Chapter 27: Martial Soul Defect

Without thinking any further, Jiuying walked to the door. She glanced at Gu Yecheng, saw nothing unusual, and carefully closed the door behind her.

Once Jiuying left, Gu Yecheng could no longer endure it—his face twisted in agony, and then, with a sudden roar, he screamed out. The pain he felt was so excruciating, he would rather be dead.

His body began to flail uncontrollably. He smashed nearby tables and chairs into splinters, and even split the bed he had been lying on in half with a single strike of his palm.

At this rate, he was close to tearing the entire infirmary apart.

Gu Yecheng had lost all sense of reason. He could only feel four overwhelming sensations:

Endless pain, endless weakness, endless darkness, and endless fear.

"Don't try to control me! This is my body!"

Gu Yecheng roared, struggling with all his might. He refused to be dragged back into that hellish, lightless abyss—a place of suffering a thousand times worse than this. He absolutely could not give in.

He drew a dagger and slashed his arm fiercely. Blood gushed out.

Using pain to fight pain—it was the only solution he could think of.

By itself, this wouldn't help much, but the scent of fresh blood could help jolt him awake, clearing his dazed mind somewhat.

He dropped the dagger and collapsed to the floor, trembling in the corner of the wall.

Except for the one scream he had let slip, he had been gritting his teeth and trying to endure the torment in silence.

This was the side effect of the Hellfire Red Lotus Martial Soul. A King-level Martial Soul was not so easily obtained. When it was passed to him, the Flower Deity had already warned him.

Every night at midnight, the symptoms would flare up once. And during the flare-ups... he would attack indiscriminately.

On the way with Lingling, he would always find an excuse to slip away. When he returned, he was usually disheveled and exhausted.

So every time before an episode, he would bind himself tightly to avoid harming others.

But this time, he had fainted—and forgotten the time.

"Damn it! What kind of curse is this?!"

Gu Yecheng could no longer speak. He could only curse silently in his heart.

His vision faded. His hearing vanished. Even taste and smell were slowly disappearing.

Only his sense of touch remained—and even that was magnified dozens of times.

He couldn't live, and he couldn't die.

Huddled in the corner with disheveled hair, silent and still, he didn't even have the strength to stand. His willpower was being corroded bit by bit.

Then, at a certain moment, his slack head twitched slightly—his throat moved.

The next second, Gu Yecheng suddenly raised his head. His dark pupils were now glowing red—and then turned completely blood-red.

His vision returned. His hearing returned. All his senses returned—except his consciousness.

He sat there blankly, unable to move, like a puppet without thought or soul.

Meanwhile, Jiuying was walking down the corridor but still felt uneasy about Gu Yecheng. "Big brother… he's definitely hiding something from me."

Driven by curiosity, she turned around and went back to the infirmary. She wanted to know what was really going on with Gu Yecheng.

Creak—

She gently turned the handle and pushed the door open just a crack, peeking through the small gap.

Inside, the room was a mess. Furniture was broken. A dagger lay on the floor next to a pool of blood, and the air was thick with a strong metallic stench.

Jiuying gasped, alarmed. "Could big brother be trying to kill himself over a broken heart?!"

She quickly pushed the door open and rushed inside.

But halfway in, she suddenly sensed something was wrong—and stopped in her tracks.

"That look in his eyes... it's terrifying!"

By now, Jiuying had recovered most of her soul power and could sense danger nearby. And Gu Yecheng was giving off an overwhelming sense of death.

"There's killing intent."

She stared at him warily and slowly backed away, muttering, "He's becoming more and more unreadable…"

To Jiuying, Gu Yecheng had always seemed like a mystery—his soul power, capable of weakening others, was completely unique.

And not only could he mimic others' abilities—he could even transfer them.

This kind of Martial Soul was nothing like what Team Leader Wang Li had described in his report—as a mere support-type "little red flower." It was clearly a high-powered offensive Martial Soul.

Aside from Wuqing and Jiuying, most of the team still thought Gu Yecheng was just a minor player who made it to the final four by sheer luck.

During the team leader selection, even Wang Li himself claimed Gu Yecheng was just a support-type soul master. Though his weakening skill had some utility, he had no long-term potential.

As such, Gu Yecheng wasn't even considered in the decision for captain or vice-captain.

Most likely, one of the top three candidates—Jiuying, Cai Xiang, or Kong Long—would take the position.

After all, they were all level 29.

Wuqing was decent too, but after Wang Li saw Jiuying knock him out with a single kick, his impression of Wuqing plummeted. He couldn't believe how weak he was.

Still, Wuqing had ranked second in the exams, so they kept him. Hopefully, he wouldn't become a burden. His level 20 soul power was just too low.

As for Gu Yecheng, Wang Li thought he simply got lucky—using his weird Martial Soul to happen to restrict opponents' speed. Such underhanded tactics were disgraceful.

Still, since he was a support-type, they let him on the reserve team. At the very least, he could disgust the enemy a bit. Otherwise, Gu Yecheng wouldn't have even made it that far.

But now, this so-called support-type soul master was terrifying even to a control-type master like Jiuying. The fear of the unknown made her want to retreat.

Suddenly, Jiuying's delicate legs froze—her body wouldn't move.

"What's going on?!"

Her brows furrowed. Something was very wrong.

"Damn it! My body's paralyzed! What do I do? What kind of power is this?!"

At this moment, she was like a lamb to the slaughter. Without activating her beast Martial Soul, her defense was low—even weaker than she had been during the exam.

Her strengths were control and speed, but now she could use neither. Even a regular blade could hurt her now.

Then, her eyes narrowed—she suddenly thought of something.

"Could this be... the Domain that Ghost Douluo and Chrysanthemum Douluo often spoke of?!"

But… he was only level 20! How could he possibly possess such power? Domains were said to appear only at the Soul Saint level and beyond!

It was indeed a Domain. However, with Gu Yecheng's mere level 20 soul power, its range was limited to just ten meters—exactly the size of the infirmary. And Jiuying had unknowingly stepped right into it.

At this moment, Gu Yecheng had no consciousness left—only instinct. He would kill anything within his ten-meter range. Even a mosquito wouldn't escape.

This Domain had a name—Death Domain.

Seeing the crimson glow in Gu Yecheng's eyes, Jiuying realized this wasn't the real him. He had definitely been taken over by some power.

Gu Yecheng picked up the dagg

er from the floor and began walking slowly toward her, ready to strike.

Jiuying cried out, "Big brother, don't!"

(End of Chapter)

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