Chapter 1: The Third Red Dot (Part 2)

Qi Ling nods, teeth chattering in fear. He stumbles towards the backyard while nodding.

Hey, just before Qi Ling breeches the exit at the back, Lijier stops him, You better hurry up, and if you try to escape, I wont be happy.

After Qi Ling left the lobby, Lijier turns her head around, vision concentrated intensely on whats outside the door of the inn, Ai yah, theyre here. Why did Kins and Liuna run, as if Im some sort of terrifying creature, they dont know that, running out, is when they truly meet a group of monsters A faint layer of sorrow looms over her youthful features, as if she really feels sorry for the two.

At this very moment, the wind blows a gap through the storm clouds overhead, the moonlight beams down from the sky, falling onto the path outside the inn, at the crossroads two hundred meters away from the inn is where Kins and Liunas corpses currently lie. The pale moonlight covers their corpses with a thin layer of frost.

Fifteen minutes before this, only Lijier is left in the lobby of the inn, and now, the place is suddenly bustling again, taking into account Lijier and Qi Ling, there is now a total of ten people.

The eight new comers are all clad in similar-styled white robs, clean and noble. The men are all wearing headpieces of which you can tell their status with one look, at their waists are golden swords. The women all wore flowing dresses, akin to snow and fog, the fabric flowing around their figures like smoke when they move even without the presence of wind, lightly and wildly, like gradually changing smog, looking as if theyre from a divine plane. On all of their wrists are bracelets made from ice-blue beads, looking as translucent as the tears of the ocean.

The eight of them are seated at one end of the lobby, and opposite them, is Lijier who is still folded lazily in her seat, looking as if her soul has left her.

Two blatantly different auras fill the lobby.

Why are people from the family of Shen like you joining in the chaos? Lijier addresses the eight people in white coldly, Dont all of you have enough soul beasts?

The eight people look back at Lijier, although they do not have terror on their faces, but they look slightly cautious. This can be seen from the moment the eight of them entered the inn. When they saw Lijier tucked in the corner alone, their surprise had been obvious.

A man of thirty sitting among the eight, looking as if he is the chief, while drinking the tea Qi Ling poured for them, he says with a low voice: There arent many who have the ability to subdueBing Mo, thats why, people from godly families like us will be here naturally, alsoBing Mois a high-leveled water-based beast, seen only every century, of course us families wish to have a few more of these advanced soul beasts. He sets down his teacup and looks at Lijier, What about you, dont you think youve been unbridled enough in the imperial capital of Gelanerte? And youre still here.

Ai yah, ai yah Lijier puts down her legs and stretches, Just what what you just said, I was already so unbridled back in the imperial capital of Gelanerte, in a small town like this, of course I will cause an even larger ruckus.

She pulls herself up slowly, moving her body from side to side, the bangles on her arms and legs tinkering, Its just that so many of you came at the same time, if I want to compete with you guys with just one person, its going to be tough With an extremely peculiar movement, she stretches her body that had turned stiff from sitting too long, a weird crackling sound can be heard coming from her small body, Look at all of you, how shameless can you be, so many people competing with a young girl

You? Young girl? You should be an old lady Among the people in white, a young man muttered with a cold snicker.

Lijiers expression freezes, looking like the dead frozen over with frost, Say that one more time.

Two flexible icicles suddenly fall from the ceiling like two snakes, sharp and tough, but as agile and soft as snakes, these two icicles hang down slowly, aiming themselves precisely at the young mans eyes, as if they are cobras ready to attack at any moment.

The boy pales, it is clear that hes embarrassed greatly, yet he doesnt dare to put his life on the line, thus he swallows his saliva and clenches his teeth tightly.

Lijiers expression softens again, looking like the spring wind crossed her. The two icicles dissipate into the air like steam.

The middle-aged man turns to reprimand the boy softly: Dont create trouble.

Lijier returns to her seat, her gaze turning empty and strange once again.

Originally, Qi Ling had prepared to escape after delivering the food to Lijier and after pouring tea for the new guests. To tell the truth, no matter how intrigued he is by the mysterious soul masters from the imperial capital, after the death of so many, he doesnt wish to stay not even for another second.

Just when he is about to escape from the backdoor with the tea set in his hands, his feet is caught by something unknown, his whole person loses balance and he falls forward.

He had already closed his eyes in preparation to crash to the ground, but, suddenly a touch of something soft reaches him, as if he fell onto a spongy bed.

Qi Ling opens his eyes, before him is a face so pretty people may think theyre staring at that of a goddess. he looks down to see that he fell onto a silver-white web, those white threads like that of a spiders web intersects in the air, catching the teapot, cups and himself on it.

Qi Ling struggles to stand up, and then he hears the girl who had been staring at him before talking to him: Are you alright? After saying that, she raises her hand, in an instant those silver-white spider web withdraws into her palms like smoke.

Imalright. Qi Lings face burns, looking at the girl of similar age to him before him, her white robe flowing, her raven hair tied at the top of her head shimmering smoothly. Her eyes are round and dark, her long lashes looking like fog, decorating her features perfectly. Her sharp and small face, her fair skin, like soft snow, her whole person seemed like a young and noble princess.

My name is Shen Yin(lit. Godly sound), I come from the imperial capital of Gelanerte. She looks at Qi Ling and smiles gently.

My name is Qi Ling Qi Ling, who had wanted to escape, is totally attracted now, if the scenes before felt like a nightmare to him, right now, he feels as if he fell into the most beautiful dream. He stands at her side carefully, in his chest the blood of youth boils, hes never seen such a pretty girl in this small town, he hates how good for nothing he is, even his breath is laborious.

You should sit down, stop standing. Shen Yin gestures towards him.

Qi Ling sits down gratefully, he looks at Shen Yins face that is so beautiful that she seems unearthly, the terror from before long forgotten, even if a bull-drawn carriage pulls him now, he probably cant be pulled away.

Jiejie are you a soul master too? QI Ling looks at her straight on with wide eyes.

Yes, we all are. Shen Yin places her hand on the table; on her wrist is the strand of translucent beads. My clan is quite famous in the imperial capital, everyone in the family is a soul master. They are all my relatives, look at the one who spoke just now, the one right in the middle, Shen Yin leans over and tells Qi Ling softly, He is my brother, Kins, hes always so stoic, so scary.

Qi Ling glances at Shen Yin who sat closer to him, his breath felt more rushed. He can smell the faint fragrance of magnolia drifting from her body, barely there, not overwhelming, and yet very fresh, as if a flower bloomed in an unseen location in the dark night.

Woah, are you guys the most powerful soul masters in the imperial capital? Qi Lings eyes brightens, his curiosity for the world of soul powers piping up again.

Youre talking about us? Our clan is probably quite alright among soul masters, but if youre talking referring to the whole world of soul powers, the most talented are no longer called soul masters, they are known as Noble Lords, they are the peak of the entire world of soul powers. Shen Yin smiles as she explains to the curious Qi Ling in front of her. Since theres still quite some time before Bing Mos appearance, rather than waiting with those of her family in silence, she rather converse with the handsomely-pretty youth before her.

Ah? Then is your brother a noble lord?

My brother? Shen Yin looks at the youth who knows nothing about the world of soul powers before laughing with her hand covering her mouth, Even if there is a hundred of my brother, it will still be an Instant Kill.

Instant kill?

Yeahlike just now whenGu DieLijier killed Lu Ya and Tuoka. In the world of soul masters, if the level of soul powers between two are too far apart, if one overwhelms the other, then, the stronger side will be able to restrict the soul powers of the other, and they can kill the other in an instant.

Noble lords are so powerful?! Qi Lings eyes widen.

Of course. You dont understand our world. Since young, we basically have no opportunity to meet a noble lord; those who have in the imperial capital are few and far between. To us who learned soul powers since young, noble lords to us are like the gods in the skies, they rarely appear in everyones vision, many times they exist like legends.

How many noble lords are there? Qi Ling cant resist asking.

Seven, Shen Yins face under the light looks as if its carved from the most flawless jade, Since the start of record-keeping in our empire, there has seven noble lords and there is only seven. Only when the older noble lord dies, will there be a inheritor who fills in the place of the previous noble lord. Noble lords will not increase, neither will they decrease, there will always be only seven. The inheritors of the lords are known as Disciples, every noble lord has their own disciple.

Are they all so powerful?

Of course they are, you cant even imagine. Noble lords are ranked based on the strength of their soul powers, from Lord to the 7th Degree(7th Lord) to Lord of the 1st Degree(1st Lord, Top Lord), their soul powers get stronger and stronger. The top three noble lords, after they became noble lords, even before they became noble lords, basically none of us knows who they are or how they look like. Theyve almost never appeared publicly in our country. Before I was even born, there was a year when tens of thousands of soul beasts in the Valley of the North lost control at the same time, at that time, my mother saw the Lord to the 5th Degree appear to subdue the soul beasts. That is, in the history of my clan, the highest-leveled noble lord any of us ever saw. Nobody knows how grand the soul powers of noble lords actually are; no one ever saw the appearance of their soul beasts either."

Why hasnt anyone ever seen them? Even I already saw two, a lion and a butterflyor maybe its a batI dont know what that thing was, I didnt dare to examine it, too scary, that thing had countless sticky tentacles, dont even mention how horrifying it was. Qi Ling tells Shen Yin softly while glancing sneakily at Lijier at the same time, fearing shed hear.

Of course its a lot easier to see an average soul masters beast, I let out my soul beast often too. Its different for noble lords, first they themselves rarely appear, we dont even get to see them usually; secondly their soul powers are terrifyingly powerful, theres rarely the occasion where theyre required to release their soul beasts. When Shen Yin talks about noble lords, on her face is the express of infinite respect and idolisation.

Qi Ling takes in her heavenly appearance, unable to stop himself, he envisions how noble lords are like. After thinking for a while, Qi Ling suddenly remembers and asks Shen Yin: Jiejie, what is your soul beast like?

Shen Yin purses her lips as she smiles, saying: I shouldnt tell you, Im scared Ill frighten you. After saying that, she points to the spot where there had been silver-white webs before, Qi Ling suddenly remembers something, looking pale, he says: Dont let it outthose things are what Im most afraid of He pauses, Then they are really the most powerful in the world? Thats almighty!

Yes, actually you should say that they are the most powerful of our Aslan Empire. Odin Mainland is separated into four counties in four directions. We are the water countyAslanof the West, theres also the fire county ofFoliaierEmpire in the East, the wind countyIndeEmpire of the North, and there is also the largest and most mysteriousGarciaEmpire, which is the earth county in the South. In every country, there are seven noble lords. So you should say that the twenty-eight of them are the most powerful masters of the soul on this landmass.

Oh yeah,jiejie, what is thisBing Moall of you are talking about?

Its a soul beast, if youre able to capture it, you can turn it into a soul beast controlled by your soul powers, no matter if its for battle or making it do other things, it can help a lot. Usually the soul powers of soul beasts are greater than that of the human. So put it more simply, you can take soul beasts as our weapons. And thisBing Mois a high-leveled soul beast of the element of water, so us born in the Aslan Empire, its a great soul beast to have. Because were born in this region where the lands nature is water, our soul powers have a natural strength to control water. Thats why so many people want it. But those not of a certain level are just here to lose their lives.

Jiejiedont you already have a soul beast, why are you still here?

I dont want Bing Mo at all, its my brother Kins who wants it. Shen Yin sticks out her tongue. Qi Ling fells dazed.

Then why did so many of you come?

Bing Mois a pretty powerful soul beast, even if its not as powerful as my 'Dreamweaver', haha, Shen Yin leans closer to Qi Ling, Dont tell that to my brother, if not hell be angry again. Capturing a soul beast is no laughing matter, because you have to release most of your soul power to swallow that of the opponent, Ill put it more simply, its basically when you release your naked soul from your body and then getting it to swallow the soul of the opponent, if anything goes wrong during this process, its easy to be swallowed by the opponent. Then it wont be funthats why, usually we concentrate on attacking the soul beast until its life is hanging by a thread, and then taking the opportunity to engulf it when its soul powers are at its weakest, making it ours. Which is why, today were here to be the hunters for my brother, were in charge of attacking it until its almost dead, and then my brother will be in charge of engulfing it.

Ah, so its like this Qi Ling nods without understanding.

The dark night is permeated with the bitter-coldness of a lake.

At forest at the end of the path, its deafening silent in the night. In the darkness that has no end in sight, enormous sounding footsteps, like the beat of a large drum, approaches.

Light snow falls from the sky, at first they are just a scatter of snowflakes, reflecting starlight in the night, yet in the blink of an eye, the surrounding temperature drops drastically, the whole town as if being pulled into the depths of a valley of glaciers, a second before the ground is full of soft soil, the next second they became hard, frozen soil.

In the gloomy forest, the dense snow spreads forward in a speed that destroys everything in its path, engulfing everything frozen between the heavens and earth.

The calamity-like danger is approaching the inn at lightning speed, yet those inside dont seem to realise that, seeming like squirrels resting peacefully in their hallows, unaware of the blizzard outside.

Jiejiedo you still want to drink water? Ill go get some for you. Qi Ling shivers, looking out the window, it seems as if the wind has started to blow. Standing up, he shuts the windows tightly, turning to get some firewood, he moves towards the fireplace to light the charcoal in it. The temperature of the room is becoming unbearable. Why did it suddenly become so cold? Its just the start of window. Qi Ling pokes at the firewood as he tightens his collar.

At this moment, Lijier who has been curled up in the chair far from them, stands up lightly, waving her hands around, the bangles slam into each other creating a sound akin to music. An icy-blue glare emits from her pupils, on her face is that pure but unsettling smile, Ai yah, it seems to have arrived.

After saying that, lightly, she steps towards the door, in a corner of the lobby, a lump of blurred yet dense green light gradually appears, in the light there swims some strip-like shadows, winding, tangling. When Lijier passes by Kins, she looks at him and smiles: I shall go first then Just as she finishes speaking, she whips her hand back, her whole body contorting into an extremely unsettling position, like that of a bird before its taking flight, and the next second, with a loud crash

Within the large ball of green light in the corner, the massiveGu Diesuddenly appears in thin its dense bones of the dead spreading, releasing unsettling cracks, in a flash, it has extended its wings to the fullest and dashed towards the sky, with its wings fully open, it resembles a ghoul enveloping the sky, uncountable slime and green liquid splatter from from its wings like rain. It knocks a large hole on the rood, destroying the beams and tiles, they become numerous splinters of wood and rubble, crashing down in disorder, just as Qi Ling is going to escape, Shen Yin raises her hand gently, her fingertips moving in a complex pattern with a humming sound, a large silver-white web of silk umbrellas out over their heads. All the rubble crashes on the web instead.

Jilier looks at Kins, without opening her mouth, a cold voice sounds from the strange smile on her face, she says: Oh, look at that, I have really bad luck, encountering such strong competitors sighting forBing Mowith me, Ill have to strike first to get an advantage then.

Kins scoffs coldly, saying: Its good that you know that.

Lijier tilts her head and giggles, her gaze complex but halting, she exits the inn slowly. Turning her had back after exiting, she looks at the back view of Kins, as if in a dream-like state, she murmurs: By opponent, I wasnt referring to you, I was referring to the thing conversing with the little kid over there, comparing the two of us, the real monster should be her

In the room, Shen Yin who is currently speaking to Qi Ling with a smile, seems to have sensed something, turning her cheek lightly, she glances out the door at Lijier, throwing her a mesmerising smile.

AfterGu DieLijier left, the only people remaining in the room are the members of the Shen family and Qi Ling.

A woman sitting beside Kins who looks slightly older turns to speak to him: Are we really going to let her go first?

Kins says: Its fine, with her abilities, she wont be able to subdueBing Mo. Itll be good to let her consume some ofBing Mos powers first.

When Qi Ling hears this, despite having no positive feelings towards Lijier, at this moment he pities her. At the same time, a negative impression of Kins forms, a group of adults letting a young girl die first, no matter how you think of it, its unethical. Qi Ling looks at the silhouette of the twelve or thirteen-year-old girl disappear at the end of the path, a faint feeling of sympathy appearing in his heart of course, if he looks up at this moment at the thing thats following Lijier slowly, theGu Diecircling above her head with its wings spread like a large ghoul, that is another feeling all together.

After the time of one lamp passes, Qi Ling really cant stand the silence in the room anymore. Maybe because everyone is preparing for the round up in the near future, even Shen Yin isnt speaking much.

Just as Qi Ling is going to leave, a bone-piercing coldness spreads from his chest. As if losing strength in his legs, he collapses onto a chair.

At that moment, the whole room is enveloped in a bright white light; a thin layer of ice on the ground creeps from outside, very soon, the whole floor has frozen.

The door is blown open by a gust of wind with a loud bang, unsure of the exact time, Lijier is already standing outside, on her face is a slightly twisted smile of extreme excitement, it looks appalling.

In the air, there the unsettling sound between that of a string instrument and of a hummingbird, piercing the eardrums, no one knows where the sound originates from, as if an invite extended from Hell, luring a persons soul. The bright light outside the window grows paler and paler, seeming like the tragedy of an apocalypse.

Just like when she left, step by step, she moves in, raising her hand gently, she half-covers her mouth, Hehe, really happy, today Her gaze sweeps over everyone in the room.

Kinss heart falls. He clenches his teeth in hatred. Seems like I underestimated youIll forget it today, I dont wantBing Moanymore! Standing up with force, he suppresses his anger, as he gets ready to leave.

Ai yah, Lijier smiles her unsettling smile, Im not done yet.

When Kins turns to look at her, it seems as if hes seen his worst nightmare, he steps back in shock.

And Qi Ling, hes already petrified in his seat.

FromGu DieLijiers right shoulder to abdomen, its looks as if its being sliced open by an invisible sword, just like the sediments on a mountain after a hurricane, the flesh on her left arm and her small beasts all collapse from her body, the guts and intestines on the right half of her abdomen gurgles out. Her vision is murky, it is clear that her life force is disappearing from her body at high speed, yet shes still smiling, her face as pale as joss paper, What Im happy about is that, hehehehehehehe From her abdomen, another two internal organs roll out, unclear of which they are, they splatter onto the frozen round, in the air is a suffocating sanguinary stench, What Im happy about is thattoday, everyone is going to die here. Her legs suddenly break into four or five portions, out of nowhere, a few short flashes of thin and speedy light appears, Lijiers whole body falls to the ground like rubble. Her long, long hair is soaked in her blood and innards, her skull is currently perched atop the broken pieces of her corpse, its still speaking, it looks of an unspoken terror, What came isntBing Mo itsCang Xue Zhi Ya(lit. Teeth of the snow of dusk) the information we were given, they are all wrong

After saying that, her skulls cracks open from the middle, her two eyeballs exploding into two resplendent ice flowers.

Shen Yin and Qi Ling turns their head through their fright, unsure of when it had happened, Kins chest has a lump of large and bright icicles protruding from it, as if a man-eating flower thats blooming with menace, the sharp and tough petals are squeezing out from his chest, guts and intestines, they hang steaming on the ice, after a while, they turn into ice.

[West of Aslan Empire - Heart]

The last time Yin Chen walked into this large architecture known as theHeart, it had been three years ago.

Three years has passed and nothing has changed here. The tips of the structure pierces into clouds, in the vast atrium, the high courtyard wall resemble large cliffs that surround the palace, the whole structure is constructed on a large peak, the tip of the tower looks as if it is going to pierce through the blue sky, attracting the infinite magnetic field of soul powers, there seems to be an invisible thunderstorm.

This structure is known as theHeartof the imperial capital of Gelanerte. It sits massively and volatile on the peak at the dead center of the imperial capital.

Within a one-mile radius of its location, there is close to no ordinary people.

All citizens live along the foot of the mountain; the whole city is centred around theHeartand bloom outwards.

It is the center where the imperial household lives. It represents the tip of the top of Gelanerte, the few silvery-white points, always shrouded in the clouds. Occasionally there will be large birds flying past. The resonant godly music comes from the highest clock tower of theHeart, every morning, a beautiful melody like euphemistic poetry envelops the whole of Gelanerte.

Yet only very few know that, the real center of the imperial capital is under the surface of theHeart. With the ground surface as the line of symmetry, there is an identical infrastructure that is upside-down deep in the palace.

And at this very moment, Yin Chen is at the most bottom of this upside-down structure.

The depth of this place is known as the Source of Prophecies.

Yin Chen stands in the middle of the barren hall. Surrounding him are the light from the grand walls, on them are densely and intricately carved designs, above him is a large dome despite being inverted deep under the ground, there is still bright rays of light shining down from the top. This is the grand soul power concentrated in theHeart.

Yin Chen walks along the hall, the space is overly large, his footsteps echo as if from the depths of a deep valley. The heavy silence in the air, something like a miracle, makes it hard to breathe.

And the real miracle is currently beneath Yin Chens feet.

The whole piece of ground is constructed of pre-historic crystal with no cracks; the barren ground of the hall is made up of this one piece of crystal. No one will doubt that this is the strength of god, because there is no human strength that can cut and create such large a piece of crystal ground in its entirety.

If you look closely, you will be able to see that from the surface of the crystal the as deep as the eye can see, glowing veined patterns are cared into it, these are all secrets of the soul powers passed down from ancient times.

And the ones who know the secrets, are the three sole Silver Priests of this country.

The three of them seem to have been here even before the construction of this grand palace their life is an eternal mystery, no one knows how long theyve lived, no one knows when they started to exist here, no one knows why they are trapped under the surface of this crystal. They exist in the fear of people for tens of thousands of years:

The three of them lie face-up in the depths of the crystal, located at the dead center of the fall, their heads connect, forming a pattern with three edges, their bodies are engravings of this grand crystal their bodies are enveloped by it, they are cladded in a unique outfit, something akin to armour of battle, yet it is not of the style of Aslan, only their hands and head are not covered, yet, maybe because it has been such a long time, their faces seem to be part of the crystals, translucent and without flaws, the three identical faces seem to be made of crystal, their eyes are shut tightly, they are expressionless, sleeping in the depths of the crystal. No one knows how thick or deep this crystal goes, underneath them, if you keep looking down, it becomes dimmer until it finally becomes a pitch-black abyss.

Two male priests, one female priest.

They wear noble yet complex outfits, coupled with their godly appearance; they are solidified underneath the large crystal of soul powers for eternity.

Yin Chen walks before them and kneels.

A voice drifts out of nowhere and fills the whole hall.

Yin Chen listens intently with his head down, he knows that this miraculous voice is from the shared spirit of the three silver priests.

Yin Chen, beneath your feet right now is a map, it is a map of a small town at the West of the Aslan Empire known as Fauser.

Yin Chen looks at the large crystal beneath his feet, underneath the surface, a map made of bright threads of light appears, on it are a few blue dots and three blood-red points.

Yin Chen, we need you to head towards this town to find a boy named Qi Ling. He is the newest disciple.

Okay, I will set off now. Yin Chen lifts his head to look at the three silver priests deep in slumber at the depths of the crystal before turning back to look at the three burning red dots on the map, his features, as cold and passive as frost, yet perfect, seem to look slightly puzzled. he moves his lips that are as thin as a blade, saying: Master priest, why is it that, there will be three noble lords appearing in this small town? Yin Chens pupils are like silver.

Youre wrong. Yin Chen, when you head to that place, there will only be you, the noble lord. These three red dots that seem to have the soul power at the level of noble lords, one is the soul beastCang Xu Zhi Ya, another is your disciple Qi Ling.

There is one more, that red dot, Yin Chen looks over at the priests deep in slumber underneath the crystals, punctuating his sentence, he asks, What is that thing?