Don't Look Back

Two Evil Soul Masters dragged chains along the passage toward the ice chamber holding the civilians.

"Still need five more."

One of them looked thoroughly impatient.

"How much living blood do we have to feed this batch?"

The other sneered.

"Don't ask so many questions about the Furnace Master's business."

"We'll be lucky to get a single pill once they're finished."

The two passed a junction and soon reached the iron door.

But when they saw the scene outside it, both stopped.

The two Soul Ancestors originally assigned to guard the prison were nowhere to be seen.

A wooden chair lay overturned nearby.

A few drops of blood that had yet to congeal still remained on the ground.

"Where are they?"

"Where have those two bastards gone to slack off this time?"

One Evil Soul Master walked forward, cursing.

He reached out to push the iron door.

Creak-

The heavy iron door swung open on its own.

Someone had already broken the lock.

Both their expressions changed.

"What happened?"

They looked into the ice chamber.

There was no crying inside, nor any sound of civilians huddled together.

Only deathly silence remained.

Just as they were about to step inside to investigate, a calm voice suddenly came from behind them.

"Oi."

The two Evil Soul Masters spun around.

There in the shadows of the passage stood Lin Yuan, holding up the Imperial Bow.

Two iron arrows rested on its string.

"Not good-"

Whoosh!

Two streaks of cold light shot out at once.

One pierced straight between the brows.

The other entered an open mouth and punched through the back of the head.

The two Evil Soul Masters stiffened and fell in succession.

The chains in their hands struck the ice with a dull clatter.

Lin Yuan put away the Imperial Bow and strode into the ice chamber.

By then, the teachers from Skywater Academy had already organized everyone.

The nearly hundred civilians had been divided into several groups.

Those who could move supported one another, while sturdy hunters and caravan guards carried the unconscious wounded on their backs.

The children from Skywater Academy were protected in the middle of the procession.

The female teacher in charge came up to him.

"Those two just now..."

"They've been dealt with."

Lin Yuan looked at everyone.

"We're leaving now."

"Everyone, stay close. Don't fall behind."

The female teacher waved to those behind her.

"Move in the order we arranged earlier."

"Don't speak, and don't run around."

Everyone began leaving the ice chamber.

Lin Yuan walked at the very front.

His second Soul Ring maintained a faint glow as Hunting Sense covered the surrounding passages.

He could not see what lay in the distance, but he could sense the signs of life and fluctuations of Soul Power along the way.

Most of the guards along the route he had taken in had already been dealt with.

Most of the remaining Evil Soul Masters were gathered near the pill furnace.

This was their best chance to leave the ice cave.

Lin Yuan led the procession through the first passage.

Several Evil Soul Masters' corpses still lay on the ice.

Several children visibly trembled at the sight, but all clamped their hands over their mouths without making a sound.

A female teacher comforted them in a low voice:

"Don't look at the ground."

"Follow the person in front of you."

The procession continued forward.

With nearly a hundred people moving at once, even though they kept their steps as light as possible, faint scuffing sounds still echoed continuously through the ice cave.

At every junction, Lin Yuan stopped to sense his surroundings for a moment.

Only after confirming that no one was approaching did he let everyone behind him continue.

When they reached the second bend, he suddenly raised his right hand.

Everyone stopped immediately.

A presence bearing Soul Power was approaching from ahead.

Footsteps gradually grew clearer.

A patrolling Evil Soul Master came swaying from the other end of the passage, carrying a wine flask.

"Why haven't those guys at the entrance changed shifts yet..."

He had just rounded an ice pillar when he saw Lin Yuan standing ahead.

Their eyes met.

The Evil Soul Master froze for a moment.

The next instant, he opened his mouth to raise the alarm.

Whoosh!

An iron arrow instantly pierced his throat.

Lin Yuan stepped forward, caught the corpse, and dragged it into the shadows nearby.

He beckoned behind him.

The procession moved on.

"Through the next two passages, and we'll reach the entrance."

At those words, hope returned to many of the civilians' eyes.

They had been imprisoned for too long.

Many had long since believed they would die here.

Now that the exit lay ahead, they forced themselves to quicken their steps despite their weakness.

But the wounded at the rear were finding it increasingly difficult to hold on.

A hunter carrying an old man slipped and nearly fell.

Several people beside him immediately reached out to steady him.

"Let me take over."

"No need."

The hunter gritted his teeth and regained his footing.

"We're almost at the exit."

Lin Yuan did not hurry them.

This procession could not fall into disorder.

The closer they came to the exit, the more important it was to prevent a stampede at the final moment.

He stood at the junction and waited until the entire last group had passed before returning to the front.

Meanwhile.

Inside the central ice chamber.

The old man in green robes still stood before the pitch-black pill furnace.

Dark green flames lit his gaunt face.

Time trickled by.

The two Evil Soul Masters sent to fetch people had still not returned.

A Soul King responsible for transporting flesh and blood gradually began to frown.

"What's taking them so long?"

An Evil Soul Master beside him said:

"Maybe those medicinal ingredients are acting up."

The Soul King glanced at the pill furnace.

The patterns on its body had begun to dim.

This batch of pills was waiting for a fresh supply of blood essence from living people.

If the delay continued, the pills' potency would very likely suffer.

"Take a few more people over."

"See what those two useless fools are doing."

Five Evil Soul Masters put down what they were holding and headed down the passage toward the prison.

Before long, they reached the iron door.

The Soul Ancestor at the very front immediately spotted the two corpses on the ground.

"Enemy attack!"

They immediately released their Martial Souls.

The light of their Soul Rings illuminated the passage.

They rushed into the ice chamber.

It was completely empty.

Everyone from Skywater Academy and the nearly hundred civilians originally imprisoned here had vanished.

Only a jumble of footprints and discarded iron chains remained on the ground.

The Soul King leading them had a drastic change of expression.

"All the medicinal ingredients have escaped!"

He spun around and slammed his palm against a mechanism on the wall.

Clang-

The urgent ringing of a bronze bell suddenly sounded.

Immediately afterward, the alarms throughout the entire ice cave were triggered at once.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

The piercing bells echoed wildly through the maze of passages.

The ice cave had been jolted fully awake.

The silent ice cave erupted into an uproar.

"Intruders!"

"The medicinal ingredients have escaped!"

"Seal the entrance!"

Stone doors were pushed open one after another.

Numerous presences bearing Soul Power rose from the depths of the ice cave and rapidly spread toward the various passages.

Lin Yuan stopped abruptly.

Within his Hunting Sense, the previously scattered presences were all moving at once.

Their destination was the exit.

"We've been discovered."

The expression of the Skywater Academy teacher in charge changed.

The civilians behind her had heard the alarm as well.

Their suppressed fear erupted in an instant.

"They're coming after us!"

"Run!"

"I don't want to die here!"

The group instinctively picked up speed.

One of the wounded was knocked off balance and fell heavily onto the ice, nearly tripping several people behind him.

"Don't push!"

Lin Yuan shouted sternly:

"Help the wounded up and protect the children!"

Several teachers from Skywater Academy immediately spread out through the group.

"Don't panic!"

"Follow the people ahead of you!"

"The exit isn't far now!"

The chaotic crowd steadied again.

But they still couldn't move any faster.

Among the nearly hundred civilians, many were seriously wounded.

Several others had already fallen unconscious and could only be carried on other people's backs.

Lin Yuan brought up the rear, constantly activating Hunting Sense.

Their pursuers were drawing closer.

Dozens of Soul Power signatures converged from different passages, rapidly closing the distance.

Several of those signatures were far stronger than those of ordinary Soul Ancestors.

"Pick up the pace."

Lin Yuan looked back toward the front.

"The exit is just beyond this passage."

The sound of wind and snow outside had already reached the ice cave.

The civilians at the very front could even see the white light spilling through the entrance.

Hope was right before their eyes.

But dozens at the rear had yet to make it through the passage.

An elderly civilian's legs were giving out, and he nearly dropped to his knees several times.

The young man supporting him was also badly wounded, leaving faint traces of blood behind with every step.

The Skywater Academy teachers gritted their teeth and channeled the little Soul Power they had just recovered to help the wounded forward.

The footsteps behind them grew clearer.

They could even faintly hear the Evil Soul Masters' angry curses.

"Catch them!"

"Don't let a single one escape!"

"The Furnace Overseer has ordered us to break the arms and legs of anyone who resists!"

The first batch of civilians ahead finally rushed out of the ice cave.

A bone-chilling wind struck them head-on.

Then came the second batch.

The third.

But those at the rear were still some distance from the exit.

Lin Yuan stopped.

The teacher leading the Skywater Academy group noticed and immediately turned back.

"Why did you stop?"

"Take them away."

Lin Yuan turned to face the depths of the ice cave.

"The pursuers are almost here."

The female teacher's expression changed.

"What about you?"

"I'll cover the retreat."

"No."

She refused immediately.

"There are too many of them coming. You can't hold them off alone!"

Lin Yuan glanced at the civilians still struggling forward.

"If I don't stay, they won't get away."

"But-"

"Don't waste time."

Lin Yuan raised the Imperial Bow.

Cyan-blue light slowly lit up along the bow.

"Once you're out of the ice cave, head south immediately."

"Don't stop."

The female teacher clenched her fists.

She looked at the boy's back before her, then finally gritted her teeth and turned away.

"Everyone, keep moving!"

"Hurry!"

The group picked up speed again.

Several children from Skywater Academy kept looking back.

They could see Lin Yuan standing alone in the middle of the dim ice passage.

Opposite him, the dense glow of Soul Rings kept lighting up within several passages.

More than a dozen Evil Soul Masters were the first to charge around the corner.

More figures were approaching behind them.

"Over there!"

"He's the one who let the medicinal ingredients escape!"

"Kill him!"

Lin Yuan drew an iron arrow from his quiver.

He bent his bow.

Nocked the arrow.

Cyan-blue Power of The Hunt swiftly covered the shaft.

He drew the bowstring into a full moon.

Whoosh!

The iron arrow left the string.

It streaked through the ice passage, abruptly splitting in midflight.

One became ten.

Ten became a hundred.

Dense cyan-blue arrow light filled the entire passage, like countless meteors plunging toward them.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions rang out one after another.

The cyan-blue rain of arrows instantly engulfed the Evil Soul Masters at the front.

Violent blasts swept up shards of ice, smoke, and dust, completely obscuring the passage.

The ice walls shook violently.

Cracks rapidly spread in every direction.

Lin Yuan turned and looked at the Skywater Academy group and the civilians still evacuating.

"Go!"

"Don't look back!"

With that, he turned and went alone to meet the pursuers charging toward him.