Two Soul Douluos, several Soul Saints...
How could the experts of the Spirit Empire gather here?
As his thoughts raced, a masked figure in black night-traveling attire leaped high from the treetops. A pair of ape-like arms, covered in thick fur and spanning about three meters, emerged from the void, uprooting a giant tree embedded in the ground. He hurled it towards the direction Qin Ming and his group were fleeing, the leaves brushed by the air even catching fire!
"Whoosh—!"
An extremely keen sense of hearing picked up the sound of breaking air from behind.
Qin Ming executed a clean rolling dodge. Seeing the giant tree flying towards them like a cannonball, his face changed. Eight powerful soul rings floated up from beneath his feet. The sixth, a pitch-black halo, blazed brightly. A majestic wolf head materialized from flames that appeared out of thin air. Its snout lifted, and a clear wolf howl emanated from its gaping maw.
"Sixth Soul Skill, Blazing Heaven's Inferno!"
Centered on Qin Ming's spirit, the Blazing Fire Wolf, waves of flame spread outwards with the undulating wolf howl. Several clusters of fire condensed in the air, launching a powerful attack towards the enemies marked by his spiritual detection.
Under the fierce assault of the fireballs, the flying giant tree was torn to pieces. Several masked soul masters lurking in the shadows unfurled their soul rings and soul skills, forcefully defending against Qin Ming's area-of-effect attack.
But Qin Ming's goal was precisely to ascertain how many people were hidden and where they were.
However, upon seeing the soul rings lighting up and the sheer number of black-clothed soul masters, twenty in total, Qin Ming's heart sank to the bottom.
The black-clothed soul masters, forced out of their hiding places by Qin Ming's sixth soul skill, had almost formed a circle around them.
Realizing they were surrounded, the students turned pale. The assault-type battle soul masters maintained their spirit possession, shielding the support-type soul master among them, a male student named Fang Xiaoyu, their backs to the soul masters guarding all directions.
"Teacher Qin, we're surrounded."
Hao Chen tried to remain calm.
Qin Ming's gaze deepened. The next second, his wolf-transformed right arm slammed onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of earth and dust, instantly obscuring their clear vision.
A Soul Saint blocking their path was startled. Just as he was about to unleash a lethal soul skill and charge into the obstacle, a pale blue figure, accompanied by the scattering sand and dirt, arrived swiftly. A wolf's claw, swift as lightning, gripped his neck and squeezed, producing the sound of cracking cervical vertebrae.
"Go!"
Qin Ming growled. Before the sand and dirt had settled, he saw the students in the direction his teacher had rushed off and quickly followed. The chase began anew.
Though unable to see them, the black-clothed soul masters, discerning their footsteps, moved their bodies. Their eyes glinted with killing intent as they unhesitatingly activated their Spirit Incarnation forms, striking towards the areas where footsteps were most dense with deadly force.
"Seventh Soul Skill, Spirit Incarnation!"
Qin Ming, also activating his Spirit Incarnation without hesitation, raised both arms to block a cross slash coming from directly behind them. He then bent his knees, ducked to avoid another attack lunging for his throat, and slammed down heavily on the attacker's abdomen.
The scorching soul power instantly melted flesh and skin, as if swallowing molten lava. Internal organs sizzled and dissolved amidst the explosive, scorching energy collision. Within two breaths after being flung away, the Soul Saint's life was extinguished. Su Dan Novel Network
But the trouble didn't end there.
Other Soul Saints perched on treetops or on the ground, attacking Qin Ming, paid no heed to their companion's death. They repaid his aggression with lethal force, aiming to kill Qin Ming regardless of the cost.
"Bang bang bang!"
The sounds of hard collisions were incessant.
Qin Ming, with varying degrees of bone fractures in both arms, gritted his teeth. He kicked and broke the neck of the trembling Soul Douluo he was facing. With a powerful push, he caught up to the second Soul Douluo who was reaching for his four students. He activated his fourth soul skill. As he ran, a sea of orange-red flames ignited the ground, forming a fiery path, and he shot towards the Soul Douluo like a cannonball.
"Trying to save them? Dream on!"
Three more Soul Saints flew out from the dense forests on their left and right. The Spirit Incarnations of different races clashed fiercely. Qin Ming staggered, forced back dozens of meters. He looked frantically at his students, who were still fleeing ahead.
Disaster!
Perhaps when one is down on their luck, even drinking cold water can scald their mouth.
A female student, not noticing the bluestone beneath her feet, tripped. With the force of her momentum, she was thrown over a meter away. Her knee was scraped red, but fortunately, given a soul master's physique, it was just a stinging pain, not bleeding.
She braced herself on the ground with her hands and was about to get up when a terrifying pressure descended from the sky, accompanied by a bone-chilling killing intent, pinning her in place!
"Ye Lan!"
Turning back and seeing this, Fang Xiaoyu roared the female student's name with bared teeth.
Ye Lan's face turned ashen. She stiffly raised her head. A large palm, flowing with brown light patterns, grew larger and larger in her pupils. Along with it, the despair in her heart deepened.
It's over...
Under the Spirit Incarnation, the colossal hand of the Demonic Moving Ape descended mercilessly towards the female student Ye Lan, who was pinned by the powerful soul pressure. To Qin Ming's heartbroken and resentful gaze, the Demonic Moving Ape struck the ground with a resounding blow, creating a massive pit in the shape of a handprint.
Judging by the perfect fit with the ground's curvature, Fang Xiaoyu and the others could almost imagine their classmate being smashed into a pulp!
"Ye Lan!"
Qin Ming's aura surged. A powerful soul pressure exploded from him, knocking back the other three Soul Saints surrounding him. He stomped his foot heavily, accelerating forward, and clashed forcefully with the Demonic Moving Ape, which had raised its hand.
The Soul Douluo grunted. He and Qin Ming retreated simultaneously, creating distance.
Qin Ming's eyes burned with the bright flames of the Blazing Fire Wolf. His expression of grief hardened as he saw the smooth earth pit. The retreating Soul Douluo swallowed the blood rising in his throat and cursed silently, calling it a pretense.
He clearly hadn't touched that little girl just now!
Curses aside, the Soul Douluo also realized something was amiss.
This Soul Douluo with the Blazing Fire Wolf spirit was, like him, an assault-type battle soul master. How could he possess a soul skill that could stealthily take someone away without a sound, unlike Lord Ghost Douluo?
If the opponent had such a soul skill, he would have used it long ago, right?
Equally dumbfounded were the other three students, especially Fang Xiaoyu. Looking at the bloodless pit, he stammered out the thought on everyone's mind: "Ye, where is Ye Lan?"
Qin Ming didn't know either.
He pursed his lips tightly, warily eyeing the black-clothed soul masters who had caught up and once again surrounded them. He shifted his stance, positioning himself in front of the remaining three students, his Blazing Fire Wolf's massive tail coiling around them, shielding them.
The Spirit Empire soul master experts, realizing there was likely a third party present, also stopped moving.