Poisoning an Evil Soul Ancestor, Seizing the Spoils

"Lin Yu, given the situation, the two of us probably aren't his match. Hurry and crawl forward—run as far as you can. I'll hold him off," Xie Xie said in a low voice, barely crouching inside the ventilation duct with his body curled up.

Lin Yu inwardly sighed. This was troublesome. Then he whispered to Xie Xie, "When I tell you to move aside, immediately turn sideways and dodge. Hold your breath too, understand?"

Xie Xie did not quite understand, and he urgently said to Lin Yu, "That guy is an Evil Soul Ancestor with an evil martial soul. Though his soul ring configuration looks a little worse than yours, he's still a Soul Ancestor. You can't even break through his defenses. Listen to me—I can still put up some resistance and stall him for a while."

Lin Yu's voice turned sterner as he said to Xie Xie, "If you don't want to die, listen to me. Otherwise, I won't care whether you live or die—I'll wipe out both you and him together."

At that moment, the Evil Soul Ancestor approached step by step. He had clearly heard the latter half of Lin Yu's words and let out a sinister chuckle. "What a lively little cutie. Big brother really wants to see how you plan to destroy me. Are you going to pound big brother's chest with your tiny fists?"

"Damn it, I must not have checked the almanac before leaving today to run into a pest like you. Die!" Lin Yu cursed, then directly flung Xie Xie backward.

Thrown by Lin Yu inside the ventilation duct, Xie Xie immediately slammed into the wall beside him and instinctively curled into a ball.

In that lightning-fast instant, Lin Yu's other hand shot up. Vines from the Jade-Scaled Seven-Extinction Flower flew out like nimble serpents, striking directly beneath the evil soul master's jaw.

The evil soul master had not seen the phantom of the Jade-Scaled Seven-Extinction Flower hidden behind Lin Yu. Even if he had, he might not have recognized what kind of obscure flower it was.

He actually bit down on the vine and teasingly jerked his neck backward, trying to drag Lin Yu toward him.

As he pulled, he continued to taunt him through the vine in his mouth. "So this cute little brother likes playing with ropes. What a tender little child, soft as tofu."

Seeing him holding the vine in his mouth, Lin Yu could no longer hold back his laughter. Pointing at the Soul Ancestor with one hand, he laughed. "In all the world, you're the first human with this little cultivation who dares to directly eat a Jade-Scaled Seven-Extinction Flower vine. You're truly one of a kind."

The Evil Soul Ancestor's expression changed sharply the moment he heard the words Jade-Scaled Seven-Extinction Flower. At the same time, Lin Yu suddenly yanked the vine in his hand, and the third soul ring beneath his feet lit up.

Liquid poison with twice the toxicity of the Jade-Scaled Seven-Extinction Flower instantly poured into the evil soul master's mouth. Poison Power Enhancement was Lin Yu's soul skill. Since it was also a soul skill bestowed by the Poison Angel, it could be used in conjunction with his first and second soul skills.

It could double the poison carried by both his first and second soul skills, while also doubling Lin Yu's own strength and speed.

With the poison doubled on top of the Jade-Scaled Contract Flower's base toxicity, after drinking that mouthful of venom, let alone a Soul Ancestor—even a Soul Emperor would be finished. This poison could not even be blocked with soul power. Only Soul Sages and above, after condensing a soul core, might be able to precisely wrap their internal organs in soul power to protect themselves.

The Soul Ancestor's face turned from white to purple and then black almost instantly. His body flipped backward, and he collapsed onto the ground.

Still shaken, Xie Xie said, "I never expected your martial soul to be the Jade-Scaled Seven-Extinction Flower. No wonder you were assigned directly to Class One. With a martial soul like yours, no matter what level your innate soul power is, as long as it isn't zero, you're definitely Class One material."

Wiping away some sweat, Lin Yu said to Xie Xie, "All right, hurry and move forward. This was luck too. Who could have expected that bastard to have the nerve to stuff an unknown vine straight into his mouth?"

Rubbing the shoulder he had just struck, Xie Xie said to Lin Yu, "With your attack method, even if I saw it for the first time, I'd think it was a close-combat vine-type martial soul. Who would have thought it was the legendary Jade-Scaled Seven-Extinction Flower, one of the greatest poisons in the world?"

"In this era, you could even inherit Poison Douluo's title. Your poison is far more terrifying than his ever was."

Lin Yu smiled and said to Xie Xie, "Stop talking nonsense. Who knows what the future will bring? Thinking about becoming a Title Douluo now is a little too far off. You crawl ahead first. I'm going to check that Soul Ancestor's corpse."

Xie Xie nodded. He could roughly guess what Lin Yu was thinking. An Evil Soul Ancestor could not possibly be carrying nothing valuable. The wealth of a Soul Ancestor would likely let someone like him, a Soul Elder, live comfortably for quite a while.

Lin Yu had essentially dealt with this Soul Ancestor alone, and Xie Xie had no intention of claiming credit. He merely reminded Lin Yu, "Then be careful. Don't capsize in a ditch."

Lin Yu nodded, then walked over to the Soul Ancestor's body. First, he bound the man's hands and feet with flower vines. Only after activating Corrosion Poison and completely dissolving his limbs did he begin searching the corpse.

Before long, he found a silver metal badge shaped like a skull, along with a storage soul tool ring that he pulled from the man's severed hand.

This storage soul tool ring was extremely poor quality. It did not even have a soul imprint and was the common kind that anyone could open by probing it with soul power.

Lin Yu did not carefully inspect what was inside the soul tool ring. He continued searching the corpse but found nothing else apart from a bloodstained blueprint. In the pitch-black ventilation duct, he could not make out what was written on it.

After putting away those three valuable items, Lin Yu turned and caught up with Xie Xie, who had been waiting ahead.

Xie Xie looked at Lin Yu in confusion. "Did you get anything?"

Lin Yu nodded and first took out the blueprint. He said to Xie Xie, "Lend me your Light Dragon Dagger for some light."

Xie Xie's Light Dragon Dagger represented the power of light and naturally glimmered once summoned. Somewhat unwillingly, he summoned the Light Dragon Dagger martial soul and used it as a torch. The two leaned close over the blueprint and saw a line of writing at the side: "Map of the Eastsea Boat Guild Hall."

Below that line was another note indicating that the blueprint was from two years ago.

Xie Xie wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Lin Yu, "I heard this guild hall hasn't undergone construction for a long time. Even if a map from two years ago isn't completely accurate, it shouldn't be too far off. With this map, we should have a way to get out."

Lin Yu nodded, then asked Xie Xie, "By the way, do you know what this symbol means?"