"Who exactly are you?" Despite being the one with higher cultivation, the bandit leader instinctively took a step back.
"Didn't you already get your answer?" Lin Xiao took two more steps forward before coming to a stop.
"I… you… you're from the capital?"
Lin Xiao's eyes narrowed slightly at the question. "Does it make a difference?"
"You—"
The bandit leader barely got a word out before the blood-formed Higanbana Flowers around Lin Xiao surged toward him.
The recent explosion still vivid in his mind, the leader didn't hesitate. He stomped the ground hard, his figure retreating rapidly.
But in that moment of retreat, he suddenly felt a chilling breeze brush past him.
A cold sensation prickled his skin, and strands of hair seemed to rise with the wind, as if seeping into his mind, filling his heart with overwhelming resentment.
Two identical shadowy figures slowly emerged behind him, their four hands pressing against both sides of his head. Fear crept across the leader's face.
Wu Yun and Wu Yu, the sisters, had been lying in wait nearby. Lin Xiao's appearance had drawn too much attention, causing the leader to overlook the two hidden in the shadows.
Though both sisters were only at the Soul King level, their Spirit of Retribution martial soul—a rare mutation combining resentful spirit and spiritual attributes—often caught opponents off guard the first time they encountered it.
Coupled with the sisters' near-telepathic coordination, they managed to briefly stun a Soul Saint.
In a clash between soul masters, victory or defeat often hinged on a fleeting moment. As Lin Xiao charged forward, his fourth soul ring glowed with a mysterious black light.
Fourth soul skill, Rebirth.
Like the life cycle of a flower, which blooms vibrantly before transforming into new seeds rather than wilting, Lin Xiao's fourth soul skill could awaken new Other Shore Seeds from the surrounding remains.
Now that this soul skill had reached the ten-thousand-year level, its power was even more formidable. Within the range of his soul power's influence, all blood and flesh transformed into dark red seeds that floated upward.
Even the blood spilling from the wounds of the still-living bandits surged uncontrollably.
When the leader snapped out of his daze, he saw countless dark red specks, like raindrops, hurtling toward him.
"No, no!"
Roaring in defiance, the leader forcibly broke free from the Wu sisters' control. His hands clasped together in front of him, and his seventh soul ring flared with dazzling light.
"Seventh soul skill, Martial Soul True Body!"
With a low growl, a long-handled weapon appeared in his hands, its tip slightly curved.
He swung it with both hands, creating a flurry of afterimages that deflected the swarm of blood-flesh seeds.
Lin Xiao couldn't quite make out what kind of weapon it was. But as he prepared to strike again, a sudden sense of dread gripped him.
Every inch of his skin seemed to tremble, as if some unnoticed danger was drawing closer.
Was it reinforcements for the bandits, or something else?
Lin Xiao's forward charge halted instantly. He looked up at the Wu sisters. "Fall back!"
As he spoke, a scene from another perspective flashed into his mind.
Only then did he realize that his two charges had brought him to the spot where the bandits had been. The area was littered with their scattered remains.
At that moment, he noticed that those corpses were inexplicably filled with violent soul power.
No!
Lin Xiao instantly understood. This group was indeed connected to the Hand of Death from his memory, if not the very same group. And the changes in these corpses were all too familiar to him.
He had been misled by this leader's cultivation level.
Thoughts raced through his mind. In a split second, Lin Xiao stomped the ground hard. The soul tool thruster on his back flared with blinding light, propelling him toward the leader, heedless of the weapon in the man's hands.
Boom—
The next moment, a massive explosion rang out. The already mangled bandit corpses detonated once more.
The surroundings were instantly engulfed in dust and debris, with several large craters forming in the ground.
Yet amidst the swirling dust, someone seemed prepared. A figure swiftly scrambled up from the ground, four soul rings flashing as they bolted into the distant darkness.
"Sir!"
Wu Yun and Wu Yu let out simultaneous shrieks. The Vengeful Souls behind them wailed sharply, their piercing cries carrying immense soul power that dispersed the dust entirely.
In the cleared air, neither Lin Xiao nor the leader was visible—only two figures lay collapsed on the ground.
"Sir!"
Wu Yun rushed to Lin Xiao's side. The Vengeful Soul behind her grew even more vivid, intensifying the already chilling aura.
Cough "I'm fine."
Lin Xiao stirred, his six soul rings rising with his movement. A faint black glow lingered on his sixth soul ring.
Wu Yun examined him cautiously. Aside from some tears in the cloak on his back, Lin Xiao appeared largely unharmed.
The leader, however, lay face-up on the ground, his soul power nearly depleted. He opened his mouth, spewing a large amount of blood.
"This isn't… what we agreed on…"
He muttered something, but his throat was clogged with blood, making his words unintelligible.
"Traitor… cough—cough—"
After two violent coughs and a few spasms, the leader went still, his life extinguished.
Lin Xiao turned his head, staring at the leader's corpse for a long while before finally looking away.
"Sir, is our mission complete?"
Surveying the chaotic scene around them, Wu Yu stepped forward.
"Hand of Death…" Lin Xiao softly repeated the name, then turned to the direction where the fleeing figure had gone. "There's still one fish that slipped the net. I didn't expect a true evil soul master to be hiding among these bandits."
In that moment, Lin Xiao understood much. The one who had triggered the corpse explosion and escaped in the chaos was the true leader of the Hand of Death from his memory.
"Should we pursue them?"
"We—"
Lin Xiao was about to respond when his expression shifted. He looked sharply toward the horizon, where a golden light was approaching, nearly illuminating the entire sky. Beneath that light, the blooming Higanbana on the ground seemed to tremble faintly.
"Sister."
Wu Yu, sensing something, moved closer to Wu Yun, noticing her sister's expression was off.
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