Decisive in Killing

In an instant.

Greed and murderous intent completely overwhelmed fear and reason!

The struggle in Luo Badao's eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by frenzied killing intent!

"You little bastard, you think you can threaten me with a mere stone?"

He sneered viciously, his face twisting.

"As long as I kill you, who will ever know this secret?!"

"Die!"

Before his words had even faded!

The purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring beneath his feet suddenly lit up!

"Third Soul Skill, Blazing Bear Paw!"

Roar—!

A deafening bear's roar rang out!

The giant bear spirit behind him instantly solidified. A massive bear paw formed entirely of pure flames came crashing down at Han Yuchen's head, carrying the force to burn mountains and boil seas!

Wherever the bear paw passed, the air crackled from the heat, and the ground instantly blackened!

He wanted to crush this overconfident brat, along with all his threats, into ashes in a single blow!

Facing this thunderous strike.

Facing the full-force attack of a Soul Ancestor.

Not only did Han Yuchen not dodge, he even revealed a smile that said, "Just as planned."

It was here.

Everything was under control.

He even had the leisure to add a little drama to the act.

An expression of "utter panic" instantly appeared on his face.

His pupils "dilated in terror," his body "froze stiff," and his mouth "opened instinctively."

He perfectly acted out the part of a low-level soul master scared witless by a Soul Ancestor's pressure.

Ah! What terrifying flames!

This temperature, this power!

My tiny Water Spirit would be doomed to evaporate before flames like these!

Attribute Restraint!

This was absolute attribute Restraint!

I'm being restrained! I'm dead for sure!

[Ding!]

[Skill [Restraint] has been triggered!]

[Target attack type detected: fire-element area attack.]

[Host's subjective judgment: restrained.]

[Judgment confirmed!]

[This attack has been 100% nullified and will be reflected at 200% power!]

The heavenly sound arrived right on cue.

The next second.

Before everyone's utterly horrified eyes.

That flaming bear paw, powerful enough to split mountains and shatter rocks, stopped one inch above Han Yuchen's head.

It was as though it had struck an invisible Dimensional Wall.

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

Not the slightest ripple was stirred.

Those violent flames simply vanished into thin air in an instant.

They disappeared without a trace.

The damage had been 100% nullified.

Luo Badao's pupils abruptly shrank to dangerous pinpoints.

Before he could even comprehend what this bizarre scene meant.

A mass of flame energy twice as powerful, concentrated, and violent as his own attack erupted without warning from the empty space before him!

That power was entirely his own, only amplified!

It was so fast that it surpassed thought itself!

A 200% power reflection!

"Pfft—!"

Luo Badao did not even have time to scream.

His entire body was like one struck head-on by a siege cannon.

The Body Protection Soul Power he had been so proud of was as fragile as paper before the reflected force.

His chest was blasted open by his own power, leaving a massive hole straight through his body!

Charred flesh curled outward, revealing even the scorched organs inside.

His body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, smashing through the remaining half-wall of the inn before embedding deeply into the house behind it.

His body still twitched, but the light in his eyes had already been completely extinguished.

He died on the spot!

The entire scene fell deathly silent.

Time itself seemed to freeze at that moment.

Everyone remained in their original positions, transformed into lifeless statues.

The same expression was frozen on every face.

Utter, indescribable blankness.

What had they seen?

They had not seen anything clearly at all.

From their perspective, the Luo Family head had launched a world-destroying palm strike with overwhelming force.

Then.

Then he exploded by himself.

He had killed himself with his own attack.

It was that simple.

So simple that it was absurd.

So absurd that it made them question life itself.

The remaining elite thugs of the Luo Family stared at the young man still standing where he was, not even a single hair out of place.

There was no longer any anger or killing intent in their eyes.

Only the most primal fear, born from the deepest depths of their souls.

They were not looking at a person.

They were looking at a demonic god from hell wearing human skin!

An existence they would never understand and could never defeat!

Han Yuchen lightly patted away dust that did not exist on his clothes.

His indifferent gaze swept over the Luo Family members, who had long since been scared senseless.

"The family head is dead."

"Why are you still standing around?"

"Waiting for me to invite you to dinner?"

Before his words had even faded.

The First Spirit Ring beneath his feet lit up.

Blade of Flowing Water!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!

Dozens of water blades, condensed to the utmost and nearly invisible, swept precisely across the throats of every remaining core Luo Family thug like Death God's scythes.

There were no screams.

Only a series of neat, muffled thuds as bodies collapsed to the ground.

And the spray of warm blood.

He never showed mercy to his enemies.

If you cut the grass, you had to pull out the roots.

After finishing all this, he looked as though he had merely crushed a few ants.

He bent down, picked up the black crystal from the ground, wiped it on his clothes, and casually tossed it into Dimensional Space.

Then he searched Luo Badao's corpse and pulled out a heavy money pouch.

He weighed it in his hand.

Mm, not a bad haul.

He sank his consciousness into the atlas.

The [Star Atlas] immediately provided an analysis:

[Solonsen Pollution Crystal (Miniature)]

[Description: An energy crystal containing a trace of Chaos Origin. It possesses extremely strong corrosive and contaminating effects on ordinary lifeforms.]

[Use: Can be absorbed to strengthen the Divine Soul Origin, or used to temper Spirit Rings, slightly increasing a Spirit Ring's shadow resistance and mental resilience.]

Very good.

Han Yuchen nodded in satisfaction.

This trip to Maple Forest Town had come to a perfect conclusion.

That night.

Inside his guest room, Han Yuchen used the atlas to slowly absorb the crystal's energy.

He felt his divine soul grow a little stronger, and his perception of that Soul Fragment deep within the distant Star Dou Great Forest also became clearer.

At the same time, he used all the remaining energy to temper his First Spirit Ring.

Under the cleansing of the Power of Stars, the purple Spirit Ring became increasingly deep in color.

Its age also leaped from the more than three thousand years he had attained through diligent cultivation, breaking past the five-thousand-year mark in one stroke!

His strength surged once more!

Early the next morning.

Han Yuchen prepared to leave.

Shopkeeper Liu and Liu Yan were overwhelmed with gratitude. They even wanted to give him this inn, along with all of the Luo Family's properties.

Han Yuchen naturally refused.

He was merely a passing traveler and had no interest whatsoever in such worldly assets.

Before leaving.

Liu Yan ran after him, her pretty face flushed red, and stuffed a hand-sewn sachet into his hand.

"This... keeps mosquitoes away."

Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

"You... be careful on the road."

Han Yuchen looked at the girl's sparkling eyes, filled with admiration and reluctance, and smiled.

He accepted the sachet without saying much.

He merely waved to her before turning and setting off on a new journey.

His silhouette stretched long in the morning light, leaving behind an almost mythical legend in this town that had just undergone a bloody upheaval.

On the main road.

Han Yuchen weighed the heavy money pouch taken from the Luo Family, felt the more solidified divine soul and Soul Power within him, and gazed toward the endless forest silhouette in the distance, like a green ocean.

"Star Dou Great Forest, here I come."

"My fragment should return to its rightful owner as well."