A little girl who couldn't even hold a dagger steadily was holding hostage a youth who didn't seem to take it seriously at all and even looked like he wanted to laugh, using him to threaten a mature woman with an unfathomable aura.
Leng Yaozhu's originally darkened expression also became somewhat caught between laughter and tears, her internal vigilance diluted significantly by a sense of absurdity.
Seeing that the other party was unconcerned,
The girl gritted her teeth and, as if to issue a warning, pressed the dagger even closer to Arthur.
"Wait, something's wrong!"
Arthur's expression changed. At this moment, his Intuition issued a warning—there was something wrong with that dagger.
In an instant, terrifying Soul Power exploded outward from his body, waves of Soul Power pushing everything in the vicinity away.
Simultaneously, his three-word battle armor covered his entire body.
The surrounding tall buildings collapsed. Leng Yaozhu didn't have time to scold Arthur for his sudden outburst; her Spiritual Power spread out to protect the affected crowd and move them away from the area.
Only then did she shout at Arthur: "What are you..."
She froze halfway through her sentence.
The dust settled.
The dagger that had just been in the little girl's hand was now a dark red color, and half of it was already buried in Arthur's left shoulder.
The battle armor at his left shoulder was shattered.
Centering from there, dark red patterns spread across Arthur's entire body, and then the dagger began to melt, drilling into the wound.
"Wait, why has the sky turned red? Eh, no!" The Holy Dragon King rushed out, freezing the melting dagger in place.
Light had been staying perfectly fine within the Sea of Consciousness when it suddenly turned red; he came out only to see this scene.
"It's a minor injury, no big deal."
Arthur waved his hand.
"A minor injury?" Light's voice rarely carried a hint of gravity. His golden eyes stared intently at the frozen dark red dagger and the viscous dark red energy drilling into Arthur's body like a living thing.
"This is a Divine Artifact." Light spoke very quickly. "It's mixed with an extremely malicious curse, Soul fragments... but it seems to be a one-time use?"
After finishing his analysis, Light's tail wagged slightly. "Oh, then for you, it really is a minor injury."
Arthur looked down at the wound on his left shoulder. The flesh where the battle armor had shattered was not bleeding; instead, it showed a strange tendency toward dark red crystallization.
Furthermore, those dark red patterns were like living vines, spreading along his blood vessels and Soul Power channels toward his heart and head.
"Interesting." Arthur frowned, but there wasn't much panic on his face. Instead, he showed a hint of inquiry. After some thought, he said hesitantly, "The demon god sword?"
Originally, Leng Yaozhu's ending was to die under the demon god sword. He hadn't expected to receive such a blow himself. To be honest, it hurt quite a bit.
"Oh? You actually recognize it?"
A charming voice drifted over.
From the direction where Arthur's Soul Power had just blasted the little girl away, a figure was slowly approaching them.
It was a woman with a slender figure and a strange sense of beauty surrounding her.
She was fully covered in armor—her battle armor.
The battle armor was entirely pitch-black, yet a purple glow emanated from the gaps where each plate joined, making the armor's silhouette and color exceptionally magnificent.
This armor was not made of metal but composed of pieces of dark crystal, shimmering with a faint dark purple under the reflection of the purple light.
She wore a crown of the same color, with a Phoenix carved in the center. The Phoenix's eyes were bright and purple, and its entire body was also pitch-black.
The woman's face was covered by a black mask, revealing only a pair of eyes swirling with purple light.
Huge and gorgeous wings hung behind her back, their tips curving over her shoulders while the rear trailed all the way to the ground. Purple light flowed between every feather, tracing lines of light on the ground.
The Dark Phoenix, Leng Yulai.
Leng Yaozhu's eyes widened in disbelief. "Sis... Sister?"
"What are you doing?"
She looked at Arthur, whose entire being was turning dark red, then at Leng Yulai, feeling somewhat at a loss.
Leng Yulai did not immediately respond to Leng Yaozhu's trembling call.
Her eyes, shimmering with purple light, first glanced at Arthur, who was being eroded by the dark red patterns. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the dagger frozen by the golden light, a flash of indiscernible surprise crossing her eyes.
Only then did her gaze fall upon Leng Yaozhu. That look was complex and difficult to decipher, containing deeply hidden resentment and an almost cold detachment.
Her voice came through the mask with a strange resonance, charming yet icy. "Long time no see. You are still so... disgustingly stupid."
"Sister! Is it really you?" Leng Yaozhu took a step forward, her emotions agitated. A scorching aura faintly rose around her, a natural reaction of her Heaven Phoenix Martial Soul to the intense emotional fluctuations. "You're really in the Holy Spirit Cult? This sword... what did you do to Arthur? Quickly hand over the antidote or the method to remove it!"
"Antidote?" Leng Yulai laughed softly, as if she had heard something amusing, her black wings trembling slightly as purple light flowed. "The demon god sword has no antidote. This is an ultimate curse that even that stinking woman Ya Li has no way to deal with."
Her tone was flat, as if she were stating a fact that had nothing to do with her.
"You're very lucky; it was originally prepared for you."
"Hmm... but doing it myself is the same."
After the Demon Empress had been locked onto by the Auspicious Beast last time, because Arthur never hid the existence of the Xia Xi, the Demon Empress had easily found her way to him.
This caused Arthur's threat level in her mind to rise once again.
Furthermore, Arthur had recently been hunting the Holy Spirit Cult with great fanfare, which seriously interfered with her plans.
Thus, this scene occurred.
Leng Yulai's final sentence was spoken nonchalantly, yet it made Leng Yaozhu feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar. This malicious killing move was originally intended for her?
Why?
Leng Yulai's purple eyes reflected Leng Yaozhu's instantly pale face, seemingly gaining a sliver of twisted pleasure, but it was quickly covered by an even deeper coldness.
Ignoring Arthur, who was spectating from the side—in her eyes, this blonde brat was already as good as dead.
The Dark Phoenix manifested, and holding the dark phoenix plume, Leng Yulai instantly charged at Leng Yaozhu without holding back in the slightest.
"Why? What happened to you?" Leng Yaozhu still couldn't accept it. "Did the Holy Spirit Cult do something to you?"
Before she could finish, the dark phoenix plume, carrying a purple-black malevolence, lunged before Leng Yaozhu, its wingtip piercing straight for her heart. In her haste, Leng Yaozhu ignited her Heaven Phoenix to resist. The fiery red wings collided with the black wings, the resulting airwave cracking the ground.
"Have you gone mad?!" Leng Yaozhu was both anxious and pained. She withdrew thirty percent of her True Fire attack, only to be kicked in the chest by Leng Yulai. She staggered back several steps, a trail of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.
Leng Yulai's laughter beneath the mask was icy. "The one who is mad is you, you bitch."
"What a nuisance." Seeing Leng Yaozhu's overly emotional state, Arthur knew he couldn't continue spectating and stepped up speechlessly.
He instantly appeared in front of Leng Yaozhu. As he flipped the Excalibur in his hand, terrifying energy poured out.
"Holy Sword, Release!"
A low and clear chant rang out.
In an instant, with Arthur as the center, an incomparably pure and magnificent golden light that seemed capable of dispelling everything erupted violently!
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