The needle was incredibly fast. Ling Zhuo barely reacted before it struck him. He had no time to speak; the threat of death chilled his heart at once.
Soul power surged forth, forming layer upon layer of defenses. Ling Zhuo desperately retreated as well, hoping the others would shield him.
The needle point pierced straight through Ling Zhuo's defenses, but the Shadow Piercing Needle's trace was exposed by the disruption. Then, as its tail trembled, it split into hundreds upon hundreds of soul threads.
"Retreat!" Ling Zhuo roared.
The soul threads burst from the cracks in the needle's body, each one trailing distorted spatial ripples at its end. Dan Chen's protective soul shield bore the brunt of the attack. The barrier, no weaker than dou qi, was like thin ice meeting boiling water, instantly corroded with honeycomb-like holes. As Cao Ying dragged her back, a thread grazed the hairpin by her ear, and the jade pin immediately crumbled into powder and drifted down.
Ling Luo and Ling Yu were stronger, so they gathered together and joined forces to knock down every thread that reached them.
"Boom—"
The instant the needle body completely exploded, Yi Xu failed to dodge in time. His left shoulder was pierced by the scattering fine threads, which wriggled through his meridians like swimming snakes after entering his body. He screamed as he tore open his clothes. His left shoulder had already become a bloody mess, and only by using his soul power with all his strength did he barely stop the threads from spreading.
Standing directly before it, Ling Zhuo had to face the greatest number of threads. Fortunately, his reaction had been swift. Moreover, he had already advanced to the late Spiritual State Soul realm before the Pill Convention, so aside from looking somewhat bedraggled