Lin Xiao's Choice

Lin Xiao felt a burning pain in his left arm.

After separating from Lu Yuan, he didn't go far at all. When the Soul Emperor's "Search!" exploded, he was crouching in the shadow of a crooked stone pillar, less than thirty feet from the explosion point. He heard Lu Yuan roll into the crevice, and the anxiety in his heart calmed down.

Together, they can't escape.

The conclusion was swift and decisive, without the slightest hesitation. He licked his canine teeth; the taste of blood still lingered in his mouth. "Fine, let's try something different then."

He took a deep breath, channeled his Soul Power into his feet, and his figure floated out like Gui Mei. Instead of rushing directly into the distance, he deliberately kicked a loose pebble away, circling around the edge of the Soul Emperor's perception.

Splash--

The sound was particularly jarring in the deathly silent stone forest.

"Over there!" a Cloud Mist Sect disciple immediately shouted, and several auras locked onto them.

This was exactly what Lin Xiao wanted. He twisted his body and unleashed his full power in the opposite direction from where Lu Yuan was hiding in the cave. The Nether Civet Martial Soul possessed him, leaving only a blurry afterimage and a sudden, sharp sound of wind breaking in the darkness.

"Chase him!" The old Soul Emperor's voice was filled with suppressed rage. "Leave him alive! The item is on him!"

Footsteps, shouts, and fluctuations of Soul Power instantly surged forth, like a swarm of startled bees, rushing towards the direction Lin Xiao had fled. The pressure eased dramatically, and Lu Yuan was temporarily safe.

Lin Xiao didn't turn around.

He had only one thought in his mind: the longer it dragged on, the greater the chance of Lu Yuan escaping. As for himself... he grinned, tasting a hint of madness. Let's give it a try and see if these Cloud Mist Sect scum can catch a Hell Spirit Cat that's completely unleashed.

The Stone Forest's terrain is outrageously complex. Jagged stone pillars, crisscrossing crevices, undulating terrain, and ubiquitous, disruptive Soul Power —it's a death trap for ordinary Soul Master, but for a top-tier Agility Attack System like him, it's a natural hunting ground.

At least initially.

Three figures, all Soul Ancestor, were the first to pounce. They were fast and coordinated perfectly, forming a triangular encirclement. Lin Xiao darted between the stone pillars, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. Several times he seemed about to be surrounded, but he always managed to slip away from an unbelievable angle. His left arm injury affected his strength, but his combat instincts remained.

One of the Soul Ancestor was chasing too fast and stepped into an area with slightly stronger turbulent Soul Power, causing his figure to pause slightly. In that instant, Lin Xiao turned back as if he had expected it, and a faint light flashed at his fingertips.

"Laugh!"

The Soul Ancestor groaned, a spray of blood erupting from his shoulder. It wasn't a fatal wound, but it hurt enough to distort his movements. Lin Xiao used the force to push off a side pillar, accelerating again and leaving the other two a short distance behind.

"Damn it, slippery!" the injured Soul Ancestor cursed, tearing off a piece of his clothing to hastily bandage himself.

"Stop talking nonsense, his left arm is injured, he won't last long!" The leader of the Soul Ancestor members' eyes were sinister. "Waste him to death!"

The chase continues.

Lin Xiao did indeed feel his left arm growing heavier and heavier. The burning pain wasn't just from the skin and flesh; the chaotic Soul Power was invading his meridians, like countless fine needles stirring inside. His Soul Power was also being consumed at an alarming rate. He tried his best to use the terrain to reduce direct confrontation, but he couldn't shake off the tail behind him, and it seemed that the number of people was still increasing.

The old Soul Emperor didn't personally chase after them, but that heavy sense of oppression always enveloped the area, like a large net slowly closing in. Lin Xiao knew that he was just struggling in the net.

We need to find an opportunity.

His mind raced, and he suddenly remembered that Lu Yuan had mentioned that the Cloud Mist Sect was paying close attention to the stone pillar forest in the southeast corner, conducting frequent probes. There might be something there, or perhaps... it was an opportunity.

The direction suddenly changed.

Instead of simply moving away, he began to meander towards the southeast corner of the stone forest. His route became even more treacherous, deliberately choosing narrow, difficult crevices where Soul Power was most chaotic. The pursuers were indeed led astray, cursing incessantly.

The distance was closing. Lin Xiao could hear heavy breathing behind him, as well as the faint fluctuations of his Soul Skill charging up. He pressed his tongue against his palate, calculating the distance and his stamina.

Just as they were about to be grazed by a Wind Blade coming from the side, the scene in front of them suddenly changed.

It's not a stalagmite forest.

It was a huge, charred crater.

Lin Xiao's pupils contracted sharply, and his sprint came to an abrupt halt, his feet scraping against the gravel with a screeching sound. He ducked down behind a crumbling boulder, only one eye showing.

The sight before him made him gasp for breath.

The ground collapsed, its diameter exceeding ten zhang (approximately 33 meters), its edges jagged, as if it had been violently blasted open from the inside. The pit was a mess, a mixture of charred mud and rubble, emitting a pungent, strange odor a mixture of sulfur and some kind of molten metal. Most striking were the corpses—or rather, the charred remains. Barely recognizable as human, they were curled up, frozen in the agonizing posture of their final moments, their clothes and flesh almost fused together, emitting wisps of smoke.

But what made the hairs on the back of Lin Xiao's neck stand on end was the trace of Soul Power remaining in the center of the pit.

Violent, chaotic, and destructive. One force was the familiar, disordered earth vein Soul Power belonging to this stone forest; the other... was a blinding, violently penetrating lightning-attribute Soul Power! The two forces seemed to have clashed and exploded fiercely here, leaving behind large areas of Spiderweb -like charred black lines, deeply imprinted into the rock.

In the center of the pattern, a pile of twisted metal debris was half-buried.

That thing... Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes. Although it was severely damaged, he could roughly tell that it was a complex device. The base had a fixed slot, on which were connected a broken conduit and a shattered crystal core, as well as some metal rings covered with runes that he couldn't understand. It was Soul Tool, and a rather precise and large one at that.

The reason for the Cloud Mist Sect's failed probe has been found.

They didn't fail to find anything; rather, they found it but triggered something deadly. Was this device... extracting the earth's ley line Soul Power? Or attempting to guide, or even detonate, that lightning-attribute power? Judging by the disastrous state, they had clearly gone awry.

No wonder that old Soul Emperor was both wary and annoyed by the southeast corner.

Lin Xiao's heart pounded. This intelligence was crucial. Lu Yuan's brain could definitely extract even more from this. He stared intently at the pile of wreckage and the surrounding traces, forcing himself to memorize every detail—the style of the device, the direction of the runes, the range of the explosion's spread, the distribution of the remaining Soul Power...

"Over there!" The pursuer's voice drew closer, interrupting his gaze.

Lin Xiao gritted his teeth, glanced one last time at the deadly pit, and turned to flee. But this brief delay, coupled with the continued deterioration of his arm injury, ultimately slowed him down.

A figure appeared like Gui Mei blocking their path.

Not Soul Ancestor.

It was that old Soul Emperor.

He had silently blocked the way without anyone noticing, holding the wooden staff inlaid with bluish-gray crystals, his face so gloomy it could drip water. His gaze first swept over Lin Xiao's face, then passed over him, and was cast towards the direction of the charred crater in the distance, a hint of barely suppressed fear and an overwhelming sense of annoyance flashing in his eyes.

"You ran pretty fast," the old man said, his voice dry and cold, like the friction of a stone.

Lin Xiao remained silent, his muscles tense, his amber vertical pupils narrowed to slits, locking onto his opponent. The Soul Emperor's pressure pressed down like a mountain, making it difficult for him to breathe. There was no escape, at least not now.

The old man tapped his wooden cane gently.

The invisible Soul Power instantly transformed into tough ropes, wrapping around him from all directions. Lin Xiao tried to dodge, but the sharp pain in his left arm slowed his movements by a fraction. The Soul Power ropes had already reached him and tightened abruptly. He groaned, forcibly bound to the spot, unable to move.

"Where are your accomplices?" The old man took two steps closer, looking down at him with an expression that suggested he was examining an object, or rather, a clue. "Where is it?"

Lin Xiao struggled, but the Soul Power rope dug into his flesh without moving an inch. He simply stopped struggling, raised his head, grinned, revealing teeth stained with blood. He laughed, a wild laugh, a laugh that seemed utterly nonchalant.

"You guess?"

The Soul Emperor's eyes suddenly turned cold. The temperature of the surrounding air seemed to drop a few degrees. His fingers, gripping the wooden staff, tightened slightly, and a dim light flashed in the bluish-gray crystal.

Just then--

"Boom!!!"

On the other side of the stone forest, in the far west, a muffled yet extremely penetrating roar suddenly resounded! Immediately following was a violent and chaotic burst of Soul Power, which could be clearly felt even from this distance.

The direction of the Mo Chen rendezvous point.

The old Soul Emperor frowned deeply and abruptly turned his head to look in the direction from which the explosion had come. For the first time, a clear crack appeared on his gloomy expression—a crack of surprise, a momentary weighing of his options, and a hint of annoyance at being caught off guard.

He glanced at the bound Lin Xiao, then at the direction of the explosion, and finally at the chilling crater in the southeast corner.

One was captured, but the other might have escaped. What's with all this sudden commotion? Is it a backup plan? A trap? Or a diversionary tactic?

Just that one moment of hesitation.

Lin Xiao was bound by Soul Power ropes and unable to move, but he stared intently at the old man's profile. He licked the blood that seeped from the corner of his mouth and said nothing more, but the arrogance and mockery in his eyes were almost overflowing.

The wind howled softly through the cracks in the stone forest. The aftershocks of the distant explosion gradually subsided, but the lingering questions and choices weighed heavily on this dimly lit world.