Thirty: Deceiving the Soul Hall

"Yun Lan Ancestor, you never imagined this, did you? Because of your arrogance and stupidity, you're going to die at my hands today!"

Ye Qianqian observed that the formation was extraordinarily profound. Using Soul Origin as its source, it continuously released soul pressure, leaving her utterly amazed.

If the Misty Cloud Sect also set up a formation like this, combining it with the Misty Cloud Sword Formation would be like adding wings to a tiger.

Seeing Wang Ba's confident, all-controlling appearance, she asked curiously, "Aren't you afraid that I'll call my senior sister over?"

Wang Ba sneered. "Of course I am. But this formation uses souls as its barrier and cuts off all transmission of information. Go ahead and scream to your heart's content. The more you scream, the more excited I'll get. Even if you scream until your throat breaks, no one will come to save you."

Ye Qianqian: "..."

"Once I torture you to death and take your soul, I'll flee the Central Continent headquarters. Perhaps after handing over the soul of a Dou Venerable, I'll even receive a reward!"

Wang Ba did not waste any more words. The seals formed by his hands suddenly changed. The hundreds of soul light clusters above his head seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, merging into the formation below. The formation once again erupted with rolling soul fluctuations. Standing within it, he pointed at Ye Qianqian.

The vast soul shockwave surged forth like towering waves, crashing over in layer upon layer without end.

This kind of soul attack differed from a Dou Qi attack. It was a method of killing an enemy invisibly. No matter how strong one's Dou Qi cultivation or how high one's realm was, no one could withstand the ravages of soul energy.

"Don't! Please let me go!" Ye Qianqian hugged her head with both hands and screamed in terror.

"Hahaha, die for this hall..."

"Ah!"

The gigantic soul waves crashed against the shore, covering Ye Qianqian. The entire space shook violently, and every soul within the Soul Hall was affected by the fluctuations, letting out shrill cries.

"Hmph, this is the fate of offending me, Wang Ba." Wang Ba closed his eyes, feeling extremely pleased with himself. Just then, however, he suddenly heard Ye Qianqian's voice beside his ear.

"Wow, what a terrifying soul attack!" Ye Qianqian said, still shaken.

Wang Ba's pupils shrank. "Impossible! How could you not be injured?"

He had been confident that the soul crushing just now would severely damage Ye Qianqian's soul. How could this be? She looked completely unharmed.

"Die for this hall!"

Wang Ba hurriedly activated the formation and sent another wave of attacks at Ye Qianqian.

"Ah, no! Please let me go!" Ye Qianqian wailed loudly again.

Boom!

This soul shockwave was even fiercer, twice as powerful as the previous one.

Yet Wang Ba was dumbfounded once more. Ye Qianqian was still standing there perfectly fine.

"What's going on?" Wang Ba unwillingly controlled the formation and launched attack after attack. Ye Qianqian continued to wail loudly and beg for mercy.

"Ah, help me!"

"It hurts so much!"

"Someone, please save me!"

"Ugh... I'm getting a little tired of shouting."

Ye Qianqian was like an improvisational actor. Cooperating with Wang Ba's attacks, she made all kinds of terrified expressions in the face of those enormous soul shockwaves.

She had eaten the Soul-Soul Fruit of the Four Emperors' Big Mom, so naturally she looked down on these soul shockwaves. Instead, the souls were like a shower, constantly nourishing her own soul and making her moan in comfort.

Wang Ba asked in disbelief, "You... how could you not have been injured?"

Ye Qianqian scratched her hair. "Because this kind of attack is useless against me."

"Then what was that pained expression you had just now about?"

"Uh..." Ye Qianqian smiled awkwardly. "You looked so serious about it that I couldn't bear to ruin your performance, so... I played along."

"Damn it!" Wang Ba's face turned green with rage. As if he had suffered a devastating blow, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of hot blood.

This fellow had actually been angered into vomiting blood by Ye the Great Deceiver.

At that moment, Wang Ba finally recalled the conversation between Princess Kaguya and Ye Qianqian on Misty Cloud Mountain.

Ye Qianqian was an old monster who had lived on the Dou Qi Continent six thousand years ago. Her original strength had long since reached beyond Dou Emperor, so she definitely possessed profound knowledge of soul techniques as well.

Ye Qianqian yawned and said, "Although this formation condensed from Soul Origin looks quite powerful, in my eyes, it's nothing special. Let me teach you how to play with souls!"

In an instant, the Soul-Soul Fruit's ability erupted. The vast amount of Soul Origin around them was summoned.

Ye Qianqian opened her small mouth, and the clusters of origin light were swallowed into it like a whale devouring the world.

"Ding!"

Congratulations, host. You have successfully advanced. You are currently at the Spirit Realm Soul level.

Congratulations, host. You have successfully advanced. You are currently at the Spirit Realm Soul Great Perfection level.

Congratulations, host. You have successfully advanced. You are currently at the Heaven Realm Soul level.

Congratulations, host. You have successfully advanced. You are currently at the Heaven Realm Soul Great Perfection level.

These soul light clusters originally possessed the ability to nourish souls. After Ye Qianqian swallowed them, her soul realm instantly began soaring.

This sight scared Wang Ba so badly that he wet his pants. Without needing to refine anything, she had advanced to Heaven Realm Soul Great Perfection in an instant. Such a method was utterly shocking.

"Ding!"

Congratulations, host. You have obtained 10,000 Shock Points from Wang Ba.

Ye Qianqian let out a satisfied belch. Seeing Wang Ba's terrified expression, she gave him an evil smile. "Little Wang Ba, are you scared now?"

The Soul-Soul Fruit's ability was extremely strange. It could strip away an enemy's soul and lifespan. The more frightened the enemy was, the more it could take.

She pointed at Wang Ba from a distance with her small hand, and the vast amount of soul and lifespan within his body was hooked out.

Wang Ba struggled to stabilize his soul power, but it was completely useless. In an instant, his face became incomparably aged, as if he had grown more than twenty years older.

"Give me back my soul and lifespan!" Wang Ba's eyes filled with blood, and he became abnormally violent. After drawing a black saber, he hacked at Ye Qianqian like a madman.

But how could he still be her opponent? Ye Qianqian casually swung one small hand and slapped Wang Ba across the face, sending him flying to the ground.

Wang Ba no longer had any strength to fight. After the Soul-Soul Fruit drained his lifespan, he had changed from a burly man in his thirties into a little old man in his fifties or sixties.

Ye Qianqian had intended to end his life, but she secretly began to consider the matter.

If I kill Wang Ba, it'll certainly feel good, but it will also attract the full attention of the Soul Hall in the Central Continent. By then, even with Princess Kaguya holding down the fort, we might not be able to withstand the Soul Hall's experts.

It would be better to find a way to brainwash this Wang Ba first and stabilize the Central Continent Soul Hall. Once my wings have fully grown, I won't have anything to fear.

After weighing the pros and cons, Ye Qianqian hurriedly put on an extremely shocked expression. Pointing at the saber in Wang Ba's hand, she asked, "Let me ask you this: where did you get this Zanpakuto?"

Wang Ba spat out a mouthful of blood and said furiously, "This is my Wang family's ancestral saber, the Nine Spirits Soul Devouring Blade! It isn't called a Zanpakuto!"

Ye Qianqian shook her head and spouted nonsense. "No, this saber is called a Zanpakuto. If it truly is your family's heirloom, then you must be Ichigo's descendant."

As she spoke, Ye Qianqian returned the soul and lifespan she had stripped from Wang Ba.

"What are you talking about?" Wang Ba's soul and lifespan suddenly returned, leaving him confused by Ye Qianqian's behavior.

"Have you ever tried watering this saber with the blood from your heart?" Ye Qianqian did not answer Wang Ba's question and instead pressed him further.

Wang Ba furrowed his brows, not understanding why she was asking this. Still, he shook his head.

"Water this saber with the blood from your heart right now. Hurry up, or I'll kill you this instant."

Upon hearing her harsh command, Wang Ba's expression was filled with unwillingness. But with his head beneath another's roof, he had no choice but to bow. He gritted his teeth and thrust the saber into his chest.

With a splurt, the saber pierced through his chest. Fresh blood flowed freely, staining the entire blade.

"System, exchange for Kurosaki Ichigo's Zanpakuto ability from the world of Bleach. First Release will do. Then change the shape of Wang Ba's saber."

"Ding!"

Congratulations, host. Exchange successful. 100,000 Shock Points consumed.

As Wang Ba thrust the long saber into his chest, a wondrous scene appeared.

After being stained with the blood from his heart, light began to flicker across the blade. In an instant, it transformed into another shape.

The blade became broader, while the hilt was wrapped in a strip of white cloth. It looked incomparably imposing. It was Zangetsu's second form, before its final release.

"This..." Wang Ba held Zangetsu, his face blank with confusion.

What in the world was going on?

"Hahahaha, it really is Ichigo's weapon!" Ye Qianqian burst into laughter. She snatched the Zanpakuto away and examined it repeatedly, her face revealing sorrow and longing as she gazed upon something that reminded her of an old friend.

In reality, she was secretly placing a miniature holographic projector on the Zanpakuto's hilt. It looked just like a precious gem.

"I never thought that descendant of that brat Ichigo would still be alive in this world. I was his close friend back then. How could I bear to kill his descendant?"

Ye Qianqian muttered to herself for a while before saying to Wang Ba, "For the sake of your being Ichigo's descendant, I won't kill you today. Take care of yourself."

She thrust the saber into the ground, shook her head and sighed repeatedly, then strode away.

Wang Ba could not understand a word Ye Qianqian had said, yet her words left him puzzled. Why had the Yun Lan Ancestor not killed him?

As soon as Ye Qianqian left the Soul Hall, Zhou Tong hurried into the underground fourth-level space. Seeing that the Soul Origin light clusters had vanished without a trace, he could not help letting out a sorrowful sigh.

"Hall Master, the Soul Origin has been taken by the Yun Lan Ancestor. What are we going to do now?"

Wang Ba struggled to his feet and said hatefully, "The report I just prepared must be sent to the Central Continent headquarters immediately. We have to ask headquarters to send people here."

Hearing this, Zhou Tong hurriedly stopped him. "You can't, Hall Master!"

"Why not?"

Zhou Tong said, "Once we report this, headquarters will indeed send people here, but all the Soul Origin that was supposed to be handed over is gone. If the higher-ups blame us, neither of us will survive. They might even extract our souls."

They both knew the Soul Hall's punishments. Those who failed had no way out. The Soul Hall dealt with useless people first, so they could not submit their report.

Wang Ba's heart trembled. "Then, according to Elder Zhou, what should we do?"

Zhou Tong offered a terrible suggestion. "Hall Master, we... should run!"

"Run? Heh heh, where can you run? The Soul Hall's forces are everywhere under heaven. Where could we possibly flee? My Wang family has served as slaves of the Soul Clan for generations. If I run, not only will I disgrace the Wang family, but what will happen if the Soul Clan takes out its anger on them?" Wang Ba shook his head bitterly.

At that moment, the Zanpakuto in Wang Ba's hand suddenly began to glow, and the entire fourth-level space underwent a tremendous change.

The phantom of a young man with short hair and dressed in a black robe appeared on the hilt. The man looked imposing, his eyes like a vast starry sky with sharp light flickering within them.

"Who... who are you?" Wang Ba and Zhou Tong were frightened out of their wits by the man's appearance.

The man laughed loudly. Ignoring Wang Ba's question, he said to himself, "I am Wang Qi Ichigo, an existence beyond Dou Emperor who was called the God of Death on the Dou Qi Continent six thousand years ago. My foolish descendant, if you are seeing this image I left behind, you must remember the words that follow, because they are the key to changing the future of my Wang clan."

"Ding!"

Congratulations, host. You have obtained 10,000 Shock Points from Wang Ba.