Pursuit

It was Morris. When Yan opened the basement passage, Morris had heard the sound. He had lain in wait here precisely to lure Yan in.

Morris's right hand formed a claw, lashing toward Yan's throat like lightning.

The strike was vicious and tricky, aimed directly at a vital point.

Yan neither dodged nor evaded. He did not even activate his Martial Soul.

The instant the claw wind reached him, his right hand rose as though he had foreseen it. Though moving later, it arrived first, accurately clamping down on Morris's wrist. His fingers were like iron pincers as hidden force surged forth.

Morris groaned in pain. A searing agony shot through his wrist, and even the circulation of his Soul Power stalled for an instant. The glow around his blood claw immediately dimmed.

He was utterly horrified and immediately realized Yan was not someone to be trifled with.

"Martial Soul Possession!"

Morris frantically channeled his Soul Power and broke free from the hold. As he rapidly retreated, three Soul Rings—two yellow and one purple—rose beneath his feet.

His body swelled in size, grotesque veins bulging beneath his skin. Behind him spread the phantom of a pair of dark crimson bat wings covered in strange patterns. His fangs protruded, and his aura became violent and bloodthirsty.

"Third Soul Skill, Blood Poison Mist!"

Thick, dark crimson blood mist carrying a sweetly fishy, rotten stench burst from every pore of his body as though alive, instantly filling the entire cramped basement.

The mist not only severely obstructed vision and perception, but also contained potent blood poison and mental corrosion. An ordinary Soul Master would suffer churning blood and dizziness from even the slightest contact.

This was also why Morris had repeatedly escaped pursuit by Spirit Hall Soul Masters.

"Die! Become my blood food!" Within the blood mist, Morris's figure became elusive, his voice coming from all directions with cruel excitement.

He believed that within this enclosed space and his blood mist domain, no Soul Master of the same rank could possibly survive.

Yet what answered him was scorching fire, like a blazing sun.

Yan completed his Martial Soul Possession in an instant. No Soul Rings appeared behind him; instead, two slender purple glimmers shone within the flames wrapped around his wrist.

Dark crimson flames erupted with a roar, like magma surging from the earth's core.

With the Flame Overlord Martial Soul Possession, Earth Flame Lizard Dragon Armor instantly covered Yan's entire body, transforming him into a burning giant of lava.

Then, the second Soul Ring at his wrist lit up.

"Burning Flame!"

Thick blazing fire, shifting from scarlet toward dark gold, burst from the gaps in the dragon-scale armor with a boom.

It fused with the original dark crimson flames, becoming an even deeper and more scorching Dark Gold Flame.

Yan's aura surged madly. The blazing heat caused the basement's stone walls to crackle and split.

The terrifying Blood Poison Mist, the moment it touched the dark gold crimson flames, sizzled sharply like snow splashed with boiling soup, rapidly evaporating and purifying away.

The mist visibly thinned, while its blood poison and mental corrosive power were burned away completely.

"What? That's impossible!" Morris screamed in terror from within the blood mist.

Fire power did restrain his blood mist, but he had never encountered anything like this.

The blood mist formed by his third Soul Skill was actually being broken so easily.

At that moment, Yan moved.

Empowered by Burning Flame, his speed surged. Ignoring the remaining thin blood mist, he stepped forward.

The ground cracked beneath him. His burning right fist carried the force to incinerate all things as it smashed toward the point in the mist where the Soul Power fluctuations were most chaotic.

"Flame Fall: Mountain Collapse!"

Blazing fire power, carrying unmatched violent force, hurtled toward Morris. Its momentum was overwhelming, and faint explosions of air echoed through the passage.

"No!" Morris shrieked. In his haste, he gathered Soul Power into his crossed claws to block the blow, while activating his first Soul Skill, Blood Shadow Assault, in an attempt to retreat rapidly.

Yan charged after him. Fist and claws collided, dark gold crimson flames violently clashing with bloodlight.

They held for less than half a second before the bloodlight collapsed with a boom.

Morris felt an irresistible, scorching force strike him. Shattering pain tore through both arms, and his entire body flew backward like a rag sack, slamming hard into the basement's stone wall.

He vomited a mouthful of dark crimson blood mixed with fragments of internal organs. The phantom bat wings behind him instantly dimmed, and his aura withered to its lowest point in an instant.

In just one exchange, victory and defeat had been decided.

The semi-Ultimate Fire produced under Yan's Burning Flame enhancement overwhelmingly restrained Morris's blood-based abilities. Combined with the absolute difference in strength, Morris had no power to fight back at all.

Morris's eyes were filled with despair and madness. He knew he was no match for this fire monster.

Taking advantage of the instant when he lay grievously wounded amid the billowing dust, he fiercely slapped a concealed mechanism on the stone wall beside him.

The stone wall quickly slid open, revealing a pitch-black passage. There was actually a secret tunnel inside this basement?

Morris flashed forward and instantly vanished into the secret passage. His first Soul Skill flickered, greatly increasing his speed as he fled.

"Trying to run?" Yan's gaze sharpened, and he pushed off the ground in immediate pursuit.

The passage was filled with a rotten stench, with large amounts of sludge piled inside.

Suppressing his nausea, Yan swept forward with fire power. Guided by his spiritual power, he chased after Morris at tremendous speed.

He had already used one of only two Yan God Clan secret techniques he had cultivated: the movement technique, Flowing Fire Burning Shadow.

With its explosive burst, his speed was not much slower than Morris's.

Feeling the scorching aura behind him drawing ever closer, Morris grew anxious. A vicious gleam flashed in his eyes as he activated a secret method, spraying out a mouthful of blood. His speed increased by another notch.

Before long, the two emerged from the underground passage one after the other.

Outside was the dock's sewage river. No wonder so much sludge had accumulated within the tunnel.

Although Morris had used a secret method, it could not last long. Yan kept Flowing Fire Burning Shadow in motion and pursued relentlessly, never allowing Morris to shake him off.

One chased while the other fled, and they soon reached an area of low, cramped buildings.

The streets here were filthy and chaotic, the houses shabby. This was the dock's slum, where its lowest-ranking laborers and porters lived.

Once they arrived there, Morris finally slowed down.

Yan pressed forward in pursuit, Red Flame Power dancing over his body. He could barely wait to kill Morris here.

At that moment, Morris turned around and rasped, "Wait!"

They were already near the center of the slums. It was nighttime, and the alleys were silent. Everyone was resting. The occasional person who heard the commotion outside merely turned over and continued sleeping.

"What, do you still have something to say?"

Yan did not stop, advancing on Morris step by step.

"I said stop!"

Morris shouted hoarsely. The third Soul Ring behind him flickered as though he might unleash a Soul Skill at any moment.

Yan frowned and stopped, wanting to see what Morris intended to do.

Seeing that Yan had finally halted, Morris grinned viciously. "Kid, you're from Spirit Hall, aren't you?"