“What?! How can this be?!”

The surprised cries of the pointy-chinned elder were audible even over Lao Sha"s pained yelp. There was a reason why he was surprised.

The death blow he was so sure would"ve killed Lao Sha had…actually missed!

When it seemed like his claws were just moments away from tearing apart the soft skin of the dog, Lao Sha"s right hindleg pushed off against the claws! By using the claws as a springboard, Lao Sha was able to throw itself away from the jaws of death!

As a result, the claws deviated from its path towards Lao Sha"s heart and cut a little lower at its belly, nicking it just deep enough to draw blood.

“Aooo!!!”

And that was the reason behind Lao Sha"s pained yelps. Infuriated that it was hurt, the dog forced itself to turn around and snap its jaws at the enemy!

“Ahh!!”

Just seeing the dog"s jaws come close to the man felt like if a bucket of ice-cold water had just been dumped over his head. Without anything to lose, the man swiped his right hand at the dog"s neck!

“Crack…”

Unfortunately for him, his attack was just one step slower than the dog. Lao Sha managed to break through his armor and clamp its jaws tightly onto his throat!

“Rrrrr….” 

Lao Sha loosened its jaws. The corpse of the pointy-chinned elder collapsed to the ground with its eyes still wide-open. Even in death, this elder had eyes that seemed almost in disbelief at what he witnessed. 

A Late-stage Soul Exalt was already someone of considerable strength in this world. Dozens of years were needed to attain such a level of strength. The elder had fought many people. Killed many more. And yet, in the end, he died by the jaws of a dog… 

Lao Sha took two teetering steps back. The adrenaline running through its body was finally losing its edge on Lao Sha, and the wounds it received was finally starting to take a toll on the dog. The pain in its eyes was even more apparent now.

“Ahhh!!!”

In that moment of defenseless, two beams of black and orange light shot at Lao Sha!

“Bang!!”

The two beams struck against Lao Sha"s body and sent him flying like a bullet!

The person who screamed just now was Ceng Quans.h.i.+. He had finally recovered from the soul attack and was shaking head to toe with anger and killing intent!

Having the Soul Sentinel Scarf reflect Ceng Quans.h.i.+"s soul attack, Lao Sha devouring those attacks, Lao Sha killing the three Late-stage Soul Exalts, and then Ceng Quans.h.i.+ attacking Lao Sha. A long sequence of events in terms of action, but only a short sequence of events in terms of time! Everything took place within just a few spa.r.s.e seconds!

Ceng Quans.h.i.+"s mind had been in a state of confusion for the first few seconds. His very own soul attack made things hard for him to even think. And by the time he was fully cognizant of his surroundings…three of his underlings were already dead!

Only a few months pa.s.sed since Ceng Quans.h.i.+ became a Soul King. Not even their allies, the Beast Taming School and the Wind Lightning School, knew that the Soul Refining School had one additional Soul King to their fighting force. Ceng Quans.h.i.+ was meant to be a backup to be shown if needed. 

That also meant Ceng Quans.h.i.+ hadn"t much experience with soul attacks and why it took him a substantial amount of time to recover from it.

It was indescribable how the man felt about the death of his three underlings. Horror and anger were two good candidates, but they didn"t truly cover the extent of his emotions. The death of the pointy-chinned elder was the final straw that made him decide to kill Lao Sha right then and there.

“Lao Sha!!”

Bai Yunfei"s face went pale white at the sight of Lao Sha flying. He wanted to run on over to where the dog was to see if he was alright, but the bigger priority was Ceng Quans.h.i.+. Eyes snapping over to the man, Bai Yunfei snarled and raced forward to strike!

His first thought had been to run away. Fighting these people was logically a bad idea, but seeing Lao Sha with that peculiar ability made him rethink his strategy. By aiding the dog, the two of them were able to kill the three Soul Exalts! That meant the only one left to kill was this rather crazy-looking elder. And to further bolster his decision to fight was seeing Lao Sha injured. Rather than wanting to run away, Bai Yunfei was furious! He wanted to take revenge on this elder!

He snapped forward like an arrow released from its bow. Pa.s.sing by the short middle-aged man, Bai Yunfei pulled out the orange spear embedded in the corpse and thrust it at Ceng Quans.h.i.+!

“Die!!”

To Ceng Quans.h.i.+, it was insulting to see a "mere" Soul Warrior attack him. A beam of orange and black light manifested in front of his right hand before he sent it forward to behead Bai Yunfei!

“It"s here!”

Bai Yunfei predicted that an attack like this would come. He already knew of a way to counter it!

The armor he wore over his chest s.h.i.+mmered slightly as a sliver of soulforce was sent inside!

Swirls of black light appeared in the s.p.a.ce in front of Bai Yunfei to form a large whirlpool of energy!

Like a droplet of water into the ocean, Ceng Quans.h.i.+"s attack disappeared into the whirlpool and out of sight!

The +10 additional effect of Bai Yunfei"s armor activated!

Pain shot across Bai Yunfei"s body. Using soulforce was still something that caused his body to twist with pain whenever he used it, but that couldn"t be helped. The violet ring on his right hand glimmered once with light before flooding his body with a wave of energy!

That wave of energy was the two-thousand points worth of soulforce stored within the Violet Soul Ring. A feeling of bliss crossed over Bai Yunfei"s face as he experienced the sensation of having soulforce enter his body. The pain he felt a moment ago almost felt like a lie now that he was reinvigorated!

“Bang!!”

The limestone beneath Bai Yunfei"s feet cracked with each consecutive step he took across them. Clenching his hands tightly, Bai Yunfei brought the spear towards Ceng Quans.h.i.+"s eyes!

“What?!”

Needless to say, Ceng Quans.h.i.+ didn"t expect to see his own attack disappear into the black void. As he stood there, stunned by what happened to his attack, the spear of Bai Yunfei drew closer to his chest!

Something from the back of his mind stirred then. Something about Bai Yunfei coming at him with a spear seemed familiar…

But why?

His mind raced miles per second as it tried to place the memory to reality. It was something from three years ago when he was still just a Late-stage Soul Exalt attendant for the Soul Refining School. The entire school was in the middle of mobilizing to deal with an intruder of some kind then… 

Back then, one of the elders was struck a near-mortal blow by that intruder. Ceng Quans.h.i.+ remembered hearing someone talk about the intruder having some kind of ridiculous "arte" that allowed him to deflect soul attacks… 

He also remembered hearing about when a Half-emperor was sent out to deal with the intruder. In that fight, the Half-emperor was said to have an attack of his "absorbed" by a black whirlpool… 

The intruder was also said to have a crimson-red spear and wielded it to a horrifyingly adept degree. Many of the Soul Exalts in the school were killed without mercy like lambs to a slaughter… 

A reaper, the survivors called him.

Ceng Quans.h.i.+"s eyes snapped to the spear the person in front of him had. Superimposing the memories of that day three years ago over the person, he began to see a huge overlap… 

He quivered. His heart started to beat erratically and the blood drained away from his face. Not even his soulforce was able to keep calm!

“It"s…it"s you!! You"re Bai—”