The Soul Saint's voice came from beneath his hood, muffled and sharp, carrying undisguised killing intent.
The Seven-Ring Soul Sage's presence bore down on Lu Ren like a mountain. The plants in the courtyard trembled under the pressure, their leaves fluttering down.
"Elder, there's no need to waste words on them."
A Soul Emperor behind him spoke sinisterly, his voice as shrill as nails scraping metal.
"Since they've discovered this place, kill them."
The instant his words fell, the six Soul Rings beneath that Soul Emperor's feet abruptly burst into flames.
Fire rose from the bottoms of the Soul Rings, engulfing all six.
Then the flames turned an eerie black, spreading like ink through water and swiftly crawling over his entire body.
Within the black flames, his body suddenly heaved.
His clothes instantly tore apart, the scraps turning to ash in the flames.
His body grew taller and swelled at a speed visible to the naked eye-1.8 meters, two meters, 2.5 meters, three meters...
When the black flames subsided slightly, what stood there was no longer a person.
It was an enormous skeleton three meters tall.
Its entire body was pitch-black, its bones thick and sturdy, with black flames coiling around every one.
Two points of ghostly green fire danced in the skeleton's eye sockets, staring fixedly at Lu Ren and Ji Juechen as though sizing up two corpses soon to be in his possession.
At the same time, the other Soul Emperor moved as well.
He let out a thunderous roar and stamped his right foot hard against the ground.
Boom...
The wall on one side of the hall cracked at the sound, fragments of brick and stone raining down.
The first two Soul Rings around him likewise appeared to burn. Black light surged from within him, condensing into a layer of eerie bone armor over his body.
The bone armor covered his arms, chest, and cheeks, leaving only a pair of blood-red eyes exposed.
His fingers grew extraordinarily long, sharp bone spikes sprouting from their tips and gleaming coldly beneath the dim lights.
The two Soul Emperors flanked Lu Ren and Ji Juechen, trapping them between them.
A stench of decay filled the air, like the lingering smell of rotting corpses burned by a raging fire.
It was the distinctive presence of Evil Soul Masters, utterly different from normal Soul Power fluctuations, carrying a sense of death that instinctively repulsed living creatures.
"Evil Soul Masters?"
Ji Juechen's gaze shifted slightly.
He felt the pressure those two Soul Emperors brought.
The Soul Power of Evil Soul Masters was utterly different from that of ordinary Soul Masters-colder, more savage, and harder to guard against.
But it lasted only an instant.
His eyes regained their characteristic focus.
His right hand settled on the silver-white longsword at his waist, his fingers closing tightly around it.
Beneath his feet, six Soul Rings-two yellow, two purple, and two black-rose together, casting a soft glow through the dim courtyard.
His gaze fell on his sword, and then nothing else.
The Evil Soul Masters around him, the shadowy courtyard, the stench of decay filling the air-everything faded from his perception.
Only one thing remained in his world.
The sword in his hand.
"Those two Soul Emperors are yours."
Lu Ren's voice came from beside him.
"But remember, you must strike to kill."
He paused, a trace of seriousness entering his tone.
"Otherwise, they'll kill you."
Ji Juechen did not answer.
He merely nodded in silence.
Then he drew his sword.
The instant the silver-white longsword left its sheath, a fierce Sword Intent shot into the sky, tearing a rift in the canopy of vines overhead.
Sunlight poured through the rift and fell upon his blade, reflecting a cold gleam.
His figure flashed, and he darted toward the two Soul Emperors.
Lu Ren withdrew his gaze and turned toward the Seven-Ring Soul Sage before him.
"As for you..."
Before he could finish, the Soul Saint had already moved.
Like the two Soul Emperors, his body transformed into a skeleton amid black flames.
But unlike his subordinate, the skeleton he became was taller, with thicker bones. Intense black flames coiled around his pitch-black frame, like a fiend that had crawled from the depths of hell.
A Skeleton Blade condensed in his hands.
Its blade was pieced together from countless tiny bones, its edge densely studded with sharp bone spikes. A miniature human skull formed the hilt, ghostly green fire burning in its hollow eye sockets.
The Soul Saint gripped the saber with both hands and drove hard against the ground with his feet.
The bluestone slabs shattered with a crash. His figure hurtled straight at Lu Ren like a black meteor, the Skeleton Blade raised high before cleaving down with a piercing shriek through the air.
Before the blade arrived, the wind from its passage had already severed all the vines behind Lu Ren.
Lu Ren stood where he was, utterly motionless.
He merely looked up at the approaching Skeleton Blade, his expression as placid as though he were watching a falling leaf.
Just as the blade was about to touch his forehead, a deafening clash of metal erupted.
Clang!
The Skeleton Blade stopped in midair.
It was only three inches from Lu Ren's forehead, yet it could advance no farther.
It was as though an invisible wall stood between him and the blade, blocking the full force of that strike.
The Soul Saint's pupils abruptly contracted.
He could not see what it was.
But the feedback from his Skeleton Blade told him clearly that an invisible Slashes was holding his blade firmly in place.
That Slashes had no color, no shape, and not even the slightest fluctuation of Soul Power, yet it was as resilient as steel tempered a thousand times.
"What the hell is this?"
The Soul Saint blurted out, his voice filled with disbelief.
Then he saw Lu Ren's right eye change.
Bloodlike markings spread from the corner of his eye, like slender blood vessels extending beneath the skin, tracing an uncanny, eerie pattern.
Those markings slowly writhed as though alive, emitting a faint blood-red glow.
Blood Manipulation: Flowing Red Scale.
Lu Ren's presence surged in that instant.
He raised his right hand and clenched his fingers into a fist.
Dazzling black light began gathering over his knuckles-the precursor to Black Flash, the prelude to Cursed Energy and a physical attack overlapping perfectly through the utmost precision.
The Soul Saint wanted to withdraw his saber and retreat, but it was already too late.
Lu Ren's fist slammed squarely into his face.
Bam!!!
A dull impact erupted, black light bursting from his knuckles like a miniature black sun blooming across the skeleton's face.
That light devoured all the light around it, dimming the entire courtyard for an instant.
The Soul Saint's body flew backward like a cannonball.
He smashed through the vine trellis behind him, shattered the path paved with bluestone slabs, and finally slammed heavily into the courtyard wall.
Rumble...
Cracks spread through the wall, loose stones tumbling down. The Soul Saint's entire body was embedded in it, like a specimen pinned to a wall.
The spot on his skeletal face struck by the fist had caved in deeply. Cracks spread from the depression, covering his entire skull, while blood flowed ceaselessly.
The black flames on his body flickered unsteadily, like candle flames that a gust of wind might extinguish at any moment.
The Soul Saint remained frozen in a daze.
More precisely, the blow had stunned him senseless.
Embedded in the wall, the ghostly green flames in his skeletal eye sockets flickered wildly, his mind utterly blank.
What kind of joke was this?
He was a Soul Saint.
He was a Seven-Ring Soul Sage, an elder of the Holy Spirit Cult charged with guarding this altar stronghold, an Evil Soul Master whose very name struck terror into countless hearts.
Yet a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor had just gravely injured him with a single punch...
Before you continue