Qian Anci slowly pulled out his Dragon Claw.
The middle-aged man's body went rigid. Blood poured from the hole, but before it could hit the ground, Death Qi broke it down.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but all that came out was a series of "kh-kh" sounds.
The life in his eyes rapidly faded, until they turned dull and lifeless.
Qian Anci withdrew Dragon Transformation, and the scales on his arm slowly disappeared.
He lowered his head and looked at his palm. A trace of warmth still lingered on his fingertips.
This was the first time he had killed someone.
There was none of the discomfort he had imagined, only a strange, hollow emptiness.
As if something deep within his soul had quietly come loose.
"Anci."
Castorice's voice sounded in the depths of his soul, carrying a tender sigh.
"You did well."
Qian Anci didn't answer.
He turned toward the children entangled in the vines, and his pupils suddenly contracted.
Without the middle-aged man's Soul Power to sustain them, the black vines were frantically draining the last of the children's life force.
A dozen or so tiny bodies convulsed in the air, their faces turning ashen at a visible speed.
"No..."
Qian Anci blurred forward. The Scythe of Death swept out, severing the vines.
The children dropped like puppets with their strings cut.
He caught the nearest one. She was a girl of about seven or eight, with a little silver bell still tied around her wrist.
She was A Shi's younger sister, Xiao Tang.
The girl's eyes were half-open, her pupils already unfocused.
She looked at Qian Anci, her lips moving faintly as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, no sound came out.
Her little hand fell limply, and the silver bell gave a soft chime.
Qian Anci froze in place.
He felt the warmth in his palm rapidly fading.
The children he had rescued.
Their breaths were slowly disappearing.
The Soul-Devouring Vine had taken root too deeply. With the middle-aged man dead, the vines had gone berserk and drained every last bit of their life force.
"Your Highness..."
Ya Yi's voice came from behind him, heavy with grief.
"They're... beyond saving."
Qian Anci lowered his head and looked at Xiao Tang's ashen face.
Her eyes were still half-open, as if she were looking toward some place he could never reach.
A Shi stumbled in. When he saw the scene, he took the blow like a thunderbolt.
"Xiao Tang..."
He fell to his knees and tremblingly gathered his sister's body into his arms. Tears streamed from his eyes.
"Xiao Tang... Your brother came too late... Your brother came too late..."
Qian Anci slowly rose to his feet.
He looked at the dozen or so tiny bodies lying in the cavern, at A Shi's broken sobs, and at Ya Yi's silent back.
Something cold welled up from the depths of his heart.
"Castorice."
He called to her silently, his voice hoarse.
"Can I... save them?"
A brief silence followed.
Castorice's voice sounded, grave, yet tinged with an emotion he couldn't understand.
"Anci, their bodies are dead, but their souls haven't completely dissipated."
"The Underworld Authority can ferry the dead."
"But you must think this through—"
"To ferry the dead means you'll become their Ferryman. Their souls will belong to your Underworld, rather than entering the cycle of reincarnation in this world."
Gray light flickered in Qian Anci's eyes.
"Then can they... still be reborn?"
"They can." Castorice's voice was gentle. "But they'll sleep in the Underworld until you grow strong enough—strong enough to take over this world's cycle of reincarnation."
"Or..."
She paused. "You could let them exist in another form. Ferrymen of the Underworld, guardians of the dead."
"Anci, empty your mind. Let me use your body."
Qian Anci slowly raised his right hand.
The Scythe of Death coalesced in his palm, and gray-white Death Qi curled around it like a thin mist.
Three Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet: purple, black, and black.
The third Soul Ring glowed with a dark light.
[Yellow Springs Ferry]
But this time, he didn't swing at an enemy.
The scythe's blade swept through empty space. Gray-white Death Qi spread like a tide, but instead of eroding, it... enveloped.
A gray-white portal slowly took shape in the center of the cavern.
Beyond it lay the familiar Underworld Wasteland.
An leaden-gray sky, a cracked, pale earth, and churning gray fog.
"This is..."
Ya Yi's pupils contracted. He instinctively took half a step back.
The aura emanating from that portal made even him, a Soul Douluo, feel his soul tremble.
Qian Anci offered no explanation.
He merely walked slowly toward the children's bodies, touching each one's brow with the Scythe of Death.
"By my name, I ferry the dead."
His voice was soft, yet carried an authority that pierced life and death.
"Upon the road to the Underworld, there is neither life nor death—only the way home."
A pale purple light bloomed from the scythe's blade, enveloping Xiao Tang's body.
The girl's body slowly dissolved into motes of light, and a translucent figure rose from them.
It was Xiao Tang's soul.
She looked paler and more transparent than she had in life, but her eyes were clear and bright.
She looked at Qian Anci, then at A Shi kneeling on the ground, and moved her lips.
"Brother..."
Her voice was faint as a mosquito's buzz, yet everyone heard it clearly.
A Shi jerked his head up. Seeing the translucent figure, he trembled all over.
"Xiao Tang... Xiao Tang!"
He reached out to grab her, but his hand passed through her ghostly form.
"Don't go... Don't leave your brother..."
Xiao Tang's soul drifted toward the portal, then stopped at the threshold.
She looked back at A Shi and gave him a faint smile.
"Brother, don't be sad."
"Big Brother will take care of me."
She looked at Qian Anci, trust filling her clear, bright eyes.
"Right, Lord Ferryman?"
The gray light in Qian Anci's eyes settled.
"Right."
His voice was hoarse, but firm.
"Within the Underworld, I'll keep you all safe."
Xiao Tang smiled.
Her smile was like the first flower to bloom on the Underworld Wasteland, pale yet gentle.
She turned and drifted through the portal.
Qian Anci continued to the next child.
One, two, three...
More than a dozen translucent souls rose through the gray-white Death Qi and drifted toward the portal.
Some were crying, some looked around in bewilderment, and others quietly accepted what was happening.
Qian Anci ferried them one by one, and the gray-white light on the Scythe of Death grew brighter and brighter.
But his face grew paler and paler.
Ferrying the dead consumed his Soul Power.
"Anci, that's enough."
Castorice's voice was tinged with urgency.
"If you keep going, you'll damage your foundation!"
Qian Anci didn't stop.
He walked to the last body. It was a boy of about five or six.
A broken vine still protruded from the boy's chest, and he had died a gruesome death.
"One last one."
He spoke to Castorice in his heart.
"Let me... see them all off."
The blade touched the boy's brow.
Pale purple light bloomed.
But this time, something went horribly wrong.
As the boy's soul rose, a flash of dark red suddenly flickered in his empty eyes.
"Look out!"
Castorice's cry exploded in the depths of his soul.
The soul twisted violently, turning into a pitch-black shadow that lunged at Qian Anci!
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