Just as the blood vines reached for her ankles —
Swish!
The world split apart.
The vines fell, sliced cleanly into several segments that landed around her feet. For a second, Roni didn't understand what had happened. Then agony tore through him — his chest split, blood gushed, and his legs gave way.
He looked down in disbelief. His body was no longer whole. His martial soul had been severed… and with it, his very life force.
(Author notes : The same move with which she had attacked Flenders, but this time without holding back )
She walked forward, her golden hair catching the sunlight, leaving behind only silence — and a trail of blood marking the ground she had passed.
As Roni's eyes dimmed, a single thought flickered through his fading consciousness.
'What kind of monster… wears the face of an angel?'
Then, darkness claimed him.
-----
Just as Qian Renxue finished off the fool who thought he could ambush her, several figures in silver armor descended from the sky like streaks of light.
At their head was a tall man radiating might of peak Soul Douluo — Hua Zhang, Commander of the Angel Corps. Behind him, a squad of adjutants landed in disciplined unison as they touched the ground.
Seeing the headless corpse not far away, Hua Zhang understood he was late. Even before his boots met the dirt, he bent a knee respectfully."Young Master," he said, voice steady but laced with remorse. "We are sorry. We could not arrive in time to provide support."
The smell of iron lingered in the air. Qian Renxue turned slightly, her long blonde hair — now streaked with drying blood — gleamed under the sunlight. The faint traces of crimson on her face somehow made her beauty even more unsettling, like an angel walking through the aftermath of divine judgment.
She said nothing for a moment. Her purple eyes merely swept over Hua Zhang, the adjutants. Her thoughts drifted briefly.
It had been tradition — every member of the Seraphim lineage had joined the Angel Corps in their youth. Her grandfather Qian Daoliu had commanded it in his prime; her father had once led its vanguard. For her, joining was kind of duty for her, because she believed she was already strong for anything outside.
Before, she had served as the Corps' psychiatrist, observing from the rear and analyzing mental conditions of soldiers and enemy captives. But that was when she was still at a lower sequence and was less powerful.
Now, as a Level 4: Manipulator, her strength is same as that of a demigod walking on the continent.
Hua Zhang remained on one knee, waiting for her acknowledgment. His men dared not raise their heads.
Qian Renxue finally spoke, her tone calm and faintly detached."Commander Hua Zhang," she said. "Technically, I've joined your Corps now. That makes you my superior officer."
Her lips curved slightly — a smile that was neither kind nor mocking. The blood on her cheek made it look like a mark of war paint.
Hua Zhang swallowed. Though her words were polite, he could feel an invisible pressure pressing down on his shoulders. The air itself seemed to bend around her presence.
"I… I dare not command you, Young Master," Hua Zhang said, his voice almost trembling.
Qian Renxue glanced at him, expression unreadable."I understand, Commander," she replied evenly. "But orders are orders. I'll head to the village where the rest of the troops are stationed. You and your men can finish clearing this canyon."
Qian Renxue 's mission was nothing much, but to check out the survivors that were supposed to be in the canyon. However that turned out to be a well planned ambush to capture her.
"Yes, Young Master!" Hua Zhang saluted immediately.
Without another word, Qian Renxue turned and began walking toward the forest. Her white-gold boots left faint imprints on the blood-soaked earth, each step measured and unhurried.
Hua Zhang had rushed here with only seven of his adjutants — all Soul Sages, veterans of countless campaigns under the Angel Corps banner.When word reached him that the Young Master had been ambushed by evil soul masters, he mobilized instantly.
The report had come from a single captured evil half-dead Soul King who had been beaten until his bones cracked and his mind broke.Only then did the man spit out the location of the ambush site: a remote canyon near the village border.
There had been no time to assemble the full regiment.Most of the Angel Corps' forces were Soul Kings or below, slower to mobilize, and the distance was too great.
So Hua Zhang gathered the only men fast enough to make it in time — seven trusted Soul Sages who could travel across mountains in hours.They had expected to fight a desperate battle to rescue their young master.
But when they arrived… they found only silence.
----
The group entered the canyon cautiously. The air was thick with the metallic tang of blood. A heavy fog, tinged faintly red, drifted low to the ground.
Even before they saw the bodies, Hua Zhang's instincts screamed that this was no ordinary scene of slaughter.
Then he saw it — and even his battle-hardened soul trembled.
The scar that crossed his blind left eye twitched violently as his face twisted in shock.His voice came out low, hoarse, almost reverent."The evil soul masters… have finally met something they should fear."He glanced at the carnage again. "Just as normal villagers fear them."
One of the younger Soul Sages — a new recruit from an influential family who had joined the Corps for glory rather than conviction , turned pale.The moment his eyes registered what lay before him, he collapsed to his knees and vomited violently.
The others, veterans who had fought and bled across Spirit Empire borders, forced their expressions to remain still, though their eyes betrayed horror.
----
( AN: Pic Qian Renxue 15 years old)