Chen Jinrong clearly saw the fear that flashed in Hua An's eyes for a fleeting moment.
Chen Jinrong did not immediately unleash his killing move. The hand hovering above Hua An's head slowly stopped, and the coldness in his eyes gradually subsided. The wisp of eternal Stillness Dao aura that had probed the outer edge of Hua An's Fate Soul was still there. He could clearly feel that the original restriction belonging to Hua Yin had deeply penetrated into the essence of Hua An's Fate Soul.
This creates an extremely close connection. If Hua An is killed now, his Fate Soul will be destroyed, and this connection will inevitably change. Even if Hua Yin is far away, he is very likely to sense it immediately through the fundamental pull between the Soul Thrall.
"If I kill him directly, that old thief Hua Yin will definitely notice. That would be very disadvantageous for me, and my two years of hiding my identity would be completely exposed, once again attracting the old thief's pursuit."
Chen Jinrong's brows slowly lowered. Killing Hua An wasn't difficult; the real trouble was what happened afterward. The reason he had been able to hide until today was never solely due to his cultivation level.
The Primordial Dao Clan is gone, and there is no one else behind him to shield him from the Hua Lineage. Once his whereabouts are exposed, all his two years of preparation could be destroyed. Moreover, the Hua An in front of him is Soul Thrall personally controlled by Hua Yin, whose value is far greater than that of an ordinary Hua Lineage disciple.
Chen Jinrong's eyes flickered slightly. Suddenly, his gaze brightened, and an idea quickly formed from the depths of his Fate Soul. Since he couldn't kill him directly, he would first extract all the truly valuable things from this person.
Chen Jinrong's lips slowly curled into a smile.
"Soul extraction..." The two words were spoken softly, yet they drained the color from Hua An's face instantly. "You..." Hua An's hand, which was supporting him on the ground, trembled violently.
He certainly knew what soul extraction meant. Ordinary soul searching was merely forcibly invading the Fate Soul, searching for what was needed from memories and consciousness; the slightest carelessness could leave irreparable damage to the Fate Soul.
Soul extraction is even more ruthless. It works on the very essence of the Fate Soul, forcibly stripping away the essence that is intertwined with the physical body, consciousness, memories, and even the restrictions imposed on the Soul Thrall.
For the person being affected, the pain comes from the deepest part of their Fate Soul, and even fainting is not a true escape, because every time they lose consciousness, they may be awakened in agony the next time their essence is torn apart.
Especially since Hua An was Soul Thrall, his Fate Soul essence had already been restricted by Hua Yin. Forcibly separating them was equivalent to tearing out the traces of another person's essence inch by inch from the Fate Soul that had already grown together.
Hua An finally panicked. The forced sarcasm he had just displayed vanished completely. He dragged his heavily injured body backward, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, his eyes fixed on the increasingly sinister smile on Chen Jinrong's face.
"Senior Chen..." Even his form of address had changed. "Senior Chen, if you let me go back today, I'll pretend nothing happened. Please, please let me go!" His voice was trembling. "I will never tell my master about what happened today. I swear... We've never met, and you've never laid a hand on me. Just let me go—"
Chen Jinrong smiled. He didn't answer, but simply raised his right hand, his five fingers slowly spreading. Hua An's pupils contracted sharply. "Wait!" Chen Jinrong pressed his palm against the top of Hua An's head.
Buzz--!!! Hua An's body suddenly stiffened! The next moment, strands of dark soul light emerged simultaneously from his brow, eyes, behind his ears, and chest. At first, these soul lights were only as thin as hairs, and as soon as they left his body, they frantically contracted back. Hua An's instincts deep within his Fate Soul began to resist, and his entire body convulsed violently.
"Ah--!!!" A scream suddenly ripped through the quiet street.
Chen Jinrong remained expressionless, his five fingers slowly closing. "Come out."
Swoosh! The first wisp of his Fate Soul essence was forcibly extracted. Hua An's face contorted instantly. The pain transcended his flesh and blood; he could clearly feel his consciousness being dragged outward from its deepest core by some force. His memories, perceptions, Fate Soul, and origin were being torn apart inch by inch. He tried to struggle, but his limbs had already lost enough strength from the previous severe injuries. He could only grip the ground tightly with both hands, his ten fingers scraping bloody marks on the shattered bone.
"Chen... Jinrong..." "Stop..."
Chen Jinrong didn't stop. The second strand, the third strand, the fourth strand. More and more Fate Soul essence was extracted from Hua An's body, gathering into a constantly twisting gray-white soul shadow under Chen Jinrong's palm. With each part extracted, Hua An's body obviously deteriorated a bit. Her originally full cheeks quickly sunken, her eye sockets became deeper and deeper, and her skin began to lose its color.
As the origin of his Fate Soul was continuously exposed, his memories were also torn apart. A large number of chaotic images flashed through Chen Jinrong's perception. The Hua Lineage. Hua Yin. Hua Yuan. And -- Hua Jingyun.
Chen Jinrong's eyes suddenly narrowed. Originally, he only wanted to find something related to Hua Yin in Hua An's Fate Soul, but as he delved deeper into the soul extraction, he suddenly discovered that Hua An's memories contained a large number of fragments about Hua Jingyun.
Scenes flashed before their eyes one after another. Hua An and Hua Yuan had been ordered to remain hidden in the shadows. They did not openly follow Hua Jingyun, nor did they appear as guards. Instead, they secretly recorded Hua Jingyun's whereabouts, the people he contacted, and the time he left the Hua Lineage each time. The one who gave the order was always Hua Yin.
The coldness in Chen Jinrong's eyes gradually turned into surprise and suspicion. "Surveying Hua Jingyun?"
He didn't stop extracting souls; instead, he continued to delve deeper.
"Ah--!!!" Hua An's screams had become hoarse. As his Fate Soul essence was continuously stripped away, his struggles became weaker and weaker, with only his body convulsing violently with each withdrawal.
Chen Jinrong continued pressing down with his five fingers, tracing the memories related to Hua Yin deeper and deeper. Hua Yuan. Surveillance. Reporting. Hua Jingyun's every move. Hua Yin's repeated secret orders. More and more memories connected with each other.
Until a certain moment, a memory that had been suppressed deep within Hua An's Fate Soul Source Extremity was suddenly forcibly torn open. Chen Jinrong's movements paused for a moment, and his eyes slowly widened. What remained in the memory far exceeded mere surveillance. All the plans Hua Yin had made against Hua Jingyun, the parts that Hua An and Hua Yuan had undertaken in them, and the traces directly related to Hua Jingyun's ultimate demise—scene after scene emerged from the forcibly peeled-back Fate Soul essence.
Chen Jinrong's breathing gradually slowed, but his eyes grew brighter. He finally understood. Hua Jingyun's death was truly orchestrated by Hua Yin. And the Hua An before him was one of those involved.
"Okay..." Chen Jinrong's lips curled into a small smile, "Great..."
With his other hand, he swiftly took out a jade tablet, which hung beside him. As he activated the incantation, a faint light shone from within the jade tablet. Chen Jinrong did not overlook any key traces related to this matter within Hua An's Fate Soul, extracting Hua An's memories of Hua Yin, Hua Yuan, monitoring Hua Jingyun, and Hua Jingyun's eventual demise one by one, and imprinting them completely into the jade tablet.
Hua An could no longer call out. His mouth was still open, and only intermittent breaths came from his throat. His eyes were bloodshot, and his body was rapidly withering away under the continuous draining of his soul. His once robust body seemed to have been drained of all life force, his skin clinging tightly to his bones, his cheeks sunken, and his ten fingers stiffly curled between the broken bones.
Chen Jinrong didn't stop. He slowly pulled out the last Fate Soul essence that was most deeply entangled with Hua Yin's original restriction. With a hiss, Hua An's body suddenly stiffened, and then he completely collapsed.
The secluded street lined with skeletons fell silent once more.
Chen Jinrong released his grip. Hua An's withered body collapsed limply onto the shattered ground, her limbs motionless. Only her bloodshot eyes remained open, pupils devoid of luster, staring fixedly ahead, never closing until the very end.
He died with his eyes wide open in disbelief.
Chen Jinrong stood beside the corpse, his face expressionless. His attention was entirely focused on the jade tablet in his palm. Inside the jade tablet, traces of memories extracted from Hua An's Fate Soul essence were quietly preserved.
Hua Yin, Hua Yuan, Hua Jingyun secretly monitored and meticulously planned everything, until finally—the death of Hua Jingyun. All of this was left behind by him.
Chen Jinrong looked down for a moment, and a smile finally appeared on his lips. This smile was deeper than the one he had shown when facing Hua An.
"Truly, Heaven is helping me..." He slowly closed his five fingers, holding the jade tablet in his palm.
"Hua Yin." Chen Jinrong raised his eyes, his cold gaze sweeping over the pale, skeletal peaks on either side, looking towards the depths of Returning Light Heavenly City. "The evidence you meticulously orchestrated to annihilate Hua Jingyun— " He looked down again at the jade tablet in his palm, "Has been meticulously recorded by me."
He knew he couldn't kill Hua Yin right now. But sometimes, killing someone didn't even require wielding a knife himself. A glint of ruthlessness flashed in Chen Jinrong's eyes.
"I can't kill you." He slowly tightened his grip on the jade tablet, his smile growing increasingly chilling. "But the day I hand this jade tablet to Hua Nongrui..."
"This is your death day. I will make sure the entire Hua Lineage knows you are the biggest villain in the Hua Lineage."