Rejoining Na'er

"If you're looking for cultivation techniques, go find those Soul Master lords in the city. What use is a commoner like me to you?"

The Evil Soul Master stared at him for several seconds, seemingly trying to find a flaw in his expression. A moment later, he sneered and withdrew his blade.

"Look at that cowardly look on your face; you certainly don't look like you know anything." He waved a hand at Lin Qingzhou, his tone filled with disdain. "Get lost while I'm still in a good mood."

But the moment he was about to turn away, Lin Qingzhou keenly caught a detail: the man's wrist had slightly rotated, and the angle of the blade had risen rather than lowered.

This was not the posture of someone letting a person go. This was a killing move designed to bait an enemy into revealing a weakness.

Lin Qingzhou leaped backward violently. At almost the exact same instant, the Evil Soul Master's long blade grazed his calf by a hair's breadth, the tip carving a crack several centimeters deep into the ground. Had his reaction been even a fraction of a second slower, his legs would have been severed clean off.

He rolled twice on the ground, flipped into a half-kneel, and quickly pulled the firing trigger. A concussion-type fixed soul missile shot straight toward the Evil Soul Master's face.

But this move was impossible to land easily now that the opponent was on guard.

The Evil Soul Master swayed, dodging the trajectory sideways. The concussion missile exploded against a wall two meters behind him, sending a spray of debris flying.

The shockwave only grazed his side; he stumbled, but quickly steadied himself.

"Attacks of this level are useless against me." He waved away the smoke and dust in front of him, his tone dismissive.

Lin Qingzhou stared at the slight opening exposed when the man stumbled, the corners of his mouth slowly curling into a cold, sharp arc.

"Is that so?"

The Evil Soul Master's pupils contracted violently.

He looked down.

At the exact moment the concussion missile exploded, a tracking-type fixed soul missile, shielded by the debris and smoke, had curved through the air and silently drilled into the defensive blind spot under his ribs.

"BOOM!"

The tracking missile embedded itself precisely into the soft spot between his ribs and abdomen and detonated.

The Evil Soul Master let out a muffled groan and staggered back several steps, clutching the mangled, bloody wound at his waist. For the first time, his dark green eyes revealed genuine shock and rage.

"You!"

Lin Qingzhou did not give him another chance to speak. He lunged forward like a cannonball fired from a chamber, swinging his war hammer in a full arc. With his innate, monstrous strength, he smashed it down hard onto the Evil Soul Master's wounded spot.

"CLANG!"

The Evil Soul Master blocked with his blade, but his injured waist prevented him from exerting full force. The blade vibrated violently from the impact of the hammerhead, and blood seeped from the webbing between his thumb and forefinger.

Before he could adjust his stance, Lin Qingzhou's second and third hammers followed in quick succession—each one heavier and faster than the last. There were no flashy techniques, only the purest power and the most vicious will.

"CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!"

The two of them engaged in the most primitive close-quarters slaughter in that narrow alley.

Blade light flickered and hammer shadows swirled; every collision shook dust down from the walls on both sides. Lin Qingzhou's wounds grew more numerous and his blood flowed more freely, but his eyes grew brighter—a ferocity born from being pushed to the brink of total desperation.

It was just like in the Ruins of the Divine War, where he had been killed thousands upon thousands of times, yet would always grit his teeth and stand up again after every rebirth.

The Evil Soul Master grew increasingly alarmed as they fought.

This brat was clearly more heavily injured than he was and lacked even a shred of soul power reinforcement; every collision should have left him at a disadvantage. Yet, his movements remained perfectly fluid, and the force of every hammer blow grew heavier, as if the pain and blood loss were awakening something that had long lain dormant in his bones.

"What exactly are you?!" the Evil Soul Master finally couldn't help but roar.

Lin Qingzhou ignored him. Taking advantage of the moment the man's focus wavered, he knocked the long blade's defense aside with a hammer blow, pressed in close, and jammed the launcher at the end of his war hammer directly against the Evil Soul Master's chest.

"Goodbye."

He pulled the trigger. The final concussion-type fixed soul missile fired at point-blank range.

"BOOM!"

The Evil Soul Master was blasted seven or eight meters away, crashing through a low wall and becoming buried in brick and rubble. Blood bubbled out from the gaps in the ruins. After a few twitches, there was no more movement.

Lin Qingzhou leaned on his war hammer, gasping for air, feeling every muscle in his body screaming in protest.

His vision went black in waves, and his brain buzzed as if struck by a heavy mallet. The fight with this Evil Soul Master had lasted only ten minutes or so, but the expenditure had far exceeded his limits.

But he had no time to rest.

The commotion of the battle was too great; other Evil Soul Masters could arrive at any moment.

Gritting his teeth, he bent down and quickly searched the Evil Soul Master, pulling out a heavy magazine pouch containing ten fixed soul missiles, along with a few blood-stained federal banknotes.

He didn't even count them, stuffing them into his chest along with the pouch.

Additionally, he found an alloy medicine box at the man's waist. Opening it, he saw several dark red pills emitting a faint medicinal scent. He didn't know what they were, but he had no time to think; he took the box as well.

Before leaving, he grabbed two unopened bottles of mineral water.

Not for himself—the city's water supply system had likely been destroyed, and what if Na'er got thirsty at home?

He straightened his back, identified his direction, grabbed his war hammer, and dragged his battered body, stumbling toward the villa district.

In the sky behind him, the blood mist grew thicker. From the direction of the city center in the distance came several violent explosions, and he could vaguely see flashes of soul power colliding fiercely in the air. It seemed the Title Douluo of the city had finally engaged the high-level combatants of the Evil Soul Masters.

The entire Proud Arrival City had turned into a slaughterhouse, filled with fire, thick smoke, and screams.

He couldn't worry about that anymore. He just wanted to go home.

That familiar street finally appeared in his field of vision.

The houses in the villa district remained as they were, showing no signs of having been bombed; it seemed the Evil Soul Masters had not yet reached this area.

Lin Qingzhou let out a sigh of relief and hurried to his front door, his still-trembling hands fumbling for his keys, missing the keyhole several times before finally sliding them in.

The door opened. The house was pitch black, the curtains drawn tight.

"Na'er?"

A small, thin figure lunged from behind the sofa, crashing directly into his arms. Her long silver hair was disheveled, and her purple eyes were swollen red from crying, looking like two walnuts.

She gripped his clothes tightly, her entire body shaking, and it took several seconds of trembling lips before she let out a tearful whimper.

"Brother... why are you hurt! Why are you bleeding so much!"

"It's nothing, just superficial wounds." Lin Qingzhou leaned his warhammer against the wall and bent down to stroke the top of her head, his voice so hoarse he could barely speak. "Brother is fine, see? Brother has come back."