Shadows of the Black Prison Forest, the Demon Pagoda's First Cry

After leaving Fasno City, Qin Mo and the two girls abruptly picked up speed, turning into three faint streaks of light as they sped toward the Black Prison Forest in the southwest.

The closer they drew to the area the locals regarded as forbidden ground, the heavier and more oppressive the atmosphere became. The lush woodland along the way gradually changed at the edge of the Black Prison Forest, where even the trees seemed to have been soaked in ink, taking on an unnaturally deep, somber hue. Their branches twisted and tangled, casting clawing shadows in the dim light and exuding an indescribable evil aura.

An official cordon had long been set up. Rough wooden stakes and faded warning strips sealed off the forest entrance, yet not a single guard was in sight—clearly, ordinary soldiers did not dare linger here.

"Headmaster, the energy field here is extremely chaotic." Bing'er frowned slightly. Her Ultimate Ice martial soul was especially sensitive to this sort of sinister energy. "There are cold, draining Soul Power fluctuations everywhere. It feels like countless hungry tentacles are probing through the air."

Yan'er rubbed her arms. Rarely, she did not refute Bing'er. Even the fire elements dancing around her seemed somewhat suppressed by an unseen force. "It makes my whole body uncomfortable, like we've walked into the digestive tract of some gigantic creature."

Qin Mo's gaze was as sharp as an eagle's as he swept it over the impenetrable darkness deep within the forest. In his sea of consciousness, the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda began humming and trembling on its own. The unlit portion of its fourth level conveyed an intense, pure sense of "hunger"—a craving for high-quality darkness and spiritual-attribute essence, not for the chaotic, filthy energy below.

"This forest has indeed been contaminated by something, but the core should be nurturing purer prey," Qin Mo judged. "Let's go in and take a look. Stay alert. Whatever is here may not be simple."

The three ignored the useless cordon. With a flicker, they slipped silently into the forest like ghosts.

The inside of the forest seemed like a different world from the outside. The light instantly dimmed. Dense canopies almost completely blocked out the sky, leaving only a few pale shafts of light struggling through to fall upon black earth covered in rotten leaves and ghastly white fungi. Deathly silence was the theme here. There was no chirping of insects or birds, not even the faintest breeze. Only from time to time came a low, eerie whimpering, produced by wind passing through twisted branches from some unknown place, like countless dead souls whispering in the darkness.

Apart from the thick layer of humus, the ground occasionally held shattered weapons, torn scraps of clothing, and long-dried black bloodstains soaked into the soil. They silently spoke of the miserable fates of previous intruders, making the place even more sinister and terrifying.

Qin Mo spread his powerful Spiritual Power like the most precise radar, carefully sensing the energy flow and abnormal fluctuations in every inch of the surrounding space. Bing'er and Yan'er stood to his left and right, half a step behind him. The aura of the Ice Phoenix and Fire Phoenix martial souls was held in check, but they were ready to respond to any sudden danger.

After traveling several miles deeper into the forest, Qin Mo suddenly raised a hand, signaling them to stop.

"Something is coming." His voice was very low, yet perfectly clear in the absolute silence. "There are quite a few of them. They're fast. Their energy originates from the same filth outside, but it's more condensed."

Before he could finish speaking, the shadows in the dense woods ahead and to either side began twisting violently and unnaturally!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Seven or eight black figures pounced without warning from the tree shadows, cracks in the ground, and even the air itself! Their targets were clear. They split into three groups and lunged directly at Qin Mo, Bing'er, and Yan'er!

These black figures were far faster than ordinary soul beasts, leaving only blurred afterimages behind them. One could barely make out distorted humanoid outlines moving on all fours, their bodies wrapped in dense black mist that seemed capable of absorbing light. Wherever they passed, the surrounding vegetation withered and blackened at a visible rate, its vitality forcibly drained away!

"Hmph, courting death!" Yan'er had the fiercest temper. Facing the two black figures lunging at her, she neither dodged nor retreated. She raised a slender hand, and her First Soul Ring flashed. "First Soul Skill, Fire Feather Arrow!"

Several crimson arrows formed from highly compressed Ultimate Fire shot out instantly, striking their targets with precision.

Boom! Boom!

Violent explosions rang out as scorching waves of fire surged forth. The two black figures emitted shrill, piercing screams of agony, utterly unlike the cries of living creatures. The black mist over their bodies churned violently and evaporated at high speed beneath the tyrannical Ultimate Fire. The immense impact blasted them backward, sending them crashing heavily into black tree trunks. They struggled, unable to rise for the moment.

On the other side, the two black figures attacking Bing'er met an even stranger fate. Bing'er did not even use a soul skill. The chill around her simply intensified sharply, and an Ice-Blue Light flashed in her eyes. Before the two black figures came within three feet of her, their movements visibly stiffened and slowed. Thick frost formed over their bodies. In the end, they were completely frozen into two ice sculptures in mid-pounce, then shattered with a crash into fragments of ice. Even the black energy at their cores was obliterated by the absolute low temperature.

As for the three or four black figures attacking Qin Mo, their end was the most straightforward. Qin Mo did not even turn around. With a mere thought, the phantom of the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda flashed before him. The black figures seemed to collide with an invisible barrier. Amid miserable shrieks, their bodies rapidly melted and disintegrated like snow beneath the blazing sun, turning into wisps of pure Dark Energy that the pagoda phantom greedily absorbed completely. Only a small pile of ash remained on the ground.

The battle began in a flash and ended almost at the same moment.

"Pah! What disgusting things!" Yan'er walked over to the two injured black figures and gave them each another kick, finishing them off completely. Only then did the three see their appearances more clearly.

These monsters stood roughly as tall as humans. Their entire bodies were an unsettling grayish black, their shriveled, wrinkled skin like old leather stretched tightly over skeletal frames. Their limbs were abnormally long, their joints bent backward, and their fingertips ended in jet-black, razor-sharp claws that gleamed with a metallic sheen. Their bald heads had no eyes or noses, only huge mouths that split all the way to their ears and occupied most of their faces, filled with dense, sharp teeth. Those mouths now opened and closed weakly, leaking foul black mucus.

"Neither human nor beast, living by devouring Soul Power and life force..." Qin Mo crouched down, a faint glow appearing at his fingertips as he examined the remaining energy fluctuations from a distance. "They seem to be the product of some failed mutation, or beings warped after being corroded and contaminated by extreme evil energy. Their energy cores are chaotic and filthy, but that trace of essence deep within them... is of no low grade. Unfortunately, it has been contaminated."

He stood and looked deeper into the forest. "Something is entrenched here. The power it gives off has contaminated the surrounding creatures, turning them into monsters that know only how to devour. What we're looking for is that source."

Just then, another change occurred!

The corpses of the slain monsters, including the fragments shattered by Bing'er and obliterated by Qin Mo, began rapidly vaporizing into even denser black mist. Drawn by some invisible force, the mist surged fiercely toward the center of the forest!

At the same time, more rustling sounds came from every direction, along with the teeth-grating scrape of sharp claws against tree trunks. Countless red dots lit up in the deeper darkness—more awakened monsters!

"They just keep coming!" Flames rose around Yan'er once more.

"Headmaster, these things seem impossible to kill completely, and their energy is reclaimed after death." Bing'er calmly pointed out the key issue. "We must find the source."

"Mm." Qin Mo nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly. "In that case, there's no need to waste time on these fodder."

He raised his hand again, and the phantom of the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda appeared in his palm, spinning rapidly.

"Third Soul Skill, Demon Pagoda—Myriad Snake Barrier!"

This time, the third level of the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda shone brilliantly—the Mandala Snake Emperor Soul Ring. In an instant, countless demonic vines as black as ink and covered in strange, sinister patterns burst from the earth around the three of them! Each vine was as thick as an adult's arm. They writhed and grew madly as if alive, instantly forming a huge cage-like barrier spanning ten meters in radius, protecting the three at its center.

Every shadow monster that tried to charge into the demonic vine barrier was immediately bound and constricted by countless vines! The Devouring Power emitted by the vines far exceeded their own, and it began crazily extracting the chaotic Soul Power and weak dark essence from within their bodies! The monsters let out desperate howls as their bodies shriveled at a visible rate, eventually turning into ash. Their power became nourishment for the Demon Pagoda and the demonic vines.

The demonic vine barrier was like a massive filter and purifier, frantically devouring the incoming monsters and feeding the refined energy back to Qin Mo. The glow from the fourth level of the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda gradually became steadier and brighter.

Yet Qin Mo's brow furrowed slightly. Through the pagoda's feedback, he clearly sensed that although the core essence within these monsters was of decent grade, all of it carried the same impurity that was difficult to remove—a contamination filled with resentful hatred, madness, and bloodthirsty will. Absorbing it directly would inevitably taint the purity of the Demon Pagoda.

"So it really won't work." Qin Mo shook his head slightly. "These are only contaminated derivatives. Their core power is also stained by the filth of the source. The Demon Pagoda needs the purest essence. We must find that source, purify it completely, and only then devour it."

Just as he was about to retract the demonic vines and lead the two girls straight to the source, his brow suddenly lifted as he looked toward the rear flank.

"Oh? Someone else is here? They're fairly quick. They really are... impossible to shake off."

Almost as soon as Qin Mo spoke, hurried, panicked footsteps came from that direction, along with ragged breathing and terrified shouts.

"Quick! Run! There are too many of these things!" "Lord Deacon! Save me!" "Hold them off! Use area soul skills! Don't let them get close!"

A team of Spirit Hall deacons led by Yan came fleeing toward them in utter disarray. Their once immaculate deacon robes had become tattered and stained with mud and blood. Nearly everyone was injured, their Soul Power fluctuations chaotic, their faces filled with terror and exhaustion. The two deacons at the rear were just a step too slow when several black figures burst from the shadows at their sides and dragged them to the ground. Their screams soon came to an abrupt stop.

When they stumbled over in panic and saw Qin Mo and the two girls standing composed and spotless within a barrier made of terrifying demonic vines, while the monster horde outside frantically charged only to be continually devoured and strangled by the vines, everyone froze. Their faces were filled with stunned disbelief and absurdity.

They had fought desperately and suffered heavy losses just to flee here, while the other side... seemed to be taking a stroll through their own backyard. They had even built such a terrifying plant fortress to hunt these monsters instead?

Yan's expression was the ugliest of all, shifting between green and white. He stared fixedly at Qin Mo. In particular, when he saw Bing'er and Yan'er standing safely behind Qin Mo, their gazes still calm and indifferent, while he himself was in such a miserable state, like a homeless dog, the stark contrast instantly ignited his jealousy to its peak, nearly drowning his reason.

The terror of barely escaping with his life intertwined with the humiliation before him. He abruptly pointed at Qin Mo, his voice shrill and cracking from agitation and heavy breathing.

"It's you! So it really was you behind this! Did you lure these monsters out? Speak! Who exactly are you? What plot do you have in infiltrating Fasno Province?"

He completely ignored the fact that Qin Mo's demonic vine barrier had temporarily held back the monster horde and saved them. Instead, he vented all the resentment and fear from his flight, trying to salvage a shred of pathetic dignity before his subordinates.

Qin Mo could not even be bothered to lift an eyelid. He completely ignored Yan's presence and barking, merely saying calmly to Bing'er and Yan'er, "The small fry here have mostly been cleared out. The barrier can hold them off for now. That source should be in that direction."

He pointed toward the heart of the forest, where the black mist was densest and the energy fluctuations most abnormal.

"Let's go."

With that, a thought from him caused the demonic vine barrier to open a gap. He turned and began walking toward the core area. Bing'er and Yan'er immediately followed. From beginning to end, neither of them spared even a moment's glance for the battered Spirit Hall personnel.

Ignored completely again! And they were even heading for the core region that his group had fought desperately just to escape from? This naked disdain and the difference in strength that seemed to come from entirely different worlds were like a sharp blade viciously piercing Yan's last fragile shred of pride.

Humiliation, fear, jealousy, rage... all kinds of emotions instantly overwhelmed his reason.

"Stop right there!" Yan suddenly erupted with Soul Power. Two yellow and one purple Soul Rings flashed madly beneath his feet as the Flame Lord Martial Soul Possession took hold, making him look like a burning madman. "You got ahead of us to handle Spirit Hall's target, and now you want to flee to escape punishment? I say you are the Evil Soul Masters behind this disaster!"

He roared madly at the remaining shaken deacons behind him. "What are you standing around for?! Form up! Take down these three Evil Soul Masters! Dead or alive!"

The deacons looked at one another, hesitation and fear on their faces—the other side's bizarre vines were clearly even more terrifying than the monsters! But Yan's authority had long weighed heavily upon them. They did not dare openly disobey, so they could only grit their teeth, reluctantly reveal their Soul Rings, and try to surround the three with trembling caution as various soul skill lights flashed.

Qin Mo finally stopped again.

He slowly turned around.

His calm gaze swept over the seemingly crazed Yan and the group of deacons who were fierce in appearance but timid at heart. His eyes were as deep and still as a cold pool, yet everyone who met that gaze felt as though they had fallen into an icy abyss, their Soul Power circulation becoming sluggish.

"Evil Soul Masters?" Qin Mo's voice was soft, yet it carried a chilling coldness that struck terror into the heart. "Lashing out in impotent rage, blaming others, twisting right and wrong—is this how Spirit Hall's elites behave?"

He took a step forward.

With that single step, an invisible, vast, and terrifying Spiritual Power like a sea of stars, mixed with the tyrannical aura of the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda that suppressed all things and devoured everything, exploded outward!

Thud! Thud!

The deacons, already severely drained of Soul Power and trembling with fear, did not even have time to groan. As if struck by invisible sledgehammers, their eyes rolled back and they collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious.

Only Yan, at the Soul Elder level, could barely remain standing. Yet he felt as though a mountain ten thousand feet high had crashed down upon his soul! His knee joints creaked under unbearable pressure. His entire body shook violently, and he used every ounce of strength just to avoid kneeling. His face was filled with unprecedented shock and terror. What... what level of pressure is this?! A Titled Douluo?! How could someone this young possibly be one?!

The Flame Lord martial soul within him let out a mournful cry beneath this pressure. Its blazing flames instantly died down by more than half, flickering weakly like a candle in the wind.

Qin Mo looked at him, his expression still calm, but carrying the indifference of one looking down upon an ant.

"An ant like you dares to keep making noise."

"Since you insist on humiliating yourself..."

Qin Mo's voice was not loud, but every word was like an ice spike ruthlessly driving into Yan's nearly shattered mind.

"...then I'll grant your wish."

He slowly raised his right hand, his fingertip aimed at Yan, whose entire body had gone rigid and who could not move even a single finger. The phantom of the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda slowly spun in his palm, its base facing its target as it emitted a dark, profound glow that seemed capable of devouring all light.

Yan's pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints as boundless terror instantly engulfed him.