Chapter 879: The Outbreak of the Great War

Dou Zhangsheng knew he could not kill Li Zhangsheng, otherwise he would absolutely follow in the footsteps of that Double-Character King, but not being able to kill him did not mean he could not control him; it was just that no Stronger had ever dared to defy the world in such a way.

The reason was nothing else, simply that the benefits were not great enough.

The reason Dou Zhangsheng was willing to take the risk was naturally also for the sake of benefits; in his view, the benefits far outweighed the risks, making it worth his while to take the gamble.

As for why he did not wait three months, it was simply because Li Zhangsheng's rate of progress was too fast; by the time three months had passed, the other party might have already become a King.

This time, the Top-tier Secret Technique Dou Zhangsheng employed was called Soul Control, which could directly invade the other party's soul and modify their will to make them his puppet; its power depended on the realm of the practitioner.

Additionally, if combined with eyes possessing powerful pupil techniques, the power of the Soul Control Secret Technique would also greatly increase.

The instant Li Zhangsheng was struck by the invisible ripple, the ripple did not damage his physical body, but instead headed straight into his Consciousness Sea, rushing toward the Soul Light Sphere.

Li Zhangsheng's Soul Light Sphere was not much different from that of an ordinary Pseudo-King, except that it was covered by an invisible barrier on the outside.

This was the Top-tier special Secret Technique Soul Barrier, whose main function was to protect the soul; unless the Soul Barrier was shattered, the soul would not suffer any harm.

Inside the Soul Barrier, there were also one large and two small light spheres; these were the products of Li Zhangsheng absorbing Spirit Essence, with the large one being the Hundred-Armed Giant, and the small ones being the Black Tortoise and the Five-Colored Peacock, which likewise possessed the function of protecting the soul.

In these past few days, Li Zhangsheng had already refined that batch of Hundred-Armed Giant Outer Arms into Spirit Essence.

After absorbing all this Hundred-Armed Giant Spirit Essence, not only did the power of his Hundred-Armed Giant transformation increase greatly, but it also caused the light sphere to swell significantly, becoming several times larger than the light spheres formed by the Black Tortoise and the Five-Colored Peacock.

As for that mass of green liquid which emitted an aura similar to the Tree of Life but of superior quality, it had already been entirely integrated into the Tree of Life by Li Zhangsheng, causing the aura of the Tree of Life to rise slightly and its growth rate to be greatly improved.

According to Li Zhangsheng's estimation, to make the Tree of Life advance further, he would need at least ten times the volume of green liquid.

In a flash, the invisible ripple and the Soul Barrier made contact.

The Soul Barrier fluctuated violently, but after holding on for only a moment, it was forcibly broken open by the invisible ripple.

However, the intensity of the invisible ripple was also greatly weakened.

The reason Soul Control could break through a Soul Barrier of the same rank was, firstly, the gap in realm between Li Zhangsheng and Dou Zhangsheng, and secondly, it was naturally due to the pupil power of the Chongming Bird eyeball, which allowed Soul Control to remain on the stronger side.

The instant the invisible ripple broke through the Soul Barrier, a Crystal Ball suddenly flew out from Li Zhangsheng's Soul Light Sphere.

This was the World Wonder obtained from Flame King Di Zhiyi—the Original Light, which possessed the ability to nourish the soul and defend against mental or soul shocks.

Li Zhangsheng did not let the invisible ripple strike his second line of defense; under his mental control, the Original Light transformed into a beam of white light and instantly fell into the invisible ripple.

The moment the two made contact, the Original Light devoured the invisible ripple it touched as if it were a whale swallowing water.

The invisible ripple began to be rapidly weakened, but in the process, it continued to approach Li Zhangsheng's Soul Light Sphere.

At this moment, the Hundred-Armed Giant's light sphere merged with Li Zhangsheng's Soul Light Sphere, causing Li Zhangsheng's soul strength to instantly skyrocket, not only temporarily bringing him to the level of a King, but also granting him special abilities.

Roar—

Accompanied by a silent roar, a ripple surged out from Li Zhangsheng's Soul Light Sphere, instantly colliding with the invisible ripple.

Pop—

In the end, the invisible ripple was "outnumbered," and with no follow-up support, it finally annihilated and vanished.

In reality, only an instant had passed; just as Dou Zhangsheng revealed a smile, the Chongming Bird eyeball he held in his hand developed numerous cracks, and under his stunned gaze, it suddenly shattered.

The moment he eliminated the invisible ripple, Li Zhangsheng pulled out one purple and three black beads at top speed; under the control of his Mental Power, the four beads transformed into a Residual Shadow and rushed toward the four Pseudo-Kings.

These four beads were all one-time treasures; among them, the purple bead was named the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Bead, sealing a Purple Heaven Divine Thunder of astonishing power; the black beads were named Phantom Desire Beads, which could cause Demon Beasts or Monster Tamers to fall into a cage of desire, though it could only be maintained for a very short time.

At the same time, the two cats in Li Zhangsheng's arms pounced over.

Dou Zhangsheng reacted the fastest, immediately unleashing a Mental Shock to forcibly annihilate the Phantom Desire Bead rushing toward Dou Yuanbin.

Compared to Dou Yuanbin, the other three hurriedly defended themselves.

Among these three, the strongest, Dou Qingtian, reacted the fastest; a Golden Treasure Bead appeared above his head, and the golden halo it emitted enveloped Dou Qingtian; the Phantom Desire Bead exploded into a cloud of black mist, but it could not break through his defense at all.

Compared to Dou Qingtian, Dou Qinghe and Xu Tailai reacted a beat slower; the former was struck by the Phantom Desire Bead and fell into a brief cage of desire.

The latter was clearly more miserable; he was instantly struck by the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Bead, and only had time to let out a scream before being submerged in the purple thunder light.

When the purple thunder light vanished, a mangled lump of flesh lay on the ground, with a large hole blown into his head, having lost all signs of life.

If he were a Top-tier Pseudo-King with six Demon Beasts, his Jade Bone would be naturally formed, and he would not have been killed instantly by the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Bead.

Unfortunately, Xu Tailai had only tempered a portion of his Jade Bone and was still at the stage of a mortal body, and furthermore, this was the Imperial Palace, where some escape methods could not be deployed at all.

"Ah!"

The instant Xu Tailai fell, Dou Qinghe let out a scream, clutching his neck with both hands, but he could not stop the frantically gushing blood; he stared with wide eyes and collapsed limply to the ground, having had his neck slashed open by Black Night the moment he fell into the cage of desire, nearly shattering his cervical vertebrae.

On the other side, White Day swiped a claw at the golden light screen, but it only caused violent ripples, failing to break through instantly.

The defense formed by this golden bead exceeded Li Zhangsheng's expectations; it had definitely reached the level of a World Wonder.

"Fifth Brother!"

Within the much dimmer golden light screen, Dou Qingtian's eyes were splitting with rage; he and Dou Qinghe were brothers of the same father and mother and had a friendship spanning nearly a hundred years; now, watching him being killed, his heart was naturally filled with grief.

Until this moment, Dou Zhangsheng instantly summoned three Demon Beasts to intercept White Day and Black Night.

What made Dou Zhangsheng's jaw drop was that under the siege of the three Demon Beasts, White Day and Black Night did not fall behind in the slightest, and instead held a slight advantage.

(End of this chapter)