Chapter 640: Seven-Layered Soul Foundation
Summer Flame was feeling extremely depressed. He had been focusing fully on Lady Shura and Zhu Changchuang as he knew the puppet's appearance also signified that Xiang Shaoyun was present. And he got that right.
What he did not expect was the appearance of a tiny snake that had injured Zhu Changchuang with one bite. In fact, he did notice the snake approaching. He had merely assumed that the snake was merely some wild snake demon from the forest. Surprisingly, the snake was part of the rescue team as well.
Furthermore, he had confidence that Zhu Changchuang would be able to notice the snake as a third-stage Dragon Ascension Realm cultivator. However, the snake had suddenly gone mad and moved at an inconceivable speed that had caught Zhu Changchuang by complete surprise.
By that time, it was too late for Summer Flame to save Zhu Changchuang. The only thing he could do was kill both the woman and the snake. But even that he had failed in doing.
Yu Lin's betrayal had delayed him, and by the time he killed Yu Lin and his other attack landed, Lady Shura and the snake had vanished. The fact that not even a drop of blood remained made it clear that the two had been rescued.
"Who is it?" Summer Flame soared to the sky and roared.
He spread his senses in all directions and found nothing as if his enemies had vanished into thin air. Unwilling to accept it, he kept scanning his surroundings and finally found something. Somewhere considerably far away, he sensed the existence of a human. He flew over and instantly arrived above Xiang Shaoyun.
"Haha, Xiang Shaoyun, you are indeed here! Just surrender!" said Summer Flame as he howled with laughter, forming an energy palm to grab Xiang Shaoyun.
Xiang Shaoyun cursed, "How unlucky am I?"
Without any hesitation, he released his Nether Soul Domain once again.
Facing absolute superiority in strength, that was his final trump card. If not even the Nether Soul Domain could help him, there would no longer be any way out for him. The moment the Nether Soul Domain appeared, it surrounded and weakened Summer Flame's attack. Within the domain, numerous chains shot out and blasted the attack into pieces. However, Xiang Shaoyun could feel an intense explosion within his Nether Soul Domain, giving him a sensation that the domain was about to burst apart.
"Soul power? Has that kid reached the Soul Foundation Realm?" Summer Flame exclaimed in astonishment as he released his soul foundation.
Instantly, a sparkling and translucent soul foundation with seven layers appeared, exuding a powerful soul suppression that pressed down on Xiang Shaoyun.
With the appearance of his soul foundation, Summer Flame was finally able to sense what Xiang Shaoyun was doing. He cried out in alarm, "Isn't this the Imperial Nether Clan's Nether Soul Domain?"
Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Xiang Shaoyun charged Summer Flame and expanded his Nether Soul Domain, attempting to envelop Summer Flame.
Summer Flame could see what Xiang Shaoyun was trying to do. He sneered, "I don't care how you got this Nether Soul Domain, but before absolute strength, everything you try is pointless. Crush!"
An exceedingly formidable soul power flowed out of his seven-layered soul foundation, to the point the soul power seemed to have solidified. The power crashed into Xiang Shaoyun's Nether Soul Domain.
He was underestimating Xiang Shaoyun, as he was only using his soul foundation instead of his own strength to attack. Of course, he had the strength to back his arrogance. The Nether Soul Domain directly collapsed before it could even lock in its target, and Xiang Shaoyun felt a massive impact in his head, assaulting him with a dizzying pain that made him feel like his head was going to explode.
"Ghostrunes, come out." Unable to maintain the Nether Soul Domain, Xiang Shaoyun was forced to reveal his final secret.
Instantly, 8,000 ghostrunes appeared. A massive amount of soul power transformed into an ocean of needles before shooting toward Summer Flame's soul foundation.
"Shit! Ghostrunes!" Summer Flame exclaimed in alarm.
He withdrew his soul foundation without any hesitation. The ghostrunes specialized in soul attacks, but Summer Flame wouldn't be so nervous if there were only one or two ghostrunes.
But there were thousands. If he let them hit his soul foundation, they would destroy it completely. In truth, he had been too nervous. If he had attacked with his full power when the ghostrunes had appeared, he could have eliminated all risks.
But his priority in withdrawing his soul foundation instead of killing the ghostrunes had allowed them to turn into a great threat. An endless rain of soul needles stabbed into his soul foundation.
Initially, Summer Flame was able to hang on in face of their attacks, but as the needles continued to rain down, his defenses crumbled and his soul foundation swayed, scaring him even more.
If his soul foundation was damaged, even his cultivation level would drop. With a terrified yell, Summer Flame started fleeing with his soul foundation at the fastest speed possible. Naturally, the ghostrunes were incapable of stopping his escape. They did not bother to try. Instead, they quickly converged around Xiang Shaoyun as they fled together. Xiang Shaoyun quickly used the soul raising stone, soul spring, and his filthless soul to reconstruct his Nether Soul Domain.
However, the recovery speed was too slow for his liking. Inwardly, he thought, Summer Flame will definitely return. The puppet won't be able to stop Winter Frost for long, either. I need to think of something.
At that thought, his gaze landed on the two stalks of ghostblooms in his astral cosmos sea. One of them had matured long ago, while the other was near maturity. He first obtained the ghostbloom at the Land of Soul Springs, while the second ghostbloom had subsequently grown out of the first stalk.
Now, his only way of quickly reconstructing the Nether Soul Domain was by consuming a ghostbloom and increasing his soul power. It was his only option to increase his chances of saving himself.
He quickly consumed the mature ghostbloom, sending strands of medicinal power to his filthless soul. The filthless soul had already reached the Sovereign Realm prior to this. Nourished by the power of the ghostbloom, it started to grow rapidly yet again.
The Nether Soul Domain reformed as well. With the recovery of both his filthless soul and Nether Soul Domain, Xiang Shaoyun's bloodline power was once again filled with vitality. He would have no problem going invisible right now.
The absorption of the ghostbloom had yet to end, but Xiang Shaoyun was too busy to focus on that. Instead, he hurriedly withdrew all the ghostrunes. Although the ghostrunes could temporarily obstruct Summer Flame, after he overcame his initial shock, he would definitely return with vengeance.
Xiang Shaoyun had no intention of sacrificing the ghostrunes like that. Unsurprisingly, both Winter Frost and Summer Flame were heading toward him at the same time.
"Xiang Shaoyun, you won't be able to escape us!" Winter Frost shouted from far away.
"Damn it! I refuse to believe I can't escape," Xiang Shaoyun cursed as he pulled out a unique weapon.