Hall of Souls and Gu Clan Confrontation

Though Venerable Elder looked imposing as he tortured Yin Shan, inwardly, he was panicking like mad.

After sending news of Xiao Yan's capture back to the main hall, he heard that the Hall Master himself was coming to his branch. Venerable Elder had thought he would receive quite a few rewards this time and had been rather pleased.

But unexpectedly, the Hall Master had come for the Ancient Jade, while that damned Yin Shan had secretly hidden Xiao Yan's Storage Ring.

After torturing him for so long, they still had no results.

Venerable Elder could already sense the Hall Master's expression growing increasingly grim.

He was truly afraid that the Hall Master might kill him outright in a moment of displeasure.

Venerable Elder knew the strength of his Hall Master. He was merely an ordinary Dou Zun and did not dare to grow arrogant because of favor.

Thus, Venerable Elder had shown absolutely no mercy in dealing with Yin Shan.

One only needed to look at Yin Shan's right arm to know—it had been chopped off by Venerable Elder to threaten him.

Yet Venerable Elder had not expected Yin Shan's mouth to be so stubborn.

Even after being subjected to so many punishments, Yin Shan still insisted that he had not taken the Storage Ring and that he had merely found Xiao Yan.

At this moment, Yin Shan felt utterly wronged. Because he had been greedy for credit, no matter how he explained himself now, Venerable Elder believed he was being stubborn and had hidden the Storage Ring.

And when he found Xiao Yan, there had been no one nearby. No one could speak in his defense.

Furthermore, the wounds on Xiao Yan's body clearly showed that they had been caused by Soul Chains, a Dou Technique commonly used by Hall of Souls Protectors.

Every clue pointed to Yin Shan.

He was now unable to clear himself no matter how much he tried.

At that moment, Hun Miesheng, who was seated nearby, spoke with a cold laugh. "Blood Blade, it seems your management skills are truly impressive. You even managed to train such a tight-lipped subordinate."

Upon hearing his Hall Master's words, the Venerable Elder named Blood Blade was so frightened that he immediately fell to his knees.

On the surface, the Hall Master was praising his management skills, but how could Blood Blade fail to understand the meaning behind Hun Miesheng's words?

By saying his subordinate was tight-lipped, the Hall Master clearly thought Yin Shan had hidden the Storage Ring under his orders!

Blood Blade did not dare accept such a charge and hurriedly explained, "H-Hall Master, please believe me. I absolutely did not order him to hide the Storage Ring. Even if you gave me a hundred times the courage, I would never dare do such a thing."

"Hall Master, I have always been utterly loyal to you. He did all this himself. Give me two more days... no, just one day. I will definitely force the location of the Storage Ring out of him."

Seeing the Hall Master's gloomy expression, Blood Blade had initially wanted to ask for two days, but quickly changed it to one.

"Fine, then I'll give you... hm?"

Before Hun Miesheng could finish speaking, he suddenly sensed a powerful aura appearing outside the Hall of Souls.

When Blood Blade heard the Hall Master stop halfway through his sentence, he thought the Hall Master was about to do something to him. His kneeling body trembled uncontrollably in fright.

Hun Miesheng ignored Blood Blade and headed straight outside.

From the aura just now, he could tell that the person outside possessed at least Dou Saint strength.

At the same time, he was puzzled. Since when had a Dou Saint appeared on the Northwest Continent?

Outside the Hall of Souls stood Gu Xun'er, Gu Yun, and the Gu Clan Dou Zong.

Gu Yun asked, "Xun'er, are you sure it is here?"

"Yes, Elder Gu Yun. I can sense that the Golden Emperor Burning Flame's Child Flame is inside."

Gu Xun'er sensed it again before confirming her answer.

"Let's go in."

Worried about Xiao Yan, Gu Xun'er wanted to force her way inside.

But Gu Yun stopped her.

"Xun'er, wait."

Hun Miesheng could sense Gu Yun's aura, and Gu Yun naturally could do the same.

The moment he arrived, Gu Yun had sensed an aura within this Hall of Souls Branch that was roughly equal to his own. That was why he stopped Gu Xun'er instead of charging in directly.

Just as Gu Xun'er looked at Gu Yun in confusion, Hun Miesheng appeared outside the Hall of Souls.

Hun Miesheng studied the three people outside, frowning slightly.

Among the three, one possessed strength equal to his own!

This was the Northwest Continent, a place famously lacking in resources. Dou Saint experts simply had no desire to remain here.

Yet now, a Four-Star Dou Saint had appeared. Hun Miesheng could not help but be wary.

Thus, Hun Miesheng probed, "Who are you? What business do you have with my Hall of Souls?"

Clearly, Hun Miesheng did not recognize Gu Yun.

"Are you Hun Miesheng, Hall Master of the Hall of Souls?"

Although Gu Yun did not recognize Hun Miesheng either, he could guess his identity.

Within the Hall of Souls, someone with the strength of a Four-Star Dou Saint could only be Hun Miesheng.

Hun Miesheng asked in confusion, "Hm? You know me?"

Gu Yun did not hide anything from Hun Miesheng and frankly said, "This old man is Gu Yun."

Hearing that this man bore the surname Gu, coupled with his strength as a Four-Star Dou Saint, Hun Miesheng guessed Gu Yun's identity.

"You're from the Gu Clan?"

Hun Miesheng then asked in an unfriendly tone, "What are Gu Clan members doing in my Hall of Souls?"

Ever since Xiao Xuan had been killed a thousand years ago and the Xiao Clan annihilated, the Gu Clan and the Soul Clan, whose patriarchs were both Nine-Star Dou Saints at the Late Stage, had naturally become rivals. Though the two clans had not gone to war over the years, there had been no shortage of clashes, large and small.

Both clans believed the other to be the greatest obstacle to their own unification of the continent.

The two clans had always been hostile, and this was his own turf, so Hun Miesheng naturally did not bother with courtesy.

"Hun Miesheng, your Soul Clan actually dared to attack the Xiao Clan. Aren't you afraid that our six clans will join forces to punish you?"

Clearly, Gu Yun had already learned that the Hall of Souls had acted against the Xiao Clan of Wutan City.

The Ancient Eight Clans had sworn an oath not to invade one another. Whoever broke that oath would face the joint punishment of the other six clans.

"Hahaha, you actually take that kind of oath seriously?"

As if he had heard the greatest joke in the world, Hun Miesheng burst into laughter.

"When our patriarch killed Xiao Xuan back then, none of you dared to punish us. Why would things be any different now?"

Seeing that Gu Yun remained silent, Hun Miesheng continued mockingly, "And don't make yourselves sound so righteous. After our patriarch killed Xiao Xuan, wasn't it your Gu Clan that seized the Xiao Clan's foundation? Your Gu Clan was the greatest beneficiary, wasn't it?"

The greatest reason for the Xiao Clan's decline was that Xiao Xuan had absorbed the Dou Di bloodline back then, staking everything on a desperate attempt to break through to Dou Di. After he failed, he was hunted down and killed by the Soul Clan.

The Soul Clan and the Xiao Clan had both suffered heavily in that battle. Afterwards, the Soul Clan was greatly weakened and sealed off the Hun Realm, no longer involving itself in worldly affairs.

Although the Xiao Clan had lost Xiao Xuan, its Dou Saints, Dou Zuns, Dou Zongs, Dou Skills, and cultivation techniques still remained.

But by Xiao Zhan's generation, why was the clan head merely a Da Dou Shi, while the Xiao Clan's strongest cultivation technique was only the mid Xuan-class Furious Lion Aura?

Why had the Xiao Clan fallen all the way to Wutan City on the Northwest Continent?

Where had the Xiao Clan's high-tier Dou Skills and cultivation techniques gone?

Nothing more than the other ancient clans taking advantage of the Xiao Clan's misfortune.

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