"Boss, we screwed up. We've ruined everything!"
A thug ran over, firing a barrage from his ray gun at Yang Fan as he reported their failure to the leader.
"The train car got away, the bomb in the car behind it was defused, and the hostages are protected by Soul Tools. We've ruined everything, boss!"
The thug leader's face flushed red.
Did the lives of terrorists not matter too?!
Looking at his men lying motionless on the ground, wounded, he thought, I was just hijacking a Soul Guidance Train, killing a few hostages, and kidnapping a Federation councilman's daughter.
What had he done wrong?!
It wasn't me who was wrong. It was the world!
"Since you've pushed me this far, I'll stop pretending! I'm the famous double agent for the Star Luo Military Command and the Dou Ling Empire, code-named Shrek!"
"I hijacked this Soul Guidance Train! I was behind the bombing a few months ago! I kidnapped the Federation councilman's daughter! I'm definitely going to die, but you, Amon, aren't getting out alive either!"
"Emperor Xue Yuntian, Your Majesty Dai Tianling, Boss Yun Ming! I couldn't complete my mission, but the rest of you can come join me in the grave!"
Seeing the helicopters dispatched by the Federation and the various security teams that had already arrived, he knew his plan had failed completely.
The thug leader laughed like a madman, his hand gripping the bomb detonator.
"Damn it, you're trying to pull a dirty trick on me? Fine, let's do this!"
He closed his eyes, as if waiting for a work of art to bloom.
The art of explosions!
"Are you looking for these?"
Yang Fan casually used his gun to flick three Soul Guidance bombs in front of him.
"It's all over. Surrender."
Deep underground nearby, inside a dim cave, a chilling wind howled.
"Kehehehe... A bunch of useless fools who couldn't get anything right. I have to do everything myself."
The words of the figure underground faded away.
The thug in front of Yang Fan suddenly stiffened. The muscles in his face spasmed uncontrollably, and his mouth stretched into an incredibly exaggerated grin.
Then, without hesitation, he threw his head back and swallowed a pitch-black pill.
In an instant, a violent and evil surge of Soul Power exploded outward from him!
Soul Elder... Soul Ancestor... Soul King... Spirit Emperor!
In the space of a few breaths, the thug's cultivation skyrocketed from Soul Elder to Spirit Emperor.
Yet as his power surged, his flesh and blood withered at a visible pace. His skin clung to his bones, and his life force flickered like a candle in the wind.
Yang Fan sensed that something was wrong... Which Soul Hall elder had wandered onto the wrong set? Could there be another expert here? His brows knit together, and his gaze sharpened.
"Corpse Explosion Technique!"
The thug's hoarse voice, like sandpaper scraping, echoed through the train car.
Yang Fan's pupils dilated. A chill shot straight to his scalp, and his formerly composed expression turned grave in an instant. His brows furrowed, and his gaze tightened.
Corpse Explosion Technique!
One of the most infamous evil arts on the Douluo Continent!
Ten thousand years ago, the Death God Envoy had used this technique to detonate over a hundred corpses in a narrow cave, nearly wiping out Shrek Academy's first-string team!
Yang Fan's heart skipped a beat as an unprecedented sense of danger closed in around him.
A Soul Elder had used drugs to force his way up to Spirit Emperor, only to self-destruct. What Evil Soul Master had come up with this deranged "brilliant invention"—a human bomb?
With life and death hanging by a thread, Yang Fan's mind raced. But instinct moved faster than thought. The moment he heard the word "corpse," he had already made his decision.
"Clang!"
The Silver Dragon Spear became a dazzling streak of silver, wreathed in scorching fire-attribute Soul Power as it swept out with Thunderous Might.
The connection between train cars four and five was severed instantly. Molten metal sprayed in every direction, and car five became an isolated, relatively enclosed space.
"Sis Mo Lan, watch closely. The next shot is going to be awesome!"
Yang Fan shouted toward car four as it receded into the distance, his voice filled with the grim resolve of burning his boats.
Without anything else to weaken the blast, Mo Lan and the other hostages would be hurt even with Soul Tool defenses at this distance.
The Defensive Soul Tool Leng Yaozhu had given him was meant for his own use. It could easily withstand an attack in single-target mode, but he had set it to group mode to protect the hostages.
It was hard to say whether it could withstand a Corpse Explosion Technique of this level.
He took a deep breath and forced down the roiling blood in his chest. His second and third Soul Rings lit up abruptly beneath his feet, their brilliant light illuminating the dim train car.
With a clear phoenix cry, the enormous shadow of a Fire Phoenix unfurled behind him. Scorching fire elements rushed together, warping the air around him.
Bathing Fire Phoenix!
Leng Yaozhu's signature Soul Skill, which greatly enhanced attack, defense, speed, and explosive power!
Yang Fan slowly raised the Silver Dragon Spear, pointing its tip at the body before him, already swollen to its limit and about to burst.
A trace of icy killing intent flashed through his deep-set eyes.
"It's time to end this!"
The instant the words left his mouth, the Fire Phoenix spread its wings, and flames soared into the sky!
Yang Fan became a streak of crimson light that tore through the darkness.
Riding the extreme burst of power Bathing Fire Phoenix granted him, he drove the Silver Dragon Spear forward, its blazing heat capable of incinerating everything. The spear shot forth like a dragon, plunging straight into the body about to explode!
Yang Fan's Soul Power collided with the Corpse Explosion Technique's blast, and dark-red light swallowed everything.
Car five was completely destroyed in the explosion. Steel twisted and melted, becoming countless lethal fragments that shot in every direction.
When all fell silent, only dark-red embers flickered faintly.
Yang Fan lay on a scorched patch of earth. The Silver Dragon Spear had snapped in two, its pieces embedded in the rock beside him, the shaft dim and lifeless.
His body was mangled beyond recognition. The Fire Phoenix's shadow had long since vanished, leaving only the seven-colored tattoo of the Dragon God Reverse Scale on his chest, stubbornly shimmering at the edge of life and death.
He wasn't dead.
But he was worse off than dead.
His meridians were shattered, his Soul Power exhausted, and his internal organs were riddled with wounds from the corpse poison.
He lay amid the ruins he had made with his own hands, listening to Mo Lan's heart-wrenching cries from car four in the distance. Yet he managed to tug the corners of his mouth into a faint smile.
"...That shot was pretty cool, right?"
His voice was as faint as dust in the wind. Then darkness swallowed him completely.
Mo Lan, watching from not far away, had excellent eyesight. Through the smoke, she read his lips and wept like a brokenhearted child.
Cool? It was unbelievably cool!
From the moment he called himself Amon, she had recognized him—the somewhat boyish genius little Soul Master.
A low rumble sounded as military-standard yellow Soul Tool mechas, each about twelve meters tall, rapidly approached to join the rescue operation.
But they hadn't expected the battle to be completely over by the time they arrived.
More than ten thugs. All dead.
Not a single bomb had gone off.
But the terrorist attack had still claimed the lives of more than a hundred civilians.
Earlier, Yang Fan had only seen the few punk-looking corpses in car four. But the cars farther ahead held even elderly people and children, showing just how cruel these thugs had been.
"Have you seen that man named... Amon?"
Mo Lan asked the military commander before her anxiously.
Mo Lan had a special status, so he didn't dare neglect her.
"No. The scene is a complete mess. There's nothing left, just some dried blood and this jade pendant."
As he spoke, the officer in a Federation military uniform handed her the pendant his men had found while clearing the scene.
Mo Lan's fingertips trembled. She clutched the broken jade pendant and, using the sunlight, made out the uneven writing on it:
"I'll be back. Don't worry. Give this to Bing"
The unfinished character stabbed into her eyes like a dull knife.
Mo Lan's breath caught. She slowly bowed her head and pressed the still-cold pendant tightly against her heart.
A scalding tear fell without warning onto the jade. Then came a second, a third...
She clenched her teeth and made not a sound. Only big, heavy tears poured from her eyes like a broken dam, striking the back of her hand, burning hot.