Narrow Road for Enemies

Late at night, Ma Hongjun slowly emerged from his meditative state.

"What's wrong?" Ming Lunyu asked.

Ma Hongjun smacked his lips. "Brother Yu, I'm thirsty."

Ming Lunyu searched the room and found that no tea or water had been provided.

"I'll go look around, or ask at the front desk." Ming Lunyu put on his shoes and prepared to head out.

Seeing this, Ma Hongjun hurriedly put on his shoes as well.

"I'm coming too."

The night was deep and still. The inn hall, which had been quite lively just a few hours earlier, was now completely empty. The surroundings were silent too, without even the faintest rustle of wind or grass.

Ming Lunyu glanced at the front desk. There was no one there.

It seemed the inn had no one on duty at night.

However, by the moonlight, he found a notice posted at the desk.

"Water may be drawn freely from the well in the rear courtyard."

Ming Lunyu gestured for Ma Hongjun to look at the notice.

"Then let's go quickly," Ma Hongjun said.

The two of them felt their way to the rear courtyard and indeed found a well there.

Ming Lunyu walked to the well, lowered the small bucket tied to its mouth, and began drawing water.

"Come to think of it, it's really quiet tonight," Ming Lunyu said uneasily.

For some reason, the surroundings felt eerily sinister. Even the moonlight seemed pale, making him tense up without realizing it.

"Huh?"

Only when he moved his arm did he realize that Ma Hongjun had somehow wrapped himself around him.

"Brother Yu, this place feels so strange..."

As he spoke softly, his eyes darted about uneasily, and his legs trembled restlessly.

Ming Lunyu swallowed.

"I feel it too. It's like someone is watching us from the shadows, and there's a faint smell of blood..."

"Ah!..."

Ma Hongjun suddenly screamed beside him.

But before the cry could fully leave his mouth, it seemed to be stopped by something.

"What?!"

Ming Lunyu turned around in terror, only to have his mouth tightly covered by a rough, iron-like hand.

"Mm! Mm!" He could only make muffled sounds.

Then he felt himself being brutally lifted up.

From the corner of his eye, he saw that Ma Hongjun had likewise been seized by a large hand, his feet dangling off the ground.

A powerful stench of blood drilled into Ming Lunyu's nostrils.

The horrifying man pulled his lips into a savage grin, his hoarse voice issuing a low growl.

"Heh heh heh, who would've thought I'd run into two such prime little brats in a place like this! Once I eat you two, I'll definitely break through to Soul Emperor!"

Soul Emperor!

The man's terrifying strength filled Ming Lunyu with despair.

He was only level twelve, still a green kid who did not even understand Soul Master Soul Skills. How could he possibly escape from a Soul Emperor's hands?

Grandpa...

Xiaojun...

Is this... the end?

In an instant, countless chaotic thoughts rose and fell within him.

Ming Lunyu's face twisted fiercely, and his fists clenched tight, but he could not muster even a trace of strength in his entire body.

"Heh, consider yourselves lucky. My Soul Skill needs to be used in some secluded place with no one around. I'll let you live a little longer."

With that, the man gripped one of them in each hand, then leaped toward the outskirts of the city.

Ming Lunyu was in unbearable anguish, frantically searching for a way to escape.

But it was useless!

No method would work!

The gap in strength was like an impassable chasm. No trick could bridge it.

"What should I do? Could it really..."

Ming Lunyu did his best to look to the side and found Ma Hongjun looking at him too.

His eyes held both despair and determination.

Ming Lunyu understood what he meant.

Brother Yu, we'll live and die together!

Ming Lunyu knew that was what Ma Hongjun wanted to tell him.

Who knew how much time passed.

At last, the man stopped.

Ming Lunyu realized they had been taken to a deserted, secluded hill.

The man casually tossed the two of them to the ground as though throwing away trash.

Ming Lunyu immediately crawled to Ma Hongjun's side and held him tightly, as if that could bring even the slightest sense of safety.

Seeing them like this, the man let out twisted, crazed laughter.

"HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!"

"Pitiful lambs! What pitiful little things!"

Without warning, his laughter stopped. His hideous face instantly pressed close to them, his body bent as if broken, his waist folding ninety degrees into a sharp right angle.

"I can feel it, I can feel it, I can feel it, I can feel it..."

"You two little brats are both already level ten!"

"Level ten at six years old—what favored children of heaven! Hahahaha!"

"But no matter how talented you are, you can only become nourishment for my breakthrough!"

"Become nourishment for trash with less than one level of Innate Soul Power! Hahaha!"

The man let out a shrill, eerie laugh like a demon crawling out of the abyss.

He released his Martial Soul: a dark-green humanoid monster covered in slime, with a long tongue dragging behind it.

Five Soul Rings—white, yellow, purple, purple, purple—far from the optimal configuration, yet they brought endless pressure upon the two far weaker children.

As the man activated his fifth Soul Skill, Devour Alive, he muttered neurotically to himself.

"Finally, finally, finally finally finally! As long as I eat the last two, I can break through, break through break through break through break through! Hahaha! Become stronger! I'll make that bitch pay!"

"How much have I done for this day? I slaughtered a village just two days ago, but it wasn't enough, not enough, not enough!"

"As long as..."

He did not notice at all.

The moment he said, "I slaughtered a village just two days ago," the two trembling children had somehow become eerily calm.

The panic in their eyes had vanished somewhere, replaced by endless hatred.

Ming Lunyu and Ma Hongjun exchanged a glance and instantly understood each other's thoughts.

At last, the man's fifth Soul Skill activated, and a foul, pus-dripping mouth bit toward them.

At that moment, the two moved!

They actually lunged straight at that massive mouth!

"Whether it works or not..."

"Let's risk it!"

Endless resolve shone in Ming Lunyu and Ma Hongjun's eyes.

"Phoenix Possession!"

"Inverse Yin Yang!"

The phoenix wreathed in crimson flames collided with the giant mouth. It failed to inflict even the slightest damage, but the holy, scorching flames still made the man's soul tremble.

And the instant the Inverse Yin Yang Pearl struck the giant mouth, something unexpected happened!

The entwined yin and yang energies seemed to sense their owner's determination and began spinning madly.

They spun faster and faster, then suddenly exploded, turning into a faint mist that swept across the man's entire body.

"Uh... uh... ah!"

The man's Soul Power had fallen out of balance.

Compared to ordinary Soul Masters, Evil Soul Masters were stronger, stranger, and more violent—but they were also closer to losing control.

They were like a carriage perched at the edge of a cliff. No matter how slight the wind, it could make it shake violently.

At this moment, the yin and yang energies became that breeze. Though faint, they were enough to pry apart the man's already fragile balance of Soul Power.

"AH!!!!"

The out-of-control Soul Power surged backward in an instant, battering the man's mind.

"I... what was I... going to do again..."

"Right, City of Slaughter. I'm going to the City of Slaughter. Once I get there, I can have everything!"

The obsession lingering in the man's heart drove him into action.

"And..."

The man seized Ming Lunyu and Ma Hongjun, one in each hand.

"Right, I need to find a quiet place and eat..."

"Find the City of Slaughter... eat..."

"Ah!"

The man let out a pained roar, black mist enveloping his entire body as he hopped away into the distance like a toad.

"City of Slaughter! Freedom!"