The Fifty-Thousand-Year Void Beast King (1)
It was as if he had suddenly fallen into a thick swamp; his Soul Power stagnated instantly, and his movement speed plummeted.
The bandit's expression changed drastically. He was clearly a level 42 Soul Ancestor Soul Ancestor, but he felt as if his whole body was bound by countless chains, and even his Soul Skill were slowed down.
"What is this?!" he exclaimed.
Two Soul Ring slowly rose beneath Lin Chen's feet.
The aura of the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring suddenly dissipated, and the suppressive power within the domain intensified.
"A ten- Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring?!"
Scarface Soul Ancestor's pupils shrank sharply, and his face instantly drained of all color.
A level 20+ Soul Grandmaster with Second Soul Ring of ten thousand years?
This is no ordinary teenager!
He was about to shout "retreat!" when Lin Chen had already moved.
With a swift movement, he accelerated instantly within the domain, appearing beside a Soul Elder bandit. He pointed his fingers like a knife, condensing gray Soul Power into a blade, which he precisely pierced the opponent's heart.
puff--
The ruthless bandit trembled, his eyes widened, and he fell straight down.
Blood splattered on the back of Lin Chen's hand, warm and smelling of rust.
Two people, three people, four people.
In just a few breaths, all four ruthless bandits collapsed to the ground.
The scarred Soul Ancestor was unable to even unleash his Soul Skill before being suppressed by the domain and rendered immobile. In the end, Lin Chen shattered his heart meridian with a single palm strike, leaving him with his eyes wide open in death.
Lin Chen stood there, his hands stained with blood, his fingertips slightly numb.
My first murder. There was no breakdown as I had imagined, nor any sense of pleasure.
There was only a heavy, clear-headedness—he knew that he was doing the right thing.
These people have the blood of innocent people on their hands; they deserve to die.
"You two still want to run?" Dugu Bo's voice came from the side.
The two remaining bandits who were holding him back, seeing that things were not going well, had already turned around and fled, having already run dozens of feet away.
Just as Lin Chen was about to give chase, he saw Dugu Bo flick his finger lightly.
Two emerald green poison needles shot out from the air, moving so fast they were almost invisible.
Two soft "plop" sounds.
The two people running in the distance suddenly collapsed to the ground, twitched twice, and then lay still.
In just a few moments, all eight ruthless bandits were killed.
"See that?" Dugu Bo walked over, glanced at the corpse on the ground, and said calmly, "This is the world of Soul Master, a world where the strong prey on the weak. If you don't kill him, he'll kill you. If you're soft-hearted, you're the one who will die, the one you want to protect."
He looked at Lin Chen, his eyes filled with approval. "You did well. No hesitation, no mercy. Many self-proclaimed righteous people vomit for half a day after their first kill, but you were steady."
Lin Chen looked down at the blood on his hands, took out a handkerchief from his pocket, and slowly wiped it clean.
"They deserve to die." His voice was soft, but firm. "Especially since they were after Xiao Wu."
Xiao Wu stood beside him, gently tugging at his sleeve, her eyes sparkling with worry, not fear at all. "Brother Lin Chen, are you alright?"
"It's nothing." Lin Chen smiled at her. "It's just my first time killing someone, I'm a little unaccustomed to it."
"You'll get used to it eventually," Dugu Bo said calmly. "Don't think that killing is some heinous crime. Showing mercy to those who deserve to be killed is the greatest evil. For a sect like the Blood Shadow Society, killing one means one less ordinary person to suffer." He paused, then added, "This is the first lesson in survival. Remember, never show mercy to your enemies."
Lin Chen nodded, engraving those words into his heart.
He knew that from this day forward, he would no longer be that boy who only made minor moves in the Soul Fighting Arena.
To survive in this world, to protect those you care about, you must have the courage to pick up a knife.
"Let's go." Dugu Bo waved his hand and took the lead into the depths of the forest. "Don't worry about the corpses; the Soul Beast will handle them. Let's hurry and find the Void Beast King as soon as possible."
Lin Chen held Xiao Wu's hand and followed behind.
The wind in the forest carried the stench of blood, and the fallen leaves rustled.
The deeper you go, the denser the trees become, and the dimmer the light gets.
The branches of the towering ancient trees intertwined, blocking out the sun and making even the wind feel sluggish.
The spatial fluctuations in the air became increasingly noticeable, and occasionally one could see the scenery ahead slightly distorted, like ripples on the surface of water—that was the edge of the spatial rift, and also the activity range of the Void Beast King.
After walking for about an hour, Lin Chen suddenly stopped.
He closed his eyes and, relying on the perception of the Chaos Pearl, let his divine sense spread deep into the space along the spatial ripples in the air.
"Got it, it's right ahead."
He opened his eyes, his gaze fixed on the depths of the dense forest to his left, his tone resolute, "The spatial fluctuations are intense; it's Void Beast King. It's very old, far stronger than the one I hunted before."
Dugu Bo also released his divine sense, and after a moment his expression became slightly solemn.
"Between forty-eight thousand and fifty thousand years." He lowered his voice, "Even I, an old man, would have to deal with Space System Soul Beast of this age with seriousness."
A 50,000-year-old Soul Beast is already comparable to a peak human Soul Saint, not to mention the most unpredictable Space System. Once it escapes into a spatial rift, even Titled Douluo might not be able to stop it.
He paused, then looked at Lin Chen and added, "Your Chaos Prison Suppression Domain can completely suppress Soul Elder of the same level, and can also reduce the combat power of Soul Ancestor by 30% to 40%. But this Beast King is a Soul Saint. Your domain can only restrain it for a moment and interrupt its actions. When it makes a move, just focus on slowing down its pace. Don't fight head-on, or you'll easily suffer a backlash."
Lin Chen nodded slightly. He knew perfectly well what was going on.
Domain effects never ignore differences in cultivation levels. I'm only a level 30 Soul Grandmaster, yet I can make a 50,000-year-old Soul Beast freeze for half a breath—that's already a heaven-defying feat of the Chaos Pearl Martial Soul. If I were to forcibly seal it off, I would only have my domain shattered by the opponent's spatial power, causing a backlash against myself.
"Walk."
Dugu Bo said no more, his azure Soul Power rippled slightly, and he took the lead in heading towards the source of the spatial fluctuations.
Lin Chen, holding Xiao Wu's hand, followed closely behind. All three of them concealed their auras, trying their best not to disturb the Soul Beast deep within.
Passing through a distorted curtain of light, a sudden bright and clear view appeared before me.
A vast valley appeared before them, its bottom a bottomless spatial rift. Dark silver spatial turbulence surged within the rift, and the surrounding air was constantly twisting and folding, like glass being crushed by an invisible hand.
In the middle of the valley, a huge creature was lying on the edge of a crevice, licking its paws.
It was nearly four zhang long and resembled a cheetah, but its body was not made of flesh and blood. Instead, it was a translucent dark silver color, as if it were pieced together from countless solidified fragments of space, with pale blue spatial light patterns flowing around its joints.
Its eyes were not the deep black of ordinary Void Beast King, but light blue, with starlight seemingly flowing within its pupils. With each breath, the surrounding air would distort and deform, and even light would bend around its body.
It was the Void Beast King.
It seemed to sense the presence of the three people and slowly raised its head.