Was Lin Chuan truly dead this time?
The answer was no!
His soul had merely been extracted by Liang with the Soul-Locking Chain. As long as his soul remained intact, he was not truly dead in theory. Ni Huanzhi had been an example of this before.
The reason Lin Chuan had allowed Liang to extract his soul was not because Jing Jie's sneak attack had truly left him helpless. It had been entirely deliberate!
After Fulingzi died, Lin Chuan had already grown suspicious of everyone around him. Two of the Soul Refining Sect's Four Soul Sons—Chi, Mei, Wang, and Liang—had appeared, while the other two had vanished without a trace. Given their strength, either of them could have concealed themselves among any group of cultivators.
The only person Lin Chuan could trust was Ni Huanzhi. Her soul had been extracted before, and the streak of golden light within it was unique. Not only had it prevented Zhang Jia, the Soul Refining Sect disciple at the time, from refining her soul, but it had later allowed Ni Huanzhi to awaken and gain the strength to monopolize the Northern Dipper Seven Star Pillars.
Thus, after careful consideration, Lin Chuan decided to take the risk himself and attempt to devour his opponent's soul in reverse after having his own soul extracted!
That would have been impossible before his enlightenment. At that time, Lin Chuan had no skill in using souls at all, and having his soul extracted would have been immensely dangerous for him.
But things were different now. After attaining enlightenment, his mastery over the use of souls had improved tremendously. Though he had yet to develop the Spirit Transformation Technique, he was no longer the Lin Chuan who knew nothing whatsoever about souls.
He had chosen this course because he knew