Chapter 148: Ghost Emperor Douluo

A dark shadow blitzed through trees in the dead of night.

The figure appeared ahead of two girls: Tang Ya and Xi Xi, the latter shocked at his burst of speed.

"What the-? Yuhao?!" She exclaimed, naturally. She recalled that his speed was his weak point, but what was this? She thought an expert Soul Emperor Assassin had came to mess with them.

"Did you defeat those corpses?" Tang Ya worriedly asked.

Huo Yuhao nodded. "Hm. We don't have to worry about the bandits for now, we have to hurry back." Having said that, he deployed his Spiritual Sharing Detection to evade any threats on their way.

Fortunately they didn't encounter anything on the way back to their camp, at least, until when they got near their camp and Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection caught sight of at least a dozen unknown human figures surrounding the camp.

And to their shock, Chen Zifeng and Yao Haoxuan are being held hostage by some old man wearing a dark purple robe. Though he looked old with long white hair and beard, and healthy lively grey eyes, he had a smooth pale complexion unlike most elders, making him slightly good looking to some people.

Though he appeared easy to approach at first, any perceptive person could tell that he was bad news.

"...12, 13, 14? There's fourteen people! Are they all Evil Soul Masters? Yuhao, can you tell what level of strength they are?" Tang Ya asked, trying to be calm as she could in this situation.

Xi Xi wanted to regroup with the others but Huo Yuhao quickly stopped her, grabbing her shoulder tightly with a serious expression.

"At least 1 Titled Douluo, 4 Soul Sages and the rest being either Soul Emperors or Soul Kings. That old man is the 4th Vice Chief from the Death God's memories. All of them have a sort of evil and malicious aura, which makes it likely that they are Evil Soul Masters."

He frowned, letting go of Xi Xi and started scratching his head. "This is worse than I expected. Although, it all makes sense now; The reason for why they assigned that Evil Soul Master to create a base for himself here in the Ming Dou Mountain Range."

"It wasn't simply to test his capabilities, but because their organization were planning on taking it for themselves. Smart, using a disposable pawn for setting up a branch of their organization. The Death God fails, they wouldn't lose out. He succeeds, they get a hidden base and a worthy recruit." Huo Yuhao explained, feeling a bit awe and fearful of the meticulous planning of this mysterious organization.

Who knows how many more bases they had managed to established and recruited powerful Evil Soul Masters using such a method.

If this group here were just a small part of their organization, then just how terrifying is this mysterious organization?! Were they as strong as Shrek Academy even?

"Yuhao, what should we do?" Tang Ya asked.

"First, we stay hidden and then find the right opportunity to strike; I'll be communicating with Elder Xuan to get him on the plan. Let's just hope that none of us dies here." Huo Yuhao replied, clenching both his hands in silent apprehension.

After all, they're facing against a group of highly experienced Evil Soul Masters. In terms of combat skills and killing techniques, they outmatched the Shrek group.

In Huo Yuhao's opinion, their only opportunity for victory was the element of surprise.

....

"Well, well, well. Out of everyone to encounter in my brisk walk, I didn't expect to see the great and powerful Taotie Douluo that had once shook the entire continent." The old man in dark purple robes said, chuckling as he stroked his beard.

Elder Xuan narrowed his eyes, "Kid, don't beat around the bush and state your business," taking a step forward and boundless soul power surged out of his body.

Space around him rippled and cracked, making Wang Yan and the others behind take a step back, but he had enough control of his energy that he only affected the Evil Soul Masters.

The old man's eyes twitched. His fingers trembled and he inwardly cried out in his heart, 'Just as I had heard about him from the master, the Taotie Douluo is a rank 98 Transcendent Douluo!'

Unlike what most people think, the realm of cultivation within Titled Douluo aren't simple. From rank 91-95, they are merely considered to be the average Titled Douluo. Each rank increase is incredibly hard and such difference is like heaven and earth.

But it's a whole different level when one reaches rank 96-98, it wasn't just a mere difference of Earth and Heaven, but of Earth and the Moon! The people who reach this level are called Transcendent Douluo!

But then rank 99... It was a realm close to the Divine and reign Supreme over all of humanity and soul heasts, at that point, such a person is no longer considered human—but a Demigod!

They are called—Ultimate Douluo!

(AN: I initially wanted to go for Limit Douluo...but Ultimate Douluo sounds much more suitable. Just like how Huo Yuhao's Ice attribute is called Ultimate Ice.)

And Elder Xuan before him was someone at the peak of Transcendent Douluo and is but a step away from becoming an Ultimate Douluo. The old man in dark purple robes couldn't help but break out in cold sweat.

He himself was a Transcendent Douluo, but only at rank 96. His Title Name is Ghost Emperor, just like the name of his Martial Soul—Ghost. Although it was only two rank difference, it was a very huge gap that could not be surmounted unless he was an unparalleled genius with a top tier martial soul.

Which he was not, as he had only gotten to this stage of cultivation by abusing medicine and martial soul; it increases his cultivation by devouring souls of others, especially soul masters.

In his youth, when he was but a mere Soul Ancestor, he had encountered an injured eight-ringed Soul Douluo. Wanting power, he didn't hesitate to kill the Soul Douluo and increase his soul power. But because of his speedy breakthroughs and without consolidating his cultivation, his foundation has become... unstable to say the least.

His foundation was shaky even after ten years of consolidation. By his estimation, he could never reach rank 98 in his lifetime.

But that wasn't the case for the Taotie Douluo. If it weren't for some incident that he heard in passing, the man would've already broken through to the next stage!

'I made a grave miscalculation. I thought the Elder Xuan that these kids were talking about was only an average Titled Douluo! I have no choice, if I want to carry on my mission safely, I have to take a step back and return these kids.'

One of the reasons why the Ghost Emperor Douluo had reached this far and survived was because he knew when to retreat and accept his losses. Because of such a mindset, he had earned himself the nickname of "coward" by those who knew him.

Though shameful, the Ghost Emperor Douluo always regard the words of others. Why bother when such people either died or didn't become as strong as he is now?

He put on a forced smile and cupped his hands, "This junior respectfully greet the previous generation great hero. I am the Ghost Emperor Douluo, please, ease your anger towards me and my people. This is a big misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding? You hold my students as hostages, what is there to misunderstand?!" Elder Xuan yelled, his face red in anger.

Ghost Emperor Douluo held his hands up in a placating manner. "It's true, it's true. I was given a mission by my sect to take care of a very dangerous criminal that had done a great crime. When I captured these two, I thought they were together with the criminal."

Elder Xuan narrowed his eyes in doubt. "Really?"

Ghost Emperor Douluo nodded. "Yes, truly! Here, I will let your students go and we shall go on our seperate ways. I don't want to trouble you and your group."

There was a moment of tense silence between both groups, the Ghost Emperor Douluo's group was noticeably a bit nervous.

Elder Xuan nodded and retracted his aura. "Very well. Return to me my students, and I will let you walk out of here alive."

Ghost Emperor Douluo didn't dally and immediately brought over the two students with the use of his soul power; thankfully he didn't beat them up too much and only sealed their soul power.

Deep in thought, he didn't notice the flicker of coldness in Elder Xuan's eyes.

After Ghost Emperor Douluo set the two down before Elder Xuan, he cupped his hands once more and said.

"Here they are, Taotie Douluo. As an apology, I have given them a trace of pure soul power, enough for either of them to increase their soul power by at least 1 rank. You can check them personally, I do not have any malicious intent."

Elder Xuan didn't bother with him and quickly checked on the boys' conditions. Checking on each of their pulses, he found no hidden danger within their bodies.

"Hm. You speak the truth." Elder Xuan said muttered.

Ghost Emperor Douluo chuckled and replied, "Well, I hope that settles everything between us. I shall now–"

"However...You said that you did not have any malicious intent, right?" Elder Xuan stood up straight, his dark eyes shone a brownish light.

"Unfortunately, I do have malicious intent towards you... Evil Soul Master."

Ghost Emperor Douluo's eyes widened but before he could move, his face was held by a tight hand and he was sent flying to the sky by Elder Xuan.

"What?"

"What just happened?!"

"Where's the Ghost Emperor Douluo?! They–"

While the Ghost Emperor Douluo's group erupted in confusion, a powerful explosion occurred from behind them and sent most of them flying off to the trees; killing off 2 Soul Kings instantly.

It was at that moment that Huo Yuhao, Tang Ya and Xi Xi appeared within their group.

Huo Yuhao took charge with his Frostbane in hand, the temperature in the area dropped.

"Kill!"

...

AN: So...muffins?

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