"Heh heh heh... This time, I will help you eliminate the Heavenly Poison Lady. But don't forget the payment afterward," the cold voice echoed from within the eerie black mist.
Hearing this, Xie Bi Yan's expression darkened as he replied in a deep voice,
"Protector Tie, what you're doing is rather dishonorable."
"I could have easily dealt with the Heavenly Poison Lady before she gained her current influence. It was you who told me to delay my actions."
"At the time, you said you needed her to expand the war and even promised that afterward you would cooperate with me unconditionally to deal with her. But now."
"Heh heh heh..."
A sinister laugh came from the swirling black mist.
"A promise? Did such a thing ever happen? I don't seem to remember."
Seeing Protector Tie flatly deny his previous promise, Xie Bi Yan's eyes darkened.
"Protector Tie, you..."
"What about me? Don't tell me you intend to fall out with this Protector?"
Protector Tie sneered coldly.
"Xie Bi Yan, if you no longer wish to cooperate, this Protector can simply find someone else."
"Heh heh... For example, that Heavenly Poison Lady would make quite an excellent partner."
By the end of his sentence, his indifferent tone carried an unmistakable threat.
Xie Bi Yan's expression changed drastically.
If Protector Tie truly defected to help the Poison Sect, then their upcoming war against the Poison Sect would become extremely dangerous.
More importantly this bastard was absolutely capable of doing such a thing.
At this moment, he absolutely could not turn against him.
Everything could wait until after the war.
After a long moment of thought, Xie Bi Yan gritted his teeth, forcibly suppressing the fury in his heart. A strained smile appeared on his aged face.
"It seems this old man remembered incorrectly."
"Protector Tie, rest assured. Everything you require will be delivered in full afterward."
"Heh heh... That's more like it."
"Now that's what a qualified Hall of Souls partner should be."
"Oh, and the price for this Protector's assistance has increased."
"Add another thirty percent to my reward."
"Until we meet again..."
Before Xie Bi Yan could protest, the swirling black mist rapidly dispersed.
"That damned bastard..."
Xie Bi Yan stared coldly at the direction in which the black mist had disappeared, murderous intent flashing deep within his eyes before quickly fading.
The Hall of Souls was not an existence he could afford to offend. Only after a long while did he finally calm himself.
His gaze shifted toward Heavenly Poison City, as though piercing through space itself to see his formidable enemy.
"I've remained in seclusion for enough years. It's finally time to leave the mountains and complete the great cause of unifying the Chu Yun Empire."
"Heavenly Poison Lady... Poison Sect..."
"I've allowed you to jump around for long enough."
"It's time for all of this to end."
"I should thank you both for weaving the wedding garments for my Myriad Scorpion Gate."
Outside Heavenly Poison City
On a mountain peak outside the city.
Resting her chin in one hand, the Little Fairy Doctor lazily swirled the wine in her cup.
"So..."
"Our Dou Ancestor-level enemies this time aren't limited to Xie Bi Yan. There may also be a hidden Hall of Souls Protector lurking in the shadows?"
Lin Yuan nodded seriously.
"Based on my deductions, that's very likely."
"No matter what, we should either eliminate him beforehand or prepare countermeasures."
The Little Fairy Doctor pondered briefly before draining the spiritual wine in her cup.
"Lin Yuan, since you're far more familiar with the Hall of Souls, I'll leave the strategy to you."
"The Poison Sect and I will cooperate fully."
"Agreed."
Lin Yuan nodded.
After refilling her cup, he smiled confidently.
"Putting everything else aside, I do have some experience dealing with Hall of Souls Protectors."
"The first thing we need to do is locate him."
"And I have a way."
His eyes narrowed.
An immense Spiritual Strength spread outward, completely isolating the pavilion from the outside world.
Then, with a flick of his hand, a black box appeared.
Opening it, he revealed a weak, dazed soul floating inside.
With a gentle curl of his finger, invisible flames restrained the soul before bringing it in front of him.
Smiling faintly, Lin Yuan said,
"Protector Wu, how have you been lately?"
Protector Wu finally regained his senses and hurriedly bowed.
"Wu Ying greets my lord."
"If you have any orders, please speak freely."
"I will never refuse."
As he spoke, he secretly glanced at Lin Yuan.
His eyes were filled with fear.
It wasn't because Wu Ying lacked backbone.
It was because Lin Yuan's methods and his temperament were simply too cruel.
Ever since Lin Yuan had planted restrictions inside him, preventing even suicide, Protector Wu had endured countless horrifying experiences.
Given the chance now he would rather die.
Seeing his reaction, Lin Yuan smiled in satisfaction.
His painstaking "education" had not been wasted.
The man had become much more obedient.
Looking at him with a warm smile, Lin Yuan asked,
"Protector Wu..."
"I think you're rather lonely by yourself."
"How about I capture one of your former colleagues to keep you company inside the box?"
"What do you think?"
After a pause, he added, "Once he arrives, all those experiments will be conducted on him instead."
The moment the word "experiments" reached his ears, Protector Wu shuddered violently.
"My lord is wise!"
"What an excellent idea!"
"I am more than willing to assist!"
"If there's anything you need from me, please ask."
"Heh heh..."
"Excellent."
"Then tell me every detail about how Hall of Souls Protectors communicate."
"Leave nothing out."
"Yes, my lord."
"When Protectors of the Hall of Souls contact one another..."
Protector Wu proceeded to explain every detail.
How Protectors contacted each other.
How they located one another.
How they interacted internally.
Their habits.
Their methods.
Everything.
Throughout the conversation, Protector Wu proved surprisingly enthusiastic.
Especially after learning that they were currently in the Chu Yun Empire and that their target was another Hall of Souls Protector.
His eagerness increased dramatically.
He even voluntarily exposed Protector Tie's background in great detail.
"Do those two have some old grudge?"
Lin Yuan thought to himself.
It seems the Hall of Souls Protectors don't exactly get along with one another either.
However, he had no interest in investigating further.
Smiling pleasantly, he nodded.
"Thank you, Protector Wu."
"I appreciate this cooperative attitude."
"Keep it up."
"Perhaps before long you'll regain your freedom."
As delight appeared in Protector Wu's eyes, Lin Yuan waved his hand and sealed him back inside the black box.
Across from him, the Little Fairy Doctor looked at Lin Yuan with a rather strange expression.
During that entire conversation...
She had almost felt as though Lin Yuan, not the Hall of Souls was the true villain of the story.
Looking up, Lin Yuan smiled at her.
"Now we know both ourselves and our enemy. The next steps will be much easier."
The Little Fairy Doctor dismissed those strange thoughts and nodded.
"What do you plan to do next?"
"Naturally..."
Lin Yuan smiled coldly.
"We'll cast a net and catch our fish."
A faint glow flashed across the Soul Ring on his finger.
"Heh heh..."
"We'll have to think of a way."
"We absolutely can't let Protector Tie waste all the souls he's collected."
"They're already my spoils of war. I'll have plenty of use for them later."
Beside him, Zi Yan seemed to catch his mood and immediately imitated his sinister laugh.
"Heh heh heh..."
"That's right!"
"Anything my big brother sets his eyes on belongs to us!"
The siblings exchanged glances before laughing together in perfect unison.
Watching them, the Little Fairy Doctor rubbed her smooth forehead helplessly.
Yet beneath that helpless expression was a trace of amusement.
It seemed life traveling with these two certainly wouldn't be boring.
A moment later, Lin Yuan suddenly remembered something.
He took a list out of his Storage Ring and handed it to her.
"Little Fairy Doctor."
"I need another favor, please help me search for everything on this list."
She accepted it and glanced over it.
It was an inventory containing a large number of medicinal ingredients.
Putting it away inside her Storage Ring, she nodded.
"I'll issue orders immediately and have the members of the Poison Sect gather everything they can."
"In addition, over the past two years I've destroyed numerous factions. I obtained enormous quantities of medicinal herbs."
"They're all stored inside the Poison Sect's treasury. I believe quite a few of the ingredients on your list can already be found there."
"Treasury?"
The moment Zi Yan heard those two words, her eyes lit up.
"Hurry and take me there, Sister Little Fairy Doctor! I want to go treasure hunting!"
Seeing her excitement, Lin Yuan reached over and pinched her soft little cheek.
"What's the rush? The treasury isn't going anywhere."
"You little girl, stay by my side obediently for the time being. We'll go search for treasures elsewhere first."
After saying that, his gaze shifted to the Little Fairy Doctor's beautiful face as he raised his wine cup.
"Thank you, Little Fairy Doctor. However..."
"Let's end our discussion of serious matters here for today. We can talk about the rest after I've confirmed a few pieces of information."
"Today marks our reunion, and this full moon couldn't be more fitting."
"So let's simply drink and chat to our hearts' content."
The Little Fairy Doctor smiled and nodded.
"Since you're in the mood, I'll gladly accompany you."
"To our reunion."
The two raised their cups and drained them together.
After refilling both cups, Lin Yuan flipped his hand, revealing a perfectly preserved lock of black hair resting in his palm.
Smiling gently, he said, "Now that you're by my side again, it's time to return this to you."
"Compared to me, it should mean far more to you now."
As he spoke, he slowly handed the lock of hair to her.
Looking at the silky black strand, the Little Fairy Doctor froze.
This was the very lock of hair she had given Lin Yuan on the day they became sworn friends, a token of their friendship, given at his special request.
She reached out and accepted it.
Her fingers gently stroked the jet-black strand as nostalgia filled her face.
"Thank you, Lin Yuan."
"Heh."
"If you really want to thank me.Then give me a lock of your current white hair instead."
"I'll let you in on a secret."
"White hair happens to be my greatest weakness."
A faint blush flashed across the Little Fairy Doctor's face before she quickly suppressed it.
Rolling her eyes at him, she replied,
"You really can't stop saying such improper things."
Although she said so, the expression on her face became noticeably more relaxed.
Hearing Lin Yuan's words, Zi Yan suddenly seemed to realize something and hurriedly asked,
"Big Brother!"
"If white hair is your weakness then what about my purple hair?"
"Is that your weakness too?"
"Uh..."
Amid laughter and playful banter, the awkwardness of their reunion gradually faded away, and the unfamiliarity brought by their long separation quietly disappeared.
The beauty had already departed.
Lin Yuan leaned lazily against a mountain wall, squinting at the rising sun just peeking over the horizon.
In his left hand, he casually twirled a lock of snow-white hair.
His right hand gently massaged his temple as he pondered.
"Combining Protector Wu's intelligence with the Little Fairy Doctor's information..."
"I already have a good idea of how to locate the Hall of Souls Protector operating in the Chu Yun Empire."
"Still..."
"I should verify everything first, just in case any unexpected variables arise."
With that thought, he carefully stored away the lock of white hair.
A wave of immense Soul Power surged from his Soul Ring.
Moments later, Blood Soul appeared before him.
As Lin Yuan rapidly formed hand seals, Blood Soul transformed into Protector Yuan.
At the same time, Lin Yuan split off a portion of his consciousness and Soul Power, attaching it to Blood Soul.
Its eyes instantly became lively.
"Go, Blood Soul."
Lin Yuan gave the order with a rather ceremonial tone.
As his voice fell, Blood Soul, now in the form of Protector Yuan, became enveloped in waves of sinister black mist before flying toward Myriad Scorpion Mountain.
Feeling the sights and sensations continuously transmitted back through Blood Soul, the corners of Lin Yuan's mouth curled upward.
Blood Soul truly possessed advantages far beyond an ordinary split soul.
It could operate like a genuine external incarnation, moving vast distances away from the original body while maintaining an extremely close connection with the main soul.
Controlling it felt almost effortless.
"This Blood Soul is incredibly useful."
"No wonder I invested so much effort into creating it."
Setting those thoughts aside, Lin Yuan woke the deeply sleeping Zi Yan.
The two then left the desolate mountain together and headed in the direction Blood Soul had flown.
Chu Yun Empire, Ghost Mountain
This place lay on the border between the Poison Sect and the Anti–Poison Sect Alliance.
Only days earlier, the two factions had fought a battle involving over a thousand combatants.
Both sides had suffered grievous casualties before finally retreating, leaving countless corpses scattered across the battlefield.
Had both camps not tacitly agreed to first absorb the remaining neutral factions, that battle alone would have been enough to ignite a full-scale war.
When night fell and moonlight illuminated the battlefield...
A mass of black mist drifted over the corpse-strewn mountain.
Immediately afterward, two black chains wreathed in dark mist shot outward, piercing the bodies of two fallen Dou Kings.
The chains trembled lightly.
Two translucent souls were forcibly dragged from the corpses before being absorbed into the chains.
The empty corpses were casually discarded onto the ground.
After absorbing the souls, Protector Tie sighed helplessly from within the black mist.
"As expected..."
"The souls of ordinary experts are far inferior to those of alchemists. I truly don't understand what those higher-ups are thinking."
"The Hall of Souls is so powerful, yet we're constantly required to remain hidden and forbidden from openly interfering in worldly affairs."
"If not for those restrictions. I could casually wipe out entire sects and kingdoms."
"Gathering souls would become effortless."
"Fortunately in recent years, the quotas assigned by the higher-ups have increased considerably."
"They've also become far less strict regarding those rules."
"Otherwise..."
"I wouldn't dare interfere so openly in the affairs of the Chu Yun Empire."
Thinking of this, excitement flashed across Protector Tie's eyes.
"If my plan for the Chu Yun Empire's great war succeeds. I'll harvest an enormous number of souls."
"Perhaps I'll even be promoted from a Human-Class Protector to an Earth-Class Protector."
"Or perhaps this operation will catch the attention of one of the higher authorities."
"If that happens my future will be limitless."
Just as Protector Tie was indulging in his fantasies. He suddenly sensed an aura remarkably similar to his own.
His eyes immediately turned cold.
"An aura similar to mine..."
"Has someone come here hoping to steal my prey?"
"I'll go meet them."
His body transformed into rolling black clouds as he flew toward the source of that aura.
Several minutes later...
Two masses of black mist met in midair.
Shrouded in darkness, Protector Yuan Blood Soul in disguise spoke first.
"Heh heh heh..."
"I've heard the other Protectors mention it before."
"But Protector Tie..."
"You really were assigned an excellent territory."
"Death and souls are everywhere."
"I'm truly envious."
Protector Tie asked cautiously,
"I've never seen you before."
"Who are you?"
"Which senior promoted you to Protector?"
His eyes remained fixed upon the black mist before him.
The aura emitted by the other party was no weaker than his own.
As for questioning the other's identity...
He had no such doubts.
Although he had never met him before, the Hall of Souls aura surrounding Blood Soul, together with that signature sinister laugh, was absolutely authentic.
There was no question that the other party was a genuine Hall of Souls Protector.
"Heh heh."
"This Protector serves directly under Venerable Mu Gu."
"My title is Protector Yuan."
"I've been ordered here to hunt down several individuals."
Blood Soul calmly presented the fabricated identity.
He then probed cautiously.
"However..."
"I encountered a powerful enemy during my mission and exhausted a considerable amount of souls."
"I heard that war is about to erupt in the Chu Yun Empire. Surely you wouldn't mind if I harvested a few souls here?"
The instant he heard those words, Protector Tie's face darkened.
'Damn it. So he's just another hyena that caught the scent and came to steal my prey.'
'If he thinks he's taking my harvest.'
'He can forget it.'
"Heh heh heh..."
With a sinister laugh, Protector Tie replied coldly,
"Protector Yuan."
"The Chu Yun Empire is my territory."
"The upcoming war here was personally orchestrated by me."
"No matter your excuse..."
"It wouldn't be appropriate for you to take a share."
Protector Yuan appeared to grow angry.
"Protector Tie."
"I'm carrying out an assignment from Venerable Mu Gu."
"Don't try using someone else's authority to pressure this Protector."
A crimson light flashed through Protector Tie's eyes.
"I don't care whose mission it is."
"Every soul within the Chu Yun Empire belongs to me."
"No Protector is allowed to lay a finger on them."
As he spoke, an icy and powerful aura erupted from his body, demonstrating his unwavering determination through action alone.
Hidden within the black mist, Protector Yuan revealed a meaningful smile.
'Excellent. The information has been confirmed. There is only one Hall of Souls Protector stationed in the Chu Yun Empire,Protector Tie.'
'That makes everything much easier.'
As Protector Tie continued attempting to intimidate him.
The murderous gleam in the eyes of Protector Yuan before him.
And the gleam in the eyes of Lin Yuan's true body far away.
Shone simultaneously.
The hunt was about to begin.
----
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