Chapter 235: Soul Lock Formation
Kael immediately brought out his Shadow Slayer blades. The dark metal hummed with barely contained power, the crimson sheen catching the bioluminescent light.
The red haired man’s amber eyes locked onto the blades. His smile widened.
"Oh, a Special Grade weapon." He rolled his wrist, his own soul-crafted sword humming in response. "You must be from a great family. Now that I think about it — black hair, silver eyes — you must be a Vorn."
He started laughing. It was a cold, mocking sound that echoed through the ruined trees.
"I get to kill a Vorn today. And slaughter the fucking tribe too." He leveled his sword at Kael. "By the way, I should introduce myself. I am Cassius Draven. After all, you should know the name of your killer, shouldn’t you?"
Kael frowned. He said nothing.
Cassius’s smile vanished. "Not talkative? Fine."
He moved.
WHOOSH.
Kael activated Lightning Body and met the strike.
CLANG!
The impact sent shockwaves rippling outward, flattening moss and cracking the nearest tree trunk. Kael slid backward, blades crossed, absorbing the force of the blow. Cassius pressed forward without pause, his sword tracing arcs of compressed force that carved trenches in the ground wherever it swings.
Kael attacked back.
First Form of Sky Rending Technique — Falling Star.
SWISH-CLANG! SWISH-CLANG! CLANG!
Cross-pattern downward slashes that should have overwhelmed any opponent through sheer destructive power.
Cassius parried every single one.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
His sword moved like water — fluid, adaptive, always exactly where it needed to be. Each parry was precise. Minimal movement, maximum efficiency. His force manipulation reinforced his parries, making each deflection hit harder than the last.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Kael pressed the attack without giving Cassius space to fire any soul attacks. If this man used soul techniques, the fight became infinitely more dangerous.
Cassius pushed forward with a blast of compressed force.
BOOM!
Kael was launched backward, his boots carving trenches in the soil. He landed on his feet, sliding backward, and Cassius was already attacking again. The red-haired Draven raised his free hand and fired multiple force bullets — condensed spheres of kinetic energy that homed in on Kael’s position.
Kael created dark barriers in rapid succession.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
The first three barriers shattered almost instantly. Force bullets punched through them like paper.
Kael pulled a coin from his storage and tossed it upward.
SPIN.
A barrier rune activated, expanding into a full spherical shield around him. The remaining force bullets slammed into it and detonated against the barrier surface, the residual force dissipating harmlessly against the rune’s structure.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Kael dropped the barrier and fired multiple Lightning Fangs.
ZZT! ZZT! ZZT! ZZZT!
Bolts of crackling electricity screamed toward Cassius, forking and splitting to make them impossible to dodge. Kael turned and ran.
VROOM.
He activated Vael-Serpent Stride and shot through the forest like a dark blur.
Cassius didn’t chase. He stood still for a moment, then pointed his palm at Kael’s retreating form.
Force Manipulation.
The air behind Kael compressed. Invisible hands grabbed his ankles and yanked him backward.
YANK.
Kael’s feet left the ground. He twisted mid-air, but Cassius was already there.
CRACK.
A palm strike caught Kael’s face and slammed him into the ground.
BOOM.
The impact cratered the earth. Dust and debris erupted outward. Kael coughed blood, his vision swimming. Cassius stood over him, sword raised, the tip hovering inches from Kael’s throat.
"I’ve been wanting to do this for years," Cassius murmured, his amber eyes burning with hunger. "A Vorn. A family that looked down on my clan for generations. And now I get to carve one open myself."
He began to lower the sword.
Kael’s hand formed a hand sign.
"Universal Push."
BOOOOM.
An invisible force erupted from Kael’s body. Cassius was launched backward like a ragdoll, his sword scything wildly through the air where Kael’s throat had been a heartbeat ago.
CRASH.
Cassius crashed through two trees before stopping himself. Blood trickled from a cut on his forehead.
Kael rose to his feet, coughing blood, and formed another hand sign.
Shadow energy gathered around him. The shadow wolf materialized on his left — obsidian fur, crimson eyes, a low growl rumbling from its chest. The shadow serpent coiled from his right shoulder, scales glinting, fangs dripping with corrosive poison.
Cassius pushed himself upright, wiping blood from his lip. His amber eyes locked onto the wolf and serpent with a flicker of surprise before returning to Kael with cold amusement.
"Interesting pets. Let’s see how they handle this."
****************
Deep in the territory, the Patriarch fought three Late Spirit Soul realm Draven masters simultaneously.
He fought with overwhelming soul power.
Soul Barrage. Twelve concentrated soul spikes shredded through the Draven masters’ soul defenses, forcing them to scatter or take direct damage. BOOM. BOOM.
Soul Cage. Interlocking chains of soul force wrapped around one master, trapping him in place, disrupting his soul-mana connection. The master struggles, his techniques failing as his soul-mana connection is severed.
Soul attacks that bypassed physical defenses entirely — striking directly at consciousness, causing disorientation, confusion, and pain without leaving a mark on the body.
The three Late Spirit Soul masters adapted. They landed coordinated attacks using soul disruption grenades that created zones of disrupted soul perception, preventing the Patriarch from sensing their positions accurately. They attacked from multiple blind spots simultaneously, their soul-crafted weapons carrying disruptive glyphs that fracture soul force on impact.
The Patriarch took the damage without flinching. Blood ran from a gash on his arm. Soul cracks in his soul from the disruption grenades. But his expression never changed.
The three Late Spirit Soul masters and several mid Spirit Soul soldiers formed a hand sign together.
CHAKRA CHAKRA CHAKRA.
A complex formation spread across the battlefield — interlocking soul sigils that connected through invisible threads of soul force, forming a cage of condensed soul power around the Patriarch. The sigils pulsed with ancient, stolen power.
Soul Lock Formation.
The Patriarch frowned.
The sigils activated fully. Soul force poured into the formation from every connected cultivator, funneling power into the cage walls. The Patriarch’s movements visibly slowed as the formation weighed on his soul, compressing his soul output.
They engaged.
BOOM. CRACK. SHATTER.
The Patriarch fought back with raw, overwhelming soul power, his soul attacks shredding through their coordinated formation like paper. But the formation absorbed and redistributed the damage, distributing it across all connected cultivators. Every hit he lands is shared. Every wound he inflicts is divided among twenty souls.
The formation has created a balanced deadlock.
Then the Patriarch reached into his robes and brought out a bell.
It was small — no larger than a fist. Bone material, inscribed with sigils so ancient. When he rings it, the bell shakes the soul.
DING.
The sound was not loud. But every cultivator in the territory felt it in their bones. In their soul.
The formation flickered. One sigil cracked.
The opening appeared.
The Patriarch’s eyes burned with killing intent. His hand raised the bell again.
GGGGGOOOOONG.
GGGGGOOOONG.
The formation shattered.
One of the Late Spirit Soul masters — the one nearest the cracked sigil — staggered, his soul partially unbound from the formation. The Patriarch’s sword finds his heart before he can react.
SHLICK.
The master drops.
The remaining two Late Spirit Soul masters swallow pills — soul defense boosters that harden their soul defenses to peak capacity. They engage the Patriarch with desperate fury.