Chapter 549: Buying Time
Chapter 549: Buying Time
[ Soul Search ]
Xiao Fang was familiar with Special Bodies, he knew some were stronger than others, but he had never heard of hers before.
’So this is what an awakened Soul Tempering Special Body looks like,’ Xiao Fang thought, a faint intensity surfacing beneath his calm exterior.
’Show me, Wei,’ his lips curved. ’Show me what a Soul Tempering body is really capable of.’
—
Within the city walls, Xiao Hei tore through the streets like a bolt of black lightning, her massive feline body weaving through collapsing alleyways and ruined structures with terrifying speed. Soldiers flooded the city from every direction, their numbers so overwhelming that the streets themselves seemed to move with steel and killing intent.
"Over there!"
"Sourround them!"
"Don’t let them escape!"
Attacks rained down relentlessly. Arrows of Qi tore through the air, traps ignited beneath the streets, and cultivators descended from rooftops in waves, trying to seal every possible route of escape. Yet Xiao Hei was simply too quick. She couldn’t force her way through the attacks head-on, but she was far too nimble to be caught by them, twisting and weaving through the chaos with terrifying precision.
Then—
As they passed through the remains of a partially collapsed building near the heart of the city, Xun Wei moved.
She jumped from Xiao Hei’s back and disappeared beneath the cover of the ruined structure, her movements hidden perfectly within the chaos and dust. At the same instant, a [ Solid Clone ] took her place atop Xiao Hei’s back—the last clone she could possibly create with what remained of her Qi.
The switch was seamless.
Not a single soldier noticed.
A moment later, Xiao Hei burst out from the opposite side of the building with the clone mounted on her back, continuing her desperate escape without slowing for even an instant.
"There!"
"They’re heading east!"
The army surged after her immediately, thousands of soldiers redirecting toward the false target as the chase continued deeper into the city.
Meanwhile, beneath the broken remains of the structure, Xun Wei remained hidden in silence.
Dust drifted slowly through narrow cracks above her while distant battle cries and explosions echoed through the streets outside. Her breathing was controlled, but exhaustion weighed heavily on her body. Her Qi reserves were nearly empty, leaving behind only a faint trickle that was barely enough to sustain herself.
But her soul power was different. It was nearly untouched.
Slowly, Xun Wei took out the Soul Devourer manual once more, her gaze settling onto its pages as her eyes sharpened with resolve.
’If there’s any chance for us to escape... it’ll be through this method,’ she thought.
There were six techniques recorded within the manual, but the strongest among them was merely a Core Realm technique. Under normal circumstances, trying to comprehend a soul technique in the middle of a battlefield would’ve been insanity. But she had no choice.
She needed strength, and she needed it now.
Fortunately, Xun Wei possessed an overwhelming affinity for soul techniques to begin with, and more importantly, she was a Dual Cultivator. Since Xiao Fang had already comprehended the method before dual cultivating with her, fragments of his understanding remained within her, making the process far easier than it should have been.
At least in theory.
Xun Wei flipped to the first page of the technique and immediately began studying it, her soul consciousness sinking deeper into the method as the sounds of war raged above her.
—
The attacks never stopped.
Street after street was sealed off as the army slowly tightened its grip around the center of the city. Formations shifted constantly, soldiers flooding through alleyways and rooftops alike, forcing the encirclement inward bit by bit. Every route Xiao Hei escaped through was quickly replaced with another wall of steel waiting ahead of her.
The circle was shrinking, and it was shrinking fast.
Yet even then, Xiao Hei’s movements remained terrifyingly precise. Whenever one side of the encirclement advanced too quickly, she would appear there in an instant, her massive black form lunging forward with enough ferocity to force the soldiers back just slightly before vanishing again into another street.
She wasn’t trying to break the encirclement, she was controlling its pace, but there was only so much even she could do.
At this point, the center of the city was already swarming with thousands of soldiers. Rooftops, streets, intersections—every visible path was packed with cultivators preparing for the moment the net fully closed.
It was only a matter of time before every road disappeared.
"We’ve got them now," the second-in-command said with a grin as he watched the scene unfold from the city gates.
Beside him, the commander remained silent, his brows tightly furrowed as his eyes followed Xiao Hei’s every movement.
Unlike the second-in-command, he couldn’t relax.
Because he understood exactly how powerful the previous Patriarch had been. For someone like that to die in the bunker meant Xun Wei still possessed something dangerous—something they had yet to uncover.
And until he understood what it was, he refused to move in personally.
"Don’t get too excited," the commander said coldly. "We haven’t caught them yet."
The seriousness in his tone caused the second-in-command’s smile to fade slightly. He understood immediately—there was still something the commander was wary of.
Still, the longer he observed the battlefield, the more convinced he became of their inevitable victory.
There was nowhere left to run.
Finally, something unexpected happened.
Xiao Hei suddenly changed direction and leapt onto the roof of a partially collapsed building near the center of the city.
The second-in-command frowned.
The city itself was already becoming impossible to navigate safely, yet exposing themselves on a rooftop like that only placed them directly into everyone’s line of fire at once.
"What are they planning?" he muttered.
Then, the impossible happened.
Thousands of attacks converged toward Xiao Hei simultaneously, and every single one stopped.
The air itself seemed to freeze.
Arrows of Qi, sword strikes, spears, formation attacks—all of them halted abruptly in midair just before reaching their target, as though an invisible wall had materialized around the rooftop.
The soldiers froze in disbelief.
In the next moment, Xiao Hei’s massive feline body shrank rapidly as she reverted back into her human form, collapsing to one knee from pure exhaustion.
At the same time, Xun Wei climbed out from beneath the collapsed building below, stepping onto the rooftop beside her.
Sweat dripped from Xiao Hei’s face as she struggled to steady her breathing.
"Are you ready?" she asked between breaths. "Did I buy you enough time?"
Xun Wei gave her a small nod as a silver streak flashed across her eyes.
"Mn. I’m ready."