Chapter 2633: Jiao's Death

A bright flash of a blade streaked by, cutting Jiao's body in two. It dissolved into a pool of blood, spreading in all directions. In an instant, a sea of blood spread forth.

Lu Ye cast a side glance. In his vision, a fleeting streak of blood was clearly reflected. He calmly caught up, asking, "Can you escape?"

If this weren't the Battle Arena, Jiao might have had a chance to escape. But with the arena activated, both were trapped within the supreme treasure's internal space. The restrictions of this space would only be lifted once a clear victor emerged in life or death. Jiao likely never imagined that the very subordinate treasure he intended to use against Lu Ye would now become his own hindrance, truly a case of shooting himself in the foot.

The dense sea of blood offered Jiao no concealment whatsoever. Lu Ye could easily pinpoint his location through the sensory abilities of the Fangs' power. What's more, a massive shadow continued to trail behind Jiao. The Chaos Scales had not only stripped Jiao of a portion of his strength but also his speed. Now, Jiao was slower than Lu Ye. As he tried to escape, blade light swept behind him, inflicting continuous heavy damage.

Yet, he continued to persist! He still had a chance: to wait for the effects of the Chaos Scales to end. He could clearly sense that the strength stripped from him could not be held by Lu Ye indefinitely; it would soon be returned, in about a hundred breaths' time. So, if he could just stall for a hundred breaths, he would recover his strength. At that point, even without his Dao soldiers, he might still have the power to fight.

However, after merely twenty breaths, Jiao felt he could no longer hold on. His body was riddled with cuts, and his life force flickered precariously. He was filled with deep unwillingness, never imagining he would die here, especially at the blade of such an opponent. If his strength in a one-on-one fight was truly inferior, that would be due to his insufficient cultivation. But looking back at his confrontation with Lu Ye, all his disadvantages were caused by external forces. Without these external forces, he believed he could have crushed this hateful enemy with a single finger. How could he possibly accept such a defeat calmly?

Dao power swept behind him. A sharp pain struck Jiao's shoulder as Lu Ye's blade struck him again. With this cut, Jiao's already heavily wounded body became even more battered. A fierce glint flashed in his eyes. He suddenly turned and lunged at Lu Ye with his entire body, roaring, "If you want me dead, you won't get off easy either!"

Lu Ye didn't know what Jiao intended, but he knew that any dying enemy's final struggle should not be underestimated, especially when the opponent was someone like Jiao. The long blade in his hand vibrated violently. The sharp edge sliced down along Jiao's neck and cut clean through. Blood gushed forth, the head flew off, and life was extinguished.

Lu Ye's expression changed, and he swiftly retreated. Because at the moment Jiao died, his soul actually exited his body, carrying the massive shadow behind him and attempting to engulf Lu Ye. Despite his precautions, Jiao's move still caught him off guard. He watched helplessly as Jiao's soul led the mass of shadow crashing toward him. He hastily activated his soul power to stabilize his own soul sea. The next instant, his head hummed as if a large hammer had struck his forehead, making him see stars and temporarily blinding him.

"Let's die together!" Jiao's soul roared, pouring out all its soul power to shake Lu Ye's soul sea defenses. He had been completely defeated in the contest of physical strength, but he clearly refused to give up, so he resorted to a sinister move on the soul level. Lu Ye could have endured the impact if it were merely Jiao's soul burning alone. However, the shadow formed by countless souls gathered behind him, a result of his Divine Withered Soul Borrowing Art, was something Lu Ye could not ignore. Led by Jiao's soul, the massive shadow closely followed, crashing against Lu Ye's soul defenses.

Lu Ye's attainments in soul cultivation were considerable. Back in the starry sky, he had obtained the Seven-Colored Divine Lotus from the Soul Clan Ancestral Land to nourish his soul. Later, when he ascended to the Sunlit realm, he cultivated diligently in the Ancestral Land for over a decade. Additionally, in the Outer Realm, when he dissolved the life-chain Dao pattern with You Die, he received a generous gift from the insect queen. Without these many experiences, his soul attainments would not have kept pace with his cultivation. Unlike the rapid improvement of physical strength, soul cultivation was particularly time-consuming. It could be said that his soul attainments could rival his cultivation realm, but compared to the thousands of strands of overwhelming power he now possessed, his soul cultivation was indeed a relative weakness. Jiao perceived this weakness and targeted it directly.

Under that fierce crashing force, Lu Ye found it incredibly difficult. The situation was like a small farmer trying to hold a door shut against numerous strong men outside, trying to break in and rampage freely through his home. He simply couldn't hold them back. After just two breaths, Lu Ye gave up resisting and immersed his mind.

The next moment, in his soul sea, his soul body appeared. A large mass of shadow followed closely, brimming with boundless malice so thick it was almost palpable, impacting all sides and causing his soul sea to churn. Within that shadow, countless human faces were embedded, wailing and roaring incessantly. One of them was unmistakably Jiao's, and his face was even paler than before.

"I want you dead!" Jiao roared, leading the massive shadow to charge towards Lu Ye's soul body. Lu Ye merely watched with cold eyes, only making a move when the crisis was about to descend. In an instant, a dilapidated warship appeared beneath his feet. He stood on its deck, and with a frantic infusion of his soul power, the damaged warship rapidly became whole. Figures also solidified from within it, each taking their respective positions.

The Ghost Ship!

As early as his ascension to the Sunlit realm, Lu Ye had condensed this technique into his own soul secret art. Aboard this warship, within his spiritual sea, the Ghost Ship could attack or defend, proving infinitely more powerful than the soul secret arts of ordinary cultivators. Jiao was clearly stunned for a moment but quickly disregarded it. At that point, he was powerless to control the mass of gathered souls forming the shadow; all he could do was guide it. Now that they had charged into Lu Ye's soul sea, facing this malicious mass of gathered souls, Jiao believed that no matter what Lu Ye did, he would certainly not escape death.

The massive shadow crashed into the Ghost Ship, stirring up monstrous waves. The warship rocked violently, and numerous formations activated, forming a protective shroud around it. Lu Ye stood his ground, unmoving. As he raised his hand, a layer of light suddenly emerged within the wave-swept spiritual sea. The light was not very noticeable at first, but it quickly grew brighter.

"What is this? What in the world is this?" Jiao was stunned for a moment. When he looked up, he discovered it was actually a fiercely burning sun. No, that wasn't a sun; it was a massive tree burning fiercely. It was just burning so intensely that at first glance it resembled a sun. It stood towering within the spiritual sea, directly behind Lu Ye. The flames were, in fact, the light from the burning leaves on the tree.

For some reason, Jiao suddenly felt a strong sense of dread. Moreover, the flames made him feel as if he had encountered a natural predator, and his soul body began to sting. The large tree swayed. In an instant, flames swept forth, and streams of fire dragons flew out from the tree, rushing into the massive shadow. The many wails instantly turned into horrifying shrieks. Jiao was filled with shock. Since he was currently merged within this mass of shadow, he had a very clear perception of its state. He clearly detected that the fire dragon-like attacks possessed an incredibly powerful refining effect. The many souls within the shadow, upon contact, were actually incinerated and refined by some mysterious power.

Crystal-clear, rice-grain-sized crystals fell like raindrops from within the shadow, dropping into the soul sea. More fire dragons flew out, streaks of firelight sweeping in all directions, turning the entire soul sea into a blazing inferno.

"What is this? What in the world is this?" Jiao shrieked. He had originally thought that by sacrificing his own life, he could drag Lu Ye down with him. Who knew that Lu Ye's soul sea contained such mysterious power? Crucially, he still didn't know what it was, only that it could instantly incinerate those powerful soul bodies.

His shouting caught Lu Ye's attention. As Lu Ye's gaze turned, a fire dragon directly enveloped Jiao's soul body. Fear showed in Jiao's eyes. The stinging pain in his soul body became more pronounced. He struggled to fly out of the massive shadow mass, trying to escape, but it was futile. The fire dragon merely coiled, drawing him within it, and a scream followed. Compared to the other souls, Jiao's scream was undoubtedly clearer, as he had only just died and still retained his consciousness. Three breaths later, the scream gradually weakened, then vanished. Rice-grain-sized crystals fell from the fire dragon, landing in the soul sea.

The massive shadow mass had already disintegrated. Although the numerous souls no longer possessed consciousness, they still retained instincts, scattering and fleeing in the face of danger. But this was Lu Ye's soul sea; with him intentionally sealing it off, how could they escape? The entire spiritual sea was engulfed in flames. Soul bodies scattered, fire dragons raged, and the wails gradually faded into inaudibility.

Lu Ye stood on the Ghost Ship, tilting his head to look at the Talent Tree behind him, a peculiar expression on his face. Just now, he had only intended to activate the power of the Talent Tree to incinerate the shadows that had invaded his spiritual sea, but he hadn't expected this treasure to directly manifest behind him. This had never happened before. Then he quickly remembered Fuwei's previous divination, where he said he saw a fiercely burning tree towering behind Lu Ye. At the time, while Lu Ye was certain that what Fuwei saw was the Talent Tree, he didn't believe this scene would actually come to pass. Ever since he obtained the Talent Tree, he had only been able to perceive it through inner sight; this miraculous tree had never manifested externally. Yet today, it had appeared in his own soul sea. So, does this mean that one day the scene Fuwei saw will truly materialize? Why such a change?

Lu Ye pondered it but couldn't quite figure it out. He only felt it might be related to his increased strength, or perhaps because he had previously allowed the Talent Tree to devour a subordinate treasure. What perplexed him was not only the change in the Talent Tree but also the object in his hand. In his hand, he was currently holding a rice-grain-sized crystal, entirely translucent and hexagonal in shape. This object was what remained after those souls were incinerated. Every soul left a remnant, only varying slightly in size. If he wasn't mistaken, this thing should be the same type of substance as soul crystals. The Soul Clan Ancestral Land produced soul crystals, which clan members could refine to enhance their soul power without any hidden dangers.