Chapter 21: Soul Threads
“Yale, you?”
At this moment, Yale’s cold gaze was like an icy dagger stabbing into Linley’s chest. Over the years, the four brothers from Dormitory 987 had always shared an incredibly close bond. Though they occasionally argued in their youth, it never harmed their friendship.
Linley had never imagined that Yale would look at him like this.
As if looking at a stranger, as if looking at… a dead man!
“Hmm?” Linley’s expression suddenly shifted dramatically.
He finally noticed the change within his body. After that glass of wine entered his stomach, it contained strange, thin, pale-gray threads. A large number of these threads rapidly surged toward Linley’s brain, quickly entering his sea of consciousness.
The mass of pale-gray threads directly enveloped his entire soul sea, then… began to penetrate!
“Wuum~~”
Linley felt a dizzying sensation in his head, and his body involuntarily swayed as he fell back toward his chair. But he missed the chair, and Linley crashed directly onto the floor. At that moment, however, Linley was completely unaware of his surroundings; all his attention was focused on his sea of consciousness.
“Lord Linley!” The nearby maid immediately screamed in alarm.
To the maids and guards of Dragonblood Castle, Linley was as exalted as a god. This maid had never imagined that the invincible Linley would collapse like an ordinary person fainting from dizziness. Her scream attracted the attention of those outside.
The first to arrive was Sesslar.
Sesslar rushed into the back garden and, seeing the scene before him, his expression turned grim. “Lord Linley!” He immediately dashed to Linley’s side, but at that moment, no one could help Linley. Sesslar immediately turned to look at Yale.
“It was you!” Sesslar’s gaze turned icy.
Yale remained silent, not saying a word.
“Big brother, big brother!” Wharton and the others also ran over. Seeing Linley lying on the ground, they were all terrified.
If Linley had been slashed with a blade, they wouldn’t have been afraid. But Linley collapsing for no reason—how could they not be frightened and worried?
Inside Linley’s sea of consciousness, despite the faint cyan halo covering his soul sea, the massive number of pale-gray threads still pierced through it. The threads stabbed through the soul sea and then headed straight for the sword-shaped soul that had transformed at its center.
The sword-shaped soul hovered deep within the soul sea.
“Not good.” Linley absolutely could not allow these strange threads to attack his soul. He immediately tried to use his spiritual energy to block them.
The soul sea roared, and a vast amount of spiritual energy pressed down to erode the pale-gray threads. Having reached the Saint-level Archmage stage, Linley’s spiritual energy had been tempered once more, making it easier to control. The pale-gray threads stubbornly pierced through the dense spiritual energy, rapidly approaching the sword-shaped soul.
However, during this piercing process, a significant amount of the threads’ energy was worn away.
After losing a third of their energy, the pale-gray threads finally enveloped Linley’s soul. The mass of threads directly wrapped around the sword-shaped soul, trapping it like a turtle in a jar. The threads attempted to penetrate further.
The soul was the most vital part.
If the threads pierced it, it would likely mean death. Linley understood this very well.
“Wuum~~” The cyan halo on the surface of the sword-shaped soul suddenly blazed like the sun. The pale-gray threads melted away like snowflakes, vanishing rapidly. In the entire soul sea, not a single one of those pale-gray threads remained.
Only then did Linley breathe a sigh of relief.
He opened his eyes.
“What are you doing?” Linley shouted angrily as soon as he opened his eyes.
By now, Yale was curled up in a corner, covered in blood. But he was still moving, not yet dead. Wharton, Gates, and the others were standing nearby, and his son Taylor was even kicking Yale.
“Pfft.” Yale spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Big brother (Lord Linley)!” Wharton, Sesslar, and the others, upon hearing Linley’s shout, turned to look at him with surprise and joy.
“Father!” Taylor also turned around, his face, still bearing traces of tears, now filled with delight.
From the butler, Hiri, down to Taylor’s children, dozens of people from Dragonblood Castle had gathered here. Their gazes toward Yale were filled with hatred, but Linley’s awakening brought them all relief and joy.
“Father, are you alright?” Taylor immediately rushed to Linley’s side.
“Step aside for now.” Linley, however, was looking at Yale.
Linley was certain… he had just fallen victim to a very sinister trick. If not for the sudden surge of the Dragonblood Warrior’s unique protective power at the critical moment, it was hard to say whether he would have escaped this danger.
And all of this was caused by the so-called “fine wine” Yale had brought.
“Cough, cough!” Yale covered his mouth, but blood still trickled out. It was clear that Taylor and the others had been furious—after all, Linley was their family. Taylor and Wharton had attacked in their rage.
If not for Yale’s relationship with Linley, he would have been beaten to death.
Seeing Yale’s condition, Linley reached out his right hand and placed it on Yale’s shoulder. He controlled the Life Source Pearl within him, and a special, life-filled energy flowed continuously from the pearl, passing through his right hand and into Yale’s body.
Yale’s injuries healed at a visible rate.
“Yale, tell me why.” Linley stared at Yale, his voice low.
Once his body was healed, Yale stopped coughing. He gave Linley a cold look. “No reason.” With that, he said no more.
Linley’s heart turned icy.
Brothers through life and death!
Back when he and Alice had broken up, he had spent eleven days and eleven nights in the freezing snow, yet Yale, Reynolds, and George had stayed by his side the whole time, worried about their brother. When he sought revenge against King Fenlay, Yale had known and supported him with all his might.
He had completely disregarded the possibility of offending the Radiant Church.
Linley had once believed that the bond between the four brothers would never change.
But seeing Yale’s coldness now, Linley’s heart ached.
“Yale, I’ll call you that one last time. Tell me, why did you do this?” Linley suppressed the pain in his heart, staring at Yale. Was this still the same Yale who was always joking around but would go through fire and water for his brothers?
Yale glanced at Linley. “Do I need to say more? I just wanted to kill you.” Yale said it indifferently, as if it were the most natural thing.
Linley felt his heart
twitch violently. A sharp pain spread from deep within his soul, making him tremble slightly. Linley had always treasured his emotions—whether for his wife, his children, or his brothers.
He had always believed that his feelings were his greatest treasure.
He also believed that his brothers would never betray him, that their bond was unbreakable.
“How… how could this happen?” Linley’s body trembled, his eyes filled with confusion and pain.
Why had his good brother betrayed him?
But looking at Yale’s cold expression now, Linley truly didn’t know what to say.
“Big brother, this Yale tried to kill you, and you’re still hesitating? Someone like this should be killed!” Wharton was filled with rage, especially after hearing Yale’s indifferent “I just wanted to kill you.” He felt it was utterly unworthy of his brother.
Linley took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm.
“Yale, this is the last time I’ll call you that.” Linley looked at Yale, his heart stabbing with pain as scenes of their youthful laughter and joy involuntarily flashed through his mind.
“You can go.” Linley turned away, no longer looking at Yale.
Yale glanced at Linley, then turned and walked away without hesitation.
“Big brother.”
“Father.”
“Lord Linley!”
Wharton, Taylor, Gates, Bute, and the others were all anxious. Yale had tried to kill Linley, yet Linley was letting him go without any punishment.
“Remember, don’t trouble Yale. After all… he, he was once my brother.” Linley’s heart ached even more as he said the word “once.” “Alright, all of you, leave. I want to be alone for a while.”
The group exchanged glances, looking at Linley’s back, and eventually left one by one.
Only one person remained in the back garden besides Linley—Sesslar.
“Sesslar.” Linley didn’t turn around. “You should leave too.”
“Lord Linley, would you be willing to tell me what happened inside your body? Perhaps… I might understand something.” Sesslar looked directly at Linley, his gaze firm.
“No.” Linley said coldly. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Linley’s mood was terrible right now.
“Lord Linley, if you tell me what happened inside your body, perhaps I can tell you why Yale did this. It’s possible that Yale isn’t to blame.” Sesslar hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
Linley spun around, staring at Sesslar. “What did you say?”
“I said, it might not be Yale’s fault. There could be another reason.” Sesslar replied.
Hearing this, hope surged in Linley’s heart. He truly wished Yale had some other reason. When he had pressed Yale earlier, he had wanted to know the cause. But from Yale’s eyes, he had seen no pain or grievance—only coldness.
That was what had chilled Linley’s heart.
“Alright, I’ll tell you.” Linley immediately began to describe in detail what had happened inside his body. Of course, he didn’t bother mentioning the sudden surge of the Dragonblood Warrior’s unique cyan halo. For Sesslar, what truly mattered was identifying what had attacked Linley.
“Soul threads?” Sesslar’s eyes lit up after hearing the account. “Just as I suspected.”
“What are soul threads?” Linley looked at Sesslar.
Sesslar explained carefully, “Lord Linley, I’ve had many doubts in my mind, but now I’m almost certain. I’ll tell you—soul threads are a very sinister necromantic magic tool specifically used to attack the soul. However, they are extremely difficult to refine, with very strict conditions. I’ve never made them myself.”
“You mean the wine contained soul threads?” Linley pressed.
Sesslar nodded. “Yes. Once soul threads are successfully refined, they need to be stored in a special liquid to be preserved for a long time.”
“So the real culprit is someone who practices necromancy?” Linley’s eyes lit up.
Sesslar nodded again. “Lord Linley, you told us that after you killed the two silver-robed men yesterday, the Purple-Gold Rat King, Harry, said that the divine-level expert behind them knew it was you two who killed them. That made me suspicious from the start.”
“Because even a divine-level expert can’t keep their divine sense spread out at all times. How would that divine-level expert know the moment you killed the silver-robed men? Yet Harry was so certain. In my knowledge, there’s one possibility.”
“Soul seeds!”
Sesslar said seriously, “By condensing one’s own soul power into a soul seed and planting it in another’s soul, that person becomes completely controlled. The servant and master can also communicate through their souls. So, before the two silver-robed men died, they had already described you and Fain to that divine-level expert.”
Linley was inwardly shocked.
“You said there were nine silver-robed men, each likely at the Saint-level limit. Being able to control nine Saint-level limit experts at once… I think it must be a divine-level necromancer.” Sesslar asserted. “Because a Saint-level Archmage of necromancy would never have the power to control so many Saint-level limit experts. The stronger the person controlled, the higher the requirements for the soul seed.”
“Moreover, Lord Linley, your bond with Yale is very deep, yet he tried to kill you so coldly, without any hesitation. And he could produce wine laced with soul threads… There’s only one explanation: he, too, has been controlled by that divine-level expert using a soul seed.”
Sesslar looked at Linley. “Lord Linley, you should understand Yale. Once controlled by a soul seed, the deepest part of his mind will prioritize the master’s commands above all else. Even if ordered to kill himself or his parents, he wouldn’t hesitate. He’s just a puppet being controlled.”
Linley’s heart was both relieved and filled with fear and worry.
He was worried about Yale!
“Yale is controlled… Is there a way to restore him to normal?” Linley was filled with endless concern for Yale.
“Yes.” Sesslar nodded. “Kill that divine-level expert, and the soul seed will naturally dissipate.”