A spike of danger shot through him. Liu Jin dove to the side on instinct, only to find himself hemmed in by surging waves that had appeared out of nowhere.
There was no escape.
He clenched his jaw. Five soul rings, two yellow and three purple, rose around him, pouring out rolling waves of black mist.
At the same time, the Holy Lance wrapped in golden light had not yet struck the ground when it suddenly halted midair, as if seized by an invisible hand.
The brilliant glow gathered at the lance's tip, cutting through the gloom of the abandoned factory and shredding the black fog released by the Bone-Rot Scythe. The sickly green sheen along the scythe's blade dimmed instantly beneath that blazing radiance.
Closer.
With nowhere left to retreat, Liu Jin roared and shoved the scythe forward with all his strength. It did not move the lance's tip even a fraction.
The Holy Lance dropped like a falling star and smashed him straight into the ground.
The shaft quivered. Golden ripples burst outward from it in every direction. Liu Jin felt as if a mountain had crashed down on him, pinning him in place.
His hunched body was locked there. Even the fingers gripping the Bone-Rot Scythe trembled.
He let out a hoarse scream and drove his martial soul to its limit. Black chains shot from the scythe like venomous snakes.
The instant they touched the golden light, a sharp sizzling sound rang out. The chains dissolved into black mist.
"What is this thing?!"
Shock flashed across Liu Jin's face, quickly hardening into desperation. He prepared to burn everything he had left, to pour every last drop of soul power into the Bone-Rot Scythe and try to corrupt the lance with darkness.
The moment that dark power brushed the golden glow, it melted away like snow under the midday sun. Agony tore through him, not just physically, but from the depths of his martial soul.
Only then did Arthur drop down through the hole in the ceiling.
He looked at the fallen evil soul master from above.
With a casual motion, he lifted his hand. The Holy Lance shot back into his grasp in a streak of light. He lowered it slightly, the tip settling precisely against the man's throat. Golden energy flowed into Liu Jin's body, instantly suppressing every trace of soul power. The Bone-Rot Scythe flickered into a warped afterimage before vanishing completely.
Liu Jin collapsed. The crooked spine he had always carried finally gave out.
For an evil soul master who had been exposed and defeated, there was only one ending.
"No. Why did it turn out like this?!" he rasped, veins bulging along his neck.
His sudden movement nicked the lance's tip against his skin. A thin line of blood welled up. The sting seemed to bring him back to himself.
He glared at Arthur. "All because of that stupid spirit beast. Because of this mutated martial soul. Everything changed. The teacher who used to focus on me stopped caring. My classmates avoided me. Even my mom…"
His voice cracked at the last word. The earlier rage drained away, replaced by something close to breaking.
"I never wanted this. I just wanted to get stronger. I just wanted to shut up the people who looked down on me. They pushed me into this first."
"I was almost there. I finally found a way to gain real power."
"And now you show up to judge me? Who do you think you are?!"
He kept ranting.
Arthur did not bother listening.
He frowned slightly, genuinely puzzled. "This is a Spirit King? How is he this weak?"
A Spirit King, and an evil soul master at that. It sounded impressive enough. After all, Arthur was only a Spirit Elder.
His sparring sessions with Wu Changkong had taught him one thing very clearly: he could not afford to drag out a fight against someone of a higher rank.
His limited soul power was his biggest weakness right now. That was why he had hidden nearby, waiting for an opening.
They were close to the coast, where water-element energy was especially strong. The moment Liu Jin exposed himself, Arthur had thrown the Holy Lance with everything he had.
Even after the throw, he had stayed concealed, ready to launch an even fiercer follow-up strike if necessary.
And this evil soul master went down from a single throw?
Liu Jin was still talking, and Arthur's patience snapped. He stuck a finger in his ear and said flatly, "Are you done yet? What are you even talking about?"
He stepped back. The Holy Lance carved through the air, and the surrounding water began to spin violently around it.
The currents twisted and merged, forming a massive water dragon that shot skyward.
As the dragon's head reared back, it scooped Liu Jin off the ground and hurled him into the air.
Before he could recover from the searing pain, he saw the dragon's jaws open wide. The water dragon surged toward him with overwhelming force.
He barely managed half a scream before it swallowed him whole.
Inside the dragon's coiling body, the water churned with crushing force. His screams and the sound of bones breaking were muffled within the roaring current.
In the next instant, the water dragon slammed into the ground and burst apart into countless droplets.
The fight could have ended with a single lance. Arthur just thought this looked better.
If the evil soul master had managed to dodge the first strike, Arthur had been ready to follow up immediately with a Rising Dragon.
Just then, a sheet of dark purple paper drifted down from above.
Arthur caught it between two fingers and gave it a quick glance.
"The Blood Sacrifice Method."
His thoughts flicked to the Holy Spirit Cult and the schemes they had been carrying out in the original storyline.
"Nothing to worry about."
Arthur was confident. The Holy Spirit Cult, their plots, all of it. He would crush them sooner or later.
He glanced toward the young boy in the distance. The kid had woken up at some point and was standing there, frozen in shock.
"Be careful going out alone," Arthur said evenly. "Stay somewhere crowded."
The boy finally seemed to register what had happened. Fear flooded his face. He turned and ran.
Then a sudden chill ran down Arthur's spine.
He snapped his head toward a dark corner.
A figure stood there in the shadows.
"Impressive. Truly impressive. You're the most talented soul master I've ever seen." The man clapped slowly as he stepped forward. Even in the moonlight, his expression was impossible to read.
Arthur watched him carefully.
The man was tall, wrapped in a black cloak with the hood pulled low, revealing only the line of his jaw. Even his applause carried a measured calm, like someone completely sure of his control over the situation.
"So," the figure continued in a mild tone, "could you return what you're holding? I lent that to him. I'd like it back."
"That" clearly meant the purple paper.
Arthur did not answer.
Every instinct he had was screaming at him.
Beneath the man's calm words lurked killing intent so intense it felt unhinged.
The figure seemed in no rush. He studied Arthur with open curiosity.
After a long silence, Arthur spoke calmly. "He was just a Spirit King. Did you really need to keep such a close watch on him?"
So the man had been monitoring Liu Jin all along.
"Interesting." The figure paused, then chuckled softly beneath the hood. "You've got nerves. You can stay composed."
"What a shame. The talented never live long. You're dying tonight."
He took a single step forward.
The temperature in the factory dropped sharply. The shadows around them twisted as if they had come alive.
To his surprise, Arthur did not show even a hint of fear. Instead, a faint smile tugged at his lips.
"Why don't you look behind you?" Arthur said.
Behind me?
Confusion flickered through the man's mind, followed instantly by a surge of dread.
He turned.
Nothing.
Then he realized.
Above.
He looked up.
The moon had grown dim.
No. That was not the moon.
At some point, it had become an eye. The eye of a Light Dragon Sparrow.
That eye surveyed everything beneath the night sky.
The instant the cloaked figure looked up, amusement flashed within it. Then the pupil narrowed into a slit, locking onto him.
He froze.
He did not dare move an inch.