At the very last moment, Feng Lintao used the extraordinary black shield and a secret magic to get to safety and put some distance between himself and his opponents. Of course, he paid a heavy price to do so. He got closer to his comrade, but not too close. Keeping a few dozen meters between the two of them, he shivered and then coughed up a mouthful of blood. His face was pale and his expression grim. From the look of it, his vital energy had been damaged.

Lan Yao hadn’t made a single move up to this point. She was actually shocked at what was happening, but suppressed that. “Fellow Daoist Feng, can you really not handle two simple Void Returning cultivators?”

Feng Lintao snorted coldly. “There’s no need to ask such questions, Fellow Daoist Lan. You saw with your own eyes that these two little punks aren’t ordinary individuals. What’s more, they’re obviously used to working together. You’re just trying to get me worked up, aren’t you?” He smiled grimly. “In the hopes of seeing what trump cards I have? Well, there’s no need for trickery like that.”

Lan Yao laughed softly. “You’re thinking too much into it, Fellow Daoist Feng. I was just curious! Our deal is still in place. Why would I do something like that?”

Feng Lintao didn’t provide any reply other than another cold snort. He wasn’t surprised at all that Lan Yao hadn’t stepped in to help him. They were working together, nothing more. And yet, for her to ridicule him in his current bedraggled state was very irritating, which was why he had ceased to be so polite.

As of now, he was taking Xu Qing and the Captain very seriously. He was a cultivator from the holy lands, with a Smoldering God cultivation base. Granted, his cultivation base had been sealed before he came to this place, which limited him to two-world strength. But to him, even Void Returning cultivators with powerful trump cards should have been easy to wipe out. Except, things were different now.

He wasn’t the only one who had assessed the situation in that manner. That was why his companion Lan Yao had stood to the side and refrained from interfering. Even she had assumed that Feng Lintao would have no trouble in this situation.

They really couldn’t be to blame for that. If the two of them had been facing one of Revered Ancient’s Smoldering Gods, they wouldn’t have acted so casually. But Xu Qing and the Captain looked like nothing more than first-stage Void Returning cultivators. Given that, it might not have made sense to disregard them, but it definitely didn’t make sense to take them very seriously. Because of all that, what actually happened left both of them shocked.

Eyes glittering as he sized up Xu Qing and the Captain, Feng Lintao projected a message to Lan Yao. “These two must be extraordinary individuals in the Revered Ancient mainland…. Even in the holy lands, they would be considered chosen. Fellow Daoist Lan, aren’t you fond of strangling chosen to death? Why don’t we work together on this?”

Lan Yao chuckled. “They’re human. It’s not strange at all for humans to have chosen like this. As for working together to fight them, well, you went out of your way to try to kill them, Fellow Daoist Feng. That has nothing to do with me! That said, considering our deal, I guess it makes sense for me to lend a helping hand.”

Feng Lintao’s eyes glittered as he looked at Xu Qing and the Captain. All of a sudden, he waved his right hand, causing intense rumbling sounds to echo out as a host of black clouds appeared. Shockingly, the black clouds were actually formed of numerous black centipedes with ghost faces on their backs, all of them roughly the size of an arm. They were incomparably ferocious, and their piercing cries hurt Xu Qing’s ears, and caused a very serious expression to appear on the Captain’s face. There were no less than tens upon tens of thousands of them.

After they appeared, Feng Lintao waved his hand, and the ghost-face centipedes massed together and swept toward Xu Qing and the Captain.

Little Shadow was there on the ground, but its range seemed to be affected by the massive pressure.

The moment the ghost-face centipedes began their charge, the Captain raised his hand, and the blue light that had been concealing him flickered and rose into the air. Wherever it went, a power of frigid coldness spread out, freezing heaven and earth, and sealing all living beings.

The centipedes bore the brunt of the attack, and they slowed down. That said, they didn’t seem any less ferocious than before, and they even fought back, spitting out fire that spread everywhere. The frigid power was exceptional, but there wasn’t quite enough of it to deal with so many of the centipedes and the seas of fire that they spat out.

As the two forces clashed, countless shadows on the ground spread out to target… the shadows cast by the cloud of centipedes!

The power of possession suddenly erupted!

Next, Xu Qing and the Captain shot forth, one from the left, the other from the right. Both closed in directly on Feng Lintao. After things went poorly earlier, Feng Lintao had clearly come to think of these two opponents as equals. As a result, he had not only unleashed the ghost-face centipedes, but had also tapped into his cultivation base. All of a sudden, two black balls of fire appeared above his shoulders! Astonishingly, he had a major world on each shoulder, glittering as they pulsed with terrifying auras.

Even more astounding was that he had three additional balls of black fire, one above each hand and one above his head. However, those three fireballs were dim, as if they were covered with fog, or perhaps sealed. It was the same with the major worlds within the balls of fire.

“Five-world Smoldering God!” Xu Qing said with a sharp inhalation.

“But three worlds are sealed. Why?” The Captain was surprised, but that surprise was quickly overtaken by curiosity. After exchanging a glance with Xu Qing, he sped up.

As the two of them closed in, they unleashed divine abilities. The Captain’s blue light shone with unprecedented brightness, to the point where it almost seemed possible to discern a major world within it. As for Xu Qing, he had unleashed 40,000,000 soul threads, which quickly formed the same amazing world he had used in his fight with Sir Firedark.

It was a majestic world filled with a hundred godly pillars to prop up heaven, and it had three extraordinary types of godly authority. As the might of the world surged, it joined the Captain to race toward Feng Lintao with deadly force.

Seeing that, Lan Yao’s expression suddenly became far graver than before.

It was the same with Feng Lintao, whose pupils constricted. And yet, killing intent still proliferated in his eyes.

“So you really are chosen. Each of you is a Void Returning cultivator who can summon the world of a Smoldering God! Well, that’s fine. Now I’ll just have to show you what happens when an inferior offends a superior!’

The two worlds above Feng Lintao’s shoulders rumbled as they shot forward in illusory form toward Xu Qing and the Captain.

At the same time, Feng Lintao took a deep breath, then exhaled a stream of silver light that spread out to cover him until he looked like he was pure silver. After that, the silver light erupted, turning into something like a sharp blade that slashed out with terrifying pressure. As a result, Xu Qing’s soul threads that made up his major world started rumbling. Unexpectedly, it looked like the silver light was capable of cutting through them. It was the same with the blue light of the Captain’s world. The silver light was truly spectacular.

“It’s the light of the holy lands, little Junior Brother!” the Captain blurted, his pupils constricting. “Fall back!”

He immediately shot backward at top speed.

Xu Qing’s expression flickered. He had no idea what the ‘light of the holy lands’ was, but he did know that the term ‘holy lands’ represented something monumental. That said, he could tell that there was something a bit off about the Captain’s behavior. Based on what he knew of the Captain, this just wasn’t something the Captain would do. After all, they still had more trump cards, most notably, the emperor’s corpse!

Eldest Brother must have some trick up his sleeve…. With that thought in mind, Xu Qing plastered a shocked look onto his face and started fleeing.

“So you know about the light of the holy lands. Interesting.” Feng Lintao, who looked like he was made from silver, laughed coldly. Suddenly, he vanished, only to appear right in front of the Captain. He thrust his hand out.

The blue light surrounding the Captain collapsed, and the Captain himself seemed to vanish from existence.

“Hmm?” Feng Lintao’s eyes glittered as he vanished again. This time, he reappeared right in front of the fleeing Xu Qing. He thrust his hand out again.

Power surged around Xu Qing, and the world of soul threads in front of him collapsed as the hand smashed through it and landed on his chest.

At the same time, a thump rang out as Xu Qing was sent flying back several hundred meters. His face was pale, but he didn’t seem to have any injuries. The glittering Grand Darkheaven Armor was combined with the Ninedawns skulls that circled around him, as well as his god body. Coupled with the copied version of the Undying Emperor’s Fist and the fleshly body blessing it provided, Xu Qing’s defenses were at a terrifying level.

Feng Lintao was completely and utterly shocked. “Such defenses… Fine, let’s see you survive some magical laws without getting hurt!”

He snorted coldly as he made a grasping gesture. In response, innumerable threads appeared in the air, swirling around to form an immense web. The web was made from natural laws, and the silver light made it completely silver as it spread out. It slashed through anything in its path.

Xu Qing’s cultivation base was in full rotation, and the power of his defenses were at the limit. When he made contact with the web, piercing sounds rang out as his fleshly body power fought back. However, he couldn’t stop himself from being forced backward.

As the web shot forward, Feng Lintao focused on the spot where the Captain had disappeared, and tried to force the Captain out into the open.

The moment the Captain appeared, he self-detonated, turning into a host of innumerable blue worms that surrounded the skeletal hand. Then, the hand shot toward Feng Lintao with shocking speed. It moved with astonishing speed and force. Frigid coldness spread out as the skeletal hand smashed through the silver light, closed in on Feng Lintao, then viciously grabbed him. At the same time, the worms opened their mouths and spat out frigid energy.

In the blink of an eye, the light of the holy lands was pierced through, and Feng Lintao’s face fell. Though he managed to block the skeletal hand, he couldn’t stop the all-enveloping frigid energy. Unending coldness spread out, instantly affecting him.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered with killing intent as he unhesitatingly lifted his right hand. A blood-colored dagger appeared, with a vicious face on it. He slashed the dagger toward his enemy.

A swishing sound rang out. The net of magical laws was slashed apart by the dagger. And then, in the time it takes a spark to fly off a piece of flint, Xu Qing appeared right behind Feng Lintao. The dagger slashed through his throat!

Feng Lintao’s face fell even more dramatically. At the same time, Lan Yao, who had only been watching up to this point, narrowed her eyes and lifted her hand. Instantly, a host of flower petals covered the spot where the other three were fighting.

Lan Yao took a step forward. Clearly she was planning to join the action.

However, there was no way Xu Qing and the Captain would let Lan Yao do something like that. The moment she began to take action, a blue spine materialized in front of her and lashed viciously toward her.

At the same time, the ghost-face centipedes that were spitting out fire to deal with the blue light suddenly switched to face Lan Yao. They had been taken over by Little Shadow!

All of a sudden, the blue light shifted, turning into a barrier that surrounded Lan Yao!