Chapter Thirty-One: The Death Soul of the Black Serpent

Fortunately, everything was proceeding smoothly. After a period of tumult, Qin Feng’s divine dragon soul gradually began to stabilize in the air.

“Just one final step remains!” Qin Feng gritted his teeth, enduring the searing pain that wracked his body.

“Condense—now!” he roared.

A piercing dragon’s cry echoed out, and the dragon soul finally solidified. But just as the bloodline soul had taken shape, suddenly—

A bolt of black light burst forth from within Qin Feng’s body, shooting straight toward his bloodline soul.

In that instant, Qin Feng’s vision seemed to blur. He thought he saw a massive, violet-gray tree, its sinister branches unfurling to envelop him.

As the black light appeared, it immediately siphoned away some of the powerful energy sustaining the condensation of his bloodline. Qin Feng’s divine dragon soul seemed to greatly dread that black light, dodging frantically within him, but the black light pursued relentlessly, cornering Qin Feng’s newly awakened bloodline soul.

All of this was occurring inside Qin Feng’s body.

Externally, his bloodline soul still manifested as the eight-clawed divine dragon. Yet at that moment, it began to writhe atypically, a change that baffled all present.

Within, the cornered eight-clawed divine dragon was gradually ensnared by filaments spun from the black light, which drained its energy, leaving it weaker by the moment.

But though the dragon soul was clearly outmatched, as a true dragon, it still possessed its pride and dignity. For it was a divine soul! Unlike souls of the celestial grade, a divine soul possessed spirit—its own extraordinary wisdom.

A divine soul would not fall easily, for it had spirit and knew how to adapt.

This, Qin Feng did not yet know, for he had not had a chance to commune with his soul.

Nor did the divine soul have the luxury of communication—it was fully engaged in battle with the black light, well aware of the formidable foe before it, and knowing even Qin Feng could not help.

As its energy ebbed, a ruthless, determined gleam flashed in the dragon’s eyes. It opened its maw wide and, with ferocity, bit down on the black light that sought to devour it, swallowing it in a counterattack.

Stung, the black light redoubled its efforts to consume the eight-clawed dragon soul, but the dragon soul too fought back with all its might, intensifying its own assault.

This was a primal, instinctual battle, raging endlessly within Qin Feng.

But the advantage clearly lay with the black light. As the eight-clawed dragon soul’s strength was steadily drained, it could no longer maintain its form. It fell from eight claws to five, its rank dropping as well.

Outside, the enormous dragon soul’s image twisted and shrank after several turns, its form distorting, its grade declining before the stunned eyes of the crowd. From divine grade, it fell to celestial, then to terrestrial, then to profound grade—and even as it fell, its color shifted eerily from cyan to black. By the time it dropped to yellow grade, it had become a pure black dragon.

Tens of thousands fell silent in awe. All eyes were fixed in shock on the scene before them, none more so than Qin Dingtian, mouth agape with astonishment.

Never, in all the Qin family’s history, had such a thing occurred.

Qin Feng’s dragon soul had clearly succeeded in condensing into its final form—so why had its grade fallen?

Even if energy was insufficient, causing some instability, the most it should have dropped was to celestial grade. Yet Qin Feng’s soul plummeted several ranks—and showed no signs of stopping.

Indeed, as the grade continued to fall, after hesitating briefly at yellow grade, the bloodline soul dropped again—to the celestial-grade flood dragon soul, a massive demotion, a gulf as wide as heaven and earth. But even at flood dragon, it kept falling—celestial, terrestrial, profound, yellow—then to the jiao soul, again dropping through the ranks.

All were utterly dumbfounded.

A jiao soul? Surely this was the end…

By now, the crowd had grown almost numb to the strangeness.

But the next development was even more astonishing. Qin Feng’s bloodline soul fell yet again—from jiao to serpent, plummeting through celestial, terrestrial, profound, yellow grades, until finally, it was not even yellow grade. The once-mighty dragon soul shrank down to the thickness of a chopstick, a tiny black snake as solid as a real thing.

Worse yet—it was a dead soul snake.

Others, when their bloodline souls were condensed, would see them soar in the air, majestic and awe-inspiring. Qin Feng’s had soared too, had been formidable, but in the end, it flipped belly up, a dead serpent sprawled lifelessly on the ground.

Stupefaction. Bewilderment. Daze.

All eyes in the crowd now stared at Qin Feng and his dead soul snake as if they were monsters.

Qin Feng opened his eyes. When he saw his bloodline soul, his face was full of bitterness.

He had not expected to be defeated by his own strange affliction.

He was disappointed, but Qin Feng knew he could not let it show. He had always been considered a waste—so even if he was now reduced to that again, it would not break his resolve.

Forcing his weakened body to stand from the ancestral blood pool, Qin Feng bowed deeply to City Lord Qin Dingtian and the assembled Qin clan powerhouses, in gratitude for their blood sacrifice to nourish his soul.

Though he had ultimately failed, he was truly grateful.

Though this bow could never repay such a great favor, it was all he was able to give.

His body, drained of bloodline energy, was now frail beyond measure. After forcing out the bow, he immediately collapsed into unconsciousness.

Fortunately, his grandfather Qin Tianzheng quickly caught him.

“Good grandson, it doesn’t matter! Even if you failed, you are still my beloved grandson!” Qin Tianzheng declared.

As the others regained their senses, strange glances were cast his way—most filled with anger and schadenfreude.

Those angry blamed Qin Feng for squandering their blood, seeing him as unworthy.

Those gleeful at his misfortune were led by Qin Shaohong and the other branch family disciples.

“Hmph. Dreaming of soaring to the heavens and becoming a phoenix? A house chicken will always be a common bird, never a golden phoenix! Hahaha!” Qin Shaohong’s handsome face was twisted with delight, as if Qin Feng’s failure had restored everything he’d lost that day.

A satisfying turn of events.

Qin Dingtian’s expression was complicated. Just moments ago, he had witnessed a divine soul—a dragon soul of the highest grade. In all the Qin family’s history in Eastern Azure Domain, such a thing had appeared only once in ten thousand years. And now, before his very eyes, it had appeared again!

But now? Where was that divine soul? Where had it gone? Was it simply gone, just like that?

Had the divine soul truly perished?

Moments ago, Qin Dingtian had been so excited his heart threatened to leap from his chest. Now, it was as if he’d fallen from the clouds into an abyss—such a feeling was maddening, and above all, deeply regretful.

He had watched as Qin Feng’s soul fell from divine dragon to a soul-less snake. Even so, a snake soul, at least, meant there was a glimmer of hope for cultivation. But when he observed closely, he sensed no trace of life from Qin Feng’s bloodline soul—only the aura of death.

Yes, it was a dead soul snake.

Yet, one thing puzzled Qin Dingtian.

He had never seen or even heard of such a situation. Below yellow-grade serpent soul, never in history had anyone encountered a dead soul—not even in legend. It was always yellow-grade soul or nothing at all. How could a dead snake soul appear out of thin air?

Most astonishing of all, this snake soul was perfectly solid—like a real dead snake.

The Qin family’s bloodline souls, even after forming, were always semi-corporeal. They could never become physical objects. Yet Qin Feng’s was tangible, though it was dead…

“A true marvel,” Qin Dingtian murmured.

Today, too many miracles had occurred upon Qin Feng. So many that the onlookers were numb, but everything was so bizarre that even this old monster, who had lived centuries, could not explain it.

Staring at the unconscious Qin Feng, Qin Dingtian’s eyes flickered, deep in thought.

Ultimately, he gave his orders: “Qin Tianzheng, leave Qin Feng here. Tomorrow, I must visit the Ancient Clan’s domain anyway. Bring him along, and let the Great Elder of the Ancient Clan examine him. Perhaps then we’ll know what has happened.”

Strange—truly strange…