Black Barrier, an Unknown Enemy

Around the camp, all was silent.

In the extinguished bonfire, even the glowing charcoal had lost its last glimmer.

The sliver of moonlight filtering through the dense canopy had quietly vanished, too.

Huo Yuhao, busy roasting meat beside the campfire, sensed something wrong and stopped.

In his Sea of Consciousness, Tian Meng, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly shivered awake and warned Huo Yuhao.

"Yuhao, extend your spiritual power and take a look."

Huo Yuhao did as he was told.

But just as his bright eyes began to glow and his Spiritual Detection reached into the darkness, a terrifying pain stabbed through them.

He hurriedly withdrew his spiritual power and covered his aching eyes.

"There's something in the dark!"

Only after he spoke did Huo Yuhao realize his shout was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

Not only light, but sound had been weakened.

Almost the next instant, a breeze swept past his face, carrying warm droplets that splashed against his skin.

He reached up instinctively and sniffed his fingertips.

The smell of iron filled his nose, and fear surged through him.

He felt that someone had died right in front of him, yet he could neither see nor hear it.

He wasn't the only one. The others around him were panicking too.

"Enemy attack! Activate your Martial Souls!"

Someone's shout reached his ears. Though infused with Soul Power, it was barely audible, like a call exchanged across opposite riverbanks.

Even so, it gave everyone something to hold on to.

Yellow and purple Soul Rings rose on all sides. Their light was as dim as a lighthouse on a stormy night, but it gave them markers to find one another.

As elite students of the inner court, they knew what to do when the situation was unclear.

The Soul Rings began to gather in twos and threes, their wearers covering one another's blind spots.

Tian Meng began railing against the unfairness of fate in the Sea of Consciousness, but a hand seized Huo Yuhao.

Judging by the single purple Soul Ring she bore, it was Tang Ya.

She pulled Huo Yuhao toward the densest cluster of Soul Rings...

Darkness spread with startling speed, almost solid. Neither smoke nor mist, it blocked the light and swallowed the scenery around Lu Yi in an instant, as though he had been plunged into ink.

"What kind of ability is this?"

He could barely hear his own words, let alone expect Bei Bei beside him to hear them.

They stopped in their tracks. Even with their arms around each other's shoulders, neither could see the other's face.

Then a hand landed on their shoulders, making them both shudder.

Fortunately, seven Soul Rings appeared behind them the next instant—two yellow, two purple, and three black. The black rings blended almost completely into the surroundings.

It was Zhang Lexuan!

"Stay close!"

There seemed to be magic in Zhang Lexuan's voice, and Bei Bei's pounding heart eased a little.

Lu Yi knew the danger was far from over, but with Zhang Lexuan, the inner court's strongest, beside them, they were as safe as they could be.

The Soul Rings' light was too weak for him to make out Zhang Lexuan's expression. But the hand clutching his clothes at the shoulder told him she was far from calm.

They moved forward, and a group of three slowly emerged ahead. The yellow and purple glow of their first four Soul Rings guided Zhang Lexuan toward them.

In truth, even with the perception of a level-eighty Quasi-Soul Douluo, she could not see through the Black Barrier.

This darkness was unlike night. What she could see and sense differed little from what Lu Yi and the others could.

That could only mean the creature behind it was far stronger than she was.

As they approached the three-person group, a dark shape blotted out the light of their Soul Rings and swept up one of them with frightening speed.

Four Soul Rings rose into the air, flashed a few times, then fell to the ground and vanished.

There was no startled cry, no scream. It was a silent play unfolding before their eyes.

The two companions were just about to act when Zhang Lexuan charged ahead.

"Silver Moon Avatar!"

Zhang Lexuan activated her Martial Soul Avatar and gave chase. A powerful aura burst from her, pushing back the Black Barrier for several meters around her.

But the attacker was nowhere to be seen. Only the fallen student remained.

An uneasy thought rose in Zhang Lexuan's mind. The attacker seemed unwilling to face her head-on.

"Hh..."

A bloodied hand caught Zhang Lexuan's trouser leg. She crouched to examine the student, but blood seemed to be choking them, leaving them unable to speak.

Zhang Lexuan hurriedly took a healing pill from her storage bracelet. But as she brought it to the student's lips, the hand gripping her trouser leg fell limp.

Unable to sense any sign of life, Zhang Lexuan froze with the pill in her hand.

The others hurried up behind her, still unaware of what had happened.

"Sister Lexuan—"

"Fire a signal flare for help!" Zhang Lexuan's voice was cold.

A student had died. Things were spiraling beyond their control, and she was responsible for the team.

One student obeyed, though in the confusion she could not tell which kind of flare she had grabbed.

There was no time to worry about that. She loaded it into the launcher as fast as she could and aimed at the sky.

Whoosh—

A green flame shot from the barrel, dimmed rapidly as it climbed, and vanished from sight in the blink of an eye!

"Did it work?"

Someone behind her asked.

"I don't know!"

"Fire another!"

Whoosh—

This time the flare was dark red, but at a height of ten meters, it seemed to strike something and bounced back.

Before their eyes, the red flame guttered out like a candle in the wind.

The two were about to try again when Zhang Lexuan stopped them. "Don't bother. The flares can't get through the Black Barrier."

"Sister Lexuan, what do we do?" one teammate asked anxiously.

"First, we regroup with the others. Then I'll try to fly out of the Black Barrier and signal Xuan Zi for help!"

Zhang Lexuan understood now. This beast possessed an ability akin to a domain. It had to be at least a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast.

Yet with that uncanny domain, it seemed in no hurry to defeat them. It might even be enjoying itself.

It was tormenting them, like a hunter toying with its prey.

She could fly beyond the Black Barrier to seek help, but in the meantime, the beast could slaughter most of the team. Bei Bei was among them. She could not take that gamble.

Unless she gathered the students scattered across a hundred-meter radius, they would all eventually be picked off.

Lu Yi heard Zhang Lexuan's plan and guessed what she intended.

Only if everyone gathered together and watched one another's backs would Zhang Lexuan dare leave to seek help.

Lu Yi glanced toward Bei Bei and made up his mind.

He summoned his Wand, his lips moving slightly.

"Lumos!"

Light blossomed from the Wand, drawing everyone's attention, but they soon looked back at the fallen student.

By its faint glow, they saw that the student's chest had caved in. Several horrific claw marks cut deep into the lungs, leaving a mangled mess of flesh and blood.

Someone turned away, unable to bear the sight. Only Zhang Lexuan stared at the wounds.

Judging by their shape, the attacker was a feline Soul Beast.

Lu Yi flicked his Wand forward, sending the speck of white light flying straight ahead.

After drifting several meters, it dimmed rapidly, then settled on an obstacle.

Unlike the light from an open flame, the tiny white glow could not drive back the darkness, but it lingered without going out.

"Lumos!"

Lu Yi sent out another, this time in a different direction. It traveled farther before disappearing into the darkness.

He repeated the spell again and again. Some lights settled on obstacles; others drifted into the distance.

If someone spotted the trail of lights, they could follow the direction they had come from to find the group. That would be much faster than searching for everyone themselves.

Soon, there was movement ahead.

A teammate appeared with Soul Rings summoned, and more soon followed.

Only when they entered the area where Zhang Lexuan had pushed back the Black Barrier could the group see the terror on their faces.

"That thing's behind us—" A student stumbled against Zhang Lexuan, his lips trembling. "Xiao Jie, he's already—"

Before he could finish, his body gave out and he collapsed. His Martial Soul Possession faded with it.

Looking down, they saw several long claw marks across his back. Blood still dripped from his empty sleeve.

Suddenly, two more figures raced toward them at top speed.

Bei Bei recognized their Soul Rings. They were Tang Ya and Huo Yuhao.

"Xiao Ya! Junior brother!"

Bei Bei charged out ahead of everyone. Those two had worried him most.

But behind Tang Ya, a figure blocked the lights Lu Yi had placed on the obstacles.

Dread surged through Bei Bei's chest. He shouted a warning and ran faster.

At that moment, a powerful presence erupted behind him, swept past him, and reached Tang Ya's back.

It was Zhang Lexuan.

A violent collision rang out. The force of it hurled Tang Ya and Huo Yuhao back toward Bei Bei.

The Black Barrier weakened slightly. By the lights Lu Yi had cast earlier and the glow of Zhang Lexuan's Soul Rings, a lithe, five-meter-long shadow came into view.

The hunter had appeared!