77: Chapter 76 Harvesting

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Beneath a crumbling wall inside the cave, Ma Xiaotao knelt with her legs crossed. Her bright red skirt had been torn to shreds by the shockwave of the explosion, exposing large patches of skin, and she looked utterly wretched.

"How... could it be like this?"

Ma Xiaotao was dazed. Just a moment before the explosion occurred, she had relied on the protection of her own Spirit Ability to luckily evade the first, most lethal wave of the blast.

However, the power of the subsequent shockwaves was equally significant, and she still suffered non-trivial injuries.

Suddenly, her face turned pale, and a spray of blood gushed from her mouth. As this clotted blood was expelled, her aura weakened accordingly.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

At this moment, a crisp sound of footsteps echoed from the cave behind her. The person approaching made no attempt to conceal their aura or sound, openly declaring: "I have arrived..."

Ma Xiaotao clutched her chest and carefully leaned backward, struggling to stand up along the wall, staring at the cave behind her with a vigilant expression.

As the figure drew closer, Ma Xiaotao mobilized the last of the strength within her body, condensing it into a Phoenix Fire Wire, and launched an attack just before the person emerged.

"Puff..."

Accompanied by the sound of evaporating water vapor, the Phoenix Fire Wire was extinguished. The Death God Messenger raised his hand and walked out slowly, his pale, twisted face bearing a trace of a mocking smile.

"Evil Soul Master!!!"

The moment Ma Xiaotao saw the Death God Messenger, she roared through gritted teeth. In that instant, she suddenly realized the truth.

So, from the very beginning, they had not been the hunters, but the prey being hunted.

The Death God Messenger grinned. His figure flashed, appearing before Ma Xiaotao. One hand clamped onto her fair neck, while the other gently lifted her chin, and he chuckled eerily:

"You really are a stunning beauty. It is fortunate that you did not die in the spray of blood just now; otherwise, wouldn't that be a lot less fun?"

"Evil Soul Master, you will meet a horrible death..."

Ma Xiaotao twisted her neck, but the large hand before her clamped onto her throat tightly, leaving her body unable to move.

Helpless and wanting to vent her anger, she could only forcefully spit on his face. She sneered and swatted away the hand lifting her chin, hoping to provoke him into killing her.

The Death God Messenger was stunned for a moment, but the next instant, instead of being angry, he laughed eerily: "Hahaha... Evil Soul Master will meet a horrible death? If we really want to talk about it, you might actually be more like an Evil Soul Master than I am, don't you think?"

"Pah! I would rather die than associate with you!"

Ma Xiaotao was furious. She knew that when she could not control the evil fire within her, there was indeed a risk of falling into depravity, but even if she died, she would not degenerate into an Evil Soul Master.

"That is not something you can decide just by saying it. Be good and take a nap. When you wake up, I will take you to see a brand new World..."

The Death God Messenger let out an eerie, cold laugh. A pair of large hands emanating black mist suddenly enveloped Ma Xiaotao's face. The next moment, her vision went black, and she suddenly lost consciousness.

The corners of the Death God Messenger's mouth curled up slightly. He wrapped his arms around Ma Xiaotao's head and thighs, cradling her horizontally in front of his chest, and continued walking forward.

Although this explosion seemed incredibly powerful, it had not yet reached the point of killing everyone. In his perception, at least quite a few had survived.

And now, he was going to finish them off one by one...

At this moment, in the core area of the explosion, Dai Yueheng had been caught in the direct blast of two Spirit King-level corpses. Unable to release his Soul Power and Spirit Ability in time for protection, half of his body had been severed at the waist.

Chen Zifeng and Yao Haoxuan had died on the spot. The flesh all over their bodies had been blown to pieces, leaving only their skeletons remaining.

Gongyang Mo's left and right legs had both been blown off. He was screaming continuously amidst the erosion of the deadly poison, looking extremely miserable.

Among the remaining people, only Ling Luochen and Xixi were in slightly better condition. Although they had been severely injured by the explosion, fortunately, their ice and lightning protection had allowed them to evade the damage of the blast in the first instance.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. It seems you truly have tenacious lives. You didn't die even from that..."

The Death God Messenger walked out from the depths of the cave, carrying Ma Xiaotao. Looking at the severed limbs along the way, his face showed no emotional fluctuations, and he spoke coldly to the few people.

"You... this was all planned by you..."

Dai Yueheng watched the Death God Messenger, who was unscathed, and then saw the red marks on Ma Xiaotao's body and her exposed skin. His face filled with deep hatred; so they had fallen into the enemy's trap long ago.

"Realizing it now is far too late!"

The Death God Messenger laughed eerily. He formed a sword with one hand and reached directly toward Dai Yueheng's head. With a swift strike, a head was sent flying into the air.

Immediately afterward, a dark force caught it, causing it to hover around his body. In the black mist, Dai Yueheng's eyes were wide open, staring in death...

Afterwards, the Death God Messenger followed the same procedure, cutting off the heads of Chen Zifeng and Yao Haoxuan, controlling them to float in the air, and then arrived in front of Gongyang Mo.

"You damned Evil Soul Master, Shrek will absolutely not let you off..."

Gongyang Mo looked at the three heads of the Core Disciple from the Inner Court circling beside him, as well as the unconscious Ma Xiaotao. The expression on his face was exceptionally ferocious, and that fierce gaze seemed as if it wanted to flay the other person alive.

The Death God Messenger sighed lightly. He held Ma Xiaotao by the waist with one hand and waved his free hand toward Gongyang Mo: "Unfortunately, you will not live to see it..."

After he finished speaking, his head flew into the air and was steadily caught by the black mist.

As for the remaining Ling Luochen and Xixi, the Death God Messenger pondered for a moment before knocking them unconscious, wrapping them in black mist, and taking them away.

By this point, there was not much time left.

The seven people outside were not weak, and it was unrealistic to want to take them down in a short time. Moreover, the time had dragged on long enough. If he were entangled and Elder Xuan arrived, he would be in trouble...

Thinking of this, he scanned the cave, used a burst of dark energy to collapse it, and after destroying the evidence, headed toward another passage the Death God Messenger had prepared for his escape.

Even a clever rabbit has three burrows, let alone an even more insidious and cunning Evil Soul Master?

However, before leaving, he also left a special gift for Elder Xuan. Although it could not cause any real effect, it would be nice to disgust him a little.

...

On a distant hilltop, after Lin Feng finished controlling the Death God Messenger to escape the cave, he immediately picked up a signal flare and fired it into the sky.

"Bang~!"

Accompanied by a burst of fireworks-like sparks blooming in mid-air, Sect Master Du Busi curled his lips. Then, he suddenly erupted with powerful strength, knocking Elder Xuan flying, before turning into a streak of light and departing into the distance.

"Damn it!"

Elder Xuan was furious, but he immediately thought of the Inner and Outer Court Disciple who were currently in danger. He abandoned the idea of continuing the pursuit and instead went to save them.

First, he rushed to save the seven people from the Outer Court from the collapsing cave, and immediately afterward, he went to look for the seven people from the Inner Court who had been severely injured in the explosion.

However, by the time he arrived, the heads of Dai Yueheng and the others had already been placed together. After Elder Xuan arrived, the four headless corpses also rapidly swelled and turned red.

"Ah—"

A piercing roar erupted from Elder Xuan's throat. With red eyes, he withstood the shockwaves of the explosion to protect the four heads in front of him and retreated backward without looking back.

It was not that he was unwilling to search for the remaining three people, but rather that in his perception, there were no other living auras here.

There were no bodies of them at the scene either, so the greatest possibility was that they had been taken away by the Evil Soul Master...