For the past few days, he hadn't found any way to escape. He was watched even when he went to relieve himself.
What a headache!
Was he really going to be reincarnated?
But what would happen to Wang Xin'er after he reincarnated? He'd lose his memories for three years, after all.
What a dilemma...
After a few days, everyone could no longer bear the hunger and ate the food the Spirit Saint Elder had brought them. Their faces were now pale and bloodless, and they looked weak.
Wang Xin'er looked much better, but two days' worth of food was still too little. Today, she had eaten a steamed bun.
He turned to look at the listless little girl. Zheng Li felt irritated, though the carriage was perfectly quiet.
Suddenly, the carriage began to jolt.
Zheng Li and the others weren't surprised. This had happened several times already.
They assumed the road was simply rough.
They had no idea that outside, the Spirit Saint Elder was suspending the carriage by iron cables and flying with it just above the ground...
To a Spirit Saint, this little bit of weight was negligible.
The other four followed along the ground.
They had entered a mountain range.
Why hadn't he let Zheng Li and the others out to walk?
Just ask Zheng Li and the others, whom he had poisoned, whether they had the strength to walk. Letting them out would only waste time.
The mountain range was remote. Even though the carriage was conspicuous, no one would spot it here.
The Spirit Saint Elder had wanted to do this for a long time. The carriage was simply too slow, and he wanted to get the civilian geniuses inside back to the Holy Cult as soon as possible and collect his reward.
"Hm? What's that?"
The Spirit Saint Elder, who had been concentrating on flying, suddenly noticed a patch of light appear in the forest some distance away.
"Could this old man have stumbled upon a fortuitous encounter? Is that glow coming from a rare treasure that's just matured?"
Xiao Nai: Pretty good...
"Am I the chosen one?"
The Spirit Saint Elder asked aloud, but his tone sounded more like he was affirming it to himself.
In that instant, memories of the past two years flashed through his mind.
Two years ago, he was seventy-three years old and no more than an ordinary Soul Ancestor.
When he was young, he had a beautiful wife, but one day she ran off with the Soul King next door. Back then, he had only been a Soul Grandmaster.
Heartbroken, he stopped believing in love. He never remarried and devoted himself entirely to cultivation...
He hated geniuses, because the Soul King next door was one of those people called a genius. He wasn't much older than the Spirit Saint Elder, yet he had already become a Soul King.
And despite cultivating until old age, the Spirit Saint Elder had only reached the Soul Ancestor rank.
His talent was limited. He hadn't even broken through the Soul King bottleneck before his potential was exhausted.
One day, he got into a dispute with a noble on the street. He naturally lost, and the noble was about to take him away when two black-robed men appeared and carried him off instead.
Afterward, they told him that his Martial Soul had a hidden talent. Once it was awakened, he would gain new potential—and might even reach the Titled Douluo rank.
Thinking of his miserable, unfulfilling life, he followed the two black-robed men without a second thought.
Even though he knew perfectly well that they weren't good people.
Later, he took part in a ritual called "Spirit Ascension" and became a Saint Disciple of the Holy Cult.
The talent he awakened let him cultivate by absorbing human blood through his Martial Soul. That was when he realized: Wasn't this what an Evil Soul Master did? But there was no turning back now.
Thanks to that talent, he had successfully become a Spirit Saint a few months ago. He had also risen in rank to Holy Spirit, surpassing even the two Soul Kings who had brought him into the cult.
His mindset had gradually become twisted and inflated, and he thought himself extraordinary...
Last month, an elder assigned him a mission.
The Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament was about to begin. Shrek Academy recruited students during its annual break, as did many other academies.
The elder wanted him to recruit capable followers for the Holy Cult and bring in fresh blood. He was to recruit as many as he could before the tournament began. Once he succeeded, he would become an elder and receive a reward that could quickly raise him to the Soul Douluo rank.
Recruit them? He called it kidnapping. That was a rather polite way to put it...
Why had he been sent? Because he was originally from the Star Luo Empire. That was all—he knew the place.
The Holy Cult seemed to have its main base of operations in the Sun Moon Empire, with few branches in the other three empires. The branch he belonged to was an important one in the Sun Moon Empire.
Unfortunately, something had gone wrong.
There was still plenty of time before the tournament began, but someone had caught wind of their activities. He had no choice but to leave Xingluo City and head for another city.
Then another mishap occurred. They had captured Wang Xin'er—or rather, Wang Xin'er had discovered them.
He knew a little about Wang Xin'er's identity.
That was a problem, naturally. He thought it over and realized that whether he captured Wang Xin'er or let her go, he might end up dead. So he drank a jug of wine and captured her.
Afterward, he decided to leave at once and stop lingering in the three empires that had once made up the Douluo Continent.
They had been extremely cautious the whole way. At last, they had entered the Sun Moon Empire from the Heaven Dou Empire.
Of course, caution was still necessary, so he had chosen a strange route.
They were relatively safe. Once they crossed this mountain range, they would practically be at the branch where he was based.
At that thought, greed shone in the Spirit Saint Elder's eyes as he stared toward the source of the glow.
He immediately untied the iron cables around his waist. The carriage crashed to the ground with a thud.
"Wait here for me. I'll be back shortly."
With that, the Spirit Saint Elder flew toward the glow.
The four men on the ground stood around the carriage, their expressions calm.
Inside, Zheng Li and the others only felt the jolt. They had to admit, the carriage did a decent job absorbing shocks.
But then, everything changed.
The Spirit Saint Elder's expression shifted as he flew toward the glow, and he grew wary.
In his field of vision, a tide of golden and silver light surged from the distant woods. Though it was daytime, the glow was still dazzling, as if it meant to rival the sun.
The Spirit Saint Elder immediately released his Martial Soul and Soul Rings. His Martial Soul was a blade, a ghastly white blade that looked like bone and was wreathed in blood-red flames.
"What the hell is this? Wasn't it supposed to be a rare treasure?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the golden and silver light engulfed him, then the other four and the carriage.
It seemed to sense that the carriage was in the way. The golden and silver light annihilated it, leaving not even a speck of ash.
The light continued on, engulfing Zheng Li and the others.
Everyone panicked.
Zheng Li looked at the light covering him. "??"
"Zheng Li, what is this?" Wang Xin'er asked, puzzled. "It's pretty. Is it an enemy's trick?"
"Probably not. Look at those four. They're covered in the same light." Zheng Li shook his head and glanced at the four Holy Cult followers standing around the carriage.
"Hm? Oh, you're right," Wang Xin'er said, looking over. "Did someone come to save us?"
Some of the others seemed to think so too.
"Doesn't look like it."
Zheng Li's eyes flickered.
"System, what kind of power is this?"
Just as Zheng Li asked the question with his mind, the golden and silver light exerted a pull on them and shot them straight into the sky.
"Ahhh..." Wang Xin'er was startled and screamed.
The others weren't doing much better.
"Ding! Congratulations, host! You've hit the jackpot! This is the guiding light of the Valley of Love and Emotion!"
Zheng Li's eyes widened at once. "The Valley of Love and Emotion?!"
"Holy crap! Isn't the Valley of Love and Emotion in the mountains west of Sun Moon City, the capital of the Sun Moon Empire?"
Sun Moon City was also known as Ming Capital.
"That's right. You have a pretty good memory, host. This is West Mountain in Sun Moon City!"
Zheng Li: "...Damn!"
He felt like cursing up a storm.
Damn it, Spirit Saint Elder, you sure moved fast! He'd guessed they might be taken to the Sun Moon Empire, but who knew he'd get such a huge surprise?
And what kind of route had the old man taken?
Why had he come to West Mountain? Unbelievable!
Besides, didn't the Valley of Love and Emotion need a "sacrifice" to activate?
"System, stop congratulating me about things like this. How is this hitting the jackpot?"
"Ding! Host, how is it not? If you pass the trial, your Soul Power Level could increase, or the age of your Soul Rings could improve. Isn't that a grand prize?"
Zheng Li: "That's true, I guess..."
He wasn't afraid of anything, so why was he panicking so much?
At that moment, Xiao Nai's eyes in the Sea of Consciousness turned wistful.
Because Zheng Li had given Xiao Nai certain permissions through the system's settings, she could hear his conversations with the system.
"The Valley of Love and Emotion... I think it's pretty good..."
"Xiao Li, do your best..."
"..." Zheng Li was speechless.
The golden and silver light pulled them along at incredible speed. Before long, Zheng Li saw a vast lake nestled among the surrounding mountains, its water so clear he could see the bottom. Strangely, the lake was golden and silver.
A golden sun hung over the center of the lake, radiating brilliant golden light. A silver moon floated beside it, giving off the silver glow.
"Everyone, no matter what happens, tell the truth. Otherwise, your lives may be in danger," Zheng Li called out as a warning. He wasn't a cold-hearted person.
Wang Xin'er asked loudly, confused. "Why?"
"Why so many questions? If you don't want to die, do as I say."
There was no time to explain. As soon as he finished speaking, they were pulled to the center of the lake, where the light bursting from the golden sun and silver moon swallowed them up.
Zheng Li's consciousness briefly faded.
What were you doing when you were seven?
An hour earlier.
In the center of West Mountain in Sun Moon City, Sun Moon Empire, a huge valley stretched over ten miles across, encircled by mountains. An ordinary person would never find it.
The valley was almost perfectly round.
It sloped down into a semicircle, filled with crystal-clear water.
On a mountain peak near the valley, two figures descended from the sky.
"Is this the place?"
One of the figures spoke. He was powerfully built, with ordinary features and a resolute air. His skin was dark, and he wore luxurious clothes.
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