Bai Xiaochun’s shocking words caused all sorts of thoughts to go through the minds of the people in the area. If he had said something completely random and meaningless, then it likely wouldn’t have resulted in anything to speak of. However, people almost immediately realized the implications of what he was saying. Even the clan chief gasped.
Many of the ordinary soul cultivators in the area were turning to look at the Bai Clan patriarch.
Everyone knew that deva patriarchs were clever and conniving, so it wouldn’t be anything surprising to find that what Bai Xiaochun had said was true.
After all... three great clans had put their lives on the line in this rebellion.
Everyone reeled in shock, and the Bai Clan patriarch's mouth began to turn into a smile. Bai Xiaochun, looking very meek and obedient, slowly neared the patriarch, with the giant ghost king held out in front of him. He moved quickly, and within moments was a short 30 meters away....
At that point, the Bai Clan patriarch’s face fell. After all, he was a deva, connected to heaven and earth, with acute divine sense, and fantastic instincts when it came to danger. In that moment, a profound sense of deadly crisis suddenly rose up in his heart, and he subconsciously began to back up. Although he wasn’t sure why... there was something that suddenly seemed extremely dangerous about Bai Xiaochun.
Although it seemed completely unbelievable, the sensation of crisis caused the Bai Clan patriarch to suddenly shout, “Hold it right there!”
Just when he was about to shoot backward, a vicious, maddened grin suddenly spread out on Bai Xiaochun’s face.
“You’re dead!!” he shouted, slapping his bag of holding to produce a crystalline soulhoarding pagoda. Then, with all the strength he could muster, he hurled the soulhoarding pagoda at the patriarch!
The soulhoarding pagoda didn’t look like anything special, but as it whooshed through the air toward the Bai Clan patriarch, the man’s scalp began to tingle so hard it felt like it might explode. The sensation of impending doom was so intense that it filled every inch of his flesh and blood.
“That thing could kill me!! I need to get out of here immediately!!” A tremor ran through the patriarch, and he immediately began to fade away as he resorted to a powerful teleportation!!
Unfortunately for him, everything was happening too quickly. Bai Xiaochun’s action of hurling the soulhoarding pagoda had caught him completely unprepared. Most importantly... Bai Xiaochun was simply too close to him!
He had only been about 30 meters away, and had hurled the soulhoarding pagoda with all his strength. Because of that, it only took the briefest of moments... for the soulhoarding pagoda to be a few short meters away!!
In the instant that the patriarch began to fade away, Bai Xiaochun threw his head back and roared, “DETONATE!!”
He pushed hard against the restrictive spell inside of the soulhoarding pagoda, and at the same time, shot backward at full speed!
He used his Undying Hex, and also kept the giant ghost king held out in front of him. However, worried that all of that wasn’t enough, he took advantage of the fact that everyone was looking at the soulhoarding pagoda to pull out his turtle-wok and place it between himself and the giant ghost king!
All of this takes a bit of time to describe, but actually happened in the time it takes a spark to fly off of a piece of flint. The instant the restrictive spell inside the soulhoarding pagoda unraveled, the discarnate demigod soul inside awoke, causing an aura of destruction to erupt out!
Brightly colored light flashed in heaven and earth, and the clouds were thrown into chaos. An indescribably powerful pressure instantly filled the entire area!
“Demigod soul!?!?!?” The Bai Clan patriarch’s face fell, and his heart was seized with shock. A sensation of deadly crisis completely overwhelmed him, and a scream escaped his lips as he gave up on the lengthy teleportation process and simply tried to run. Sadly for him, it was too late for that!
The instant the shocking demigod aura appeared, something like a gale force wind sprang up. Cries of astonishment and alarm filled the area.
“Demigod aura!!”
“What’s that!?!?”
“Heavens....”
Then, a heaven-rending, earth-crushing boom rose up in the area, a deafening sound that quickly spreading out to fill all of Giant Ghost City, causing everything to quake violently!
A destructive blast like the crushing blow of a giant rocked the entire city. The sky went dim, and the wind screamed as countless crevices opened up in the lands surrounding the city!
The Bai Clan patriarch took the brunt of the attack, and managed to let out a short frenzied scream that was soon overwhelmed by the destructive force!
The nearby buildings, as well as many nearby cultivators who had been too slow to flee, were also swept up in the powerful force of the attack.
BOOM! RUMBLE! CRAAAAAASH!!
Many of the nearby cultivators had no time to even scream before they were destroyed in body and soul. That included many of the Bai Clan elders, who were completely incapable of defending themselves, and were transformed into ash....
The clan chief had been leading the way in the chase after Bai Xiaochun, but happened to have a life-saving magical item. With the help of that item, he survived, but was still severely injured, his legs shredded into nothing, his arms ripped off, his chest caved in, his hair burned off, and his cultivation base shattered.
“No... this can’t be real!! Bai Hao! Bai Hao!!!” Lingering hatred and despair could be seen in his eyes as he tumbled away, screaming in terror.
A huge crater was being opened up... and the destructive aura could even be sensed by people some distance away.
Amidst the cacophony of sound, the giant ghost king’s voice could be heard, letting out a shriek of despair. Blood sprayed out of his mouth as he was shoved backward. As for Bai Xiaochun, he remained behind his turtle-wok, but still felt some of the force of the blow, and coughed up an enormous mouthful of blood. He felt like his body was going to collapse, and even his internal organs were destabilized. And yet, he still managed to escape with his life.
Even the giant ghost king was completely shaken by what was happening. Never could he possibly have imagined that something like this would happen, or that the person to orchestrate it all would be... Bai Hao!!
When it was all over, Bai Xiaochun looked at the crater, heart pounding with residual fear.
“The force unleashed by the detonation of a demigod soul is mind-boggling.... Even I almost got wiped out.” Thankfully, he had been prepared all along for what was going to happen. He had picked the right place and time, and had retreated with incredible speed. Therefore, he was minimally affected. After adding in the protection of the giant ghost king and his turtle-wok, he managed to escape with his life.
In fact, that was another reason why he had taken the initiative to approach the Bai Clan patriarch, instead of allowing the man to get close to him. That had given him room to back up.... If it had been a normal fight, and he had casually attempted to use the demigod soul as a weapon, he would likely have blown himself up....
Of everyone else present, the Bai Clan patriarch had been the closest to the soulhoarding pagoda. Now that the force of the blow was fading away, he could be seen floating there in the air, most of his hair burned off, the rest of his body in horrific condition. In fact, this was the worst shape he had ever been in throughout his entire life.
Even more shocking to him was the fact that he was obviously in no place to try to fight Bai Xiaochun. If he did, he would surely be defeated and killed!
Trembling, he uncontrollably coughed up another massive mouthful of blood, then looked over at Bai Xiaochun with a mixture of unparalleled fear and incredible killing intent. However, he also didn't hesitate to turn and flee, using every ounce of speed he could muster to get as far away as possible.
“He survived?!?!” Bai Xiaochun thought, shocked. At the moment, he didn’t dare to chase him, though.
Aware that he wasn’t out of danger yet, he looked up in thought for the briefest moment and then shouted, “I, Bai Hao, am the type who doesn’t attack unless I am attacked first. Listen up, everyone. That divine ability I used just now, I can use it another hundred times! When I attack, I frighten even myself! So don’t even think about provoking me!”
With that, he turned and fled, keeping a firm grip on the giant ghost king, who was still coughing up blood.