Failure? It Was Nothing More Than Death

"Interesting."

"A beast that only bullies Soul Grand Masters is worth making such a fuss over?"

Xie Yue's voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached everyone present.

He leaned against an uncollapsed corridor pillar, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

There was no tension or fear in that smile, not even vigilance—only lofty disdain and casual indifference.

Yan said nothing, but his gaze already made everything clear.

Hu Liena, however, took a few extra looks at that sword mark.

She would not have been able to withstand Sword Douluo's strike.

But Xie Yue was right. That Soul Beast had evaded it not through strength, but through its spatial talent.

Ambushes, concealment, striking once and retreating...

Such tricks were nothing more than a clown's act before absolute strength.

"What a pity. That beast is smart enough to know who it cannot afford to provoke."

Hu Liena's voice was exceedingly seductive, like a snake flicking its tongue.

The Golden Generation of Spirit Hall was unafraid, but that did not mean others were.

There were fewer and fewer people on the streets.

In less than half an hour, the street that had once been packed with independent cultivators and disciples from minor sects was as empty as a ghost town.

The disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect began clearing the scene and collecting the bodies.

Sword Douluo stood on the hotel steps as though everything around him had nothing to do with him.

Jiang Ming retreated into the hotel lobby and found a corner against the wall to sit in.

It was not time to leave yet.

People had just died, and they had been sect disciples.

Sword Douluo's senses still covered the entire street. No unusual movement could escape the eyes of this Titled Douluo.

He could not take the risk.

That Soul Beast only hunted Soul Masters and Soul Grand Masters.

That Soul Beast would not appear before Soul Ancestors or Soul Kings.

Putting this information together led to one conclusion.

When selecting prey, that Soul Beast could not only sense the other party's Soul Power Level, but also assess the degree of threat.

Only targets with low Soul Power Levels and no sensitivity to spatial power would be regarded as prey.

What about him?

Jiang Ming's Martial Soul was Space Type.

He himself was a moving spatial coordinate.

To a spatial Soul Beast's senses, his existence was like a lamp in the darkness!

Was he one of its kind?

A threat?

Or... food?

As he watched the moonlight outside the window, a thought in Jiang Ming's heart grew increasingly clear.

That Soul Beast had fed twice in succession tonight.

That frequency was abnormal.

After succeeding, most predators would choose to hide for a while and wait until the uproar died down.

Yet this Soul Beast had struck again and again right under Sword Douluo's nose.

What did that mean?

It meant it was desperate.

It meant something was driving it to feed at all costs.

Perhaps it was accumulating energy, perhaps it was preparing for some kind of transformation, or perhaps—

It was searching for a particular prey.

All those killed or injured tonight had been ordinary people or low-level Soul Masters.

But if he revealed his Space Martial Soul somewhere remote, what would that Soul Beast do?

The answer was certain.

It would come!

Jiang Ming took a deep breath and calmed the restlessness in his heart.

There were two possible outcomes.

Success!

He would obtain a hundred-year Space Soul Ring.

Failure meant death!

Both the risk and reward were unimaginably high!

In that case...

He would gamble!

As time passed, the commotion outside gradually subsided.

The disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect finished clearing up and began taking shifts on watch.

Sword Douluo's aura still enveloped the area, but it was far more restrained than before.

Jiang Ming rose to his feet, left through the hotel's side entrance, and arrived on a secluded street.

The street was completely empty.

Only a few lanterns remained lit, swaying gently in the wind.

Jiang Ming crossed the street, turned into an alley, and quickened his pace.

He did not choose the main road by the front gate, nor did he head toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

He chose a road leading to the abandoned mines north of the city.

The place was deserted and open, making it a fine place to fight.

And also a fine place to die.

Jiang Ming continued onward, and the abandoned mines north of the city came into view.

Moonlight shone upon the exposed mine pits, casting the rubble and waste in a bleak white.

Jiang Ming stood there without moving.

Time ticked by, second by second.

Just as he was beginning to doubt his own judgment...

That sound appeared.

The shrill scrape of nails against glass.

It was brief and sharp, like claws reaching out from the void and lightly scratching against some hard surface.

And...

The sound had come from behind him, less than three meters away!

Three meters.

For a Soul Beast skilled in spatial teleportation, three meters was no different from being pressed against his skin.

The Soul Beast did not attack immediately.

It was observing him.

Just as Sword Douluo had said, this thing was extremely intelligent.

It would not rashly advance merely because its prey was alone. It would first confirm whether the prey truly lay within its hunting range.

Jiang Ming's Soul Power was only level ten!

He perfectly met its hunting criteria!

Three seconds later, space split open.

Jiang Ming finally saw what it looked like.

When that thing crawled out of the void, it looked as though someone had torn open a sheet of black cloth.

It was not the violent disturbance of tearing space apart, but a quiet, smooth rupture, like fingers gliding over the surface of water.

It was not large, only a little over a meter long, its entire body covered in dark silver scales.

Those scales did not reflect light. Instead, they devoured the surrounding moonlight like black holes, making it seem like a walking shadow.

Its four legs were slender and powerful, its claw tips a translucent amber.

But what drew the eye most were its eyes.

There were no pupils, no whites—only two faint halos of silver light.

A Space-Rending Beast!

With just one glance, Jiang Ming identified the Soul Beast.

The Space-Rending Beast bore two wounds.

The first was on its lower back, an area only the size of a fist, yet horrifying to behold.

The scales in that area had completely vanished, and the exposed skin was an unnatural black.

The blackness did not merely linger on the surface. It spread through the surrounding blood vessels like tree roots.

This wound had not been inflicted today, nor even this month.

It was like a cursed energy, eroding its life.

The second wound was at the base of its left foreleg.

Sword Douluo's sword qi.

But the injury was extremely minor.

It was merely a superficial wound that had not damaged the muscles, almost negligible.

In an instant, Jiang Ming pieced together the full story.

In the Star Dou Great Forest, this Soul Beast had been injured by another Soul Beast.

To suppress the spread of the curse, it needed to consume spatial energy of the same origin.

And Sword Douluo's strike—

It had merely grazed it.

But that sword wound had been the last straw, stimulating the curse's activity.

That was why it continued feeding.

That was why it had chosen to attack him!

"So that's how it is."

Jiang Ming murmured softly.

He was not speaking to the Space-Rending Beast, but to himself.

The Space-Rending Beast moved.

Without any warning.

At the very instant its body vanished from where it stood—

A foreclaw had already emerged from the void at Jiang Ming's left, its claw tips aimed straight for his heart from behind.

This was not a probe.

It was a killing blow.