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With her Soul Skill bolstering her, Xiao Wu's strength, speed, and even flexibility increased dramatically.

Her right leg lashed out like a whip, sweeping viciously toward Lin Yang's waist with the whistle of cleaving air.

Yet Lin Yang's eyes remained as still as a deep pool.

Just when Xiao Wu thought she was about to land her strike, Lin Yang abruptly dissolved before her eyes, like flowers in a mirror or the moon reflected in water.

An illusion?

Alarm jolted through Xiao Wu's heart. Before she could change her move, a cold blade silently pressed against her neck.

"Don't move!"

The blade's chill pierced to the bone; life and death hung by a thread!

In that instant, Xiao Wu's heart seemed to be clenched by a pair of invisible hands, stopping abruptly.

The red light in her eyes flickered violently. Fear, resentment, and resolve intertwined on her face, finally settling into determination.

Ignoring the sharp blade at her neck, she hurled herself into Lin Yang's chest.

She had lost!

The price of losing was her life.

But even if she died, she would detonate herself and drag this human into the grave with her.

Lin Yang started inwardly, hurriedly withdrawing Crimson Interval and retreating a few steps to put some distance between himself and Xiao Wu.

"Wait, I wasn't planning to do anything to you!"

"If I really wanted to kill you, it wouldn't have been your hair I cut off at the start."

Xiao Wu tugged at the corners of her mouth, her smile somewhat cold.

"What, you don't just want my bone, but my Soul Ring too? Can you withstand a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring?"

"Think whatever you like," Lin Yang said, his voice as steady as ever.

"I said from the start that, as a Soul Master, I couldn't be faulted even if I killed you, but..."

Lin Yang's gaze softened slightly.

"You saved my grandmother and took such devoted care of her for so long. That kindness... I remember it."

"So... you should go. Never appear before me again."

Xiao Wu froze at once, thinking she had misheard him.

Only after a long while did she cautiously venture to ask,

"You... really are willing to let me go?"

Her voice trembled slightly, her gaze fixed on Lin Yang as though trying to find mockery and ridicule on that calm face.

"What would I gain by lying to you?" Lin Yang spread his hands.

"Of course, if you really don't want to live, I can lend you a hand."

At those words, Xiao Wu stiffened like a startled little rabbit and watched Lin Yang warily.

Lin Yang gave an almost inaudible chuckle and turned to leave. But as though something had occurred to him, he set his raised foot back down, his tone taking on a measure of solemnity.

"A word of warning: leave here as soon as possible. Go wherever you like."

"Just don't go to Nuoding City, or Holy Soul Village either. There's someone there who can see through your true form. That's all I have to say. Whether you believe me is up to you."

Xiao Wu shuddered. Aside from Lin Yang before her, only a Titled Douluo could see through her true identity.

Hundred-thousand-year soul beasts that took human form possessed the most exceptional talent, and cultivating was as simple for them as eating and drinking.

But in the early stages of cultivation, they needed as much contact with human presence as possible. Otherwise, their cultivation would stagnate, unable to advance an inch.

Only at rank seventy could they truly become human.

Her plan had been to obtain Red Maple Village's work-study place, then slip into Nuoding City's junior Soul Master Academy.

But who could have known that, just as the first step of her plan began, she would encounter Lin Yang, who exposed her true form with a single remark, and then be told that Nuoding City had a Titled Douluo?

Bitterness filled Xiao Wu's heart. What sin had she committed? Had she failed to check the almanac before leaving home, or stumbled into a ghost on the road?

She had already fled far enough, to a place remote enough, and had specifically chosen an obscure little city.

Yet things with a one-in-ten-million chance of happening had actually happened to her one after another.

Her life as a rabbit... was simply shrouded in darkness!

Seeing that Lin Yang truly was helping her, the rabbit with so much inner drama quietly thanked him.

"No need." Lin Yang waved a hand, his expression wistful and complicated.

"One thing is one thing, and another is another. If I see you again, I might not be willing to let you go."

"Hurry up and leave while I haven't changed my mind. Don't let me see you."

Xiao Wu hopped back a few steps. Once she saw that Lin Yang truly had no intention of killing her, she prepared to flee at once.

"Wait..."

Xiao Wu stopped, her body suddenly taut as she watched Lin Yang warily.

Had this fellow changed his mind?

Whoosh!

A streak of golden light shot from Lin Yang's fingertip. Xiao Wu caught it instinctively. It was a Gold Soul Coin, its edges gleaming gold in the sunlight.

"Take it. Don't go starving to death on the road," Lin Yang said evenly.

Looking at the Gold Soul Coin in her hand, Xiao Wu pressed her lips together, her voice softening.

"Lin Yang, you're a good person. Thank Grandma Su Xi for taking care of me all this time."

Lin Yang nodded slightly. "I'll pass that on."

Xiao Wu said no more. She merely gave Lin Yang a long look, then blurred into an indistinct afterimage with a flicker of her figure, vanishing into the nearby woods in an instant.

Lin Yang gazed at the place where she had disappeared. After a long while, he shook his head and chuckled quietly, seemingly mocking his own foolishness.

Yet on the way back, his steps were a little lighter than when he had come.

When he returned home, Grandma Su Xi was still asleep.

Lin Yang did not disturb her. Instead, he went to the kitchen to prepare dinner, also picking up the earthenware pot used for decocting medicine to prepare some medicine that would help her bones recover.

The bitter smell of medicine soon filled the entire kitchen.

By the time Lin Yang finished preparing the medicine and dinner, Grandma Su Xi had just woken.

Lin Yang helped her sit down at the dining table.

Grandma Su Xi looked around. After a good while without seeing that familiar figure, she could not help asking,

"Where's Xiao Wu? That child is usually the most eager to eat. Why haven't I seen her today?"

"Grandma, don't worry." Lin Yang placed a bowl of medicine in front of Grandma Su Xi, then sat down and said,

"Xiao Wu's relatives came looking for her, and they've already taken her away. Before she left, she asked me to thank you for her."

Grandma Su Xi was stunned for a few seconds. She opened her mouth, but in the end, she could only sigh helplessly.

"I see. Well, that's good too. With relatives willing to take her in, at least she has somewhere to go. I thought I might gain another granddaughter, someone to keep me company and chat with me..."

Lin Yang saw the reluctance and worry in his grandmother's eyes. It was clear that she truly liked Xiao Wu and greatly enjoyed the warmth of doting on grandchildren.

But he could not take that risk.

Xiao Wu's identity remained a bomb. The slightest carelessness could drag his grandmother, and even Red Maple Village, into it.

In the world of Soul Masters, the weak were prey to the strong, after all.

"Grandma, when you put it that way, I feel like you're unhappy with me. How about I drop out..." Lin Yang joked.

"Nonsense." Grandma Su Xi gave the back of Lin Yang's head a slap, neither hard nor light.

"You're a Soul Master now. How could you amount to anything holed up in this little village? Don't worry about me. Go out and study when you should, and venture out into the world when you should."

"It's just that your family can't offer you any support..."

Seeing a trace of guilt rise in Grandma Su Xi, Lin Yang hurriedly changed the subject.

"Grandma, getting well is the greatest support you can give me. Better yet, live to a hundred. You'll still have to look after my children then."

"Then when will you bring a granddaughter-in-law home for me?"

"Grandma... there you go again."

Quiet Red Maple Village lay beneath the curtain of night. The kerosene lamps lighting up in each home were like stars scattered across the ink-blue night sky, unassuming yet shining with a steady warmth.

The evening breeze carried the scent of grass along the field ridges, mingling with the aroma of meals from every household and the faint clatter of bowls and chopsticks, painting a simple, heartwarming scene.