A Day at the Hall of Souls Haunted House

Wang Ba hadn't been too afraid of Ye Qianqian initially, but as soon as he heard her words, he deflated like a leaky balloon, completely losing his drive.

"Yun Lan Ancestor, my Hall of Souls has no past grievances with you, nor any recent enmity. Why are you causing trouble at my Hall of Souls? Do you think we are easily bullied? To tell you the truth, my Hall of Souls has many Saint-level experts in the Central Continent, and its influence spans the entire Dou Qi Continent. I advise you to think twice,"

Knowing he was no match for Ye Qianqian, Wang Ba immediately brought up his backing, intending to scare her off.

Ye Qianqian nodded and smiled, "I am not here for revenge today. I don't have any other intentions; I just want to visit your Hall of Souls. Is that okay?"

She had always been very curious about the inner workings of the Hall of Souls and was determined to see what kind of hellish place it was today.

"What did you say?" Wang Ba was taken aback by Ye Qianqian's request, it was truly unexpected.

"Heh, what do you think my Hall of Souls is?"

"Then I'll call my senior sister!" Seeing Wang Ba's refusal, Ye Qianqian immediately started shouting, "Senior sister, senior sister, hurry up!"

Wang Ba's scalp tingled from Ye Qianqian's shouting. He quickly waved his hands, "Stop shouting, stop shouting! It's an honor for our Hall of Souls to have Yun Lan Ancestor visit. There's no need to call your senior sister."

Although Wang Ba feared Ye Qianqian, he still had some confidence. But if Kaguya Hime were to be called out, he would have no confidence left at all.

Ye Qianqian chuckled, "I know your Hall of Souls indeed has many Saint-level experts in the Central Continent, and even Hun Miesheng at headquarters is more powerful. Moreover, you have the Soul Clan backing you, which is why no other forces dare to provoke you.

But Hall Master Wang, don't forget that the Northwest Continent was originally a desolate and barren land, and your branch hall has never been taken seriously. If I kill you all and erase all traces, even the Hall of Souls headquarters won't be able to find out who did it, right?"

Wang Ba's heart pounded with fear. How could this Yun Lan Ancestor know so much? She even knew clearly that they were backed by the Soul Clan.

"What exactly do you want?"

"Didn't I just say it? We're here to visit."

Wang Ba was speechless. To visit the Hall of Souls as an enemy, there was probably only this Yun Lan Ancestor in the world who could do such a thing.

"Fine, then please come in. If you dare," Wang Ba snorted.

The women followed Wang Ba, heading deeper into the Hall of Souls.

The Hall of Souls had only one floor above ground but had excavated four underground levels. Wang Ba's explanation opened the eyes of Ye Qianqian and the others, who marveled at it.

Wang Ba said proudly, "What's so special about this? The major branch halls in the Central Continent have excavated eight or nine underground levels, and the headquarters has excavated even more, reaching eighteen levels. Various once-famous prodigies are imprisoned inside.

On the Dou Qi Continent, generally only the souls of the strong are not afraid of sunlight. Some weak souls fear the sun, and if exposed for too long, they will completely dissipate.

Therefore, to capture these souls, our Hall of Souls specially built underground worlds. Firstly, it's to preserve the souls better, and secondly, to prevent their escape."

"Then you're a pretty useless Hall Master, only excavating four levels, not even as good as other branch halls," Ye Qianqian shook her head and smiled.

"Hmph, this is the first level. Yun Lan Ancestor, please!" Wang Ba resentfully led Ye Qianqian and the others down to the first underground level.

As soon as they descended, a dark, misty, and chilling scene quickly appeared before their eyes. Countless wailing souls and spirits let out piercing cries, exuding a chill that made one's blood run cold.

Ye Qianqian suddenly saw several teams of black-robed Hall of Souls lackeys on this level. Under the command of a few Hall of Souls stewards, these people were driving a group of dazed soul bodies, who kept jumping into a sea of fire. The burning souls cried out in agony.

Some soul bodies, unwilling to be lambs to the slaughter, fought back, but they were no match for a steward's whip.

With a flick of the black whip, the soul bodies shrank by a third, and their intelligence also drastically reduced.

Nalan Yanran and Qing Lin broke out in a cold sweat, while Mo Youyou had already collapsed on the ground in fear.

Their first reaction was that Ye Qianqian had tricked them.

This was not some entertainment; it was practically a living hell!

Wang Ba laughed, "This is our Hall of Souls' first level, the Blazing Fire Space. Its purpose is to burn all these low-level souls into a trace of Soul Origin."

Ye Qianqian swallowed hard, genuinely startled. Based on her observations, the souls being burned were likely Dou Practitioners or above in their past lives. Yet, the Hall of Souls referred to them as low-level souls and processed them into Soul Origin. It was truly a black workshop.

The group, trembling with fear, followed Wang Ba down to the second level, which terrified them even more.

Many soul bodies were hanging in mid-air by black chains, and it was unclear how long they had been there.

Several tall and burly Hall of Souls men grabbed a soul body by its chain and pulled it over. Then, using a trident, they speared it and threw it into a boiling oil pot in front of them to fry.

The soul bodies struggled continuously, trying to climb out of the oil pot, but were poked back in. It was utterly horrifying.

Wang Ba continued, "These souls were mostly Dou Masters in their lives, their soul power reaching the mortal realm. If Soul Origin were to be forged using flames, the effect would be very slow. Therefore, we use the Hall of Souls' specially made Spirit Transformation Oil to dissolve the spiritual body's shell, allowing us to extract a small amount of origin power."

"Heh, not only are your Hall of Souls' actions despicable and shameless, but you're also quite experienced in handling souls!" Ye Qianqian couldn't help but sneer.

"Hehehe, thank you for the compliment, Yun Lan Ancestor. My Hall of Souls has stood on the Dou Qi Continent for thousands of years. Not to mention anything else, just in terms of handling souls, the major forces on the continent can't compare."

Wang Ba completely ignored Ye Qianqian's sarcasm. At this moment, he was like an excellent tour guide and a professional commentator, constantly spouting technical terms to the women.

"Yun Lan Ancestor, this is our Hall of Souls' third level. The souls locked inside were mostly Dou Grandmasters in their lives. Of course, to collect these precious soul bodies, our Northwest branch has spared no effort in searching everywhere."

The third level was the Blade Mountain World. Many Hall of Souls members had a giant cleaver, three meters high and five meters wide, standing before them. The long blade emanated black malevolent energy, appearing extremely terrifying.

Many soul bodies struggled incessantly. After the Hall of Souls personnel jointly threw them onto the cleaver, it began to operate violently, chopping down fiercely.

Sizzle!

"Ah!"

As soon as the souls touched the black cleaver, they wailed loudly as their spiritual bodies rapidly dissolved.

The spiritual bodies were chopped apart, and a light cluster the size of a baby's fist floated out.

The Hall of Souls personnel, like assembly line workers, were afraid that these soul clusters would dissipate quickly. They hurriedly put them into a special black container to seal them before looking for the next soul body.

"Ancestor, Qing Lin and Mo Youyou have fainted from fright."

When Ye Qianqian turned around, she saw Na Lan Yan Ran crouching on the ground, supporting the two women with her hands. She sighed, thinking how truly disgusting the Hall of Souls was.

Wang Ba's brow twitched. He asked, "Ancestor Yun Lan, do you intend to keep watching?"

Ye Qianqian said to Na Lan Yan Ran, "Stay here and take care of these two. We'll leave shortly."

Na Lan Yan Ran nodded and replied, "Alright, but please hurry, Ancestor. Yan Ran doesn't want to stay here any longer either."

Soon, Ye Qianqian followed Wang Ba to the fourth level. This was the final stop beneath the Hall of Souls.

Strangely, there were no screams of the undead or resentful spirits, nor any Hall of Souls personnel. Inside was a pure world, white, warm, and comfortable, like a paradise.

Hundreds of white Soul Origins floated in the air. When they occasionally converged, they would emit a bright radiance.

Ye Qianqian reached out and drew one of the rice-bowl-sized light clusters into her hand. After carefully sensing the Soul Power within, she was startled and asked, "How many people's Soul Origin is needed to create this light cluster?"

Wang Ba chuckled and said, "To create one using Dou Practitioners, it takes thousands. Using Dou Masters, a hundred is enough. For Dou Grandmaster powerhouses, at most a few dozen. As for the souls of Dou Spirits and Dou Ancestors, we're still reluctant to extract their origins. Those who obey become dogs of our Hall of Souls. Those who don't, well, there are no disobedient ones anymore."

"Thousands of Dou Practitioners! Your Hall of Souls is truly ruthless to have harmed so many people," Ye Qianqian's brows were filled with anger.

To create these Soul Origins, the Hall of Souls spared no effort. If their small Northwest branch was like this, what about all the branches distributed throughout the Dou Qi Continent?

Wang Ba touched his nose and said, "Ancestor Yun Lan, why get angry? There are so many Dou Practitioners in the world, but most are like ants destined to be trampled. Our Hall of Souls merely liberates them from their suffering, sending them to an earlier transcendence. However, since you care so much for the world, you can offer your own soul. It would be enough to cover our Northwest branch's mission quota for three to four years."

Ye Qianqian frowned. "What do you mean?"

Wang Ba gave a sinister smile. "Why do you think I would foolishly tell you so many secrets of the Hall of Souls? Because you will soon become one of these Soul Origins yourself."

In an instant, Wang Ba continuously formed hand seals. The surrounding space suddenly became as bright as day, blinding onlookers.

As the light dissipated, black and white array patterns appeared on the ground, forming a powerful Soul Pressure that struck deep into the heart.

This formation used the Soul Origins above as energy, continuously crushing down on Ye Qianqian, leaving her unable to move.

Wang Ba laughed maniacally. "This formation uses the power of the Soul Origins above as its source, providing endless energy to the great array. Even a five-star Dou Venerate would fall here, let alone you. Originally, I might have feared you in a normal confrontation. But you were so arrogant, foolishly following me to the lowest level. Today, you shall perish here!"