A Troublesome Underling

Gu Yuan did not care in the slightest whether Xiao Yan lived or died.

If he had not feared that Xun'er would resent him upon learning the truth, Gu Yuan might even have wanted to kill Xiao Yan himself.

But now, a fragment of the ancient jade was on Xiao Yan, and Xiao Yan had been taken by the Hall of Souls.

Gu Yuan could no longer sit still. He had sent his own daughter to the Xiao Clan precisely to steal the Tou She Ancient God Jade.

He had never expected that before he could obtain the ancient jade, the Soul Clan would get their hands on it first.

Gu Yuan and Hun Tiandi were both at the Nine-Star Dou Saint Late Stage. Hun Tiandi wanted to gather all Eight Ancient Jades, open the ancient dwelling, and break through to the Dou Di realm—but why would Gu Yuan not want the same?

The greatest benefit of breaking through to Dou Di was that it would also elevate the bloodline of one's clansmen.

The reason the current seven ancient clans possessed such formidable strength and such profound foundations was inseparable from the Dou Di experts who had once appeared within their clans.

Yet after all these years, the experts of these ancient clans had never been able to advance into the Dou Di realm.

Even Xiao Xuan, the extraordinarily gifted chief of the Xiao Clan among the Ancient Eight Clans back then, had been no exception.

That was also why Hun Tiandi had endured in silence for a thousand years.

Thus, upon hearing that Xiao Yan, who carried the ancient jade, had been captured by the Hall of Souls, Gu Yuan's reaction was so intense.

Although the ancient jade was useless without all eight pieces, Gu Yuan could not allow the Soul Clan to obtain it so easily.

Gu Yuan paced back and forth inside the great hall.

If possible, Gu Yuan had wanted to go personally, but he had not forgotten the rule among the Ancient Eight Clans: Dou Saint experts above Five-Star could not take action.

Even though none of the clans truly took this rule seriously, they all tacitly understood not to be the first to break it.

Although Gu Yuan's strength had already reached the peak of the Dou Qi Continent, he was an exceedingly indecisive person.

Compared with Xiao Xuan, who understood the need to prepare for danger in times of peace, and Hun Tiandi, who planned every move with foresight, Gu Yuan was simply the sort of fool who muddled through life and waited for death.

In the end, in order to abide by that so-called "rule," Gu Yuan still decided to send Gu Yun, who was at the Four-Star Dou Saint Late Stage.

Gu Yuan asked, "Do you know which Hall of Souls Branch Xiao Yan is being held in?"

"Father, I know. I left a Golden Emperor Burning Flame's Child Flame inside Brother Xiao Yan's body, so I can sense the child flame's location."

In her anxiety, Gu Xun'er blurted it out.

But the moment she finished speaking, Gu Xun'er regretted it.

"What? You gave that brat a Golden Emperor Burning Flame's Child Flame?"

Sure enough, upon hearing that Xun'er had actually split off a Golden Emperor Burning Flame's Child Flame for Xiao Yan, Gu Yuan was furious.

One could not simply divide off a child flame from a Heavenly Flame whenever one wished. A child flame needed a trace of the Heavenly Flame's origin to survive.

It might only have been a trace of origin, but how long would it take the Gu Clan to nourish back even that trace within the child flame?

And what was the Golden Emperor Burning Flame?

It was the Gu Clan's Inherited Heavenly Flame. Now Gu Xun'er had separated a child flame and given it to an outsider—how could Gu Yuan not be angry?

Gu Yuan felt as if his own daughter was about to anger him to death.

Meanwhile, Gu Xun'er did not dare to argue even a single word. She feared that if she did, Gu Yuan would refuse to save Brother Xiao Yan.

It took Gu Yuan a long while to finally calm himself down.

At that moment, Gu Yun arrived as well.

After Gu Yuan explained the matter to him, he told Gu Yun to take Gu Xun'er to the Hall of Souls and, if possible, bring back the ancient jade.

Gu Xun'er had wanted Gu Yuan to go with her. As a Nine-Star Dou Saint, Gu Yuan would certainly be faster than Gu Yun.

The sooner they arrived, the greater Brother Xiao Yan's chances of survival.

But seeing how angry Gu Yuan was, she knew that was impossible and could only give up on the idea.

Thus, Gu Yun and Gu Xun'er hurried toward the direction indicated by the child flame.

Inside a Hall of Souls Branch.

The Protector who had found Xiao Yan was currently bound tightly by a black chain.

Before him sat a middle-aged man who exuded an imposing, unquestionable authority even without showing anger.

That was right—this man was Hun Miesheng, the Hall of Souls' master.

Hun Miesheng was at the Four-Star Dou Saint Late Stage.

Because the ancient clans had a rule that experts above Five-Star Dou Saint were not permitted to interfere in the conflicts of ordinary people.

Conversely, they were not so concerned with those below Five-Star, which was why the Soul Clan had sent Hun Miesheng, a Four-Star Dou Saint, to oversee the Hall of Souls.

As the Hall of Souls' master, he should not have come here in person.

However, a few days ago, he had heard from his subordinates that they had captured the escaped Xiao Yan.

The order to massacre the Xiao Clan and abduct Xiao Zhan had also been issued by Hun Miesheng.

The reason was that Hun Tiandi had ordered Hun Miesheng to find a way to obtain the Xiao Clan's ancient jade.

Hun Miesheng had obeyed, but as the master of an entire hall, he naturally could not personally take action, so he had sent his subordinates instead.

Hun Miesheng had a proper villain's mindset: if he was going to act, he would pull up the weeds by the roots.

Hun Miesheng knew that the current Xiao clan had declined to the point where its strongest member was only at the Da Dou Shi realm.

Meanwhile, even the weakest protectors of the Hall of Souls were Dou Zongs. So after issuing the order, he went into seclusion without a care.

Who could have imagined that his subordinates would be so utterly useless?

Each one was lazier than the last. The order passed from one person to another, until in the end, they actually sent a Human-Rank Protector to the Jia Ma Empire to handle the matter.

Thus, after he emerged from seclusion, his subordinates informed him that one member of the Xiao clan had escaped!

Hun Miesheng had not cared much at first. If one had escaped, they could simply hunt him down later. Obtaining the Ancient Jade to report back to Hun Tiandi was what mattered most.

But what he had not expected was for his subordinates to tell him that they had failed to find the Ancient Jade!

And since the escaped Xiao Yan was the young master of the Xiao clan, the Ancient Jade was very likely in Xiao Yan's possession.

After the last incident, Hun Miesheng had grown increasingly distrustful of his subordinates' ability to get things done, so he personally came to this Hall of Souls Branch.

After arriving at the branch, Hun Miesheng saw that the captured Xiao Yan was dead, but he did not care.

What he wanted was not Xiao Yan, but the Ancient Jade on him.

Yet after searching Xiao Yan from head to toe, he still found no Ancient Jade.

Moreover, Xiao Yan's Storage Ring had vanished as well. This made Hun Miesheng suspect that one of his subordinates had secretly pocketed Xiao Yan's Storage Ring.

That was how the current scene came about. Hun Miesheng sat there while the protector was bound by black chains, and the branch's Venerable Elder was responsible for interrogating him.

Venerable Elder: "Yin Shan, this venerable one will give you one last chance. Hand over Xiao Yan's Storage Ring at once."

"Venerable Elder, I've been wronged! I really did pick Xiao Yan up outside the Hall of Souls, and he truly had no Storage Ring on him. I really didn't hide it for myself."

At that moment, the protector, whose entire right arm had been severed, endured the agony under the threat of death and continued desperately explaining himself.

It turned out that after Yin Shan had found Xiao Yan, he had reported to the Venerable Elder that he had captured Xiao Yan himself in order to exaggerate his contribution.

He had originally thought that he had rendered a great service this time and would receive considerable rewards.

Who could have imagined that after Hun Miesheng arrived, not only did he receive no reward, he was also bound in chains and subjected to brutal interrogation!

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