Li Luo stepped forward and stood in front of Na'er. He lifted his gaze to Wu Liuqi and slowly asked, "May I ask what this is about?"
His voice was elegant and sincere, bringing a sense of calm.
Wu Liuqi relaxed a little.
For some reason, he felt as though Li Luo were an old friend. Even so, he still had to kill them.
But before he died, he was willing to say a few more words to his friend.
Wu Liuqi's voice was calm. "I once lived in a peaceful little village. I had a loving mom and dad, and a cute little sister..."
Listening to the young man's story, Li Luo understood. It was the classic tale of a younger sister being killed. This boy had lost his sister and wanted to become Lie Yan and destroy the whole world.
Only when the world was destroyed would it be clean and pure, free of all that filth.
What a magnificent idea!
Li Luo praised him. "The kindness in your heart has already surpassed humanity."
"Allow me to offer my respects to you with the weight of a single rose."
Wu Liuqi was dumbfounded. He couldn't help taking a few steps back. He had said he would kill them, yet this handsome-to-an-impossible-degree young man called him kind.
And he was going to offer his respects with the weight of a rose.
What the hell?
Was this impossibly beautiful young man sick in the head?
Soul Power rippled around Li Luo, and dazzling colors blazed from his body. Somehow, a rose had appeared in his hand.
The rose was vibrant.
He placed it in Wu Liuqi's hand.
Wu Liuqi was completely dazed. He stared blankly at the vivid rose in his hands, then looked at Li Luo in confusion.
Wu Liuqi wasn't the only one stunned.
His teacher, Ba Jiushi, was also dumbfounded.
Ba Jiushi had already prepared for Li Luo to panic and flee, giving him the chance to light up all nine Soul Rings and take control of the entire scene.
But he never could have imagined this.
Li Luo hadn't run.
He hadn't cried, either.
Instead, he was praising his disciple with the weight of a rose.
Ba Jiushi couldn't figure out what on earth had gone wrong, even after racking his brains.
Strange things happened every year, but this year there were more than ever.
"It's fine. Even if that kid has some strange tricks, with my nine Soul Rings, I can control this situation with ease."
"I'll let Xiao Wu handle things himself."
But Ba Jiushi didn't know that several pairs of Ferocious Beast eyes were watching the entire scene from the shadows, observing it from every angle without a blind spot.
Among those vigilant eyes, one pair suddenly relaxed.
They belonged to Xiong Jun.
He pulled a small notebook from his broad palm, gripped a pen in his claws, and wrote, "Lesson One in Human Etiquette: When someone is trying to kill you, praise them."
Xiong Jun didn't understand why he was supposed to praise the other person.
He drew a heavy line beneath the note, intending to come back and fill in the answer once he figured it out.
Di Tian kept a close watch on the entire scene.
Still, he noticed what Xiong Jun was doing.
Di Tian was somewhat displeased.
He had ordered them to secure the entire area and ensure their Lord and Lady's safety.
Xiong Jun's note-taking went against his wishes.
He wasn't wholeheartedly protecting their Lord and Lady.
"Forget it. That blockhead Xiong Jun did manage to stumble upon the city where our Lord was. That counts for something, so I won't punish him..."
Di Tian thought to himself.
After Xiong Jun had revealed that their Lord had summoned them to Aolai City, they had boarded the next Soul Guidance Train and arrived in Aolai City the night before.
Aolai City was a small city.
He, Bi Ji, King of Ten Thousand Demons, and Xiong Jun searched it inch by inch.
At last, they pinpointed their Lord's location.
But their Lord seemed to have lost his memories.
Di Tian didn't show himself. Instead, he brought Xiong Jun and the others along to follow Na'er from the shadows.
Na'er was taking part in the Forging Competition that afternoon.
So Di Tian and the others had come along, too.
Na'er reached up and placed her little hand against Li Luo's forehead. Had her brother been too tired from school lately?
Her eyes brimmed with concern.
As for the boy who had just said he wanted to kill them, sorry, she didn't see him at all.
Li Luo gently moved Na'er's hand away. "Na'er, be good and wait behind me. Let me deal with this first."
Na'er stepped behind Li Luo.
The dazzling light around Li Luo grew brighter and brighter.
Clutching the flowers, Wu Liuqi's hands trembled slightly as he asked, "I'm against the Federation, against humanity."
"Don't you think I'm a terrifying Evil Soul Master?"
Li Luo's voice was elegant and sincere. "You must often blame yourself. Do your struggles in the dead of night leave you tossing and turning?"
"Believe me, I know just how painful that feels."
"Young man, let's send all of this to hell."
Wu Liuqi asked as if in a daze, "How do we send all of this to hell?"
His eyes grew unfocused.
"Do we destroy the entire Federation?"
"But I can't do that."
"The Federation is too powerful now, and I'm too weak."
"What should I do?"
The Rainbow Dragon King's wings emerged from Li Luo's back, and the Beauty Badge was set into the center of his brow.
A yellow Hundred-Year Soul Ring rose beneath his feet.
Li Luo spoke. This time, his voice was no longer elegant or sincere. It was cold.
"If you can't change the Federation, then change yourself!"
Wu Liuqi murmured, "Change myself?"
"Can't you see how filthy the Federation is? If you can't change it, then just stop yourself from seeing it. Wouldn't that do the trick?"
"But I have eyes. How can I stop seeing?"
"If you had no eyes, you wouldn't be able to see."
"Oh, right!" Wu Liuqi clutched the rose and knelt before Li Luo. He said happily,
"Exactly. If I had no eyes, I wouldn't be able to see."
The rose in his hand stabbed toward his eyes.
Two streams of bloody tears flowed from his pupils.
But a smile spread across Wu Liuqi's face as he asked again, "Now I have no eyes, so I can't see the Federation's filth."
"But I still have ears. Can't I hear the Federation's filth just the same?"
Li Luo's eyes held not a trace of emotion. "Without eyes, you can't see. Likewise, without ears, you won't be able to hear."
"That's right! You're absolutely right."
Wu Liuqi raised the bloodied rose and pierced both his ears through.
Blood trickled down his earlobes.
Wu Liuqi found peace.
His corpse fell to the ground.
Ba Jiushi, who could have taken control of the entire scene, trembled all over. His disciple had died in a way he couldn't begin to understand.
The whole thing sent a chill down his spine.
Ba Jiushi was determined to become a member of the Holy Spirit Cult.
He never claimed to be an Evil Soul Master.
But Ba Jiushi knew that because of what he did—making art bloom among innocent people and cruelly slaughtering them—he was an Evil Soul Master.
But he had never imagined—
that someone like Li Luo could exist in this world.
He killed without lifting a hand.
Just a few light words, and his beloved disciple had fallen.
Just who the hell was the Evil Soul Master here?
Wasn't this Li Luo way too twisted?
Ba Jiushi stopped hiding his presence, and terrifying Soul Power surged into the sky.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
Nine Soul Rings appeared around him, several of them radiating a pitch-black aura...
Before you continue