380: Chapter 380 It's a pity, he has a missing eye.

When Suo Jialuo stepped onto the fifth floor, his footsteps faltered for the first time.

It wasn't because of exhaustion, but because of a surprise.

There was nothing here.

None of the neon lights and music from the fourth floor, none of the strange tools from the third, none of the maze-like furniture from the second, and no weapon racks like on the first.

There was only a massive rooftop terrace.

The ground was made of smooth, grey-white stone slabs, with fine moss growing in the joints, clearly untouched for a long time.

There were no railings at the edge; standing there, one could look directly down at the bamboo forest below. Those emerald bamboo tips swayed gently in the wind, looking like another surging ocean from this height.

Above was the sky.

It was as azure as a piece of freshly washed glazed glass, with a few wisps of white clouds hanging leisurely, like carelessly scattered cotton wool.

Sunlight poured down from the zenith, illuminating the entire terrace with bright transparency.

Suo Jialuo stood at the exit of the emergency stairwell, his figure having completely solidified.

His gaze swept across the empty space, finally landing on the person in the center of the terrace.

Bai Ling stood there.

He was no longer running.

His clothes were in tatters, the wound on his left ribs was still seeping blood, and half of his body was stained dark red.

His breathing hadn't settled yet, his chest heaving violently, but his eyes had changed.

They no longer held the previous composure and seriousness.

Nor did they hold fear.

There was only a very calm gaze, as if he had been waiting for this moment all along.

"Done running?" Suo Jialuo spoke.

Bai Ling didn't answer.

He raised his hand and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his movements slow and earnest. Then he tore off his tattered outer robe and threw it on the ground.

Sunlight fell upon him.

Bai Ling was bare-chested, revealing a lean but not frail body.

He took a deep breath.

Then he struck a stance.

It wasn't a posture for fleeing, nor a stance for a sneak attack, but the most basic starting form for a head-on confrontation.

Left foot forward, right foot back, knees slightly bent, right hand guarding the chest, left hand reaching forward.

No flourishes.

No techniques.

Just the most primitive, ancient combat posture used since humans still lived in the wild.

Suo Jialuo looked at him, but his initial interest had vanished; he admitted he was becoming a bit annoyed by this brat.

"It seems this is the burial ground you've chosen?"

Bai Ling spoke, his voice somewhat raspy but steady.

"Are all of you from the older generation like this? You have to announce every Move you use, and you talk so much just to have a fight."

Suo Jialuo smiled.

"Come."

He took a step.

The moment this step landed, the entire terrace seemed to tremble.

Fine cracks spread outward from his foot across the stone floor.

Then his figure vanished.

It wasn't turning into a stream of water or any Spell; it was pure movement, so fast that Bai Ling couldn't track it.

Bai Ling's pupils constricted suddenly.

Before he could even react, Suo Jialuo's fist was already in front of him.

The punch wasn't aimed at his face.

It was aimed at his abdomen.

BOOM—!!!

Bai Ling's body arched like a shrimp as he was sent flying. His back slammed into the stone floor thirty meters away, bouncing up and falling again, rolling four or five times before stopping.

He lay there and coughed violently, spitting out a mouthful of blood mixed with gastric juice and bile; clearly, this punch had affected the balance of his dao body.

Suo Jialuo stood in place and withdrew his fist.

"That's it?"

Bai Ling braced himself against the ground and slowly crawled up.

His legs were shaking, his arms were shaking, his entire body was shaking.

The sharp pain from his internal organs told him that the punch just now had broken at least two of his ribs, and his spleen might be ruptured.

But he stood up.

He struck that stance once again.

Suo Jialuo raised an eyebrow.

The second punch.

This punch hit his left ribs, exactly where the old wound was.

Bai Ling could even hear his own bones making a crisp cracking sound. He was familiar with that sound, having heard it many times, but never so clearly.

He flew out again.

This time when he landed, he lay there for quite a while without moving.

Suo Jialuo waited for three breaths.

Bai Ling's hand moved.

He pushed against the ground, bit by bit, propping himself up. His arms shook violently as if they would collapse again at any moment, but he still pushed himself up.

His knees knelt on the ground.

Then he stood up.

Once again, he struck that stance.

Suo Jialuo looked at him.

This time, he wasn't in a hurry to strike.

He walked forward, right up to Bai Ling, looking at this human from up close.

"Three of your bones are broken, your spleen is bleeding, and your left lung might be damaged. With the strength of your dao body, under normal circumstances, you wouldn't be able to stand up anymore."

Bai Ling panted, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth onto the grey-white stone slabs of the terrace.

He didn't speak.

Because he no longer had the spare energy to speak.

He just looked at Suo Jialuo with those eyes. There was no pain, no fear, only a very calm, even somewhat indifferent light.

Suo Jialuo suddenly felt something was wrong.

He took a step back.

Then, the third punch.

This punch hit the dead center of Bai Ling's chest, with enough force to shatter the heart of a Late Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator.

Bai Ling's body flew out again.

But this time, Suo Jialuo saw it clearly.

The moment the fist struck his body, a very faint light seemed to shimmer on the surface of Bai Ling's skin.

The light was so faint that if he hadn't been staring with such intense focus, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.

Then Bai Ling landed.

Coughed blood.

Crawled up.

Struck the stance again.

Suo Jialuo's expression changed.

He stepped forward again, and this time it was no longer a probe but a true assault—fists, elbows, knees, and feet fell upon Bai Ling like a tempest.

A punch to the face, the sound of a nasal bone shattering.

An elbow to the shoulder, the sound of a joint dislocating.

A knee to the abdomen, the dull thud of a stomach spasm.

A kick to the shin, the sound of a tibia cracking.

Bai Ling was like a ragdoll, caught in this storm, thrown down, swept up, and thrown down again.

His body rolled, bounced, and collided with the ground, each landing making a heavy thud.

Suo Jialuo's strikes didn't stop.

But his brow furrowed.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

With the force he was using, the previous Bai Ling should have been dead within three punches.

Even with a special protective Cultivation Technique, he should have completely lost consciousness within ten punches.

But how many punches had he thrown now?

Thirty?

Fifty?

Bai Ling was still moving.

It wasn't conscious movement, but the instinctive twitching and spasms of the body.

But that was enough to prove the point: he was still conscious! He wasn't dead yet!

Suo Jialuo stopped his attack and looked down at this human who no longer looked human.

Bai Ling's face was completely swollen, his eyes narrowed to slits, his nose bridge crooked to one side, his lips split, and blood mixed with saliva was flowing out.

The skin on his chest was a mass of purple and blue, with bone protrusions visible in several places. His limbs were twisted at bizarre angles, clearly suffering multiple fractures.

But his eyes were still open.

Those eyes looked at Suo Jialuo through swollen eyelids.

Still looking at him.

Suo Jialuo was silent for a breath.

Then he drew a breath of Qi.

This wasn't an ordinary attack, but his true methods.

That power circulated through Ao Ye's Meridians, surged from his Dantian, climbed along his arm, and finally gathered on his right fist.

A layer of faint golden light appeared on his fist, but if one looked closely, they could see that this light was composed of countless tiny characters.

The light was faint but pure, so pure that just looking at it made one's eyes sting with pain.

"I'll see how long you can last."

He punched down.

Since simple beating couldn't kill him, he would use a single Move to completely shatter him.

The punch fell.

But at that very moment, Bai Ling's eyes changed.

That left eye, which had been ignored all along, underwent a violent transformation.

Deep within that double pupil, a light ignited.

It was a blue light.

That blue was so pure, exactly the same as the sky above.

Suo Jialuo's fist landed.

It struck Bai Ling's Dantian.

But there was no feedback.

No sound of fist meeting flesh, no crisp sound of shattering bones, none of the feedback he expected.

His fist felt like it had struck empty space, and the hollow sensation of wasted force made him stumble forward a step.

Then he saw it.

Bai Ling's body began to disintegrate.

Starting from the point where the fist struck, his entire being turned into countless fine droplets of water, like a sudden burst of mist, spreading in all directions.

The mist was light and faint, and it even produced the Tyndall effect, making it look somewhat dreamlike for a moment.

As the mist rose, Suo Jialuo saw that double pupil look at him one last time.

Without any emotion, it too dispersed.

Only a slowly falling water mist remained on the terrace.

Sunlight pierced through the mist, creating tiny rainbows in the air.

Suo Jialuo stood in place, maintaining his punching posture.

His fist was still suspended in the air; his fingers slowly closed into a fist, then slowly relaxed.

There was nothing.

Only a few traces of moisture remaining between his fingers proved that something had indeed been there.

He turned around and looked at the robe that had been thrown on the ground earlier.

Now, the white robe slowly floated up, gradually appearing to be filled by something.

Then the thing became clearer; it was water gradually condensing.

Finally, the water fully converged, and a perfectly intact Bai Ling slowly landed on the platform; even the originally tattered robe had been repaired by the water.

Suo Jialuo looked at Bai Ling with his hair loose, and the double pupil in his left eye flashing with blue light, looking as if the sky itself was curled up within it. Only then did Suo Jialuo cover his face and burst into loud laughter.

"Hahaha, so that's it! So this is your trump card?"

"Bai Ling, you've really made me see you in a new light!"

Having said that, Suo Jialuo closed in again, throwing a punch that carried immense pressure toward Bai Ling.

Bai Ling simply raised his hand, his palm aimed in Suo Jialuo's direction.

Even though Suo Jialuo's speed was even greater than before, Bai Ling could already capture his movements.

"Water Technique, Thousand Threads."

The very Move Suo Jialuo had used before was released from Bai Ling's hand, slicing straight toward Suo Jialuo.

The Move was identical, but the one Bai Ling released was much larger than the one Suo Jialuo had used.

It went from piercing to slicing, and it was much denser, directly cutting the rushing Suo Jialuo into several pieces, causing him to explode into water in mid-air.

Bai Ling didn't feel happy because of the overwhelming nature of this Move.

Looking at Suo Jialuo, who was once again restoring himself from the water, he only felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

This was his greatest trump card, the innate Divine Ability of the double pupil, 'Battle Victory'.

By fighting for a long time, recording the opponent's power, and inscribing them, he could replicate all of the opponent's power onto himself, and would always be five percent stronger than the replicated subject.

But this Divine Ability was not a permanent solution; it had a time limit, and a very short one at that.

At the same time, after mastering the opponent's power, he became even more aware of how difficult the opponent was to deal with.

All he could do was try his best to stall the opponent before the Divine Ability's effect expired, and as much as possible... forget it, he no longer entertained the idea of actually harming the opponent.

"I only hope that when you guys see I haven't come for so long, you don't wait for me, otherwise it'll be trouble."

Looking at the charging Suo Jialuo, Bai Ling was no longer melancholy. He converted his helplessness into motivation and went all out, using every Water Technique and combat method the opponent hadn't even had time to use yet.

The battle reversed in an instant; the one being suppressed and unable to fight back became Suo Jialuo.

Only because Bai Ling was only five percent stronger, Suo Jialuo didn't look as pathetic as Bai Ling had just now.

But the suppressed Suo Jialuo actually smiled.

He knew that the power he currently possessed had all been mastered by the opponent using that special Divine Ability.

So now, it would be hard for him to take down the opponent. He didn't bother much with defense, allowing the attacks to hit him and splash into water droplets.

"A very impressive Divine Ability."

"In the past, most double-pupil possessors were about talent and wisdom. Combat-type Divine Abilities are truly rare, so much so that even I fell for it."

"I was wondering why you kept running; turns out you were waiting for this moment all along."

Seeing him talk too much, Bai Ling threw a punch that shattered the opponent's head, but the water converged again, and the opponent continued to chatter incessantly.

"A pity, it's a Damaged Pupil."

"Now that you've mastered so much of my power, you should understand my strength better, right?"

"I don't even have to fight back; I just need to wait quietly for you to return to your original state."

"So, how long can this Damaged Pupil of yours last?"

Half an hour later, the original workshop had been completely destroyed, and the Domain had ended.

Bai Ling had suppressed the opponent, fighting from one side of the bamboo forest to the other, leaving countless marks along the way. Even the eerie recovery speed of the bamboo forest couldn't quite keep up, as they encountered traces of their previous fighting several times.

Bai Ling's offensive grew even more fierce, to the point that even Suo Jialuo's recovery speed couldn't keep up, but Suo Jialuo laughed out loud instead.

Because he knew this was a sign that the opponent was about to run out of steam.

"Hahahaha, hahahaha!"

"Bai Ling, you can't hold on anymore! To be able to stall me for so long, among this generation of Prodigies, you already have something to be proud of!"

Bai Ling's expression was grim as he threw out several more Moves in succession.

"Is this the end? It really is a bit... eh?"

"Ah?"

Just as Bai Ling's next punch was about to fall, both of them looked up simultaneously. Bai Ling showed a look of joy, while Suo Jialuo's expression turned ugly.

Because the originally azure sky had turned into a starry sky, and the surrounding bamboo forest was rapidly receding.

This meant that this trial had been cleared by someone!

Realizing he had escaped death, Bai Ling's face was full of pleasant surprise. He fully threw the punch he hadn't finished, sending Suo Jialuo flying, and then gave him an international gesture of friendship.

"The Damaged Pupil is leaving, keep the pity for yourself."

Then he crushed an item Zhou Yan had given him. His body turned into a streak of light, charging straight in the direction Xuanyuan Qingyao had gone.

At the same time, he threw out another item, which was the previous bracelet.

He placed the bracelet on a mechanical Puppet, letting the Puppet fly toward the direction Zhou Yan had gone earlier.

The Suo Jialuo who had been sent flying also slowly stood up, returning to his youthful appearance.

"Father, are we not pursuing?"

Suo Jialuo—no, he should be called Ao Ye now.

He rubbed his somewhat sore body, looking at the speck of light flying toward the bodhi tree.

"That fellow went to the bodhi tree as well, and your person ran away long ago using the methods I provided."

"Now there's only one fool there, leading another group of fools over."

"If you want to be a fool, then go."

Listening to Suo Jialuo's voice in his Sea of Consciousness, Ao Ye just clenched his fist, his body still trembling instinctively as he looked in that direction.

"But he knows your identity, Father."

"It doesn't matter. Once we leave the Secret Realm, except for that fellow, no one will be able to remember me."

"Just don't expose yourself in front of him too early."

Hearing the answer, Ao Ye also breathed a sigh of relief. Instead of heading toward the bodhi tree, he flew toward the furthest building.

Once Ao Ye had also gone far away, a roof tile suddenly popped up from the small courtyard that had turned into ruins.

The tile then transformed into a human figure; it was Long Tianxing, who had used the 'Deceive' branch of 'Cheat, Swindle, Bluff, and Deceive' Spells.

He looked at the surrounding ruins and the departing man and demon, his mouth agape, momentarily unsure of what to say.

After a moment of recovery, he still flew in the direction Bai Ling had gone.

"Sigh, what a mess this is. Luckily I broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, otherwise, coming out would have been worse than staying in."