Ye Linglong: Annihilation Demon Eyes Martial Soul (Su Chen's Fifth Companion)

Ironfang Town, marketplace.

More than thirty stalls were crammed along both sides of the narrow cobblestone street.

The stench of dried beast meat mingled with the earthy odor of crude ore, charging through the air.

Jiang Tieyi carried two sacks of salted jerky over his shoulders, every step landing with a dull thud like a walking beast.

Su Chen walked at the front, his gaze sweeping over the shoddy soul-tool components with an indifferent expression.

Chu Yao followed behind, lowering her head to calculate the few remaining gold soul coins, but her steps abruptly halted.

An eerie curve appeared in the street ahead.

Whenever the originally crowded pedestrians reached the street corner, they all chose to take a detour without exception.

A cloth-selling woman tightly gripped her child's hand, lowered her head, and hurried away.

A stray dog tucked its tail between its legs and slipped along the base of the wall, whimpering in terror.

That corner was like a forbidden zone claimed by plague.

Su Chen stopped.

His spiritual power instantly spread outward in a fan shape. The moment it touched that area, a cold and violent spiritual fluctuation crashed toward him.

It was not an attack, but a pressure field spilling out because it could not be controlled.

"Young man, don't look into her eyes."

The old man selling sundries nearby hunched his neck and warned in a low voice, "That girl was born with a pair of evil eyes. Look once and you'll feel dizzy; look twice and you'll have nightmares. They bring disaster."

Su Chen said nothing and walked straight toward that dead-silent area.

A girl was crouching in the corner.

Her silver-white hair was stained with dust and bits of dry grass, falling messily over her shoulders.

Several little grass-woven trinkets lay on the tattered cloth before her.

The butterflies were lifelike, and the grass flowers were finely and neatly woven.

But they were covered in dust.

No one bought them, and no one dared touch them.

The girl kept her head lowered, her chin buried in her knees as she stared fixedly at her toes.

Su Chen stopped before her.

The girl's body suddenly curled tighter.

"Go away... Don't come near me."

Her voice was hoarse, trembling dryly.

Su Chen looked down at her.

"Look up."

Two brief words, carrying an unquestionable dominance.

The girl's shoulders trembled.

In her memories, everyone had always told her, "Lower your head," and "Close your eyes."

No one had ever told her to look up.

"I said, look up."

Su Chen spoke again, his tone hard and cold.

The girl slowly raised her face.

Her silver lashes quivered lightly. Then, a pair of scarlet pupils was exposed to the air.

They were not a bloody dark red, but red jade seared through by blazing fire—crystalline and yet brimming with destruction.

Boom!

The spiritual impact of the Annihilation Demon Eyes erupted the instant their gazes met.

Fear eroded, illusions interfered, and spiritual force tore at him. The three powers twisted into a single drill and crazily bored into Su Chen's mind.

This was an innate spiritual pressure, unpolished yet incomparably violent.

An ordinary Great Soul Master would suffer a mental breakdown in less than five seconds before those eyes.

Su Chen stood where he was, without the slightest ripple in his gaze.

Ten seconds passed.

Thirty seconds passed.

His breathing was even steadier than usual.

The spiritual links of thirty ten-thousand-year soul beasts had long forged his spiritual sea into an immortal iron mine.

This level of impact was nothing more than a breeze brushing his face.

Su Chen bent down and looked into those scarlet eyes filled with shock.

"Your eyes are beautiful."

Five words.

The girl's previously chaotic spiritual fluctuations completely went silent in that instant.

She stared blankly at Su Chen.

Twelve years.

She had lived for twelve years and had been cast out by the Spirit Eye Clan for three.

During those three years of wandering, she had seen countless looks: fear, disgust, curses, and contempt.

But never this sort of calm appreciation.

Tears spilled from her eyes.

There was no sobbing, only two clear trails of tears sliding down her thin cheeks and dripping onto the wings of that grass-woven butterfly.

Su Chen handed her a piece of dry rations.

"Eat first."

The girl took the food with trembling hands and wolfed it down, as if she wanted to swallow all the grievances of the past three years along with it.

"Spirit-type debuff. Passively inflicts fear, hallucinations, and armor break."

Su Chen turned to Chu Yao behind him and spoke quietly.

"She can't control her talent, so they treated her like a monster."

Chu Yao looked at the frail girl, her feelings complicated. "You intend to take her with us?"

"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tower's buffs are addition. Her debuffs are subtraction."

A meaningful glint flashed through Su Chen's eyes.

"Before my legion, this sort of large-scale spiritual armor break is more useful than ten Seven Treasure Glazed Towers."

The girl finished the food.

She raised her head, and a glimmer she had never possessed before appeared in her scarlet pupils.

"You... What's your name?"

"Su Chen."

"You're not afraid of my eyes?"

Su Chen met her gaze directly without avoiding it.

"What's your name?"

"...Ye Linglong."

"The Spirit Eye Clan's discarded child?"

Ye Linglong's body stiffened for a moment, then she lowered her head with a self-mocking smile. "They said my martial soul had mutated, that I was a cursed seed who brought ruin to my family."

"They're fools."

Su Chen stood and extended his hand to her.

"The Spiritglow Eyes are merely a second-rate support martial soul. Your Annihilation Demon Eyes will one day crush Titled Douluo."

"Come with me. I have a place for you."

Ye Linglong stared at that dry, broad palm.

That hand had just helped her block out all the world's malice.

She placed her hand in his.

"Then I... I'll follow you from now on."

Su Chen pulled her to her feet.

The girl was as light as a sheet of paper, as though a gust of wind could scatter her away.

"Big Brother! The jerky's bought! And who's this girl?"

Jiang Tieyi came running over with sacks on his shoulders, his booming voice making the street corner hum.

Su Chen removed his cloak and draped it over Ye Linglong's frail shoulders.

"The fifth of the Abyss Seven Generals."

"The core of our spiritual tactics."

Chu Yao looked at the cloak draped over the girl, her fingers unconsciously tightening around the hem of her clothes.

She looked away and quickened her pace to walk at the very front.

Late at night.

The inn's terrace.

Su Chen stood alone, his gaze cast toward the boundless darkness in the south—the Star Dou Great Forest.

That feeling had returned.

An ancient, heavy fluctuation carrying an air of scrutiny was slowly spreading from the depths of the forest.

It was not Ye Linglong's power.

It was the gaze of some high-ranking soul beast.

Su Chen sneered and pressed his fingers hard against the wooden railing.