The black-robed man’s face never changed. He flicked his wrist, the bell swallowing the light sphere until it vanished into the runes etched upon its surface.
At that instant, three pairs of pupils, black as midnight, turned toward Jared.
The leader’s voice rasped like shards of ice grinding together. “Your consciousness field hides a powerful divine soul. Surrender him!”
Jared’s heart sank, instinctively used the Focus Technique to shield his consciousness field.
“No!” replied, voice frigid.
“Since you refuse to comply, we’ll have to take it by force!”
Without another word, the three formed seals. From their sleeves shot black light-cables strung with thousands of soul fires.
In a blink the flames swelled, weaving into enormous Soul Fiend Nets that descended on Jared. The shrieking wails inside the nets were so mournful that ripples spread even across the consciousness field within Jared’s mind.
Three Soul Fiend Nets, woven together like overlapping spiderwebs, closed in; the lamentations of ten thousand dead souls inside them turned into tangible shock waves that hammered Jared’s eardrums until they ached.
By instinct activated the Golem Body, and brilliant golden scales surged over his skin.
Flaxseed likewise flicked out several charms in the blink of an eye, the paper charms blooming into successive shields that encircled them on all sides.
Swoosh!
The moment the Soul Fiend Nets touched the light barrier, the icy, bone-piercing soul fire sizzled like snow beneath the scorching sun, crackling as it dissolved into curls of bluish smoke. simultaneously, Jared circulated the Focus Technique, voraciously absorbing every trace of marked aura that brushed against him.
Hell, this marked aura is pure as it gets…
Jared was genuinely amazed, had not expected the marked aura wielded by these three black-robed attackers to be so flawlessly refined. Such pristine marked aura would do wonders for his cultivation.
The leader of the trio finally showed a hint of alarm on his withered face. “Impossible! The soul fiend energy slays gods when it meets gods and annihilates demons when it meets demons, how can a mere mortal body like yours withstand it?!”
Jared offered no answer, but an amused spark flared in his eyes.
A flame suddenly danced to life in the center of his palm, its color shifting continuously from gold to cerulean to deep crimson.
“Burn!”
The golden blaze surged forth like a crazed dragon bursting from the sea, Instantly reducing the three Soul Fiend Nets to drifting ash.
Still gathering strength, the flames lunged straight at the three men in black.
The one on the right, panic-stricken, hastily unfurled a black banner etched with skulls, when the cloth billowed open, tens of thousands of ghostly figures poured out, yet beneath the glaze-like flames they lasted not even half a heartbeat before collapsing into sooty powder.
“Internal flame, and a fused internal flame at that! How can possess such mastery?” the middle man shouted, even as twelve bronze nails shot from his sleeve. Twisted soul runes crawled over the metal, linking into a miniature arcane array that rose in front of him.
But the instant the fire touched the formation, every rune along the nails shattered section by section, and scalding sparks peppered his black robes, burning hole after smoking hole through the fabric.
“Retreat!” the leader barked, deciding on the spot. The gourd at his waist exploded, releasing hundreds of razor-sharp spikes forged of condensed soul fiend energy to cover their withdrawal.
Jared’s gaze turned frigid. In a heartbeat, condensed a seemingly unremarkable fireball, yet the surrounding air rippled under its heat.
“Trying to run?”
He buried the orb, mid-flight it fractured into three streaks of light that slammed with surgical precision into the backs of the three fleeing figures.
The man on the left screamed as the conflagration swallowed whole, reducing both body and soul to ash before could even flee.
The middle attacker took a glancing blow across the waist, half his body carbonized instantly, and stumbled into a rock wall that shattered as disappeared into the surrounding mist.
The leader reacted fastest, raising a pitch-black shield to take the blow head-on, yet the impact still sent reeling, spitting black blood, while most of the spirits inside his gourd scattered under the violent concussion.
“Just you wait!” rasped venomously before vanishing into the dense fog. As his hoarse threat faded, the clammy chill blanketing the world ebbed away, leaving only scorched earth and a pervasive reek of sulfur
“Jared, are you hurt?!” Flaxseed hurried over, worry etched across his features.
Everett, beads of cold sweat dotting his brow, kept a wary stare fixed on the direction in which the black-robed leader had vanished. “Those three were agents of that mysterious organization… We could be in serious trouble now…”
“Let‘s leave this place first.” Jared withdrew the internal flame, a slight furrow creasing his brow.
