"When the Spirit Hall handles matters, it always prefers to kill the innocent rather than let the guilty go free."
There's something unclean in your residence tonight; as the resident Soul Master, I have to check what's going on.
The city lord's mansion will be searched today. City Lord Dai, please cooperate.
As soon as Han Jiang finished speaking, he raised his right hand.
He condensed a semi-transparent ball of water-attribute Soul Power in his hand. The Soul Power continuously deformed and stretched in his palm, transforming into a semi-transparent, nimble water snake. The snake's head hissed and flicked its tongue towards the hidden door at the back of the study.
The water snake was about three feet long, its entire body formed from water-attribute Soul Power, its scales clearly visible, and its pair of snake eyes gleaming with a pale blue, cold light.
This is Han Jiang's unique Soul Skill.
Water snakes can sense extremely faint energy fluctuations and accurately relay the location of those fluctuations to the caster.
Dai Wusi's heart sank.
Han Jiang had clearly detected traces of the Soul Division Martial Soul.
The water snake's head was pointing directly at the hidden door at the back of the study, hissing and flicking its tongue, indicating that it had locked onto its target.
He gritted his teeth, steeled his resolve, and a thought flashed through his mind:
Xiao Yan cannot fall into the hands of the Spirit Hall, even if it means exposing himself.
He had spent his entire life enduring hardship and passively accepting his fate; at least this time, he didn't want to kneel anymore.
However, before Han Jiang could even step into the study, a dark shadow slowly emerged from the shadows behind the study.
The Soul Division Martial Soul stood at the door of the study, moonlight streaming in from the courtyard and falling on the pitch-black figure.
Its face remained blurry, as if shrouded in a thin mist, obscuring the details of its features. Only its deep eyes, like a pair of cold stars, shone with a chilling yet composed light in the night.
There was not a trace of Soul Power fluctuation around it.
This is precisely what makes Han Jiang most wary.
He couldn't sense the other party's Soul Power Level, or even determine whether the other party possessed Soul Power at all.
It was as if what stood there was not a person, but a mass of pure energy that had been given form.
"What... what are you?"
Han Jiang's brows furrowed suddenly, forming a deep frown.
His senses instinctively reached out towards the black figure, enveloping it layer by layer like octopus tentacles, attempting to analyze its energy composition.
But to his horror—there was nothing there.
His Soul Power perception was like a stone sinking into the sea; the moment it touched the other's body, it was completely dissolved by an invisible force.
His soul perception only caught a blurry mass of chaos, unable to discern the other party's strength level, Martial Soul type, or even whether the other party was a living person or a puppet.
There was clearly a human-shaped figure standing in front of him, but his perception was completely empty, as if it were just a wisp of air.
This eerie feeling of complete disconnect between perception and reality sent a chill down Han Jiang's spine, even though he was a seasoned and knowledgeable Soul Douluo.
He instinctively took half a step back, and the water snake suddenly sped up its movements in front of him, hissing a warning sound.
The Soul Division Martial Soul raised its right hand. In its palm, two clusters of flames, one green and one pure white, silently ignited, like two twin lotus flowers blooming in the night.
The biting cold of the Bone Spirit Cold Flame and the scorching heat of the Green Lotus Core Flame intertwined, forming a distorted curtain of light in mid-air.
At the boundary where cold and hot air collide, the air is repeatedly frozen and melted, forming visible concentric ripples.
The two Heavenly Flames seemed to have a life of their own, dancing merrily at the fingertips of the Soul Division Martial Soul, each dance causing a faint popping sound in the surrounding air.
The Soul Division Martial Soul and the original body are ultimately different.
Soul Division Martial Soul cannot bear Dou Qi.
Unable to unleash Soul Bone Skill, Soul Bone are attached to the main body's skeleton, while clones do not have physical skeletons.
Even Dou Technique like the Eight Extremes Collapse, which require physical coordination and rely on the power of muscles and bones, cannot be executed.
The Heavenly Flames Martial Soul is Xiao Yan's innate Martial Soul that he awakened in the Douluo Continent; it is an imprint etched deep within his soul.
It does not belong to the body, nor to the bones, but to the soul itself.
As long as Soul Division Martial Soul of Xiao Yan's original soul resides within the Divine Soul Origin.
This Soul Origin is the foundation upon which the Soul Division Martial Soul exists.
It can then unleash all the Soul Skill of the Heavenly Flames Martial Soul.
Because the essence of Soul Skill is the manifestation of Spiritual Soul Power through the medium of Martial Soul.
Xiao Yan's Spiritual Soul Power had already been honed to a level far exceeding that of others of the same rank through his trials on the Dou Qi Continent.
"Fourth Soul Skill, Cold Fire: Everfrost Mausoleum!"
The fourth black Soul Ring on the surface of the Soul Division Martial Soul suddenly lit up.
An extremely chilling aura spread wildly outwards from its center.
Cold, white flames erupted from its body like a floodgate opening, spreading rapidly throughout the courtyard. Wherever the flames passed, the bluestone pavement was instantly covered with a layer of frost several inches thick.
The frost surface was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the moonlight and making the entire courtyard look like an ice cellar.
The moisture in the air froze into tiny ice crystals that fell like a small hailstorm.
Even the water snake that swam around Han Jiang froze in the extreme cold.
The water droplets on the snake's body froze into ice particles in an instant. The snake twitched twice and then froze completely in mid-air, transforming into a crystal-clear ice snake. Then, with a thud, it fell to the ground and shattered into several pieces.
"Hmph, a mere trick!"
Han Jiang snorted coldly, then slammed his hands together in front of him, producing a crisp clapping sound.
The water-attribute Soul Power within his body surged forth like a flood bursting its banks, forming a continuously expanding body of water beneath his feet, fiercely clashing with the frost domain of the Everfrost Mausoleum.
The chilling aura of the Everfrost Mausoleum was forced back by the spot where he stood, even within a three-foot radius.
This is a Soul Power suppression at the level of Soul Douluo, using pure cultivation advantage to repel the extreme cold of the Heavenly Flames.
The frost melted into water on the ground and was quickly refreezed, forming a constantly changing ice-water boundary, where ice shards cracked and splintered.
" The Fifth Soul Skill, Raging Waves and Startling Billows!"
A black, Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring lit up on Han Jiang's body.
That was his Fifth Soul Ring.
Han Jiang pushed his palms forward, and a water wall several meters high appeared out of thin air in the courtyard, crushing towards the Soul Division Martial Soul like a tsunami.
The water wall was a deep blue color and its height exceeded the roof of the city lord's mansion. It contained countless high-speed rotating water blades.
Each water blade was about half a person's height, and they spun so fast that the naked eye could only see white afterimages.
Wherever the water wall passed, the stone tables and benches in the courtyard were easily cut into pieces by the water blades, and even a layer of bluestone pavement was scraped off.
The Soul Division Martial Soul advances instead of retreating.
Faced with the wall of water that could level the entire study, it did not choose to dodge, but instead flapped its wings and took the initiative to meet it.
Its Twin Flame Wings suddenly unfolded behind it, the left wing as white as snow and the right wing as green as dripping water, with a wingspan of three zhang, making it look like a god born from flames.
With a gentle flap of its wings, its entire figure transformed into a streak of interwoven blue and white light, circling around the side of the water wall.
Instead of engaging head-on, it used the speed advantage of its Twin Flame Wings to pass through the edge before the water wall closed.
At the same time, with a flick of its fingertip, dozens of sharp ice crystals shot out from the domain of the Everfrost Mausoleum.
It drew countless silvery-white trajectories in mid-air, stabbing towards Han Jiang's vital points.
Throat, heart, lower abdomen, knees—each ice spike targeted Han Jiang's weakest point.
A hint of disdain flashed in Han Jiang's eyes.
An attack of that magnitude would be nothing more than a tickle to a Soul Douluo.
He didn't even bother to dodge; with a casual wave of his hand, a pale blue water curtain appeared out of thin air in front of him, intercepting all the ice spikes.
The ice spikes made a series of hissing sounds the moment they hit the water curtain.
That was the sound of extremely cold ice crystals being rapidly melted by the Soul Power within the water curtain.
The ice spikes created ripples on the surface of the water curtain, which then turned into wisps of white steam and dissipated into the air.
But Han Jiang soon discovered that these ice spikes were just a feint.
The black figure was no longer in its original position.
Taking advantage of the instant he raised his hand to defend, the Soul Division Martial Soul flapped its wings again, using the instant acceleration ability of the Twin Flame Wings to draw a sharp arc in the air and circle behind him.
The right palm of the Soul Division Martial Soul was raised high, and in the palm, a Fire Lotus of intertwined blue and white was rapidly taking shape.
The Fire Lotus was only the size of a bowl, yet it was as exquisite as if it were carved from the finest jade. Its petals unfolded layer upon layer, each petal formed from pure, Heavenly Flames.
Fifth Soul Skill, Cold Heart Lotus Explosion!
The Soul Division Martial Soul slammed the dazzling Fire Lotus hard against Han Jiang's back.
The moment the Fire Lotus left his hand, it was as if the surrounding air had been sucked away.
That was the Fire Lotus absorbing all the surrounding energy in the last instant before it was released.
Han Jiang, as expected of Soul Douluo powerhouse, used his years of combat experience to sense the threat behind him at the critical moment.
He suddenly darted to the left, moving with incredible speed.
At the same time, the water-attribute Soul Power within his body surged out wildly, condensing into three thick water shields behind him.
Each layer of water shield was deep blue, with patterns flowing across its surface like fish scales; these were the manifestations of Han Jiang compressing his Soul Power to its limit.
The moment the Fire Lotus collided with the water shield, a deafening roar erupted.
"Boom!!!"
The blue and white flames exploded in mid-air, illuminating the entire courtyard of the city lord's mansion as if it were daytime.
The light was so intense that it startled residents in the surrounding blocks who were fast asleep, and lights began to come on one by one in their windows.
The shockwave from the explosion uprooted several old trees in the courtyard.
Those trees had been growing here for at least several decades, their trunks so thick that it would take one person to encircle them, yet they were as fragile as withered grass in the face of the shockwave.
The tree trunk tumbled several times in mid-air before crashing heavily to the ground, collapsing a flower bed in the corner of the courtyard.
The three layers of water shield were instantly evaporated by the Heavenly Flames, and a massive amount of steam was generated the moment the water and fire collided.
The white mist spread outwards like an exploding mushroom cloud, enveloping the entire city lord's mansion in a vast sea of white fog.
Although Han Jiang managed to avoid the core impact of the Fire Lotus at the last moment, the violent aftershocks of the explosion still sent him flying several meters away.
His body tumbled twice in mid-air before he finally regained his balance, and when he landed, he had left two deep cracks in the bluestone slab beneath his feet.
His white robe was scorched by the flames, leaving several blackened holes—one on his right shoulder and another on his left waist—with wisps of smoke still rising from the edges of each hole.
His once meticulously groomed goatee was now partially singed, and the burnt stubble emitted an unpleasant odor.
The cuff of his right sleeve was burned to ashes, revealing a muscular forearm.
However, Soul Division Martial Soul is, after all, just Soul Division Martial Soul.
Although the power of this Cold Heart Lotus Explosion was enough to injure the Soul Douluo, it could not cause him the same substantial damage as when the main body released it.
The Spiritual Soul Power of Soul Division Martial Soul is ultimately limited.