He chuckled darkly, "…he would fall with three moves at best."
His tone carried the weight of utter certainty. After all, he was Level 100 — a realm beyond mortality. In this era, he was invincible.
Eve's smile didn't falter. Her eyes glimmered faintly — not with fear, but with amusement, as if watching a child boast before a storm.
"Trap? No." She shook her head gently, her voice like velvet — warm yet chilling."Someone else… might be very excited to finally find you."
Ren Xuan's smile froze. A faint ripple of unease shivered down his spine. It wasn't because of her words — it was the way she said them, as though she were merely a messenger for something far greater.
Those calm purple eyes watching him seemed to pierce through the fabric of the world.
Suddenly, the air shifted.
A pressure far more refined than Ren Xuan's explosive aura coalesced behind him — so subtle it felt like a whisper against the nape of his neck.
Then—
Zzzt—!
A violent crack tore through space.
The System's fractured interface exploded to life before his eyes, red warnings flashing across the half-broken screen:
[ Warning! Spatial distortion detected! ][ Host: Incoming attack — evade immediately! ]
Ren Xuan's instincts screamed. Without hesitation, he rolled sideways, his body blurring into a streak of motion.
Shkk!
The space where he had stood a moment ago — collapsed inward. A gash, like a black lightning bolt, lingered in midair before fading into a thin ripple.
Cold sweat trickled down his temple. He straightened, his heart pounding against his ribs. Even his hair —had several strands sliced clean off, drifting down like falling feathers.
'That strike… if I hadn't moved…'
Ren Xuan's gaze snapped toward the direction of the attack.
Standing on the ruins of the tavern's remains was a slender figure — a cloaked girl, half her face concealed by a mask. The faint glow of a spatial ripple danced around her fingertips. But what truly seized his attention were her eyes.
Purple. Deep as amethyst, bright as a moon reflected on dark water, eyes that mirrored Qian Renxue's
For a fraction of a second, Ren Xuan felt his consciousness slip — drawn into those violet depths. The world blurred; sound dulled. He felt his soul tremble as if a thousand invisible hands were clawing at the edges of his mind.
Then the System blared again—
[ Host: Consciousness intrusion detected… ][ Defensive protocols initializing… ][ Constructing mind shield… Energy consumption: 4% per hour. Duration: 7 hours. ][ Host's mind protected until reserve depletion. ]
Ren Xuan gasped as he was pulled back to reality. The world snapped into focus. His eyes darted toward the masked girl again — and this time, there was no arrogance left, but fear.
His eyes widened. Never in his entire life in the Douluo Continent had he encountered a Soul Master whose mental force was so profound that his system itself had to deploy emergency protection protocols.
Those amethyst eyes, burning with an emotion he could not name, narrowed slightly.
Whoosh!
The world blurred. The girl's figure flickered and before Ren Xuan could blink, a cold blade was already descending upon him.
"Xuan Yuan Sword!" he barked, his martial soul defended in a flash of brilliant golden light. He caught the blow just in time, metal shrieking against metal.
The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the air, shattering the cobblestones beneath their feet and scattering dust in violent spirals. Ren Xuan gritted his teeth as the collision reverberated up his arm. The strength behind her sword wasn't inferior—it was terrifyingly, close to his own.
'Level 99…' he realized, his expression turning grim. 'Impossible. In this era, no one should have reached that stage other than me and those 3.'
His gaze darted toward her weapon, and his confusion deepened. It wasn't a martial soul—it was a forged sword.
Then he noticed that the sword the opponent used had few nicks in them, after clashing with his Xuan Yuan sword.
Yet this blade was enduring the onslaught of the Xuan Yuan Sword, a martial soul of Level 99.
'A forged weapon… holding its ground against my martial soul?' he thought, disbelief clouding his eyes. ' Had I been so out of the times, last time I checked that Even the weapons forged by a Divine Craftsman could not withstand a single careless slash from my sword.'
A bitter humiliation rose from within him, searing through his pride like molten metal. His jaw clenched. His aura flared.
He could no longer tolerate this affront.
With a cold snarl, he raised his sword high. His fourth black soul ring flickered
"Fourth Soul Skill — Thousand Wind Slash!"
The world itself seemed to tremble. A hurricane of invisible blades surged outward, tearing through the tavern ruins and slicing trees, rocks, and even the air into ribbons.
But the cloaked girl… moved like a phantom.
She slipped through the storm of slashes, her movements fluid and eerily silent. Only a few of the blades struck her, shredding her cloak to tatters. Beneath, she wore a form-fitting silver-gold armor.
And when her mask cracked and fell away—
Ren Xuan froze.
The sword in his hand trembled. His breath hitched.
The face before him was one he could never mistake.
"Qian… Renxue…?" he whispered in disbelief.