Chapter 145: The Appearance of Li Ren

Trading blows with unmatched intensity, the two pushed every strike and sword-play to their absolute limits, causing massive shockwaves of power to repeatedly reverberate through the grand hall.

Finally, at a certain moment, the Skeleton King delivered a ferocious punch directly into the curved blade held by the Shadow, sending the figure hurtling backward through the air.

"You are still not enough," the Skeleton King said calmly.

Almost before the words had faded, another figure abruptly materialized along the trajectory of the retreating Shadow, launching a devastating punch. Despite the Shadow twisting around to deploy a desperate defense, the violent impact and the newly airborne body unmistakably signaled a grim outcome.

The Shadow had been defeated.

Even after acquiring such formidable strength, he had still fallen to this newly evolved Skeleton King.

The Shadow collapsed face-first onto the ground, coughing up blood continuously. However, Lania's sharp eyes caught sight of a telling change: the wildly fluctuating aura surrounding the Shadow was rapidly dissipating.

The weapon in his hand steadily grew translucent until it dissolved completely into gray particles and vanished. The boiling, torrential blood within him finally calmed—meaning the life-threatening, volatile surge of power had been forcibly and abruptly cut short by the Skeleton King himself.

Witnessing this, Lania merely knitted her brows tightly, casting a puzzled glance at the Skeleton King as he walked back to his throne.

After the Skeleton King stripped him of that bizarre state, the Shadow lapsed into unconsciousness.

Though that period of combat had seemed relatively brief, the toll it took on the Shadow's stamina was terrifying.

Lania's earlier estimate of three minutes had still been overly optimistic.

Judging by the sheer ferocity of their clash, the blood within the Shadow's body could only have sustained his peak state for one minute at most. Fortunately, the Skeleton King had intervened just in time to forcibly shatter that unnatural state; otherwise, the Shadow likely would have died directly from the combustion of his own blood, leaving no chance of survival whatsoever!

Carrying the pale, unconscious Shadow back to her side, Landis gazed at the Skeleton King sitting motionlessly upon the throne and said nothing.

The Skeleton King seemed to treat the two great legions led by Landis and Lania with utter disdain, looking past them as if they were nothing more than empty air. The cluster of blue soul fire burned steadily, rendering the atmosphere of the hall even more eerie.

The Skeleton King appeared to be waiting for something. Meanwhile, Landis and Lania refrained from launching an immediate attack; they were waiting, awaiting the arrival of Fan Yunshan and Moran.

Based on the current situation, relying solely on the two of them would likely fall short of even matching the Shadow's previous state of fury, let alone dealing with the Skeleton King, who had defeated the Shadow with apparent ease.

A dead silence descended upon the scene. Everyone stood rooted to the spot, holding their breath without making the slightest sound, until a piercing eagle's cry echoed from outside the skeleton cavern.

A flash of joy momentarily crossed the faces of Landis and Lania, while the Skeleton King shifted his posture slightly on the throne, as though both sides had been waiting for a specific person's arrival.

Before long, the awaited individual appeared, but the person accompanying him caused Landis and Lania to gasp in shock.

"Li Ren! Why are you here?!" Lania cried out in astonishment, completely forgetting the gravity of the current situation.

Gazing at the stunned women before him and the unconscious Shadow lying on the ground, Li Ren's expression grew increasingly cold.

"He is fine. This fellow only took half of it. As long as we seize his primordial soul-seed, there is still hope of pulling it back by force," Fan Yunshan answered for him. As the one who had preserved the remaining half of Li Ren's soul fire at the very last moment, he undoubtedly held the most authority on the current predicament.

Hearing this, Landis nodded gravely. "As long as you are safe, that is what matters. However, this Skeleton King is no longer the creature he used to be. If we all attack together, we might still have a glimmer of hope. It is just a pity that the Shadow foolishly assumed you were already dead and acted too rashly; otherwise, things would not have come to this."

A mixture of astonishment and lingering regret colored Landis's tone as she spoke of the Shadow. Li Ren keenly noticed the complex emotion in her eyes as she looked at the fallen warrior, but given the circumstances, he remained silent.

"You have finally arrived," the Skeleton King said from his throne, looking down at Fan Yunshan and Li Ren who had just entered.

Judging by the way his attention was fixed squarely on Li Ren, however, his words were clearly not meant for Fan Yunshan as they had anticipated, but rather for Li Ren, who had already been drained of half his soul fire!

"Hand over the primordial soul-seed! Out of consideration for our shared origins in the Underworld, I can let this matter slide without reporting it upward. But if you stubbornly refuse, those fellows in the Enforcement Squad will not be as merciful as I am," Fan Yunshan said, stepping forward with an icy gaze and a stern voice directed at the Skeleton King.

"The Enforcement Squad? Ha, to think they have established such an organization; it seems things truly have been in chaos for far too long." The Skeleton King actually chuckled, brushing off Fan Yunshan's words entirely, showing not the slightest intention of returning what he had taken.

Seeing this reaction, Fan Yunshan's expression darkened as well. He knew all too well how formidable the Skeleton clan became after evolution, and if a peaceful resolution could be reached, he preferred to avoid force.

At the peak of his power back in the Underworld, dealing with a blue-flame Skeleton would have been tricky, but not entirely impossible. However, he had already sustained heavy injuries upon crossing over from the Underworld, and was subsequently severely wounded by Solong using the Tianxie Secret Arts—injuries from which he had yet to fully recover.

He harbored little confidence in his ability to subdue the Skeleton King before him.

Yet, thinking of the crucial significance behind Li Ren's identity, Fan Yunshan felt a surge of uncontrollable rage. This damned wretch had nearly destroyed all their hopes in a single stroke!

Even after arriving in the nick of time, this bastard still refused to let go, forcibly tearing away half of Li Ren's soul fire!

Had the victim been anyone else—someone whose life would not be fundamentally threatened—Fan Yunshan might have let the matter rest. But the target was Li Ren, a person he could not afford to see harmed. To touch him was to cross Fan Yunshan's absolute taboo. Narrowing his eyes at the Skeleton King, Fan Yunshan gripped his giant sword tightly in his hand.