Chapter 46

As the saying goes, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse.

Even if Er Ming is heavily injured, he is not an opponent the group can easily resist, not to mention that the Avatar of the Martial Soul for both the Dragon Duke and Zhao Wuji cannot last much longer; once the time limit expires, the battle situation will turn unfavorable again, and the turning point Zhou Yi brought about by spending a massive amount of Spiritual Power will be wasted.

Back in the arena,

The low-health, berserk Er Ming attacks frantically, and the Dragon-Snake couple and Zhao Wuji can only barely hold him off.

Furthermore, the gravity domain activated by the now completely enraged beast is several times stronger than Zhao Wuji's.

Fortunately, Zhou Yi frequently relies on Light and Dust and Mirage to attract its attention, helping the three of them avoid damage.

Once the ten minutes passed, the Talisman arrays on everyone's bodies vanished, and even the music played by the Qiuniu Divine Ability stopped.

In truth, Divine Abilities cannot be used indefinitely; releasing them primarily consumes the user's mental power, and if too much mental power is consumed, it will affect the user's combat state—something that hadn't been discovered before because the Divine Abilities had never been pushed to this extent.

Of course, using Divine Abilities consumes mental power, but likewise, practicing them increases it. In the Douluo Continent, mental power is divided from low to high into eight levels: Spirit Origin, Spirit Connection, Spirit Sea, Spirit Abyss, Spirit Domain, and the legendary God Origin, God King, and Creation levels.

If one were to cultivate a single Divine Ability to perfection, it would absolutely allow one's mental power to reach the God Origin level or higher, and if one were to cultivate more Divine Abilities, it is not impossible for their mental power to reach the God King level.

Because Zhou Yi has not read the sequels to the Douluo Continent, he does not know this, but in fact, his current mental power level has already steadily reached the Spirit Abyss level; once he cultivates all three Divine Abilities to the minor success stage, he will reach the higher Spirit Domain level. Once at the Spirit Domain level, further improvement might require more time, as the God Origin level, just one step further, already touches upon the mental state of some low-level deities.

"This cannot go on," Zhou Yi thought to himself.

He no longer dares to waste Spiritual Power easily, otherwise, if he encounters an emergency, he won't even be able to escape; likewise, Jin Ling, as his partner, understands this principle.

In fact, the reason Zhou Yi dared to stay behind and devise a plan for the Dragon-Snake couple to deal with the Titan Giant Ape together was because he had a means of evacuation; if they couldn't win, he could still run away.

For instance, right now, he could use Mirage to attract its attention while using Wind and Cloud to relocate everyone, and if Er Ming discovered them, he could use Light and Dust to stall for time.

Watching the condition of Zhao Wuji and the other two deteriorate, he planned to see if there was any other way, and if it truly didn't work, he would have no choice but to run.

On the battlefield,

Er Ming's fist slammed into the ground once again, sending up a massive amount of dust and debris from the ruins of the land already ravaged by successive natural disasters. Zhao Wuji barely dodged the blow and simultaneously warned Zhou Yi and the Dragon-Snake couple: "My Avatar of the Martial Soul cannot hold on much longer!"

The Dragon Duke also warned: "Mine neither!"

Come to think of it, they said this mainly to remind Zhou Yi; in the previous attacks, it was he who could set up tactics and launch fatal strikes, and now it is he who is helping everyone hold on. After witnessing this young man's powerful strength and excellent grasp of the battle situation, the Dragon-Snake couple and Zhao Wuji had subconsciously begun to take Zhou Yi as their leader, following his commands.

However, Zhou Yi, hearing their shouts, did not reply. He looked at the massive amount of yellow sand and dust kicked up by Er Ming's ground-smashing blow, his brows furrowed, and he fell into a brief moment of thought.

Immediately afterward, he looked around his surroundings.

Under the previous natural disasters, tornadoes, thunderstorms, and the group's various techniques, this part of the forest had been destroyed beyond recognition. Coupled with Zhou Yi running to various places to use Mirage to lure it into attacking the ground, this place had turned into a small desert with a radius of a hundred meters, filled everywhere with yellow sand, rocks, and dust made from the charred debris of various plants.

Looking at this ruin, Zhou Yi finally thought of another method, and a smile curled the corners of his mouth.

He was seen briefly teleporting in front of Tang San and Jin Ling to say something to them. Then, while coordinating with Zhao Wuji and the others in battle, he spoke beside Zhao Wuji.

Meanwhile, upon hearing Zhou Yi's instructions, Jin Ling and Tang San also began to act.

Tang San was seen summoning the Haotian Hammer, enlarging it and dragging it on the ground, while simultaneously using Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to run rapidly around the entire ruin starting from the outermost perimeter; the massive hammer plowed the ground, kicking up all the yellow sand and gravel.

Jin Ling followed Tang San, flying at high speed in circles while using wind power to assist him. With their coordination, the kicked-up yellow sand was carried into the air by Jin Ling. Slowly, as their speed increased and the circles grew smaller, the entire arena gradually formed a sandstorm caused by the dust.

On this side, Zhou Yi, Zhao Wuji, and the Dragon-Snake couple were also ready.

Seeing that the circle Tang San was running had reached a diameter of two meters, Zhou Yi directly had the Dragon-Snake couple temporarily hold off Er Ming, while he and Zhao Wuji activated their strongest mode and launched their strongest strike from the air, slamming it down into the eye of the massive sandstorm.

"Ground-Silent Sandstorm!!!" Zhou Yi shouted loudly.

In an instant, everyone present could only see the overwhelming sandstorm rising layer by layer. The surrounding environment became completely obscured; all that could be seen was the sky filled with dust.

The Dragon-Snake couple also took the opportunity to break away from Er Ming's attack, but when it came to its senses, it only found the sky filled with dust; it couldn't see anything but sand.

In the face of this terrifying sandstorm hundreds of feet high, although Er Ming was fifteen meters tall, he appeared so small before this horrific natural disaster. This move was different from a tornado; he could still break free from a tornado with some effort, but not this. Under such a large-scale AOE like a sandstorm, he simply could not escape.

Since he couldn't escape, he didn't back down either. Using all his strength, he swung his fists and jumped over to smash into it.

This scene looked extremely spectacular; the tiny figure rushing into the sky-covering sandstorm was simply like a moth flying into a flame.

At this moment, Zhou Yi and Zhao Wuji, hidden within the sandstorm, also brought out their strongest move to collide with him.

"Wild Ape, let me show you the power of a dust explosion!!!"

In an instant, the sparks formed by the collision of the Titan Giant Ape's fist with Zhao Wuji's Vajra Palm and Zhou Yi's Lightning Axe completely detonated the sandstorm.

"Boom!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A massive explosion sounded, and it was as if a small sun had appeared in the center of the arena.

(Reference Bilibili video 【4k Restoration】 Compilation of Martial Battle Dao Ultimate Combo Techniques)

Under the shockwave of this terrifying explosion, everyone was blasted away in various directions for thousands of meters or even further.

After the clash, Zhou Yi only had time to tuck the shrunken Jin Ling into his chest. But he did not expect that as he was blasted away, a figure would appear before his eyes.

That's right, it was Zhu Zhuqing. When she saw that things were going poorly, she had sprinted in Zhou Yi's direction, hoping to catch him and cushion the impact for him.

Seeing her figure, Zhou Yi was somewhat moved. In the instant he was blasted away, because their trajectories were aligned, Zhou Yi happened to crash into her. Zhou Yi only had time to subconsciously turn around and tightly embrace the delicate body in front of him; likewise, Zhu Zhuqing also held him tightly.

Just like that, the two tightly embracing, plus Jin Ling inside Zhou Yi's clothes, were blasted together into a corner deep within the Star Dou Great Forest.

Likewise, everyone else except them was also blasted away in a fan shape to various parts of the Star Dou Great Forest.

……

The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Under the quiet night sky, a certain corner of the Star Dou Great Forest was completely different from other places; there were no Soul Beasts here, and fluorescent lights of various colors floated all around. The beautiful plants in the surroundings were gorgeous under the illumination of the moonlight and starlight, like a dreamy night fairyland.

In this fairyland, however, lay a pair of young boy and girl in a tight embrace. Both of their eyes were tightly closed, clearly appearing to have exhausted their physical strength and soul power, and they had likely fallen into a coma due to some impact.

And ten meters in front of them stood a dilapidated but at first glance profound palace.

Standing prominently on the front of the palace was a stunning 5-meter-tall humanoid statue.

The person carved in the statue wore a gorgeous long dress, revealing slender legs, with bare feet lightly stepping on a stone pillar. At the same time, she held an exquisite Lamp Staff filled with a mysterious aura. The magnificent lampshade at the top of the Lamp Staff seemed to contain a galaxy, with a cold moon located in the center, surrounded by a brilliant galaxy.

Looking at her face, her temperament was cold and aloof, and the eyes revealed beneath her veil seemed as if they could speak, making one feel pity for her. One could imagine what kind of peerless beauty lay behind the veil.

And the most magical thing was that the statue's eyes seemed to be faintly looking at the two people lying on the ground, but unfortunately, they were still in a coma and knew nothing of these things.

……

On the other side, the lone Xiao Wu finally found Er Ming. Because she hadn't exerted any effort, she was the first to wake up. At this moment, Er Ming looked even more heavily injured, which made Xiao Wu feel very heartbroken. Unfortunately, Er Ming had fallen into a coma, and she could only wait by his side for him to wake up. However, the recovery ability of a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast was not for show; presumably, he would be able to wake up before long. Fortunately, everyone was scattered in different places, so she was not in a hurry to go back.

As for Tang San, he had encountered the fated Man-Faced Demon Spider.

Zhao Wuji, on the other hand, was staying with Oscar and Ning Rongrong. After eating Oscar's sausage, he barely had the ability to move. As the team leader, he had the responsibility to protect the safety of all the students, so as soon as he recovered, he took Oscar to search everywhere for the others who had been separated.

Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun were in the same place; clearly, since the juniors could not participate much in the previous battle, they woke up particularly quickly, and upon waking, they also intended to find their companions.

As for those in the best condition, they were none other than the Dragon-Snake couple and Meng Yiran; before Zhou Yi and Zhao Wuji completed the Silent Earth Sandstorm, they had hurriedly retreated from the battlefield to find Meng Yiran and protect her.

Although they had consumed too much physical strength and soul power, they could still roam the thousand-year Soul Beast area at will, and it just so happened they could continue helping Meng Yiran find a Soul Ring, though whenever they stopped, the three of them would invariably think of or mention Zhou Yi.

Clearly, Zhou Yi had already left a deep impression on the three of them; it was the first time in their lives they had seen such an outstanding and unreasonable youth, especially Meng Yiran, who would see Zhou Yi's domineering appearance whenever she closed her eyes, causing her pretty face to always flush crimson, and seeing this, the Dragon Duke and Snake Grandmother could not help but tease her.