Fei Yun took a deep breath, and a cloud appeared behind him.
A pitch-black cloud.
It looked as if it were forged from dark steel.
It felt more like a mass of iron than a cloud.
Yet its shape was unmistakably that of a cloud.
A natural-type ninja spirit!
Ling Xiao frowned as he observed the dark cloud. He could sense that Fei Yun was far stronger than Fei Mu. Even with the cherry tree martial soul, he stood no chance against this man.
That’s right, a natural-type ninja spirit! The most powerful kind!
Fei Yun declared proudly.
Ninja spirits, like martial souls, were divided into natural, animal, plant, and common types.
Whether natural types were truly the strongest was debatable, but below the transcendent realm, they were generally considered the mightiest.
Natural types encompassed metal, wood, water, fire, earth, and their variants. Fei Yun’s dark cloud ninja spirit was a mutated natural type.
Animal and plant types were straightforward—Li Xinghui’s broken White Tiger Remnant Soul was an animal-type martial soul.
Fei Mu’s cherry tree ninja spirit was a plant-type.
As for common types, they were more complex. Typically defined as lacking a distinct form, these martial souls or ninja spirits enhanced the martial artist directly, producing unique effects.
Martial souls aren’t inherently strong or weak—it’s all about the user. Fei Mu’s cherry tree ninja spirit could’ve been wielded better, but he was too dim. It’s better off with me.
Ling Xiao gazed calmly at Fei Yun.
At this point, Fei Yun was seething, already wounded from Ling Xiaotian’s palm strike.
Though he’d suppressed the injury for now, it wasn’t without impact.
Ling Xiao aimed to keep Fei Yun enraged, to push him past reason. Only then might he find a sliver of a chance.
Die!
Fei Yun, already on edge, couldn’t withstand Ling Xiao’s taunts.
In his fury, his ninja spirit morphed, unleashing a torrent of raindrops like arrows toward Ling Xiao.
Bring it on!
Ling Xiao abruptly recalled his cherry tree martial soul. A massive figure suddenly rose between him and Fei Yun.
That barrage of deadly rain, if it hit Ling Xiao, would’ve killed ten of him without question.
The gap in strength between him and Fei Yun was simply too vast.
But Ling Xiao wasn’t foolish enough to court death for no reason.
The figure standing between them was none other than the corpse of the Mighty Divine Ape he’d scavenged from the Fulong Mountains.
This was the body of a peak eighth-tier demonic beast.
Renowned for its defensive prowess, no less.
Let alone one Fei Yun—a hundred of him couldn’t scratch this corpse.
By the time Fei Yun realized he’d been duped, it was too late.
Ling Xiao hadn’t summoned the Mighty Divine Ape’s corpse from his Mountain River World just for defense.
Today, I’ll teach you how a martial soul should be used!
His voice rang out like a death sentence, a chilling aura flooding the Ling Clan grounds.
Nearly everyone shivered.
Terrifying.
Ling Xiao used his cherry tree martial soul to manipulate the Mighty Divine Ape’s corpse, driving a fist toward Fei Yun.
That fearsome, murderous aura was the lingering presence of a peak eighth-tier beast.
Though the ape now functioned more like armor.
Lacking the divine strength and abilities it once possessed.
But it was enough.
Ling Xiao hid within the ape’s body, the cherry tree’s tendrils acting like veins and bones, controlling this giant suit of armor.
One punch, and Fei Yun was pinned.
Fei Yun was too close to this monstrous form.
So the effect on him was the greatest.
Already injured by Ling Xiaotian, and having just burned through his true essence with the dark cloud ninja spirit, he was doubly weakened.
A grand martial master paid the price of underestimation once again.
Even more pitifully than Fei Mu.
Boom!
The punch shook the earth.
Fei Yun’s body was smashed into pulp.
And his dark cloud ninja spirit was sucked into Ling Xiao’s Mountain River World with one gulp from the ape.
This scene filled Ling Xiaotian with wild joy.
Ling Xiao’s performance today was dazzling.
Fei Mu fell to Ling Yi Xue because of him.
Fei Yun was flattened by his fist.
This mere early sixth-tier martial artist, with clever props and astonishing calculation, toyed with two martial masters.
We must protect Ling Xiao!
No matter what!
Ling Xiaotian vowed that even if every Ling Clan warrior died, Ling Xiao must survive. As long as he lived, the clan had hope for vengeance.
He didn’t know that Ling Xiao was already spent.
Controlling a peak eighth-tier beast’s corpse with an early sixth-tier cultivation drained him dry.
Though it was just one punch.
It consumed all his gang qi and nearly all his soul power.
I’ve done all I can. Whether I live or die now is up to fate.
With a bitter smile, he collapsed inside the Mighty Divine Ape’s corpse.
Without the cherry tree martial soul’s control, the ape froze in its earth-striking pose, unable to move.
Even so, the attackers and traitors were stunned.
They halted their assault, minds in turmoil.
With Fei Mu and Fei Yun dead, should they keep fighting?
Ling Xiao had killed both envoys—what couldn’t he do?
Don’t panic! Though the envoys are dead, if we avenge them, the Ninja Clan won’t come after us!
Shi Long, befitting his role as Tianfeng City’s lord, knew how to rally a crowd.
You must understand, with the envoys gone, the Ninja Clan won’t spare the Ling Clan. If we flee now, we’re dead too.
Exactly! You all saw it—that Mighty Divine Ape looks fierce, but it can’t move anymore, Li Yunsheng added loudly. That Ling Xiao killed Lord Fei Yun, but he must’ve died doing it!
Their words steadied the wavering.
Death loomed either way—better to follow the clan leaders. If the sky fell, the tall ones would bear it.
And they’d heard of the Ninja Clan’s terror and cruelty. Fleeing now might mean survival, but capture later would be a gruesome end.
Kill—!
Kill—!
Kill, kill, kill!
As if dosed with some drug, the faltering fighters went berserk again.
Was the Ling Clan’s last hope snuffed out?
No!
From the fourth floor of the library, that trembling object finally broke free, having gathered its full strength.
It was a sword.
A giant sword, ten feet long.
Its widest part spanned a foot.
The sword landed at the battlefield’s heart, its brilliant light scattering in all directions.
Screams followed without cease.
Is that the broken sword left by the ancestor? But how?
Did the ancestor’s spirit manifest?
We’re saved! The Ling Clan is saved!
