With his mouth stuffed with wontons, Xu Jingyao mulled it over indistinctly. "Tsk!"
Shadow Douluo froze, not understanding.
Xu Jingyao offered no explanation.
He swallowed the last wonton along with the broth, wiped his mouth, stood up, and headed toward the next stall.
The two spent nearly two hours strolling along Qingya City's main street.
Xu Jingyao ate his way from one end of the street to the other.
Finally, he stopped at a shop selling candied fruit, bought two jars of local candied sour plums, and tucked them into his Storage Soul Tool, saying he would take them back for Tang Wulin to try.
By the time they left the main street, it was completely dark.
Soul Guidance Lamps lit up one after another, bathing the entire city in warm yellow.
Xu Jingyao found an inn in the east of the city, and Shadow Douluo took the room next door.
After washing up, they each retired for the night.
Early the next morning.
Xu Jingyao rose bright and early, brimming with energy.
Rather than leaving him feeling stuffed, last night's eating binge seemed to have vented all the pent-up frustration he had accumulated for so long.
He changed into a clean set of fitted martial clothes, put on his mask, and left the inn, continuing southeast with Shadow Douluo.
Outside Qingya City, the main road gradually narrowed.
The fields on either side gave way to grassy, untended slopes, and signs of habitation grew increasingly sparse.
After traveling for most of the day, the two turned onto a mountain path as the sun sank westward.
Dense shrubs lined both sides of the path. Beyond them lay rolling hills, and past those, a continuous stretch of green mountains was faintly visible.
"Pavilion Master, there are Soul Power fluctuations ahead."
Shadow Douluo suddenly stopped, his ears twitching slightly as his expression darkened.
Xu Jingyao had sensed them too.
The Soul Power fluctuations were chaotic, as though people were fighting.
An extremely cold, sinister strand of evil Soul Power mingled within them, entangled with another kind of Soul Power that was dense and solid.
"Let's go."
Xu Jingyao quickened his pace, hurrying toward the source of the fluctuations.
The two rounded a bend along the mountain path.
The shrubs ahead abruptly thinned, revealing a barren slope trampled into a mess.
On the slope, a young man in his twenties knelt on one knee, one hand braced against his knee and the other pressed to his chest.
Most of his gray-white martial clothes had already been stained red with blood.
His hands looked much larger than an ordinary person's. Was he from the Body Sect? But how had an attack-support Soul Tool produced by their Carefree Pavilion ended up beside him?
Put simply, it was a rod that could amplify the transmission of force...
Yet the patterns covering it were terribly dim now, as though they might shatter at any moment.
A man in a dark purple robe stood opposite him.
His face was gaunt, his eye sockets sunken, and a layer of gray-green mist wreathed his body.
Tiny ghostly figures churned within the mist, letting out bursts of shrill, mournful screams.
Six Soul Rings hovered at the man's feet-two yellow, two purple, and two black. He was a Soul Emperor-level Evil Soul Master.
The Evil Soul Master was advancing toward the young man step by step.
He extended his skeletal fingers, and the gray-green mist condensed into a ghostly claw that raked toward the young man's face.
Gritting his teeth, the young man held the short rod across his body. Its dark gold patterns flashed briefly, only to dim again beneath the blood staining them.
He leaned his entire body backward, barely avoiding the ghostly claw head-on, but its residual force tore another gash in his left shoulder, splattering blood across the ground.
"You Body Sect people chased me for three hundred li. Did you really think I was afraid of you?"
The Evil Soul Master sneered, his voice shrill and hoarse. "Don't you Body Sect people love chasing Evil Soul Masters around? Today, I'll let you chase to your heart's content!"
He abruptly turned his right hand over.
The gray-green mist surged, condensing into three ghostly claws in midair that closed in on the young man from three directions.
A trace of despair flashed through the young man's eyes.
Yet he still clutched the short rod tightly, forcing all his remaining Soul Power into it as its dark gold patterns abruptly lit up.
But that light was far too strained. Anyone could tell that after blocking this attack, he would have no strength left.
The ghostly claws descended.
Then all three ghostly claws stopped.
They hung in midair, less than a foot above the young man's head.
The Evil Soul Master's smile froze on his face.
His skeletal fingers abruptly trembled. He had sensed an aura.
That aura pressed down from the woods above the barren slope, soundless yet so heavy that it felt as though the entire sky had collapsed.
Struck by that aura, the gray-green mist instantly shrank back into his body. The three ghostly claws shattered into ashen smoke in midair and dispersed without a trace.
The Evil Soul Master whipped his head around to look above the slope.
Xu Jingyao emerged from the woods at an unhurried pace, his fan tucked at his waist and his golden mask gleaming coldly in the setting sun.
Shadow Douluo followed half a step behind him, his gray figure blending into the shadows of the trees and his aura concealed, but his eyes had already locked onto the Evil Soul Master.
Xu Jingyao reached the edge of the barren slope and glanced down at the young man kneeling on the ground.
The young man looked up at him too, his face covered in blood and grime. His gaze shifted from despair to bewilderment, then from bewilderment to an indescribable astonishment.
Xu Jingyao turned his gaze toward the Evil Soul Master.
"A Soul Emperor-level Evil Soul Master, hunting a Body Sect disciple for three hundred li."
His voice was quiet, his tone as casual as though he were discussing what to eat today. "You've got some nerve."
The Evil Soul Master's eyes narrowed, and the Soul Rings at his feet abruptly lit up.
The gray-green mist surged out again, but this time, he did not dare attack first. Instead, he retreated a step. "Who are you? Little brat, I'd advise you to stay out of Soul Masters' affairs."
Xu Jingyao did not answer him.
He slowly raised his right hand, spreading his fingers with his palm facing down.
A purple halo so dense it had almost become tangible poured from his palm.
The instant that halo appeared, the air across the entire barren slope changed, growing dense, growing heavy, making it impossible to catch a breath.
The Soul Rings at the Evil Soul Master's feet abruptly faltered. The gray-green mist seemed pinned down by something, unable to churn no matter how he drove his Soul Power.
Then a light shone behind Xu Jingyao.
That radiance poured from his back, slowly condensing into a gigantic phantom in midair.
The phantom was indistinct, with only a vaguely humanoid outline visible, yet that humanoid figure was so enormous it almost filled half the sky.
The Divine Aspect held a mass of emerald radiance in its left hand. That radiance contained an endless aura of life, as though even a wisp could bring spring back to withered wood.
The Divine Aspect gripped dark purple Power of Destruction in its right hand. That power was savage yet contained, as though it could reduce everything to nothingness at any moment.
The Life Ash Body.
The Evil Soul Master raised his head and stared at that immense phantom of a Divine Aspect, his pupils abruptly shrinking to pinpoints.
He wanted to flee, but his legs seemed nailed to the ground. He could not move even a finger.
He opened his mouth, managing only a short, strangled rasp.
Then Xu Jingyao gently pressed his right hand down.
The Power of Destruction poured from the Divine Aspect's right hand, descending without a sound.
The Evil Soul Master did not even have time to scream.
The gray-green mist, the dark purple robe, and his gaunt body instantly disintegrated beneath the shroud of the Power of Destruction.
Before you continue