Chapter 452: Imprisonment

Under the cover of golden light, there was no escape—only to be tightly confined within it.
After finishing all this, Rod rushed forward urgently and restrained the struggling demon general.
At that moment, Sognar, the Wolf King, and the others also quickly arrived at Rod’s side. Seeing the demon general bound, everyone let out a long sigh of relief.
Finally, the guy had been restrained, and the threat posed by his agents was eliminated. It seemed they had only just returned from the previous shocking battle, still shaken. Recalling the battle, their hearts remained uneasy—they had witnessed the powerful side of the demon souls. Were all demon souls this strong? They couldn’t help but feel anxious.
At the same time, looking at Rod, they felt a sense of strangeness. This abnormally powerful individual’s formidable strength deeply shocked everyone, especially during the final battle when he unleashed his divine essence—its terrifying aura and immense power left no one daring to challenge him!
Seeing the divine essence, a glimmer of eagerness and longing appeared in everyone’s eyes. How wonderful it would be to have such a powerful divine essence—such thoughts were inevitable.
This only heightened their urgent desire to obtain divine essences quickly, which was actually a good thing.
The divine essence floated quietly above the crown prince’s head, spinning slowly, giving off a sense of comfort, as if enjoying itself. But upon closer inspection, one would be horrified to discover that within the golden light enveloped by the divine essence, a faint black light was continuously being drawn out from the crown prince’s body and absorbed into it. With each absorption of energy, the crown prince’s face showed signs of discomfort, unease, and even agony. His complexion grew increasingly pale, and he appeared weak, no longer showing his earlier boldness.
Despite struggling desperately, it was of no use, only adding to his agony.
The divine essence firmly imprisoned the crown prince within it—clearly, it had sealed his soul, leaving him with no escape.
“It’s done!” Merk exhaled deeply, expressing his relief from behind.

“It’s just beginning!” The Wolf King said rather pessimistically. This was only the first one; at least three more still hadn’t been found, including a Demon Marshal. After witnessing the strength of the Demon General, everyone grew even more worried. Just how powerful was this super-strong being who stood far above the Demon Generals? He could recover to the Xuanhuang realm in just a year—how far had he recovered now? All of this was quite concerning.

It seemed there was no time to delay. They must, indeed had to, find this guy as soon as possible and prevent him from growing any stronger, otherwise, he would truly become uncontrollable in the future.

In silence, with a somewhat surprised atmosphere, the group headed toward the city lord’s mansion with the crown prince. Seeing the ruined city, they were filled with worry—its recovery would likely take a long time. As for dealing with the situation, they left it to the soldiers behind. At this moment, Water Curtain City had achieved temporary peace. If nothing went wrong, it should remain calm for some time.

Inside the city lord’s mansion, Rod and his group locked the crown prince up in a detention area, keeping his divine essence under control. The group relaxed slightly after arranging enough personnel to guard him round the clock before moving on to the conference room.

The atmosphere inside was somewhat gloomy, and everyone’s expressions were not good.

“The trolls should be returning these days!” the Wolf King said in a deep voice.

“Yes, it’s just around the corner. We can only wait for them to show up!” Rod said with a wry smile. They had captured the person, but didn’t know what to do with him. Andrews said the method was complicated and hadn’t told them, so they could only wait until they appeared. Additionally, they still had to deal with the other three demon souls. They hoped that this time, the trolls would bring back more people with divine essences. The appearance of the Demon General made them fully realize just how weak they really were.

“Well, there’s nothing else to do. Matters here in Water Curtain City are temporarily resolved. I’ll go to Ice City tomorrow to prepare for the trolls’ return. I leave this place to you!” After thinking for a while, the Wolf King said to the group.

“That’s good. Go to Ice City and get ready. I’ll be there soon. I’ll leave Water Curtain City in the hands of Chief Merk!” After pondering for a moment, Rod agreed with the Wolf King’s plan and decided to rush to Ice City to wait for the trolls’ return.

Calculating the time, there are still eleven days left before the opening of the Netherworld, giving some time to prepare. After discussing the general plans, everyone dispersed. It was already late at night; the battle had taken up the entire night before finally ending.

…

Back in his room, Rod sat cross-legged and began to cultivate. The previous battle had been too intense, causing severe depletion of his combat energy and mental strength, so he urgently needed to recover. As the enemies he faced grew stronger, each battle became increasingly difficult for Rod. The easy victories of the past were gone; although battles now lasted shorter, every second was a life-or-death struggle. Any moment of carelessness could cost him his life. Reflecting on the past few years, Rod felt deeply moved—wasn’t his life like living on the edge of a blade? He couldn’t help but smile bitterly at the thought.

He had originally planned to retire with Nightingale after resolving matters related to the Source of Darkness and lead a simple life. Now, he longed for the peaceful days in Flame City. Thinking of Bianuo, he finally understood his intentions back then. Only those who had experienced such extreme ups and downs, so much hardship and bloodshed, could truly appreciate the meaning of life and cherish peaceful times.

It was a pity he was still involved. In the world of martial arts, one has no control over their fate. He could no longer simply withdraw—too many things constrained his actions. The appearance of the demon souls disrupted his plans, and Nightingale was still in danger. Although Andrews said she had recovered significantly, hadn’t she almost died before making it back?

Now, withdrawing wasn’t as simple anymore. This was just the first wave of demon souls; more would follow. It was only the beginning, with a long battle ahead, and even more intense fights to come.

After cultivating, Rod felt that this battle had affected him—his combat energy seemed somewhat stagnant. Entering the upper stage of Yangxuan so suddenly was unusual. After the Battle of Heaven and Earth and being bathed in golden light, he had directly reached this level without any prior signs of progress. It was somewhat like forcing growth, leaving his combat energy somewhat unstable. His actual strength was still at the middle stage of Yangxuan, which explained why today’s battle had been so difficult.

Otherwise, if his strength had remained stable at this level, it wouldn’t have been this difficult. At this moment, seemingly spurred by the battle, his combat energy instantly became solid, no longer so unstable, and his strength gradually stabilized. Noticing this, Rod felt a hint of joy—this battle hadn’t been in vain. Seizing the opportunity, he quickly entered a state of cultivation again to solidify his combat energy and fully stabilize his level. His combat energy flowed repeatedly through his meridians, bringing Rod a gentle and extremely comfortable sensation, gradually drawing him deeper into this state of cultivation. Outside, combat energy surged wildly toward Rod, constantly being refined, as if welcoming this delayed advancement, joyfully flowing into his body. Winds and clouds stirred around, but fortunately, it was late at night, and after the great battle, everyone was exhausted and already resting; otherwise, they would surely have sensed the unusual fluctuations here. Even so, some still noticed something strange. In the Wolf King’s room, the Wolf King, who was cultivating at the time, suddenly sensed an anomaly in the elements. Opening his eyes and looking outside, upon realizing that this violent energy came from Rod’s room, he wore a helpless wry smile. It seemed this guy’s strength had increased again—otherwise, it wouldn’t have happened. He could only sigh inwardly—competitors could drive one crazy. When he first met this guy, he was just a martial artist in the later stage of the Yin Yellow realm. He still clearly remembered his feelings the first time this guy arrogantly challenged him. But after the challenge, he was moved—such a genius hadn’t been seen in ages, and he couldn’t help but feel pity. Knowing this person’s potential was limitless, he agreed to his alliance proposal. Yet, he never expected this guy’s progress to be so rapid—making successive breakthroughs in just over a year, now far surpassing him and leaving him far behind. Today’s battle left him in awe; at least, he thought he couldn’t achieve such a level. Thinking of this, he felt somewhat relieved—he had made the right choice in choosing a partner! At this moment, the Wolf King suddenly felt anticipation—he wanted to see what Rod would be like once he fully matured. He could tell that Rod was still in the growth stage, still some distance from maturity, with plenty of room for improvement. He wanted to see what level this monstrous genius would reach once he fully grew up!

The Xuanhuang Realm? It seems that realm can no longer hold him back; it’s only a matter of time before he reaches this legendary level, and no one doubts that! What achievements can he achieve by leading the gods in the War between Gods and Demons? At the thought of that war, the Wolf Emperor’s gaze suddenly became resolute—he had made up his mind. Once he finished dealing with matters here, he would retreat to enter seclusion. He needed to cultivate thoroughly; how could his divine essence be left out?