The continent-wide purge lasted several months and achieved remarkable results. On the surface, the Holy Spirit Cult's forces had been almost completely uprooted, and the once-rampant storm of the evil cult seemed to have subsided. Order gradually returned across the continent, trade flourished with increasing frequency, and the world of soul masters entered a rare period of peace. Venerable Measuring Heaven Ling Yun's prestige soared to great heights, while the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, as the core of the alliance, stood as steady as Mount Tai.
Yet in shadowed corners untouched by sunlight, undercurrents still stirred in silence.
In the west of the Star Luo Empire lay a desolate, uninhabited region known as the Soul Burial Mountain Range. Its mountains were steep and perilous, poisonous miasma lingered there all year round, and legend had it that a god-level powerhouse had fallen there in ancient times. Their resentment had never dispersed, making it a forbidden land even soul beasts refused to enter.
Deep within the mountain range, in an exceptionally concealed valley hidden by a natural illusion array, dozens of figures had gathered. They wore plain gray robes, their auras restrained and their eyes numb and hollow, utterly unlike the fanatical Holy Spirit Cult followers from before. They knelt silently on the ground, facing an ancient altar at the center of the valley.
The altar was not built from piled corpses, but from a black stone that was neither metal nor jade, glimmering with faint starlight. Its design was ancient and strange, and it was covered in starry-sky patterns similar to those discovered during the purge. Above it, no evil aura churned. Instead, a chaotic sphere of light floated there, constantly twisting and shifting as though formed from countless tiny stars. It radiated a strange presence that was cold, rational,