In the roadside brush, a Wolf Bandit stood with its back to him. Its body was covered in wounds, and it had clearly just fought a fierce battle.
Beside it, a man's corpse lay on its back. Claw marks had torn open his chest, and blood had stained the dirt beneath him red.
Pinned beneath the Wolf Bandit was a woman.
She looked to be in her thirties. Her clothes had long since been ripped to shreds, and blood streaked her exposed skin.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes, unfocused, stared up at the sky as she let out a faint, almost inaudible whimper.
Hearing a noise, the Wolf Bandit froze in the middle of its movements over the woman. It whipped around, its blood-red eyes meeting Elder Chen's gaze, then bared its teeth in a savage grin.
Elder Chen's pupils contracted sharply.
A terrifying pressure erupted from him, flattening every blade of grass and bending the surrounding trees to the ground.
He said nothing more, because he knew the thing before him was a beast.
And this beast was violating a human being.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black.
Nine Soul Rings swiftly appeared around him. Martial Soul Possession!
A wave of scorching heat burst outward from him. A deep leopard's roar sounded from within his body, and crimson light instantly enveloped him.
His frame grew several inches taller. His muscles swelled, straining his robes, while dark golden leopard spots appeared across his skin.
In an instant, his white hair turned a burning red. His ears sharpened, and his pupils became vertical golden beast eyes.
The third eye in the center of his forehead opened fully, seeming to brim with flowing lava. Just meeting its gaze was enough to make one's heart and mind tremble.
A leopard's tail, formed entirely of flame, lashed behind him, cracking through the air.
The ground beneath his feet couldn't withstand the heat and began to split apart, inch by inch. The surrounding plants caught fire without a spark.
Elder Chen had killed Wolf Bandits before, but no matter how many times he saw something like this, it still enraged him.
He didn't know the two Soul Masters, but the Wolf Bandit's actions had crossed the line for any decent human being.
The moment the Wolf Bandit saw Elder Chen's Soul Rings, its eyes filled with terror.
A whimper escaped its jaws.
But before it could do anything else, Elder Chen rushed over and lifted it up.
Flames spread from Elder Chen's large hand, igniting its entire body.
The Wolf Bandit let out a piercing howl in the flames.
Jiang Lin climbed down from the carriage. Seeing the scene before him, he froze for a moment.
Then came a sickening wave of nausea.
The man's internal organs had been ripped out and scattered across the surrounding ground.
The woman looked to be drawing her last breaths, her eyes filled with death and despair.
Even though Elder Chen had already rescued her, her heart was dead.
They were both human, and though Jiang Lin didn't know them, he silently said:
"Wolf Bandits... really are damned!"
"Goodness gracious, one, two, three, four... seven, eight..."
Jiang Lin suddenly heard the carriage driver hunching his shoulders and counting the Soul Rings on Elder Chen.
"My goodness, eight Soul Rings! Is he... a Titled Douluo?"
Jiang Lin turned his head slightly, looking at the carriage driver in surprise.
The driver noticed Jiang Lin's gaze and said sheepishly:
"My wife says I always miss one when I count, so... heh, I add one after I finish counting."
The change in subject made Jiang Lin feel a little better.
It wasn't as if he'd never seen a dead body before. After all, Douluo Continent wasn't a law-governed society like the one in his previous life.
But he'd never seen a scene with internal organs strewn all over the place.
A moment later, Elder Chen set the horrific scene ablaze, reducing it to ashes.
After seeing Elder Chen burn the damned Wolf Bandit to ashes, the woman breathed her last.
Once Elder Chen had taken care of everything, he returned to Jiang Lin.
He held out an item to Jiang Lin.
"Is this... a Soul Bone?"
Jiang Lin looked at the item and took it.
It was a badly damaged skull, glowing with a faint red light.
"Mm. My flames burned the rest of it to ashes. Only this skull remained."
Could Wolf Bandits drop Soul Bones too?
Jiang Lin couldn't quite remember the original story.
But the evidence was right before him, so he didn't intend to dwell on it.
"System, what's it worth?"
"Ding. A special skull nurtured by the immortal-grade Soul-Devouring Evil Bone Lotus. Value: 300 points."
Immortal-grade Soul-Devouring Evil Bone Lotus?
What was that?
Was there an Immortal Herb nearby?!
No, wait. There had to be an Immortal Herb among this pack of Wolf Bandits.
Otherwise, the stray beast shouldn't have been merely tainted by its aura.
"Elder Chen, can you find where the main force of this pack is? Let's go wipe them out."
Hearing this, Elder Chen couldn't help but reveal a cruel smile.
"Hahaha, good! That's exactly what I had in mind. If we hadn't seen it, then so be it. But now that we have, if we don't do something, I'm afraid my Dao heart won't hold firm."
With that, Elder Chen flew straight into the sky.
Jiang Lin turned to the carriage driver.
"Go back to town first. We might not be back for a while."
Hearing him, the driver gave a dazed nod.
"Uh... sir, what about the money...?"
"You don't have to return it."
About a quarter of an hour later, Elder Chen came back.
"Well? Did you find them?"
"Mm. Northwest, about twenty li away. There's a group of Soul Masters there surrounding them too.
"Those two we just saw must have been the ones who got separated from that group."
Jiang Lin nodded, but then seemed to think of something. He took two Ghost Face Masks from his Storage Soul Tool.
Elder Chen looked at the masks strangely. "Isn't that a bit unnecessary?"
Elder Chen couldn't be blamed for saying that. On Douluo Continent, covering your face alone couldn't hide your identity.
People could recognize you just by looking at your Martial Soul and cultivation.
"At least no one will recognize us while our Martial Souls aren't out, right?"
"Fine, suit yourself."
Elder Chen casually picked up a mask and put it on.
A moment later, the two appeared one after another in the sky, not far from the battlefield.
Jiang Lin spread his Wind-Thunder Wings and hovered in the air, watching the battle below.
Where could the Immortal Herb be...?
Below, the mountain wind carried a heavy stench of blood into the mouth of the valley. Hu Liena crouched behind a block of blue-gray stone, a few streaks of blood on her delicate face. Her foxlike eyes were fixed on the melee ahead.
"Something's wrong with these beasts."
Behind her, Xie Yue gripped a pair of Moon Blades, their edges already coated with a thin layer of blood frost.
Yan leaned against an Iron Wood tree that had been smashed in half. His chest heaved, and a deep claw wound on his right arm was still bleeding.
Though the three of them were only Soul Elders, as the Golden Generation, whom Spirit Hall had spared no expense to cultivate, they had far more combat experience than Soul Masters of the same rank.
Even so, the battle unfolding before them had already spiraled far beyond anyone's expectations.
Before you continue