Chapter 18: Fallen Spirit Masters, A Horrifying Scene
Dusk descended.
On the road back to Spirit City from the Star Dou Great Forest, a luxurious carriage was traveling.
The driver was none other than Golden Crocodile Douluo. At this moment, he had completely concealed his aura, appearing just like an ordinary old man.
They had already traveled forty to fifty li away from the Star Dou Great Forest, with more than half the journey to Spirit City remaining. They planned to rush back through the night.
Suddenly, Golden Crocodile Douluo frowned, his arm tensed, and he pulled on the reins.
The horse whinnied, its front hooves rearing high before crashing back down as it came to a stop.
The carriage curtain was lifted, and Su Mo leaned out. 'Gold Crocodile Grandfather, why...'
Before he could finish, a gentle breeze swept by.
Su Mo's nose twitched slightly, and his brows instantly knitted together.
The wind carried a thick, pungent smell of blood!
'A village to the southeast. A group of Fallen Spirit Masters are causing trouble,' Golden Crocodile Douluo said, releasing his mental force to investigate. 'There are four of them, their strength around the Spirit Ancestor level.'
Both Spirit City and the Star Dou Great Forest are located between the two great Empires of Heaven Dou and Star Luo. Their return journey inevitably passed through the border region.
And border regions are always the most chaotic places. Although the Spirit Hall intervened to prevent large-scale wars, border friction between the two Empires had never ceased.
Such chaotic areas often saw Fallen Spirit Masters committing crimes.
'Gold Crocodile Grandfather,' Su Mo said gravely. 'One of the Spirit Hall's duties is to combat Fallen Spirit Masters. We cannot stand by and do nothing.'
Golden Crocodile Douluo gave a slight nod. 'Naturally.'
A fighting Martial Soul filled Su Mo's eyes. 'For this battle, let me handle it alone. I want to test my current strength.
If there's no life-threatening danger, please refrain from intervening, Gold Crocodile Grandfather.'
'Good,' Golden Crocodile Douluo nodded calmly.
They were merely a few Spirit Ancestors. If he, with his protection, allowed anything to happen to Su Mo, then his over a hundred years of life would have been in vain.
Golden Crocodile Douluo stamped his foot, and his figure soared into the air.
Su Mo's Black Gold Sword Wings suddenly unfurled from his back. With a single beat, he followed closely behind Golden Crocodile Douluo.
Enveloped by Golden Crocodile Douluo's mental force, the auras of the two were completely isolated, as if they had merged with the night itself.
A moment later.
They landed in a shrub outside the village.
Su Mo narrowed his eyes and looked ahead. In the next instant, his pupils contracted sharply.
Ahead was a small village with a dozen or so earthen houses.
But now, most of the houses had collapsed, wisps of white smoke rising from the broken walls and ruins.
The night wind swept by, carrying a heavy scent of blood and char.
In the central clearing of the village, a bonfire burned brightly, illuminating the entire open space.
Around it lay dozens of corpses—men and women, old and young.
Most had skin tightly clinging to their bones, sunken eye sockets, and slightly parted mouths, resembling mummies dried for hundreds of years.
Under an old locust tree at the edge of the clearing, three young women huddled together.
They trembled as they curled up, biting their lips tightly, not daring to make a sound.
The innermost woman held a two or three-year-old child in her arms, her hand firmly covering the child's mouth.
The child's eyes were wide open, sobbing and whimpering.
Beside the bonfire were four Fallen Spirit Masters—three men and one woman.
One was a Bald Stout Man, behind whom floated the phantom of a blood-red bat.
He sat cross-legged, a faint blood-red light swirling around him. Before him lay the body of a villager who had just lost his life.
Clearly, he was absorbing life force to cultivate.
Next to the bald man was a woman of average appearance.
Several black patterns adorned her neck. Her Martial Soul was a black vine, currently Binding a villager, also absorbing life force to cultivate.
Not far away, a short, fat man held a ceramic jar, tilting his head back and gulping down its contents.
A blood-red liquid trickled from the corner of his mouth, dripping onto his lapels. He paid no mind, merely gulping it down, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.
After drinking, he wiped his mouth, stuck out his tongue to lick the remaining blood from his lips, let out a long, satisfied sigh, his face full of intoxication as if savoring the most delicious food in the world.
Just then, a tall, thin man beside Fatty stood up.
His complexion was deathly pale, his eye sockets sunken, with dark circles beneath his eyes, looking like someone who had indulged excessively.
He twisted his neck, his gaze turning toward the women under the old locust tree, a lecherous smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
He took a step toward them.
'No... don't come any closer...'
One of the women, seeing his approaching figure, trembled violently, desperately shrinking back.
But her back was already against the rough tree trunk; there was nowhere left to retreat.
The tall, thin man grinned, revealing a mouthful of uneven, yellow teeth.
'Little beauty, don't be afraid,' he licked his chapped lips, his voice hoarse. 'If you want to live, serve me well. If you please me, maybe I'll let you live a few more days.'
He reached out, grabbing for the woman's lapels.
Just as his fingertips were about to touch the fabric, a sharp whistling sound suddenly tore through the night sky!
The tall, thin man jerked his hand back and quickly turned around.
His pupils instantly contracted. He saw countless streams of black and gold light, like a torrential downpour, shooting toward him.
The lecherous expression on his face vanished instantly, replaced by terror.
In haste, he released his Martial Soul—a bone blade. It wasn't the normal white of bone, but a white tinged with red, as if soaked in countless amounts of blood, giving off a sinister dark red hue.
Three Soul Rings rose from his feet: white, yellow, yellow. His Soul Power fluctuation was at the thirty-ninth rank.
The tall, thin man wanted to unleash a Soul skills to block.
However, his movements were still too slow. His third Soul Ring had just begun to glow.
The black and gold streams of light suddenly converged mid-air, forming a shape like an awl.
*Shoo—!*
The black and gold awl instantly pierced through his chest!
The tremendous impact sent his body flying backward. With a *thud*, it slammed hard into the distant ruins.
He fell to the ground, lying face down in a pool of blood, eyes wide open, already lifeless.
In his chest was a blood hole the size of a bowl, clear through from front to back. Blood gushed from the wound, rapidly spreading beneath him.
'Ah—!'
The women under the old locust tree were splattered with blood and let out screams.
At that moment, the black and gold awl did not stop. Instead, it arced through the air, suddenly disintegrating into three streams of light, each shooting toward the three people by the bonfire.
However, the sudden death of the tall, thin man had already put them on high alert.
Now, the three had already released their Martial Souls, their Soul Rings flickering around them.
Both the Bald Stout Man and Fatty's Soul Rings were of the optimal configuration.
The Bald Stout Man's Soul Power fluctuation was at the forty-fifth rank.
Fatty's was at the forty-fourth rank.
The woman's Soul Rings were white, yellow, purple, purple, with Soul Power at the forty-first rank.
The Bald Stout Man took a step sideways, positioning himself in front of the female Soul Master, as her Martial Soul was a plant-type control system Soul Master, with weaker defense.
Just as the black streams of light were about to strike, the third Soul Ring beneath the Bald Stout Man's feet suddenly lit up. The blood-red bat violently spread its wings and folded them forward.
Instantly, a blood-red barrier condensed around his body.