Soul Bone

The Sindis brothers had clearly never expected Yan to pursue them so easily into this deadly poisonous miasma.

Still less had they expected his flames to suppress the toxic fog so completely, leaving his speed almost unaffected.

Meanwhile, they had to expend vast amounts of Soul Power to resist the invasive poison. As one side waned and the other grew stronger, the distance between them rapidly closed.

As time passed, Sindis could no longer maintain his Martial Soul Avatar and reverted to human form, fleeing desperately alongside Blood Leopard Sindik.

"Big Brother, he's catching up!"

Before long, Sindik glanced back and saw that dark gold blaze clinging to them like gangrene in the bone, his voice trembling with despair.

The wound Yan had blasted into his chest was still bleeding. The agonizing pain and poison invading his body had left his face ashen.

Sindis looked savage. He had only just forcibly broken through to Soul Saint, his realm still unstable, and after the fierce battle, his Soul Power was nearly exhausted. The Soul Power barrier around him was on the verge of collapse.

"Let's fight! We'll die either way—let's take him down with us!"

Sindis knew that if this continued, they were doomed anyway.

A crazed resolve flashed through his eyes. He exchanged a look with his younger brother, and each saw the same meaning in the other's gaze.

Just as Yan closed to within ten meters of them, the heat of the Dark Gold Flame nearly burning through their barriers—

Sindik suddenly let out a shrill, mournful howl. Rather than fleeing, he turned and charged madly at Yan.

Blood-colored energy surged around him. He even abandoned his Soul Power barrier; clearly, he had already resolved to die and intended to perish together with Yan at all costs.

Sindis followed close behind, shadowy power flickering in his hands as he charged in to kill Yan.

"Flame Fall. Sky Piercer!"

Yan's fist shot out like lightning. Blazing flames scorched a vacuum trail through the air as immense power flooded into the strike, crashing toward Blood Leopard Sindik's chest with crushing force.

Blood Leopard Sindik had no way to resist. The instant the punch landed, his chest caved in, and he flew backward even faster than he had charged, slamming onto the ground with a charred, bloody hole in his chest.

At the same time, Yan swept out with a whip kick, instantly sending Sindis flying after him.

Before Yan could make another move—

Sindik, who should have been critically wounded and on the verge of death, suddenly rose from the ground. He staggered slightly, but still charged toward Yan at no slow pace.

The remnants of Soul Power around him surged and rioted without restraint. Veins bulged beneath his skin, radiating wildly unstable waves of destruction.

He was actually going to self-destruct his Soul Power and drag Yan down with him.

"Brother!" Sindis' eyes nearly split open, but he had no power to stop him. He could only watch helplessly as Sindik charged toward Yan.

"Wishful thinking!" Yan naturally saw through Sindik's intentions.

Facing this desperate attack, Yan's voice came through his faceplate, calm and without the slightest ripple.

He did not even slow his forward charge. The Dark Gold Burning Flame around his right fist suddenly contracted, becoming a deep dark red as though it could swallow light itself.

Then, simply and directly, he threw a punch.

The punch was not fast, yet it seemed to lock down space. Though launched later, it arrived first, striking with absolute precision upon the charred hole in Sindik's chest just before the Soul Power within him reached the critical point of complete detonation.

A muffled sound, dull beyond measure.

Sindik's charging body suddenly stiffened.

He lowered his head and stared at his chest in disbelief.

That fist force had ignored the remaining Soul Power on his body and the violent energy surging within him. Like the sharpest drill, it pierced through every obstruction and instantly incinerated the Soul Power core on the verge of exploding.

The madness and resolve in Sindik's eyes froze, turning into lifeless ash.

His lips moved, but no sound emerged. His body crumpled forward, and before he could hit the ground, the Dark Gold Flame following behind swept over him, turning him into a shrinking lump of charcoal that was soon swallowed by the poisonous miasma.

"No!" Sindis let out a desperate roar. His younger brother's death shattered the last of his reason.

His eyes turned bloodshot as he recklessly drove the little Soul Power he had left. The first Soul Ring beneath his feet lit up, and his body became a blurred shadow.

He threw himself at Yan without regard for his life, his hands forming claws as he snatched at Yan's eyes with the madness of mutual destruction.

He knew he had no chance of survival. All he wanted was to injure his opponent, even by the slightest amount, before he died.

Yet what greeted him was an even colder, more tyrannical punch from Yan.

The instant Sindis lunged forward, Yan pivoted on his left foot and shifted slightly aside, evading the claw strike. At the same time, his right fist shot from his waist like a venomous dragon emerging from its lair, striking later but arriving first.

The Dark Gold Flame on his fist was compressed to the extreme, faintly forming a miniature vortex of fire. Carrying the will to pierce through everything and incomparable force, it slammed solidly into Sindis' completely exposed, defenseless chest and abdomen.

Boom!

The fist force pierced through his body! Sindis' lunging form stopped abruptly, as though he had struck an invisible Iron Wall.

He clearly heard the explosive cracking as his breastbone and spine shattered inch by inch.

He felt a scorching, tyrannical power filled with destruction, like a burst dam's flood, instantly washing away every shred of Soul Power and life force remaining within him.

His internal organs were pulverized into pulp in an instant, then burned to ashes by the high-temperature flames that followed.

He could not even scream. Like an empty skin with every bone removed, he flew weakly backward and crashed into an ancient tree riddled with holes from the poisonous miasma, slowly sliding down.

The ancient tree shook violently from the impact, showering down poisonous dust.

Sindis' eyes were wide open, staring fixedly in Yan's direction. The life in them rapidly faded, leaving only endless resentment, terror, and a trace of bewilderment. Even in death, he seemed unable to understand why he, a newly advanced Soul Saint, had been defeated so utterly and killed so easily.

Yan slowly withdrew his fist. Dark gold flames burned quietly over his body, purifying all the poisonous fog attempting to approach.

He glanced at Sindik's ashes, then at Sindis' limp corpse, confirming that both were completely dead.

The mission was complete.

He slightly steadied his breathing, which had grown somewhat hurried after the consecutive bursts of power.

Killing a Soul Emperor, a newly advanced Soul Saint, and several Soul Kings and Soul Elders had not been a small expenditure for him either.

The final pursuit in particular had cost him considerable stamina, as he had needed to ensure the mission was completed without error.

Fortunately, the two-ring mission had been completed at once by a fortunate coincidence.

Especially Sindis—he no longer needed to painstakingly gather information and waste time.

He walked over to the Sindis brothers' corpses and swept them with his spiritual power, but found few items of value.

There were only a few objects proving their identities and a jade pendant engraved with their family crest.

He casually collected them and stored them in the Ten Directions Soul Guidance Device.

The Ten Directions Soul Guidance Device could not store living creatures, but the Sindis brothers had already become corpses, so Yan could naturally store them. Still, he found it inauspicious, and a few items that could prove their identities were enough.

Just as Yan was about to turn and leave, he noticed a faint glow flash from the damaged left arm of Sindis' corpse.

Yan moved closer to inspect it. The glow seemed to be emanating from within the bones.

Could it be?

Yan's breathing quickened as a possibility surfaced in his mind.

Flames enveloped his hands as he removed the glowing bone from Sindis' left arm.

It was a section of left arm bone, slightly smaller than that of an ordinary adult, emitting a faint glow. It really was a Left Arm Soul Bone!