Ling Ye sat up from the ground, supporting his lower back; he could feel a stinging pain all over his body.
"What the hell? Shouldn't Bibi Dong be in pain?"
He sat up abruptly, cold sweat instantly soaking through the back of his tattered clothes.
"No, am I dreaming or is it real?"
"hiss!"
The movement was too large, aggravating all his injuries, and he gasped for breath in pain.
He quickly looked around.
The secret room is still the same secret room, but it's different now.
The deadly fragment of the evil soul bone has disappeared, and the woman is gone too.
There appeared to be a pool of blood on the ground.
Did Bibi Dong's first blood belong to herself?
He was a little dazed, then felt a chill in his arms and discovered a token engraved with a ghost spider.
It seemed to be reminding him that all of this was real.
He defiled the Pope, and then... he survived?
A sense of exhaustion, as if I had survived a disaster, washed over me, but this was quickly followed by an even greater panic.
Will she really let herself go?
That token didn't look like a life-saving charm at all; it looked more like a death warrant.
He needs to get out of this awful place right away!
The thought had barely formed in his mind when he instinctively tried to sense his pitiful firefly martial spirit to see if it still had the strength to crawl out.
Upon this internal examination, Ling Ye froze completely!
Where was the faint glow in my dantian?
Instead, there was an existence he could not comprehend!
It was a hazy yet majestic elven phantom, surrounded by seven brilliant and sacred halos, shimmering with light, as if containing the most primal light and life force in the world.
It floated silently, no longer emitting a faint glow, but a vast and oppressive aura, like that of a deity!
Just by sensing it, Ling Ye felt the pain in his body lessen considerably, and a warm current spontaneously flowed slowly through his damaged meridians.
What...what is this?!
Holy Spirit Puni!
My martial soul? It's mutated?!
It mutated into this powerful martial spirit from another world!
Ling Ye's heart was pounding wildly, almost as if it would jump out of his throat.
He suddenly realized that his soul power!
With a slight thought, a soul force far stronger than before surged forth, filling his entire body with a powerful sense of strength!
This strength... is at least that of a level 30 Soul Master.
Moreover, the quality of the soul power is extremely high, carrying an indescribable purity and majesty!
Once he obtains the spirit ring, he can smoothly become a Spirit Master!
Overnight, he rose from Soul Warrior to Soul Master?!
The overwhelming surprise left Ling Ye dizzy.
Eighteen years of pent-up frustration and repression seemed to find an outlet at this moment.
He clenched his fists tightly, his body trembling slightly with excitement.
Is this a case of turning misfortune into blessing? That bizarre mutation actually created such a terrifying martial soul!
Just as he was immersed in immense shock and joy, the newly generated soul power flowed spontaneously, amplifying his already heightened senses due to the mutation.
A terrifying killing intent emanated from afar without warning, precisely locking onto the direction of this secret room!
This killing intent was extremely subtle, yet it carried a soul-chilling pressure that was far beyond his ability to withstand!
He is definitely a top-tier expert!
Ling Ye's hair stood on end instantly!
They're here! The ones who want to silence us are here!
Bibi Dong clearly had no intention of letting him off the hook! Perhaps she regretted it, or perhaps she sent her men to clean up the mess!
We can't just sit here and wait to die!
The instinct to survive overwhelmed everything.
Ling Ye jumped up suddenly, ignoring the pain all over his body.
That terrifying killing intent, like a maggot clinging to a bone, was rapidly approaching!
He forced himself to calm down, focused his mental energy, and communicated with the strange new martial spirit within his body.
The phantom of the Holy Spirit Puni, surrounded by seven dazzling lights, trembled slightly.
The next moment, Ling Ye's perceived world became completely different.
In his eyes, the surroundings were no longer just cold walls and bookshelves, but had become countless lines and nodes of flowing energy.
Some are bright, some are dim, representing different distributions of matter and energy.
Suddenly, he saw a very dim energy path behind a wall on the side, winding downwards into the unknown distance.
The energy attribute on that path was completely incompatible with the light and life force of his new martial soul, filled with decay and death, but it was precisely because of this that it prevented outsiders from probing!
This is an ancient secret passage that has been abandoned for who knows how many years!
The entrance has likely been cleverly hidden!
"Found it!"
Ling Ye was overjoyed. He rushed to the wall, poured his soul power into his hands, and pushed it hard.
After his martial soul mutated, his strength also increased significantly.
The wall remained completely still.
The murderous aura behind me grew stronger and stronger; I could almost hear the faint sound of the air being torn apart!
Ling Ye's forehead was covered in sweat as he frantically channeled his spiritual power into his martial spirit.
The elven phantom flickered, and as if struck by a sudden inspiration, it pointed a finger at the most vulnerable spot of an inconspicuous energy node on the wall and uttered a low shout: "Flash!"
The space around him distorted very slightly, and the next moment, he moved forward less than a meter out of thin air!
But it was this distance of less than a meter that allowed him to pass directly through the seemingly intact wall!
Thump!
Ling Ye stumbled into a narrow passage filled with the smell of mildew and dust, and heard the faint sound of a mechanism closing behind him.
Almost simultaneously, a flash of purplish-black light appeared in the secret room, and a ghostly figure shrouded in a black robe silently appeared. He looked at the empty secret room, let out a soft exclamation, and his cold spiritual power swept over every corner.
...
Ling Ye scrambled and crawled down the dark, narrow passage, desperately trying to escape.
His heart pounded wildly. That brief spatial jump had almost drained half of his soul power, but it was worth it! It was so worth it!
This new martial soul can even interfere with space?!
Although the range is pitifully short and the energy consumption is enormous, this is a life-saving skill!
The secret passage winds and twists, leading to the deepest part of the Martial Spirit Hall's underground.
Along the way, they occasionally encountered some low-level Soul-Devouring Rats that bred underground. These creatures, which would normally keep him busy, were now trembling with fear as they sensed the majestic aura naturally emanating from Ling Ye's strange martial soul. They whimpered and fled frantically, not daring to approach him at all.
Ling Ye was certain of his abilities and had a preliminary understanding of the new martial soul's power: its extreme light and life attributes gave it a natural ability to suppress dark creatures, and it could even subtly sense energy and manipulate space!
Holy Spirit Puni is indeed extraordinary!
After running for an unknown amount of time, the faint sounds of water and the scent of fresh air could be heard ahead.
Ling Ye's spirits lifted, and he quickened his pace.
Finally, he burst out of the secret passage. Outside was a desolate pile of rocks, and in the distance was the dense forest that surrounded Wuhun City.
The sky was already beginning to lighten.
He glanced back at the Spirit Hall, which lurked with endless dangers in the morning light, his expression complex.
They survived.
I've survived for now.
But he knew things would not end there.
That token, that woman, and that terrifying pursuer...
He clenched his fist, feeling the soul power flowing through his body and the Holy Spirit Puni.
We need to acquire a Soul Ring.
Where should we go? The Soul Hunter Forest? The Star Dou Great Forest?
Will his pursuers be waiting for him outside?
Ling Ye took a deep breath of the fresh, grassy air, his gaze gradually hardening.
No matter how difficult the road ahead may be, at least he is no longer an ant that can be trampled on by others.
With a flash, he plunged into the vast forest without hesitation and disappeared.
Shortly after he left, that eerie figure appeared at the exit of the secret passage like a ghost.
His cold gaze swept over the direction where Ling Ye had disappeared, and he let out a cold snort that was hard to decipher before slowly disappearing into the shadows.
(End of chapter)