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"What?! The Great Annihilation Finger?!"
The three newly arrived Ancient Clan Dou Zun experts looked up at the sky in shock. The descending black finger carried an aura of absolute annihilation—it felt as though all life under the heavens would be reduced to dust in the blink of an eye. That terrifying technique wasn't just any Heaven-tier Battle Technique—it was a standard-issue ultimate move for the Ancient Clan's top-tier Dou Zun!
Once a battle technique reached Earth-tier or higher, it generally required charging time to unleash. Just like the Flame-Splitting Ruler, Wind Slaughter Tyrant Blast—any powerful skill needed preparation. Great Annihilation Finger was no exception. It took a moment to condense the required Dou Qi.
The three Dou Zun had just exited the spatial rift and hadn't even had time to react—who would have thought Qian Renhan would be so mad as to use Ancient Clan jade slips to bait Ancient Clan elders into tanking their own technique?
With no other option, the two stronger elders launched high-grade Profound-tier techniques—a palm and a fist—toward the Great Annihilation Finger. The weaker one swiftly formed a complex seal, preparing the five-stacked Emperor Seal Formula to block the Heaven-tier attack.
"Emperor Seal Formula! Mountain-Crushing Seal! Sea-Flipping Seal! Earth-Overturning Seal! Sky-Smothering Seal! Ancient Emperor Seal—Fivefold Overlap!"
The weakest Nine-Star Dou Zun struck with a single palm, merging five distinct hand imprints of different colors and powers into one and slamming it toward the descending annihilation.
Their goal was simple: delay the attack, no matter the cost.
Meanwhile, blood trickled from the lips of the two stronger Dou Zun. Glaring coldly at Qian Renhan, one of them shouted through clenched teeth:
"Bastard! Using us to shield yourself from our own clan's Heaven-tier technique—you'll beg for death soon enough!"
The black finger fell from the heavens. Wherever it passed, the void cracked open, forming a space fissure thousands of meters long. The five-colored palm seal also shredded space where it hovered. As the two forces were about to collide, Qian Renhan's icy voice echoed.
The Seven-Star Dou Zun soul in his hand lit up with dark radiance.
"Detonate."
BOOM!!!
The explosion was earth-shattering—like the collision of meteors. A deafening roar erupted, shaking the entire mountain range. Cracks, meters wide, snaked across the land like spider webs. The shockwave of Dou Qi rippled outward, killing countless magical beasts. Even the protective formation around far-off Jia Nan Academy flickered with fractures and shattered.
The entire academy trembled. Countless buildings collapsed. Elder Qian Bai and Elder Su Qian instantly awakened, and all of Jia Nan's top experts took to the sky, heading toward the broken defensive array.
"Elder Ling… could that be—?"
Gu Xun'er, now a student at Jia Nan Academy and waiting for Xiao Yan, had heard of his survival and return. She rose into the air using a flying technique, her golden-flame eyes staring toward the distant battlefield where massive spatial collapses continued.
"Yes, Miss," Elder Ling Ying answered grimly. "Those are our Ancient Clan experts. And that scoundrel who killed them—he's right there! I didn't expect him to be this close!"
Ling Ying urged, "Miss, we must leave now! What if that madman sees you?"
Gu Xun'er shook her head, her voice confident. "Don't worry, Elder Ling. The Ancient Clan never acts without certainty. Since the clan sent people to kill him, that villain has only two outcomes—capture or death."
Back at the battlefield, Su Qian braced himself against the Dou Qi shockwaves, mumbling,
"Just what kind of enemies are you facing, senior?"
Amid the world-shattering energy, a massive cloud of black mist spread across several kilometers. It was the result of the Seven-Star Dou Zun soul—Gu Yang—being detonated. Within that mist, the Eight-Star Dou Zun who had unleashed Great Annihilation Finger and clashed directly with the Emperor Seal Formula was now pale as paper, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Two Seven-Star Dou Zun, dragging the barely-living Six-Star Dou Zun trio, were annihilated by the aftershock and by Qian Renhan's released sword aura. Even those two were severely injured.
The worst fate, however, belonged to the three support Nine-Star Dou Zun. Standing at near-zero distance from both the technique clash and the soul explosion, they were torn apart—one missing an arm, another a leg. Corpses, but incomplete.
And yet, Qian Renhan, who had also taken the impact at close range, was in slightly better shape. His body was clad in blood-red armor—Shura God Armor. Even so, cracks riddled the armor, and it nearly shattered. His external soul gear—the Fallen Angel Wings—was again destroyed, and he was seriously injured.
If not for the Soulburst Art from the Hall of Souls, which allowed him to manipulate soul energy, and if not for the combined protection of the soul bones and Shura armor, Qian Renhan's fate would have been much worse—at best, shredded armor and a lifeless, shredded body.
The Ancient Clan was truly fearsome. Had Qian Renhan not farmed diligently across the lands and accumulated such a wealth of power, he would have perished again.
Opportunities always come with risk. The greater the opportunity, the higher the danger.
If Qian Renhan had simply killed those three Six-Star Dou Zun at the start, using their souls along with Gu Yang's to trigger simultaneous detonations, he might've killed all the remaining Ancient Clan Dou Zun outright.
But he had been greedy—seeking stronger souls from stronger enemies—and now paid the price with heavy injuries.
"Soul detonation… This black mist… it's from the Soul Clan!"
"This monster… really is from the Hall of Souls and Heavenly Nether Sect! They've joined forces!"
While sending a message back to the Ancient Clan, the Eight-Star Dou Zun elder also extended his spiritual sense into the black mist, searching for the auras of the three clan elders. What he found made his heart sink to the abyss—those three auras had vanished. Completely.
But the aura of that fiend—Qian Renhan—still lingered, strong and alive.
Pain surged through him, and he nearly shattered his silver teeth from the force of his clenched jaw.
Even with an Earth-tier advanced technique, and even as an Eight-Star Dou Zun, Great Annihilation Finger could only be used once without depleting his Dou Qi reserves. He was just about to retrieve a spatial jade slip—
When a transparent sphere silently floated before him.
Qian Renhan's voice echoed simultaneously:
"A Nine-Star Dou Zun's soul is indeed valuable... but compared to survival, it's worthless. Detonate."
BOOM—BOOM!!
Two more Nine-Star Dou Zun soul detonations.
The final three Ancient Clan Dou Zun who had come to hunt him down were obliterated.
If anyone had been able to witness what happened within the black mist, they would have been shocked to discover—there were two Qian Renhan.
But this wasn't some typical Dou Technique clone.
This was the innate ability of a Twin Martial Spirit user from the Douluo World.
His body and his duplicate were exactly the same—one carried conscious thought, the other acted like an extension of instinct. Even a Dou Sheng would have difficulty telling them apart at first glance.
As Qian Renhan absorbed the soul force released from the detonations, his tattered body became visible—wounded beyond recognition, fresh blood still dripping from countless cuts.
Yet despite the horrific damage, a smile played on Qian Renhan's lips.
Yes, he was gravely injured.
But the spoils of this battle?
Originally just seven Dou Zun corpses and three soul clusters—
Now became ten corpses and seven soul clusters.
A supreme harvest.
Quickly, Qian Renhan spread his soul force, gathering the ten corpses. Although many were incomplete, with scattered chunks of flesh beyond recovery, it didn't matter. He reinforced his soul with the strongest of the seven soul clusters and used the remaining six to bolster his cultivation.
One hour passed.
A faint ghostly shadow silently drifted into the devastated battlefield.
It was Ling Ying.
He had just left after exchanging pleasantries with Elder Su Qian and returned from reporting back to his clan. But the moment he appeared—
Qian Renhan, controlling his clone via soul link, immediately detected him.
He raised a hand and seized Ling Ying in an iron grip.
"If you're here… that means Gu Xun'er is in Jia Nan Academy, isn't she?"
Qian Renhan's tone was ice-cold.
All of this—the pursuit, the explosions, the soul detonations—had begun because of Yao Chen's mistake.
Yao Chen had misidentified him as a member of the Soul Clan and had attacked him, prompting Gu Xun'er to summon reinforcements.
Later, Yao Chen had made amends—offering resources, battle techniques, and extensive knowledge about the Dou Qi Continent and medicinal herbs.
Qian Renhan bore him no grudge.
But Gu Xun'er?
That was another story.
As for that "old hometown buddy" Huo Huo… ha.
He didn't carry enough weight to stop Qian Renhan. He could try… and die trying.
Ling Ying tried to keep his voice steady, the resolve of a man facing death gleaming in his eyes:
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Qian Renhan chuckled.
No matter. Whether Ling Ying talked or not was irrelevant.
Jia Nan Academy wasn't that large. With his soul force, could he possibly fail to find someone?
In a flash, Qian Renhan crossed space, arriving just outside the outer courtyard of Jia Nan Academy.
His soul force swept through the student dormitories like a tide.
Finally—he found her.
A girl of about fifteen, her delicate and breathtaking face glowing with natural charm, her presence as pure and graceful as a green lotus in bloom.
There was no mistaking her.
Gu Xun'er.
(End of Chapter)