Chapter 132. Soul search.
The black-clothed man gritted his teeth, enduring the agony as the Blood Absorbing Spear continued draining his blood.
Suddenly, a figure clad in white descended from the sky, instinctively looking up, the man gasped, "...Lin Xuan? How many secrets do you—"
Before he could finish speaking, Lin Xuan’s hand closed around his throat and the tremendous force lifted him clear off the ground.
His feet kicked helplessly in the air desperately trying to pry Lin Xuan’s fingers away, but it was as though an iron vice had locked around his neck.
No matter how hard he resisted, those fingers did not move in the slightest.
Lin Xuan slowly tightened his grip.
Crack... crack...
The bones in the man’s neck began creaking under the immense pressure and his face quickly turned purple.
Lin Xuan then thrust the Blood Absorbing Spear forward once more.
Puchi!
The crimson spear pierced through the man’s chest for a second time and the Blood Absorbing Spear immediately erupted with a dazzling crimson glow.
His blood essence poured into the weapon at an astonishing rate.
The black-clothed man’s heart sank to the bottom.
This man, simply wanted him dead.
He had expected Lin Xuan to at least ask who he was or which faction he served.
As long as the other party needed answers, there was still room to negotiate.
But now, there was nothing.
The Blood Absorbing Spear continued devouring his blood essence at an alarming rate.
His body rapidly weakened, realizing there was no hope of survival, a look of madness overtook his face.
"If I’m going to die, you’re coming with me!"
A violent surge of spiritual qi erupted from his dantian.
The already unstable spiritual qi within his body instantly descended into chaos.
Lin Xuan’s pupils contracted and immediately, he retreated several hundred metres.
The next instant, the heavens and earth shook violently.
A Nascent Soul expert’s self-destruction unleashed enough destructive force to level an entire mountain.
The surrounding forest vanished in an instant as thousands of towering trees were reduced to mere splinters.
The earth even caved in as an enormous crater rapidly spread outward.
The shockwave swept across everything in its path, flattening hills and sending countless boulders hurtling through the air.
Lin Xuan crossed his arms before him as the violent shockwave slammed into his body.
His white robes were torn in several places, and he was forced backwards dozens of metres before finally stabilizing himself.
A trace of blood slowly trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Amidst the violent storm of spiritual qi, a tiny golden figure suddenly shot out from the exploding body.
It resembled the miniature version of the black-clothed man, revealing his Nascent Soul.
Its tiny face was filled with terror.
"He actually forced me to abandon my body..."
Without the slightest hesitation, the Nascent Soul transformed into a streak of golden light and fled into the distance.
Its speed was several times greater than before.
As long as the Nascent Soul survived, there was still hope.
Even if it meant spending centuries rebuilding a physical body, it was far better than perishing completely.
The tiny figure desperately fled through the night.
But before he could even make it far, an overwhelming killing intent suddenly descended upon him.
The Nascent Soul’s expression instantly changed.
Without daring to look back, he pushed his speed to the limit.
Yet the pressure behind him only continued grew.
Until a familiar voice, cold enough to freeze one’s soul, sounded almost beside his ear.
"Did I say you could leave?"
The Nascent Soul’s face turned deathly pale.
He didn’t need to look back to know, he already knew, Lin Xuan had caught up.
Despair gradually filled its tiny face and at that moment, his entire life flashed before its eyes.
Started from the day he had been born in a small mountain village.
His parents had been ordinary people who struggled every day simply to fill their stomachs, yet despite their poverty, they had given him a warm childhood.
That happiness lasted only ten years when one night a tide of spirit beasts descended upon the village without warning.
By the time dawn arrived, the village no longer existed.
He had survived only because he had hidden beneath the corpse of his own father.
Later, a passing bandit group found the half-dead child and rather than killing him, they took him in.
For decades, he wandered with them from one place to another.
Eventually, the bandit group was disbanded after provoking an enemy they could not afford to offend.
He abandoned his former identity and traveled toward the Tianhe Empire, determined to climb higher than he ever had before.
His talent soon caught the attention of the Qin Family and they recruited him as one of their retainers.
For the next two hundred years, he devoted himself entirely to them.
He gradually rose through their ranks until he finally stepped into the Nascent Soul Realm.
He had never expected...
Just then, his eyes twitched and an overwhelming sense of horror washed over him.
Those were not memories naturally surfacing before death.
His soul was being forcibly searched, yet he had remained completely unaware from beginning to end.
He had served the Qin Family for centuries, but never in his life had he encountered a soul technique as smooth, subtle, and deceptive as the one Lin Xuan had just used.
Every secret he had guarded for hundreds of years was laid bare without the slightest resistance.
Only now did he truly felt despair.
There was no escaping anymore, his soul had already been forfeited.
A spear that devoured blood essence, the unmistakable trademark weapon of Lin Xuan and a mysterious soul technique capable of silently invading another’s soul without their knowledge.
He realised he never had any chance from the very beginning.
A moment later, Lin Xuan slowly withdrew his divine sense.
"So, it really was the Qin Family."
Before the Nascent Soul could utter a single word, Lin Xuan activated the Divine Soul Manifestation Art and a blade of pure soul power instantly extinguished the Nascent Soul.