A Dead End, Nothing More

"Since you've already become soul bodies, letting you find release is a good choice."

With a flick of Lin Mu's finger, azure Chaos Flame gathered and scattered the surrounding soul bodies. None of them resisted. Compared to the great terror they would face if captured by the Soul Hall, dispersing like this was clearly an ending they found easier to accept.

"Soul Hall, since you took the initiative to come and kill me, then from now on, I'll kill every Soul Hall member I see."

Above the Misty Cloud Sect, inside a Secret Chamber.

"Hm?"

A figure surrounded by strange black-purple energy let out a soft cry of surprise. "He was actually killed? The Jia Ma Empire actually has such a hidden expert?"

"What happened, Protector Wu?" An elderly man in white spoke from not far away. The aura around him was extremely unstable, but if a Dou Emperor were present, they would still recognize that the man before them was a Dou Zong.

"Just now, one of my subordinates was killed. It happened in the Jia Ma Empire, and his strength had already reached the level of an eight-star Dou Emperor."

Protector Wu spoke in a low voice.

"Oh? Could Jia Xing Tian of the imperial family have acted? Within the Jia Ma Empire, he is the only nine-star Dou Emperor." The white-robed elder sneered.

"No matter what, the soul bodies we went to such lengths to capture were ruined because of that man. Heh heh, but even if a member of the Soul Hall dies, he will leave an extremely difficult-to-detect aura on the one who killed him."

Protector Wu laughed sinisterly. "Sect Master Yun Shan, deal with that man for me."

"Although I, Yun Shan, agreed to cooperate with you, my strength has yet to fully stabilize. I cannot act."

Yun Shan turned his back to Protector Wu and waved a hand at him.

"Oh? So you intend to go against the terms of our cooperation? Yun Shan, who do you think you are? A mere Misty Cloud Sect can be destroyed by the Soul Hall with a wave of our hand. By then, not only will your Misty Cloud Sect be annihilated, but your Dou Zong strength will vanish completely as well."

Protector Wu descended beside Yun Shan with a grim expression. Yun Shan gave a cold snort. "Fine. As you wish."

"Heh heh..."

"The Soul Hall member from before wasn't Protector Wu of the Misty Cloud Sect, but those two are somewhat connected."

Lin Mu appeared within the Jia Ma Empire.

Having arrived here, he could already see the Misty Cloud Sect in the sky ahead. From this distance, it truly looked like an immortal palace, a place longed for by countless people.

"What a beautiful place. I really want to throw a Kun Peng Method at it."

Lin Mu landed in the imperial capital of the Jia Ma Empire. Though night had already fallen, the streets remained immensely lively, filled with bustling voices, laughter, and the cries of various street vendors.

Lin Mu strolled around the streets casually. Before long, he was holding a large pile of delicious food, complete in color, aroma, and taste. In any case, he still had plenty of Gold Coins in his Na Ring—more than enough for the time being.

Thinking of where the Na Ring in his hand and the Gold Coins within it had come from, Lin Mu could not help but smile. "I wonder how Xiao Yi Xian is doing now. With her current strength, she probably won't encounter any danger."

"I just hope she won't be deceived by the Soul Hall again."

Lin Mu leaped up and found a quiet place nearby. Dou Qi shone from his hand, seemingly condensing into one unique inscription after another.

"Let's test the power of a Spirit Engraver. If I can learn this Poison Array soon, it might be useful to me as well. It's just that I have far too few array diagrams, and I have no idea where to obtain more."

Lin Mu sighed.

The Dou Qi within his body circled around him like swimming fish. As Lin Mu's Soul Power emerged, all the condensed Dou Qi transformed into inscriptions and descended before him.

Lin Mu frowned. Condensing inscriptions was not difficult, but linking them together and then engraving them into an array was exceedingly hard!

"It really is difficult. If one's Soul Power isn't strong enough, I'm afraid they can't even complete this first step."

With a movement of Lin Mu's finger, the black-and-white inscriptions before him flickered faintly. Two inscriptions gradually linked together, and a special line appeared between them.

At the point where the inscriptions connected, Lin Mu sensed a special energy. It differed from ordinary Dou Qi release, more refined, as though Dou Qi had been released through the inscriptions. Compared with simply controlling Dou Qi, it held far greater potential for improvement.

Boom!

A low explosion rang out, and the two inscriptions before him suddenly dispersed.

All his efforts had come to nothing. Lin Mu sighed softly.

It truly was not easy.

However, he was not discouraged. There was still some time before Xiao Yi Xian's Calamity Poison Body fully erupted, and Lin Mu was confident that he could completely master the Poison Array Method before then.

Lin Mu withdrew his Dou Qi, turned around, and landed back on the street.

"There really is quite a lot of good food in the Jia Ma Empire. Since it took effort to come here, I should eat more."

Lin Mu smiled faintly.

A moment later, Lin Mu was eating a roasted chicken drumstick when a flash of azure light suddenly passed through the depths of his eyes. Lightning appeared beneath his feet, and in the next instant, his figure had vanished from the street.

At the same time, in the sky.

Lightning swirled around Lin Mu's feet, while black-and-white wings spread behind his back. He suddenly shot forward a thousand meters.

Lin Mu then looked around and sneered. "Are you coming out yourself, or should I drag you out?"

As soon as Lin Mu finished speaking, the space ahead suddenly twisted. Then the space shattered, and a figure in a black robe slowly stepped out.

"I never expected that the Jia Ma Empire truly had an expert like you. Still, I am curious—how did you, with the strength of a four-star Dou Emperor, defeat an eight-star Dou Emperor?"

It was an aged voice.

Lin Mu looked at the black-robed man. The other party seemed to possess the strength of a one-star Dou Zong, though it was somewhat unsteady. He had likely only recently broken through and had not yet had time to stabilize his strength completely.

"I dare fight even a Dou Zong, let alone an eight-star Dou Emperor."

Lin Mu smiled. "As for you, since you wanted to fight me, you could have come out directly. Why hide your head and show your tail? Are you too ugly to face people?"

"You sharp-tongued brat. There is no grudge between us, but unfortunately, you provoked someone you should not have."

The black-robed man shook his head. For someone of Lin Mu's age to possess Dou Emperor strength, he would indeed have been worth recruiting if possible.

"Relying on external means to raise your strength is merely a dead end. Why hide it, Sect Master Yun Shan?" Chaos Flame burned in Lin Mu's eyes as he looked at Yun Shan with a smile.