21. Casting Spells Across Space! Severing Karma!

He looked at the fishing rod in his hand, then at the blinking red dot on the light screen.

A thought, crazy to the extreme, fully formed in the depths of his heart.

The corners of his mouth curled upward uncontrollably, revealing a curve that even Cailin, standing beside him, found unfamiliar.

It was the madness of someone pushed to the edge, a "break the pot to mend it" desperation.

"I am going to fish it out."

Li Hao spoke, his voice not loud, yet incredibly clear.

Cailin's golden vertical pupils suddenly constricted.

She suspected she had misheard.

"Master, what did you say?"

"I said," Li Hao repeated, raising the Karma Rod in his hand and pointing it toward the ominous red dot on the chaotic light screen, "I am going to fish this damn mark out of the void, by force!"

He was insane.

This man was absolutely insane.

That was the only thought in Cailin's mind.

She had lived for tens of thousands of years and had never heard of such an absurd idea.

A karma mark was something on the level of laws.

It was a tracking brand that Martial Soul Hall had spent countless resources to engrave, requiring the involvement of an existence at least at the level of a Title Douluo.

This thing was intangible and formless, acting directly between the soul and the rules of heaven and earth.

Let alone fishing it out, even perceiving it required extremely high cultivation and special secret techniques.

Forcibly touching such a thing was like a mortal reaching out to meddle with a spinning wheel from mythology; one slip, and one would be ground to pieces.

"Master, this is too risky!"

Cailin urged him, full of anxiety.

"This is not the same as before!"

"The divine sense you fished up earlier, while high in status, was essentially ownerless—it was dissipated energy!"

"But this mark is different!"

"Behind it, it is connected to the entire tracking system of Martial Soul Hall!"

"If you touch it, it is equivalent to declaring war on the entire system!"

"The backlash from that force will be a hundred times more terrifying than that divine sense from before!"

Li Hao listened quietly.

He certainly knew that Cailin was right.

Reason told him that the safest choice was to play the coward and cultivate in this paradise until the end of time.

But the frustration and unwillingness deep in his bones were screaming wildly.

He had transmigrated here, not to serve a prison sentence!

"So what?"

Li Hao turned his head to look at Cailin.

"Hiding here and being a prisoner for a lifetime—what difference does that make from being dead?"

"I don't want to wait."

"Not even for a single day."

His words were calm, yet carried an indisputable stubbornness.

Cailin was momentarily speechless.

She looked at this man who appeared to be a six-year-old child.

In his black eyes, she saw a light she had never seen before.

It was not the dominance of a powerhouse, nor the ambition of an overlord.

It was the resolve of a salted fish, pushed to the limit, deciding to overturn the entire fishpond.

Xiao Wu did not understand what they were talking about, but she could feel the gravity of the atmosphere.

She hugged Li Hao's leg tightly, looking up with her small face, her large eyes filled with worry.

"Papa..."

Li Hao lowered his head, smiled at Xiao Wu, and reached out to pat her head.

"Don't be afraid. Papa is going to fish out a bad guy. Once I catch it, we will never have to worry about being found again."

Having said that, he hesitated no longer.

He walked to the center of the paradise.

He took a deep breath.

He sank his entire focus into the Karma Rod in his hands.

"Cailin, Xiao Wu, stay away from me."

"If I fail, don't worry about me; this Soul Beast Paradise will protect you."

Cailin wanted to say something more.

But seeing Li Hao's unshakeable stance, she ultimately just retreated a dozen meters in silence, shielding Xiao Wu behind her.

The soul power within her began to circulate at high speed, entering the highest state of alert.

Li Hao closed his eyes.

This time, his intent did not lock onto any person.

Instead, it locked with pinpoint precision onto that flickering, malice-filled black speck on the dimensional barrier.

Then, he snapped his eyes open!

Exerting all his strength, he whipped the fishing rod in his hands fiercely toward the void!

The line of light whistled through the air.

This time, it did not drop into a stream, nor did it vanish into the horizon.

It transformed into a straight golden streak of light, striking the black speck with absolute precision.

And then...

It submerged into it, disappearing from sight.

It was as if it had pierced through the barrier of the world, connecting to another entirely different space.

At the same time.

In a dark, grim underground chamber in the distant Martial Soul City.

A cardinal clad in gold-trimmed red robes was pacing back and forth in a fit of rage.

On the stone table before him, the obsidian compass lay deathly still, its needle swaying erratically like a drunkard, devoid of any pattern.

"Trash! All of you are trash!"

"A Soul Saint, an entire sect, just vanished into thin air! You couldn't even find a ripple!"

Several Soul Master subordinates in black robes knelt at his feet, trembling in fear, not daring to lift their heads.

Just then.

Hum!

The long-dormant compass on the stone table erupted with a piercing, shrill buzz without warning!

The needle that had been swaying aimlessly began to spin frantically, as if injected with adrenaline, moving so fast it became a mere blur!

The entire chamber was startled by this sudden turn of events.

The cardinal stopped in his tracks, staring fixedly at the compass.

His expression of fury was instantly replaced by a look of extreme ecstasy!

"It moved! It moved!"

The next second.

The frantically spinning needle came to an abrupt halt.

With an unshakeable posture, it pointed dead-set toward the southwest of the chamber!

"Found them!"

The cardinal let out a shriek of excitement so intense it cracked his voice.

"Quick! Everyone! Inject your soul power into the Thousand-Mile Soul-Chasing Seal! Stabilize the coordinates and lock onto them! We cannot let them escape again this time!"

"Yes!"

The black-robed Soul Masters, as if granted a reprieve, immediately lunged toward the stone table.

They pressed their hands against the edge of the compass, pouring their soul power into it with reckless abandon!

Soul Beast Paradise.

Li Hao felt the fishing rod in his hands suddenly grow heavy!

An unimaginable force surged from the other end of the line, as if a dozen giant mammoths were pulling on it simultaneously.

He was yanked off balance by this immense power, his feet carving two deep furrows into the grass.

"What the hell!"

"Is this a tug-of-war?!"

He gripped the Karma Rod tightly, the veins on his arms bulging like knotted ropes.

He could clearly feel that on the other end of the fishing line, several forces were twisted into a single cord, wrestling with him frantically, attempting to drag his hook over completely and lock onto his position!

Across the endless expanse of space and time, a silent tug-of-war unfolded!

Inside a secret chamber of the Martial Soul Hall.

The Cardinal watched the increasingly stable needle on the Obsidian Compass, a cruel smile spreading across his face.

"Very good! Just like that! Increase the intensity! This Seat wants to see just where you can hide!"

However, before his smile could fully bloom, it froze on his face.

A Soul Ancestor who was currently injecting soul power suddenly let out a miserable shriek, collapsing to the ground, his face as pale as parchment.

"Lord Cardinal! My soul power... my soul power is being drained!"

What?

The Cardinal was stunned, unable to react in time.

"Ah!"

"Mine too!"

Successive screams rang out.

Two more Soul Master-level experts followed suit, collapsing to the ground, their auras withered to the extreme.

The Cardinal finally sensed that something was wrong.

He discovered with horror that the soul power they were pouring into the compass was not being used to stabilize the coordinates.

Instead, it was being channeled along the now-stabilized needle, sucked away into the unknown void by an unstoppable, eerie force!

This wasn't tracking at all!

This was being... bled dry!

"How is this possible! Cut the connection, quickly!"

The Cardinal let out a terrified shriek.

But it was already too late.

In the Soul Beast Paradise, Li Hao also felt the change.

He bared his teeth and smiled.

It was a ferocious yet exhilarating grin.

He could feel streams of pure soul power surging back along the fishing line; although he could not absorb them, they greatly relieved the pressure on him.

He understood.

This Karma Rod didn't just fish for the mark.

It had hooked the power source behind the mark as well!

"Get over here... for me!"

Li Hao let out a heaven-shaking roar!

He poured all of his soul power, which had reached level twenty-nine, into the Karma Rod without reservation!

Hum!

The mysterious golden patterns on the rod erupted with unprecedented, brilliant light in that instant!

He wasn't fishing!

He was plundering!

In the Martial Soul Hall's secret chamber, the Obsidian Compass let out a groan of unbearable strain.

Crack!

A fissure appeared on the surface of the compass.

Following it came a second, then a third...

Under the Cardinal's horrified gaze, the entire compass shattered with a boom!

Boom!

A terrifying storm of soul power, mixed with shards of obsidian, swept out in all directions.

Every Soul Master in the secret chamber, including the Cardinal himself, was sent flying by the shockwave of the explosion.

They were thrown into disarray, crashing into the walls in a sorry state as they spat out blood.

Back in the Soul Beast Paradise.

The terrifying force in Li Hao's hands suddenly vanished.

Because he had used too much strength, he stumbled backward a few steps and landed hard on his backside.

But in his hand, there was now something extra.

A black rune, composed of pure resentment and soul power, was forcibly dragged out of the void by him, twisting and struggling incessantly in his grasp.

Li Hao looked at this culprit without a moment's hesitation.

His five fingers snapped shut.

Snap.

The black rune shattered upon impact, transforming into specks of black light that dissipated into the air.

On that dimensional barrier, the ominous red dot vanished completely.

Li Hao let out a long sigh of relief.

However, the very next second.

The system's notification chime rang clearly in his mind.

[Your karma with Martial Soul Hall has deepened.]

[Obtained Title: Public Enemy Number One of Martial Soul Hall (Not Equipped).]