"Did you think I'd let you run far enough to wait for someone to save you?"
The black-robed priest Bai Lie held an iron chain. It connected to Du An.
The two of them hadn't run very far.
Bai Lie had let Du An escape last time. Waiting outside the Trash Realm to ambush him this time, he had naturally come prepared.
Before rushing over, he had secretly cast a concealment spell to hide the Restraining Iron Chain.
Sure enough, he caught the fleeing Du An.
Gripping one end of the chain, he approached Du An at an unhurried pace.
Unceasing shadows began to surface around Du An, blurring his presence. Yet, because of the chain, he couldn't completely vanish from Bai Lie's sight.
Bai Lie wasn't anxious.
Following the constantly rattling chain, he inched closer.
Even when Du An's figure appeared right beside him, Bai Lie did not pause his steps.
He knew the real target was at the other end of the chain.
"Little guy, there won't be any White Robes coming to save you this time. Your fragment is mine."
Bai Lie could already see a blurry silhouette.
Bound by the chain, the shadow struggled to break free, yet remained firmly tethered.
"Found you," Bai Lie said with a wide grin, clamping a hand down on the shadow's throat.
Once caught, the play of light and shadow gradually sharpened, rendering the figure unable to hide any longer.
But when Bai Lie saw the person's face, he froze.
The figure emerging from the shifting light wasn't Du An.
It was someone he recognized, and someone he absolutely did not want to provoke.
"Heh," Bai Lie let out a dry laugh. "You've got some new tricks, actually managing to disguise yourself as Xiao Suo..."
Xiao Suo, who was almost bundled up like a zongzi by the iron chain, tilted his head and offered a smile.
"Do you think he used a fear spell?" An arm suddenly sprouted from his shoulder where the chain hadn't fully wrapped him. It didn't try to pry off the hand gripping his throat; instead, it reached out and clamped around Bai Lie's neck. "It's truly an honor to know you find me the most terrifying."
Bai Lie's eyes widened as sudden realization dawned on him. "Xiao Suo? Xiao Suo! An exchange spell?"
He immediately dropped the chain. His body softened like jelly, emitting a slick squelch as he tried to slip downward and escape Xiao Suo's grasp.
But Xiao Suo's hand expanded simultaneously, small suckers sprouting across its skin. The slippery Bai Lie, just about to escape, was instantly and firmly suctioned in place.
Another arm grew from Xiao Suo's other shoulder, raising a hand and plunging it straight into the center of Bai Lie's brow.
Bai Lie was so terrified his eyes practically bulged out of their sockets.
Every black-robed priest and white-robed priest knew exactly how horrifying Xiao Suo's method of snatching fragments was.
In an instant, Bai Lie unleashed the Rending Technique, an instant death spell, and every other quick-kill spell in his arsenal, but they were all effortlessly deflected by his opponent.
Whether a spell could ultimately deal effective damage depended on counter-matchups and the clash of sheer energy between the two sides.
Bai Lie hadn't expected Xiao Suo to react so quickly, deploying every counter-spell with flawless precision.
As a result, when their spells collided, it was as if nothing had happened at all. He remained firmly in Xiao Suo's grip.
And Xiao Suo's hand was still buried in his brow.
With just a light grope inside, Xiao Suo seized Bai Lie's Wizard Embryo Fragment.
"Priest Xiao, Priest Xiao, we're both Black Robes! Why must we kill each other? There's a White Robe not far from here—"
"If I couldn't slaughter my own kind, why would I even be a Black Robe?" Xiao Suo said, pulling his hand out.
Pinched between his index and middle fingers was a diamond-shaped black crystal.
"Ahhhh!" Bai Lie shrieked in agony. His softened body snapped back to its original form, but he remained dangling from Xiao Suo's hand.
Xiao Suo slowly let go, leaving the man floating in midair. "See? I didn't kill you. As long as you can find a small world and run inside before your remaining spiritual rhinoceros runs dry, you'll survive."
However, the moment Xiao Suo finished speaking, a silver storm suddenly erupted behind the weakened Bai Lie.
The storm swept past in a flash. When Bai Lie's figure reemerged, he had gone from a whole person to a fleshless skeleton.
Du An appeared behind Bai Lie.
His face was expressionless as he withdrew his element, Skinning.
"Death by a thousand cuts. How ruthless," Xiao Suo remarked, though his face bore a careless, unbothered smile.
He raised his hand and tossed the freshly robbed Wizard Embryo Fragment to Du An.
Du An caught it backhanded, turning his wrist to examine the fragment in his palm.
"Have you thought it through? If you had chosen the Black Robes, that Bai Lie just now wouldn't have even been qualified to hunt you."
"If I fuse with this fragment you stole, will I become a Black Robe too?"
"Hahaha. Unfortunately for you, yes," Xiao Suo laughed.
Perhaps because his movements were too large, a series of cracks appeared across his body, making him look like a poorly fired porcelain doll covered in fine fissures.
Du An didn't choose to devour the Wizard Embryo Fragment, but he didn't return it to Xiao Suo either.
Seeing his choice, Xiao Suo smiled in satisfaction.
He knew Du An was already tempted. Now, he only needed the right catalyst.
"Strength was never meant to be restrained by all these rules and boundaries."
"If you want something, just take it."
Xiao Suo's figure slowly faded.
"When you've finally made up your mind, you can summon me again anytime."
Xiao Suo completely disappeared.
Only then did Du An's tense shoulders relax slightly.
Ignoring the white skeleton still floating in place, he turned and flew in the direction Li Ban had fled earlier.
Just earlier, to avoid losing track of the Director again, he had attached a black shadow directly onto him.
But halfway there, his expression suddenly changed.
"Another small world is collapsing?"
Then, Du An jolted to a stop.
"The shadow vanished."
While fleeing, Du An remembered seeing the Director pull another Black Robe into the rift of a small world on the verge of destruction.
Did he know he wasn't a match for the Black Robe and chose mutual destruction?
"No," Du An shook his head. "The Director would never give up so easily."
He refused to believe that the Director, who had survived the collapse of the Ring World, would die so simply at the hands of another Black Robe.
But the shockwaves radiating from the collapsing world ahead couldn't be faked.
His black shadow had vanished in an instant.
And the shadow had been tracking the Director.
Du An furrowed his brow tightly.
If the man really had died in the world's collapse, then both his soul and Chen Dong's soul were lost without a trace once again.
"With a fragmented soul, mental refinement will stagnate—it'll take decades or centuries to repair..."
His hand slowly clenched into a fist.
"If the Director's and Chen Dong's souls are out of reach, then that only leaves... Li Ban!"
Upon confirming that the black-robed priest Lao Yu had also been swept into the shockwaves of the collapsing rift, Li Ban closed his eyes. Amidst the agonizing pain of his body being torn apart, he prepared to return to the Wizard World.
But in the split second his consciousness transferred, a faint shout suddenly rang out from the darkness behind him.
"Hold on—"
Li Ban opened his eyes again, only to find himself already back in the Wizard World.
'Whose voice was that at the end?'
It sounded like a woman's voice.
But Li Ban was certain that when he triggered the shockwaves in the world rift, there hadn't been a single living person around him.
'Could another priest have entered at the final moment of the world's collapse?'
However, the space had already been extremely unstable. Staying any longer would have been too dangerous. With no time to linger, Li Ban had no choice but to return to the Wizard World first.
Now that he was safe and his emotions had settled, he recalled the voice once more.
'Why did it sound like Priest Zhu Yao?'
He stepped out of his room, summoned a cloud, and flew straight to the top of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda.
There was no way to hide the fact that he had become a Cloud Hidden Priest from the white-robed priests.
Whether learning spells or using his abilities at close range in front of them, they were bound to notice something unusual.
Rather than deliberately hiding it, it was better to be completely honest and open.
Atop the Myriad Ancient Pagoda, he indeed found Priest Qian Que, who was said to frequently sit there.
Seeing Li Ban arrive atop a drifting cloud, Priest Qian Que looked surprised for a fleeting moment before offering a smiling nod.
Li Ban hadn't expected such an ordinary reaction.
He landed beside Priest Qian Que. After a brief hesitation, he asked, "My mist suddenly transformed into clouds. Is the advancement from Spiritual Initiation to Cloud-Hidden usually this easy?"
Priest Qian Que pondered for a moment before answering with three words.
"Excellent natural talent."
Li Ban smiled helplessly.
Could good talent alone really carry someone straight from Spiritual Initiation to Cloud-Hidden?
"I'm currently at the 4th Tier and haven't filled my spiritual rhinoceros yet. But a priest's advancement doesn't seem to be affected by elements."
Given the number of elements Li Ban had currently fused with, filling his spiritual rhinoceros at the 4th Tier at a normal absorption rate would take a very long time.
Ten years, at the very least.
Even if he secretly absorbed waste elements from corpses, it would still take ages.
Li Ban even wondered if he should deliberately discard a few elements.
Priest Qian Que nodded. But before he could squeeze out another few sparse words, another person landed beside Li Ban.
It was Priest Pei Jun, who had just parted ways with Li Ban after teaching him spells.
"Priest Jun."
"You've advanced to Cloud-Hidden? So fast?"
Although he merely widened his eyes and asked two short questions, this was the normal reaction one would expect.
Li Ban glanced at Priest Qian Que. "Yeah, I'm quite surprised myself, so I came to ask Priest Qian Que about it. He said it's my good talent."
Priest Jun shook his head in exasperation. "It should be because the Wizard Embryo Fragment you obtained is relatively whole, making your advancement to Cloud-Hidden incredibly fast. This is a good thing. Did Priest Zhu Yao not tell you?"
Thinking back, Li Ban recalled that after inspecting his fragment, Priest Zhu Yao had also mentioned his good talent.
Priest Jun remembered something. "Right, I remember Priest Du An's talent was excellent as well. After Zhu Yao used the Rite of Heaven-Seizing Breath on him, his spiritual rhinoceros reached full capacity at the 4th Tier, and he smoothly broke through to become a Cloud Hidden Priest right away."
Li Ban realized that his own situation was actually identical to Du An's.
If it hadn't been Priest Zhong Ye who used the Rite of Heaven-Seizing Breath on him, perhaps he too would have directly become a Cloud Hidden Priest.
'Du An's situation is so similar to mine. Could the entire other half of the Ring World's fragments be in his hands?'
Speaking of Priest Zhu Yao, Li Ban once again thought of the voice he had heard while leaving the Shadow World.
"By the way, is Priest Zhu Yao in the Shattered Realm?"
"She's not. She's been stationed at the Nine Heavens Sea. However, the fighting there has died down a bit, and she said she wanted to come over and check on you two."
Priest Qian Que nodded. "Du An and Li Ban."
Priest Jun couldn't keep a straight face around Priest Qian Que. "Ha, she discovered both of the newcomers. Talk about good luck."