When the name Chu Feng left Linghu Yuehua's lips, Linghu Hongfei's face twisted in pain, and he hurriedly grabbed at his chest.
At that moment, not only did a pained expression surface on his face, but his entire body was also trembling violently.
"Hongfei." Seeing this, Linghu Yuehua quickly moved to support him.
A faint glow emanated from Linghu Hongfei's chest. When the light faded, cold sweat the size of beans covered his face, his complexion was as white as paper, and his aura had weakened to the extreme.
However, both Linghu Hongfei and Linghu Yuehua had long been prepared for this scene.
Linghu Hongfei opened the hand clutching his chest. In his palm, there lay a small stone.
The stone was no larger than a fingernail, yet it seemed to possess a life of its own, pulsing with a faint blue light in a rhythm like a heartbeat. It was clearly no ordinary object, but unfortunately, it was now in a fractured state.
Crack—
Suddenly, Linghu Hongfei clenched his fist, crushing the stone to powder.
Now, his trembling intensified further; this was no longer merely caused by injury, but by anger—a boundless, furious anger.
Seeing Linghu Hongfei like this, a pained look appeared on Linghu Yuehua's face.
Everyone only knew that when Linghu Hongfei was born, the Linghu Clan had fused the Azure Dark Soul into his body.
But in reality, before integrating the Azure Dark Soul, the Linghu Clan had first merged another object into Linghu Hongfei's body.
This object's value was in no way inferior to the Azure Dark Soul. It was the very stone Linghu Hongfei had just taken from his chest and crushed. This item was called the Life-Protecting Soul Stone.
The function of the Life-Protecting Soul Stone was to preserve one life for Linghu Hongfei.
The reason they had fused the Life-Protecting Soul Stone into his body first was as a precaution in case the Azure Dark Soul fusion failed, and the Azure Dark Soul seized control of Linghu Hongfei's consciousness.
Who would have thought that Linghu Hongfei's will would be so resolute, allowing him to easily subdue the Azure Dark Soul?
Therefore, from the day he was born, Linghu Hongfei not only possessed the Azure Dark Soul, this power from ancient times, but he also possessed one extra life compared to ordinary people.
But who would have thought that today, this Life-Protecting Soul Stone, which had accompanied him since birth and resided within his body, would shatter.
Furthermore, it was broken by a junior whose cultivation was so much weaker than his own.
That person, naturally, was Chu Feng.
Linghu Yuehua could imagine how Chu Feng had accomplished this. It must have been the grand formation Chu Feng had set up.
The formation Chu Feng had spoken of—the Eight Trigrams Lightning Sealing Formation.
Once activated, that formation had sealed away Linghu Hongfei.
Linghu Hongfei had been suppressed completely, utterly unable to break free from that formation.
In that situation, Linghu Hongfei had only two choices: either admit defeat or fight to the bitter end, a fight where both would be destroyed.
Linghu Hongfei had chosen the latter.
Therefore, he had sacrificed this other life that had accompanied him since birth—the Life-Protecting Soul Stone.
Making this decision was incredibly painful for Linghu Hongfei.
But he had no choice. He could not possibly lose to Chu Feng in front of so many people in such a manner. If he did, then he, Linghu Hongfei, would be unable to hold his head up in the Ancestral Martial Starfield in the future.
Moreover, Linghu Hongfei believed he had been careless. Given another chance, he could surely defeat Chu Feng.
Although this required the cost of losing the Life-Protecting Soul Stone, he felt the price was worth paying.
However, what Linghu Hongfei hadn't anticipated—and what no one had anticipated—was that Chu Feng's world spirit techniques had been cultivated to such a profound level.