By the time Lin Xiao returned to the hotel he had booked, it was already night. Though the streets outside were lit by scattered soul tool lamps, the number of pedestrians was far fewer than in Mingdu, giving the area a quiet atmosphere.
Carefully inspecting the room, Lin Xiao sat on the bed. With a flicker of his mind, a translucent shadow emerged from his body, silently concealing itself.
Flipping his right hand, a metal sphere the size of an adult's head appeared in his palm. With a light toss, accompanied by a metallic clanging sound, the sphere transformed mid-air. Six mechanical legs extended from it, landing steadily on the ground.
Then, a cannon barrel glinting with cold light emerged from the top, rotating once.
Lin Xiao gently raised his hand, and the "metal sphere" used its six mechanical arms to scuttle toward the door.
As his soul engineer rank continued to rise, the soul tools he developed had also evolved. After studying for so long in Mingde Hall, this Level 5 soul tool finally had a true sense of "autonomous movement."
After completing these preparations, Lin Xiao took out the item he had just acquired at the auction.
A carving knife, about half a foot long and as thick as a finger, soon appeared in his palm.
From bottom to top, it tapered from wide to narrow, with an extremely sharp tip at the top and a blade about half an inch wide below.
The entire carving knife had an ancient, unassuming appearance, with faint engravings obscured beneath its dark surface, adding a touch of solemnity.
Lin Xiao stared at the carving knife for a long time, calming his soul power and mental energy completely.
He knew that this wasn't the carving knife's original appearance.
The room was silent. Suddenly, Lin Xiao's eyes snapped open. Six black soul rings rose slowly around him, and the blood-red Higanbana Flower circled around him, gently swaying.
Lin Xiao had condensed his mental energy into a thin thread, slowly probing toward the carving knife.
In this world, curses were merely the product of the interaction between mental energy and soul power. The curse on this carving knife was somewhat unique, infused with traces of soul energy, but Lin Xiao was no stranger to such forces.
Three thousand years had passed. If this curse had been freshly placed by a Titled Douluo, Lin Xiao would never have dared to challenge it.
But with the passage of time, the curse's power had long since faded. Its lingering reputation as a "master-devouring" artifact was largely due to the soul fragment within it, as Martial Souls capable of handling souls were exceedingly rare.
Time ticked by, and beads of sweat formed on Lin Xiao's forehead. As expected of a Titled Douluo's work—even after thousands of years, and with Lin Xiao's exceptional mental strength, it took a full hour before an invisible barrier seemed to break.
The originally dark carving knife suddenly burst into a cyan glow, and streams of black energy detached from it, slowly coalescing into a ferocious face.
Perhaps due to being fused with the Gold of Life for too long, the hollow eye sockets of that face burned with cyan flames.
"Ke—ke—"
A strange sound emanated from the ferocious face. The shadowy figure with cyan flames darted rapidly before Lin Xiao, then lunged straight toward his face.
But Lin Xiao was prepared. The moment the face appeared, he raised his right hand, and the Higanbana Flower circling him landed in his palm. As its eerie petals bloomed, a faint fragrance filled the room.
From the flower's stamen, shadowy figures emerged one after another, pouncing toward the black shadow from the carving knife.
Ordinary people couldn't attack souls, but for Lin Xiao, he had more direct methods of dealing with them.
The residual souls he had collected in the flower's stamen, while not as capable as the assassin he had pieced together with some of its former abilities, still possessed considerable offensive power against other souls.
As the shadowy figures passed through the face, the cyan flames in its hollow eye sockets visibly weakened.
Lin Xiao's eyes flashed. He raised his right hand, channeling his soul power and mental energy into the flower in his palm. In an instant, the blooming flower floated upward, spinning rapidly.
The shadow from the carving knife seemed to be suddenly pulled by an invisible force, its movements growing sluggish.
Lin Xiao glanced at the face still struggling to resist. His first soul ring suddenly lit up, and with a flash of black light, invisible Seeds of Soul shot from his fingertips, rushing toward the face.
With a single strike, the face's resistance weakened significantly.
Just as Lin Xiao prepared to infuse more soul power into the Higanbana Flower to capture the face, a voice suddenly sounded in his ear.
"Little one, you can manipulate souls, so you must be an Evil Soul Master, right?"
Lin Xiao's expression changed instantly. His body sprang up, and by the time he landed, he was already at the door, with the autonomous soul tool cannon positioned in front of him.
The soul of the assassin, which had been hiding in the shadows, slowly emerged, its soul-energy-formed dagger glinting coldly above the face.
A Titled Douluo's soul fragment, retaining consciousness after three thousand years—Lin Xiao's heart was filled with caution.
"This seat has lured dozens of brilliant soul engineers into the path of Evil Soul Masters. I never imagined I'd fall into the hands of a true Evil Soul Master today."
"Don't get worked up, little one. You should sense that I'm not a complete soul—just a lingering consciousness. I pose no threat to you."
Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes, remaining silent, quietly assessing how much strength the face still possessed.
"Sigh, such caution. As an Evil Soul Master, you must have endured your share of hardships, haven't you?"
The cyan flames in the face's eye sockets flickered slightly.
"Relax, this seat poses no threat to you."
Lin Xiao's expression shifted subtly. He slowly retracted his Martial Soul and stood upright.
"Yes, that's it. Come closer—"
But just as the face spoke, the assassin's soul plunged its dagger silently into the cyan flames.
"Ah—"
A piercing scream rang out. Lin Xiao raised his right hand high, and as his mental energy and soul power surged forth, the face lost all ability to resist, being drawn into the Higanbana Flower like the other residual souls.
Lin Xiao gently raised his hand, letting the Higanbana Flower float before him. Within its stamen, a black shadow thrashed left and right but could not break free from its confines.
"Alright, now we can have a proper chat about what you were trying to say earlier."
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