Bad News

"Are you telling the truth? How is that possible? How could Li Zishuo be dead?"

Li Changsheng looked at the Seven Absolute Zither Master sitting by the bed. Enduring the chaotic soul power rampaging through his body, he grimaced, his face filled with disbelief.

Ever since he returned that day, Li Changsheng had been unconscious, only waking up today.

Having just regained consciousness and recovered a sliver of soul power, he had been well-cared for by the Seven Absolute Zither Master over the past few days. Although his soul power had dropped by a rank and he still needed to heal his internal injuries, Li Changsheng did not mind.

Yet, at this moment, the Seven Absolute Zither Master had personally told him that the descendant who had come with him—the one he had been so satisfied with—had actually died during an assessment mission.

How could he not be shocked and furious?

The Seven Absolute Zither Master sat by the bedside. Watching Li Changsheng's stiff expression, she said, "The entire No One in the Tomb squad was wiped out, including their accompanying instructor, a level 78 soul saint. Their team had been assigned a mission to track a death-row prisoner. But yesterday evening, the Gil City garrison found their corpses outside the city. After identifying them, they were delivered to the Pre-Education Academy this morning. The specific circumstances haven't been clarified yet, but they..."

"They what?" Li Changsheng's clenched fist loosened slightly, his face turning ghastly as he stared at the Seven Absolute Zither Master.

The Seven Absolute Zither Master suddenly turned away, leaning over the side of the bed to dry heave. Even though she wore a mask, one could imagine she was absolutely sickened.

"They died miserably. Especially Li Zishuo... the skin below his neck was completely peeled off, his entire skeleton was dismantled bone by bone, his hair was plucked out one by one, his facial features were shaved flat, and he died with his eyes wide open in resentment."

Finally, in the gaps between her intermittent retching, the Seven Absolute Zither Master told Li Changsheng this.

"Died with his eyes wide open? Died with his eyes wide open?" Li Changsheng collapsed heavily back onto the bed. "What about the other three?"

The Seven Absolute Zither Master hesitated for a moment, a small hand pinching her chin, forcing herself to suppress the nausea. "Similar."

"Similar..."

Li Changsheng felt his entire body break out in goosebumps.

He threw off the quilt, endured the pain racking his body, and grimaced as he said to the Seven Absolute Zither Master, "I—can I go see them?"

The Seven Absolute Zither Master hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Their bodies haven't been moved yet. They will probably notify their families this afternoon..."

Li Changsheng nodded, put on his mask, and staggered along behind the Seven Absolute Zither Master.

The Seven Absolute Zither Master wanted to support Li Changsheng, but he politely declined, gesturing for her to lead the way.

Soon, Li Changsheng arrived at the room where the bodies were being held.

At this moment, many instructors who were not wearing masks had gathered there.

As soon as he arrived, Li Changsheng was drawn to a terrifying aura.

Inside the room, four corpses were laid out in sequence on tables, uncovered and exposed to the air.

A refined middle-aged man with fiery red hair and a calm face stood with his hands behind his back, his burning red eyes fixed intently on the four bodies.

Meanwhile, the other instructors stood respectfully to the side, their eyes filled with grief and resentment, yet they all remained silent.

The arrival of the Seven Absolute Zither Master caused many of the instructors to cast their gazes toward them.

The Seven Absolute Zither Master walked into the room and said to the red-haired man, "Teacher."

The red-haired man looked at the Seven Absolute Zither Master, then glanced at Li Changsheng standing at the door. He didn't speak, merely nodding.

Li Changsheng walked in.

Closer now, he finally saw the corpses of Li Zishuo, Exquisite Dice, and the remaining two members of No One in the Tomb.

His pupils contracted as he stared at the bodies.

Yes.

The second of the four corpses was indeed Li Zishuo.

His body was a bloody mess; if not for the fact that his face was still somewhat distinguishable, he would have been nothing more than a pile of rotting flesh. His features had been shaved flat, as if by some blade or a special soul skill. His eyes were wide open, revealing deep, intense fear. Beside his body lay the sword Li Changsheng had once given him, now broken.

As Li Changsheng approached, the red-haired elder fixed his gaze upon him. After a long silence, he asked, "Do you know this Li Zishuo?"

Li Changsheng nodded. He didn't know what he was feeling right now.

Sadness?

There didn't seem to be a very deep sense of sadness.

It was just... strange.

Weren't they perfectly fine when they left?

He had clearly cast a Blessing on him, so how could he be dead? Why did he die so miserably?

"Then do you recognize this mark? Or have you seen it somewhere?"

Before Li Changsheng could ponder further, the red-haired man reached out and pointed to a special mark drawn near Li Zishuo's temple—yes, a very peculiar mark.

It was a blurry animal mark with wings; the wings were golden, and the body was deep purple, looking like a combination of a dazzling angel and something dark and ugly. The mark had been drawn on after death, but upon closer inspection, it looked more like it had grown out from within the flesh. It was incredibly eerie.

Li Changsheng shook his head. "No, I have never seen it before."

Hearing this, the red-haired man shook his head and reached out to pat Li Changsheng on the shoulder, as if to comfort him. "Child, don't be too sad. The Pre-Education Academy will avenge them."

Li Changsheng didn't hear him; his gaze remained fixed on the four corpses.

Four bodies, three men and one woman, all dead in an eerily similar fashion.

Exquisite Dice was an exceptionally beautiful girl. At this moment, her deathly pale complexion gave her an odd, alien quality, especially those wide-open eyes. The emotion reflected within them was very similar to Li Zishuo's fear—inexplicably miserable.

He recalled how, on the road here, she had been so enthusiastic, telling Li Changsheng so many useless things, yet now she was dead.

Near her temples, there were no markings like those on Li Zishuo. Neither she nor the two people beside her had any, as if they had encountered an Evil Soul Master and been wiped out. Li Zishuo, however, was different; he exuded an eerie aura.

When Li Changsheng's gaze caught a familiar strand of hair near the corner of Li Zishuo's mouth, his body couldn't help but tremble.

"God of Wisdom, who killed Li Zishuo? And what is the deal with the mark on his body?" Li Changsheng asked, feigning composure with a calm tone.

Report. Unknown.

Regrettably, the God of Wisdom did not answer Li Changsheng this time.

But Li Changsheng had many thoughts.

Why did Li Zishuo also have the same thing near his mouth as the hair swallowed by the Evil Soul Master?

Li Changsheng did not stay long before returning, nor did he take that strand of hair with him.

After all, there were too many people present.

Seven Absolute Zither Master followed by his side, silent.

Li Changsheng was pondering a question.

Four words echoed in his mind.

Dying with eyes wide open.

That was right, exactly those four words.

If Li Zishuo had been the same as the other three, Li Changsheng might have believed they had truly encountered an Evil Soul Master and been completely wiped out. But he just felt that something about Li Zishuo was wrong.

He turned around, looked at Seven Absolute Zither Master, and brought it up: "Has anything like this happened before?"

Seven Absolute Zither Master froze for a moment and shook her head: "I don't know about this either."

That was true; after all, Seven Absolute Zither Master was only a new student who had entered the Pre-Education Academy this year.

"Was that your teacher just now? The Sun-Extinguishing Douluo?" Li Changsheng asked ambiguously.

Seven Absolute Zither Master nodded: "That's right. Sun-Extinguishing Douluo Ming Taibai."

"Then what did he say? Was it just a simple case of an Evil Soul Master committing a crime?"

Li Changsheng did not go to ask the Sun-Extinguishing Douluo in person, feeling that he wouldn't be able to get anything out of him. He probably wouldn't talk much to a little brat like himself anyway.

Seven Absolute Zither Master and Li Changsheng returned to the room.

Sitting by the table, Li Changsheng poured her a glass of water, and Seven Absolute Zither Master said:

"Teacher didn't say anything very specific, only that this matter is not simple and that he has sent many people to investigate. At the same time, he said that the public opinion regarding the Pre-Education Academy might be very bad from now on... that's about it."

Li Changsheng picked up the water and took a small sip.

Indeed, four students had died at once, and they were all young geniuses. I'm afraid the Pre-Education Academy would be held accountable for this.

"However, I heard Teacher mention the Sun Moon Empire at the time."

"The Sun Moon Empire? It has a connection to the Sun Moon Empire? Could it be the work of Evil Soul Masters active within the borders of the Sun Moon Empire?"

Li Changsheng felt a headache coming on. The God of Wisdom wouldn't say anything, and his own brain wasn't exactly brilliant to begin with.

He might not have the strength to avenge Li Zishuo right now, but it would be good to know some things early.

"By the way, the class division battle is finished. Originally, it was you, me, and Li Zishuo in one class, but now..."

Seven Absolute Zither Master took a piece of paper out of her storage device and moved it in front of Li Changsheng.

"Class name?"

Li Changsheng picked up the paper with a sigh. Originally, besides the class name, there were three names on it.

Seven Absolute Zither Master, Xiangjian Yueliang, and No Regrets in Moving.

But now, Li Zishuo's name had been crossed out, and no one had been added to replace him.

The class name had also been decided long ago.

It was a very simple, straightforward, and fresh name.

"Road to Death."

Finally, after chatting for a while, Seven Absolute Zither Master left. When they talked about their mission this time, Seven Absolute Zither Master also expressed her relief. As for why the Evil Soul Master had suddenly erupted, they did not discuss it.

She also told Li Changsheng to go to class in three days.

Because of Seven Absolute Zither Master's "privilege," Li Changsheng was officially admitted to the Pre-Education Academy.

In fact, after completing the second assessment, he had already been successfully admitted.

The class division battle was just to get a good teacher.

As for who their class teacher was, Seven Absolute Zither Master only mentioned that it was a female teacher named Zi Buyu, and she was also a Titled Douluo.

"Sigh. How did this descendant of mine die? Damn it."

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Li Changsheng was still speechless.

He really couldn't understand how he had died.

In the end, he thought of their own mission again.

Indeed, if not for him, the Seven Absolute Zither Master and the others would have died, wouldn't they?

"Right, God of Wisdom, how did the Seven Absolute Zither Master heavily injure that Evil Soul Master in the end? I don't remember it very clearly."

Although he felt a pang of grief over Li Zishuo's passing, Li Changsheng needed to quickly recover from the injuries within his body.

He circulated his Mysterious Heaven Skill, striving to heal his wounds, but at this moment, he asked the God of Wisdom a question.

Notification: Martial Soul Fusion Skill.

"Martial Soul Fusion Skill? The Seven Absolute Zither Master and I can use a Martial Soul Fusion Skill? Just like that one Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing used before? But we didn't even know each other, did we? Besides, our Martial Souls—a book and a zither—how could they possibly fuse?"

Li Changsheng's mood eased slightly as he asked out of curiosity.

At the same time, he recalled that the Seven Absolute Zither Master seemed to have known they could use a Martial Soul Fusion Skill back then, didn't she?

That made it even stranger.

<Notification: The definition of a Martial Soul Fusion Skill is too ethereal and lacks a definitive conclusion. Furthermore, what makes you think you didn't know each other before?>

Li Changsheng was left speechless; the God of Wisdom was truly formidable when it came to playing the mystic.

"Sigh, the world is unpredictable. As expected, the world of Soul Masters is dangerous. I just hope that one day, I won't die too miserably."

"By the way, God of Wisdom, when you activate Parallel Calculation, what level of Soul Master are you roughly equivalent to?"

Through this mission, Li Changsheng had come to understand.

Although his Genesis Book Martial Soul was incredibly bizarre, capable of turning the things he spoke into established facts, the drain it placed on his own soul power was terrifying.

He had only carried the Seven Absolute Zither Master for a short while, yet he felt as though he had consumed a great deal of soul power.

He decided that from now on, he would focus his efforts on honing the Genesis Book Martial Soul to adapt to it more quickly.

<Notification: As long as your body can withstand it, what does it matter if you slaughter gods and exterminate demons?>