Right and Wrong, Good and Evil

Wu Xuan picked up a pastry, put it into his mouth, and slowly headed toward the City Lord's residence. He wanted to see what methods that Evil Soul Master had used to murder the City Lord's entire household, and whether they were any crueler than what had been done to the dead villagers.

Outside the City Lord's residence, Wu Xuan smelled an intensely strong stench of blood from far away. As he gradually drew nearer, three neat rows of city guards came into view outside the gates. Every guard wore heavy iron armor and held a spear, standing ramrod straight as they guarded the entrance. Their expressions were all extremely solemn.

Yet no matter how tight the defenses were, ordinary people could not stop a Soul Master.

Before long, Wu Xuan climbed over the wall of the simply decorated City Lord's residence, his face livid.

The horrific sight within the City Lord's residence was several times worse than the village he had seen earlier. Severed limbs, scattered organs, and bloodstains covered the ground.

Everyone had died horribly. Not even the children had been spared. Including the City Lord, every head had been severed, while even their limbs had been twisted or broken. It was obvious that this had been done for the sake of torture.

"Such an honest City Lord who cared for his people, and he could still bring himself to slaughter an entire family." Wu Xuan clenched his fists until they crackled and headed straight for the northern part of the city.

"Tian Meng! Wake up. It's time to work." Wu Xuan instructed the slumbering Tian Meng within his Sea of Consciousness.

"Little Wu Xuan, what is it?" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm asked, opening his bleary eyes.

"Tian Meng, help me locate any Soul Master around Soul King rank whose Soul Power fluctuations are in the northern part of the city," Wu Xuan ordered.

"Easy! Leave it to me!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm nodded, spreading his Spiritual Power throughout the entire northern district.

"Found him! There's a rather unstable aura inside an abandoned residence to the northwest." In only a moment, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm spoke with some pride.

"Good. Thanks." Wu Xuan rolled his neck and headed straight for the abandoned residence.

At that moment, inside a dilapidated house, a pale, gaunt man laughed maniacally. Before him hung a corpse so mutilated it barely looked human.

The corpse was drenched in blood and tortured beyond recognition. There was not a single intact patch anywhere on its body.

After his crazed laughter subsided, a momentary look of confusion, sorrow, fear, and other complex emotions appeared in the man's eyes.

Suddenly, faint footsteps sounded outside the dilapidated house. The man's expression stiffened sharply, then returned to its earlier coldness.

The gaunt man extended a shriveled, withered hand from beneath his loose black robe. There was not a trace of color in that palm.

Buzz!

An eerie purplish-red glow abruptly appeared in the man's hand. The moment it lit up, the gloomy chill within the courtyard grew several times stronger.

The gaunt man casually fired the purplish-red light at the mangled corpse. With a series of crackling sounds, the corpse began to melt away like ice.

Just as the corpse was about to fully dissolve, Wu Xuan kicked the battered gate flying and strode inside with an icy expression.

As the gaunt man looked at Wu Xuan's fierce bearing, a flicker of emotion finally surfaced in his cold, unfeeling eyes.

Wu Xuan silently watched the man in the courtyard. He wore an exceptionally loose black robe, and the exposed half of his face was deathly pale, completely devoid of blood. An unconcealable evil aura rushed at him.

Neither spoke upon meeting. Wu Xuan curled the fingers of his left hand into a claw, and silver radiance instantly burst from his palm. With a sweep of his left arm, a dazzling, ornate spear appeared in his hand.

When the light faded, the spear's blade was bright silver from end to end, taking up nearly half the length of the weapon. Then, a black and a red Soul Ring of utterly disproportionate size rose around Wu Xuan.

Wu Xuan stomped hard, his figure shooting toward the man before him.

The battle began at once!

"Hah!" Wu Xuan shouted, swinging his spear forward. The instant the spearhead pointed at the gaunt man, his entire body seemed to merge with the spear. The powerful aura that abruptly erupted from him was scarcely weaker than that of a general hardened by years of battlefield slaughter.

A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring? The gaunt man's expression changed completely. Four Soul Rings—white, yellow, yellow, and purple—rose from his body, and the fourth one lit up. The next instant, his skeletal hand transformed entirely into a bony claw, colliding head-on with Wu Xuan's thrust.

"Clang!"

The terrifyingly sharp force of the Soul Breaking Spear directly shredded the bony claw reaching for it. Wu Xuan moved with the spear, making no unnecessary motions. With a single return thrust, the spear blade pierced straight through the man's chest.

"Hmph!" Wu Xuan snorted coldly, pulled out the spear blade, and kicked the man in the abdomen.

Boom!

A massive impact, accompanied by a blast of air, sent dirt flying from the ground. The man was launched backward, spraying blood from his mouth before crashing headfirst into the wall.

Though one blow had left him grievously wounded and on the verge of death, Wu Xuan's fury did not diminish in the slightest. His fair, handsome face had become somewhat twisted with rage.

Nearly a thousand lives had been lost. Killing this man so easily was letting him off far too lightly.

The gaunt man's face was ashen, and it was clear that he would not survive. He forced himself upright with both hands and leaned against the wall, his cold gaze fixed on Wu Xuan's fair, handsome face. He did not beg for mercy. Instead, his tone was thick with mockery. "You're one of those bureaucrats and nobles too, aren't you?"

Wu Xuan neither nodded nor shook his head. He did not particularly want to answer the man's question. He swung the Soul Breaking Spear, aiming its blade at him once more.

Sensing the powerful aura emanating from Wu Xuan, the gaunt man did not try to flee. Instead, a look of relief appeared on his face.

Wu Xuan narrowed his eyes and stared at the man before him. Didn't Evil Soul Masters usually fight desperately or self-destruct once they knew they could not escape?

What was going on with this one?

"Even before you entered, I already knew I was no match for you. I also knew that after massacring several villages and towns and murdering the City Lord's entire family, I was destined to die a horrible death."

Another large mouthful of blood spilled from the gaunt man's lips. He laughed wildly. "But I don't regret it. If I had to do it again, I would still do the same. Two years ago, I was nothing but a useless Soul Master with a Soul Power Level of seventeen. By joining a soul hunting team and killing some low-level soul beasts in the soul beast forest, I could barely support my family. But now, I'm a Soul Ancestor. In just over a year, I became a Soul Ancestor! Hahaha!"

"Then you truly deserve to die!" Wu Xuan gritted his teeth and thrust his spear through one of the man's legs.

The man's body convulsed violently several times before he burst into mocking laughter again. His smile was exceedingly ugly, and it was clear that he had not laughed in a very long time.

"Cough, cough! I want to ask you a question. After hearing what I said, do you think I'm an irredeemable Evil Soul Master? Do you think I deserve to die?"

Wu Xuan no longer had any desire to continue speaking with the man. He was ready to send him to his death. Before that, he would use Soul Blast to shatter the man's soul and make him die in unbearable agony.

"Little Wu Xuan! Wait before making a move. From what that man said, I think there may be more to this matter. Let's hear him out," Ice Empress's voice suddenly came from within his Sea of Consciousness.

"That's right, that's right! I'm curious too!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm chimed in.

Wu Xuan's intense Spiritual Power fluctuations had naturally awakened the slumbering Ice Empress and Tian Meng. The man's relieved expression had naturally piqued their interest.

Hearing that, Wu Xuan's mouth twitched, and he nearly failed to keep his expression under control.