Chapter 543: Realm-Defining Technique Achieves Victory

Ji Luo knew this remnant soul was terrifying, and his first move was the great spiritual technique: Misaligned Mind Blade.

This was a spiritual awareness technique, simulating spatially misaligned blade edges to tear apart everything in its path.

Ji Luo was an old hand; he knew that against remnant souls, spiritual awareness techniques were most effective.

Ding Huan saw clearly—the remnant soul's figure had not noticed that a powerful foe lurked beside the protective array, waiting to strike.

In just an instant, it was ripped apart into fragments by those misaligned blade edges.

Immediately, the phantom shadow grew even fainter.

But Ding Huan's Evening Drum did not stop.

Dong dong dong!

One after another, the drumbeats filled this space.

The once desolate and silent space now carried a desolate twilight hue.

Under this desolate twilight, the drumbeats gained a tone of utter despair.

This wave of despairing Dao rhythm instantly spread through the entire space.

Dao sounds mingled with drumbeats, lingering endlessly.

Evening Drum buries new souls, bones consumed; I dwell in mortal world, hair white as snow—look, evening drizzles, drum drizzles!

The faintest shadow finally halted, trembling slightly, as if the drumbeats had struck the softest core of his soul.

Or perhaps the drumbeats had stirred memories of his past.

Even Ji Luo, who had been preparing to strike from afar, was affected by this Evening Drum Soul-Burying technique, frozen in place.

Anyone who had once been flesh and blood, who had once known the seven emotions and six desires, could not remain untouched by this realm-defining technique.

Though Ji Luo was strong, his power now was less than one ten-thousandth of his former self—he could not possibly resist the Evening Drum's Dao rhythm, which struck straight to the deepest recesses of the heart.

Ding Huan saw that this Ji Luo had stopped moving, and realized he couldn't rely on this old man.

His Wheel of Reincarnation Spear transformed into a curtain of spears, crossing space in an instant to envelop the faint shadow.

The killing aura of death finally jolted the remnant soul out of its trance in the Evening Drum.

But it was already too late.

"Boom!"

The long spear tore the remnant soul into infinite fragments.

These fragments rapidly dissipated under the furious Grand Void Flame.

A faint, nearly invisible Dao rhythm swiftly tore through Ding Huan's Forbidden Killing Array, then shattered his Level-One Forbidden Killing Divine Array,

until finally blocked by Ji Luo's Soul-Sealing Divine Array.

Ding Huan chased after it in time, fusing his Wheel of Reincarnation Spear with Grand Void Flame to strike again at the nearly nonexistent soul-nucleus.

"Stop…" The soul-nucleus formed three barely audible syllables that landed in Ding Huan's ears.

Stopping was impossible.

Not when, in the Ash Sea, he had burned his own flesh and soul to ash just to destroy those soul-nuclei—how could he stop now?

That pain, Ding Huan never wanted to endure a second time.

Crack!

All soul-nuclei turned to nothing under this spear, vanished without a trace.

Ding Huan's heart eased—he had finally destroyed this remnant soul.

He looked down at the blood hole in his chest—it had not healed.

Moreover, his neck bore another blood hole, equally unhealed.

Dao rhythm still swirled in the wounds, but Ding Huan was not worried; with his recovery ability, he would be fully restored within a day at most.

Ji Luo flew over with the Celestial Scale, sighing: "I never thought you'd reached the peak of Immortal Body. Not only that—you wield such a terrifying realm-defining technique. That's the Evening Drum, isn't it?"

"Correct." Ding Huan's voice was muffled due to the blood hole in his neck.

"Do you know what the most correct thing you did just now was?" Ji Luo said again.

Ding Huan hesitated: "Not chasing after it when it tried to flee?"

Indeed, if he had pursued immediately when the remnant soul tried to escape, he would now be dead—or nearly so.

After his serious injuries, Ji Luo was no match for the remnant soul.

Ding Huan even doubted whether Ji Luo had been lying to him about being a Sage—was there ever such a pathetic Sage?

Since meeting this man, only two things had impressed him.

First, his sealing techniques were truly excellent—his arrays were indistinguishable from natural ones.

Second, he possessed the Three Thousand Great Dao.

"No."

Ji Luo replied: "The most correct thing you did was that final spear strike—no hesitation, no restraint. Otherwise, it would have escaped.

When it said 'stop' to you, if you had assumed it was trapped and tried to interrogate it, it would have already shattered the realm and fled."

As he spoke, Ji Luo felt a twinge of shame.

He should have been the one to strike then, not let Ding Huan continue. What embarrassed him was that he had been lost in Ding Huan's Evening Drum technique for a full three breaths.

He would never admit such a humiliating moment.

"Why?" Ding Huan asked, puzzled.

He truly had a thousand reasons to keep this remnant soul alive.

After all, he was deeply entangled with it—he had every reason to detain it and demand answers.

Yet he had a hunch it was not a good idea, so his spear had struck without a moment's doubt.

"It was activating a top-tier technique—this technique allows a soul-nucleus to slip into any divine array."

In fact, if not for your realm-art keeping him from fully awakening from the realm, he would have succeeded.

Ji Luo's tone was grave.

Ding Huan believed Ji Luo's words.

Ding Huan didn't know how skilled Ji Luo was in other areas, but when it came to realm-arts…

Ding Huan believed no one else understood them better than this guy.

With all three thousand great Dao principles, what realm-art could he not know?

He must study these three thousand great Dao principles carefully.

"Didn't you just activate the Poison Dao's Dao principle?" Ji Luo remembered what had just happened and asked again.

Ding Huan's Poison Dao Dao principle hadn't targeted him; he could feel it.

Ding Huan sighed: "This guy is too strong—my Poison Dao Dao principle had no effect on him. Fortunately, he was affected by your realm-art."

This was the first time Ding Huan's Fugu Shidao had failed—even failing to affect the opponent at all.

Ji Luo shook his head: "Your realm-art is terrifying. The reason this remnant soul was affected likely has to do with his own past experiences."

Otherwise, your realm-art might not have affected him at all. Fortunately, we finally eliminated this guy—otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep."

Ding Huan looked at Ji Luo apologetically: "We only destroyed one sliver of his remnant soul—I don't know if he has others."

Ji Luo chuckled: "I believe he has no other remnant souls."

"Why? He still had several Dao thoughts…" Ding Huan asked, puzzled.

"He still has Dao thoughts?" Ji Luo frowned again.

"Yes, there should be five—I destroyed one, four remain." Ding Huan didn't hide anything from Ji Luo.

"It seems this guy planned to merge his remnant soul with his Dao thoughts, then reemerge. But he never expected to run into you—he was sent back to square one…"

Ji Luo murmured.

He understood this kind of thing perfectly—once Ding Huan mentioned it, he knew the remnant soul's Dao thoughts would seek out a chosen body and fuse with the remnant soul.

He was shocked, however, that Ding Huan had destroyed one of the remnant soul's original Dao thoughts. That wasn't easy to do.

"By the way, brother, when you said this remnant soul has no second one, what did you mean?" Ding Huan asked.

Ji Luo hesitated before saying: "I'm not even sure anymore—there might be a second, even a third remnant soul. These demonic gods are the most terrifying."

"The reason I say that is because of this tree."

Ji Luo pointed at the ancient cypress reduced to rubble by Ding Huan.

"This ancient cypress?" Ding Huan was even more confused.

Ji Luo chuckled: "Ancient cypress? You think this is an ancient cypress?"

"Isn't it?"

"Let me tell you—it's an ancient rare species: the Soul-Nourishing Demon Root. As long as this exists, even with only a few remnant souls, the tree can slowly nurture them back to strength."

Now you know why this remnant soul couldn't leave here—he'd lose everything if he did.

Only when the one carrying the Dao thought arrives can this remnant soul fully obtain a body and depart from this demon root."

Hearing Ji Luo's words, Ding Huan silently marveled—ignorance was truly terrifying.

"You can't handle this demon root—I'll take it away." Without waiting for Ding Huan's approval, Ji Luo began planting array flags.

In the blink of an eye, all remaining unshattered portions of the ancient cypress were swept away by him.

Earlier, Ding Huan's Grand Void Flame had been too fierce, burning away most of the Soul-Nourishing Demon Root.

Ding Huan didn't care—he waited until Ji Luo had fully retrieved the Soul-Nourishing Demon Root before saying: "Brother Ji, we still have one major task to accomplish."

"What task?" After killing the remnant soul, Ji Luo didn't care about anything else.

"It's still related to this remnant soul—I rushed back because I learned one of his Dao thoughts had fused with someone."

I estimate that person will appear here soon and fuse with the remnant soul inside the Soul-Nourishing Demon Root.

I can't let that happen—I must kill him. We've already succeeded halfway."

Hearing it was related to the remnant soul, Ji Luo immediately grew serious.

"What's your plan?"

Ding Huan pointed to the spot where the ancient cypress had stood: "We'll simulate an ancient cypress here, then lie in wait."

"You want me to transform into the remnant soul, while you strike from the side?" Ji Luo looked at Ding Huan with disdain.

Ding Huan showed no embarrassment: "You're a Primordial Spirit—transforming into a remnant soul suits you perfectly."

"Fine, I agree. As for the ancient cypress—I'll handle it." Ji Luo didn't waste words.

He too feared the remnant soul—and now that the one fused with its Dao thought was coming, he would be even more cautious.

"Alright, I have some personal matters to attend to here—I'll appear here the moment he shows up."

Ding Huan decided to go ask Seeing Qu Yi, and also inquire about his few disciples.