Tracks exposed

Smoke had yet to clear from the palace's great hall.

The thick stench of blood filled the entire hall, lingering without dispersing.

Xu Tianran stood beneath the steps of the great hall, bowing slightly before Xu Tianlong, who sat high above on the dragon throne.

His expression was utterly deferential.

"Father, we have yet to capture the two of them."

"Hmm?"

Xu Tianlong's gaze abruptly darkened.

His eyes, as sharp and cold as a hawk's, locked onto Xu Tianran, bearing down on him with crushing pressure.

Xu Tianran's heart tightened, and he hastily bowed deeper and added:

"Please rest assured, Father. Those two brats are merely cornered beasts putting up a desperate fight. They cannot stir up any waves.

I have already mobilized the Aodu Chamber of Commerce's underground network.

The assassins they keep in their service specialize in tracking.

All of them have now been deployed.

Furthermore, Mingdu is under complete lockdown. They cannot possibly escape."

"Hmph. Hurry, especially with that second brat. He must not be allowed to live!"

Xu Tianlong snorted coldly, murderous intent gleaming in his eyes.

"Xu He is weak-willed, just like his father.

He is also a support-type soul master, so he poses no threat.

But that little bastard Xu Yan has already shown the bearing of a king at such a young age.

Not only is his talent extraordinary, but he is also ambitious and deeply calculating.

If he escapes, he will surely become a thorn in our side!"

"I will keep your decree firmly in mind, Father."

Xu Tianran lowered his head as he answered.

Only when Xu Tianlong's expression softened slightly did he secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

A cold glint quietly flashed through his eyes.

Of course he understood the threat Xu Yan posed.

He had attended tonight's palace banquet as well.

He had even witnessed Xu Yan's two soul rings firsthand, both far beyond the standards of ordinary soul masters.

His talent was downright monstrous.

Even without his father's orders, he would spare no cost for the sake of his own throne.

He would strangle this threat in its cradle.

Meanwhile, in a secluded courtyard in the eastern part of the city.

Several dark figures flitted into the courtyard like phantoms, landing without a sound.

Their leader was thin, with a doglike face and nostrils that twitched constantly.

He keenly picked up the traces of scent lingering around them.

Beneath his feet.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, purple.

Five soul rings rose in sequence and circled his body.

The fifth soul ring blazed especially brightly.

An eerie green glow shone in Dog Rock's eyes as he crouched and ran his hand over the slightly damp ground.

A cold smile curled his lips. "Sir, they stopped here.

Although rain can mask most scents,

it cannot erase the distinctive scent given off by their blood and vital energy."

Then he followed the scent trail.

He finally stopped beside a sewer's iron cover in the corner of the courtyard, which had been pried open.

"The sewers? Hmph, clever.

The rushing water would wash away the traces of their group."

The accompanying patrol captain's gaze abruptly turned cold at the sight.

He instantly saw through Xu Yan and the others' intentions.

"Mingdu's underground waterways extend in every direction, connecting directly to the wilderness outside the city and the drainage channels in the south.

They intend to escape through the underground pipes!"

He made an immediate decision and barked his orders:

"Quick, pass the order at once! Seal off the eastern district and all major drainage outlets!

Bring every waterway passage under full control!

And call in soul power detection soul tools. Perform a comprehensive grid scan of the drainage network along their route!

We must flush them out!"

"Yes, sir!"

Squads of armored patrol soldiers swiftly fanned out.

Cold detection ripples spread in layer after layer, covering Mingdu's labyrinthine underground spaces.

A thorough search began.

Rumble—

Inside the pitch-black, damp, foul-smelling sewer.

Cold water surged rapidly, throwing up sprays that chilled them to the bone.

Without a map, the four could only feel their way through the vast maze, where they could not even see their hands before their faces.

They were like headless flies.

The swift current rose past their chests, and every breath carried a nauseating stench.

Yet they had already trudged through these conditions for over two hours.

"Damn it, where the hell does this lousy pipe lead...?"

Yan Feng wiped the filthy water from his face.

Before he could finish speaking, he accidentally choked on several more mouthfuls of dirty water and doubled over, dry-heaving.

"Ugh... if this keeps up, the pursuers won't even have to lift a finger. This sewage will kill me first."

"If you kept your mouth shut and focused on moving, you wouldn't have all these problems."

Xu Yan was speechless.

Of everyone in their group, this fellow had been the biggest chatterbox throughout the journey.

He kept making a fuss.

When Xu Yan had read the original story, Yan Feng had never seemed to have this sort of personality.

Where did that cold ruthlessness you showed during the tournament go?

Or is this the real you?

Xu Yan had met Yan Feng when he was six, during a trip to absorb a soul ring.

According to Yan Feng, he came from a small border town in the Heaven Dou Empire.

Because he had awakened the bone dragon martial soul,

he had not only been branded an Evil Soul Master, but also scorned and driven out by the townspeople.

Everyone shunned him like the plague.

Someone had even reported him to Shrek's Inspection Corps.

They were determined to snuff him out.

Helpless, Yan Feng had been forced to flee the town.

Afterward, he began wandering from place to place to evade Shrek's Inspection Corps.

With nowhere left to turn, he eventually came to the Sun Moon Continent.

And met Xu Yan.

Remembering what Yan Feng had looked like when he first unleashed his bone dragon martial soul, Xu Yan had secretly been delighted.

The bone dragon martial soul was a top-tier martial soul with boundless potential.

Rumor had it that the Bone Douluo of ten thousand years ago possessed that very martial soul.

However, the Bone Douluo's martial soul combined darkness, undead, and spatial attributes.

Yan Feng's bone dragon martial soul leaned toward ice, making it fundamentally different.

Yet a genius with such a top-tier martial soul and limitless prospects

had become an Evil Soul Master whom anyone was entitled to kill, all thanks to Shrek's extreme rhetoric.

Xu Yan had only two words for Shrek.

Double standards!

Their own academy clearly housed an evil fire phoenix, yet they shielded its wielder at every turn and carefully nurtured her.

Then they turned around and slaughtered everyone else in the world with evil-attribute martial souls.

It did not matter whether those people had committed evil or harbored kindness in their hearts.

As long as someone awakened an evil martial soul, the Inspection Corps regarded them as an Evil Soul Master.

Aside from a rare few who might spare someone out of a sliver of compassion,

most members of the Inspection Corps simply killed them without the slightest hesitation.

They never even considered guiding them properly.

Otherwise, Shrek would not still have no other soul masters with evil martial souls besides Ma Xiaotao.

At that thought, Xu Yan curled his lips, his heart filled with disdain.

In his view, Evil Soul Masters could never be completely wiped out through killing.

Only proper guidance could eradicate the problem for good.

Besides, if they truly wanted to name the honorary forefather of Evil Soul Masters,

wasn't that Tang San, one of the Shrek Seven Devils?

If he had not destroyed Slaughter City ten thousand years ago, how could so many Evil Soul Masters be running rampant now?

How laughable that the world never looked for the root of the problem.

"Wait!"

Just as Xu Yan's thoughts were racing, Ji Juechen suddenly spoke in a low voice behind him.

He interrupted Xu Yan's train of thought.

"What is it?" Xu Yan stopped and turned.

Ji Juechen had pressed his ear tightly against the pipe wall, his gaze sharp as a blade.

He stared through the heavy darkness at the stone wall above.

"There are a lot of footsteps overhead, and strange metallic clashes farther away.

It sounds like someone is searching aboveground."

"What?!"

Xu He's expression changed abruptly, and he immediately raised his hand and took out a round soul tool.

The Level Three Portable Soul Power Detector.

A creation of Xuan Ziwen's.

It could scan for soul power fluctuations within fifty meters.

But its capabilities were limited. It could only roughly detect soul power fluctuations, not determine specific soul power levels.

Soul power surged, and the detector began operating.

Xu He stared down at its dial and urgently reported in a grave voice:

"There are indeed soul power readings within fifty meters. Eight fluctuations in total, and they're rapidly approaching us!"

Xu Yan narrowed his eyes at the blinking green dots on the detector, his expression turning utterly grim.

"Move!

They've most likely activated detection soul tools too. They've already locked onto our position!"

Sure enough, I still can't underestimate anyone!

Xu Yan thought.

Boom!

They had barely run a few meters when a tremendous explosion erupted ahead of them.

The blast shattered the once-thick sewer pipe.

Revealing a sliver of the night sky.

[PS: My new book is just getting started. Please, all you handsome, wealthy big shots, lend me a little support.

Spare me some recommendation votes and monthly votes so I can get a taste.

If that's too much, even following the updates would do. My heartfelt thanks to you all!]