Counterkill

Lin Jin half-crouched on the ground, his right hand gripping the hilt of the Demon Blade as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Having taken a solid blow to the back from an Agile Attack System Soul King, he felt as though his spine were about to snap.

If not for the Third Soul Skill, Indestructible Demon Body, and the Demon Armor, that blow would have been enough to tear him apart on the spot.

"Wonderful!" Lin Jin spat out a mouthful of stagnant blood and growled.

"What?!" Ye Shang was utterly shocked by the backlash from the Indestructible Demon Body. That attack would have killed not only a Soul Elder, but even a Soul Ancestor caught in her sneak attack.

She looked at her companion's head, which had rolled to one side, his eyes wide open in death.

Then she looked at Lin Jin's back, where the wounds were rapidly healing.

Ye Shang murmured in shock, "Is this guy... a monster?!"

Lin Jin rose again, his gaze sharp as he raised his blade and stepped forward.

"Extreme Blade Storm Slash!"

As Ye Shang retreated at high speed, a purple Soul Ring lit up.

Lin Jin's Demon Blade passed through Ye Shang's waist, cutting her in half, but her body dissolved into a fading afterimage.

It was her Third Soul Skill, Shadow Clone.

Ye Shang herself melted into the shadows like Gui Mei, preparing to launch another attack.

She believed that after fighting a Soul King for so long and taking her Fifth Soul Skill head-on, even if the monster still had fighting strength, he could not have much Soul Power left.

She would find another chance to kill him in a single blow.

What she did not know was that the extreme pain and threat of death had instead completely awakened the savagery in Lin Jin's bones and the potential of the Immortal Demon Armor.

"Trying to run? Stay right here!" Lin Jin's speed abruptly surged as his left hand grabbed Ye Shang's wrist in the shadows.

"What?!" Ye Shang turned pale with shock. She had not expected Lin Jin to have the strength to counterattack after taking her full-force blow, much less move so quickly!

"Demon Blade Assault!"

Lin Jin gave her no time to react. His Demon Blade slashed viciously at Ye Shang's neck from close range.

There were no frills in that strike, only the purest Will of Slaughter.

The Soul King Ye Shang was scared out of her wits. She struggled desperately, while the Shadow Claw in her other hand hastily rose to meet the blow.

"Clang!"

The Demon Blade shattered the hastily formed claw shadow. Its momentum weakened slightly, but it still chopped brutally into her shoulder blade!

"Crack!" The sound of splintering bone made everyone's teeth ache.

"Aah!" Ye Shang let out a shrill scream. Her entire left arm was nearly crippled, and blood sprayed out like a fountain.

She no longer cared about the mission. Circulating the last of her Soul Power, she forcibly knocked Lin Jin back and transformed into a streak of black smoke, fleeing miserably with grievous wounds before vanishing into the canyon shadows.

After forcing back Ye Shang, the Soul King, Lin Jin had also reached his limit and lacked the strength to pursue her.

Besides, once an Agile Attack System Soul Master was determined to flee, Lin Jin's current Soul Power was nowhere near enough to catch up.

Still, with his battered body, Lin Jin rejoined the battlefield, blade in hand, and headed straight for the Star Luo Empire Colonel.

"Retreat, retreat now!" The Star Luo Colonel was terrified when he saw that one of their Soul Kings was dead and another badly wounded, and that Lin Jin was coming for him.

Seeing this, the other Power System Soul King, who had been entangled with the Blood Blade Soldiers, used a Soul Skill to knock the soldiers back and quickly retreated to the Star Luo Colonel's side.

"Fourth Soul Skill, Immovable As A Mountain!"

His defensive Soul Skill blocked Lin Jin's attack, and his sturdy body shielded the surviving Star Luo Colonel and the few remaining Tiger Armored Army soldiers as they rapidly retreated out of the canyon.

"Chase them down and kill them!" Lei Ke shouted at the fleeing Star Luo Soldiers.

"Do not pursue desperate enemies." Lin Jin immediately ordered them to stop the chase.

The supplies were fake. There was no point in continuing the pursuit; it would only cause more casualties.

As soon as he said that, Lin Jin exhausted his last trace of Soul Power and dispelled the Indestructible Demon Body effect of his Third Soul Skill.

Lei Ke rushed to Lin Jin's side and caught his swaying body, staring at the wounds covering him.

His eyes were filled with indescribable shock.

He was a Soul Ancestor himself and had been locked in battle with the Power System Soul King for a long time, so he knew all too well that a Soul King's strength could not be underestimated.

Yet Lin Jin had killed one Soul King and severely wounded another, turning the tide of the battle.

"You brat... you really are a monster!" Lei Ke could not help voicing everyone's thoughts as he looked at Lin Jin's pale yet resolute profile.

"Don't call him Young Wolf anymore. Call him 'Demon Wolf,' because the Young Wolf of five years ago has grown up!" Lei Ke sighed deeply as he looked at Lin Jin's face, still somewhat youthful yet already mature.

"Demon Wolf?" Lin Jin smiled. "I like it!"

"Captain, mighty! Demon Wolf! Demon Wolf..."

At once, the Heaven Dou Soldiers erupted in earthshaking cheers.

Compared to the atmosphere at Iron Blood Pass, Star Luo's Iron Rock Fortress was far more solemn.

The Star Luo Empire's Commander, Dugu Xiong, calmly watched the group of defeated soldiers who had returned before him.

Only after silently waiting for the Colonel to finish did he slowly speak, his voice calm enough to chill the heart.

"Three Soul Kings, four Soul Ancestors, a hundred Tiger Armored Army soldiers, the carefully arranged 'Wolf Slaying' plan... and the result was Tuoba Yan dead, Ye Shang severely injured and crippled, Shi Zhong lightly injured, and more than half the Tiger Armored Army lost?"

His gaze, like cold blades, slowly swept over those below.

The Colonel trembled all over and prostrated himself on the ground. "This subordinate... this subordinate is incompetent!"

Ye Shang gritted her teeth, enduring the humiliation and agonizing pain as she said in a low voice, "General, that Lin Jin... his Martial Soul is extremely strange. It is absolutely no ordinary armor! Its defense, damage reflection, and recovery abilities all defy reason. He is simply... simply inhuman!"

"Inhuman?" Dugu Xiong finally moved. He slowly rose to his feet, his tall figure casting a massive shadow across the tent.

He walked before Ye Shang and looked down at her. "So the three of you Soul Kings took elite troops to surround and kill an 'inhuman' Soul Elder, and the result was one dead, one wounded, and a crushing defeat?"

Ye Shang and Shi Zhong lowered their heads in shame, unable to answer.

Suddenly, Dugu Xiong kicked over the heavy table before him!

"Boom!" With a thunderous crash, the map, command arrows, and documents on the table scattered across the floor!

"Trash! Every last one of you is trash!" His suppressed fury erupted like a volcano.

The terrifying pressure of a Soul Douluo instantly filled the entire tent, making everyone struggle to breathe as they trembled.

"One insignificant Lin Jin! One Soul Elder! And he beat you into this state! You have thrown away the face of the Star Luo Empire and the dignity of the Northern Territory Legion!"

His chest heaved violently, and Killing Intent overflowed from his eyes.

"Get out!" Dugu Xiong pointed outside the tent, his voice as cold as ice. "Get the hell out, all of you!"

In the empty tent, Dugu Xiong looked at the maps scattered across the floor, his gaze fixed firmly on the names "Iron Blood Pass" and "Lin Jin."

"Pass on my orders!" he said coldly to the empty tent. "Activate every undercover agent we have within Heaven Dou. Investigate him! Find out everything about this Lin Jin! What exactly is the origin of his Martial Soul? Where are his weaknesses?"

"If This Person is not eliminated, he will surely become a Great Trouble for Star Luo!"