The Body of the End

He braced both hands against the tiled wall and stood there.

Suddenly, he straightened up again, letting the water beat against his body. Slowly, he turned toward the mirror. Only then did he have a moment to look at the Martial Soul he had awakened.

With a thought, Soul Power surged up from within him. The next moment, a body veined with purplish-gold patterns appeared in the mirror.

The glowing lines seemed to grow out of his bones, spreading from his chest to his limbs. They weren't painted on his skin; they had fused with his flesh and blood.

Behind him, a deep purple phantom slowly rose. Its outline was indistinct, yet it carried an oppressive presence that made it hard to breathe. The instant the phantom opened its eyes, the mirror silently cracked, fine fractures spreading out from its center.

Lin Qingzhou clenched his fist slightly. A terrifying sense of power swept through his entire body, and he couldn't help letting out a long breath, feeling utterly at ease.

The Martial Soul within him fit the descriptions of a Body Martial Soul in the original story very well. Perhaps that was the wonder of Martial Souls.

Though he had only just begun to control his Martial Soul, Lin Qingzhou instinctively knew its name.

Body of the End.

Lin Qingzhou slowly withdrew his Martial Soul and exhaled a breath of stale air, as if releasing all the pent-up frustration in his heart.

He didn't know how much Soul Power he had now. After all, he was a full three years behind everyone else, and he had no idea whether he'd be able to catch up with them in his future cultivation.

The rushing water was loud enough to drown out the sound of the waves outside. In more than a month, this was the first time he'd had a hot shower.

By the time he finished showering, it was completely dark. Lin Qingzhou changed into clean clothes, pulled a few compressed biscuits and a bottle of water from his Storage Soul Tool, and sat on the small sofa by the window to fill his stomach.

The compressed biscuits were dry and hard, like chewing on sandpaper, but he didn't care. As long as he could eat, that was enough.

Beyond the window, the dark sea stretched endlessly. Fragments of moonlight rose and fell with the waves, scattering and gathering, gathering and scattering. The cruise ship sailed steadily south, leaving Aolai City farther and farther behind.

He thought of Na'er.

It wasn't a thought steeped in grief. It was just an empty ache.

He thought of her while showering, while eating, and while sitting down to look at the sea.

If Na'er were still here, she'd probably be running around barefoot on the floor, tumbling the snow-white quilt into a mess.

Then she'd lean against the window and point at the sea outside, asking question after question. "Brother, what island is that? Brother, are there fish in the sea?"

He'd probably tell her not to mess up the quilt, then walk over and look with her.

But she wasn't here. The room was so quiet that all he could hear was the hum of the air conditioner and the distant murmur of the waves.

He chewed the last bite of compressed biscuit, took a drink of water, and slowly let out the breath trapped in his chest. Then he picked up the remote and turned on the television.

The screen lit up, switching to a news channel. A female anchor sat upright behind the desk in formal attire, her voice so steady it held not a trace of emotion as she read from the teleprompter.

"Regarding the attack on Aolai City, the Federal Military Command released its latest notice this morning. It stated that the attack was planned and carried out by a roving Evil Soul Master organization, and that its primary leader was successfully killed by federal troops stationed in the area during last night's clash."

"The attack claimed nearly a thousand civilian lives. The federal government extends its deepest condolences. Reconstruction efforts in Aolai City have now begun in full, and the Federal Military Command has deployed two additional divisions to the eastern coast to ensure that such an incident never happens again."

Nearly a thousand! Nearly a thousand. On the street he'd seen with his own eyes, white-shrouded bodies had been laid out in a whole row. There had been far more than that.

At the mining district outside the city, he'd heard it called "the bloodbath of Aolai City." On the streets, he'd seen the crater blasted open by a Level Nine Soul Cannon shell.

Above him, he'd felt the clash of Titled Douluo-level Soul Power.

The pressure had been enough to shatter every window along half a street. There was no way that battle could be summed up as "successfully killed."

He remembered clearly. Blood-red mist had churned over the city center all night, and it hadn't dispersed even by dawn. The defenses at the Spirit Pagoda branch had been blasted open head-on by a Level Nine Soul Cannon shell.

The Titled Douluo stationed there and the Evil Soul Masters' strongest fighters had clashed in the sky, every collision like a peal of thunder. The few Evil Soul Masters he'd fought his way past on the street were nothing but bottom-feeding trash among them.

And then the news told everyone that only three hundred people had died. The primary leader had been killed. Reconstruction had begun. Everything was under control.

The female anchor on the screen had already moved on to the next story, about the Federal Parliament passing a new urban development bill, a perfectly practiced smile on her lips.

Lin Qingzhou stared at the screen for a long time, the remote clenched in his hand, without saying a word. An indescribable feeling rose from his stomach. It wasn't simple anger.

Anger was too simple.

What he felt was more like a kind of frustrated helplessness... He'd seen it with his own eyes, lived through it himself, and nearly died on that street.

Then someone told him it hadn't been a big deal. Everything was fine. The Federation was powerful. Everyone could rest easy.

He knew what the Federation was doing. They'd used a Level Nine Soul Cannon shell, the city's defenses had been breached, and an Evil Soul Master at the Titled Douluo level had come in and slaughtered people all night. He didn't know what had finally brought it to an end, but it certainly hadn't been as effortless as the news made it sound.

If the whole truth came out, the entire eastern coast would erupt. So they suppressed the information, changed the numbers, and claimed the Evil Soul Master leader had been killed.

Lin Qingzhou didn't know whether the leader had actually been killed. But he knew that the people aboard this cruise ship, laughing over their wineglasses, might go their whole lives without ever learning what had really happened in Aolai City that night.

Anger was useless. He understood that better than anyone.

After dying so many times in those Ruins of the Divine War, the first thing he'd learned was that when you lacked strength, anger was the most worthless thing in the world.

Di Tian could crush him with one finger. Gu Yue could kill him with a single thought. The Federation could bury a news story with one notice. All he could do was stay alive and grow stronger.

Begging others was useless. It would always be useless. Beg the Federation to uphold justice, and the Federation would cover your mouth.

Beg the strong to show mercy, and they'd crush you without even lifting an eyelid. After swinging a hammer night after night in the blacksmith's shop, he'd long since figured that out.

He put the remote on the coffee table, stood up, and walked over to the window. The sea outside was still just as dark, but a faint glimmer had appeared on the distant horizon.

That was the direction of Southsea City.

He pressed his hand against the cold glass, the silver-violet light in his eyes slowly turning in the night. Once he had the strength, he'd make sure not a single one got away.

What he didn't notice was a pair of eyes in the shadows of the hallway outside his room, staring fixedly at his back through a half-open ventilation window.

The gaze didn't move in the darkness, like a snake lying in wait, its breathing held low and slow.

Lin Qingzhou drew the curtains and turned off the light.

In the darkness, there was only the sound of the waves and the low rumble of the engines in the distance.