Very little time had passed from the dust explosion to Bill's complete death.
Barely a dozen minutes had elapsed in total.
A High-tier Transcendent blood mage had been torn into shreds of flesh just like that.
Lin Gui looked at the bloody pile of remains before him.
He understood it clearly in his heart.
Succeeding so quickly was entirely thanks to the previous explosion.
The power of that explosion was enough to rival Legendary magic.
Yet after all, what constructed it was merely three Mid Rank spells.
So before triggering the detonation, Lin Gui had done one thing.
He used Soul Attachment to enchant every single grain of pollen.
This allowed the power of the explosion to carry a trace of attack on the soul.
This was precisely the reason for what followed.
He had escaped from the explosion and rushed to the temple to save Hugh and Hannah.
He had then spent a few minutes talking with them.
By the time he returned to this spot, Bill had still failed to recover.
The damage inflicted upon his soul had slowed down his rate of rebirth.
Lin Gui looked down at the shredded flesh on the ground.
The corpse of Bill the Vampire was scattered across the rubble within a three-meter radius.
His head was sliced in half.
His limbs were severed.
His torso was covered in wounds deep enough to show bone.
In some places, splintered bones were even visible.
Blood was still seeping out slowly.
However, there was no longer any sign of life.
Lin Gui raised his hand.
Levitation.
The chunks of flesh floated up one by one, gathering into a pile.
Ignition.
Orange-red flames ignited, licking at the flesh and blood.
Fat crackled and hissed, mingling with a burnt stench that drifted away.
Three minutes later, only a pile of pitch-black ash remained.
Wind Guiding.
A gentle breeze swept past, swirling up the light grey-black dust.
The ash scattered, drifting into the depths of the ruins.
Under the moonlight, not a single trace remained.
After finishing everything, Lin Gui stood in place and waited quietly.
One minute.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Bill did not resurrect.
In the air, not a single trace of mana could be sensed.
Lin Gui opened his Eyes of the Netherworld.
In his vision, there were only the glass beads that had been hiding in various corners.
They were now rolling out one after another, cheerfully spinning around him.
There were no other souls.
Bill was indeed dead.
He was as dead as could be.
Lin Gui was just about to turn and leave.
A cold voice sounded behind him:
"You run pretty fast, don't you?"
Lin Gui turned around.
Shadow Blade Lynn stood on the rubble three meters away.
Her arms were crossed over her chest, her pale blue eyes glaring at him coldly.
Her soul light flickered slightly, carrying obvious displeasure.
"Leaving without me?"
"Do you have any idea how far I chased you?"
Lin Gui looked at her.
His expression was calm.
"I notified you in advance, Lady Lynn."
He paused for a moment.
"My flying vessel is very fast."
"I suggested you get on, but you were the one who said:"
"'Pfft, a broken wooden frame, how fast could it possibly be?'"
Shadow Blade Lynn raised an eyebrow.
The expression on her exquisite face stiffened for a moment.
Lin Gui continued:
"Besides, I already let you plant a soul bomb on me."
"Where could I possibly run?"
He spread his hands.
"See? You followed the bomb and easily found me."
Shadow Blade Lynn opened her mouth.
She unexpectedly found herself unable to refute him for a moment.
She truly hadn't expected it.
That strange, never-before-seen flying vessel.
Its speed would actually be so fast.
In the blink of an eye, it had left a former High-tier Epic assassin like her completely in the dust.
Even at her peak speed, she couldn't match that thing.
It was truly an eye-opening sight.
She sighed.
Her gaze passed over Lin Gui, falling upon the collapsed theater ruins behind him.
The grey mist kicked up by the explosion was still floating gently under the moonlight.
She could tell that a fierce battle had just broken out here.
"What happened here?" she asked.
"I remember when I left the Voiceless Abyss to head to Shadowmoon City, this theater was still intact."
Lin Gui casually said:
"A passing Legendary expert took care of the enemies here."
Shadow Blade Lynn raised an eyebrow.
She felt like he was pulling her leg.
However, the surrounding battle marks were indeed very consistent with a Legendary-level fight.
She crossed her arms and sneered.
"So, you got lucky, kid?"
"You solved your trouble without doing anything at all."
Lin Gui calmly replied:
"My luck has always been pretty good."
Shadow Blade Lynn didn't bother to ask further.
"Since you saved your people, now go handle my matter."
Lin Gui shook his head.
"It isn't fully finished yet."
"I still need to go to the Voiceless Abyss to fetch a few people."
Shadow Blade Lynn's expression turned cold.
Her patience was rapidly wearing thin.
"Kid."
Her voice was deep.
"I have no interest in playing house with you and rescuing people."
"Right now, immediately!"
"Take me to gather what I want."
She paused for a moment.
Her soul light surged slightly.
"Or else I will kill you right here."
"And turn you into a spirit to keep me company forever."
Lin Gui looked at her.
His expression remained calm.
"I already plan to head into the Voiceless Abyss to fetch people."
"That is already a task with a ninety percent chance of death."
"As for life and death, I have long stopped caring."
He paused for a moment.
"If you really want to do that, then go ahead."
His tone was flat.
"Please believe me, the next soul mage will not show up in this godforsaken place anytime soon."
"There are no treasures or ruins to be found here."
Shadow Blade Lynn stared at him.
Her eyes were icy.
Lin Gui met her gaze.
His right hand quietly reached into his storage space.
He touched the edge of that spatial teleportation scroll.
Under the moonlight, the two stood in silent confrontation.
Only the night wind blew past the ruins, stirring up a light haze of ash.
"You're going to the Voiceless Abyss?"
Shadow Blade Lynn sneered.
"It isn't a ninety percent chance of death."
"It's absolute, certain death."
She floated half a step forward, her soul light fluctuating slightly.
"If you die, who will help me resurrect?"
Lin Gui looked at her.
His expression remained calm.
"I think..." he paused. "...that with Lady Shadow Blade Lynn's help, perhaps we can find that single slim chance of survival."
Shadow Blade Lynn raised an eyebrow.
Those pale blue eyes narrowed slightly.
Lin Gui did not dodge her gaze.
After meeting Shadow Blade Lynn, he had re-analyzed her route.
The information Blackbeard gave him stated that Shadow Blade Lynn and another Title Rank expert had ultimately died near the left side of the Voiceless Abyss.
That location was marked as the lair of an Epic spectral demon.
However, that was merely Blackbeard's one-sided speculation.
In truth...
Lin Gui strongly suspected that she had definitely entered the Voiceless Abyss.
A soul bead.
The very object that allowed a soul to exist in another form.
There was no way it wouldn't arouse her interest.
Magical items related to souls fetched astronomical prices in the outside world.
Their lowest value was worth at least a Stellar-tier piece of equipment.
So along this journey, aside from delivering letters, he had continuously inquired about one thing.
Unowned glass beads.
He had asked the "guests" scattered across the seventeen city-states.
Along the way, he had also flown low against the ruins to observe.
He had even made a full lap around the Wall of Sighs.
Except for that extremely dangerous area in the north shrouded in unknown mist, he had searched almost everywhere and asked everyone.
There were none.
Not a single unowned glass bead existed.
Every spirit had an owner.
Every bead hosted a dead soul.
So the question arose.
Sixteen years had passed since "The Silent End."
How could Shadow Blade Lynn's death happen to be so coincidental that she just happened to run into an unowned soul bead that could allow her soul to take residence in it?
And the location of her death happened to be so close to the Voiceless Abyss.
Lin Gui looked at Shadow Blade Lynn.
Under the moonlight, her soul light flowed gently.
Those pale blue eyes were also looking back at him.
With scrutiny.
And with a trace of something he couldn't quite read.
Rate on N.U.
