At that thought, Luo Chen felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head. He dared not think any further.
No, I have to escape! Luo Chen muttered inwardly. The young master of the Soto Great Soul Arena looks as gentle and polished as jade, but he's actually ruthless. If I stay here, he'll definitely hack me into pieces.
Just as Luo Chen was pondering how to escape, the temperamental young master suddenly turned around and returned to the stone bed.
He looked at Luo Chen, his voice regaining its usual gentleness. "Ah... such a beautiful face. I really can't bear to kill you. But who told you to have the Nether God Bloodline in you? Your master has no choice."
With that, he picked up a silver needle and stabbed it into Luo Chen's back again.
Only after Luo Chen's back was covered in silver needles did the young master walk over and gently pat his face. "Disciple, wake up. Your master has something to tell you."
Luo Chen opened his eyes, pretending to be bleary with sleep, and yawned. "Master, is today's silver needle stimulation finished?"
"Yes." The young master smiled gently. "Disciple, your master has an urgent matter to attend to and needs to return to the sect. Stay in this secret chamber and keep circulating your Soul Power to consolidate the bloodline activated over these past three months."
"When your master returns, I'll activate your Nether God Bloodline for you."
At those words, wild joy instantly surged through Luo Chen's heart, but he put on an obedient front.
He nodded respectfully, his eyes lowered and a trace of disappointment in his voice. "Then when will you be back, Master?"
"Probably in three months." The young master's cheeks flushed involuntarily. He hurriedly recited the Clear Heart Technique inwardly. Once he had calmed himself, he cursed in his heart, Damn it. As Luo Chen's Nether God Bloodline awakens, the power of charm within him is growing stronger and stronger. Even I almost fell into his trap.
At that thought, he hurriedly stood up and said, "Cultivate well in the secret chamber and wait for your master to return."
"Yes, I understand, Master." Luo Chen agreed outwardly, but inwardly, he cursed all eighteen generations of the young master's ancestors.
"Mm." The young master nodded in satisfaction. "That's my good disciple."
With that, he turned and walked out of the secret chamber.
When he reached the doorway, the young master suddenly stopped and glanced back at Luo Chen.
That gaze made Luo Chen's scalp prickle. Soon, it withdrew, and at the same time, a voice came from the doorway. "Remember, do not leave this secret chamber."
With a bang, the secret chamber's stone door slowly closed, leaving Luo Chen alone inside.
"Oh yeah!" Luo Chen cheered and jumped up. "That damned young master finally left! Now's my chance to get away."
Luo Chen pondered inwardly, The Netherworld Scorpion Claw can completely conceal my presence, and the Karmic Fire Scorpion Emperor lets me breathe underground and see what's happening above. I could escape the Soto Great Soul Arena underground without gods or ghosts being any the wiser.
Having made up his mind, Luo Chen sprang into action. He closed his eyes and drove the spiritual perception of Twin Emperor Soul Guidance to its limit. In an instant, every movement within fifty meters lay before his eyes.
Outside the secret chamber, Luo Chen sensed only the young master's presence rapidly receding, while the old man called Uncle Li followed close behind him, disappearing into the night.
Just as he was about to leave the Soto Great Soul Arena entirely, the young master suddenly felt his heart flutter with unease, as though something was about to slip beyond his control.
He abruptly stopped, turned to look at Suotuo City, and muttered, "What's going on? What's this inexplicable feeling of unease?"
"Could something have happened to Luo Chen?"
Just as he was about to turn back, Uncle Li suddenly spoke. "Young master, it's getting late. We must hurry back. Otherwise, if the sect master flies into a rage, you'll be the one who suffers."
At the thought of that bone-piercing, heart-wrenching pain, the young master could not help trembling. He spoke to himself, as though trying to convince himself:
"I poisoned Luo Chen. If he dares to use Martial Soul Possession, he'll definitely suffer pain that pierces his heart and bones. Besides, the secret chamber's walls are forged from ten-thousand-year-old meteorite. Even I would be trapped inside for three days before I could get out. There's no way a mere eight-year-old child could escape."
At that thought, the young master forcibly buried his unease deep within his heart and continued flying toward his clan.
Meanwhile, inside the secret chamber, Luo Chen crept over to the stone wall and activated his spiritual perception again. Only then did he discover that there were actually no guards around.
The young master was clearly extremely confident in his own abilities and believed an eight-year-old child could never escape, so he had not assigned anyone to stand guard. Yet this gave Luo Chen an excellent opportunity to flee.
Luo Chen slowly opened his eyes and hurried over to the medicinal herbs. Without caring what they were used for, he stuffed them all into a bundle made from his clothes.
"These... will count as my wages for the past three months." He murmured, a bitter smile tugging at his lips. "You damned young master of the Soto Great Soul Arena. I'll definitely repay you for the suffering you put me through."
With that, Luo Chen immediately stood up, walked to a corner of the secret chamber, and used Netherworld Scorpion Emperor Martial Soul Possession.
In an instant, intense pain struck him, but in less than three seconds, Luo Chen had expelled the poison from his body.
"Well, well, you even poisoned me! Luckily, I've been cultivating the Scorpion Emperor Body Tempering Technique. Otherwise, I really would have fallen into your trap!"
Increasingly convinced that the young master was a madman, Luo Chen dared not delay at all and hurriedly used his first Soul Skill-Scorpion Emperor Transformation.
Boom! An icy presence erupted from his body. At the same time, dark green armor instantly covered Luo Chen's skin, his lower body transformed into a scorpion's body, and nine scorpion tails shot skyward from his sacrum.
"Dig!" At Luo Chen's low shout, all nine scorpion tails stabbed into the ground at once.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
The Nine Poison Scorpion Hook Sword easily pierced the hard rock.
As the scorpion tails spun rapidly, dirt and broken stone were continually excavated, forming a hole in the corner of the secret chamber whose bottom could not be seen.
Luo Chen leaped into the hole. At the same time, some of his scorpion tails filled the entrance back in with the dirt piled outside, while the others continued digging downward.
One meter, two meters, five meters, ten meters...
As Luo Chen kept digging downward, he soon reached a hundred meters beneath the ground.
Everything around him was pitch-black. With a thought from Luo Chen, the dark green patterns on his armor slowly faded, replaced by a layer of crimson light. This was Karmic Fire Scorpion Emperor Martial Soul Possession.
At that very moment, the once pitch-black underground became transparent in Luo Chen's eyes.
"The Karmic Fire Scorpion Emperor really is great!" A smile tugged at Luo Chen's lips. "The entire ground is my eyes. By the time that dumbass young master realizes what's happened, I'll already be long gone."
At that thought, Luo Chen immediately began traveling underground, using the Karmic Fire Scorpion Emperor's ability to see through things to observe the situation aboveground while digging a path forward with the Nine Poison Scorpion Hook Sword.
Several hours later, Luo Chen had passed straight beneath Suotuo City and reached the middle of a hillside far from the city.
"I've traveled so long. They shouldn't be able to catch up, right?" He took a deep breath, and his scorpion tails thrust forward fiercely.
Boom! Dirt exploded, and a figure shot skyward from underground!
Luo Chen landed steadily on the hillside. The crimson light on his body slowly faded, and he returned to the appearance of an ordinary person.
"Finally out." Luo Chen let out a long breath, a complicated smile tugging at his lips. "Although that young master of the Soto Great Soul Arena wanted to use me as a sacrifice, he also activated my Nether God Bloodline for me. Now that I'm already level 30, it's time to find a Soul Ring."
With that, Luo Chen turned and walked in the opposite direction from Suotuo City, finally disappearing into the night.