"The situation is very bad."
The Fire of Life was still burning fiercely, showing no signs of extinguishing. But if it continued to burn like this, the man himself would be completely gone.
"No, I can't stop it at all!"
Soul power surged around Ye Xuanji as he continuously poured it into Du Busi's body, attempting to use a "blockading" method to stop the blazing of his Fire of Life. However, it was clearly having very little effect.
After all, Du Busi and Ye Xuanji's true cultivations were at the same level among Limit Douluos. Moreover, the current burning degree of Du Busi's Fire of Life had already reached the point of pouring oil on a blazing fire; how could someone of the same realm suppress it?
"Phew— enough, Old Ye, stop wasting your energy."
His tone was entirely free and easy, but the next second, the words from Du Busi's mouth completely shattered this free and heroic spirit.
"Damn it! Cough— You shouldn't have stopped me earlier. Cough— They escaped, I risked my life... huff— maybe I could have caught up. Damn it! Huff— Even if there was only a twenty percent chance, maybe I could have damn well blown those two beasts to death! That way, my death wouldn't have been in vain!"
Du Busi cursed endlessly, and Ye Xuanji's eyelids twitched.
He didn't pay attention to the "damn its" in the guy's mouth, nor was he interested in the "bragging" in his words.
Twenty percent?
He was afraid there wasn't even a ten percent chance!
If two Limit Douluos wanted to escape, without forming an encirclement, they simply couldn't stop or catch up to them given their circumstances, let alone whether Du Busi could even hold on until that time after burning his Fire of Life. Couldn't they see he was already failing to hold on now?!
At this moment, Du Busi looked like withered wood, his Second Awakening having completely collapsed. The Fire of Life had over-burned during that tragic battle earlier, and now it had reached the point of burning the last drops of oil. His body was riddled with a thousand holes, his aura so weak it was nearly severed. Every breath was accompanied by heavy panting, as if he could be swallowed up at any moment.
Therefore, when Chen Junting and his companion arrived, this was the scene they saw. Under the blazing oil, it would not last much longer.
"No, with your condition, I simply can't stop it at all."
Ye Xuanji suddenly let go, then pointed a finger.
Under forceful means, the burning of the Fire of Life gradually weakened. But don't misunderstand, this wasn't him temporarily stopping it.
It was that there was no more vitality left to burn!
"Disciple."
Somewhat anxious in his heart, he looked at Chen Junting beside him.
Just saying two words made Chen Junting understand his meaning. Thus, "Master, let go first, I'll take over."
As soon as these words were spoken, Ye Xuanji immediately let go.
But the moment he let go, the flames fiercely flared up.
However, this burning only lasted for this short moment.
A second later, it directly turned into a small flame.
It was also this moment that directly caused Du Busi to faint.
However, this fainting originated from the instinct of life.
Regardless of what exactly happened, what needed to be done still had to be done. Chen Junting did not hesitate. A soft, emerald-green light surged from his palm, like a babbling stream, gently wrapping around Du Busi's tottering body. The light contained the power of life, permeating thread by thread into Du Busi's body, repairing the damaged meridians and nourishing the withered source of life.
Even though these life energies would become the fuel for Du Busi's burning vitality, if he didn't do this, the man wouldn't be able to hold on.
In the current situation, Du Busi's body was enveloped in a ball of emerald-green halo. Not only was his skin cracking inch by inch, but the blood was vaporized into a blood mist by the high temperature before it could even seep out.
Chen Junting brought two fingers together like a sword, wrapped in emerald-green life energy waves, piercing into his meridians like silk threads, forcibly sustaining the Fire of Life that was on the verge of collapse. At the same time, he pinched array runes with one hand, carving lines of patterns onto Du Busi's body.
The array runes lit up, shining brilliantly. The purpose of this set of arrays was to prevent Du Busi's vitality from continuing to burn.
The heavy suppression of soul power forced the flames, which had vigorously flared up again, back down, returning them to a small flicker.
But this time's flicker was vastly different from before.
"How is the situation?"
Ye Xuanji asked, and the other Titled Douluo powerhouses gathered around.
"Only temporarily suppressed, temporarily saving his life."
"If we don't make the Fire of Life stop burning, this matter will never be resolved. After all, no matter what protection or continuation of vitality is used, it can't withstand Senior Du Busi's burning. Right now, his entire body is like a furnace. Either the fire must be extinguished to save the firewood inside, or firewood must be constantly added. But when the fire eventually burns all the firewood, only ashes will remain inside."
Ye Xuanji's brows furrowed tightly. The Titled Douluos of the Tian Hun Empire and the Body Sect beside him also looked extremely anxious, but they couldn't say a word, only casting hopeful gazes at Chen Junting.
"I can't make any guarantees, let me try first."
Chen Junting looked at Du Busi and said.
No matter what, they had to wake him up first.
If the person himself didn't wake up, who could precisely suppress it?
Thus, condensed light spots like stardust formed at Chen Junting's fingertips, gliding across Du Busi's cracked skin. Every inch he passed, those wounds resembling cracked pottery would seep out a dark purple mist, condensing into twisted phantoms in the air.
On Du Busi's body surface, brand-new array runes emerged once again. But looking at the runes carved this time, it seemed as though Du Busi's entire person was divided into four parts.
Paired with the starlight...
Whoa—
Ning Tian widened her eyes, subconsciously looking at her own limbs.
Wasn't this the Four Symbols Star Constellation Array?
Immediately, Ning Tian realized why Brother Junting had chosen to temporarily carve this array onto Du Busi's body.
Because one of the main effects of this array was—Suppression!
"Cough—"
Suddenly, Du Busi spat out a mouthful of dark green blood.
Sizzle—
The moment it splashed onto the ground, it issued a corroding sizzling sound.
Without Chen Junting needing to act, Ning Tian immediately raised her hand, sprinkling down a black light curtain, isolating the poisonous gas within.
Clearly, this mouthful of blood was caused by the fierce burning of Du Busi's Fire of Life, which had triggered violent fluctuations in one of his soul cores, leading to an uncoordinated release of the poison-attributed soul power within the soul core.
"Senior Du Busi's soul core is very unstable right now."
Chen Junting's voice rang out as the starlight at his fingertips surged.
"Seal!"
"Xiao Tian, assist me."
Ning Tian didn't speak, only taking action. Her four limbs simultaneously bloomed with four-colored radiances. These four rays of light seemed to reveal specks of starlight and issued four different yet indistinct roars.
The next second, the four-colored radiance plunged into Du Busi's body.
This move made the array runes on Du Busi's body shine grandly.
This scene was just like activating the array runes on his body.
Buzz—
Suddenly, Du Busi's skin became transparent, revealing a cyan flame burning within his chest cavity. The flame was only the size of a soybean, yet it scorched the surrounding flesh with spider-web-like burn marks.
"This is Senior Du Busi's Fire of Life!?"
Chen Junting's actions seemed to materialize Du Busi's remaining vitality, which also made Ning Tian gasp in cold shock.
"There's only this much spark left!"
"Xiao Tian, full amplification!"
A sudden sharp shout made Ning Tian act quickly.
Accompanied by soul rings lighting up circle by circle, the pagoda in her hand spun three times and floated out. The pagoda instantly enlarged in the air. In an instant, the entire area was filled with brilliant treasure light. As the pagoda drifted forward, its volume rapidly expanded. In the blink of an eye, it had transformed into a nine-colored, nine-story glazed pagoda ten meters tall, suspended in mid-air and shining brightly.
Immediately after, a faint halo shot out from Ning Tian's glabella, directly injecting into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, and her body also flickered with the same light as the pagoda.
Whoosh—
A magnificent halo surged out, directly shining onto Du Busi's body. At the same time, an emerald-green pillar of light from Chen Junting's hand was poured into the crown of Du Busi's head. Under everyone's horrified gaze, the flame in his chest gradually grew stronger.
It was also at this moment that Du Busi opened his eyes.
"This is the second time."
At this time, Du Busi's eyelids twitched slightly, and a hoarse wheeze escaped his throat, as if he had been dragged back from the edge of hell.
"You old man, stop talking nonsense first, suppress it and then speak."
Hearing Chen Junting's words, Du Busi didn't talk nonsense either.
With Chen Junting's support, Du Busi's condition improved somewhat. Coupled with Ning Tian's full amplification, this allowed Du Busi's strength to step up another negligible little step.
Purely using strength to suppress it...
Anyway, after Chen Junting safely withdrew his hands, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Among the helpers, only his state appeared slightly wilted.
Of course, this wilting was purely mental.
There was no helping it, the pressure was great.
However, the Fire of Life not burning didn't mean everything was fine.
Chen Junting said solemnly to Du Busi: "Senior, your burning of the Fire of Life is equivalent to destroying your own foundation... you won't be able to live for much longer."
Before the voice fell, Du Busi was first stunned, but then he waved his hand grandly, his face full of nonchalance. But after the nonchalance, his emotions suddenly shifted, his pupils densely covered with bloodshot.
"It doesn't matter if I can't live for much longer! I don't care about living that long anyway! As long as this time is enough for me to slaughter all those beasts, that's enough!"
He struggled to his feet but was pressed down by Ye Xuanji.
"Alright, recuperate properly first."
Then, without giving Du Busi a chance to refute, he asked: "Tell us, what exactly happened during their attack?"
It turned out that at the critical moment when Ye Xuanji and the other two rushed to the rescue, "Zhongli Wu" and the Demon Empress, seeing the situation was unfavorable, unhesitatingly led the group of evil soul masters to withdraw from the battlefield. Their retreat was clean and efficient, as if premeditated, without the slightest intention to linger in battle.
Because of this, they did not know the cause and effect.
So next, Du Busi remained silent, but the people of the Tian Hun Empire and the Body Sect slowly revealed the truth.
"At the very beginning, we also misjudged their true purpose. 'Zhongli Wu' and his group of evil soul masters actually aimed directly at the Tian Hun royal family, attempting to execute a decapitation strike. They were meticulously planned from the start. After Senior Du held off the two Limit Douluos following his outburst, to prevent external reinforcements from arriving quickly, they decisively used a Class 9 Fixed Mounted Soul Guided Cannonball to launch an attack."
At this point, a burning flame of anger ignited in the eyes of this Tian Hun Worship. "Because of this, the imperial palace was just destroyed. However, although the palace has been reduced to ruins, we don't know if there are any survivors."
His words revealed a trace of hope.
Clearly, he hoped there were survivors.
If there weren't...
Chen Junting and Ning Tian looked at each other with heavy expressions.
In the end, it was Chen Junting who spoke: "When we arrived, we only saw the giant crater; we didn't find any signs of life."
This piece of news made people feel unwilling.
So they pursued, "None at all?"
"None at all."
Hearing this, everyone's hearts grew even heavier.
After a moment of silence, they decided to head to Tian Dou City together; perhaps they could still find some survivors of the Tian Hun royal family there.
At this very moment, Tian Dou City was filled with smoke. After the imperial palace was bombarded by the Class 9 Fixed Mounted Soul Guided Cannonball, it was mostly destroyed from the center... no, to be precise, it left a giant crater, and only the outer city walls still existed in ruins.
Everywhere in the city were cries and screams...
Even though Chen Junting had resolved the vengeful spirits, it was still chaotic.
The city defense army inside could only blankly maintain order. After all, the destruction of the imperial palace had practically destroyed the backbone of the Tian Hun people.
Du Busi took the lead. When Chen Junting and the others, along with the people from the Tian Hun Empire and the Body Sect, came to the sky above Tian Dou City and saw the smoke within the city, Du Busi's face became increasingly ugly.
The once prosperous and lively Tian Dou City was now permeated with a repressive atmosphere. There were few pedestrians on the streets, and people's faces bore fear and confusion. Moreover, the closer they got to the imperial palace ruins, the stronger the smell of burning in the air became. The once magnificent imperial palace was now nothing but a ruin emitting black smoke.
Arriving before a broken wall, feeling the dark red soul power fluctuations remaining in the deep pit—these were the traces of the Class 9 Fixed Mounted Soul Guided Cannonball "Blood Corrosion." Everyone searched carefully with their spiritual power...
They could only say the situation was very bad!
The timing of the sneak attack chosen by these evil soul masters was too "good." It was exactly during the grand celebration of the Tian Hun Empire. Therefore, let alone the Tian Hun imperial family, even the civil and military officials of the Tian Hun Empire were almost entirely wiped out, all blown to death by these guys.
Subsequently, everyone did not limit themselves to the imperial palace.
When they spread out to search and carefully scoured the imperial city, not intending to miss a single corner. Just then...
"Sect Master!"
"Grandpa Du!"
Everyone looked toward the voice, and Du Busi was overjoyed. He saw Long Aotian and Princess Wei Na covered in dust, their clothes damaged. But fortunately, neither had fatal injuries, and both were still alive!
Seeing everyone arrive, the light of hope surged in Wei Na's eyes, and tears burst forth. When calling Du Busi "Grandpa," her words already carried a crying tone, enough to evoke pity from anyone who saw her.
"Aotian! Na'er!"
"Your Highness the Princess!" × N
The moment they saw the two still alive, whether it was Du Busi or the Titled Douluo powerhouses of the Tian Hun Empire and the Body Sect, their eyebrows relaxed with joy!
After all, one was the sect's successor safe and sound, and the other meant the Tian Hun royal bloodline was not completely severed!
This should be celebrated!
This should definitely be celebrated!
Thus, the people of the Body Sect and the Tian Hun Empire immediately came before them to check their conditions. Once their emotions had mostly stabilized, they asked the reason why the two of them were unharmed.
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