Cecilia smiled. "It's all right. The man I chose ought to be the best. It would be stranger if Chen Rong felt nothing for you."
Bai Xiaowen let out a small breath. If only Shu Yi had Cecilia's attitude. That would be so... boring.
Such were the simple, tedious pleasures of being a handsome man.
Cecilia returned to the matter at hand. "Even the Supreme Clarity Sect couldn't find the killer in this Heroic Tier quest. Are you confident?"
Bai Xiaowen smiled. "First, whether I complete the quest or not, accepting it has already given me a way into the Supreme Clarity Sect. That alone makes it worthwhile. There's no penalty for failure, so of course I had to take it."
After a pause, he continued, "As for completing it, I have some confidence. The murdered disciple, Zhou Wu—his soul was drawn into the Black Soul Stone... No, I should call it the Death God's Visage mask."
After Bai Xiaowen killed Nargol, the Stealth Incarnation of the Death God, the Black Soul Stone's functions had changed considerably.
One inconspicuous new function allowed it to absorb the souls of powerful people even if Bai Xiaowen had not killed them himself.
There was a limit to this method, of course: souls instinctively resisted the pull of the Death God's Visage.
Only souls belonging to people who had been weaker than Bai Xiaowen in life lacked the strength to resist.
Those who had been stronger than him could resist absorption, unless Bai Xiaowen had killed them himself.
Bai Xiaowen had full command of the Black Soul Stone's functions. By spending some Soul Essence, he could preserve the memories the deceased had formed in life.
It also helped that he had reached the scene soon after Zhou Wu's death. Given too much time, Zhou