Reuniting with Na'er

"You're looking for cultivation techniques? Go ask those Soul Master lords in the city. What use is an ordinary person like me to you?"

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

"Look at you, cowering like that. You really don't seem to know anything." He waved Lin Qingzhou away, his tone full of disdain. "While I'm in a good mood, get lost."

But just as he was about to turn around, Lin Qingzhou caught a detail with keen eyes: the man's wrist had turned ever so slightly, and the angle of his blade had risen instead of fallen.

That wasn't the posture of someone letting him go. It was a killing move, baiting him into lowering his guard.

Lin Qingzhou suddenly leaped backward. Almost at the same instant, the Evil Soul Master's long blade skimmed past his calf by a hair's breadth, its tip carving a gash several centimeters deep into the ground. If he'd reacted even a fraction of a second slower, both his legs would have been severed.

He rolled twice across the ground, then flipped onto one knee and quickly pressed the firing button. A Shock-type Fixed Soul Missile shot straight for the Evil Soul Master's face.

But with the other man already on guard, there was no way that attack could land easily.

The Evil Soul Master's figure blurred as he twisted aside, dodging the missile's path. The Shock Missile exploded against the wall two meters behind him, sending fragments of stone spraying everywhere.

The shock wave only caught his side. He staggered, but quickly steadied himself.

"An attack of this caliber won't do much to me." He waved away the dust in front of him, his tone casual.

Lin Qingzhou fixed his eyes on the brief opening exposed when the man staggered, and a cold curve slowly formed at the corner of his mouth.

"Is that so?"

The Evil Soul Master's pupils suddenly contracted.

He looked down.

At the very moment the Shock Missile exploded, a Tracking-type Fixed Soul Missile had used the flying rubble and dust as cover, arcing around in silence and slipping into the blind spot beneath his ribs.

"Boom!"

The Tracking Missile struck the soft spot between his ribs and waist with pinpoint accuracy, then exploded.

The Evil Soul Master grunted and staggered back several steps, clutching the mangled wound at his waist. For the first time, genuine fury and shock showed in his dark green eyes.

"You!"

Lin Qingzhou gave him no chance to speak again. He charged forward like a cannonball, swinging his warhammer in a full arc. Bringing the monstrous strength he'd been born with to bear, he smashed it down hard on the Evil Soul Master's injured side.

"Clang!"

The Evil Soul Master raised his blade to block, but his wounded waist kept him from putting his full strength behind it. The hammerhead sent his blade shuddering violently, and blood seeped from the web between his thumb and forefinger.

Before he could adjust his stance, Lin Qingzhou's second hammer blow came, then the third, each heavier and faster than the last. There were no flashy techniques, only pure strength and the fiercest resolve.

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The two of them clashed in the narrow alley in the most primitive kind of close-quarters fight.

Blades flashed, hammer shadows fell one after another, and each collision sent dust drifting down from the walls on either side. More and more wounds opened across Lin Qingzhou's body, and the blood flowed harder and harder. Yet his eyes only grew brighter, filled with a ferocity unleashed when he was driven to the brink.

Just like in the Ruins of the Divine War, where he'd been killed thousands upon thousands of times, yet still gritted his teeth and stood up again with every rebirth.

The longer they fought, the more alarmed the Evil Soul Master became.

The boy was clearly more badly wounded than he was, and he had not a trace of Soul Power bolstering him. He should have been the one losing every clash. Yet Lin Qingzhou's movements never faltered, and each swing of his hammer only grew heavier, as if pain and bloodshed were awakening something long dormant in his bones.

"What the hell are you?" the Evil Soul Master finally roared.

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

"Goodbye."

He pulled the trigger. The last Shock-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 before landing beneath the rubble. Blood trickled from the gaps between the bricks and stones. After twitching a few times, he fell still.

Leaning on his warhammer, Lin Qingzhou panted heavily. Every muscle in his body seemed to be screaming in protest.

His vision kept going dark, and his brain rang as if someone had struck it with a hammer. His fight with the Evil Soul Master had lasted barely ten minutes, but it had already drained him far beyond his limits.

But he had no time to rest.

The fight had been far too loud. Other Evil Soul Masters could show up at any moment.

Gritting his teeth, he bent down and quickly searched the Evil Soul Master's body. He found a heavy ammunition pouch containing a full ten Fixed Soul Missiles, along with several bloodstained Federation banknotes.

He didn't even count them. He stuffed the pouch and everything else into his clothes.

He also found a metal-alloy medicine case at the Evil Soul Master's waist. Inside were several dark red pills that gave off a faint medicinal smell. He had no idea what they were, but there was no time to think about it. He took the case too.

As he left, he also picked up two unopened bottles of mineral water.

They weren't for him. The city's water system had most likely been damaged. What if Na'er got thirsty at home?

He straightened up, determined which way to go, grabbed his warhammer, and ran unsteadily toward the villa district, dragging his battered body along.

Behind him, the blood mist in the sky grew thicker. Several violent explosions sounded from the distant city center. He could faintly make out Soul Power flashing in the sky as several figures clashed fiercely. The city's Titled Douluo must have finally engaged the Evil Soul Masters' higher-ups.

All of Aolai City had become a slaughterhouse, filled with flames, thick smoke, and screams.

He couldn't worry about any of that. He only wanted to get home.

At last, the familiar street came into view.

The houses in the villa district were still as they had always been, with no signs of bombardment. It seemed the Evil Soul Masters hadn't reached this area yet.

Lin Qingzhou breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to his front door. His hands were still trembling as he fumbled for his key, trying several times before he finally got it into the lock.

The door opened. The house was dark, with the curtains drawn tight.

"Na'er?"

A small figure suddenly darted out from behind the sofa and crashed into his arms. Her long silver hair hung in disarray over her shoulders, and her purple eyes were red and swollen from crying, like a pair of walnuts.

She clutched his clothes tightly, her whole body trembling. Her lips quivered for several seconds before she let out a choked sob.

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

"I'm fine. They're all just flesh wounds." Lin Qingzhou leaned his warhammer against the wall, bent down, and rubbed the top of her head. His voice was so hoarse he could barely speak. "I'm fine. Look, I came back, didn't I?"