One Sword Slays Evil, One Sword Protects Life
Yun Jingheng turned around.
Behind him, outside the evacuation passage by Sea God Lake, the last group of trainees were evacuating to the underground shelter under the cover of Wu Zhangkong Changkong.
Tang Yinmeng ran ahead carrying a little girl whose legs were weak. The little girl's school uniform was covered in dust, and tears streamed down her face, but she didn't cry out loud because her teacher had said that crying would deplete her energy.
Behind them, several Inner Court disciples dragged their poisoned classmate desperately toward the passageway.
Further away, the cafeteria lady was still standing next to the entrance of the underground shelter, the dented iron pot in her hand still untouched.
Then came the dark figures rushing out of the firelight—three, five, ten.
The Evil Soul Master chased after the retreating group. The one at the front had already raised his hand and condensed a dark red Soul Power blade. His target was not Wu Zhangkong, but the slowest boy behind Wu Zhangkong.
Seven Soul Ring lit up one after another from beneath Yun Jingheng's feet, their silvery-white light spreading out in the burning night.
The First Soul Ring, the Second Soul Ring, were spinning with each rotation, accumulating power with each rotation. The Yin Force surged from his body, blowing the rubble and ashes at his feet outwards.
"Seventh Soul Skill - Martial Soul Avatar!"
The moon in the sky instantly became incredibly bright.
The entire shoreline of Sea God Lake was photographed in black and white.
Where the Moonlight reached, the remaining dark purple spore clouds on the ground emitted a faint burning sound as they were purified into harmless dust.
The phantom of the Taiyin Moon Goddess appeared behind him, her face obscured, her palms supporting Yun Jingheng.
"Xiao Jiu! Zi JI!"
Two beams of light exploded from his body.
The first one was purple, noble and eerie, and transformed into a giant dragon covered in purplish-black scales the moment it landed.
The wind pressure generated by her dragon wings as she spread them caused the flames of the burning maple tree to swirl backwards, her dragon head lowered, and a cold light burned in her vertical pupils.
The second one was silver-white, even smaller than Zi JI, but the pressure of its bloodline made the Evil Soul Master at the front instinctively pause.
"Kill them all!"
Xiao Jiu looked up at the sky and let out a long howl.
"Aww--!"
It crouched on all fours, and in the next second it transformed into a streak of silver lightning, crashing directly into the group of Evil Soul Master.
The Evil Soul Master at the front, who was still gathering his Soul Power blade, hadn't even reacted before his protective Soul Power was shattered by a single claw.
Zi JI's dragon wings unfurled in the night sky, her dragon head lowered, and a breath of dragon breath spewed from her mouth—a breath unique to the Hell Demon Dragon race.
A dark purple breath swept across the ground, shattering stone slabs and turning vegetation to ash in its wake.
Two Evil Soul Master who tried to flank from the side were unable to dodge in time. They were grazed by the edge of the breath, and half of their arms, along with their armor, were corroded into black charcoal. They screamed as they staggered backward.
Yun Jingheng stood beneath the Full Moon, the Moonlight Sword reforming in his palm.
There was no set pattern, no routine, and none of the exquisite sword techniques honed repeatedly in the training ground.
Every sword strike he made was imbued with rage, each strike carrying the primal destructive Yin Force —slashing, chopping, cutting, and thrusting.
A Evil Soul Master attempted to bypass his sword and rush towards the escape route, but the sword light had already pierced through his back and chest.
The moonlight shone on the terrified face of the Evil Soul Master. In the last moment before he fell to the ground, he saw Yun Jingheng's eyes. There was no anger in those eyes, only an extremely cold calm.
"A bunch of dark, crawling bastards!"
He drew his sword, but before the blood could even splatter onto the ground, it was evaporated into nothingness by the Moonlight.
This is my home.
He turned around, his sword sweeping across, forcing back three shadowy figures that attacked simultaneously.
"You shouldn't have come here!"
At the same time, a figure emerged from behind Yun Jingheng.
The figure's outline was exactly the same as his, but it shone with a soft, moon-white light, as if someone had sculpted an image of him with moonlight.
His face was blurred in the halo, his features indistinct, yet one could sense an aura completely different from Yun Jingheng's.
Yun Jingheng's anger, killing intent, and the sharp edge of his sword still dripping blood were all absent from that figure.
Instead, it possesses a calm and gentle temperament.
This is the product of the Seventh Trial of the Taiyin Moon Goddess – the severing of good intentions by the compassionate heart of the laurel moon.
Strip away the rampant good intentions, entrust the Good Corpse to the supreme treasure, and transform it into an independent entity.
The true self is not swayed by unnecessary goodwill, and acts in accordance with the great principles rather than personal feelings.
The Good Corpse protects all living beings under the moon and accumulates merit.
For the first time, Yun Jingheng's Good Corpse left his original body, not to assist it, but to go to those who needed protection the most.
The Good Corpse crossed the battle zone.
The Evil Soul Master's shadow attack landed on it, only creating a faint ripple before disappearing without a trace.
Its only task is to go to the places that need shelter the most.
At the entrance to the underground shelter, Shen Yi stood there, blocking the entrance with his body.
She had a deep, bone-revealing wound on her left arm, and blood was dripping from her fingertips, but she did not back down.
Behind her were dozens of lower-grade students who hadn't had time to evacuate. The youngest girl huddled beside her legs, her school uniform covered in dust, biting her lip, afraid to cry out.
Before her stood three Evil Soul Master, their eyes bloodshot with rage. The leader, having condensed a dark red Soul Power blade, was slashing down at her head.
The Good Corpse landed in front of him, its arms outstretched.
A moon-white barrier unfolded between Shen Yi and the Evil Soul Master, blocking the Soul Power blade along with the two subsequent attacks.
The barrier was different from the golden dome that Yun Ming and the others had erected. It was small, only wide enough to protect the width of a door, but it was very stable, as stable as a moon that lies at the bottom of a lake and remains unmoved no matter how big the waves are.
The leading Evil Soul Master was stunned for a moment, then grinned maliciously. "A clone? A mere junior's clone dares to block my way—"
He didn't finish his sentence.
Because beneath the feet of the Good Corpse, seven Soul Ring were lighting up one after another.
The Soul Ring, exactly the same as Yun Jingheng's original body, the first ring, the second ring, and the third ring, each perfectly replicating the original body's Soul Ring ratio and age, unfolded in the night, the light illuminating the expression on the Evil Soul Master's face, which froze from a sinister smile to one of astonishment.
Then the Good Corpse raised its hand, and a Moonlight Sword exactly like the one in Yun Jingheng's hand condensed in its palm, with the same Lunar Yin runes flowing on the blade, and the same cold moonlight.
"Seventh Soul Skill-- "
The Good Corpse spoke, its voice identical to Yun Jingheng's, but its tone was entirely different. There was no sarcasm, no anger, only a gentle, calm seriousness, as if stating a fact that needed no argument. "Martial Soul Avatar."
Another Full Moon rose in the sky.
Above the golden dome erected by Yun Ming and the others, beside the full Full Moon shining above Yun Jingheng's main body, the Good Corpse rose above its head, its silvery-white light echoing the main body.
Two Full Moon hung in the Shrek night sky, one cold and sharp as a knife, the other warm and gentle as jade.
The phantom of the Taiyin Moon Goddess also appeared in the Full Moon of the Good Corpse. Her face was not visible, but her hands, hanging down with palms facing down, seemed to be protecting something.
They protected Shen Yi, the child behind her, and the narrow door leading to the underground shelter.
"Martial Soul Avatar?! Martial Soul Avatar that is exactly the same as the original body--?!"
The leader of the Evil Soul Master instinctively took a half step back. "How can a clone possibly activate Martial Soul Avatar?! What exactly are you?!"
The Good Corpse did not answer.
It simply raised the Moonlight Sword, its tip pointing diagonally at the ground, its posture exactly the same as Yun Jingheng's.
The face, its features blurred by the Moonlight, held a strange calm—not anger, but a quiet, gentle yet unwavering determination.
Then it drew its sword.
The trajectory of the sword's upward thrust was exactly the same as Yun Jingheng's own body; the wrist rotation, the point where the sword tip landed, and the way the Yin Force flowed on the sword were all identical.
But the force of the falling sword is different.
When the main body slashed down with its sword, Xu Lizhi's soul-guided shield shattered into countless pieces of light like an eggshell.
When the Good Corpse thrust out its sword, the blade pierced precisely through the Evil Soul Master's protective Soul Power without any unnecessary damage or shockwave caused by energy leakage. Even the sound of the sword tip entering flesh was as light as a paper cutter cutting through rice paper.
The Evil Soul Master looked down at the sword wound on his chest, from which blood was seeping out. The sinister smile on his face hadn't even faded before it froze into astonishment.
As he fell, the Good Corpse had already drawn its sword and turned to face the next one.
There were no superfluous movements beyond a single fatal blow, no murderous intent, no roar, no low growl of hatred squeezed from the depths of the throat.
But every strike hit a vital spot—the throat, the heart, the brow.
No torture, no venting of anger, no leaving any future trouble.
Its sword is as clean as surgery; the shortest path and minimum collateral damage have been calculated before each strike.
Because it harbored no hatred, no anger, only a calm judgment: this person must fall, or the little girl huddled at Shen Yi's feet behind him will die.
It is indeed Good Corpse, the benevolence that Yun Jingheng stripped away, carrying the excessive softness that was severed from him.
But this doesn't mean it's weak; it just makes a clearer distinction between "whether it should kill" and "whether it wants to kill."
As the leader of the Evil Soul Master collapsed, clutching his chest, disbelief and terror lingered in his eyes. "How could a clone possibly activate Martial Soul Avatar?! What exactly are you?!"
The Good Corpse did not answer.
It shook off the blood droplets remaining on the sword's edge, and seven Soul Ring identical to its original form spun steadily beneath its feet, while the Full Moon above its head still shone gently.
Behind it, Shen Yi, supporting his injured arm, stared at the figure's back, his pupils contracting sharply.
She saw the seven Soul Ring at its feet that were exactly the same as Yun Jingheng's, the gentle Full Moon behind it, and the swordsmanship it used when it drew its sword, which was exactly the same as its original form but carried a kind of precision that its original form lacked—a cold and clean quality.
She couldn't understand—how could a clone possess an independent Soul Ring? How could it awaken an independent Martial Soul Avatar?
But she was greatly shocked, because that figure stood in front of her, and with each sword strike, an enemy fell.
On the Sea God Lake, Yun Jingheng stood under the Full Moon, the runes on the Moonlight Sword lighting up layer by layer.
He saw the Good Corpse precisely and calmly reaping every threat at the entrance of the passage, and he saw Shen Yi, supporting his injured arm, stand up straight behind it and lead the students into the underground.
Then he turned around to face the remaining Evil Soul Master.
"You guided Xu Lizhi to become Evil Soul Master just to see what food-type soul masters can do on the battlefield, right? Well then, I'll show you what combat-type soul masters can do on the battlefield."
His voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the roar of the explosion and was as clear as moonlight itself.
The sword light flashed once more.
This time, it was even brighter than before.
"Sixth Soul Skill - Moonlight! Full Sky!" ×2