Chapter 519 - 383: Soul-devouring Rat, Immortal Palace Order, Breaking Through to the Late Stage of Void Refining

"Killed in one blow? The attacker must be at least Integration Stage!"

As a crowd of cultivators arrived at the inn, they stared at the gruesome scene on the floor, unable to hide their shock.

Anyone who can kill a Middle Stage Void Refining cultivator with a single strike must have terrifying cultivation.

"I told Gao the Third, not everyone is someone you can just mess with, but he wouldn’t listen! See what happened—he didn’t get the goods, and now he lost his own life!"

Someone in the crowd spoke up.

"That bastard Gao the Third was always causing trouble. Dying like this—he got off easy!"

Another cultivator snickered, clearly pleased.

"Judging by the attack, looks like the killer used a Celestial Thunder Secret Technique. Any idea who it was?"

"Right! To kill Gao the Third in one move, their cultivation must be beyond Integration Stage!"

"Not even a corpse was left behind. Maybe it was a Demon Cultivator?"

"Who knows! A guy like Gao the Third totally deserved to die!"

...

The crowd all began bickering and chatting at once.

"Move, move—out of the way!"

With a booming yell, a group of more than ten men stormed onto the scene.

Leading them was a burly, fat middle-aged man.

In his hand he held an enormous rat.

The rat’s fur was slick and shiny—it was clearly well-fed.

Nobody expected the middle-aged man to keep such an ugly rat as a pet. The onlookers couldn’t help but feel a little disgusted.

But not one of them dared to say a word.

"Who just died here?"

The fat man frowned and asked.

Gao the Third was his subordinate, and now that the man was dead, he couldn’t just let this slide!

"Second Master, it—it was Gao the Third!"

A cultivator answered timidly.

The fat man’s face darkened at his words.

Gao the Third might have bullied and terrorized everyone, but he was loyal to him. Losing the kid was bad enough, but it was also an insult to his reputation.

Here in Immortal Monarch City, who didn’t have to show him respect?

"You’ve got some balls! Who did this?"

The Second Master roared.

No one replied—the culprit was long gone, and he’d even taken away the corpses of Gao the Third and his men.

"Don’t... don’t know!"

The crowd murmured, afraid.

The Second Master held serious sway in Immortal Monarch City. No one wanted to provoke him.

His name was Ma Huo, one of the top experts in Immortal Monarch City, at Early Stage Integration.

His business empire spanned half the city—he was filthy rich.

And on top of that, Ma Huo was the Second Elder of the Myriad Beasts Sect, a true power in these parts.

That’s why everybody called him Second Master.

"I want to see just who dared to touch someone from Myriad Beasts Sect. Go!"

As he spoke, Ma Huo released the glossy black rat from his hands.

This was no ordinary rat—it was a Soul-devouring Rat.

It fed on cultivators’ Divine Souls, trapping them in illusion realms so they could "enjoy" themselves, unaware that their life was draining away.

Naturally, that only worked on cultivators whose cultivation was lower than the Soul-devouring Rat’s.

If their cultivation was high enough, the rat had no hold.

The Soul-devouring Rat had another skill: by scent, it could track what had just happened at a location.

Ma Huo had formed a Master-Servant Contract with the Soul-devouring Rat, so anything the rat sensed, Ma Huo could perceive too.

The Soul-devouring Rat sniffed around on the ground, the stench of blood flooding its nostrils. Its eyes turned instantly blood-red.

Series after series of visions flashed before the eyes of Ma Huo and the rat.

In the images, a middle-aged man wielded a Divine Thunder Bow, killing Gao the Third and his men with a single arrow.

Then he’d swaggered off.

"He—it was him?"

Ma Huo’s heart shuddered.

Just yesterday he’d received the order: have the whole Myriad Beasts Sect hunt for Lin Chang’sheng’s whereabouts.

If anyone found him, a huge bounty would be paid.

If they killed him, they’d be able to select any powerful Demon Beast—or even a Low Tier Spirit Beast—as a Contracted Beast from the Sect.

They’d also be allowed to cultivate in the Sect’s Holy Sect headquarters for half a month.

These insanely lucrative rewards had Ma Huo itching to act.

"Talk about looking high and low, only to have him drop right into my lap!"

Ma Huo’s lips curled up in a sly grin.

This Lin Chang’sheng was only Middle Stage Void Refining—killing him would be a piece of cake.

"Find his hideout for me!"

Ma Huo waved, and the Soul-devouring Rat immediately started tracking Lin Chang’sheng’s trail.

Ma Huo and his men quickly followed in pursuit.

"Looks like whoever killed Gao the Third is about to die at the hands of Second Master!"

"And not just die—die horribly. Of all the people to piss off, you go and piss off Second Master!"

"Yeah! Once he’s caught, dying would be a mercy—you can bet he’ll be tortured into oblivion!"

"Let’s hope he can run far enough!"

...

The surrounding cultivators watched Ma Huo chase after Lin Chang’sheng, using the rat to track him. They couldn’t help but sigh.

To them, Lin Chang’sheng was doomed to meet his end at Ma Huo’s hands.

But meanwhile, Lin Chang’sheng was already riding the Lightning Thunderclap Eagle hundreds of miles away.

If he kept flying, how could a mere Soul-devouring Beast ever catch him?

Yet during his flight, after swallowing three Mother and Child Blood Jade Fruits, Lin Chang’sheng actually felt himself nearing a breakthrough.

The Mother and Child Blood Jade Fruit was truly a rare treasure.

Each fruit dissolved inside him, releasing a dense surge of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

If Lin Chang’sheng didn’t have the Void Divine King Technique—a technique this powerful—he’d probably have been ruptured by all that Spiritual Qi.

Not only did his cultivation skyrocket, even his Divine Sense and lifespan saw a huge boost.

One Mother and Child Blood Jade Fruit could extend his lifespan by 200 years—three down, and he’d gained 600 years just like that.