A commotion had broken out nearby. A girl dressed in black, her face veiled in black gauze, stood quietly where the noise was coming from.
It was Ye Lingling.
At that moment, five men in matching outfits had surrounded her. From their clothes, they seemed to belong to the same Soul Master team.
Soul Master teams were fairly common. Most were made up of independent Soul Masters with middling talent. They made a living taking on escort jobs or hunting Soul Beasts, and could earn quite a lot of money.
But these Soul Masters weren't particularly talented. Otherwise, they could have joined a sect instead of living with their lives hanging by a thread.
Ye Lingling looked only twelve or thirteen. She was slender and graceful, and, like Liu Erlong, wore a black dress.
But their temperaments were completely different. Liu Erlong was coolly beautiful and domineering, while Ye Lingling was aloof and distant.
Her long, icy-blue hair fell behind her like a waterfall. Her eyes were the same pale blue as her hair, clear and limpid, yet filled with indifference.
Even with the five men surrounding her, her gaze didn't waver in the slightest, as if everything around her had nothing to do with her.
Mo Li had no idea what had happened, but since he'd stumbled upon the scene, he couldn't let this chance pass him by.
He told Liu Erlong, then quietly made his way to the edge of the crowd. After listening for a little while, he pieced together what had happened.
It turned out that the team's captain had noticed Ye Lingling standing outside the city for some time, seemingly waiting for someone.
The captain had been captivated by her looks, so he'd approached her under the pretext of asking if she wanted to hunt Soul Beasts with them.
Although they'd been surrounding the girl for a while, she hadn't paid them the slightest attention. Even so, they weren't willing to give up.
After all, they'd never seen anyone so stunning. Ye Lingling's pale blue eyes alone were breathtaking. They could only imagine how astonishing the face beneath her veil must be.
Her mysterious, icy demeanor had overwhelmed their reason and stirred up thoughts of harassing her.
Ye Lingling's gaze hadn't wavered once. Ever since Mo Li arrived, he hadn't heard her say a single word, as if she weren't the one being harassed.
Her complete disregard finally enraged the five men.
They were fairly well-known outside the city.
Nearly all the members of their team were Soul Grandmasters above level twenty. But they were already quite old, and had nearly exhausted their potential.
Although they hadn't managed to join a sect, ordinary people still considered Soul Grandmasters to be remarkable figures.
And yet this girl didn't even spare them a glance.
At last, the man leading the team could no longer restrain himself. He reached out to grab Ye Lingling's veil.
"Quit acting so aloof. Let me see what you look like!"
The man's sudden move made Ye Lingling's calm eyes turn icy, as if they could kill.
But her Martial Soul had given her no combat abilities, and she couldn't evade a Soul Grandmaster's attack in time.
The person she was waiting for still hadn't returned, either.
The captain's fingers were almost touching the veil. A wild, triumphant grin spread across his face, as though he could already picture the peerlessly beautiful face beneath it, startled and flustered.
"Ha ha!"
The man's fingertips were about to brush the veil, and his smug laughter had already escaped his lips.
At that critical moment, a mass of black flames suddenly shot out from behind him, flying straight toward his arm.
"Who's there?!"
Sensing the danger from the black flames, the man yanked his arm back in alarm. He could tell that getting burned by them wouldn't end well.
When he spun around in fury, the other four members of the team also stared in surprise and uncertainty at Mo Li behind him, as if checking whether this boy of only seven or eight had really been the one to attack.
Ye Lingling's veil fluttered faintly. Her eyes lifted slightly, settling on the smiling boy behind the others.
From where she stood, she could clearly see that Mo Li had stepped in to help her.
Mo Li had been standing behind them the whole time. They'd simply been so engrossed in what they were doing that they hadn't noticed him.
Being stared at by everyone was a little awkward. Mo Li put on a look of surprise and smiled. "Oh? I missed."
The captain was clearly seething. He ground his teeth and said,
"You little brat! How dare you ruin my good time!"
"You're pretty quick. You're fine, aren't you?" Mo Li replied.
Only after the captain turned around did Mo Li get a good look at him. He had an ordinary face, but a scar gave him a somewhat fierce look.
The scar-faced man's expression was now as ugly as could be. The whole team had seen Mo Li toy with him just moments ago. Getting scared off by a little kid had cost him all his face.
"You little runt, you haven't even grown hair yet, and you dare stick your nose into other people's business!"
Mo Li smiled without wasting words. He summoned his Soul Ring, and a bright yellow ring rose from beneath his feet, shimmering around him.
Looking at the fist gradually engulfed in black flames, Mo Li felt eager to try it out. He wanted to see just how strong he was after obtaining his First Soul Ring.
"If you want to stick your nose into other people's business, you need to have the strength to back it up. And I think I do."
Mo Li smiled at the scar-faced man, then suddenly leaned forward and drove his flame-covered fist toward the man's face!
Across from him, the scar-faced man's expression turned uncertain the moment he saw Mo Li's Soul Ring. The boy looked only six or seven, yet he was already a Soul Master!
What kind of talent was that?
Before he could think any further, he realized Mo Li was already in front of him. With no time to think, he hurriedly summoned one white and one yellow Soul Ring. The second, yellow ring lit up.
"Second Soul Skill: Hardening!"
With the man's low growl, his body swelled slightly. Muscles bulged, and his skin turned a rocky gray-white, taking on a heavy, solid appearance.
"Thud!"
A muffled impact rang out. To the astonished eyes of Ye Lingling and the team, both figures staggered back several steps.
The scar-faced man grunted. He crossed his arms and panted, a red mark clearly stamped on one arm—the imprint of Mo Li's fist!
On the other side, Mo Li's hand trembled slightly. When he'd struck the scar-faced man, he'd felt a powerful force rebound against him, dispersing the Soul Power in his hand.
But Mo Li didn't take it to heart. That punch had relied solely on his physical strength, while the scar-faced man was at least level twenty in Soul Power and had even used his second Soul Skill.
The scar-faced man had felt the force of Mo Li's punch most keenly. If he hadn't reacted at the last possible instant and activated his second Soul Skill, the Soul Ring he'd obtained from a four-hundred-year-old bear-type Soul Beast, which strengthened his defenses,
Mo Li would have sent him flying with a single punch!