Fight to the Death

Three yellow, two purple!

The one who had severely wounded him was a five-ringed Soul King.

A hint of surprise appeared in his eyes. Tie Li had actually managed to avoid a vital spot under his attack.

But that was all. He raised the Fire Serpent Sword in his hand, intending to deliver Tie Li the final blow.

"Don't... don't kill me. If you kill me... you'll be suspected when you return. If he doesn't get the soul bone... and you kill me, he'll suspect that you took the soul bone."

Tie Li struggled to his feet, forcing down the metallic sweetness in his mouth as he barely managed to speak.

That was right. If I kill him, and Lord Bishop finds no soul bone on that person, while the other three also fail to find it, Lord Bishop will definitely suspect that the four of us hid the soul bone;

Even if I bring back the iron box, an empty iron box proves nothing.

If those three bring those Soul Masters back to Lord Bishop and confirm that the soul bone isn't on them, Lord Bishop will suspect that I hid it.

He glanced at the heavily wounded Tie Li. It was already a stroke of luck that he had survived. As long as he brought Tie Li and the iron box back, his mission would be complete.

He withdrew his martial soul and lifted Tie Li with one hand, showing no concern for Tie Li's current condition.

It hurt... it hurt so much!

Tie Li felt as though a ball of fire were burning his internal organs. Even his soul power could not circulate properly.

Even so, Tie Li continued searching for an opportunity. This was not a Soul Arena match. There would be no second chance after failure.

Life came only once. He had to seize every chance to survive.

Scorching soul power rampaged through his body, wantonly destroying the vitality within.

"Crackle."

Feeling an electric current flash through his body, Tie Li became somewhat excited.

It was the thousand-year Thunder Python inner core!

It seemed to have been provoked, dividing strands of energy to wear away the invading soul power.

Tie Li could feel the burning sensation within him fading, while his damaged body slowly began to heal.

The pure energy released by the thousand-year Thunder Python inner core far exceeded anything from before.

Tie Li's fingers reached toward his storage ring.

Perhaps believing that Tie Li no longer posed a threat, the man's attention was not on him.

Could those three Soul Masters have soul bones on them? If they had obtained the soul bone, would they return and hand it over to Lord Bishop?

The five soul rings' direction shifted without him noticing. It was as though another direction possessed some mysterious power, luring him over.

Just as he made a decision, a blinding flash of lightning appeared before his eyes.

It was right in front of him, leaving him no time to react.

Tie Li poured soul power into the Thunder Python Horn, and the lightning it unleashed pierced through the man's chest like a spear.

Having broken free of his restraints, Tie Li did not stop attacking. A terrifying aura enveloped his right leg.

"Roar!"

A terrifying phantom of a colossal beast appeared behind Tie Li. The dreadful pressure made the man's body tremble.

Right leg bone soul skill, Mountain-Shaking Strike of Ten Thousand Jun!

This all-out blow was the strongest attack Tie Li could think of.

"Pfft!"

Tie Li stomped through his chest, leaving a massive wound in his body.

Before dying, he stared at Tie Li in disbelief.

How was this possible? He had clearly been on the verge of death. How had he recovered?

Unfortunately, he could only take his doubts with him to the underworld.

Tie Li limped over to a thick tree and removed the Thunder Python Horn from its trunk.

Then he went to the five-ringed Soul King's corpse and searched it.

Other than the storage ring on his finger, he had no other valuable possessions.

Tie Li removed the ring and tucked it into his clothes before fleeing into the distance.

He could not return to the Great Soul Arena now.

If the old man managed to escape Martial Soul Hall's encirclement and the soul bone was on him, Tie Li could still return to the Great Soul Arena.

But if the old man was killed, or if he had truly placed the soul bone in the four iron boxes and it had been lost, Tie Li absolutely could not return to the Great Soul Arena.

They would definitely search him to see whether he had absorbed and refined the soul bone.

There was no soul bone in Tie Li's iron box, but he had a soul bone on him. If he returned to the Great Soul Arena and they searched him, even with ten mouths, he would never be able to explain himself.

And what would become of him? He probably did not need to think about it to know.

As long as the Great Soul Arena did not obtain the soul bone, he absolutely could not return there.

Tie Li did not know where to go now. He only wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible, lest Martial Soul Hall's people catch up to him.

He did not dare pause for even a moment along the way. Even when he was exhausted to the bone, he only thought of getting a little farther away.

In the end, he collapsed in a patch of grass. His weak, ragged breathing and unfocused eyes showed that his condition had deteriorated to the extreme.

His body had been pierced by a five-ringed Soul King. Although the Thunder Python inner core had repaired him, it had not completely healed him. In that state, he had used the Thunder Python Horn, consuming a great deal of soul power, and activated the soul skill of his right leg bone, nearly draining every last bit of soul power from his body.

After rushing through the night, Tie Li's condition had worsened to its absolute limit.

At this point, even a ten-year soul beast could bite Tie Li to death alive.

"Steward Liu, do you think there's someone here?"

A clear, pleasant voice sounded beside Tie Li's ear, but he could do nothing now. Through his blurred vision, he saw two figures appear.

Unable to hold on any longer, Tie Li fell into a deep sleep.

As soon as Tie Li recovered a little, he immediately climbed up and discovered that he was in a clean little wooden house.

"Good. None of my storage rings are gone."

His clothes had not been changed either. It seemed someone had saved him.

But shouldn't they have helped him bathe, changed him into clean clothes, then taken his storage ring? Then, after he woke up and frantically searched for it, the woman who had saved his life would appear, and they would begin a story together.

Why was it a little different when it came to him?

"Creak."

The wooden door of the cabin opened, and a little old man walked in.

This was vastly different from the wonderful woman he had imagined!

"Huh? You're awake already? You were so badly injured. Steward Liu said you'd sleep for at least three days."

The little old man carried over a basin of warm water and placed it in front of Tie Li, then set a set of clean clothes beside it.

"Since you're awake, wash yourself. I'll go inform Steward Liu."

His clothes were badly damaged and sticky. After the little old man left, Tie Li thoroughly cleaned himself with the warm water and changed into the clean clothes.

By the time Tie Li had more or less finished, the little old man returned with Steward Liu.

This Steward Liu was probably around sixty years old, though he looked quite energetic. His clothes were exceptionally fine.

"Thank you for saving my life." Tie Li immediately expressed his gratitude.

"You don't need to thank me. It was the young miss who brought you back, but she was afraid of being scolded by the master, so she had me secretly bring you here;

We only rescued you yesterday afternoon and fed you some herbs. I never expected you to wake up so soon."