After a long while.
Ling Yun raised a hand and took out the ancient beast-hide scroll he had seized from Elder Shadow Kill from his Sumeru Ring.
The ancient scroll trembled faintly in the night wind, making a soft rustling sound.
He spread it open. Beneath the moonlight, the course of Dragon Head Peak's spirit veins and the distribution of its restrictions were clear as if carved into it.
Those dense, fine lines resembled the meridians of a human body, outlining an ancient and mysterious formation. Beside the enormous abyssal pit circled in crimson cinnabar, a line of sharp, tiny words stood out especially clearly in the moonlight:
"The Soul Source is sealed here. The Dragon-Suppressing Key can break it; the Dragon Soul Mirror can as well. Whoever takes the Soul Source must resonate with the primordial power of the dragon race, or they will surely suffer the seal's backlash."
"This is the capital to ascend as the seventh councilor. The day it is obtained will be the day Ghost sheds the status of probationary councilor."
His gaze settled on the words "seventh councilor."
Blood Eye. The Longevity Realm cultivator who had possessed Shen Qiu, fought him to the death in Medicine King Valley, and was ultimately slain by him, had been the Shadow Council's seventh councilor.
And Elder Shadow Kill had come to retrieve the Dragon Vein Soul Essence under the orders of Blood Eye and Ghost Venerable.
Then—who was the sixth councilor? The fifth? The fourth? The third? And the chairman?
This colossal Shadow Council was, even now, no more than the tip of the iceberg to him.
He put away the ancient scroll, then took out the fragment of a black token he had found in Elder Shadow Kill's storage ring.
The fragment was irregularly shaped, roughly