The Final Desperate Straits

Sunlight filtered through the dense leaves, falling across the winding path and forming mottled patches of light and shadow. The air was filled with the fragrance of earth and leaves, while occasional birdsong rang out through the forest, crisp and pleasant.

Yet they had no time to admire or enjoy such beautiful scenery.

Lin Xiuran and Ouyang Zixin ran to the deepest part of the forest. By now, both were somewhat out of breath. After all, neither was a Power Attack System War Soul Master, and they were only Soul Grandmasters. Their stamina was relatively limited.

For the moment, they found a hidden place to take cover, planning to recover slightly before looking for another chance to escape.

Lin Xiuran glanced at Ouyang Zixin. The girl's face was already deathly pale, and blood still occasionally flowed from the wound on her arm.

Leaning against a tree trunk, she stared blankly in the aftermath of her terror, as if deep in thought, though the bitterness on her face was impossible to conceal.

Lin Xiuran walked over, tore open the sleeve of his coat, and tied it around her wound to stop the bleeding.

His feelings were complicated, but he truly could not bring himself to abandon her. Perhaps all her previous kindness and help toward him had merely been for the sake of gaining favor with Xu Xiaoyu. But those things had indeed provided him with emotional and material support during his most difficult times.

Besides, Ouyang Zixin was not useless. Though her talent was average and she was still only a level twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster, her Soul Power was ultimately higher than his.

After his defensive Soul Tool had taken effect earlier, Ouyang Zixin had used the first Soul Skill of her Pink Fox Martial Soul to create that distracting smoke. Lin Xiuran had then used the Wind Element to speed them both up, allowing them to quickly flee into the forest.

It could be said that she had played a major role. If they wanted to escape now, the two of them had to work together.

Only then did Ouyang Zixin seem to come back to her senses. She stared blankly at Lin Xiuran. "Why...?"

Lin Xiuran sighed, withdrew his gaze, and walked to one side. Looking at the sunlight obscured by leaves, he said calmly, "Because I may very well not be a member of the Xu Family at all."

Ouyang Zixin froze. She had apparently not expected Lin Xiuran to say something like that, and her eyes filled with shock.

"You may have been wrong from the very beginning." Lin Xiuran did not look at her, merely stating it all in an apparently calm manner.

"I never received particularly good treatment in the Xu Family. My surname isn't Xu, and I was never loved by the Xu Family parents. Naturally, Xu Xiaoyu never treated me as his younger brother either."

"So your decision to approach me in order to gain favor with Xu Xiaoyu was completely mistaken."

The enormous amount of information left Ouyang Zixin's mind in turmoil, and she could only stare blankly at Lin Xiuran.

He seemed to be recounting something utterly ordinary, but if what he had just described had happened to her, how terrifying would it have been?

And despite everything Lin Xiuran had gone through, she had approached him with the goal of getting close to Xu Xiaoyu. All her kindness toward him had been purposeful.

She was not a heartless woman. Even though she had liked Xu Xiaoyu since childhood and had indeed approached Lin Xiuran with an ulterior motive, she had only learned by chance that he was Xu Xiaoyu's younger brother. Yet over the course of getting along with Lin Xiuran, she had truly developed feelings for him as well.

But this mistaken affection had been wrong from the very beginning. It had arisen for the sake of another feeling, destined to be impure and inevitably flawed.

Tears welled up in Ouyang Zixin's eyes. At this moment, she not only regretted the mistakes she had made over the years, but also regretted believing Xu Xiaoyu today and bringing Lin Xiuran here.

The Xu Xiaoyu she loved so dearly had merely used her like a tool, and after getting what he wanted, he had even tried to silence her.

"Stop crying." Lin Xiuran was somewhat speechless. Then he gently comforted her, "What we need to think about now is how to escape, not cry."

Ouyang Zixin nodded and stopped sobbing.

That was right. If she could only help Lin Xiuran escape, perhaps that would make up for a small part of what she had done to him. Otherwise, even if she died, she would die filled with regret.

"Though the forest isn't very large, it's fairly dense overall. We need to watch for favorable terrain. We'll definitely be able to shake them off."

When faced with real danger, Lin Xiuran displayed a calmness and wisdom beyond his age. Ouyang Zixin was startled by it. It seemed she had never truly understood Lin Xiuran.

In the past, she had mostly lectured him from the perspective of an older sister. She made the decisions in many matters, while Lin Xiuran obediently went along with them. But now, she realized that he was truly outstanding—far superior to Xu Xiaoyu.

Just as Lin Xiuran was considering which direction they should go, the rustling sound of leaves colliding suddenly rang out.

Lin Xiuran reacted quickly, grabbing Ouyang Zixin and preparing to run. But before they had taken more than a few steps, a figure appeared in front of them.

Lin Xiuran tried to flee in another direction, but people gradually appeared on all sides, surrounding them completely.

Then the leading Ice Bird Soul Master stepped forward and snorted coldly. "You little brats still think you can toy with us?"

At that moment, Lin Xiuran understood how they had suddenly managed to surround them so precisely.

One of the Soul Masters beside the Ice Bird Soul Master had a nose much larger than an ordinary person's. Looking closely, the Martial Soul Possession behind him was a Dog Martial Soul. No wonder his sense of smell was so sharp.

After entering the forest, these people had split up to search. Once that Soul Master with the dog Martial Soul found them, he called the others over, and they surrounded the two of them.

After all, all five of them had let Lin Xiuran and Ouyang Zixin escape earlier. Naturally, they could not alert them this time, so they had made thorough preparations.

Lin Xiuran's gaze narrowed. Things had reached this point. They could only fight with everything they had. The only thing he could rely on now was the defensive Soul Tool on his wrist.

He just did not know how many more attacks it could withstand.

This time, the Ice Bird Soul Master had learned his lesson. Under his command, all five of them summoned their Martial Souls and launched attacks at Lin Xiuran and Ouyang Zixin simultaneously.

While trying his best to dodge, Lin Xiuran could only retreat with the help of the defensive Soul Tool, barely managing to block this round of attacks.

However, the defensive Soul Tool was clearly overloaded. Gray smoke had already begun to rise from it.

Ouyang Zixin was in even worse condition. The defensive Soul Tool could only protect one person. Though she tried her best to stay behind Lin Xiuran, she still suffered fiercer attacks. Even though her Soul Power was higher than Lin Xiuran's, she had already sustained injuries in many places.