Behind the Soul-Devouring Orb

Night Watchman Branch Headquarters.

Sha Jian was at work on the top floor when his face changed. He turned toward the window.

Far in the distance, a column of light — darkness and gold twisting together — surged into the sky. Only then did the deep, rolling thunder and tremors finally reach him.

"What is that?!"

His eyes went wide. In the next instant, his expression hardened. His body vanished from where he stood; he burst through the window and flew out into the night.

Simultaneously, someone else broke through a window in another office. Sha Jian glanced over — it was Maika.

The two exchanged a look, faces grave. Neither said a word. They flew toward the pillar of light.

Down on the eighth floor, in Tang Fei's office, Tang Fei's complexion collapsed. He stared at the distant column of light, his face going somewhat pale, words spilling from his lips in a mutter:

"How is this possible... How could they have been discovered?!"

His expression shifted through several emotions. Then, jaw set, he broke through the window and vanished into the night, rushing toward the pillar of light.

In the office directly behind Tang Fei's, the shadow pooled at the corner of a desk twitched faintly — then went still.

Downstairs, Bernie and Gillian had both drifted to their windows, staring at the distant pillar of light, stunned disbelief written across their faces.

Bernie's rather bookish face took on a somber cast. "Let's hope nothing too serious comes of this..." he murmured.

Gillian, meanwhile, seemed somewhat dazed. "Elder Lu Yuan only just arrived, and he's already stirring up something like this? Has he found the Aberration Entity already? How could it be this fast? What an extraordinary man..."

All of Yali City had been jolted awake — by a single collision between Lu Yuan and that strange brown-haired man.

Mingke Residential Complex.

Franming and the others watched as Lu Yuan vanished on the spot, and a heartbeat later a pillar of light erupted from somewhere far away. They stood frozen, thoroughly dumbfounded.

They looked at each other, swallowed hard, their mouths going dry.

Franming's expression turned serious. He glanced at the Shadow and the black door, thought for a moment, then said:

"Elder Lu's Shadow is here watching the place — it should be fine! Move out! Go see what's happening!"

He took off running toward the pillar of light, giving the black door a wide berth.

The others followed without hesitation.

Without knowing what the Aberration Entity was capable of, charging blindly through it would be suicidal. They weren't stupid enough to try.

The crater.

Where Lu Yuan and the brown-haired man had collided, the boundary between blazing solar light and dense black mist crackled and sizzled, thin wisps of black smoke curling upward.

Shockwaves tore through the air. Both of them were sent flying.

The instant Lu Yuan was thrown back, he vanished — and reappeared directly behind the brown-haired man.

His eyes blazed like twin suns. The greatsword carved through the air, radiating scorching heat.

*What?!*

The brown-haired man hadn't expected Lu Yuan to close behind him so instantly. Something flickered across his face — and just before the blade swept through him, he dissolved into a cloud of black mist.

The sword tore through the mist. A piercing, anguished shriek erupted, and black smoke rose from the wound.

The mist vanished from that spot, reappearing a short distance away and condensing back into the brown-haired man's form.

His face was somewhat pale. That last blow had clearly done real damage.

But the moment he finished solidifying, scorching heat and keen sword intent surged at his back once more.

A savage expression twisted across his face. He let out a furious roar — dark shadow-shapes rose across his skin, screaming as they burned away. As they dissipated, his complexion turned paler still, but his aura swelled considerably.

He tightened his grip on the black longsword and spun to slash at Lu Yuan. The speed was extraordinary — even with Lu Yuan's attack almost upon him, he managed to block it.

**Boom!!**

The impact rang out, and Lu Yuan felt a terrifying force slam into him. His expression shifted slightly as his body hurtled backward.

As he flew back, he moved to activate Space Teleportation — and then the pitch-black of the brown-haired man's irises flared with a sickly green light.

A horrifying shriek erupted from nowhere. Lu Yuan's mind went blank. His head exploded with pain. Blood gushed from his nose and mouth.

*That Mental Power attack is powerful.*

He clenched his teeth. In that moment, he couldn't focus enough to activate Space Teleportation.

At the same time, shadowy afterimages surged across the brown-haired man's body, forming a grotesque second silhouette over his skin.

Behind him materialized a solid black shape — a towering spectral form with over a dozen pitch-black arms, each one brandishing a pitch-black longsword.

The next instant, the brown-haired man's face turned savage. His body fragmented into afterimages and vanished, leaving only sweeping waves of black sword-light — each carrying those mind-rending screams — bearing down on Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan's expression tightened. He stamped the ground and fell back, weaving between the strikes. Simultaneously, the Great Solar Spirit Body's and Life's Aria's powerful regeneration rapidly closed his wounds, and his mind steadied along with his body.

Once healed, he grinned. His body flickered out of existence and reappeared behind the brown-haired man, slipping past the assault.

The greatsword in his hands blazed with brilliant golden light. Spirit Power condensed and compressed; his aura surged a notch higher.

Then blood-red spectral radiance seeped up from the crimson greatsword — the Wrathful Envoy Combat Technique inherent to the Fifth-tier Sovereign Grade greatsword, Wrathful Envoy, which significantly boosted both strength and speed for a period of time.

Lu Yuan brought the greatsword down. The golden light that had been coiling inward detonated outward all at once.

**Boom!!**

A massive golden sword-beam, thousands of meters in length, blazed through the black sky — like a second sun igniting overhead.

Far below, in the districts of Yali City, every person felt the temperature spike. Sweltering. Unbearable.

Their eyes were wide with disbelief. They couldn't imagine what kind of person could cause something like this.

Sha Jian and the others, still rushing toward the scene, felt it most keenly of all.

Only those with sufficient power could truly perceive the sheer scale of that sword-light.

They couldn't fathom what kind of battle was unfolding. It was terrifying.

The golden sword-beam swept down at the brown-haired man. In its blazing light, his horrified face was thrown into stark relief.

He roared. Black mist surged across his entire body, burying him completely.

**Boom!!**

The golden beam crashed into the black mist with a thunderous impact. The mist scattered. Gold flames burned across the brown-haired man's body as he coughed up blood and tumbled through the air.

Even as he fell, black mist churned around him, smothering the golden flames. His skin was visibly charred, his expression twisted with savage fury.

But Lu Yuan had already appeared beside him — eyes cold, greatsword swinging down with full force.

Alarm registered on the man's face. The black mist that had barely thinned surged back up.

A black longsword materialized in his hand and met the blow.

**Boom!!**

The summoned blade shattered. The brown-haired man was sent flying once more.

The greatsword landed — carving a deep gash through his black robes and into his flesh. No blood sprayed; the wound was instantly cauterized by searing heat.

It was only because a Battle Sovereign's body was robust enough that this level of heat didn't reduce him to ash. An ordinary person would have simply ceased to exist.

Lu Yuan glanced at the badly wounded man with a trace of surprise. *This guy isn't wearing a Gene Armament?*

*Why?*

He found it genuinely baffling. Even Xue Ren had worn one.

*Is he looking down on me?*

*No, that can't be right — I've been completely dominating him. He wouldn't be throwing his life away on purpose.*

The thought lasted only an instant. His movements never slowed.

For someone controlled by the Soul-Devouring Orb, death was the best possible mercy.

After sending the man flying, he vanished once more.

Then something changed.

The black mist on the surface of the brown-haired man's body suddenly erupted into violent motion. The man felt it — and his expression crumbled into terror.

"No..."

He never finished the word. Wrinkles crept across his skin. His body withered with age.

The next instant, he was a desiccated corpse. The black mist on his surface churned and thickened, growing denser.

The mist coiled into a storm and tore the dried husk to powder with horrifying force.

At last, the black mist condensed — into a colossal shadow figure, fully a hundred meters tall.

The figure was covered in countless faces, each contorted with bitterness and hatred, mouths stretched wide, screaming without end.

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes. His expression grew considerably more grave.

This shadow giant's power surpassed even the brown-haired man's peak.

The brown-haired man had been at Battle Sovereign rank, and Lu Yuan hadn't held back once throughout the entire fight — Great Solar Spirit Body, Black Steel Force, Heaven-Sundering Slash — he'd even used the Combat Technique built into the weapon.

As for his armor — it was a Fourth-tier Sovereign Grade armor with no Combat Technique attached. What he still had available were: one Third-tier Sovereign Grade Emblem, the Battle Disciple Emblem's Battle Disciple Enhancement effect; and another Fourth-tier Sovereign Grade Emblem's Heavenly Rainbow Blessing effect.

But...

Lu Yuan glanced around. He could sense several presences not far off, closing in fast.

They weren't here yet. He still had a little time.

*Might as well test out one of the other Combat Techniques.*

The corner of his mouth curved upward.

The light already radiating from him — sun-like as it was — seemed to grow even more brilliant.

Sacred Brilliance.

As a light-element Combat Technique, Sacred Brilliance's enhancement was immensely powerful.

Even on top of the Great Solar Spirit Body already active, with Black Steel Force and the Wrathful Envoy's blood-red fury in play, Lu Yuan's aura surged again — doubling outright. A terrifying, crushing presence poured off him.

The power of a Sovereign Grade Combat Technique was deeply satisfying.

As if sensing the overwhelming threat he now posed, the shadow giant let out an enraged roar. A pitch-black greatsword manifested in its grasp and swept down toward him.

To Lu Yuan — his aura now enhanced so dramatically — the attack felt sluggish.

His body flickered out of existence. The next instant, he appeared behind the shadow giant.

Before the giant could react, before it could make a single move, a devastating golden sword-beam had already torn through its body.

Black smoke hissed and spiraled upward. The grotesque faces across the giant's surface screamed with renewed intensity.

Before, those screams would have rattled his Mental Power somewhat. But now, with both the Great Solar Spirit Body and Sacred Brilliance active simultaneously, his mind was a still surface — completely undisturbed.

Lu Yuan watched as the slash he'd carved into the giant began to close and regenerate. He narrowed his eyes, vanished again, appeared on the other side, and sent another golden beam tearing through it.

Then, without giving it a moment to recover, his body appeared almost simultaneously in every direction around the giant. One after another, devastating golden sword-beams wrapped it in a cage of light — from outside, it looked almost like a brilliant golden sphere of energy, a hundred-meter sun blazing in the middle of the night.

By the time he sensed the giant's screams growing weaker and weaker, its aura nearly spent, Lu Yuan finally let Sacred Brilliance drop.

He was pale, breathing hard.

Running two Sovereign Grade Combat Techniques at full power simultaneously had taxed even his Spirit Power reserves to their limit.

In such a short span, he'd burned through nearly everything he had.

That said, part of it was because he hadn't used any Spirit Crystals to recover mid-fight.

A Seventh-tier Spirit Crystal appeared in his hand. He absorbed it rapidly. In moments, the crystal crumbled to dust, and his Spirit Power was fully restored.

He could sense several powerful presences converging fast.

He looked at the shadow figure — now barely two meters tall, only a handful of faces clinging to its surface. *"Giant" was no longer the right word.*

Its aura had weakened to roughly Battle Venerable rank.

Lu Yuan activated the Great Solar Spirit Body and sent a few more sword-beams into it, shattering what remained.

When the black mist dissipated, a single pitch-black bead lay at the center.

The Soul-Devouring Orb.

Lu Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the familiar object.

It was identical to the one he'd seen in Xili City.

*Did the Soul-Devouring Orb that Qinghe sent to Night Watchman Headquarters go missing?*

*Or has a second one appeared somewhere?*

Neither possibility was good.

If the one at Night Watchman Headquarters had gone missing, it meant the underground containment facility wasn't as secure as anyone had assumed — and other Aberration Entities could have been removed as well.

And if a second Soul-Devouring Orb had surfaced...

Lu Yuan still remembered what Xue Ren had told him — that the Orb had been given to him by someone.

If this one had also been given by someone... did that mean the same person might have handed out more?

A Soul-Devouring Orb that had grown only to Battle Sovereign rank was already this powerful. Lu Yuan suspected the Battle Sovereign it produced had ranked among the stronger ones at that level.

So what if another Soul-Devouring Orb appeared someday — one that had reached Battle Emperor rank? What then?

What if there were more than one?

The more he turned it over, the deeper the furrow in his brow became. A crushing weight settled over him.

And beyond all of that — whoever was distributing these Soul-Devouring Orbs, who were they? What was their goal?

Why hand them out at all? Where had they gotten them? Could these things be mass-produced?

The more he considered it, the worse things looked.

Thinking it through, Lu Yuan found himself almost hoping it was the containment facility's security that had failed. At least that was a problem that could be addressed. If the second possibility was the truth — if someone was producing and distributing these things — the implications made his head swim.

Just then, his expression changed.

He felt a dense, utterly unfamiliar surge of energy seep into his body.