prison shattered, light and shards blasting outward like glass under a sledgehammer.
The demonic might wrapped around Lysara and Basil at the same instant.
The oncoming Dao Print was swallowed whole and annihilated.
Screams tore across the field, turning it into a living hell.
When that power came loose, every cultivator within a thousand miles was caught.
Three-tenths vaporized on the spot.
Three-tenths blasted to minced meat and blood mist.
Another three-tenths critically wounded, collapsing where they stood.
Only about a tenth endured, and even they stumbled, unable to find their feet.
Except for Lysara and Basil, shielded by Soren, everyone present was hit, even the Ancestor Realm powerhouse from the Heavenly Demon Alliance was forced back several steps, his gaze turning grave.
Neal had to trigger a defensive formation to parry the shockwave and still got shoved back a thousand meters.
Caspar was noticeably stronger at the same realm, he retreated only a few dozen.
"What terrifying demonic might!"
"That fiend’s already broken through to Upper-Tier! This doesn’t match our intelligence at all!"
"When Soren attacked the Endless Demonic Domain he didn’t show Upper-Tier strength, with only Middle-Tier cultivation he left Vorian powerless."
"Now that he’s hit Upper-Tier Demon Emperor, aren’t we finished?"
"What are you panicking for! Great Emperor Neal and the others haven’t gotten serious yet!"
For all that, every heart hung by a thread.
No one dared breathe hard.
The fear felt like a sharp sword suspended overhead, ready to drop.
That single burst had killed two-thirds of the thousands behind Neal, leaving only a cluster of Upper-Tier Venerables and Emperors.
The onlookers fared worse, almost no rogue cultivators survived.
One sweep showed corpses, shattered bone, and minced flesh everywhere, blood mist gathered and drifted down as rain.
The earth went scarlet.
Soren stood like a demon, calmly surveying it all.
From breaking out of the prison and killing across a thousand miles with his aura until now, he hadn’t even uncrossed his arms.
Both at Upper-Tier Emperor, Neal and Caspar felt a profound pressure, Neal worst of all, his scalp ready to split.
If not for the Ancestor Realm powerhouse at his side, he’d have struggled to hold composure.
Because it was absurdity piled on absurdity.
Soren’s raw strength was one thing, his unflappable eyes and expression pressed on everyone like he still hid worse trump cards.
The air was dead silent, all eyes fixed on him.
Lysara and Basil made way in the center, their gazes tracking Soren as he trod across the void.
"A Human Domain Protector, nothing more than this."
Caspar’s eye twitched, again and again. "Demon-Subduing Pestle, come!"
At his command the pestle shot over like an arrow, punching through cloud and void.
The item served both offense and defense, beyond drawing out its holy divine power to cage an opponent, it could be swung as a spear or sword of boundless force.
Unable to trap Soren, Caspar meant to close in.
But just as the pestle was about to land in his hand, Soren’s palm erupted with suction force.
The tyrannical pull twisted the horizon as it devoured, the pestle spun a few times midair, then flew straight into Soren’s hand.
Caspar was shaken, jaw nearly dropping.
The pestle carried his own blood contract mark, and Soren had snatched it right in front of him.
He chanted his retrieval mantra three, four times. Useless.
Golden lightning rampaged in Soren’s palm, the sound of scorching spreading out.
The pestle had a master, and it was rejecting Soren and his demonic energy like mad.
Soren frowned, flipped his Form Diagram over, and activated the devouring power of the Heavenly Dao Demonic Form.