The Glory of the Sun and Moon in the Peerless Tang Sect

At that time, his soul power cultivation had already reached level 89, only one step away from becoming a Title Douluo. Xu Zihuang's father was also a Soul Douluo whose cultivation was not much inferior to his. In addition, with a complete set of high-quality soul bones bestowed upon him by the old emperor of the Sun Moon Empire and his own powerful Purple Emperor Annihilation Dragon Martial Soul, his combat strength was even stronger than that of an ordinary Title Douluo.

Although evil spirit masters are unpredictable, given their strength, if the two of them were determined to escape, it wouldn't be easy for those two newly promoted Title Douluo evil spirit masters to stop them. However, they weren't the only ones present at the time; Xu Zihuang's mother was also there.

Of course, they eventually escaped from those two evil Douluos, otherwise Xu Zihuang wouldn't be where he is today.

However, Wang Xiao paid a heavy price for protecting Xu Zihuang's parents. It took him nearly ten years to recover. Moreover, he was poisoned by the natal poison of one of the Evil Douluo, suffering not only from the intense pain of the poison corroding his internal organs and bones, but also from the difficulty in improving his soul power cultivation.

After returning to the Sun Moon Empire, for some reason, Xu Zihuang's father concealed the matter and then, under the pretext of having Wang Xiao assist in handling matters in the fiefdom, sent him away from Mingdu to recuperate in the south of the Sun Moon Empire.

Wang Xiao was certain that no information had been leaked, because from the time he returned to Mingdu until he left, only Xu Zihuang's parents and another healing-type Soul Master who was unlikely to have leaked the news knew that he was seriously injured.

Judging from Hai Xiao's reaction, he is clearly aware of what happened back then. The source of this information can only be the other two insiders, those two Evil Douluos.

The eight spirit rings around Wang Xiao's body began to pulsate rapidly, and the dark attribute domain he had used earlier once again spread outwards from his body, the chilling killing intent in his eyes hard to conceal.

"It seems that you also relied on the power of those evil spirit masters during the palace coup three years ago. Colluding with those inhuman evil spirit masters to usurp the throne?!"

Hai Xiao's stiff face changed for a moment, and his fists clenched and unclenched unconsciously.

Wang Xiao is right; the palace coup three years ago was indeed orchestrated by evil soul masters. Otherwise, how could the palace, protected by the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Corps, have been so easily breached?

He also knew which evil spirit masters had slaughtered the people of the Sun Moon Empire, and he felt a deep-seated hatred for them. But beyond that, he had to be loyal to his lord first and foremost.

Hai Xiao swung his right arm back sharply, causing his armor to clang and produce a crisp metallic sound, as if trying to shake off the last trace of hesitation in his heart.

A blue-purple electric net raged around his body the moment he swung his arm, and a huge, strange, bluish-purple fish phantom appeared behind him.

The grotesque fish phantom was entirely bluish-purple, with a large, bat-like body and a dark tail with sharp spikes. The bluish-purple electric net emanated from the spikes at the end of its tail.

Purple Thunder Manta Ray—this is Hai Xiao's martial soul. The manta ray, also known as the devil ray, is an extremely ferocious and powerful soul beast of the sea.

Even the usually gregarious groups of Demon Soul Great White Sharks and Demon Orcas would give a wide berth to a fully grown manta ray with a cultivation level of ten thousand years. While the Demon Soul Great White Sharks and Demon Orcas are powerful enough to be largely immune to toxins, they are particularly wary of the terrifying venom attached to the spikes on the manta ray's tail.

Hai Xiao's martial soul, the Purple Thunder Bat Ray, is an anomaly among them, possessing both water and thunder attributes.

"Royal matters are not something a nobody like me can meddle in. As far as I'm concerned, it's enough that the Sun Moon Empire is still ruled by the royal family. His Highness Prince Zhengxuan once did me a favor. Although I knew about the palace coup back then, I didn't participate. Wang Xiao, you don't need to question me like this." The hesitation in Hai Xiao's eyes gradually disappeared, and he calmly looked up at Wang Xiao.

"We're just serving our own masters. Although I don't know how you found out where His Highness is being held, the fact that you've brought the remnants of the Imperial Dragon Soul Master Corps here today means that only one of us can survive."

"Don't you care about the countless people of our Sun Moon Empire who have been slaughtered by evil soul masters?" Wang Xiao sneered, his sharp eyes seemingly trying to see through Hai Xiao's thoughts.

Hai Xiao couldn't help but frown, and the raging blue-purple electric net around his body became even denser, just like his current mood.

He wasn't as calm as he appeared.

Wang Xiao's words struck a chord with him. Born a commoner, he possessed an unusually powerful talent and martial spirit. Precisely because of his humble origins, he understood the hardships faced by ordinary people in the Sun Moon Empire. The rampaging sea spirit beasts, the evil spirit masters who indiscriminately slaughtered civilians, and the frequent wars with the Heavenly Soul and Star Luo Empires that displaced countless people—the continent appeared peaceful, but beneath the surface, undercurrents surged.

His initial motivation for joining the army after graduating from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy was to protect his compatriots. However, the lord he was loyal to secretly colluded with those evil soul masters, and he always felt guilty about this, as if his firmly held beliefs had collapsed in an instant. But the long-standing ideology of loyalty to the lord instilled in him made it difficult for him to resist.

He voluntarily left Mingdu, the center of power of the Sun and Moon Empire, and came to this desolate island. Wasn't he also thinking of escaping?

Wang Xiao chuckled, then flapped his wings, let out a tiger's roar, and charged towards Hai Xiao with overwhelming ferocity.

Perhaps it was somewhat despicable of him to gain the upper hand by saying these things that made Hai Xiao doubt himself, but to reduce the sacrifice of his subordinates, he didn't care about saving face. Besides, this was a life-or-death confrontation after all.

Hai Xiao reacted instantly, casting aside his thoughts, and unleashed his powerful soul force mixed with violent blue-purple lightning, heading straight for the menacing Wang Xiao.

Two yellow, three purple, and three black spirit rings—also eight spirit rings—but the ring configuration is clearly inferior to Wang Xiao's. The seventh black spirit ring has become increasingly deep in color. Enveloped in dense blue-purple lightning, a strange fish over ten meters long materialized out of thin air and appeared above the island. The fish's back was bluish-purple, its belly snow-white, and its mouth and gills formed a bizarre human face.

Faced with such a powerful Wang Xiao, he certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to hold back.

While the Sun Moon Empire places greater emphasis on soul tools, higher-level soul masters ultimately prioritize their own martial soul in battle. After all, both soul masters and soul masters are built upon their own martial soul.

While the Martial Soul True Body appears imposing, for Soul Masters of Wang Xiao and Hai Xiao's caliber, maintaining its state for over half an hour without using other Soul Skills is sufficient. Using other Soul Skills and powerful Soul Tools that consume vast amounts of Soul Power, amplified by the subsequent enhancement of the Martial Soul True Body, is actually the final decisive measure.

The reason why the two chose to fight in the sky high above the island using their Martial Soul True Forms was to avoid accidentally injuring their subordinates and Xu Zihuang, who was still in the castle.

Chapter 9 Battle Situation

The battle between two Soul Douluo-level powerhouses was about to erupt, as if the dim night sky had been sliced ​​open. On one side was deep, lightless darkness, and on the other, lightning flashed. In their Martial Soul True Form forms, each collision between the two unleashed terrifying shockwaves and roars. Even the small island, which was not large to begin with, began to tremble slowly. Wave after wave swept in, gradually washing away the bloodstains remaining on the port walls.

Meanwhile, the more than twenty Imperial Dragon Soul Master Corps soldiers with Soul Emperor cultivation levels or above who had come with Wang Xiao also engaged in battle with the West Sea Soul Master Corps soldiers who had gathered there.

In terms of numbers, the West Sea Soul Master Corps naturally has the advantage.

As one of the elite Soul Master Corps of the Sun Moon Empire, the number of soldiers is two hundred at full strength. Even though a small squad on the city wall was wiped out by Wang Xiao and his group, at least one hundred and sixty people still remain.

After removing the twenty-odd soldiers left to guard Xu Zihuang in the castle, the West Sea Soul Master Corps still had almost seven times the strength of Wang Xiao and his group.

However, in terms of overall cultivation level, the West Sea Soul Master Corps was clearly inferior. The elite members of the Imperial Dragon Soul Master Corps brought by Wang Xiao were all Soul Emperors with a cultivation level of over level 60, while the West Sea Soul Master Corps had less than ten people with a cultivation level of over level 60 at most.

Battles between Soul Masters and Soul Masters differ from those between armies; numbers don't guarantee absolute advantage, and individual strength is far more important. After all, Soul Masters possess incredibly diverse Martial Souls and countless Soul Skills. Coordinating with each other is far more challenging than one might imagine.

In team battles like those long-standing traditions in the Douluo Continent, each team typically has no more than seven members. And even for such a small team of seven, achieving perfect teamwork often requires years of practice and coordination.

The twenty-odd members of the Imperial Dragon Soul Master Corps were divided into small teams of three to five, effectively isolating the soldiers of the West Sea Soul Master Corps. While fighting independently in their small teams, they also coordinated with each other. Through their combined strength and perfect teamwork, they forced the West Sea Soul Master Corps into a relentless retreat.

This is enough to give a glimpse into just how powerful the original Imperial Dragon Soul Mentor Corps was.

"Don't panic! They only have twenty-odd people, and their consumption will definitely be greater than ours. As long as we continue to wear them down, the advantage will gradually shift in our favor." A steady voice rang out from directly in front of the West Sea Soul Master Corps.

Upon hearing the familiar voice, the panicked Western Sea Soul Guide soldiers instinctively looked towards the source of the sound with delight.

"The deputy division commander of the 'Arrow Battalion'!"

It was a middle-aged man with a red face, also wearing dark blue armor. He looked considerably older than Hai Xiao. He was only about 1.6 meters tall, with an extremely muscular build, but strangely, his limbs were disproportionately thin compared to his body.

The middle-aged man with a red face was hunched over, his entire body covered in pentagonal, white-gray scales that extended from his face to his back, forming a hemispherical armor behind him. This enormous hemispherical armor even almost completely covered his limbs.

The newcomer was Qiu Ying, the deputy division commander of the West Sea Soul Master Corps. His cultivation level was second only to Hai Xiao, making him a genuine Soul Saint-level expert.

The appearance of the Armadillo Camp acted as a reassurance, allowing the West Sea Soul Master Corps, whose formation was on the verge of collapse, to quickly regroup.

The three Imperial Dragon Soul Master Corps soldiers closest to Qiu Ying instantly turned grim. One of them, a gaunt young man wielding a blue soul guide rapier in both hands, even flashed a ruthless glint in his eyes. The only black soul ring beside him, ranked sixth, shone brightly, transforming into more than ten blue afterimages that attacked Qiu Ying's neck from behind.

"Sixth Soul Skill, Azure Shadow Devour!"

"Aoki! Don't be impulsive! That old man's martial soul is an armadillo, it's not so easy to break through his defenses!" The middle-aged man next to Aoki, who looked obviously composed, hurriedly tried to stop him, but unfortunately his martial soul was not good at speed, and he couldn't stop him in time.

In an instant, more than ten azure afterimages appeared behind Qiu Ying. The soul-guided slender swords in their hands poured down like fine raindrops toward Qiu Ying's neck.

"Hmph." Qiu Ying glanced sideways at Qing Mu, whose face was covered in blue scales, and gave a cold laugh. Immediately, his limbs, including his head, completely retracted into the hemispherical armor on his back. His already hunched body bent even further, his head and feet pressed tightly together, ultimately forming a complete sphere.

Immediately afterwards, the sphere covered with white-gray pentagonal scales suddenly burst up, leaped from the ground, and crashed directly into the more than ten afterimages formed by Qingmu's sixth soul skill, Qingying Shi.

As the sixth soul skill, and a ten-thousand-year-old one at that, Qingying Shi is definitely not just a simple clone skill. Each of these clones possesses fifty percent of Qingmu's own strength. However, similarly, if the clones are destroyed, Qingmu will also suffer a considerable price.

The afterimages were shattered one after another by the flying beasts, and Aoki's expression changed slightly. With a hardened heart, he controlled the afterimages to scatter in all directions.

On the other side, the two members of the Royal Dragon Soul Master Corps who were with Aoki also understood and repelled the West Sea Soul Master Corps soldiers who came to their aid.

"Boom boom boom—" A series of sonic booms from the collision of soul skills and soul tools rang out one after another, as the two of them blocked all the attacks from the soldiers of the West Sea Soul Master Corps. Behind them, Aoki was panting heavily, his face pale and full of shame.

"Brother Tang, Uncle Fu, I was reckless this time."

The man Aoki called Uncle Fu was the middle-aged man who had previously tried to dissuade him. His expression was grim, but he didn't reprimand Aoki at this moment. He merely gave a disgruntled reprimand.

"Get up! Who taught you to turn your back to the enemy during battle?!" Before he finished speaking, a soul-guided shock blast as thick as an arm shot out from his wrist, grazing close to Aoki's ear.

A soldier from the West Sea Soul Master Corps fell to the ground, his warm blood splattering all over Aoki.

Aoki stiffened as he glanced at the West Sea Soul Guild soldiers behind him, who had been reduced to a pile of minced meat. He quickly stood up, gripped the cyan soul guide swords in his hands, adjusted his aura, and assumed a defensive stance.

Qiu Ying was somewhat disappointed that he had failed to capture Qingmu, but he wasn't too bothered by it. He believed that if they could slowly wear each other down, their West Sea Soul Master Corps would eventually win.

The only prerequisite is that their division commander can hold off Wang Xiao.

Thinking of this, Qiu Ying looked up at the strange fish and the two-winged giant tiger that were fighting each other in mid-air, his expression changing.

At this moment, he was horrified to discover that his division commander was in retreat.

Chapter 10 Infiltration

But to the surprise of the soldiers of the West Sea Soul Regiment who were engaged in battle, there were more than twenty other people quietly approaching the central castle from the south side inside the city walls.

It was Yao Yang leading more than twenty other soldiers from the Imperial Dragon Soul Master Corps.

Although these soldiers' soul power cultivation was only around level fifty, they easily approached the castle's perimeter without being detected, thanks to the surrounding stone houses and the dark environment, as well as Yao Yang's fifth soul skill that allowed him to conceal his presence.

This is also what makes spirit-attribute Soul Masters so peculiar. Without the assistance of special Soul Guidance Devices that detect spiritual power, even a Soul Douluo-level expert would find it difficult to sense anything amiss.

Yao Yang observed the battle between Wang Xiao and Hai Xiao in the air, and then glanced at Qiu Ying, who was being entangled by four or five Soul Emperors from the Imperial Dragon Soul Master Corps.

Everything went as planned.

"It seems that most of the elite troops of the West Sea Soul Master Corps are currently engaged in combat, and there should not be many people left to guard the castle. After we rush into the castle, we should follow the previously planned battle plan and eliminate the West Sea Soul Master Corps' forces left inside the castle as quickly as possible. After rescuing Zi Huang, we should use this high ground to use the fixed-mounted soul guide cannons to provide fire support and annihilate the West Sea Soul Master Corps."

Xu Zihuang's identity is far too sensitive; it's impossible to allow information from here to leak out, even if it comes at a heavy price.

"Yes!" everyone agreed.

Although Yao Yang wasn't a member of the Imperial Dragon Soul Instructor Group, his formidable strength had already won everyone over. Besides, this was originally Wang Xiao's order.

The dozen or so soldiers from the West Sea Soul Regiment guarding the front of the castle were keeping a close watch on the battlefield at the eastern port, fully prepared to provide support at any time.

The squad leader, seeing the heavy casualties on his side, subconsciously swallowed.

He found it hard to believe that a mere twenty-odd soldiers from the Imperial Dragon Soul Instructor Corps possessed such terrifying combat power. If the entire Imperial Dragon Soul Instructor Corps were to arrive, it would truly be their annihilation.

Just as his mind was filled with a thousand thoughts, his body tensed up instantly, and he abruptly shifted his gaze to the southeast of the castle.

"enemy--……"

Before he could finish speaking, his eyes seemed to lose focus, and his knees collapsed to the ground.

More than twenty figures gradually appeared around the flowerbed at the main gate of the castle. Yao Yang, who was in the lead, frowned slightly, and his purple third soul ring was shining with a strong light.

He was clearly somewhat unable to understand why the squad leader in front of him, whose soul power cultivation was only around level fifty and who couldn't even project his spiritual power, could sense their presence.

What he didn't know was that this squad leader simply had a special martial soul, making him more sensitive to changes in the surrounding temperature. No matter how strong one's mental power is, it's impossible to completely isolate the body's temperature.

Yao Yang only subconsciously considered the idea, without dwelling on it too much.

He gave a slight nod to the crowd behind him, and then took the lead in rushing into the main hall on the first floor of the castle.

The spacious hall, illuminated by the light of the soul guide, was resplendent and magnificent, but the crowd clearly had no time to pay attention to it.

After looking around the hall and identifying the direction, the group went straight up the stairs.

The sound of hurried footsteps filled the air, and the entire castle instantly descended into chaos.

The situation at the main entrance would be discovered soon enough, making concealment unnecessary. Their primary objective now was to rescue Xu Zihuang as quickly as possible.

Before the group even reached the second floor, a series of footsteps and the crisp metallic clanging of armor rubbing together could be heard from afar.