162: Chapter 162 Re-battle at Broken Soul Cliff

In the two months following the crushing defeat in the first battle, the situation in the Central Plains was like a pot of boiling water, with new waves arising every day.

The Soul Clan Alliance capitalized on their victory, expanding and eradicating the Flame Emperor Alliance's outer strongholds one by one, devouring nearly 30% of the Flame Emperor Alliance's affiliated forces in just a few dozen days.

Those small and medium sects that had originally been watching from the sidelines quickly defected to the Soul Clan, fearing they would meet the same fate as the Jia Ma Empire and the Black-Corner Region.

Yao Chen, however, did not sink into despair.

On one hand, he gathered the remnants to regroup; on the other, he dispatched all available scouts to gather intelligence on the Soul Clan Alliance's troop deployments.

For two months, he had barely closed his eyes, spending his time either in the council chamber deducing the battle situation with Wind Idle and the others, or personally refining healing pills in the Pill Hall.

His aged face grew haggard at a visible rate, but a flame that refused to be extinguished always burned in those old eyes that had seen so much of life's vicissitudes.

The Flame Emperor Alliance's remaining troops gradually recovered their vitality over these two months.

Some of Xiao Yan's old subordinates scattered across various regions heard the news and returned to join the ranks, and with the reinforcements from Burning Flame Valley and Jia Nan Academy, the total force barely returned to thirty thousand.

However, half of these thirty thousand were newly recruited low-level cultivators whose combat effectiveness was far inferior to the veterans before the first battle; the true backbone capable of holding the front line was still the less than twenty thousand surviving elites.

When Yao Chen announced the decision to fight again in the council chamber, the hall fell into silence.

His aged, hoarse voice echoed through the empty hall: "This battle is not to win, but to let the Soul Clan know that the Flame Emperor Alliance is not yet wiped out, Xiao Yan is not yet dead, and we who have fought across the world with him are not yet dead."

Wind Idle stood up, leaning on his sword with one hand, the bandage on his left arm still seeping blood. His voice was hoarse but every word was powerful as he said he would go with the Alliance Master; this old set of bones had long since been handed over to Xiao Yan.

Valley Master Tang Zhen struggled to sit up from his sickbed, his fiery red beard scorched black, and said his old bones could still fight.

Those who had previously clamored to disband had already left; those remaining in Starfall Pavilion were the loyalists willing to bleed their last drop for the Flame Emperor Alliance.

No one mentioned retreat again, no one mentioned surrender again.

Everyone's gaze was fixed in the same direction—Duanhun Cliff.

Last time, at that place, the Flame Emperor Alliance lost 60% of its brothers.

This time, they would fight another battle with dignity, and even if it meant death, they would die on the road of the charge.

On the Soul Clan's side, when the letter of challenge was delivered to Hun Tiandi's desk, he was leaning back in his main seat, flipping through that endless ancient scroll.

The black flame on Void Swallowing Flame's fingertips flickered slightly, and he only said two words: "They are seeking death."

Hun Tiandi casually set the letter of challenge on the desk and agreed.

Gu Yuan, Yan Jin, Lei Ying, Zi Yan, and Feng Tianyu each mustered their elites, and an army of forty thousand gathered again on the north side of Duanhun Cliff.

The same location, the same opponents, but the atmosphere this time was completely different from the first battle—two months ago, the Soul Clan Alliance had come with the confidence of crushing them; this time, they came with the determination to completely end the Flame Emperor Alliance.

Two months later, Duanhun Cliff.

The morning mist had not yet dispersed when both armies had again finished forming their battle arrays on either side of the valley mouth.

The thirty thousand remnants of the Flame Emperor Alliance blanketed the south side of the valley mouth, and the "Flame" character on the battle flags fluttered in the morning breeze.

Duanhun Cliff remained in its desolate and deathly silent state; the corpses left from the great battle two months ago had been mostly buried by the wind and sand, with only a few broken blades and shattered armor protruding from the piles of gravel, silently recounting the tragedy of that battle.

Yao Chen stood on the central command platform, his white robes fluttering in the wind.

He looked at the silent black phalanx opposite him, his gaze as calm as an ancient well.

Then he slowly raised his right hand and waved it forward.

A heaven-shaking roar erupted from the Flame Emperor Alliance's formation, and the thirty thousand soldiers surged toward the Soul Clan's defensive line like a tide.

Dou Qi light exploded one after another on the rocky beach, and the shouts of killing were deafening, actually faintly suppressing the momentum of the Soul Clan Alliance.

Wind Idle charged at the very front, leaning on his sword with one hand, followed by the Jia Nan Academy student guard and the Red Flame Army remnants of Burning Flame Valley.

On the left wing were the Burning Flame Valley elites personally led by Valley Master Tang Zhen, while the right wing consisted of several remnants of the Jia Ma Empire, with Yao Chen commanding the center.

The Soul Clan Alliance was still that suffocating torrent of steel.

The Gu Clan's Black Annihilation Army, led by Gu Dao, met them head-on; Yan Jin's Burning Heaven Dou Qi plowed scorching black fire lines on the southern flank; Lei Ying's Thunder Dou Qi battalion set up a sky-covering lightning net on the northern flank; the Void Ancient Dragon's dragon guards transformed into hundred-foot giant dragons and swooped down from the air; and the Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan's elites flanked from the sides.

Forty thousand against thirty thousand; the Soul Clan Alliance's numerical advantage was not great, but in terms of individual quality, it was still worlds apart—the Soul Clan Alliance was composed entirely of experts above the Dou Zong level, with no fewer than five thousand high-level Dou Zuns and hundreds of Dou Shengs; while on the Flame Emperor Alliance's side, those above the Dou Zong level barely exceeded ten thousand, and high-level Dou Zuns were even rarer.

The two sides fought inextricably on the rocky beach; the roar of Dou Qi collisions, the harsh sound of weapons clashing, and the screams of the dying and wounded intertwined.

The soldiers of the Flame Emperor Alliance fought with a determination to die, each falling warrior using their last ounce of strength to tear a gap in the Soul Clan's ranks.

Wind Idle swung his sword with one hand, beheading several Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerables in succession, only to be slapped away by Elder Hun Tu, smashing a half-broken stone pillar behind him.

But he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and stood up again, roaring as he charged into the enemy ranks once more.

Valley Master Tang Zhen's battle axe had chipped three times, but he was covered in blood and refused to retreat.

The remnants of the Red Flame Army followed behind him like a burning red torrent, forcefully tearing a gap in the vanguard of the Gu Clan's Black Annihilation Army.

Meanwhile, deep within the Ancient Emperor Cave.

Xiao Yan was experiencing the most tragic battle of his life.

After passing through that endless ocean of Heavenly Flames, he had overcome the second trial—the illusion—an inner demon illusion woven by the Ancient Emperor's remnant soul.

In the illusion, he saw Hun Feng trampled under his feet, saw Xun'er, Cai Lin, and Yun Yun return to his side, and saw the Xiao Clan revived and prosperous for generations.

But he did not sink into it, instead shattering that false illusion with his Emperor Realm Soul at the last moment.

After the illusion shattered, extremely dense Emperor Qi permeated the depths of the cave—that was the Origin Emperor Qi left behind when Tuoshe Ancient Emperor fell, which had not dissipated even after ten thousand years.

For an intruder, this Emperor Qi was both an opportunity and a deadly threat: if one could withstand the tempering of the Emperor Qi, both body and soul would undergo a qualitative leap; if one could not, they would be backlashed by the Emperor Qi and perish in body and soul.

Xiao Yan did not retreat.

He sat cross-legged in that ocean of Emperor Qi, activating the Burning Technique to forcibly absorb the Origin Emperor Qi, which was powerful enough to explode a Nine-Star Dou Sheng.

The moment the Emperor Qi entered his body, his meridians felt as if they were pierced by red-hot soldering irons, every inch of his bones emitted unbearable creaking sounds, and a layer of fine blood seeped from the surface of his skin.

Fire Spirit desperately released six-colored flames on his shoulder to help him share the impact of the Emperor Qi, the six-colored light flickering uncertainly under the pressure of the Emperor Qi.

He endured that pain, which was akin to being sliced by a thousand knives, for seven whole days.

His body became tougher under the repeated tempering of the Emperor Qi, and his cultivation surged from the early stage of Eight-Star to the peak of Eight-Star under the infusion of Emperor Qi, only one step away from Nine-Star.

But the Emperor Qi body-tempering was only the prelude to the third trial.

When he stood up from the ocean of Emperor Qi, a humanoid puppet several zhang tall slowly walked out from the depths of the cave.

That was a guardian puppet driven by Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's own remnant soul, with a cultivation level at the peak of Nine-Star Dou Sheng.

The puppet had no sentience and would only instinctively attack any intruder trying to approach the core of the inheritance.

Xiao Yan took a deep breath, gripped the xuan heavy ruler in his hand, stomped his feet on the ground, and his figure turned into a six-colored lightning bolt as he rushed toward the puppet.

There was no way back in this battle; either defeat the puppet to obtain the Ancient Emperor's inheritance, or die at the hands of the puppet.

Fire Spirit let out a clear cry on his shoulder, and six types of Heavenly Flames danced in his palms; he knew this would be the most difficult battle of his life.

Soul Realm, deep within the Myriad Soul Origin Pool.

Hun Feng sat cross-legged in that churning ocean of golden energy, the blood-colored light of the Heaven-Slaying Flame flickering on his body like a heartbeat.

A considerable amount of time had passed since he stepped into this forbidden area.

During this time, he was completely immersed in the absorption and refining of energy, and the passage of time in the outside world had long lost its meaning to him.

The power of the bloodline origin contributed by the clan heads wove into a brilliant light net in the pool, enveloping him completely.

He could clearly feel the Emperor Qi within his body condensing into shape at an extremely slow but steady speed—the fragments of the Emperor's Origin in everyone's bloodline had long merged into his soul, and at this moment, under the catalysis of the Myriad Soul Origin Pool, they were stitching together layer by layer, like an ancient painting torn for ten thousand years being reassembled by an invisible pair of hands.

The bottleneck of the mid-stage Nine-Star had long been trampled under his feet, and the threshold of the late-stage Nine-Star had been crossed not long ago.

Now he was only one step away from the peak of Nine-Star.

One day of cultivation in the pool was worth fifty days in the outside world.

The essence of the ancient Dou Di Bloodline and countless soul origins intertwined into the purest torrent of energy.

These energies did not need to be refined and could be directly absorbed by the Soul Clan bloodline, perfectly solving the problem of unstable foundations caused by rapid breakthroughs.

He even had a feeling—if he were to leave seclusion now and fight Void Swallowing Flame, relying on the natural suppression of the Heavenly Flame origin by the Heaven-Slaying Flame, plus the soul advantage of his mid-stage Emperor Realm Soul, he was confident of remaining invincible.

But this was not enough; what he wanted was not invincibility, but crushing dominance.

He slowly opened his eyes, and blood-colored light flashed deep in his pupils.

It was close; he was only one step away from the peak of Nine-Star.

He knew that the moment he stepped out of this pool of water would be the moment he reached the Emperor Realm.