At this point, Judge Yan let out a sigh, adjusting his sorrowful mood, and continued, "So, who exactly is this soul? Why does the soul of a Mastanian contain traces of transcendence?"

"King Erl! It's His Majesty King Erl!" As the commotion erupted in the Judgment Hall, Captain Tie Zhu and Hilf responded immediately, accompanying Lady Qingyan to check the situation. With great excitement, Captain Tie Zhu exclaimed loudly.

"King Erl? His soul, is it King Erl's?" Judge Yan, Lady Qingyan, and Master Gu heard this and instead of rebuking Captain Tie Zhu and Hilf for their somewhat rude behavior, they looked at Haoyun and the others with puzzled expressions.

Haoyun and his companions nodded in response, "That's right. If everything goes as expected, this soul should belong to King Erl."

With a form resembling that of the Camelopardalids and residual divine power from Yan Chaoyue, Haoyun and his companions naturally thought that this soul most likely belonged to King Erl. However, when answering Judge Yan's questions, they also showed expressions of confusion and puzzlement.

Of course, the three were not questioning their own judgment, nor were they questioning Captain Tie Zhu and Hilf's judgment. Leaving aside whether their own judgment was correct, Captain Tie Zhu and Hilf had been followers of Yan Chaoyue for many years. Naturally, they were familiar with King Erl's figure and every move. Based on this, Haoyun and his companions had reason to believe that even if they might mistake someone, Captain Tie Zhu and Hilf would never mistake someone.

So what puzzled Haoyun and his companions here was, didn't King Erl already die in battle? Shouldn't his physical body and soul have been destroyed along with Yan Chaoyue's detonation? So how did his soul—

Just as Haoyun and his companions were deeply puzzled, the humanoid camelopardalis suddenly seemed to wake up, asking in surprise, "Tie Zhu? Hilf? Is it you?! Could it be that you didn't escape from the Mastanians? Did you all die too?"

That's right. What everyone heard now was the voice of King Erl. At the same time, seemingly to confirm this, from the moment he spoke, the tall and majestic figure quickly shed the layer of gray-brown energy enveloping him, revealing King Erl's appearance. However, King Erl's face was full of unmistakable fatigue, and his soul appeared in a semi-transparent state, making him look even weaker and more haggard.

"King Erl! Your Majesty! You've returned! You've really come back!" Seeing King Erl's figure appear, Tie Zhu and Hilf were extremely excited.

Then, Tie Zhu and Hilf hurried forward, respectfully bowing to King Erl, then getting up to help the staggering King Erl. Seeing this, Master Gu immediately waved his hand to stop them, indicating that there might be something suspicious about this matter and not to act rashly. Tie Zhu and Hilf also immediately realized that King Erl now existed in the form of a soul. Therefore, based on the rules and regulations they had recently learned in the Realm of Spirits, they hurriedly stopped to avoid causing unnecessary harm to King Erl's soul by touching him without permission in the underworld of the Realm of Shadows.

King Erl frowned when he saw Tie Zhu and Hilf stop due to Master Gu's obstruction, asking, "Tie Zhu, Hilf, who are they? Where is this place? Could it be that you all died too? Or were you hijacked by the mold spirit energy again? Could it be that we Mastanians ultimately failed to escape the clutches of the mold spirit energy, and our last hope was shattered?"

Seeing King Erl gradually shift from panic to anger, Haoyun hurriedly stepped forward and said, "King Erl, you misunderstood! The Mastanian civilization has not been destroyed! I have successfully led a hundred Mastanians out of the black hole, and everyone is safe now! You are safe now too!"

"Haoyun? Haoyun! Is it really you! Heaven has eyes! You really escaped from the black hole! This is truly great news! By the way, Haoyun, where are we now?" King Erl, upon seeing Haoyun appear, immediately swept away his disappointment and anger, excitedly walking to Haoyun's side to ask.

"Where else could this be?! This is naturally the Realm of Spirits! To be precise, we are now in the 13th district of the Realm of Shadows, which is the hometown of Sister Transcendence, Spirit City. Come, let me introduce you. This is Sister Transcendence's father, Judge Yan, the Chief Judge of the 13th district. And this lady here is Sister Transcendence's mother, Lady Qingyan. Judge Yan, Lady Qingyan, this is Sister Transcendence's husband, King Erl Feng of the Mastanians." Haoyun briefly answered King Erl's question and then introduced both sides to each other.

King Erl's face immediately showed surprise upon hearing this, and he didn't care about his very weak soul at the moment. He quickly took a step forward and knelt in front of Judge Yan and Lady Qingyan, respectfully saluting, "I am Erl Feng, paying respects to Judge Yan and Lady Qingyan!"

Seeing this, Judge Yan quickly reached out to help Erl Feng up. Then, he looked Erl Feng up and down, nodding repeatedly with satisfaction, "So you're the husband of our Transcendence, huh? No wonder there are traces of Transcendence's divine power remaining in your body. Hmm, not bad! Haha! Young man, you have good looks, height, and figure! Ah, you remind me quite a bit of my old style back then! No wonder our picky girl could fancy you!"

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Upon hearing this, Lady Qingyan immediately rolled her eyes and slapped Judge Yan heavily on the back of his head, criticizing him impatiently, "Oh please! Can you have a little shame? Look at your spherical body with a diameter of one meter seventy. How dare you say that our tall and majestic King Erl Feng is less charming than you?!"

Dao Lao also seized the opportunity to mock Judge Yan, chiming in from the side, "Who says he's not right! King Erl Feng's appearance obviously outshines you by countless miles, okay?! You're just a short, chubby coward. Where did you find the courage to compete with a genuine tall, rich, and handsome guy?! It's really hilarious!"

Although Lady Qingyan's public criticism had left Judge Yan feeling awkward, he merely smiled along and refrained from further argument. Redirecting all his anger towards Dao Lao, Judge Yan immediately retorted, "Bah! I am comparing auras! It's the unique aura possessed by figures like us who dominate entire regions! What do you know, an old beggar roaming the world! You'd better find a cool place to stay!"

Seeing the escalating spat between Dao Lao and Judge Yan, Lady Qingyan cleared her throat and interjected, "Enough from you two old men! Save your personal grudges for later. Let's focus on business first! King Er is already frail, and if you exhaust him further, I won't spare you two old relics!"

Under Lady Qingyan's reprimand, the two old men reluctantly stepped aside. Dream Jia quickly stepped forward to change the subject, "Speaking of which, King Er, I need to talk to you about your current situation. You are actually dead and appearing here in spirit form. But don't worry, with Judge Yan overseeing everything, there's no risk of your spirit dissipating. We can discuss more about your spirit later. So, I'm curious to know, do you remember how your spirit came here?"

King Er tilted his head and pondered for a while before shaking it, "I don't know. I have no recollection at all. My last memory was when Annie detonated herself. I remember, even though at that moment, the pressure we, along with the demonized Er and Amu Zinen, applied on the Destroyer had reached its limit, the Destroyer's strength was indeed significantly weakened by our interference, revealing a fatal vulnerability. Then, Annie perfectly seized that opportunity, forcibly channeling all her power into the Destroyer's body through self-destruction, completely annihilating the Destroyer."

As he recounted the scene of Yan Chaoyue's death, King Er's already weakened spirit became even more unstable due to his intense emotions. Seeing this, Judge Yan quickly infused another beam of energy from his forehead into King Er's spirit, helping to stabilize it and calm his agitated emotions.

Then, King Er continued, recalling, "I remember, after Annie shattered the Destroyer's body, every part of it inevitably ignited in the powerful energy released by Annie and the out-of-control array. Er and Amu Zinen couldn't escape this fate either. At that moment, I felt like a piece of ice thrown into a bonfire, rapidly melting under intense heat and completely dissolving into nothingness. My consciousness gradually faded away under the overwhelming drowsiness, lost in darkness."

"Then, my consciousness inexplicably woke up again. I felt my body and consciousness reassembling from nothingness and sensed the pervasive weakness and soreness throughout my body." After describing this, King Er carefully touched his own body again, experiencing that strange sensation of being aware of his existence but unable to touch it.

However, King Er didn't pay much attention to his physical sensations. Instead, after describing his final memories before death, he looked at Judge Yan and Lady Qingyan again with a deeply remorseful expression, then slowly knelt down and said, "Lord Yan, Lady Qingyan, it's because this unworthy son was too incompetent to protect Chaoyue, and instead caused Chaoyue to sacrifice her precious life to protect us lowly creatures of the lower realms! As the King of Eternal Longing Star, I not only failed to protect my homeland and subjects, but also failed to protect my own family. This unworthy son has let down all the people of the world! Let down Chaoyue! This unworthy son deserves to die a thousand deaths! I am willing to accept any punishment from Lord Yan and Lady Qingyan!"

Watching King Er kneeling on the ground, sobbing deeply out of profound guilt, Judge Yan sighed deeply first, then gently placed his palm on King Er's trembling shoulder, softly comforting him, "Sigh! Alright! After all, you are just a creature from the lower realms. Trying to confront such powerful Mould Spirit Energy alone was an impossible task. So, King Er, don't blame yourself too much! Yue'er was originally a priestess of the Celestial Spirit Realm, and as my descendant, it was her duty to maintain the peace of the Celestial Spirit Realm and protect the lower realm creatures from the Mould Spirit Energy's slaughter. Therefore, dying in battle was not terrifying for Yue'er, but the highest honor she could achieve as a priestess. Though my wife and I are heartbroken, we are still proud of Yue'er's sacrifice and will not blame you for it."

Judge Yan stood up and crouched down, one hand around King Er's broad shoulders, continuing with a slightly bitter tone, "Sigh! I know everyone is deeply saddened by Yue'er's tragic fall. But we must also remember why Yue'er fought so desperately and why she died. All we can do now is to keep looking forward. We must not let Yue'er's sacrifice be in vain. Only then can we make Yue'er's sacrifice even more valuable!"

Upon hearing Judge Yan's words of comfort, King Er made a concerted effort to hold back his tears. He then deeply bowed to Judge Yan once more and said, "Thank you, Lord Yan, for your magnanimity towards Yue'er! Yue'er will surely remember Lord Yan's counsel. Here, I solemnly promise to you, Lord Yan, that I will not let Yue'er's sacrifice be in vain! I will do everything in my power to fulfill Yue'er's wishes during her lifetime, and under your wise leadership, I will rebuild the civilization of Eternal Longing Star and make the revived people of Eternal Longing Star loyal citizens of the City of Spirits, contributing to the peace of the City of Spirits and even the Celestial Spirit Realm!"

Despite his towering stature, King Er displayed no airs of a sovereign ruler. On the contrary, he remained humble yet resolute in taking responsibility for all his actions. Moreover, his profound love and admiration for Yan Chaoyue, evident in his words and expressions when speaking of her, further endeared him to Lady Qingyan at this moment. Therefore, Lady Qingyan also approached King Er softly and said, "Alright! Er, you are not a rebellious son. You are a good husband to our Yue'er, a good son-in-law to us. Good child, please don't cry anymore."