There was a maniacal sneer on Dongfang Ming’s face as he clutched the draconic spear still embedded in his chest. Spiking irregularly, his soulforce pulsated out from his hands with a red sheen to it.

“Huff…huff…”

Half-laughing, half-grunting, Dongfang Ming exerted force onto his hands and…pushed the spear deeper into himself!

Instead of pulling it out, he was pushing it deeper into his person!

“Pft!!”

Large mouthfuls of blood escaped from his lips as the spear dug deeper into him. His soulforce flickered unsteadily like a wisp of fire being blown on by a gust of wind. Dongfang Ming looked even crazier than before, however, and he still continued to push the spear deeper into him!

This wasn’t the work of any sane and rational person. This was an act of suicide!

What…was he trying to do?!

“Bzzz…”

The draconic spear began to tremble. The dragon decorations around the spear looked as if they were alive and were desperately trying to escape from Dongfang Ming. The spear seemed terrified of the man, for some reason.

“Bang!!”

Suddenly, a large amount of energy exploded outward from within Dongfang Ming’s chest!

Only a spray of blood escaped from him. The left part of Dongfang Ming’s chest split apart from the explosion to reveal a devastating wound!

“What meager willpower…resistance is futile…be destroyed!!”

But the new wound didn’t even seem to bother Dongfang Ming. Rather than cry out in pain, he cackled one last time before pushing down on the spear once again!

“Clang!!”

The spear was thrusted deeper into his body and seemingly struck against something metallic!

Logically, the spear was deep enough in Dongfang Ming’s body that it should’ve gone through him. But the spear had yet to appear from his back. If someone were to look at Dongfang Ming’s chest closely, they would notice a small dark-red flash of light from where the spear was slowly being pushed into the black hole in Dongfang Ming’s chest.

“Crackle…crackle…”

The grinding sounds from within Dongfang Ming’s chest wasn’t very loud in actuality, but they felt abnormally loud for all the crafters.

“Die!!”

Seemingly speaking with the spear, Dongfang Ming let out one loud roar and made a pulling motion with his right hand.

His right palm shined with a dark-red light as he pulled at the spear. A very faint ray of light exuded out from the spear, as if trying to resist, but…

“Haha…hahaha….”

That didn’t stop Dongfang Ming from pulling the spear deeper into his body!

As if it was being dipped into a pool of water, the spear ‘sunk’ into his chest and disappeared without a trace!

It was evident to all that Dongfang Ming was in pain at this action. His face was twisted together, but the smile never left his lips as he began to go through several hand seals.

The dark-red light flowed from his palms back up his arms and eventually covered his entire person like a cocoon. No one could see his person from within the light, but they could sense his soulforce beginning to draw inward and calm down as if he was going into a recuperative hibernation without a care for the outside world.

……

“Pffttt!!”

Chu Yintian let out a mouthful of blood the moment his spear ‘disappeared’ into Dongfang Ming!

His soul had been struck a heavy blow!

Chu Yintian’s draconic spear had been destroyed!

Unlike Hu Yang and Yang Yao, who had their soul armaments broken, Chu Yintian had his soul armament ‘devoured’ by Dongfang Ming!

It was a critical blow that Chu Yintian barely managed to suppress. But…the Nine Tribulations from Dong Wanlei were coming down at him at that moment!

Left without any other choice, Chu Yintian was forced to steady himself and gather his soulforce. A split-second later, a ‘shadow’ shot out from him with the defensive soul armament to protect him from above.

It was…an avatar!!

“Boom boom boom boom…”

Lightning splashed across the entirety of the area all around Chu Yintian. For a kilometer around, the skies were obstructed by bolts of lightning. Hardly anyone dared to draw even an inch closer in fear of being struck by the lightning.

“Teacher!!”

It was Yang Yao who cried out. Fearful of the safety of Chu Yintian, everyone from the Crafting School could only watch with horrified expressions.

“Is he dead?”

Qi Ning muttered under his breath. Unlike the Crafting School, he and the others were anxiously waiting for the outcome.

“He’d be a failure of a Late-stage Soul Emperor if he were to die this easily. But…he is no longer a threat.” Dong Wanlei replied as he watched the pool of lightning in front of him. “To immediately create and use an avatar to protect himself from death…an admirable decision.”

“Bang!!”

A fireball shot out from the lightning pool. Like a meteor, it traveled out from the range of the lightning and landed near the formation of crafters.

Dong Wanlei didn’t look surprised at this outcome. He simply stared at the dark-red ball of light within the lightning pool—that was where Dongfang Ming was.

“He’s still alive? What trickery is this Dongfang Ming up to…”

The assault onto the Crafting School had been meticulously planned for by both the Soul Refining School and the Wind Lightning School. It was something Dong Wanlei thought very hard about when considering all the factors, but one of the factors he could never seem to figure out was Dongfang Ming. He thought it strange that his attack didn’t even seem to affect Dongfang Ming in any way, or how Dongfang Ming had managed to take Chu Yintian’s spear head on and then ‘absorb’ the spear into his body. It was even more puzzling Chu Yintian was rendered into a vulnerable state after Dongfang Ming absorbed the spear.

All in all, the absolute power Dongfang Ming wielded frightened even Dong Wanlei.

……

Only ten seconds had passed since Chu Yintian appeared to fight Dongfang Ming to when Dong Wanlei managed to land a blow on him.

I was in those ten seconds that everyone was able to see two powerful Late-stage Soul Emperors battle it out and see one of them get injured.

“Teacher! Are you alright?!”

Yang Yao cried out as Chu Yintian appeared right beside him.

“I’m fine, I can still fight!” Chu Yintian barked. He was pale in the face, saying he was ‘alright’ was by no means anywhere close to the truth. The destruction of his soulbound armament and avatar was not something that could be shrugged off so easily.

“Who…is that person?”

Chu Yintian wasn’t looking at Dong Wanlei, but rather at the area where Dongfang Ming was still standing in.

“He’s a traitor of our school, Dongfang Ming. He was expelled from our school for attempting to craft a demon armament!”

“A traitor—crafting a demon armament?!”

“Whoosh…”

A column of fire exploded to life right beside Chu Yintian, causing both people to stare at it.

“Heavenfire!!” Chu Yintian exclaimed.

Heavenfire ‘appeared’ from the flames to give a deep glare at the dark-red cocoon that surrounded Dongfang Ming. “This Dongfang Ming…is abnormal!!”

“What?” Several people grew alert at Heavenfire’s warning. “What do you see, Heavenfire?” Asked Yang Yao.

“He’s not human!!”