The Art of Killing

Welcome them.

Those four words came from Cailin so lightly, as if she were suggesting they take a stroll.

Li Hao's mind gave a sudden buzz, and he nearly crashed on the spot.

He sprang to his feet and shook his head like a rattle drum.

"No! Absolutely not!"

"Welcome who? You call killing people welcoming them? Cailin, I'm telling you, murder is against the law! You go to prison for it!"

He practically shouted the words, his voice pitching up.

What kind of joke was this?!

He was a law-abiding citizen from the twenty-first century. He'd crossed over hoping to live the life of a lazy salted fish, and now he was supposed to take the initiative and ambush an entire team of Soul Masters?

This wasn't how the script was supposed to go!

Cailin looked at him quietly. Her golden slit pupils showed no emotion, as if she were watching a child throw a tantrum.

"Master, this is Douluo Continent."

Her voice was calm, but her words struck Li Hao's heart like a hammer.

"Here, the strong make the rules. No one listens to the weak."

She paused, then continued in the same emotionless tone, stating a cruel fact.

"They've already seen my true form, and they know I'm gravely wounded."

"To them, I'm a Seven-Colored Divine Snake worth a fortune—a walking Soul Ring and Soul Bone."

"Do you think they'll give up?"

"If you don't pull up the grass by its roots, it'll grow again when the spring breeze blows. If we let them go today, they'll return with even greater strength, and tear you, me, and Xiao Wu to pieces."

Li Hao opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

He couldn't argue.

Because he knew every word Cailin said was right.

In this world, where human lives were worth less than grass, mercy toward one's enemies was cruelty toward oneself and one's family.

He could disregard his own lazy-fish life, but he couldn't disregard Xiao Wu.

That little one who wrapped her arms around his neck and called him "Daddy" in her soft, sweet voice was his absolute bottom line.

If...

If Xiao Wu got hurt because he'd been softhearted for even a moment...

He couldn't bear to think about it.

For the first time, a deep sense of helplessness and fury intertwined in his chest.

He was furious at the cruelty of this world, and even more furious at his own weakness.

"I..."

He struggled for a long time before finally forcing a few words through his teeth.

"I understand."

As if all the strength had been drained from his body, he sank back down to the ground.

"But... could you... not make it too cruel?"

It was the last, most feeble request of a modern man.

Cailin gave a slight nod, accepting it.

"Rest assured, Master. I'll take care of it cleanly."

To her, killing was an art, not a bloody performance.

Then she began to devise an ambush plan.

There was no elaborate map-based strategy or complicated tactical arrangement.

She simply pointed to the crude map and circled the narrow forest path at the only entrance to Holy Soul Village.

"Time: dusk, three days from now."

"Location: here, at a bend three hundred meters from the village entrance."

"They've traveled a long way and will soon reach a supply stop. That's when their guard will be lowest."

Her plan was simple and direct, yet terrifyingly precise.

As Li Hao listened, he felt as though he wasn't participating in a battle but watching an execution whose ending had long since been decided.

The next three days were the most agonizing of Li Hao's life.

He couldn't eat or sleep, and even his daily, no-matter-what lounging by the river had lost its appeal.

Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw images of blood and flesh flying everywhere.

He even began to wonder whether saving Cailin had been the right thing to do.

But whenever he saw Xiao Wu's innocent smile, or watched her grow stronger through hard training, his wavering resolve would firm up again.

He had no choice.

Dusk, three days later.

The setting sun dyed the sky a vivid orange-red.

Following Cailin's instructions, Li Hao hid behind a thick bush beside the path at the village entrance, his heart pounding uncontrollably.

He'd insisted that Xiao Wu stay home, where one of Cailin's energy clones was watching over her.

He clamped a hand over his mouth, afraid he might make a sound from nerves.

Cailin, meanwhile, had hidden herself silently on a thick branch above him, like a ghost, blending into the surrounding shadows.

Time passed second by second.

Just as Li Hao was about to go mad from the sound of his own heartbeat, a burst of arrogant laughter came from deep in the woods.

They were here!

Li Hao's body went rigid.

Before long, a team of Soul Masters in matching armor appeared at the far end of the path.

At their head was a burly, middle-aged man whose Soul Power fluctuations were the strongest. He was clearly the Soul Emperor Cailin had mentioned.

Five Soul Masters followed behind him, each radiating a fierce aura. They were all powerful Soul Kings.

"Damn it, we finally made it! This godforsaken place doesn't even have a proper road!"

The Soul Emperor at the front spat and looked thoroughly impatient.

"Boss, don't you think the old ancestor's taking this too far? Sending us all this way for a lousy snake? It was beaten half to death by him, after all. It might've died in some corner already," one of the Soul Kings grumbled as he followed behind.

"Shut up! Who are you to question the old ancestor's decision? That's a Seven-Colored Divine Snake, a rare breed seen only once in ten thousand years! If the old ancestor gets its Soul Ring and Soul Bone, he'll have a chance to break through to level ninety-five! Then our family will rise to even greater heights!"

The Soul Emperor scolded him sharply, though a trace of greed also showed on his face.

"Yes, yes..."

As they talked, they walked right into Cailin's prepared ambush.

They had no idea that the shadow of death had already fallen over them.

The moment they reached the bend and the trees blocked their view—

She struck!

Li Hao didn't even see Cailin move.

He saw only a flash of pale purple, vanishing from the tree trunk.

There was no earth-shaking clash of Soul Skills, no dazzling burst of light.

Only a few brief screams, cut off so abruptly they were almost impossible to make out.

Then—

Everything fell silent.

The battle was over, just like that.

It had ended so quickly that Li Hao thought he'd imagined it.

Trembling, he poked his head out from behind the bush.

The sight before him was one he would never forget.

The six arrogant Soul Masters were all lying on the ground.

Each one was frozen in the posture they'd held at the moment of death, shock and confusion still fixed on their faces.

Every one of them had a tiny hole in the middle of his forehead.

Precise. Fatal.

There wasn't a single unnecessary wound, and barely any blood had splattered.

Cailin stood quietly amid the bodies, her purple robe immaculate, as if she'd just finished an elegant dance.

She was a peerlessly beautiful, yet merciless, goddess of death.

A violent wave of nausea surged up from Li Hao's stomach.

He rushed to one side, braced himself against a tree, and vomited until the world spun.

This was the first time he'd faced death so directly, witnessed killing this efficient and cold-blooded.

Yet beneath the fierce physical revulsion, an even more powerful shock seized his mind.

This was Cailin's strength.

This was the queenly caretaker he'd picked up.

With her around, it seemed there was no need to fear, even if the sky came crashing down.

Cailin paid no attention to Li Hao's reaction. She walked over to the Soul Emperor's body, crouched down, and began searching it.

Soon, she pulled a family token engraved with a flame pattern from his robes, along with a secret letter sealed with red wax.

She tore open the envelope and scanned the letter quickly.

The next second, a flash of killing intent flickered across her eternally impassive face.

She slowly stood and turned to look at Li Hao.

"Master."

Her voice was colder than the Siberian current.

"They're coming for us again."