Chapter 654: The Four Protectors

Although they had discovered the four Protectors of the Mother Goddess Sect, Dongbo Xueying had to feign complete ignorance. On the surface, he carefully restrained all traces of his aura, even isolating light and sound around him. To the naked eye, he was invisible—yet the Protectors had other means of “detection.”

Keeping a wary eye on the nearby “Ancient Demon,” Dongbo Xueying began flying at an extreme speed into the distance.

“Dongbo Xueying has finally emerged,” Protector Huozhu remarked from afar, a sinister grin spreading across his face. “I thought he’d never come out. Waiting over six thousand years has been quite the ordeal.”

“Cheng Yun is dead, and the medicinal concoction ruined—all because of him,” the gray-robed female Protector added, her eyes gleaming faintly. While ordinary cultivation could make a million years pass in an instant, this kind of agonizing wait was far more exhausting. They had to remain vigilant at all times! No one knew when Dongbo Xueying would appear. If they let their guard down even slightly and failed to detect him, allowing him to escape far away—or even leave the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel—they would regret it deeply.

Once outside the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel, the Mother Goddess Sect would have to hide cautiously, never daring to launch such a large-scale ambush.

“After making us wait over six thousand years, we shall grant him death,” the green-eyed man declared, his killing intent palpable.

“Let’s proceed as planned,” said the elderly man wrapped in a purple robe, only his eyes visible.

“With all the preparations we’ve made, even bringing the sacred artifact from the sect, he’s as good as dead,” the green-eyed man added.

“Move out.”

Whoosh!

At Protector Huozhu’s command, a fiery rainbow light enveloped the four of them, swiftly pursuing Dongbo Xueying.

Despite fully unleashing the speed granted by the fifth layer of *Taihao*’s fifth chapter, *Annihilation Extreme Profound Body*, Dongbo Xueying was still far outpaced by the fiery rainbow light. Its velocity was so staggering that even he was left astounded.

The initial distance between them was simply too vast.

An hour later.

Dongbo Xueying continued his high-speed flight, glancing back to see the slumbering Ancient Demon in the distance. “Flying like this is indeed slow—just a few hundred billion miles in an hour. If I traversed the Void through the Illusory World, I could cover trillions of miles in a single thought.”

The fiery rainbow light behind him was closing the gap rapidly, now only a hundred billion miles away.

“Still not making a move? How patient,” Dongbo Xueying mused silently.

He had detected them long ago but had to pretend otherwise. After all, their concealment methods were truly masterful—without the Illusory World, he wouldn’t have noticed them at all.

Another half-hour passed.

The distance between them had narrowed to just over a hundred million miles—mere inches for beings of their caliber. Yet, with the enemy holding back, Dongbo Xueying had no choice but to feign ignorance and keep flying.

“This cultivator, Dongbo Xueying, is far too naive. Protector Huozhu has masked all traces, and he hasn’t noticed a thing,” the gray-robed female Protector sneered.

“Prepare to strike.”

The towering, dark-red-skinned Protector Huozhu flipped his hand, revealing an ancient stone disk engraved with intricate patterns. The disk emitted boundless ripples that spread in all directions…

…

“Finally,” Dongbo Xueying thought with inward delight, though outwardly he wore an expression of shock as he surveyed his surroundings. The heavens and earth had transformed, the ripples saturating a hundred-billion-mile radius, swiftly forming a sealed world. Within this world, mountains rose and rivers surged.

In the distance, the four Protectors of the Mother Goddess Sect materialized, their auras distinct—some cold-eyed, others brimming with excitement and bloodlust, and one utterly indifferent.

“Protectors of the Mother Goddess Sect?” Dongbo Xueying called out. “I never imagined you’d send four Protectors to deal with me. Quite the honor.”

“How could we dare underestimate you?” the gray-robed female Protector retorted coldly. “We’ve heard your teleportation and escape techniques surpass even those of your Sovereigns. Show us again—if you don’t act now, don’t blame anyone when you die later.”

Dongbo Xueying remained silent.

The four Protectors grew even more confident.

They had long suspected that such an overpowering escape technique—one that even concealed causality—couldn’t possibly stem from Dongbo Xueying’s own power. Even Bloodblade the Undying and the Island Lord of Spacetime lacked such abilities. It had to be the work of some rare treasure, and treasures of that caliber usually came with severe limitations—perhaps burdening the user with overwhelming karma or corroding their divine heart.

In the end, all things balanced out. The more overpowering the ability, the greater the cost.

“Such a treasure likely can’t be reused in the short term. Moreover, he wouldn’t dare bring it into the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel—dying here would only cost him a clone, but losing the treasure would be a far greater loss.” The Protectors had already deduced this, and Dongbo Xueying’s reaction only confirmed their suspicions.

“Hmph, flee?” Dongbo Xueying scoffed loudly. “One of your Protectors already fell to me. Do you really think I’d run from the likes of you? Though I must admit, your audacity is impressive—attacking me right beside an Ancient Demon.”

“This world is completely sealed. There’s no escape for you,” Protector Huozhu boomed. “As for the Ancient Demon, no matter how fierce the battle, nothing will reach it. Today, you die.” With that, he raised a massive green staff, which suddenly expanded.

Whoosh!

Swinging the colossal staff through the air, Protector Huozhu’s technique was crude in terms of profundity—his mastery was undeniably lacking. Yet the sheer speed and force far surpassed that of Protector Cheng Yun.

“Boom—!” The staff tore through space, shaking the entire hundred-billion-mile sealed world. Its power exceeded the world’s limits, causing fissures to spread across the terrain.

Having fought Protector Cheng Yun, Dongbo Xueying knew this strike would injure him if he tried to block it head-on.

Even so, he gripped his Blood Serpent Spear and executed a defensive stance.

“Clang!”

The moment the staff met the spear, despite Dongbo Xueying’s skillful defense—which reduced the impact to just a tenth of its full force—he was still sent flying like a shooting star, crashing diagonally into the earth and carving out a massive crater.

Yet, moments later—

Whoosh!

Dongbo Xueying shot back into the sky, unharmed.

“The defensive might of my *Annihilation Extreme Profound Body* is truly astonishing,” he reflected. “Even at the fourth tier, it endured a blow from the White Monarch—whose techniques far eclipsed this brute’s, despite his lesser strength. Now that I’ve ascended to the fifth tier, my resilience has grown even more formidable. As the ancient legacy proclaims, no Venerable One can slay me—at worst, they may wound me. This Protector may wield great power, but not even his full-force strike can shatter me.”

Having gauged his opponent’s strength through that exchange, Dongbo Xueying knew the truth: while he was utterly outmatched in power, he was effectively unkillable.

“Now, it’s your turn to face my strikes,” Dongbo Xueying declared, his Blood Serpent Spear elongating as it sliced through the air, thrusting toward Protector Huozhu.

“Die!”

Protector Huozhu swung his staff once more in a furious assault.

Swish!

The Blood Serpent Spear moved unpredictably, this time bypassing the staff entirely and aiming straight for Protector Huozhu’s torso. Frowning, the Protector raised his left hand to intercept—but the spear twisted like a serpent, evading his grasp and piercing his body.

Sssk—!

As the spear neared Protector Huozhu, an invisible resistance weakened its force. By the time it struck, only thirty percent of its power remained.

The tip met his skin as if hitting toughened leather, leaving nothing but a faint white mark—not even breaking the surface.

“Such physical resilience!” Dongbo Xueying marveled. While he relied on armor, this Protector’s bare skin had withstood the blow. “This one’s too strong. I can’t kill him.”

It was clear now: among the four Protectors, this one was beyond his ability to slay.