Snake Lance: Where is the person? Where did they go?

The prolonged mental strain, combined with the depletion of his soul power, left Ling Yun feeling utterly exhausted, so he began to meditate right there in the cave to recover.

While he was meditating, Snake Lance Douluo was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Where is he? Where did he go? You brat, weren't you supposed to be watching Dugu Bo's manor? Is this how you keep watch?"

"In such a short time, there should at least be some lingering traces of soul power, but there's nothing—nothing at all!"

Snake Lance was losing his mind!

He had snuck into Dugu Manor to investigate and questioned the people nearby, but there was nothing unusual about the manor.

If Ling Yun had been discovered by Dugu Bo and killed on the spot, he could only call it a pity! But Dugu Bo clearly hadn't made a move, so who could tell him what on earth was going on?

"Could it be that this little brat finished his business with Dugu Bo and left?"

Snake Lance wasn't sure, but he couldn't rule out the possibility.

He began a carpet search, utilizing his soul skills to scour every street and house in the vicinity until, finally, he found a clue.

A thousand meters away from Dugu Manor, in a secluded corner, Ling Yun's soul power signature appeared once more. Though it was incredibly faint, to Snake Lance, it was a lead.

He was overjoyed and followed the faint trail through various twists and turns. Soon, however, Snake Lance was back to being frantic.

As Ling Yun's signature approached the bustling merchant streets, it vanished again. The area was a chaotic mix of people, and the ambient soul power was too messy to track.

His tracking had become completely useless.

"You restless little brat, putting this old man through such trouble—don't let me catch you!"

Snake Lance was grinding his teeth in frustration. Before he arrived, he had guaranteed that everything would go perfectly, but since arriving, everything had gone wrong.

He was a Title Douluo, yet he couldn't even find a lowly soul master; it was truly humiliating!

At this rate, he was going to be labeled as unreliable!

In truth, Ling Yun hadn't even gone out of his way to hide. Once he was a thousand meters from Dugu Manor, he had simply put away his martial soul, the Chaos Bead, and moved through the crowd like an ordinary person before leaving Heaven Dou City and heading toward the Sunset Forest.

The best way to hide is in the middle of the city; he had hidden himself within the sea of people.

Only after reaching the Sunset Forest did Ling Yun use his martial soul again. Even if Snake Lance chased him into the forest, he would lose his trail in an instant. Finding someone in a soul beast forest was impossible even for a Title Douluo; the outer perimeter alone was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Not to mention, Ling Yun had already ventured deep into the territory where ten-thousand-year soul beasts roamed.

Who would ever suspect that a child, not even a Soul Grand Master yet, would dare to run into the hunting grounds of ten-thousand-year soul beasts?

After staring at the street for a while, Snake Lance returned to the Crown Prince Manor in defeat to report.

After hearing the report, Qian Renxue waved her hand and said, "In that case, Uncle Snake Lance, you should go and rest first!"

"He must have sensed the danger and gone into hiding. To be able to evade a Title Douluo... I am becoming more and more interested in him!"

"..."

Qian Renxue was not in the slightest bit anxious. As long as he wasn't dead, she would encounter him again sooner or later.

Sunset Forest.

It was already night by the time Ling Yun finished his cultivation.

Overcome by hunger, he chewed on dry rations with one hand while holding a water gourd in the other.

Once he was full, he activated his soul skill. The energy concentrated into a beam was immense, possessing unparalleled cutting power. He carved out several stone slabs and blocked the cave entrance, leaving only a small hole for ventilation.

Afterward, he took out a beast hide, spread it on the ground, and fell into a peaceful sleep.

Outside, the air was filled with the chirping of various insects, occasionally punctuated by the roars of large soul beasts. The cruel laws of the jungle were even more vivid at night.

The contrast between the inside and outside of the cave was stark.

The next morning.

A sharp, grating sound that caused physical discomfort echoed from the stone slabs outside—the sound of claws scraping against rock.

Ling Yun, who rarely had nightmares, was startled awake.

"What a disaster! What kind of soul beast is this, being so malicious?"

Ling Yun peered through the ventilation hole to observe the situation outside. A five-meter-long lizard was there, sharpening its claws.

The lizard's body was covered in flame patterns, with actual magma flowing through them.

"Damn it, a Lava Giant Lizard!"

The Lava Giant Lizard was a rather powerful type of soul beast that loved living in magma and possessed maximum fire resistance.

This also proved that there was a volcanic environment nearby.

Lava Giant Lizards were adept at controlling magma, capable of unleashing attacks like magma pillars and meteor showers, and the scales on their bodies provided extremely high defense.

Their weaknesses were their eyes and mouth, but the Lava Giant Lizard protected these areas very well.

There was one other weakness: this soul beast was afraid of the cold.

Ling Yun decided to launch a sneak attack. In a head-on confrontation, his odds against this Lava Giant Lizard were three to seven.

The lizard would take three seconds to finish him, and seven parts of his body to satisfy its hunger.

He felt extremely fortunate that he had prepared enough thick stone slabs.

The hole was small enough that, due to the lighting, it looked like a pitch-black void when viewed from the outside.

From the inside looking out, however, the view was crystal clear.

The Lava Giant Lizard seemed very satisfied with this stone slab, finding it quite comfortable to grind its claws against as it scratched away at the surface in a leisurely, unhurried manner.

The grating, piercing sound made every hair on Ling Yun's body stand on end.

"You dare to torment me? Die! First Soul Skill, Sky-Filling Light Rain!" All the radiance from his Yin-Yang Mirror martial soul converged, the light from the Yin and Yang sides gathering into a single point, more condensed than ever before.

Red light and white light fused together, and a dangerous aura began to permeate the air.

The entire process of the light gathering took less than three breaths.

Outside, the Lava Giant Lizard also sensed the danger, and the threat was coming from right behind the stone slab.

It instinctively erupted with soul power, causing raging flames to ignite across its body as magma flowed over its surface; the magma dripped onto the ground, instantly creating a pool of lava and altering the environment.

The Lava Giant Lizard's reaction had been fast, but Ling Yun's attack was faster; the high-energy light beam, like a laser cannon, shot directly into its eye. It instinctively tried to close its eyes, but it was too late.

The beam of condensed Yin-Yang energy exploded upon impact, destroying its right eye and causing blood to stream down. The intense pain drove the Lava Giant Lizard into a frenzy, and it launched an attack against the stone slab.

The slab shattered instantly.

Ling Yun flashed into the depths of the cave's side, manifesting his Chaos Bead martial soul to mask all traces of his aura.

The Lava Giant Lizard charged inside, its one remaining eye searching the cave for its enemy.

Ling Yun seized the opportunity to bolt out of the cave and flee for his life.

He had not expected this Lava Giant Lizard to have such tenacious vitality and such an exaggerated defense; he had only managed to destroy one of its eyes.

According to Ling Yun's estimations, the Yin-Yang beam should have pierced through the Lava Giant Lizard's eye and penetrated straight into its brain.

Ling Yun glanced back to see the Lava Giant Lizard turning the cave into ruins, its roars filled with exasperated fury.

Looking from afar, the sky in that direction had been dyed red, with pillars of magma erupting toward the heavens.

A ten-thousand-year soul beast is truly terrifying!

Ling Yun had finally witnessed it firsthand! He chose a direction at random, greased the soles of his feet, and ran! He needed to find a new place to lay low.

Not long after, he came to a halt; his Chaos Bead martial soul began to stir. Dugu Bo had arrived at the Sunset Forest.

"Hahaha... Heaven helps me!"

Ling Yun was more excited than he had ever been, following the guidance of his martial soul to track Dugu Bo's movements.

In less than half an hour, Dugu Bo's position stopped changing. After marking the direction and distance, Ling Yun continued his search for a hideout.

The moment Dugu Bo left again would be the time for him to make his move.