I Will Never Let You Die

"Overestimating your own abilities, you fools."

The figure in the black robe deactivated his Martial Soul Avatar, reverting to human form.

He looked down at the two people collapsed on the ground, his tone filled with contempt and mockery.

He slowly raised his hand, black mist swirling in his palm, aiming it at the caravan mercenaries who were so terrified they had lost their wits and were fleeing in all directions.

"Since you have seen things you shouldn't have, you might as well all become a part of my power!"

"No... don't!"

The severely injured Ling Luochen struggled to get up, but she could only watch helplessly as that mass of black mist transformed into a giant, ghastly face, shrieking as it lunged toward the crowd!

Shrill screams rose and fell, but they were cut short just as quickly.

It took only a dozen breaths of time.

The entire caravan, along with the leader, had all turned into shriveled corpses, their faces frozen in the ultimate expression of terror before death.

Their life essence had been completely drained by the black-robed man.

Having finished all this, the black-robed man let out a satisfied burp.

With a casual wave of his hand, he pulled the unconscious Ji Xuan and the immobile Ling Luochen toward him, tucking one under each arm.

"Target acquired, plus a little toy that's somewhat interesting."

He let out a cackling laugh and prepared to take flight to leave this place.

But just at that moment!

"ROAR—"

A dragon's roar, filled with boundless majesty and a sacred aura, suddenly arrived from the distant horizon.

The black-robed man shuddered violently, as if struck by lightning; the soul power within his body instantly fell into chaos, and he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

He jerked his head up, staring in absolute horror toward the direction the sound came from.

In the distant sky, a phantom of a sacred dragon, so massive it blotted out the sun, was flying toward him at high speed!

Those golden dragon eyes were cold and majestic, locking onto his position firmly!

Radiant Sacred Dragon!

Mu En!!!

A fear that seeped deep into his marrow instantly gripped the black-robed man's heart!

How could he be here?!

Wasn't he supposed to be stationed at Shrek Academy, unable to leave the Sea God Pavilion?!

Could it be... that the plan was exposed?!

Or did that old thing Xuanzi betray us?!

Countless thoughts flashed wildly through his mind, but he had no time to ponder them; his survival instinct had already overridden everything else!

Run! He had to run!

In front of one of the strongest beings in the world, he couldn't even muster the courage to fight back!

"You vermin of the Holy Spirit Cult, stay right where you are!"

Mu En's grand and cold voice exploded in his ears like rolling thunder!

The black-robed man was scared out of his wits and dared not hesitate for even a second.

He burned his evil soul power frantically, transforming himself into a streak of twisted black smoke, fleeing for his life at the fastest speed of his entire existence!

He didn't even dare to look back; he only knew to run! Run! Run!

He did not know how long he had flown, nor how far he had escaped.

It was only when his soul power was nearly exhausted and he was about to fall from the sky that he dared to stop cautiously, hiding in a dense forest and gasping for breath.

He turned his head back, trembling, and nervously sensed his surroundings.

Nothing!

That terrifying, world-destroying pressure had vanished!

Mu En had not pursued him!

"Haa... haa..."

The black-robed man let out a long sigh of relief, collapsing onto the ground as if he had just been fished out of water, his back soaked through with cold sweat.

The feeling of having survived a catastrophe made him want to burst into laughter.

As expected of me, to actually escape alive from under the hands of Mu En!

However, when he subconsciously looked down, preparing to check on the "spoils of war" he had brought back, the expression on his face instantly froze.

Empty!

Both sides under his arms were completely empty!

That Ling Luochen, and that strange kid, they were all gone!

Since when...

The man in the black robe suddenly recalled everything that had just happened, and a thought he found impossible to believe, yet had to accept, surfaced in his mind.

An illusion!

That dragon roar, that Radiant Sacred Dragon, that Mu En... they were all illusions!

It was that kid's soul skill!

How could he have unleashed such a realistic illusion under those circumstances, even deceiving a Soul Saint like himself?!

Having figured it all out, the man in the black robe looked at the completely unfamiliar, dense forest, having no idea where he was, and felt his soul power completely drained from his desperate flight.

He finally couldn't help but let out a frantic, exasperated roar:

"Ahhhhh! You little beast! I will tear you into ten thousand pieces!"

Meanwhile.

On a dirt road in the wilderness, a carriage was bumping along at a breakneck speed.

The driver was none other than the leader of the caravan who should have been dead.

His face was ashen, his entire body trembling like a leaf, yet he didn't dare stop whipping the horses for even a second.

Inside the carriage, Ling Luochen's face was pale, blood still staining the corner of her mouth, but she couldn't spare a thought for her own injuries.

She knelt halfway on the floor, holding a blood-soaked youth tightly in her arms, letting him rest his head on her lap.

It was Ji Xuan.

Ji Xuan's condition was miserable to the extreme.

Blood was flowing from his seven orifices, his face was as white as a sheet, and his breathing was so faint it felt as if it could stop at any moment.

Time, back to the moment the man in the black robe broke through the ice prison.

From the perspective of Ling Luochen and the others, after the man in the black robe broke the ice prison, he didn't make a move.

He simply stood there, stunned for a moment, then let out a few cold laughs.

Immediately after, he suddenly looked as if he had seen a ghost, his face filled with extreme terror.

Then, without looking back, he fled like a madman.

This bizarre scene left everyone completely bewildered.

But Ling Luochen was the first to react.

She understood immediately—it was Ji Xuan!

His soul skill must have taken effect!

Ling Luochen seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

She forced her heavily injured body to hold an ice spike against the throat of the already terrified caravan leader, forcing him to drive the carriage and flee that place of trouble with the unconscious Ji Xuan.

"Cough... cough cough..."

The unconscious Ji Xuan coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, staining his clothes crimson.

Although he had the help of Ling Luochen's soul skill, which had boosted Kyōka Suigetsu to an unprecedented level.

Using a ten-thousand-year soul skill at the level of a twentieth-rank cultivator to construct an illusion capable of deceiving a Soul Saint.

The burden this placed on his mental strength and body was devastating.

Ling Luochen lowered her head, looking at the unconscious youth in her arms.

Her heart was in turmoil.

She reached out with a slightly trembling hand and gently wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

The cold sensation against her fingertips made her heart tighten.

He had clearly rejected her.

Yet, in the end, at the moment of life and death, it was he who saved her.

Only now did Ling Luochen realize that she didn't even know the name of the boy who had saved her three times in a single day.

This work-study student, who appeared to be only at the twentieth rank, possessed courage and methods beyond her imagination.

What kind of person was he, really?

After an unknown amount of time, the carriage finally rushed into a town.

When the carriage stopped, the two horses collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth.

"We... we're here!"

The leader said with a mournful face, his expression full of the terror of having narrowly escaped death:

"I must have had the worst luck in eight lifetimes! Running into you two plagues!"

"Hurry up and go!"

Faced with the leader's words, Ling Luochen unexpectedly did not retort.

She strapped Ji Xuan firmly to her back with a cloth strip, not caring in the slightest that the bloodstains on his body were smearing onto her.

"I am very sorry for dragging you all into this."

"The password for this card is six sixes; I hope it can compensate for your losses."

She took the Purple Crystal Card out of her Soul Tool and handed it to the leader.

After saying this, she no longer looked at the dumbstruck carriage driver.

Turning around, carrying the youth who was a head taller than her, she walked step by step, with firm resolve, into the unfamiliar town.

"You still haven't told me your name."

"I will never let you die!"