33: Chapter 33 The Cicada Awaits: The First Test of the Soul Imprint

Above the canyon, the mountain wind was piercing, rustling the dense canopy, yet it could not drown out the roar of energy and the dying growls of the beast from the forest below.

Lin Yan crouched at the edge of the cliff, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's, piercing through the gaps in the leaves to take in every detail of the battlefield below. His soul perception spread out like an invisible spiderweb, not only locking onto the positions and energy fluctuations of the three Black Robed Men but also carefully probing every subtle change in the pale cold flame within the skull.

"The one on the left holding the chain, a three-star Dou Ling, affinity leaning towards darkness. The ghost fire on the chain is adept at corroding Dou Qi and paralyzing nerves; movement speed is average, weak point on the right." The cold, precise analysis flowed through Lin Yan's heart like a machine. The extreme calmness brought by the Pure Corrosion Soul Seal was fully utilized at this moment, allowing him to discard all distracting thoughts and emotional fluctuations, leaving only the purest tactical deduction.

"The one on the right holding the chain, a two-star Dou Ling peak, agile figure, the chain's movement trajectory is tricky, accustomed to using the companion on the left as a shield, attacks are insidious. The core threat comes from the one at the back holding the bone staff, a four-star Dou Ling, soul power is solid, that pale cold flame in the skull... is essentially a severely diluted, mixed with other sinister soul power, inferior Seed Flame of Purifying Soul Flame. It has a weak pull on my Soul Seal, but the threat is not significant. Its spellcasting pre-swing is obvious, needs close-quarters interruption."

Xiao Yi Xian was beside him, her jade-green eyes fixed tightly on the scene below, gray-purple poison power lingering silently at her fingertips. She was also observing, looking for the most suitable timing and angle for a poison power invasion. Chi Rong was lurking in the shadows of the rocks further back, his dark golden vertical pupils burning with fighting intent, molten energy surging quietly within his body, waiting only for Lin Yan's command.

"System, simulate the best raid route and attack sequence." Lin Yan thought silently.

[Simulating... Calculating enemy reaction time, potential behavior of Purple Lightning Cloud Leopard, terrain obstacles...]

[Plan generated: host and battle pet (Chi Rong) frontal feint to attract attention, Xiao Yi Xian flanks to corrode the two chain Dou Lings with virulent poison, host uses Seed Flame of Void Devouring Flame to interfere with the bone staff Dou Ling's spellcasting, Chi Rong exerts full power to attempt to severely injure one. Key: Speed and surprise. Success rate: About 70%. Recommended priority target: The two chain Dou Lings.]

Seventy percent, that was enough!

"Listen for my signal." Lin Yan's voice was extremely low, yet carried an unquestionable decisiveness, "Chi Rong, when I count to three, you spit a lava fire pillar from the front. Don't seek to kill, just create maximum chaos and attract firepower. Xiao Yi Xian, left three, right four, poison-corrode the meridians, the faster the better. I'll deal with the one holding the staff."

"Yes, Master (Lin Yan)!" Chi Rong and Xiao Yi Xian responded simultaneously.

Below, the battle was nearing its end. The Purple Lightning Cloud Leopard was covered in blood, its purple fur charred black in large patches by the ghost fire, and its silver lightning had become intermittent, its aura withered. It let out an unwilling roar, exhausting its last strength, and a thick purple lightning pillar bombarded the chain Dou Ling directly in front.

Now!

"One, two, three—act!"

Just as Lin Yan's internal countdown finished, below the cliff, Chi Rong's lava giant mouth, which had long been ready, suddenly opened!

"Roar—!!!"

A violent lava fire pillar, with a diameter far exceeding the previous ones and interspersed with dark golden light, erupted like a volcanic eruption, carrying a scorching pressure that burned everything, slamming into the battlefield from the side above! The target was not any specific person, but directly hitting the open space between the three Black Robed Men and the Purple Lightning Cloud Leopard!

"Who is it?!" The three Black Robed Men turned in shock. This sudden attack had power far exceeding their estimates, and that scorching, violent fire-attribute energy was naturally contradictory to their sinister, cold soul power!

The lava fire pillar exploded, flames and gravel splashing everywhere, instantly throwing the original formation into disarray! The scorching heat wave caused the two chain Dou Lings to pause, their protective ghost fire flickering unsteadily.

In this moment of chaos, two almost imperceptible gray-purple streams of light, like venomous snakes emerging from their holes, took advantage of the explosive smoke cover to shoot cunningly toward the two chain Dou Lings!

Xiao Yi Xian had struck! She pushed the poison power she had just refined, which fused a trace of Xuanming True Water characteristics, to the limit. The toxicity added an extra layer of cold, corrosive power, specializing in breaking Dou Qi defenses and striking directly at vital meridians!

The three-star Dou Ling on the left reacted slightly faster, roaring as he swung his chain to parry. The gray-purple light hit the chain, instantly corroding it with hissing white smoke, and a strand of cold poison power spread up along the chain, making his arm numb! The two-star Dou Ling on the right was distracted by a piece of flying lava gravel and failed to avoid it completely. The gray-purple light grazed his shoulder, his robes instantly rotted, and his skin felt a strange, burning, yet bone-chilling pain, and the Dou Qi circulation in his meridians immediately became sluggish!

"Careful! There's an ambush! It's poison!" Both were shocked and angry.

However, the real killing move had only just arrived!

Just as the lava fire pillar exploded and the two chain Dou Lings were injured by the poison, a figure shot down from the shadows of the cliff like a ghost! The speed was so fast that it left trails in the air; it was Lin Yan, who had pushed "Explosive Step" to the limit!

His target was the four-star Dou Ling staff-user who had just raised his bone staff, attempting to stabilize the formation and find the attacker!

"Arrogant! Courting death!" Although the staff-user was shocked, he was not panicked, a fierce look flashing in his eyes. He was the strongest of the three, with rich combat experience. Seeing Lin Yan charging directly at him, he did not dodge or evade, and the obscure incantation in his mouth was completed instantly. The pale cold flame in the eye sockets of the skull at the top of the bone staff flared up!

"Soul Flame Impact!"

A condensed pale fire pillar, carrying the bone-chilling cold and corrosive characteristics that could freeze the soul, shot toward Lin Yan! Wherever it passed, the air seemed to be frozen into fine ice crystals.

Facing this strike, which was enough to severely damage the soul of an ordinary Dou Ling, Lin Yan's eyes remained cold and calm. He did not even make any defensive or evasive movements, but between his eyebrows, that pale "Pure Corrosion Soul Seal" suddenly lit up!

A more refined, more ancient, and colder soul power fluctuation radiated from Lin Yan as the center! The incoming pale fire pillar, the moment it touched this fluctuation, actually trembled and twisted violently, as if a subject meeting a monarch! Its internal energy structure began to destabilize, its power greatly reduced, and even a portion of the pale flame, like a swallow returning to its nest, actively broke away from the fire pillar, floating toward the Soul Seal between Lin Yan's eyebrows, and was quietly absorbed!

"What?! This is impossible!" The staff-user's pupils shrank, and he exclaimed in shock. The "Purifying Soul Flame" he relied on to make his name was actually so easily suppressed, even... absorbed by the opponent? The aura of the Soul Seal on the opponent... actually made the Seed Flame in his skull feel fear and submission? What the hell is this thing?!

In this split second when he lost his composure, Lin Yan had already passed through the weakened pale fire pillar and approached him! His right hand formed a claw, the pitch-black and profound Seed Flame of Void Devouring Flame wrapping around his fingertips, carrying a terrifying aura that swallowed everything, and he grabbed fiercely at the skull burning with the pale cold flame!

"Void Devouring Flame Claw!"

At the same time, his left fist struck out silently, the double dark energy of Eight Extremities Collapse compressed to the limit on his fist, aiming directly at the staff-user's heart!

The staff-user was a four-star Dou Ling after all, and at the critical moment of life and death, he exploded with all his potential. He roared, not caring about the skull, a pitch-black soul power shield appeared on his left hand to block his chest, and his right hand swept the bone staff, smashing toward Lin Yan's head, attempting to force him back.

"Clang!"

The Void Devouring Flame claw collided with the skull! Pitch-black flames and pale cold flames intertwined and annihilated violently! The skull let out an unbearable moan, cracks appeared on the surface, and the pale Seed Flame inside seemed to encounter its natural enemy, swaying and retreating frantically!

"Puff!"

The dark energy of Eight Extremities Collapse hit the soul power shield! The shield vibrated violently, cracks like spiderwebs appeared, and a tricky, scorching force penetrated the defense, drilling into the staff-user's body, causing his blood to churn, and he let out a muffled groan, his offensive momentum stalling.

Lin Yan ignored the staff smashing toward his head, just tilted his head slightly, letting it graze his temple, bringing up a trail of blood. His right hand, five fingers suddenly closed!

"Crack!"

The skull burning with the pale cold flame was actually ripped straight off the bone staff! Pitch-black flames instantly enveloped it, frantically devouring the pale Seed Flame and mixed soul power inside!

"Ah—! My soul weapon!" The staff-user let out a scream of heartbreak and terror. This skull was the core of the soul weapon he had cultivated with countless heart's blood, connected to his soul. Being destroyed at this moment caused his soul to suffer a backlash, and his vision went black.

Opportunity not to be missed!

A cold light flashed in Lin Yan's eyes, and just as he was about to end this person, a roar from Chi Rong and a cry of surprise from Xiao Yi Xian came from behind!

It turned out that the two injured chain Dou Lings, seeing their leader in danger, ignored their own injuries and poison erosion and rushed to rescue him! One swung the ghost fire chain to entangle Lin Yan, and the other rushed toward Xiao Yi Xian, who was manipulating poison power to interfere with them! Chi Rong was temporarily entangled by the ghost fire chain released by one of them, his movement hindered.

"Get lost!" Lin Yan shouted coldly, without even turning his head, and slapped out with his backhand. The Void Devouring Flame in his palm turned into a pitch-black fire vortex, facing the incoming ghost fire chain! At the same time, he stepped with "Explosive Step" again, his figure like lightning, abandoning the pursuit of the staff-user, and turned to rush toward the two-star Dou Ling who was rushing toward Xiao Yi Xian!

Must ensure Xiao Yi Xian's safety first! And, at this distance...

"Die!" The two-star Dou Ling saw Lin Yan coming to the rescue, a grim smile on his face, the chain like a venomous dragon, stabbing directly at Xiao Yi Xian's heart! He calculated that Lin Yan would not have time to intercept completely.

However, he underestimated Xiao Yi Xian's strength, and also underestimated Lin Yan's speed and decisiveness!

Facing the stabbing chain, Xiao Yi Xian did not panic, a cold light flashed in her jade eyes, instead of retreating, she advanced, her hands crossed and waved, more than a dozen "Ice Soul Poison Needles," as thin as ox hair and tempered with poison and the cold energy of Xuanming True Water, shot out like a rainstorm, covering the opponent's whole body! At the same time, her footwork was mysterious, narrowly dodging the sharpest tip of the chain, only her shoulder was grazed and a blood wound opened.

The Dou Ling was forced into a flurry by the poison needles, his momentum slowed.

In the time of this delay, Lin Yan had arrived!

He pointed his fingers like a sword, the fingertips were no longer the Void Devouring Flame, but a strand of pure cold soul power condensed from the "Pure Corrosion Soul Seal" between his eyebrows, mixed with the scorching aura of the Green Lotus Core Flame, forming a cyan-white intertwined, weird and sharp Soul Flame finger sword, pointing at the Dou Ling's glabella with lightning speed!

"Purifying Soul Flame Finger!"

The Dou Ling only felt a weird force of intertwined cold and heat instantly break through his remaining Dou Qi defense, stabbing into his glabella, straight into the depths of his soul! The luster in his eyes quickly dimmed, his body stiffened, and then he fell down softly, with no breath. The soul had been completely frozen and corroded by that strand of Pure Corrosion soul power!

One-hit kill!

Lin Yan did not even look at the fallen corpse, his figure turned again, rushing toward the three-star Dou Ling who was fighting with Chi Rong and was in pain from the erosion of Xiao Yi Xian's poison power. At this moment, the staff-user also barely suppressed the soul backlash, with a face full of resentment and fear, about to perform some kind of escape technique or distress signal.

"Chi Rong, burn them to ashes!" Lin Yan ordered through the Soul Contract.

Chi Rong roared, ignoring the pain of his hind legs being burned by the ghost fire, the lava energy in his body exploded without reservation, and a dark golden lava breath, more condensed than before, sprayed fiercely toward the three-star Dou Ling!

The Dou Ling was already heavily poisoned, his movements slow, and facing Chi Rong's full-strength blow, he only had time to hold the chain horizontally in front of him.

"Boom!"

The lava breath engulfed him along with the chain! The shrill scream came to an abrupt end.

In an instant, the three Black Robed Men, one dead, one seriously injured (the one engulfed by lava couldn't survive either), only the staff-user who lost his soul weapon and suffered soul damage remained!

Seeing his two subordinates killed in an instant, and his side's strongest Soul Flame suppressed by the opponent for no reason, the staff-user had no more fighting intent, only boundless fear left. He looked at Lin Yan with resentment, an extra pitch-black jade talisman appeared in his hand, and he was about to crush it—that was a distress and teleportation signal!

"Want to leave?" Lin Yan's eyes were cold, and the Soul Seal between his eyebrows shone again! This time, he actively triggered a trace of the ancient majesty belonging to the "Ancestor of Ten Thousand Scales" in the Soul Seal, mixed with the devouring will of the Void Devouring Flame, turning into an invisible soul impact, crashing fiercely toward the staff-user!

"Soul Might—Deterrence!"

The staff-user's hand, which was about to crush the jade talisman, suddenly stiffened, his soul felt like it was hit by a heavy hammer, and his consciousness fell into a brief blankness and fear originating from the life level!

In this split second, Lin Yan's figure appeared in front of him like a ghost, his right hand covered in pitch-black flames, gently pressed on his crown.

"Void Devouring Flame—Soul Devouring!"

No screaming, no struggling. The staff-user's eyes quickly dimmed and became hollow, his body fell softly as if all his bones had been pulled out. His soul origin and memories had been instantly devoured, decomposed, and turned into pure soul power to nourish Lin Yan by the Void Devouring Flame, while some memory fragments were quickly browsed by Lin Yan.

A few breaths later, Lin Yan withdrew his hand, his face slightly pale. Continuous high-intensity soul attacks and usage were quite a burden for him, who had just received the Soul Seal. But a hint of gravity and realization flashed in his eyes.

From the memory fragments of the staff-user, he learned several key pieces of information:

1. This team was indeed affiliated with the Hall of Souls Jia Ma Empire branch, ordered to search for "abnormal fire-attribute targets" (pointing to Lin Yan) and "special energy fluctuations" (possibly pointing to earth vein anomalies) in this area.

2. The "Soul Flame" technology in their hands was a replica developed by the Hall of Souls by studying the "pale cold flame" remaining in some "Ancient Ruins" (suspected to be related to the Hun Clan), with power far less than the original, and significant side effects, but easy to quickly master and control, used to arm low-to-mid-level personnel.

3. Recently, the higher-ups of the Hall of Souls seemed to have greatly increased interest in the "Northwest Region of the Magical Beast Mountain Range," mobilizing more manpower, seemingly looking for more than one thing, one of which was suspected to be related to "Ancient scale-type ruins" (pointing to ancient soul scale!). This three-person team was just one of the peripheral scouts.

4. They carried a special "soul guidance compass," which could amplify the sensing of Hall of Souls marks like the "Heart-Burning Seal," and... also had a weak reaction to high-level soul power of the same origin like the "Pure Corrosion Soul Seal"! This was also the reason why they could be vaguely attracted by Lin Yan's Soul Seal!

"Hall of Souls... indeed also searching for ruins related to the ancient soul scale!" Lin Yan felt a chill in his heart. It seemed that there was indeed some unknown close connection between the Hall of Souls and that "Ancestor of Ten Thousand Scales," and perhaps even... a part of the Hall of Souls' power source came from the research and looting of that existence's legacy?

"This place is not suitable for staying long, their disappearance will soon be discovered." Lin Yan quickly collected the valuable items from the three Black Robed Men (including the damaged skull, soul guidance compass, and some Hall of Souls tokens and pills), and then burned the corpses with fire.

The dying Purple Lightning Cloud Leopard looked at Lin Yan, let out a low roar, struggled to get up, and stumbled into the depths of the dense forest. Lin Yan did not stop it; he was not a person who loved killing.

"Go, leave immediately, head towards the Mist Swamp!" Lin Yan took Xiao Yi Xian and Chi Rong, whose injuries had worsened, quickly cleared the traces, and hurried toward the northeast indicated by the ancient soul scale.

About half an hour after they left, a figure shrouded in thick black mist, with an aura far surpassing a Dou Ling, appeared like a ghost in this forest land that had just experienced a battle. He squatted down, carefully perceiving the residual energy traces, especially the "Pure Corrosion" soul power remnant that was almost imperceptible but made a certain power in his body palpitate, and the corner of his mouth under the mask slowly hooked into a cold and greedy arc.

"Found you... the carrier of the 'key'..."