Battle Through the Heavens: Reap the Red Lotus Karmic Flame at the Start

To defeat Xiao Yan, he had to do it. Now, Gu Yao held nothing back and immediately used the strongest fighting technique he had mastered!

A massive finger, nearly a hundred feet long and as black as ink, burst forth from the clouds and pressed down heavily on Xiao Yan below!

This enormous, jet-black finger exuded an extremely terrifying aura of annihilation, as if all life would be reduced to dust under its touch.

A true Heavenly Rank Battle Technique!

Now, Gu Yao has become an eight-star Dou Zun, and he is absolutely confident in himself. Ever since the trip to Xingyun Pavilion, he has always regarded Xiao Yan as his future rival. Although Xiao Yan ultimately won the battle at Xingyun Pavilion, it was clear to everyone that Xiao Yan at that time was no match for him.

Now, no one can protect Xiao Yan anymore, and being in the Ancient Clan, he has all the advantages of timing, location, and people. He believes that this Heaven-Rank Battle Technique will definitely be able to kill Xiao Yan on the spot.

Xiao Yan looked at the finger falling from the sky, but he was not as panicked as Gu Yao had expected, nor did he intend to avoid Gu Yao's attack just because it was a Heaven-rank fighting technique.

So what if it's a Heavenly Rank fighting technique? It can still be broken!

With his right hand tightly gripping the Xuan Heavy Ruler, purplish-red flames rapidly rose. As if sensing Xiao Yan's current state of holding nothing back, the Xuan Heavy Ruler's demonic core also fiercely absorbed the injected battle qi, instantly shining brightly.

A sharp, resonant phoenix cry, its sound waves capable of tearing through the clouds, echoed throughout. On the Xuan Heavy Ruler that Xiao Yan held aloft, a lifelike phantom of a Heavenly Demon Phoenix even appeared, clinging tightly to it. Every feather of that phantom was ablaze with purplish-red flames, unleashing the ferocious aura of a top-tier magical beast. This was the weapon forged with all the painstaking effort of the top-tier blacksmith Haika; wielding it granted an extremely considerable boost!

Like countless stars, crimson light spots instantly bloomed behind Xiao Yan, accompanied by the deafening clang of metal clashing. As the sound rang out, the crimson light spots transformed into soldiers wielding rulers, a vast army on the battlefield.

Xiao Yan swung his sword down, triggering a massive response like a landslide and a tsunami!

The Heavenly Ruler, Your Majesty Reigns!

Xiao Yan's attack wasn't just aimed at the fighting techniques in the sky; it encompassed almost the entire Black Annihilation Army. The ruler-like shadow flew like a meteor, and hundreds of Black Annihilation soldiers, already recovering from Xiao Yan's soul needle attack, were now targeted again. The stronger soldiers likely only managed a muffled groan as their blood surged, rendering them unable to fight further. The weaker ones coughed up blood and collapsed unconscious.

Half of the Black Annihilation Army were Dou Zong and the other half were Dou Zun, so they shouldn't have posed any real trouble to Xiao Yan. However, Xiao Yan realized that these people had some methods of combined attacks, and were able to temporarily combine the power of hundreds of people to forcefully fight against him.

To avoid any unforeseen circumstances in the subsequent battle, Xiao Yan prioritized dealing with them. After several combined attacks, even if these people could manage to parry the blows together, they wouldn't be able to cause him any further trouble in the short term. Of course, Xiao Yan didn't waste too much of his power; these people weren't his targets.

The real highlight is the clash between this move and the Heavenly Rank combat technique.

The thousands of feet of shadow collided with the finger in the sky, resulting in a series of loud explosions. Each explosion unleashed a visible, violent shockwave, throwing the energy in the area into utter chaos once more.

In the center of the battlefield, Gu Yao watched as his attack, which had gathered all his power, was indeed weakened considerably by Xiao Yan's interception. Seeing that his plan to kill Xiao Yan in one strike was thwarted, a fierce glint appeared in Gu Yao's eyes, and a faint mist of blood emanated from his body as he forcibly pushed his limits!

With the ancient demon's forceful urging, the finger in the sky increased its speed again, pressing down hard on Xiao Yan's location, seemingly wanting to extinguish him!

The jet-black fingertip was suddenly enveloped in a faint, blood-red light, and its speed, previously slowed by the thousands of shadows, suddenly increased again. Amidst the exploding energy torrent, the enormous fingertip locked onto the spot where Xiao Yan stood and pressed down fiercely.

As Xiao Yan saw the finger about to strike, and knowing that the remaining power of the Heavenly Desolation Ruler could no longer stop it, a strange fluctuation appeared in his deep eyes.

Celestial Soul, unleash its full power!

A massive amount of soul power condensed into an energy vortex, and the soul power that roamed freely was no weaker than the battle qi of a Dou Zun level.

Soul Flow Black Vortex!

The enormous energy finger, powerful enough to crush mountains, was now only inches above Xiao Yan's head, but was firmly held back by the Soul Flow Black Vortex, unable to cross the threshold.

boom!

Battle qi and energy collided continuously in the central area, but the ancient demon's battle qi was constantly being shredded and dispersed by the vortex, completely unable to break through Xiao Yan's defense head-on. The turbulent energy flow was all resisted by the vortex, and the power of the Heaven-Rank Battle Technique came to an end there.

"This is... a Heavenly Realm Soul? How is that possible!" Gu Yao naturally sensed the method Xiao Yan was using, which was indeed soul power.

The ancient demon genius, with his extensive knowledge, knew very well that the soul power that stood firm against the Great Extinction Finger was definitely beyond the realm of the Soul Spirit Realm; it could only be a Heavenly Realm Soul!

"How could a Dou Zun possess a Heavenly Realm soul!"

The reason why the Heavenly Realm Soul surprised the Ancient Demon so much is that, to some extent, the Heavenly Realm Soul is a standard feature of a Battle Saint!

To exaggerate a bit, if one doesn't have any talent in the path of the soul, even if they can advance to the Dou Sheng realm, they might not necessarily reach the Heavenly Realm soul level. After all, cultivating Dou Qi requires talent, and cultivating soul power requires even more talent!

Moreover, the improvement of soul power requires years of accumulation. Just over four years ago, Gu Yao in the Starfall Pavilion felt that his soul power was at the same level as Xiao Yan's. How could Xiao Yan have such an exaggerated improvement in his realm now?

The fact that a soul of this caliber was now present in Xiao Yan's body was far beyond Gu Yao's expectations. This was why his previous sneak attack had failed completely, and why Xiao Yan had turned the tables on him.

With Xiao Yan possessing a Heavenly Realm soul, the danger level would be two levels higher. Even if Gu Yao was extremely confident in himself, he would never dare to say that he could defeat Xiao Yan on his own.

After Xiao Yan blocked his attack, he quickly transformed and arrived beside Gu Yao. The impact of the Heavenly Realm Soul was so great that Gu Yao was momentarily stunned and didn't react immediately.