Rebirth: Supreme Soul Master

"Is this the person you trained to stop me? How pathetic!"

The once lush forest is now just barren land. It is riddled with deep ditches and holes that extend deep into the ground and are even orange in color.

Thick plumes of smoke rose from many places, adding to the eerie atmosphere. Seeing this from above, anyone would suspect it was hell within heaven.

Clearly, a brutal battle had just taken place here, especially with mangled corpses and scattered limbs strewn across the ground.

Amidst this carnage, three figures stood in the center. A masked man flew through the air. His expression was cold, seemingly oblivious to the blood and devastation raging on the ground around him.

Before him stood another figure, hundreds of meters away in mid-air. This man looked strange, exuding the aura of a ferocious beast, with nine tails swaying behind him. He was a monster, and anyone who looked at him would feel fear.

Between the two, a young man lay helplessly on the ground, his mangled body severed in several places, his tattered armor soaked in bright red blood.

With a simple flick of its tail, the monster lifted the heavily injured youth, spun him in the air, and then slammed him to the ground. The tail, like an unstoppable spear, pierced his chest.

The enormous figure of the humanoid monster stood in mid-air like a merciless god, appearing as a towering mountain that blotted out the sky. He wasn't actually that tall, but at this moment, in the young man's eyes, he seemed like an insurmountable presence.

"How could things have turned out this way?" Despite the obvious difference in their strength, the young man felt a bitterness, a bitterness that ran deep in his soul and heart. He had tried his best, but he had still failed.

"It's all garbage." The monster's gaze shifted to the flesh and organs of the masked, cloaked master's twenty disciples, suspended in mid-air. "I had high expectations for this encounter, but this is the result... Disappointing!"

"Don't think too highly of yourself. You're just a fox, not a god!" The young man's voice was weak, but it held no sign of surrender. Instead, it was filled with determination and defiance.

With a flick of its tail, the young man stopped a few meters away from the monster's face. At that moment, for the first time, the young man saw the enemy's true face.

Its pale yellow skin cracked and deformed before springing back to life. The monster's body seemed to be collapsing, yet it was being reassembled by some unknown force on the verge of destruction.

A pair of oval, golden eyes, devoid of humanity and kindness. In contrast to the handsome appearance of his face, nine large tails rose from his back, dancing in the air as if they contained their own consciousness.

These tails alone prove he is not human. One of the tails pierced through the youth's chest and emerged from his back, in a different spot than where he had been struck earlier. This clearly demonstrates that the monster is neither kind nor merciful.

"I never expected you to raise such a fool as your disciple." The monster ignored the young man's angry, pale face, and looked past the dying man's shoulder, mockingly at the cloaked figure floating in mid-air.

"Do it!" A deep, decisive voice rang out. It belonged to the ethereal cloaked figure, the master who had witnessed his disciple suffer a brutal humiliation at the hands of such a formidable enemy.

"What? Aren't you going to cry? Beg for mercy? Hahaha!" The monster seemed amused, as if it had just heard the funniest joke ever. It mistakenly thought its master hadn't been speaking to it.

“Mark, you are a despicable creature! Monsters should not possess the power of gods! You will die here no matter what!” the young man shouted, each word barely audible.

The severely injured young man was named William. He was a Soul Master, a powerful one in the world.

William trained for years with many of those he once called brothers and sisters. They followed the profound teachings of their legendary master, all in order to defeat that monstrous monster.

The nine-tailed fox is a terrifying monster, the most fearsome enemy ever encountered by Soul Masters. Despite rigorous training and intensive preparation, they were still unable to defeat this evil.

"Then who will stop me? You, a human who has already crossed the threshold of death? Or a useless master standing behind you who can't lay a finger on me?"

William wanted to scream, to shout, to yell out so many things. But he knew his soul was on the verge of collapse. His strength was limited, so he didn't hesitate and delivered the most fatal blow.

Following his master's instructions, he grabbed something from his sleeve. He held it to his chest, close to the protruding, blood-stained tail. With such a simple action, he didn't need much strength to cover the object with his own blood.

"The Bead of Destiny? Impossible!" The monster's expression changed for the first time. When the monster recognized the bead in William's hand, connected by a thin thread and covered with a thin layer of William's red blood, a trace of worry appeared on its face.

"Even if you were at your peak, you wouldn't be able to touch me." However, that trace of worry disappeared, replaced by a mocking expression.

Just as the monster was laughing mockingly, the thread seemed to snap on its own. Seven radiant beads suddenly flew in, emitting light. Then they began to circle around William. Each bead was like a universe, shimmering with countless lights, flying up and down freely, revolving around the wounded man's body.

In ancient records, these beads were called Myriad Beads or Divine Beads. They looked like ornaments, but when activated, they became deadly weapons.

"Let's wait and see," the cloaked master said coldly. "Make your move, follow the teachings, and kill him."

What seemed like a simple sentence sent a shiver down William's spine.

William's master was no ordinary soul master. His life was saved by this master. The confidence in his master's words thrilled even his dying heart, filling him with the excitement of completing the mission even at the cost of his own death.

Contrary to the nine-tailed fox's expectations, the beads did not emit a deadly light to attack. Instead, as they stopped moving, their light grew even brighter, as if controlled by an unseen force.

If William tried to activate the bead with his depleted strength, nothing would happen. However, the young man attempted something far more terrifying.

"Trying to detonate them? I won't let you succeed, you damned human!" The nine-tailed fox was not ignorant. He recognized the dying young man's choice of a deadly self-destructive attack.

If the bleeding William chose to use the energy within the bead to attack him, the monster wouldn't even blink to block. In case the attack succeeded. After all, the attack originated from the bead's energy, but its intensity depended on the amount of energy within the user's body.

The human before them chose to detonate the bead as a sacrifice. For the fox, this would make things very ugly.

The mere thought sent chills down the fox's spine. These beads were priceless treasures, unparalleled in the world. Therefore, the fox-like creature had no idea William would sacrifice the beads, which was why it had lowered its guard against the human.

Before the enemy could succeed in their attack, the fox demon's tails sprang into action, piercing into every possible point of vulnerability in the human body.

"I am a nine-tailed fox, a legendary being born under the curse of Heaven! I am destined to break through the barrier and become a god. I will not let a mere ant ruin the millions of years I deserve." Cultivation! No one, not even a pathetic worm like you, can touch me! No one can stop me!

The world before William's eyes slowly faded away, leaving only the monster's face and roaring voice.

William knew he was dying. He could feel his life force draining from his body. He felt his body growing colder and colder, more and more numb, and gradually losing control.

William felt the world slow down at that moment. He felt no panic or regret. He simply smiled… a mocking smile on his face in his final moments.

"You will fail, human!" Just as William was preparing to face death, the fox's vicious voice echoed in his mind.

The monster tried to shake William off, freeing his tail from the crazed soul master's body. But no matter how much he struggled, the tail wouldn't budge an inch.

The power within the beads acted like a magnet, trapping the two mortal enemies in an inescapable net.

"I won't let you succeed. No matter what, even if it takes a hundred times, a thousand times, I will kill you! You bastard!"

William's voice was neither loud nor authoritative, but it carried a peculiar quality. Even the monster at this moment, the legendary monster that had brought calamity and fear to all living beings throughout the ages, felt a tremor of fear, shaking his cold heart.

Like nuclear bombs, the beads collided and slammed into William and the fox. A massive explosion erupted, engulfing both humans and monsters in a bright light.

Even with such an attack, the monster did not die. It was merely severely wounded. Amidst the explosion, unnoticed by anyone, a large drop of golden blood fell from the monster's severed tail and seeped deep into William's body.

The seven beams of light moved in the blink of an eye and merged with William's body.

"I'm not dead yet, you idiot! I'm not dead yet! Kakakakaka!" The last thing the young man heard was the monster's voice.

"I'm going to kill you! I swear, even if it takes a thousand lives, I'll kill you with my own hands!"

In a small wooden cabinet, in a cramped space that can only accommodate one person, a small body is startled awake from its slumber.

He was screaming in a strange tone, his voice hoarse as if it came from the depths of hell.

His small body was soaked with sweat, which drenched his simple clothes. His chest heaved as if he had just finished a marathon.

"This..." He was still a child, no more than eight years old. His body was so small, and his figure so fragile, without a trace of muscle.

But his expression was the same defiant one he had when the young man assassinated the nine-tailed fox.

About five minutes later, the child calmed down and began to look around. The more he looked, the more confused and shocked he became.

"Where is this place?" He slowly pushed aside the simple blanket covering him. At that moment, he noticed his body and couldn't help but frown.

He held his hands up to his small eyes, examining them. His hands were small, his fingers thin, and both fists were wrapped in dirty white bandages. He looked at his body, covered with simple white cloth made of the cheapest fabric.

"This..." A thought flashed through his mind, a thought he couldn't believe. The next moment, he jumped up from the simple wooden bed and stood in front of a small wooden tray.

The room was simple, with only one drawer and a wooden chair. If there was anything special about it, one would notice that it was covered in dust.

On the disc appeared a circular mirror. It was small, barely big enough to reveal a face. But for him, it was enough.

He held it up to his face. As he examined his face, he brushed his messy, dark blue hair aside, trying to get a clear look at it.

His large, dark eyes seemed to be set in two deep grooves on his face. His cheeks were thin and long, with a notch at the tip of his chin.

Seeing this face, he couldn't help but smile, revealing his small teeth. He even had a cavity in his upper teeth, one of which had fallen out and hadn't grown back yet.

"Damn it! No way! No way!!" he screamed, jumping up as if bitten by a snake. "This...this damn it won't work! I'm back, I'm back!"

He looked around; this time he didn't sit idle. He began to examine the cramped room. There wasn't actually much to check. Besides the disk, there was a simple drawer containing his belongings.

Inside were three identical outfits to his. There was also a large bag that could be carried on one's back. It was made of brown leather, and was made for someone like him.

In the center of the room, against a wall, he saw something ancient and familiar. He stood before the badge, round and concave, depicting a tiger's head smashed by a hammer.

"Academy of Desire... I'm back... I'm back after twenty years! Unbelievable!"

As he spoke, he slowly dragged the wooden chair, completely ignoring the dust on it. When he sat down, all he could think about were the events that had happened before and the current situation.