Chapter 186: The Sole Victor

They were all fearless of death, sacrificing their lives to perish together with the Soul Clan.

The situation on the battlefield underwent a subtle change due to the suicide attacks of the Ancient Flame-Thunder Three Clans' warriors.

Initially, only Half-Saint experts chose self-detonation, sacrificing two or three Half-Saints to take down a fleeing One- or Two-Star Battle Saint of the Soul Clan.

This life-for-life tactic, though cruel, became the only choice for the Three-Clans Alliance warriors in the face of extermination.

As the battle continued, more and more clansmen self-detonated; the Three-Clans Alliance warriors seemed driven by an invisible force, their Battle Emperor blood boiling, morale soaring.

Under this morale's influence, the Three-Clans Alliance actually began to trend toward suppressing the Soul Clan, yet the war's cruelty did not diminish.

As the battle deepened, Battle Saint experts of the Ancient Flame-Thunder Three Clans also began to choose self-detonation.

The self-detonation of these Battle Saint experts was several times more powerful than that of Half-Saint experts; each explosion was accompanied by earth-shaking sound and terrifying lethality.

The terrifying lethality of self-detonation could even take away Soul Clan experts who were one or two minor realms stronger than oneself.

The Ancient Flame-Thunder Three Clans' suicide attack style caused the Soul Clan's casualties to surge sharply.

Although it cost the Three-Clans Alliance dearly, it indeed made the Soul Clan feel unprecedented pressure.

……

The battlefield situation had already become white-hot, and the combat of high-level Battle Saints was even more heart-pounding.

The progenitors of the Ancient-Thunder Two Clans were also nearing their limits.

If no effective measures are taken, all three clans will face imminent annihilation.

At this moment, Gu Dao of the Three Immortals of the Ancient Clan made a shocking decision—to self-detonate.

As a high-level Battle Saint, his self-detonation's power was undoubtedly enormous.

The Soul Clan's Four Devil Saints, Hun Tu and Hun Jing, being too close to Gu Dao, were entangled by him and had no chance to escape.

Hun Tu died instantly in the aftermath of the explosion; Hun Jing, though fortunate not to die, was severely wounded and clung to life.

The other two of the Three Immortals of the Ancient Clan, having been warned by Gu Dao and prepared, were not affected.

To avoid letting their old partner die in vain, they seized the opportunity and swiftly launched a lethal attack on the wounded Hun Jing.

Their assault came like a violent storm, relentless, each strike containing enough power to destroy heaven and earth.

Hun Sha saw this, was greatly alarmed, and hurriedly tried to turn the tide.

However, with two fists against four hands, facing the fierce attacks of Gu Ling and Gu Yun, he could barely defend himself and could not spare attention to rescue Hun Jing.

Under their consecutive attacks, Hun Jing was ultimately killed in a shrill scream.

Gu Dao's sacrifice claimed the lives of two of the Soul Clan's Four Devil Saints.

In the battle against Hun Yan, the Fire Spirit Fairy also chose self-detonation.

With the timely finishing blow from the Thunder Clan Elder, they successfully exchanged the Seven-Star Battle Saint Hun Yan.

Hun Xuzi also suffered considerable collateral damage due to proximity.

Although he promptly deployed strong defenses, he was still shaken by that terrifying energy, his face pallid, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

The self-detonation of two Seven-Star Battle Saints bought the Ancient Flame-Thunder Three Clans a precious advantage.

Meanwhile, in the clash with Xuwu Tun Yan, the attacks of Yan Jin and Lei Ying grew ever more fierce.

Lei Ying even abandoned defense, choosing all-out attack, temporarily suppressing Xuwu Tun Yan, causing this early-stage Nine-Star Battle Saint to feel immense pressure.

He had to fend off Lei Ying's fierce assault while constantly guarding against Yan Jin's sneak attack.

Xuwu Tun Yan thought these two must be mad.

He truly feared that one of them would entangle him while the other self-detonated; Yan Jin and Lei Ying were late-stage Eight-Star Battle Saints, and he had no confidence he could withstand such self-detonation! The battlefield situation became even more bewildering due to these changes.

Although the experts of the Ancient Flame-Thunder Three Clans suffered heavy casualties, their fighting spirit rose ever higher.

Meanwhile, the Soul Clan's morale began to drop due to successive losses.

Xuwu Tun Yan sent a mental message to the Soul Heavenly Emperor, indicating the situation was unfavorable and hoping he would order a retreat.

Yan Jin and the Flame Clan Elder clearly had gone all-out; if they self-detonated, even as a Nine-Star Battle Saint he could possibly perish here.

Xuwu Tun Yan did not want to take that risk.

The Soul Heavenly Emperor shook Gu Yuan aside with a palm, quickly glancing at the battlefield situation.

His brows were furrowed, his eyes deep, as if weighing the pros and cons.

If the Soul Clan's Three Elders could slay the two progenitors of the Ancient-Thunder Two Clans in a short time, the Soul Heavenly Emperor would certainly not consider retreat.

But it was obvious the Three Elders could not do so.

The Thunder-Ancient Two Clans' Battle Venerable and Battle Sect cultivators unhesitatingly sacrificed their Battle Emperor blood to replenish energy for the two forefathers.

Moreover, the most important point was that Xuwu Tun Yan, facing Lei Ying and Yan Jin, had already grown reluctant to fight.

Although Xuwu Tun Yan was advising retreat, the Soul Heavenly Emperor had no doubt that, faced with mortal danger, Xuwu Tun Yan would surely be the first to flee……

Although he was unwilling, he still rationally issued the order: "Retreat!"

As long as the green hills remain, there's no fear of lacking firewood!

The order reached the ears of the Soul Clan's mighty warriors.

Retreat.

Some Soul Clan warriors wore bitter expressions, their eyes flashing with unwillingness.

Their fists clenched, nails digging into their palms, yet they could not alter the fact of retreat.

Yet some showed expressions of relief, as if a burden had been lifted.

The Three-Clans Alliance warriors' fearless fighting style indeed frightened them, even giving rise to thoughts of retreat.

Only because the clan chief had not yet shouted retreat did they grit their teeth and continue fighting.

Soul Clan warriors began to retreat.

Don't go, let's fight a few more rounds, old man!" Lei Ying's voice thundered across the battlefield, his beard and hair bristling, his eyes blazing with fierce fighting spirit.

The hot-tempered Lei Ying had obviously gone berserk, and Lei Ying still wanted to chase after and kill a few more Soul Clan members to vent the hatred in Lei Ying's heart.

Fortunately, he was stopped by Gu Yuan.

「Lei brother...... 」

The Gu clan suffered heavy losses in this great war; daughter Gu Xun'er was captured, and Gu Dao even more bravely sacrificed himself; all this made Gu Yuan's heart feel as if cut by a knife.

His anger is not inferior to Lei Ying's in the slightest, but reason tells him that what they need now is calm.

Reason tells him that Lei Ying has already been blinded by anger; if we let him continue pursuing, it will only increase the losses.

A shocking and heart-wrenching great battle finally came to an end under the tragic situation where both sides' Fighting Saint experts lost nearly half.

The Soul clan did not achieve their wish of wiping out the Gu, Yan, Lei three clans; the Gu, Yan, Lei three realms also became riddled with scars.

In this battle, none of them won.

The only victor was Jiang Xing.

(End of chapter)