Chapter 1406: Taking It Seriously
Lightning flashed and thunder roared, a biting wind howled, and explosions rattled incessantly. The battle between the Tong Continent Great Emperor and Yang Haoran had stripped the very colors from this stretch of heaven and earth.
The powerful shockwaves generated by their clashing techniques swept through the entire Guardian District like a storm. The hidden barrier's light curtain, affected by the onslaught, revealed its form, and the various buildings within the Guardian District suffered catastrophic damage as a result.
Every building within the Guardian District had been constructed with immense effort and resources. Furthermore, the district contained numerous resources that would be difficult to relocate quickly. With the Guardian District suffering such devastating damage, the extent of the losses was unimaginable.
As the master of the Guardian District, Yang Haoran had no mind to grieve over the losses at this moment, for they were utterly insignificant compared to his life. As long as he survived this ordeal, even the greatest losses could be slowly recovered. Therefore, everything he did now was solely for the sake of his own survival.
As for delaying time to allow his subordinates to evacuate as much as possible, he no longer needed to worry about it. Before the Tong Continent Great Emperor had deployed the Absolute Prohibition, many personnel had already been successfully relocated. After the Tong Continent Great Emperor activated the Absolute Prohibition, due to its time limit, Yang Haoran believed that all personnel in Lecheng should have been evacuated before the power of the Absolute Prohibition dissipated, as its duration was not short. Thus, he had no need to fret over this matter; all he needed to do was find a way to survive!
From the moment Yang Haoran stepped into the world of the extraordinary, he had never encountered an enemy as formidable as the Tong Continent Great Emperor. Therefore, he dared not show the slightest carelessness, for in a struggle of this magnitude, a tiny flaw could cost him his life. He had to summon every ounce of his focus!
The battle had been raging for over half an hour now. Throughout this period, the area of their engagement had known no quiet; spatial tremors had never ceased, and in many places, space itself had even fractured.
As for the once majestic and spectacular Guardian District below, it had been reduced to ruins by their clashes. Its former splendor was gone, replaced only by the desolate wreckage of destruction.
Although both sides engaged in both offense and defense, Yang Haoran was clearly at a disadvantage. Apart from a significant gap in their power, another reason was that Yang Haoran had not yet unleashed all his techniques.
There were two reasons why Yang Haoran had not employed all his methods. One was that, up to this point, the Tong Continent Great Emperor had only utilized a single Soul Armament. This meant the Tong Continent Great Emperor had not used his full power, merely a fraction of his strength.
Under such circumstances, if Yang Haoran were to unleash all his powerful techniques in one go, what would he use to counter the Tong Continent Great Emperor when he brought out a second, or even a third, Soul Armament?
The second reason was that in his current battle with the Tong Continent Great Emperor, his primary goal was to buy time, to outlast the Absolute Prohibition until its power dissipated. Only then would he have even a sliver of hope for escape. If he were to unleash all his formidable techniques, not only was it uncertain whether he could gain the upper hand, but it would certainly provoke the Tong Continent Great Emperor, prematurely escalating their battle into a full-blown, intense struggle.
Yang Haoran did not believe that unleashing all his techniques would allow him to defeat the Tong Continent Great Emperor. Therefore, if he were to prematurely force their battle into a white-hot phase, it would merely hasten his own demise.
This was not the outcome he desired, and it ran contrary to his objective. Of course, he wouldn't be foolish enough to commit such a blunder.
At this moment, the Tong Continent Great Emperor was utterly astonished. Although Yang Haoran had given him many surprises today, the astonishment he felt right now was the most intense, surpassing any prior instance. Besides this profound shock, a deep sense of doubt gnawed at him.
After Yang Haoran had forcibly shattered his shield for the first time, he had originally believed that by increasing his Spirit Power output, not only would his own shield remain unbroken, but his sword-shaped Soul Armament would also be capable of slaying Yang Haoran. Even if it couldn't accomplish that in a short time, it should certainly be able to force Yang Haoran to exhaust all his techniques and suffer severe injuries.
Yet, the reality diverged wildly from his expectations. Yang Haoran had not exhausted all his techniques under his suppression. As the battle had progressed, it was true that Yang Haoran had been firmly suppressed, constantly on the back foot, but he had not utilized any other powerful methods beyond his three Soul Armaments.
The Tong Continent Great Emperor would not believe that Yang Haoran possessed no other formidable techniques besides his three powerful Soul Armaments. For Yang Haoran to have broken through to the Life Soul realm in such a short time, he undoubtedly harbored secrets, and powerful techniques must certainly exist within him. Not having unleashed them did not mean they were absent; it simply meant the time for their deployment had not yet arrived.
This was one aspect of the Tong Continent Great Emperor's astonishment. The other aspect of his surprise was that while the intensity of the Spirit Power released by Yang Haoran had clearly not increased, the attack power of his two Soul Armaments progressively grew stronger with each passing moment. Not only was the increase rapid, but its magnitude was also considerable, forcing the Tong Continent Great Emperor to secretly increase his Spirit Power output once more. If he failed to do so, he would not only be unable to firmly suppress Yang Haoran but might even allow Yang Haoran to turn the tide.
This point was what astonished the Tong Continent Great Emperor the most, and also what left him most perplexed.
However, as the battle continued, leveraging his experience, insight, and observations, he eventually pinpointed the cause. In his view, this bizarre phenomenon must have been caused by Yang Haoran's Soul Armament, Ghost Butterfly. This Ghost Butterfly not only amplified the power of Soul Armaments but could also continuously enhance that amplification with each passing moment, which was why this was happening.
Whether the Ghost Butterfly could endlessly increase the power amplification of Soul Armaments, the Tong Continent Great Emperor considered it impossible, for he did not believe such an abnormal existence could exist in this world. He believed there was a definite limit to the Ghost Butterfly's power amplification of Soul Armaments. It was just that when the ability was first activated, the Ghost Butterfly had not unleashed its full amplification potential, which was why it continuously increased as time passed. This could either be an inherent characteristic of the Ghost Butterfly's power amplification, or it could be Yang Haoran's deliberate action.
Regardless of which possibility was true, it could not negate the formidable nature of the Ghost Butterfly's ability. What concerned the Tong Continent Great Emperor now was whether the Ghost Butterfly's amplification of Yang Haoran's two Soul Armaments had already reached its peak!
After some consideration, the Tong Continent Great Emperor decided he should unleash his true capabilities and confront Yang Haoran seriously, rather than maintaining a nonchalant attitude. After all, as the caster of the Absolute Prohibition, he was well aware of its characteristics. If he continued to contend with Yang Haoran in their current state, it was highly probable that the Absolute Prohibition would dissipate before he could slay Yang Haoran.
At that point, he couldn't be certain whether Yang Haoran would employ some escape technique that even he couldn't stop. If Yang Haoran truly managed to escape, not only would the Tong Continent Great Emperor lose all face, but his desire to uncover the secrets hidden within Yang Haoran would also become an empty dream.
With a decision made in his heart, the Tong Continent Great Emperor cast aside his indifferent demeanor and grew serious. Without wasting words on Yang Haoran, he let out a cold snort and immediately mobilized all the Spirit Power within his body.
As the Tong Continent Great Emperor fully activated all the Spirit Power within him, the power fluctuations erupting from his body surged wildly. Tangible Yin Qi billowed upwards from him, and a chilling aura permeated the entire space, causing the temperature of the area to plummet instantly.
At this moment, though the Tong Continent Great Emperor had not used his other two Soul Armaments, he had unleashed the full Spirit Power befitting his cultivation realm. And when Yang Haoran sensed the sudden surge in the Tong Continent Great Emperor's power fluctuations, his expression instantly changed.
"Peak mid-stage Life Soul!"
Yang Haoran muttered to himself, his expression becoming exceedingly grim in an instant, his brows furrowing tightly.
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