As the Purple Poison Sect Master's head burst apart, that suffocating, terrifying pressure abruptly vanished.
The air became breathable again.
The chickens and dogs that had collapsed on the ground in the village shakily got to their feet, letting out uneasy whimpers.
The villagers' cries and screams of relief at surviving the disaster rose and fell in waves.
Deep in the forest.
Almost the instant the pressure disappeared, Tang San sprang forward like a cheetah poised to pounce.
He charged straight toward the direction from which the pressure had vanished.
He didn't dare get too close. He stopped at a safe distance, and a faint glimmer of purple flashed across his eyes.
Purple Demon Eye!
Through the shifting shadows of the trees, the scene in the open space at the village entrance came clearly into view.
Then his entire body went rigid.
What had he just seen?
Stones lay scattered in fragments across the ground. They were the Soul Kings and Soul Emperors who had been so overbearing moments ago.
A headless corpse lay nearby, its head crushed beneath a foot. It belonged to the terrifying powerhouse who had exuded the pressure of a Soul Saint.
And there, standing in the center of the corpses, was a breathtaking woman in purple robes as pristine as snow, not a speck of dust upon her.
She slowly withdrew her foot from the corpse, moving with such elegance that she might have been brushing away an unsightly fallen leaf.
Tang San's mind buzzed, going completely blank.
A Soul Saint!
After studying at Nuoding Academy, he was no longer the naïve boy he'd once been. He had acquired a Soul Master's basic knowledge.
At a glance, he'd judged that person's cultivation from the traces left behind!
A Seven-Ring Soul Sage!
That was a Seven-Ring Soul Sage! A mighty being powerful enough to found a sect and be revered as its ancestor!
And just like that... that woman had casually stomped him to death, as if crushing a bug?
Wasn't that woman the maid who had previously followed Li Hao, that idle fisherman?
Tang San's worldview suffered an unprecedented, violent shock.
He came from the Tang Sect, possessed extraordinary techniques, and had always believed his understanding of the world far surpassed that of his peers.
But the scene before him had utterly overturned everything he knew.
A maid could kill a Soul Saint in an instant?
Then who exactly was her master, Li Hao, the man who spent all day lounging by the river after awakening a Trash Martial Soul in the shape of a Fishing Rod?
A peerless old monster hiding in a beginner's village, amusing himself with the world and pretending to be weak while secretly holding immense power?
A storm surged in Tang San's heart.
This man was the greatest variable in the world!
Silently, Tang San withdrew his gaze and slipped back into the shadows without a sound.
Go to the Soul Hunting Forest and obtain a Hundred-Year Soul Ring?
After witnessing that slaughter, the thought seemed so laughable and childish.
He'd made up his mind.
Until he uncovered Li Hao's secret, he wasn't going anywhere.
Unraveling this man's secret might be ten thousand times more important than obtaining a mere Hundred-Year Soul Ring.
At the same time.
Hundreds of miles away, inside a heavily guarded Spirit Hall Branch.
A middle-aged man in a silver bishop's robe was reviewing files with some impatience.
Suddenly.
A Soul Tool before him, used to receive the highest-priority emergency communications, lit up without warning and let out a rapid, piercing buzz!
The middle-aged bishop sprang to his feet, his face instantly grave.
A signal like this might not sound once in ten years!
He hurried over, placed his hand on the Soul Tool, and sent a surge of Soul Power into it.
The next second, a flood of emotions—sheer terror, despair, and madness all mixed together—rushed along his arm and slammed into his mind!
"Ah!"
He groaned and staggered two steps backward.
The emotions felt so real, it was as if he had personally experienced the despair of dying.
Then, a few broken but unmistakably clear words burst into his mind.
"Seven-Colored Divine Snake... monster... she's taken human form..."
"Spirit Hall... save me..."
Taken human form!
When the words "Soul Beast taking human form" surfaced, the middle-aged bishop's breathing stopped.
He knew exactly what those words meant.
They meant a complete Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring—and a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone guaranteed to be produced!
A priceless treasure powerful enough to drive any Titled Douluo mad!
The master of a second-rate sect had actually provoked a legendary existence like this—and been killed in return?
This was far beyond the scope of what a branch bishop could handle.
Daring not to waste a moment, he turned and activated another, far more complex encrypted Soul Tool.
He had to report this earth-shattering intelligence to the headquarters in Spirit City at once!
A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast capable of taking human form and killing a Soul Saint in an instant...
This secret was enough to throw the balance of the entire continent into turmoil.
In front of the wooden cabin in Holy Soul Village.
Li Hao stared blankly at the gruesome scene of corpses strewn everywhere, then at the breathtaking beauty before him, whose words were respectful and manner graceful. Only one thought kept echoing frantically in his mind.
I didn't pick up a kitty... I picked up a nuclear bomb.
Cailin acted as if she'd merely stepped on an annoying bug and elegantly withdrew her foot.
Not a speck of dust had touched her purple robe.
She slowly turned toward the dilapidated wooden door and bowed to the figure that had been frightened stiff.
"Master, the trash has been cleared away."
Li Hao's Adam's apple bobbed. For a long while, he couldn't utter a word.
Cleared away?
You call this "cleared away"?
This was a massacre!
But just then, something changed in Cailin's eternally cold expression.
She raised her head and looked toward the distant horizon, her golden slit pupils narrowing slightly.
"Master."
Her voice was even colder than it had been while killing.
"The instant that Soul Saint crushed the distress signal, I sensed an extremely powerful presence, brimming with malice, watching us from far away."
Boom!
Her words drenched Li Hao like a bucket of ice water poured over his head.
The anxiety he'd just begun to set aside now shot straight back up his throat!
Higher and tighter than before!
Watching them?
Powerful and full of malice?
Who else could it be?
Even a fool could guess—it had to be Spirit Hall!
A second-rate outfit like the Purple Poison Sect could only call upon a behemoth like Spirit Hall!
It was over.
This time, it was really over.
He'd escaped the first day of the month, but not the fifteenth.
He'd driven off the jackals, only to draw tigers and leopards.
All he wanted was to be an idle fish! How had he ended up provoking the greatest villainous organization in this world?
An unprecedented sense of danger clamped down on his heart.
He looked at Cailin.
Then he turned and saw Xiao Wu, who had somehow run out of the cabin. She was clinging tightly to his leg, peeking out with a small, curious yet frightened face as she watched the corpses outside.
Hide?
There was no escaping them.
With Spirit Hall's power, where could they possibly hide? The ends of the earth?
For the first time, a feeling of indignation rose in Li Hao's heart.
Why?
Why should they have to live like this because of him, always hiding, never knowing if they'd see another day?
They were so powerful, so wonderful.
Xiao Wu was innocent and carefree, while Cailin was peerlessly beautiful.
They should have been the darlings of the world, not hunted by everyone alongside an idle fish like him.
Li Hao's chest heaved violently.
He looked at the two breathtaking figures beside him, one tall and one small, who saw him as their only source of support.
A wild, unprecedented thought welled up uncontrollably from the depths of his heart.
If this world had no safe place that could shelter them—
Then he would...
Create one for them with his own hands!
A place that was absolutely safe, utterly cut off from the world, and belonged only to him and them... a home!
Before you continue