Prelude to the Storm

Yan Shaozhe nodded and said no more, but the worry between his brows had yet to fade.

He gazed toward the deeper reaches of the Star Dou Great Forest, the ominous feeling in his heart growing ever stronger.

The escaped undead, and the truth that might lie behind it, had to be reported to the Sea God Pavilion as soon as possible.

The continent's peace might soon be shattered.

After leaving the area ravaged by the terrifying battle, Yin Chen and the other two successfully reunited with Uncle Hui, who had been anxiously waiting outside the forest.

Without lingering, the group boarded the luxurious Soul Guidance Carriage once more and raced without pause toward the heart of the Star Luo Empire—Star Luo City.

Inside the carriage, the atmosphere no longer held the ease of their journey there. In its place hung a heavy oppression.

Xu Jiujiu leaned against the soft velvet seat. Her amethyst-like eyes had lost their former liveliness and calculation, leaving only inescapable worry and unease.

In the end, she could not hold back any longer. Looking at Nebula Douluo Manyi across from her, who had her eyes closed in rest but wore a faint frown as well, she spoke with an almost imperceptible tremor in her voice:

"Grandma Manyi... that... that woman, what exactly was she?"

She could not even accurately describe that being.

"She... she really was not an Evil Soul Master? But the way she looked... and those questions she asked... Spirit Hall? The Heaven Dou Empire? Those... those were not questions someone from this era should be asking."

There was a trace of fear in Xu Jiujiu's voice:

"And that aura around her—cold, deathly still... I have never felt such pure deathly energy from any living person, not even an Evil Soul Master."

If Lingyuan Douluo had merely been an Evil Soul Master at the level of a Title Douluo, she would have been terrifying, but the Star Luo Empire would not fear her.

But someone suspected to be from ten thousand years ago being revived in this age—the implications behind that sent chills down one's spine.

Xu Jiujiu would rather she had been a powerful, unknown Evil Soul Master than face an ancient person who had crawled out of history's grave, someone who should have long since turned to dust.

The unknown and terror brought by the latter far surpassed the former.

Nebula Douluo Manyi slowly opened her eyes. A sharp glint remained hidden within her clouded old gaze as she let out a soft sigh and shook her head.

"Your Highness, I fought her for too short a time to see the full picture. But from my experience and senses, the confusion and bewilderment she showed then did not seem feigned. Especially when she learned that Spirit Hall had fallen and Heaven Dou had split apart—the intensity of her emotional reaction... could not have been faked."

Her tone was exceptionally grave:

"Though it sounds utterly absurd, every sign suggests that she may very well... truly not belong to our era. She is some kind of 'anomaly' beyond our understanding, one that has crossed ten thousand years of time and returned."

That conclusion nearly froze the air inside the carriage.

Uncle Hui was left utterly dumbfounded, feeling as though he were listening to a heavenly tale.

"This matter is no small matter. It has already far exceeded the scope of ordinary Soul Master conflicts or Evil Soul Master disturbances."

Manyi spoke in a low voice.

"We must report it to His Majesty as soon as possible and let him decide. We must also send capable people to investigate this matter in secret without delay. A Title Douluo's undead soul from ten thousand years ago has reappeared in this world. No one knows what kind of chain reaction this will trigger."

Xu Jiujiu nodded heavily. The last trace of hesitation vanished from her face, replaced by the decisiveness of an imperial princess.

She instructed the guards outside the carriage:

"Remove all speed restrictions. Raise the Soul Guidance core's output to its maximum. Spare no expense or wear and return to Star Luo City at the fastest possible speed. At every checkpoint along the way, display the imperial token. We are to receive priority passage without exception."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

The guards outside the carriage responded respectfully.

Soon, the carriage gave a slight jolt, followed by the hum of Soul Power fluctuations several times stronger than before.

The scenery outside the windows began to streak backward at a dizzying speed, even blurring together into bands of color.

The carriage truly began to race like the wind and lightning, all to bring this news back to the heart of the empire as quickly as possible.

Yin Chen sat to one side in silence, listening to their conversation and feeling the sudden increase in speed.

He watched the rapidly passing scenery outside the window, his heart churning with waves.

Perhaps across all of Douluo Continent, only he knew what had happened. Only he understood that Xu Jiujiu's instinctive concern and fear were not unfounded.

That was no Evil Soul Master. She was undoubtedly a powerhouse from ten thousand years ago, forcibly dragged out of eternal slumber by a power that transcended causality and made to walk once more in this utterly unfamiliar era.

More terrifying still, Lingyuan Douluo was by no means an isolated case.

Yin Chen could sense that the True Blood of Myriad Karmas had fully awakened. It was foreseeable that in the future, more names buried beneath the dust of history, more beings that should have remained silent, would be chosen by the True Blood of Myriad Karmas and return to this land across the chasm between life and death.

The existence of Nirvana Corpses was destined not to remain hidden forever.

Not every Nirvana Corpse possessed Lingyuan Douluo's tenacious will, the foundation of a Title Douluo, or the luck and strength to escape the joint assault of two modern powerhouses.

As long as even one slightly weaker Nirvana Corpse was successfully captured and studied by some major power... their identities as resurrected beings, and their incomprehensible method of resurrection, would no longer be secrets.

Yet the impact brought by Nirvana Corpses was far more than that of a new type of undead.

They were not muddleheaded zombies or skeletons driven only by instinct. They possessed complete memories from their lives, distinct personalities, and even nearly complete souls.

They were old acquaintances returned with every mark of their past.

Just imagine it: names that should have been cold words in history books becoming living beings once more; faces long blurred in memory and carried away by time becoming clear again; lovers believed to have been lost forever, blood-related family members, or even unforgettable enemies standing before them again in another form... How were those connected to them supposed to cope?

Would they welcome this miracle that defied all reason with wild joy, or fear it as a curse that disrupted the order of life and death?

Would they embrace these recovered phantoms, or collapse amid the violent tearing between reason and emotion?

How would the existing social order and moral codes define and accommodate these returnees?

Yin Chen could almost see the monstrous waves that would sweep across Douluo Continent because of these "returnees."

And the source of this chaos—the shadow that would engulf the continent, overturn the order of life and death, and inevitably raise towering waves amid countless loves and hatreds, attachments and fears... was brought by him.

After all, the True Blood of Myriad Karmas existed because of him. Though he had not caused it deliberately, he could not escape responsibility.