The Level 7 Soul Engineer finished speaking, then viciously pulled the trigger.
A terrifying purple-black beam surged from the cannon's muzzle. The air warped violently wherever it passed, scorched by the beam, while the ground was plowed into a deep furrow.
Violent energy fluctuations spread in all directions. Fine cracks appeared in the walls on both sides of the street, and the shock wave sent loose stones flying before they crashed back down.
That strike was enough to tear through a Soul Emperor's defenses with ease. Even a Soul Douluo would be injured if hit by it.
"Die!"
The Soul Saint roared, pouring all his Soul Power into the Level 7 Soul Tool in his hands. The purple-black beam grew even thicker, nearly swallowing the entire width of the street.
Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan's expressions changed drastically. They struggled to move forward despite their battered bodies, but they had already run out of strength.
All they could do was watch as the purple-black beam swallowed Lu Ren's figure.
Meng Hongchen covered her mouth, her beautiful eyes full of alarm as her heart leaped into her throat.
The next second, the beam faded.
Lu Ren was still standing where he had been.
The blood Qi roiling around him was even denser than before. The purple-black energy struck it, stirring up layer upon layer of ripples, but failed to leave even a single crack.
The ground beneath his feet had been blasted into a huge crater, with broken stones and dust flying everywhere, yet he himself remained completely motionless. Even the hem of his clothes was undamaged.
"Impossible!" The Soul Saint's pupils suddenly contracted, and his voice went shrill. "That's not Soul Power protecting your body! What kind of monster are you?"
At that, Lu Ren slowly lifted his lapel.
"What a pity. You didn't hurt me."
When he finished speaking, everyone saw that the surface of Lu Ren's body beneath his lapel was covered in blood.
The blood-covered surface of his body was as hard as armor. This was another use of Blood Manipulation, one that could greatly enhance his defensive capabilities.
Combined with the strength of his own body and the boost from Flowing Red Scale, he could actually withstand a Level 7 Soul Tool head-on. His defensive ability was astonishing.
"You seem curious about why I'm so strong despite being a Soul Ancestor. Then let me explain it to you."
He raised his hand, and two purple and two black Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet.
"Do you know the concept of a Binding Vow?"
"What is that?" The Level 7 Soul Engineer blurted out, his brows furrowing.
Lu Ren ignored his confusion and instead spoke to himself.
"A Binding Vow is an absolute contract made with Soul Power. Anyone who breaks it will pay an unforeseen price."
He had replaced Cursed Energy with Soul Power. It was a necessary disguise.
In this world, he needed to make everyone understand his power system without exposing his true nature.
"The core principle of this contract is that the greater the price you pay, the greater the return."
Blood Qi surged around him, as if stirred by an invisible wind.
"The reason I'm so strong right now, completely unlike a Soul Ancestor, is because of self-imposed restrictions. I make a contract with myself and bear the price myself. And the price..."
He pointed to the Soul Rings encircling him.
"Is extremely costly."
"I gave up the ability to use my First Soul Skill forever in exchange for a permanent ten-percent increase to all attributes, as well as improved performance from my Cursed Technique."
"Because the First Soul Ring is only a thousand years old, that's the most I could get in exchange."
"As for my Second Soul Ring, it's five thousand years old, and it gave me a fifty-percent increase to all attributes."
He paused, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
"So the person standing before you now isn't an ordinary Soul Ancestor, but one with a constant sixty-percent increase to all attributes."
His gaze swept over everyone present before finally settling on the pale-faced Level 7 Soul Engineer.
The Level 7 Soul Engineer's pupils contracted violently.
He knew exactly what that meant.
He had given up the ability to use two Soul Skills forever in exchange for a constant sixty-percent increase to all attributes.
And those were only his first two Soul Rings, his two most useless ones.
What had he traded for those two Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings afterward?
More importantly, the longer he listened to Lu Ren speak, the more he could feel the other man's presence rising.
That sense of threat was swelling at a speed visible to the naked eye.
He couldn't let this drag on.
"Damn bastard!"
He pulled the trigger again. The energy beam from the Soul Cannon shot straight toward Lu Ren's face, forcibly cutting off his speech.
"Ah, you caught on."
Lu Ren raised his hand. Invisible Slashes sprang from his fingertips, precisely cutting the incoming Soul Cannon blast in half.
Metal fragments skimmed past his cheek and carved a row of deep pits into the wall behind him.
"Revealing information publicly is also a kind of self-imposed restriction. The more I say, the stronger my Cursed Technique becomes."
"Then it's time to finish this."
Lu Ren brought his hands together, fingertips aligned and pointing forward.
An unimaginable amount of blood surged from within him, gathering in his palms, compressing, and heating up.
Soul Power turned into blood, then gathered and spun at his fingertips, emitting a sharp whine, as though something were being pushed to its limit.
"Blood Manipulation: Convergence: Piercing Blood."
Piercing Blood was the ultimate long-range attack of Blood Manipulation, and an extremely powerful move.
Its principle was to compress blood to its limit, condensing it at a single point and firing it out like a bullet.
Its initial speed could reach the speed of sound, and its penetrating power was terrifying. It was enough to tear through any defense at the same level.
Its drawback was that only its initial speed was supersonic, and it slowed down as the distance increased.
"Not good!"
The Level 7 Soul Engineer recognized how terrifying this move was and hastily activated every Defensive Soul Tool on his body.
A Level 7 Soul Tool Shield and an Invincible Shield unfolded around him in two layers of defense. Their light was blinding as they formed his final line of defense.
A cold glint flashed in Lu Ren's eyes.
The blood-colored energy compressed to its limit at his fingertips erupted in an instant.
A thread of blood, so fine it was almost impossible to see, broke the sound barrier and tore through the air, leaving behind a dazzling trail of heated air.
It was like the finger of death, shooting straight toward the Level 7 Soul Engineer.
The thread of blood tore across the sky with a shrill whistle that swept everything before it, crashing into the Level 7 Soul Tool Shield.
"Crack!"
Cracks instantly spread across the shield's surface, like glass struck by a heavy hammer. Its light flickered wildly, and before half a second had passed, the entire shield burst apart with a roar, its fragments dissolving into countless specks of light.
The impact weakened the blood thread by more than half. Thus, when it hit the second layer, the Invincible Shield, it only stirred up a faint ripple before dissipating helplessly into the air.
"Hahaha!" The Level 7 Soul Engineer froze for a moment, then threw his head back and laughed. "All that bluster, and you're nothing special! Your full-power attack couldn't even break my Invincible Shield!"
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and a savage gleam reignited in his eyes.
"A Soul Ancestor is still a Soul Ancestor. Even if you used some crooked forbidden technique, you couldn't possibly cross three major realms and defeat a Soul Saint!"
Lu Ren stood where he was, watching him expressionlessly.
The Level 7 Soul Engineer sneered and raised his hand to deactivate the Invincible Shield. The golden film of light faded from around him, turning into energy that flowed back into the core of the Soul Tool at his waist.
The moment the shield disappeared, the blood Qi roiling around Lu Ren abruptly burst open, transforming into a thick blood mist that spread in all directions.
The red mist surged and churned like a living thing, instantly shrouding an area dozens of zhang across.
The Level 7 Soul Engineer's vision darkened as the blood color swallowed everything. He couldn't see a thing. All he could hear was his heartbeat pounding beside his ears and the sound of blood rushing through his veins.
"What the hell is this?!"
To his astonishment, it was all blood from inside human bodies!
So much blood released at once... How many people would have to be drained dry to get this much?
Not knowing what the blood was, the Level 7 Soul Engineer held his breath and began protecting himself with Soul Power.
"Not bad." Lu Ren's voice drifted through the blood mist, now to the left and now to the right, impossible to pin down. "You even knew to hold your breath. Pretty cautious."
The Level 7 Soul Engineer spun around and aimed his Soul Cannon toward the sound, but all he saw was churning blood.
He repeatedly pulled the trigger. Energy beams shot into the mist, but hit nothing.
A slight tremor came from beneath his feet.
He looked down, only to find that the blood was so thick he couldn't even see his own feet.
Then he heard breathing.
At that moment, his scalp went numb and the hair all over his body stood on end.
Right behind him!
The Level 7 Soul Engineer's pupils contracted. His instincts told him to turn around, activate his Defensive Soul Tools, do something-but he could only see a blade formed from blood already resting against the side of his neck.
The blood blade was as thin as a cicada's wing, its edge gleaming with a cold red sheen.
The blade pressed tightly against his skin. He could feel its icy touch, as well as the bone-chilling killing intent emanating from it.
"You Soul Engineers are in trouble as soon as an opponent gets close, aren't you?"
Lu Ren's voice came from behind him.
"You don't even have the fighting strength of an ordinary Soul Saint."
The Level 7 Soul Engineer's body went rigid.
He didn't dare move. The blood blade was pressed against his carotid artery, and he had no doubt that if he moved even slightly, it would cut his throat.
But he wasn't willing to accept it.
He was a Level 7 Soul Engineer, a Soul Saint-level powerhouse. How could he possibly be driven to this point by a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor?
Die!
He twisted sideways with all his might, turning the Soul Cannon behind him as energy gathered inside its barrel.
But Lu Ren merely turned his wrist, and the blood blade slashed across his waist.
It wasn't deep, only enough to break the skin and draw a thin line of blood.
Then Lu Ren sprang back, retreating several yards, and drew back all the blood scattered through the air.
That blood had all been transformed from his own Soul Power, so Lu Ren didn't feel the slightest concern over it.
The Level 7 Soul Engineer, however, froze.
He looked down at the wound on his waist, then looked up at Lu Ren in the distance.
That's it?
"Hahaha!" He burst into wild laughter again. "That's it? You went to all that trouble to get close just to cut me once? Are you here to make me laugh?"
He raised the Soul Cannon and aimed it at Lu Ren.
The next moment, his laughter abruptly stopped.
A violent burning sensation exploded from the wound, like magma pouring into his veins.
The heat flowed through his blood to every limb and bone. Everywhere it passed, his meridians felt as if they were being scorched by fire, and his muscles began to spasm.
The Level 7 Soul Engineer's face turned from pale to purplish blue. His lips blackened, and his pupils began to lose focus.
A mouthful of blood suddenly sprayed out, splattering on the ground and giving off a pungent, rancid stench.
"This... what is this..."
"My blood is poisonous, and that blade was made from my blood." Lu Ren spoke calmly. "So why do you think I went to all that trouble to get close just to cut you once?"
The Level 7 Soul Engineer opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but a mouthful of black blood surged out first, splattering on the ground with a pungent, rancid stench.
His knees buckled, and his body pitched forward.
"Thump."
The Level 7 Soul Engineer fell to his knees, bracing himself with both hands against the rubble. Blood kept pouring from his nose and mouth, staining the bluestone slabs in front of him red.
The Level 7 Soul Tool slipped from his hand and hit the ground with a dull thud.
"All right, you've watched the show long enough." Lu Ren said, sounding annoyed. "Now it's your turn to help clean up this mess, Hall Master."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jing Hongchen finally deigned to show himself.
Seeing the group sprawled all over the place, the corner of his mouth twitched.
He looked as if he wanted to say something, but stopped himself.
"Don't blame me for making this into a big deal." Looking at Jing Hongchen, Lu Ren added, "You could've settled this with a wave of your hand, but you insisted on making me handle it myself. So don't blame me for making you clean up this mess, either."
Hearing this, Jing Hongchen's face darkened.
Fine. He'd really picked up a rock only to drop it on his own foot.
He'd dug his own grave!
Before you continue