Rebirth in Blood (Part 2)

"This is what slaughter looks like!"

Before the words had even faded, the dazzling blood-red Soul Ring behind him flashed. Thick, oily Black Mist drifted from Hals's body, slowly spreading across the entire hall. As his voice died away, the still, lifeless mist seemed to receive a signal. It roiled and surged like a living thing. In an instant, everyone present except Hals and Zhu Xiyan felt their bodies go limp, growing unbearably weak.

"Clang!"

A dull sound rang out. The Bald man was too weak to keep hold of his martial soul, the Giant Axe. Turning toward the sound, he stared in shock and disbelief. To a Soul Master, a martial soul was like a part of one's body. Yet he couldn't even bear the weight of his own martial soul. It was simply unbelievable.

As the Black Mist churned more and more violently, Hals felt Soul Power endlessly welling up inside him, replenishing what he had spent. The corners of his mouth curled upward. "This feels incredible!"

"Boom!"

Savoring the power surging through him, Hals abruptly spread his arms into a cross. His hood flipped back, revealing hair streaked with white and shimmering with a green glow, along with two flickering Green Flames in his eye sockets. His face was now fully visible: one half pale and smooth, the other covered in faint scars.

A wild, unrestrained smile spread across his face. Hals reveled in the power coursing through him—and in the thrill of slaughter!

His Fourth Soul Ring rang out. A hoarse yet distant voice echoed again and again, pounding like a heavy blow against every bandit's heart.

"Perish!!!"

Little "snakes" made of blood slowly seeped from the bandits' eyes, ears, noses, and mouths. The bandits stared blankly, and their blood was flecked with tiny points of shimmering green light. Only the Bald man, a Soul Emperor, fared slightly better. Even so, pain twisted his face, his body trembled, and terror filled his eyes as he felt it all.

He fought with all his might to lift his hands and wipe his nose and mouth, only to realize in agony that he could no longer control his body.

Hals's face was alight with fanaticism, the Soul Flame in his eyes blazing fiercely. He forced his hoarse voice out of his throat:

"Death is not the end, but a new beginning! So..." His fervor undiminished, Hals's Second and Sixth Soul Rings flashed at once. One by one, translucent green tentacles abruptly appeared in empty space, as if rooted in the void, stretching out their fearsome forms without restraint.

"So welcome death's arrival, and offer up your most precious tribute to this glorious moment!!!"

As his words rang out, the tentacles lashed down one after another, swift and fierce, carrying a gust of wicked wind.

"Smack, smack, smack, smack, smack..."

A series of crisp explosive sounds rang out. Brilliant red-and-white flowers blossomed in midair as head after head burst apart and vanished. All that remained were corpses standing upright—headless corpses!

The wild fervor on his face gradually faded. Looking at the corpses, Hals's Soul Flame still flickered fiercely. He raised his left hand, and the Soul-Guiding Lantern slowly floated up from his waist. In an instant, it blazed with light.

The Soul-Guiding Lantern spewed out green light. As though controlled by some invisible force, it slowly spun, then formed a huge vortex, half a person's height.

"Woo..."

"Ke-ke-ke..."

A jumble of piercing sounds rang out. The upper bodies of countless struggling, wailing souls appeared inside the vortex, clawing and reaching as they tried to escape the cage imprisoning them. But soon, they realized their escape was futile. Not a single soul could get out. So with hateful, envious, gleeful eyes, they grabbed at the bandit souls that had just appeared, still hazy and indistinct, and dragged them inside.

At that moment, the basest side of living beings was on full display...

No one knew how long passed. When the last soul had been dragged into the Lantern, the vortex slowly faded away, and its light dimmed. Then it settled quietly back at Hals's waist, and all returned to calm.

Chilling air filled the hall. The headless corpses stood rigid and motionless, frozen in place...

Turning around, Hals looked at Zhu Xiyan, who was still slumped on the floor. The green light in his Soul Flame flickered, making her face flicker in turn.

"Do you still need me to help you up?" His voice was hoarse and stern.

Zhu Xiyan's pretty face flushed. Bracing her hands against the floor, she got to her feet and stood silently with her head bowed, her whole body trembling without pause.

Hals frowned, sensing something amiss. The light in his Soul Flame blazed. Strangely, almost every soul he had seen so far—human or Soul Beast—had been green. But Zhu Xiyan's soul seemed to be turning red before his eyes...

"Blood..." Zhu Xiyan's voice was softer than a mosquito's buzz. If Hals's hearing hadn't been sharp enough, he wouldn't have heard her.

Hals frowned. He had heard what Zhu Xiyan said, but he was puzzled by her asking for blood...

Though his mind was full of questions, Hals slowly turned around and extended his translucent right hand. A Soul Ring appeared behind him once more. As the Eighth Soul Ring flashed, frost spread across his right arm, making the once-clear limb appear hazy.

He thrust out his right hand. A cold wind sprang up, making Hals's robes flutter. The temperature inside the hall kept dropping, and frost spread over the corpses, turning their lifelike faces white.

After a moment, thin streaks of red began to seep from the snow-white corpses. Patches of red ice crystals swiftly replaced the frost, while the blood on the floor and walls froze into shards of ice.

Hals turned his hand palm-up. The bloody frost covering each corpse rose and gathered above his palm, forming a blood sphere two meters in radius.

The moment Zhu Xiyan saw the enormous blood sphere, she could no longer suppress her emotions. Her eyes were bloodshot, as if blood might spill from them. Though she could barely stand, she staggered forward and leaped into the blood sphere like a moth flying into a flame...

In a moment, the surface of the blood sphere gradually hardened, forming a colossal blood-red cocoon.

Hals silently carried the sphere to a clean patch of floor and set it down. His Soul Flame flickered as he stared intently through the blood cocoon at Zhu Xiyan's soul, lost in silence...

"Crack, crack-crack."

After who knew how long, a crisp cracking sound jolted Hals awake from his meditation. Turning his head, he fixed his gaze on the giant cocoon, whose surface was covered in cracks. Zhu Xiyan's Soul Flame had turned completely red, and for the first time in a long while, Hals felt a trace of nervousness.

"Crack."

A fragment of black-and-red shell fell to the floor, but no blood came out. It seemed Zhu Xiyan had absorbed it all.

The cracks multiplied, and more and more shell fragments fell to the ground. At last, Zhu Xiyan's figure was revealed.

Stunning—that was Hals's first impression. Though she had the body of a girl only fifteen or sixteen, she carried an air of mature allure.

Zhu Xiyan's lustrous black hair had turned completely blood-red. Her short hair, which had barely reached her neck, now fell to her waist. The long, wavy locks looked like a surging Blood River.

Her shoes had long since vanished, and her clothes had turned blood-red as well.

"Tap."

Her bare, pale feet touched the ground. The girl slowly opened her eyes, and her irises too had turned blood-red. Her lips parted, and a gentle voice touched with a hint of seduction reached Hals's ears.

"Teacher, it's been a long time..."