Between Pursuit and Escape

"Over here, water's here."

Inside the guest room bedroom, Rassoul howled miserably as he rushed into the hall, intending to find some clean water to wash the powder off his face. Suddenly, the boy's voice rang out again, accompanied by the sound of water being splashed.

He instinctively dodged aside, unsure whether it was really clean water. Then, following the direction of the voice, he lunged forward and gathered Soul Power in his palm before slapping out fiercely.

"Bang!"

Yet when his blow landed, he immediately realized something was wrong with the feel of it. The boy had already run off. Just as he was about to use a soul skill to lock onto that little beast's location, he suddenly felt his foot kick something. There was the sloshing sensation of liquid inside. Rassoul lowered his head, forced open his blurred eyes, and saw the outline of a bucket.

At this point, he was grasping at straws. He could not care about anything else; all he wanted was to wash the powder off his face as quickly as possible. He hurriedly picked up the bucket and brought it to his face, and then...

"Ah..."

Amid an even more miserable scream, a loud bang rang out as Rassoul smashed the bucket apart with one strike. Wisps of white vapor rose from his face. His previously pale complexion had turned bright red, and the skin around his eyes even seemed scorched and ulcerated.

"I forgot to tell you—lime powder can't be washed off with water. It burns."

The little boy's voice sounded again, this time from somewhere in the hall. Rassoul forced his eyes open and looked over. Through his blurred vision, he saw the little boy seemingly by the window, already climbing onto the sill to jump down and escape.

"You little beast, stop right there!"

After suffering such a huge loss, how could Rassoul possibly let the boy go? With an angry roar, he circulated his Soul Power and charged forward. Yet the boy moved faster. Before Rassoul had even finished speaking, he had already let go and jumped backward out the window.

"Bang..."

Yan leaped out from the hall of the second-floor guest room. His body flipped through the air before crashing precisely onto a small tree in the muddy ground below, snapping the half-man-tall tree to pieces. He landed on his back, rolled over, endured the pain, and immediately climbed to his feet.

He had calculated this height and landing spot earlier. Fortunately, his luck was not bad, and nothing went wrong.

The second floor of the inn was roughly three or four meters high. If an adult jumped down and landed on their feet, they might get injured or sprain an ankle. But if a six- or seven-year-old child landed on their back and happened to crush a small tree beneath them, it might hurt and cause injuries, but unless their luck was terrible, it should not affect their ability to move.

There was some scientific basis for this. Children weighed less, so the impact their bodies endured when falling was far less than that of adults.

Moreover, children's bones were still developing and had greater flexibility. Adults' bones had already set, making them more prone to fractures than children. Children in their developmental years also recovered more quickly than adults. Adults often suffered lasting effects from sprains or fractures, while healthy children rarely developed permanent issues from falls.

Yan from two lifetimes ago had experienced this firsthand. He had been a little wild as a child. In elementary school, he had stepped into empty space in an attic and fallen down (a true story), landing face-first. At the time, he thought he was going to die, but nothing happened to him at all. Of course, he did not encourage anyone to try it—who knew whether something might go wrong?

"Boom~~~"

Just as Yan felt pain all over his body, a sudden explosive crash came from the room above his head. The flying rubble and howling gusts jolted him fully awake. The instant the sound rang out, he ran toward the location he had planned out.

Inside the second-floor guest room, one side of the wall looked as though it had been violently demolished. The entire wall panel had been blasted outward. A figure reacted quickly while suspended in midair, and a pair of bat wings rose from his back to stabilize him. It was Rassoul.

Four soul rings—two yellow and two purple—floated around Rassoul after he released his martial soul. He circulated Soul Power into his eyes to suppress the pain, constantly turning his head as he tried to find that little beast. However, the severe injuries to his eyes had greatly damaged his vision, leaving him able to see only blurry patches of light and shadow.

"Ding!"

Rassoul had already been blinded by rage. All he could think about was catching that little beast and torturing him to death. Although he could not see his opponent, he was not out of options. As his thoughts moved, his third soul ring suddenly let out a clear chime.

As pale purple light flashed, blood-colored radiance swept across the inn's courtyard alongside waves of buzzing sound.

"Damn it, that sound again. If it's similar to a bat martial soul... ultrasonic waves?"

Yan, who had been carefully moving between cover, felt his head swim again when faced with this sonic attack. He nearly collapsed to the ground on the spot.

Fortunately, the outdoors were different from indoors. Since Rassoul could not see his target clearly, the power of this soul skill was dispersed. The open space outside further weakened it, allowing Yan to barely remain standing.

He did not dare stop. He covered his ears with both hands and opened his mouth wide. Though this method was meant to deal with the shockwaves from exploding artillery shells on the battlefield, he could only try anything at this point. After taking these precautions, he forcibly gathered his Soul Power and quickly darted through a pile of clutter.

"I've found you, little rat."

Rassoul, circling in the sky, suddenly twitched his ears and turned his face toward the direction Yan was fleeing. The physical abilities of a four-ring Soul Ancestor far surpassed those of an ordinary person. Although his eyes were badly injured, it did not prevent him from locating a moving child.

Rassoul rapidly descended, quickly closing in on the fleeing Yan. In the blink of an eye, the distance between them had shrunk to less than ten meters, and then Rassoul's second soul ring lit up once more.

"Bloodthirsty Demon Claws!!!"

Blood-red light erupted around Rassoul. Crimson radiance blazed from his sharp claws, their razor-sharp aura carrying an intense stench of blood. Pairs of blood-colored claws rapidly condensed over his hands before shooting out fiercely.

This offensive soul skill had two forms. One was to condense energy around his palms for close combat; the other was to fire it outward for ranged attacks, just like this.

An unceasing barrage of blood-red claw shadows shot forth, like a rain of blood shrouding Yan's direction. However, perhaps because his vision was impaired, Rassoul's aim seemed to be off. This wave of soul skill attacks missed completely.

Warning. Target energy flow is concentrating. It will fully erupt in nine seconds... Optimal route: jump forward in five seconds, turn left... turn right...

As Rassoul unleashed his soul skill, a voice kept sounding in Yan's mind, guiding his movements. With flashy footwork, he dodged the entire round of attacks. However, those evasive maneuvers also greatly reduced his speed, further narrowing the distance between him and the man behind him. They were now less than five meters apart.

"You little beast, I'm going to eat you alive!"

Rassoul's furious roar came from behind Yan as the gap between them narrowed further. Ahead of them, a storage shed was already within reach.