Chapter 120: The Consecration Strikes

The uncontrollable spirit pressure instantly rendered over half the audience unconscious, with those standing too close bleeding from their seven orifices, some dying on the spot.

For those closest to Bibi Dong, including You Chen and the red-robed cardinals, the pressure was even more overwhelming. Thankfully, their strength was sufficient to avoid instant death.

'What's going on!?' You Chen's eyes widened in shock.

Even he hadn't anticipated this development.

The terrifying aura emanating from Bibi Dong made his heart tremble. Despite his current strength, he felt as if he were a mouse cornered by a predator, every survival instinct in his body screaming at him to flee.

Without hesitation, he activated his martial spirit possession and launched himself backward in retreat.

"He's trying to escape!"

One of the red-robed cardinals shouted as he noticed You Chen fleeing the scene.

Another cardinal, whose martial spirit was already activated, revealing gray wings, addressed the others. "Leave order maintenance to you all. I can fly, so I'll pursue him!"

With that, he immediately took off after You Chen, leaving the other cardinals exchanging uncertain glances.

None of them dared to face Bibi Dong in her current state of soul power rampage. Their silent exchanges revealed their mutual hesitation:

'Who's going to calm the Pope?'

'You?'

'Me? Me trying to calm Her Majesty the Pope?'

Before any of them could decide, a radiant figure descended with a holy aura, releasing a powerful and sacred energy that suppressed Bibi Dong's rampage. The divine energy's residual waves even soothed the panicked crowd and brought peace to the faces of those who had fainted.

The arrival of this majestic figure, none other than Qian Daoliu, the Great Consecration, also spared the cardinals from potentially deadly decisions.

Looking at the unconscious Bibi Dong under his suppression, Qian Daoliu let out a sigh.

As the High Priest of the Angel God, Qian Daoliu had long known of Bibi Dong's status as a divine trial taker. It was impossible for him not to be aware.

While Qian Daoliu dealt with Bibi Dong, another figure who had accompanied him to the scene flew in pursuit of another intense surge of soul power in the distance.

---

"They're still chasing me, even in that chaos?"

You Chen muttered as he sensed the approaching cardinal.

Everything had gone smoothly up to Bibi Dong's emotional collapse.

According to his plan, You Chen had intended to provoke her into leaving the scene in anger. Given her personality, she would likely have been consumed by self-blame and guilt, leading her to neglect pursuing him. Instead, she might even allow further assassinations of Spirit Hall members as a form of self-punishment.

Of course, this "self-punishment" would primarily cost her loyal subordinates, which was a darkly ironic outcome in itself.

However, things had deviated from his expectations with Bibi Dong's soul power going berserk. The massive crowd of over ten thousand at the central square had seen half the people faint and ten percent die on the spot.

By all accounts, Spirit Hall shouldn't have had the manpower to send anyone after him. Yet, one cardinal was in hot pursuit.

Given the intelligence Spirit Hall had gathered about his abilities, You Chen knew this wouldn't be a simple opponent.

The cardinal's tactics were already predictable. Spirit Hall knew about his soul skill that could mentally paralyze targets, so their pursuers typically operated in pairs—two Soul Sages or one Soul Douluo paired with a Soul Sage.

This cardinal chasing him solo suggested one thing:

'This guy's spiritual power has likely reached the tangible realm.'

Faced with this challenge, You Chen considered three options:

First, use his strongest version of Soul Shock to paralyze the opponent and escape immediately.

Second, save Soul Shock as a trump card during combat and use it to exploit any moment of negligence to secure a quick kill.

Third, forego Soul Shock entirely, conserving his spiritual power to maintain control over the battlefield and maximize his combat capabilities.

As You Chen deliberated, a surge of holy energy erupted from the central square, rippling outward and even reaching his current location.

His expression shifted instantly.

Without hesitation, he turned around to face the rapidly approaching cardinal.

"Hm?"

The bird-spirit cardinal narrowed his eyes. 'Stopped running? Did he sense that lord's power and decide to deal with me first? Ridiculous! I'll show him Gray Hawk is no pushover like those clowns!'

Before Gray Hawk could sneer, his face froze in shock.

For the first time, You Chen revealed his spirit rings to a pursuer.

Yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black.

"You're a... Soul Emperor!?"

Ding, ding, ding—

Four spirit rings lit up simultaneously.

Taking advantage of Gray Hawk's moment of distraction, You Chen unleashed his strongest attack.

A high-speed air column struck like a dragon's roar, slamming into Gray Hawk and shredding his arms, leaving him bloody and mutilated. The massive impact sent him hurtling hundreds of meters backward.

The follow-up was a violent windstorm, hiding countless invisible air blades that sliced Gray Hawk's body hundreds of times in an instant.

When the storm subsided, Gray Hawk was left bloodied and unconscious, plummeting to the ground. Though still alive, his injuries were so severe that death was only minutes away.

Despite this, You Chen didn't bother delivering a finishing blow. He left the humiliated cardinal behind and continued his escape.

But he had miscalculated.

Qian Daoliu wasn't the only one from the Elder Hall to respond.

As You Chen prepared to hide within the city, another cold, sharp voice echoed around him.

"Did you think you could shame Spirit Hall like this and just leave?"

In an instant, You Chen's entire body stiffened, his instincts screaming at him to flee. He poured all his strength into his martial spirit, shattering his wings in the process, and pushed his speed to its absolute limit.

But it was too late.

The silent and ominous wind enveloped him, creating a vacuum that trapped him like a bird in a cage.

"Damn it...!"

The chilling voice belonged to Qing Luan, the Third Consecration, whose martial spirit was the near-mythical Green Luan. At 96th rank, Qing Luan was undeniably the strongest among the non-deity consecrations of the Elder Hall.

Qing Luan's Azure Sky Sea Silent Collapse, his eighth spirit ability, was a vacuum control technique that could instantaneously incapacitate ordinary Soul Douluos.

He stood mid-air, arms crossed, observing his trapped prey with a calm demeanor.

"Impressive," Qing Luan muttered when he saw a faint starlight glow from the center of the vacuum.

The glow pierced through the vacuum's barriers, impossible to obscure.

Qing Luan's expression turned serious.

At the heart of the vacuum, You Chen's martial spirit erupted with unparalleled radiance.

This was the first time You Chen used Spirit Resonance, the manifestation of his full control over his martial spirit's core power.

"Such power..."

Feeling a perfect harmony between his soul and martial spirit, even in the face of death, You Chen's lips curled into a smile.

He soared upward, wings spread wide, piercing through the vacuum in an instant.

You Chen's figure flickered, and in an instant, four identical figures materialized around him.

Five identical masked assassins appeared simultaneously!

Though his mastery of the Soul Splitting Refinement Technique had reached the level of controlling five bodies simultaneously, You Chen had never before attempted to summon four doppelgangers in combat.

Yet now, he felt no strain, no fatigue—instead, an exhilarating clarity.

"Five bodies, including my main self... I feel like I could maintain 200% super-focus in all of them at once!"

With no time to marvel at this newfound capability, he followed his instincts.

The five identical figures entered a perfect state of super-focus, indistinguishable from one another, and attacked Qing Luan Douluo in unison.

Qing Luan Douluo remained unfazed.

Doppelganger techniques, though rare, were nothing new to a seasoned Super Douluo like him. He had seen countless variations of such abilities and was well-versed in their weaknesses.

He knew that most of these techniques came at the cost of dividing soul power among multiple entities, weakening the user's overall strength. Many doppelgangers couldn't even use soul skills, and those that could often wielded them at reduced effectiveness.

Such techniques seemed versatile but were rarely practical in real combat.

However, this time, Qing Luan Douluo's assumptions crumbled.

"Impossible!"

After swatting away another of the doppelgangers, Qing Luan Douluo's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Each doppelganger feels like the real body. There's no discernible drop in power! Even their reactions to attacks are identical to the main body. This... this is no ordinary doppelganger technique!"

Indeed, this was no ordinary technique.

What You Chen employed wasn't a simple extension of the Starlight Avatar skill but an entirely new creation—Stardust Mirage.

This technique blurred the line between reality and illusion, creating doppelgangers as solid and powerful as the original.

It wasn't just Starlight Avatar that had evolved. All of You Chen's skills seemed elevated to new heights.

His seventh spirit skill, Air Blade, once bound to the constraints of his spirit rings, had transformed into a self-activated technique.

This newfound mastery allowed him to seamlessly integrate Air Blade into his combat repertoire.

With its intricate properties, Wind Dragon's Roar became faster and more devastating.

Storm Current, previously ineffective against Titled Douluo, now required even Qing Luan Douluo to exert effort to escape.

And the once-rigid Wind and Cloud Strike now flowed like a casual basic attack, its destructive power elevated to a whole new level.

You Chen's overall strength, which already rivaled a standard Soul Douluo, skyrocketed with the activation of his Spirit Resonance.

His combat capabilities now rivaled the baseline of a Titled Douluo.

Controlling five entities, each as formidable as a Titled Douluo, You Chen launched a perfectly coordinated assault. Even Qing Luan Douluo, a 96th-rank Super Douluo, struggled to gain the upper hand.

The casual confidence on Qing Luan Douluo's face gave way to a grim determination as he was forced to take the battle seriously.

But intense focus came with its own cost—peripheral awareness began to fade.

The aerial duel between Qing Luan Douluo and You Chen raged for three full minutes, a rare feat for a Soul Emperor against a Super Douluo.

Despite being restrained by the setting—above Spirit City, where Qing Luan Douluo hesitated to unleash large-scale attacks—his overwhelming strength as a Super Douluo eventually began tipping the scales.

Then, suddenly—

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Four simultaneous explosions shattered the sky as the four doppelgangers disintegrated into stardust.

"Hmm?"

Qing Luan Douluo froze, then clenched his teeth in frustration.

"Escaped?" 

He floated midair, fuming. "To think... I let him slip through my grasp!"

With gritted teeth, Qing Luan Douluo replayed the battle in his mind, searching for the moment his opponent had executed the escape.

His anger slowly gave way to disbelief.

Qing Luan Douluo's expression

darkened, and he placed a trembling hand over his face. His pupils contracted as he whispered, "A dragon martial spirit... wind affinity... and that starlight power... No, it can't be. How could it possibly be his son?"