After righteously declaring this to Yan Qi, Bai Yuling, and the others, Priest Zhong quickly pulled a dagger from his pocket and thrust it directly toward his own heart.
Noticing his movement and realizing he intended to commit suicide to transform his corpse into a Flame Demon, Bai Yuling urgently cried out, “He’s trying to kill himself! Stop him, now!”
Hearing Bai Yuling’s words, the on-site Abnormal Incident Bureau members immediately sprang into action, rushing forward to prevent Priest Zhong’s act.
But before they had taken more than a few steps, Yan Qi had already dashed ahead of them, reaching Priest Zhong first.
Without giving him a chance to react, she kicked the dagger from his hand and swung her giant black scythe, striking his shoulder.
“Ugh!”
A grunt of pain escaped Priest Zhong as the scythe bit into his shoulder, his face contorting in agony.
Yet, in the very next second, the pain in his shoulder inexplicably vanished.
“Strange, why does my shoulder no longer hurt? Didn’t that peak three-star superhuman’s black scythe just hit me?”
Puzzled, Priest Zhong opened his eyes and turned to look at his shoulder.
He found no trace of Yan Qi’s giant black scytheresting there.
“What’s going on? Did I hallucinate?”
“You didn’t hallucinate, old man,” Yan Qi said, addressing the soul of Priest Zhong, which now floated in the air before her. Seeing his confusion, she explained, “The reason you don’t see my giant black scythe is because I’ve already extracted your soul. Your body is behind you.”
Hearing her explanation, Priest Zhong was momentarily stunned. He then quickly turned to look behind him.
There, he saw his own physical body, standing completely still with a vacant, dull expression.
“You… you pulled out my soul? Is this also part of your superhuman abilities?” he asked.
“Correct. The ability to extract your soul is indeed part of my superhuman powers,” Yan Qi replied without hesitation, recalling the details of her ‘Soul Reaping’ skill as the Beautiful Grim Reaper.
[Soul Reaping: Upon activating this skill, if a target struck by the Beautiful Grim Reaper’s scythe is weaker than her, their soul will be forcibly extracted and come under her control. If the target is stronger, they will experience soul separation for no less than three seconds, during which they cannot move.]
“I knew it. There’s no other explanation for something like this besides superhuman power,” Priest Zhong muttered, confirming his own suspicion.
“Alright, enough talk. Come here,” Yan Qi said, cutting him off. She extended her hand and channeled her power, pulling Priest Zhong’s soul toward her.
Feeling the immense, irresistible power emanating from Yan Qi, Priest Zhong offered no resistance, allowing himself to be drawn forward.
His soul then condensed into a glowing sphere and landed in the palm of Yan Qi’s hand.
Observing the luminous orb, identical to those containing the souls of young Priest Li and Priest Hua, Yan Qi promptly stored it away.
She then issued a command to Priest Zhong’s now soulless, empty shell, ordering it to remain in place and submit to arrest by the Abnormal Incident Bureau.
“Miss Si, why were you talking to the air just now?” Bai Yuling asked, having noticed the strange changes in Priest Zhong after being struck by Yan Qi’s scythe and witnessing her seemingly one-sided conversation.
Hearing Bai Yuling’s voice, Yan Qi quickly explained, “I wasn’t talking to the air. I was speaking with this cultist’s soul.”
“Speaking with his soul? So, his current state is your doing?” Bai Yuling pressed.
“Yes,” Yan Qi replied candidly, seeing no need for concealment.
Receiving this confirmation, Bai Yuling glanced at Priest Zhong’s soulless body, frowned slightly, and asked further, “Is he still dangerous now?”
“Don’t worry. This cultist has lost his soul. Following my command, his body is incapable of causing you any further harm,” Yan Qi assured her.
“I see. I’ll have someone secure his body and fit him with a Restraint Collar immediately,” Bai Yuling said, trusting Yan Qi’s word.
Acting on Bai Yuling’s orders, the Fangfeng City Bureau members swiftly bound Priest Zhong’s empty shell and placed a Restraint Collar around his neck to ensure he couldn’t use any superhuman abilities.
Watching her subordinates secure Priest Zhong, Bai Yuling finally let out a sigh of relief.
However, still concerned about the status of the other two Flame Demon Cult priests attempting to escape, she turned to Yan Qi. “Miss Si, thank you for your help today. But there are still two members of the Flame Demon Cult at large. Could you assist us in capturing them?”
“Well, you don’t need to go looking for them,” Yan Qi replied.
“Huh? Why do you say that, Miss Si?”
“Because I already caught them before I came here. If you don’t believe me, look,” Yan Qi said, pointing towards the direction where the soulless bodies of young Priest Li and Priest Hua were stumbling along, having only just arrived due to their sluggish, uncoordinated movement without their souls.
Following Yan Qi’s pointing finger, Bai Yuling spotted the soulless forms of the two other priests. She gasped in surprise, then said, “No wonder you said that earlier, Miss Si. So you’d already captured them before coming to support us here.”