After condensing nine Soul Rings, Lin Yue left the Containment Shelter.
Before long, Lin Yue arrived at Tiandou Imperial Capital.
The empire's once-prosperous, bustling heart was still shrouded in oppressive panic.
The news that Soul Beasts had gone extinct swept across the continent like a plague, utterly shattering every Soul Master's path to cultivation and hope of advancement.
Desperate, Soul Masters went out every day in search of any that might have been overlooked—newly awakened one-year Soul Beasts whose Soul Power was so faint it was almost impossible to detect.
Even the slightest sign of a Soul Beast's presence could spark a bloody struggle.
Mixed in with the crowd entering the city, Lin Yue observed with interest as the city teetered on the brink of chaos.
Just then, a commotion from the city gate caught Lin Yue's attention.
Two groups of girls with very different styles were blocking the gate, neither willing to give way.
"Hmph, a bunch of water-players think they can block the Blazing Fire Academy's way? Move it!"
The red-haired girl at the front, Huo Wu, glared with raised brows. Heat shimmered faintly around her, and her tone was as fiery as her temper.
"Huo Wu, watch your mouth! Did Blazing Fire build this city gate? We got here first, so why should we move?" Across from her, Shui Bing'er, a cool and composed blue-haired girl, refused to back down. A faint chill lingered around her, and the students from Skywater Academy behind her were all scowling.
"Got here first? With the way you dawdle? Blazing Fire is all about efficiency! You get it? Efficiency!" Huo Wu planted her hands on her hips and taunted them without a shred of courtesy.
"Efficiency? More like reckless and rude. The Soul Beasts have all disappeared, so why are you in such a hurry? Racing off to someone's funeral?" Xue Wu, standing behind Shui Bing'er, retorted, her words icy to the bone.
"You!" Huo Wu flared up at once, her Soul Power surging violently. "Shui Bing'er, are you looking for a fight?"
"Like I'm afraid of you?" Xue Wu's gaze sharpened, and the chill around her intensified.
The prodigies from the two academies faced off, ready to fight. The tension was so thick that the people around them instinctively backed away.
The students behind them glared at one another, too. The opposition between Blazing Fire and Skywater, ice and fire, was magnified to its fullest in that moment.
Standing amid the crowd a short distance away, Lin Yue watched the fiery scene and curled his lips in amusement. "Interesting. Ice and fire really don't mix... Perfect. Let's add fuel to the fire—or, no, let's make things more fun."
With a thought, he connected to the Containment Space within him.
He locked onto a Hundred-Year Soul Beast.
It was a small Lightning Rabbit, covered in pale yellow fur and sporting a pair of long ears.
He chose it because it was fast. Even as a Hundred-Year Soul Beast, it wouldn't be easy to catch.
It also had a teleportation Soul Skill.
And in Tiandou Imperial Capital, packed with ordinary people, it would be even harder to catch.
Without a sound, an almost imperceptible ripple in space spread through the shadow at the base of the city wall where Lin Yue had selected.
"Squeee!"
A shrill cry, rippling with Soul Power, suddenly rang out!
Right after it, a yellow blur shot from the shadow at the foot of the wall like an arrow loosed from a bow, then charged into the city in a panic!
For an instant, time seemed to freeze.
Shui Bing'er and Huo Wu, who had been arguing, both froze. Their eyes were instantly drawn to the yellow figure.
"A Soul Beast?!" Shui Bing'er cried, her usually cool face showing a violent stir of emotion for the first time.
"A Hundred-Year Soul Beast! Alive!" Huo Wu's eyes flew wide with disbelief and elation. Her anger from moments earlier vanished without a trace.
That cry and the sudden presence of a Soul Beast were like a drop of water falling into a pan of boiling oil!
"A Soul Beast! It's a Soul Beast!"
"Oh my god! There are still Soul Beasts here!"
"Catch it! Hurry, catch it!"
"It's mine! That Soul Ring is mine!"
After a brief, deathly silence came a frenzied eruption like a roaring tide!
Everyone near the city gate—ordinary folk and Soul Masters alike, newly arrived travelers and local Soul Masters who had already been searching nearby—was seized by utter madness!
After despair, even the faintest hope was enough to make people lose their reason.
Countless bloodshot eyes fixed on the fleeing Lightning Rabbit, as though hungry wolves had spotted fresh meat.
Boom!
The crowd erupted!
Screams, shouts, shoving, and the bursts of Soul Power all blended together into a terrifying roar.
People surged toward the Soft Bone Rabbit like a tide, heedless of those around them. Shoving and trampling broke out at once, and cries of agony rose one after another.
"Get out of my way!"
"It's mine! I saw it first!"
"Bullshit! Whoever catches it gets it!"
The situation spiraled completely out of control, plunging into unimaginable chaos.
For this Hundred-Year Soul Beast, perhaps the last of its kind on the continent capable of providing a Soul Ring, human greed was laid bare for all to see.
The people from Skywater Academy and Blazing Fire Academy, who had been on the brink of a fight, abandoned their quarrel and joined the scramble.
Lin Yue, the one who had started it all, had already slipped away to a safer distance. He leaned casually against a stone pillar, wearing a mocking, indifferent smile, as if enjoying an absurd play he had directed himself.
As he watched, he began projecting the scene into the Containment World.
He sent it straight into the sky above the Containment World, where every Soul Beast could look up and see it.
He watched the crowd tear into one another over a glimmer of hope, and the tiny yellow speck fleeing in despair beneath countless greedy hands. All he felt was the thrill of having everything under his control.
"Do you see? On Douluo Continent, one little Hundred-Year Soul Beast is enough to drive them mad."
"Don't worry. That Lightning Rabbit won't die. I'll put it back later."
Lin Yue murmured. He was speaking to all the Soul Beasts.
Gu Yuena, Di Tian, and the others in the Containment World all saw what was happening in Tiandou Imperial Capital.
Last time, Lin Yue had let them watch, too.
But that time, they had only seen how anxious the Soul Masters were.
Now they were watching so many Soul Masters scrambling over one tiny Hundred-Year Soul Beast.
"Ha ha ha! Good, good, good!"
"These human Soul Masters really are getting desperate!"
Di Tian couldn't help laughing at the sight.
It wasn't just Di Tian. Every Soul Beast with a measure of intelligence grinned when they saw the scene.
"Roar, roar, roar!"
"Awoooo!"
"Grrr!"
The Soul Beasts that couldn't speak human language also let out excited roars.
"Beautifully done!"
"Master's trick was so wicked, but I love it!"
Xiao Bai cheered, too.
Even Ah Yin, who had once been close to humans, smiled happily at the sight.
Lin Yue had only meant to have a little fun, but at that moment, he suddenly realized that the faith power flowing back to him from the Soul Beast Clan was surging more strongly than before.