Douluo Continent: The Ruler of Time, Reigning Supreme

Chapter 137 Hyotei on the Verge of Death
Although he escaped death, the terrifying destructive energy contained in the Arrow of Divine Punishment still severely damaged Hyotei's heart meridian and most of his life force in an instant.

"Ugh—!"

The intense pain and the feeling of life rapidly slipping away caused Hyotei to let out an extremely shrill scream.

The effect of the bipolar static field reached its limit at this moment and shattered with a crash.

The backlash from the shattered domain caused Yue Guan and Gui Mei to cough up mouthfuls of blood simultaneously, completely losing their fighting ability and collapsing to the ground.

Meanwhile, Hyotei, relying on the tenacious vitality of a ferocious beast and extreme rage, forcibly suppressed her injuries the instant her domain disappeared.

"Roar--!!!!!"

A roar, seemingly from the ancient wilderness, reverberated through the sky.

A bright green light shot into the sky.

The Ice Emperor's figure rapidly expanded and deformed in the light, instantly revealing her true form—an Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion over ten meters long, its entire body as dazzling as imperial green jade, radiating endless majesty and terror.

The golden arrow piercing her heart was particularly glaring against her massive body, but at this moment, the Ice Emperor had been fully unleashed her ferocity as the overlord of the far north.

"You all deserve to die!!!"

A violent mental fluctuation swept in all directions, her huge emerald green scorpion eyes filled with madness and destruction.

'Eternal Ice Prison.'

This was her most powerful attack, burning her very essence.

Centered on her enormous scorpion body, the energy of ultimate ice erupted without reservation.

The earth was torn apart with a roar, and countless huge ice spikes, several meters thick and as sharp as divine weapons, burst forth from the ground like a forest, piercing straight into the sky.

The snowflakes in the sky froze instantly, then shot indiscriminately towards the ground like billions of ice arrows.

Within a radius of several kilometers, it instantly transformed into a deathly ice prison of absolute zero.

The Light Feather Douluo, who had just arrived nearby, changed his expression drastically and quickly retreated, raising his soul power shield.

The already weakened Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo were utterly powerless to withstand this devastating outburst.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A series of explosions and the sound of ice crystals shattering rang out, interspersed with short, shrill screams from Yue Guan and the ghost.

When they were forcibly dragged out of the ice spikes by the Light Feather Douluo, they were already on the verge of death, their bodies were mangled beyond recognition, and they were almost unrecognizable as human.

When the terrifying attack gradually subsided, all that remained was a bottomless crater filled with jagged ice spikes and an intense, lingering chill.

The enormous figure of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion had long since vanished, leaving behind only a mess and an overwhelming, impenetrable aura of ice, interfering with all tracking methods.

Light Feather Douluo, carrying the barely alive Yue Guan and Gui Mei, hovered in mid-air, looking at the desolate land before him. For the first time, a look of helplessness and headache appeared on his handsome face.

He rubbed his temples and muttered to himself:
"Oh no... Hyotei escaped! I hope my brother won't blame me..."

He tried to sense Hyotei's whereabouts, but the scene was filled with the remnants of Hyotei's violent energy and bloodlust, making it impossible to discern which direction she had fled.

"never mind……"

Guangling Douluo sighed, glanced at the two "pieces of junk" he was carrying, and then touched his smooth chin.

"She was struck by my arrow 'Divine Punishment - Annihilation,' her heart was pierced, and her very essence was eroded by my power... If nothing unexpected happens, she won't live much longer, right?"

As if trying to convince himself, he whispered:
"Hmm, Hyotei is doomed. That should count as... mission accomplished, right?"

The sound gradually faded into the wind and snow. The Light Feather Douluo, carrying Chrysanthemum and Ghost, transformed into a streak of light and left the icy plain that had thwarted his mission. Shortly after his departure, in the endless blizzard, a staggering, blood-stained, emerald-green figure struggled forward with its last vestige of will.

She still held the snow lotus, which emitted a faint glow, tightly in her arms.

In a dimly lit, quiet room at the headquarters of the Holy Spirit Cult.

Xia Die slowly opened her eyes, which had returned to their original purple color, revealing a deep weariness.

She raised her hand and rubbed her throbbing temples hard, feeling as if her mental energy had been drained, with a series of needle-like stings.

Even with the assistance of the Death Ruler, Ronawa, the cost of forcibly modifying the cognition of a level 96 Super Douluo through the "True Blood of Myriad Businesses" across such a vast distance far exceeded her expectations.

This is not only a depletion of soul power, but also a kind of exploitation of the spiritual essence.

"Finally... it's over."

She murmured to herself, her voice slightly hoarse.

His gaze seemed to pierce through the void once more, landing on that icy, snow-covered land. "Next, we'll see what happens over there..."

All she did was forcefully tear open a tiny, unpredictable crack in a seemingly hopeless situation.

"Hopefully, the 'story' will continue to be 'written' smoothly."

She exhaled softly, closed her eyes again, and began to focus all her energy on regulating her breathing to recover her depleted mental strength.

...

The far north ice plains, an unknown corner.

"Okay, let's go quickly then."

Seeing that Yin Chen agreed, Zhang Lexuan felt somewhat relieved and no longer hesitated.

She took a deep breath of the cold air, trying to suppress the fear in her heart caused by the terrifying explosion in the distance. Relying on her strong sense of direction as a Contra user and her repeated confirmation of the constellations and terrain during her evasion, she chose a direction and quickly moved forward with Yin Chen.

She was confident that she wouldn't get lost in this white, deathly world.

Yin Chen followed silently behind her, his footsteps crunching softly on the snow.

His gaze was calm, occasionally sweeping across his surroundings; no one knew what he was thinking.

If someone could look down from the highest point in the sky, they would discover an astonishing coincidence—Zhang Lexuan's chosen escape route and the emerald green figure carrying a snow lotus and staggering away were approaching each other in the same direction.

The threads of fate, unseen and unknowing, quietly converge.

"Crunch... crunch..."

The sound of footsteps was exceptionally clear on the silent ice field.

Suddenly, Zhang Lexuan, who was walking in front, stopped abruptly, her body frozen in place as if she were encased in ice.

A terrifying sense of crisis, originating from the deepest part of her soul and almost suffocating her, swept over her like a tsunami, instantly overwhelming all her senses.

This feeling... was several times stronger than the one she had experienced in the Star Dou Great Forest when she was hunting souls with the inner court team and unfortunately encountered that 100,000-year-old soul beast, resulting in the deaths of eight of the twelve inner court disciples and her own near-death experience.

That was the despair of facing an absolutely insurmountable, destructive force.

Her pupils contracted sharply, her hair stood on end, and her gaze was fixed on a small figure not far ahead—a petite figure with emerald green twin ponytails leaning against an ice wall.

(End of this chapter)