Zhao Yunlan grabbed the blade from Shen Wei’s mouth. “Give me that.” He took the blade, completely unique in all the world, and slashed at the black mist wrapped around Shen Wei’s arm. But beneath the blade, the substance felt like quicksand and was barely dented by the fierce weapon, never mind cut.
Shen Wei held Zhao Yunlan even tighter. “That’s the power of Chaos. It’s the only thing the Soul-Executing Blade can’t cut through. Nothing will work but to cut my arm off. Do it quickly!”
Zhao Yunlan ignored him and carefully sheathed the blade. Then he got out a paper talisman of the Soul-Guarding Order. With a snap of his fingers, a small spark burst forth, and he sent the blazing talisman shooting straight into the mist…
…And the talisman disappeared. Not a speck remained.
“Cut off my arm!” Shen Wei yelled.
Zhao Yunlan acted like he didn’t hear him. Next, he took out the true Soul-Guarding Order, carved from the Great Divine Tree itself, which he had brought along specially.
Alarmed, Shen Wei said, “You can’t—”
But before Shen Wei could finish speaking, Zhao Yunlan proved that actions were faster than words. The Soul-Guarding Order, made from the wood of the Great Divine Tree, began to burn. The flame rose a third of a meter into the air, burning an unnatural red. The black mist ensnaring Shen Wei’s arm finally shrank back in fear.
Regaining the use of his arm, the first thing Shen Wei did was grab the burning Soul-Guarding Order. Still holding Zhao Yunlan close, he dodged around the swamp-like mist. A pool of clear spring water welled up in his palm, extinguishing the fire on the Soul-Guarding Order, but half of the words were already burned off. Only the right half of the characters were still legible. The words on the back—“Guard the souls of the living, bring peace to the hearts of the dead”—were entirely gone.
The pair beat a hasty retreat from the area. Expression dark, Shen Wei said, “Don’t you realize that you don’t actually belong in the Reincarnation Cycle? That your status as Guardian essentially grants you protection? This was carved from the Great Divine Tree’s bark, and you…you…”
Any time Shen Wei wanted to curse, his mind tended to go blank. He repeated the word “you” a few times but was unable to come up with anything better than a refined “You squandering fool!”
Behind them, the black shadow kept giving chase. It was as thick as ink that was impossible to dilute, and wherever it passed, nothing remained. The shadow swallowed everything…almost as though it could swallow even emptiness itself.
It was true Chaos.
Neither man had ever imagined a day when they’d cut such a sorry figure, fleeing fast enough that they must’ve surely exceeded the speed limit of life and death.
Even running for his life, Zhao Yunlan found the time to roll his eyes at Shen Wei. “You’re the squandering fool here, ready to cut off your arm or dig out your heart at the least provocation. Do you think you’re a gecko?”
“I’m not arguing with you.” Shen Wei wrapped Zhao Yunlan in his arms, and the huge black cloak of the Emissary billowed around them like a dark cloud soaring into the sky. His feet left the ground, but he stayed low—still holding Zhao Yunlan—and traversed dozens of meters in a heartbeat. Then he gently touched down and dove straight into the crack in the ground, swift as a black swallow.
Faint tremors shook the ground once again.
From even deeper down, a huge group of reapers, with their penchant for terrible timing, burst forth. Reapers were always either late when they shouldn’t be or rushing forward when they were supposed to be delaying. But the moment this bunch appeared, over half of them were swallowed up by the all-consuming black shadow.
The Magistrate yelped. However, as he was about to dive back into the ground without a word, Ox-Head and Horse-Face, standing on either side, pulled him back out like a radish. “My lord, you can’t. The underground is not a hiding place.”
Just like that, a mismatched assortment of reapers also joined team “Run for Your Life,” contributing absolutely nothing useful in the process.
Shen Wei suddenly leaped back out of the crack in the ground, shoving Zhao Yunlan forward. Zhao Yunlan followed his cue and let the momentum carry him forward a dozen or so meters. He steadied himself with his hands on the ground, then stood. Shen Wei, meanwhile, had levitated into the air. He formed a seal with both hands and silently recited an incantation from some distant time as the black shadow closed in, bit by bit.
Just as the shadow was about to touch the hem of his robes, a piercing white light erupted from the seal in Shen Wei’s hands.
His timing was impeccable. The shadow lurched to a stop right in front of him, and then, shuddering violently, it was slowly sucked into the white light.
Everyone held their breaths.
It wasn’t long before the all-encompassing shadow was fully drawn into the increasingly blinding white light. The cold sweat gathering on Shen Wei’s face finally dripped down his cheek. The Magistrate fell back onto the ground, and Zhao Yunlan let out a breath, slowly relaxing his fist, which had been clenched tightly enough to leave crescent marks from his nails in his palm.
The white blaze started to shrink in Shen Wei’s hand. The situation seemed to be coming under control.
And then, all at once, everything changed.
With no warning, a figure appeared behind Shen Wei as though he had ripped the air open. Ghost Face, who had been lying in wait for some unknown amount of time, thrust an icicle over a meter long through Shen Wei’s back—right into his heart.