In the world of martial arts, one works tirelessly to attain enlightenment.

Chapter 82, The Empty Soul of an Alien Race

Where are they?

The Soul Clan beings that entered appeared entirely in human form, with specks of eerie blue starlight within their translucent bodies.

It was holding a compass with a red dot that was flashing, perfectly coinciding with the white dot representing its location.

Lin Ran glanced at it and recognized it as a tracking compass with wide applications in the battlefield of the heavens.

In most cases, as long as you can detect the target's presence, you can begin tracking it.

The Soul Clan beings fiddled with the compass, thinking it was malfunctioning, but after restarting it several times, the compass remained the same.

in the dark.

Lin Ran smiled coldly and quietly left, using the power of the shadows.

Such an obvious bait, has the Soul Clan never been taught military strategy?

After leaving a few blocks.

Lin Ran stepped out of the darkness and stood in the alley, waiting three seconds before re-entering the darkness.

Less than two minutes later, the Soul Clan member holding the compass descended from the sky and landed precisely where Lin Ran had entered the shadows.

The Soul Clan creature frowned and observed for a while, then suddenly opened its hand, flipped its palm, and pressed down.

In an instant, a giant spiritual energy hand, tens of meters in diameter, formed in the air and crashed into the city with a loud bang.

Five streets were instantly smashed to pieces, leaving a handprint-like dent in the ground.

The spreading winds stirred up the bones, turning hundreds and thousands of skeletons into powder and fragments that tumbled and blew in all directions, carrying with them even more bone fragments.

The bones within a radius of several hundred meters were all reduced to fragments by this single blow.

At the very center of the handprint, a compass lay on the ground.

A crack ran through the center of the compass, damaging most of its internal spiritual energy structure and eliminating the target's aura.

At the same time, the Soul Clan members also disappeared.

The spiritual energy weakened somewhat, and several figures of the Soul Clan descended from the sky, all exuding the aura of the third rank. The surrounding dust was suppressed to the ground, and the chaotic spiritual energy was also suppressed.

A Soul Clan member beckoned to the compass, and only a barely perceptible aura was extracted.

It observed for a while, then frowned and said:

"At this moment, the aura of the Soul Clan was different from that of the human. He took advantage of the moment when his own kind attacked to kill Tuolin and then escaped into the darkness. The message did not mention that this human had mastered dark spiritual energy. The Elf Clan wanted to frame us."

Another Soul Clan member said:

"We observed the whole time. Only when Tuolin made his move was the spiritual energy stirred up so violently that we temporarily lost sight of him. The fact that the human was able to seize that moment without leaving a trace basically indicates that his strength is close to the mid-stage of the third rank."

"A human genius at the mid-stage of the third tier, completely inconsistent with the information. The mission is temporarily suspended. Go back to the Elf race and ask them to increase the bounty, otherwise they will have to compensate my Soul Clan for their losses."

Another Soul Clan member added, "Simply increasing the bounty isn't enough; we also need to call on the Shadow Clan for assistance. In their activities in the shadows, most races can't compare to the Shadow Clan."

"Can."

After the Soul Clan finished their discussion, they left the city ruins together.

Not long after.

A shadow under the eaves rippled, and Lin Ran stepped out from it.

Watching the departing Soul Clan members, he couldn't help but click his tongue.

He's willing to take the risk against any two or three third-tier Soul Clan members.

Even if the opponent stood still and gave up their defense, it would take at least five or six seconds to kill all six third-tier Soul Clan members!

Currently, the two-second time stop allows you to kill at most two enemies before you get surrounded and attacked.

Lin Ran shook her head and prepared to get up and leave.

Before leaving, he spread his mental energy outwards, covering most of the city ruins, intending to check for any items he might have left behind.

This inspection did indeed uncover some unusual fluctuations.

Lin Ran located the unusual fluctuations in a seemingly ordinary courtyard.

Behind the yard was soil, which looked like something had been planted there. In a corner covered by soil, there was a wooden board.

Lin Ran used her spiritual power to pass through the wooden planks and saw that there was a cellar below.

The unusual fluctuations were coming from the cellar.

With a wave of his hand, a gust of wind swept through, opening the entrance to the cellar.

Then press down on the soil and use earth elemental energy.

The soil near the entrance began to move, causing the entrance to expand rapidly and soon revealing the entire cellar.

Lin Ran stood up, her gaze fixed on a pile of ashes.

He waved his hand, and the wind spirit dispersed the ashes, bringing a pale blue bead buried under the ashes to his eyes.

The pale blue beads exuded a spiritual aura, their element being water, and they also possessed a sliver of life.

This appears to be a bead used to preserve souls, or something else entirely.

Lin Ran used her mental power to create a barrier, placed the bead inside, and then used her mental power to probe and observe it.

With a mental shield to buffer, it won't cause overall mental damage in the event of an accident.

The attempt was successful with ease, and spiritual energy entered the bead.

Within the azure space, numerous lines of spiritual energy exist, forming a spiritual energy model that allows the bead to absorb external water and life energy to nourish the soul at the center of the model.

The spiritual energy approached the soul, but the surrounding lines did not react, as if no warning conditions had been set.

Upon arriving in front of the central soul, a small soul was enveloped in a sea-blue shield.

The soul's shape resembles a mermaid, with the upper body of a graceful human woman and a dazzling fish tail below the waist.

The soul was shrunken into a ball, its light flickering uncertainly. Lacking both water and life essence, it was so weak that it could collapse at any moment.

Lin Ranfa exhibited signs of emotional distress and attempted to communicate with the other party, but received no response.

So he turned around and activated the skill [Curse of the Heart].

The power of the curse was incredibly smooth, completely penetrating the soul without any resistance.

Lin Ran frowned. This situation meant that the will in the soul had disappeared, and the soul was only able to exist until now by relying on the bead. His idea of ​​asking for information was likely to be in vain.

[Curse Heart, Experience +500]

[Curse Heart LV2→LV3: 300/1500]

When the curse ended, Lin Ran used the power of the curse to transfer some of his spiritual energy to her.

With the replenishment of spiritual energy, the light of the soul became stable, and the health bar increased slightly.

Lin Ran thought for a moment, then grabbed the bead and flew into the air, continuing her journey toward the target point.

During the journey, spiritual energy was continuously supplied. This soul required very little spiritual energy; what it needed was recovery time.

Along the way, they encountered several different races, some in groups and others exploring alone.

Without any communication, everything in sight was wiped out!

More than three hours later, the soul inside the bead finally showed some reaction.

Lin Ran increased the transmission of mental energy, and after another half hour, it responded with mental energy.

The azure beads shimmered slightly, and the mermaid's soul slowly emerged.

She was very beautiful, with a dazzling scale between her eyebrows and on each side of her face. The ends of her long hair were also dazzling, and her fishtail shone with the same brilliance under the light.

Lin Ran looked around and suddenly had a strange feeling.

Could this be a will-o'-the-wisp mermaid?

(End of this chapter)