Wang Ba had not been all that afraid of Ye Qianqian, but the moment he heard those words, he deflated like a punctured balloon and could no longer muster any spirit.
"Yun Lan Ancestor, the Soul Hall has never had any enmity with you, past or present. Why have you come here to cause trouble? Do you think the Soul Hall is easy to bully? To tell you the truth, the Soul Hall has many Saint-level experts in the Central Continent, and its influence covers the entire Dou Qi Continent. I advise you to think this through carefully before acting."
Knowing he was no match for Ye Qianqian, Wang Ba immediately brought up the force behind him, intending to intimidate her.
Ye Qianqian nodded and smiled. "I'm not here for revenge today. Actually, I have no other intentions. I just want to tour your Soul Hall. Is that all right?"
She had always been extremely curious about the inside of the Soul Hall, so today she had to see what kind of ghostly place it really was.
"What did you say?" Wang Ba had not expected Ye Qianqian to say something like that. It had truly caught him off guard.
"Heh heh, what do you think the Soul Hall is?"
"Then I'll call my senior sister over." Seeing that Wang Ba disagreed, Ye Qianqian immediately shouted, "Senior sister! Senior sister! Come quickly!"
Ye Qianqian's shouting made Wang Ba's scalp go numb. He hurriedly waved his hands. "Stop shouting! Stop shouting! It is my honor to have Yun Lan Ancestor visit the Soul Hall. There's no need to call your senior sister over."
Although Wang Ba was wary of Ye Qianqian, he still had some confidence in himself. But if Princess Kaguya were called over, he would not have even a shred of confidence left.
Ye Qianqian sneered. "I know that your Soul Hall does have quite a few Saint-level experts in the Central Continent. Hun Miesheng at headquarters is even stronger, and you also have the Soul Clan backing you, which is why no other force dares to provoke you.
"But Palace Master Wang, don't forget that the Northwestern Continent is originally a barren and impoverished place. Your little branch hall has never been valued, either. If I kill all of you and erase the traces, even the Soul Hall headquarters won't be able to find out who did it, right?"
Wang Ba was terrified. How did this Yun Lan Ancestor know so much? She even knew all about the Soul Clan backing them.
"What exactly do you want?"
"Didn't I just say? We're here to look around."
Wang Ba was speechless. Coming to tour the Soul Hall as an enemy—perhaps only Yun Lan Ancestor in the entire world could do something like this.
"Fine, then. Please, everyone. As long as you have the courage to enter." Wang Ba snorted angrily.
The girls followed behind Wang Ba as he led them toward the depths of the Soul Hall.
The Soul Hall had only one floor aboveground, but it had opened up an underground space with four levels. Wang Ba's explanation greatly broadened Ye Qianqian and the others' horizons, leaving them clicking their tongues in amazement.
Wang Ba proudly said, "What's so impressive about this? The various branch halls in the Central Continent have opened up eight or nine underground levels in total. As for the headquarters, even more underground space has been excavated, reaching eighteen levels. All kinds of prodigies who once shook the world are imprisoned inside.
"On the Dou Qi Continent, generally only the souls of experts are unafraid of sunlight. Weaker souls all fear the sun, and after being exposed to it for too long, they completely scatter.
"So, in order to capture these souls, our Soul Hall specially built an underground world. First, it preserves souls better. Second, it prevents them from escaping."
"Then you're a truly useless hall master, having opened only four levels. You're even worse than the other branch halls." Ye Qianqian shook her head with a laugh.
"Hmph, this is only the first level. Yun Lan Ancestor, please." Wang Ba angrily led Ye Qianqian and the others down into the first underground level.
The moment they descended, a dark, foggy, and gloomy scene appeared before them. Countless resentful spirits and dead souls let out shrill, bone-chilling howls, carrying waves of cold that made one shudder.
Ye Qianqian suddenly saw several groups of Soul Hall lackeys in black robes within the underground space. Under the direction of several Soul Hall stewards, they drove a group of dull-eyed soul bodies into a sea of flames, where the souls were scorched into shrill cries.
Some of the soul bodies naturally refused to become lambs waiting for slaughter. They fought back, but could not withstand a single whip from a Soul Hall steward.
A single blow reduced them by thirty percent. With one lash of the black whip, the soul bodies shrank by a third, and even their intelligence suddenly diminished.
Cold sweat broke out on Na Lan Yan Ran and Qing Lin's foreheads, while Mo Youyou had already been frightened limp on the ground.
Their first reaction was that Ye Qianqian had tricked them.
How was this some kind of entertainment? It was practically a living hell!
Wang Ba laughed. "This is the first level of our Soul Hall's Blazing Fire Space. Its purpose is to burn all these low-level souls down into a trace of Soul Origin."
Ye Qianqian swallowed. She had indeed been startled. Based on what she had just observed, these scorched soul bodies had probably been at least Dou Zhe experts when alive, yet the Soul Hall called them low-level souls and processed them into Soul Origin. It really was a black-market workshop.
The group followed Wang Ba down into the second level in fear and trepidation, only to be even more horrified.
Quite a few soul bodies were suspended in midair by black chains. No one knew how long they had been hanging there.
Several large Soul Hall brutes tugged on the chains, pulling a soul body over. Then they impaled it on a trident and tossed it into the boiling oil before them to fry and cook.
The soul bodies struggled desperately, trying to crawl out of the oil, only to be pushed back in with the tridents. The sight was utterly horrifying.
Wang Ba continued, "Most of these souls were Dou Shi experts when alive, and their soul power had reached the Mortal Realm. If we used flames to burn out their Soul Origin, the effect would be extremely slow. So we use the Soul Hall's specially made Spirit Transformation Oil to dissolve the outer shell of the soul body. Only then can we extract a small amount of Origin Power."
"Heh, your Soul Hall is not only despicable and shameless in its conduct, you're also quite experienced when it comes to processing souls!" Ye Qianqian could not help but sneer.
"Heh heh heh, thank you for the praise, Yun Lan Ancestor. My Soul Hall has stood on the Dou Qi Continent for a thousand years. Setting everything else aside, when it comes to processing souls alone, none of the continent's major forces can compare."
Wang Ba completely ignored the sarcasm in Ye Qianqian's words. At that moment, he was like an excellent tour guide, or a professional commentator, constantly explaining all kinds of technical terms to the girls.
"Yun Lan Ancestor, this is the third level of our Soul Hall. Most of the souls locked inside belonged to Da Dou Shi experts when alive. Of course, in order to collect these precious soul bodies, our Northwestern branch has had to travel far and wide."
The third level was the Blade Mountain World. Many Soul Hall members stood before enormous guillotine blades three meters tall and five meters wide. The long blades radiated waves of black baleful energy, making them terrifying as they lay across the area.
Many soul bodies struggled incessantly. After the Soul Hall personnel joined forces to throw them onto the blades, the guillotines suddenly began to operate and hacked down viciously.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!
"Ah!"
The moment those souls touched the black blades, their soul bodies rapidly melted away as they let out loud cries of agony.
Their soul bodies were cleaved apart in an instant, and a fist-sized glowing orb drifted out from within.
The Soul Hall personnel worked like assembly-line laborers. Afraid that the soul orbs would rapidly dissipate, they hurriedly sealed them inside special black containers before searching for the next soul body.
"Ancestor, Qing Lin and Mo Youyou have been frightened unconscious."
Ye Qianqian turned around and saw Na Lan Yan Ran crouched on the ground, supporting the two girls with both hands. She sighed. The Soul Hall really was disgusting.
Wang Ba raised his brows and asked, "Yun Lan Ancestor, do you still want to keep looking?"
Ye Qianqian said to Na Lan Yan Ran, "Stay here and look after the two of them. We'll leave this place shortly."
Na Lan Yan Ran nodded. "All right, but please hurry, Ancestor. I don'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 Soul Hall.
Strangely enough, there were no cries from dead souls or resentful spirits here, nor was there a single Soul Hall member. It was a pure world—white, warm, and comfortable, almost like heaven.
Hundreds of clusters of white Soul Origin floated overhead. Occasionally, when they gathered together, they bloomed with dazzling radiance.
Ye Qianqian reached out and drew over a light orb the size of a rice bowl. After carefully sensing the soul power within it, she suddenly paled and asked, "How many people's Soul Origins are needed to make one of these?"
Wang Ba laughed loudly. "If they're made from Dou Zhe souls, over a thousand are needed. If they're made from Dou Shi souls, a hundred or so are enough. As for Da Dou Shi experts, at most a few dozen are needed. As for the souls of Dou Ling to Dou Zong experts, we can't bear to extract their Origin Power yet. Those who obey become dogs of my Soul Hall. Those who refuse... heh, there aren't any who refuse anymore."
"Over a thousand Dou Zhe souls. Your Soul Hall is truly ruthless, harming so many people." Ye Qianqian's brows were filled with anger.
To create these Soul Origins, the Soul Hall truly stopped at nothing. Even a small Northwestern branch was already like this. What, then, were all the other branch halls across the Dou Qi Continent like?
Wang Ba rubbed the tip of his nose. "Why get angry, Yun Lan Ancestor? There are countless Dou Zhe across the world, but most of them merely have the fate of ants to be trampled beneath others' feet.
"Our Soul Hall is merely freeing them from their suffering and sending them to the afterlife early. But since you care so much about the world, you can always offer up your own soul. It would be enough to cover my Northwestern branch's quotas for three or four years."
Ye Qianqian frowned. "What do you mean?"
Wang Ba gave a sinister smile. "Why do you think this hall master foolishly told you so many secrets of the Soul Hall? Because you are about to become one of these Soul Origins yourself."
In an instant, Wang Ba rapidly formed seals with both hands. The surrounding space suddenly became as bright as broad daylight, dazzling enough to make it impossible to open one's eyes.
When the light faded, rows of black-and-white array markings appeared on the ground. They formed a powerful soul pressure that struck directly at the depths of the mind.
The array used the Soul Origins above as energy and continuously pressed down on Ye Qianqian, making it impossible for her to move even one step.
Wang Ba threw back his head and laughed wildly. "This array uses the power of the Soul Origins above as its source, continuously providing energy to the formation. Even a five-star Dou Zun would fall here, let alone you.
"Originally, if you had fought me normally, I would have been somewhat afraid of you. But you were too arrogant and foolishly followed me to the lowest level. Today, you can die here!"
Before you continue