Corpses and Fear

Corpses, nothing but corpses. The cave was filled with naked female bodies. At a glance, there were at least several thousand of them, densely stacked together in a way that made one's scalp tingle.

This was the scene that greeted Gu Yuena as she entered the cave.

"This is truly..."

Gu Yuena could no longer find the words to describe the scene before her.

As the Sovereign of Soul Beasts, Gu Yuena was no stranger to death. Every time the Star Dou Forest launched a beast tide, the number of humans who died as a result was several times the number of corpses in this cave.

But those were deaths scattered at random, nowhere near as shocking as these thousands of bodies piled together in such a dense mass.

This situation reminded Gu Yuena of ten thousand years ago, when the Xuantian Sect was wreaking havoc on the continent. The soul beasts in the Star Dou Forest that died by the clan were also piled up in this same dense, horrific manner.

The difference was that, ten thousand years ago, one could see from the twisted expressions on the corpses of the soul beasts that they had died filled with immense resentment.

Yet, the female corpses in this cave all wore eerie smiles. The reason they were eerie was that these smiles were completely manic, and seeing such expressions on corpses was unsettling no matter how one looked at it.

The fact that thousands of corpses all wore the exact same smile made it even more bizarre.

Taking a slow, deep breath, Gu Yuena retreated from the cave. If she had only been interested in the connection between the Haotian Sect and the Xuantian Sect moments ago, she now felt a genuine urge to kill; she only regretted not having slaughtered more members of the Haotian Sect earlier.

Outside the cave, Qian Ningshuang felt the same way, regretting only that she hadn't killed more of those Haotian Sect scumbags.

In her past life, when Qian Ningshuang read the original work, she didn't have a clear concept of the Evil Soul Masters described in the later parts of the Douluo series. She only knew they were a group of evil people, but she lacked a deep understanding of just how evil they were.

After arriving on the Douluo Continent, she had researched them carefully. Evil Soul Masters were things that existed only in legends; nowadays, the continent at most had groups that could be considered criminal soul masters, and she had never truly seen one.

Now, she had seen them.

Tragic and inhumane? Perhaps. Qian Ningshuang no longer wanted to look at the scene inside the cave, and she didn't need any more words to make up her mind.

Opening her eyes, Qian Ningshuang calmed her emotions and looked toward the cave.

"Your enemies have been brought to justice. May your souls find release."

"I hope my humble prayer can bring you peace soon."

Immediately after, Qian Ningshuang turned her gaze toward Qian Chongling and Gu Yuena.

"Ancestor, did you find out anything?"

Facing such a group of Evil Soul Masters, Qian Ningshuang now only wanted to send them all to hell.

"Not yet, but it is certain that this so-called Haotian Sect has some connection to the Xuantian Sect from ten thousand years ago."

Qian Chongling did not speak; it was Gu Yuena who answered Qian Ningshuang.

"Xuantian Sect? How did this Evil Soul Master sect get involved again?"

Qian Ningshuang looked at Gu Yuena with confusion. When Qian Chongling had called Gu Yuena away earlier, he hadn't mentioned that he was asking about the Xuantian Sect.

"I don't know the specifics of how this Haotian Sect is linked to the Xuantian Sect, but there is definitely a connection."

"I'll go along and see as well."

Qian Ningshuang truly hadn't expected this. Because there were too many overlapping factors between the Xuantian Sect and Tang San, she had asked about it casually, thinking this ten-thousand-year-old Evil Soul Master sect was at most related to Tang San. She never imagined the Haotian Sect would be involved too.

"Ancestor?"

Qian Ningshuang looked at Qian Chongling, who was still wearing a gloomy expression.

"Let's go. Today, I truly want to see why this long-destroyed Xuantian Sect has managed to rear its head again after ten thousand years."

"Yin Long, take some men and move these women out. Then, dress them. Once we return to Wuhun Hall, have someone investigate where they all came from."

After giving the order to the Third Elder, Yin Long, Qian Chongling turned and left the cave with the two girls.

Yin Long, Qing Yu, and Qian Jun exchanged glances and offered bitter smiles.

They didn't know what the Xuantian Sect was, and they had never seen Evil Soul Masters, having only read about them in the records of Wuhun Hall. Yet, this Haotian Sect, which had once contended with Wuhun Hall and even forced Wuhun Hall to retreat at one point, turned out to be an Evil Soul Master sect—the very same Evil Soul Masters that had been extinct for nearly three or four thousand years!

They could imagine how furious Qian Chongling would be once they returned to Wuhun City, and Qian Daoliu, who had always advocated for retreat, would likely not fare well either.

After all, Qian Chongling's life records existed within Wuhun Hall, and from those records, one could see just how much this ancestor hated and despised Evil Soul Masters.

"Sigh, let's get to work."

With a sigh, Yin Long took the lead and entered the cave again. However, after only a few steps, Yin Long stopped.

"What's wrong, Third Brother?" Qing Yu, who was following behind Yin Long, asked.

Yin Long didn't speak, silently staring at the faces of the women in the cave.

Seeing that Yin Long remained silent, Qing Yu stepped forward to stand beside him, and then, he too fell silent.

The eerie smiles on the women's faces were gone; their lips were now slightly upturned, as if they had truly found release.

"Sigh, may your souls find peace soon."

This change could not frighten Super Douluos like Yin Long and Qing Yu; they understood well that people possessed souls.

They simply followed Qian Ningshuang's example and offered a prayer, hoping they would find peace soon.

As for the seven Title Douluos of the Haotian Sect, ever since Qian Chongling left, they had tried several times to find an opportunity to commit suicide, but they were stopped by the soul masters of Wuhun Hall each time. The result was that not only did their suicide attempts fail, but their faces were also left with bruises from being beaten.

Why did they want to commit suicide? They knew very well what the Xuantian Sect was, what Evil Soul Masters were, and they knew even better what was in the back cave—it was the evil they had committed with their own hands.

It would have been fine if they hadn't been discovered by outsiders, and they were confident they wouldn't be; after all, that was just a batch they hadn't had time to dispose of. If Wuhun Hall hadn't suddenly attacked, all traces would have been wiped clean in a few days at most.

But now, the secret that the Haotian Sect had hidden for nearly a thousand years had been discovered, and by Wuhun Hall of all people!

They knew very well why Wuhun Hall was founded; they were also well aware that throughout the past ages, Wuhun Hall had always considered the eradication of Evil Soul Masters to be their sacred duty.

They could imagine that, given Wuhun Hall's historical hatred for Evil Soul Masters, their future would likely be worse than death.

Of course, this was not the most terrifying part. The most terrifying thing was that if the Haotian Sect were truly just an ordinary sect, Wuhun Hall would have simply wiped them out, and that would have been the end of it, with no need to broadcast anything across the continent.

After all, wiping out an entire sect did not sound good when spoken of, but the problem was that the Haotian Sect was no normal sect—they were Evil Soul Masters.

Wuhun Hall would certainly use the deeds of the Haotian Sect to broadcast widely across the continent, using it as a warning to all soul masters, big and small, not to dabble with Evil Soul Masters.

And once it reached that point, the reputation of the Haotian Sect would be finished, even though they hadn't had much of a good reputation to begin with.

But at least after closing the sect, they had realized the importance of reputation and had been quietly cultivating an image of enduring humiliation for the sake of a greater goal and being peerless under heaven, preparing for the day they would reopen their gates.

But now, all of that was gone. In the future, whenever people on the continent mentioned the Haotian Sect, it would only be as the Evil Soul Master sect that everyone despised—the Haotian Sect.

Those soul masters or sects that had previously maintained some sort of relationship with them would also be eager to distance themselves.

And all of this would cause the hope of the Haotian Sect who was active outside—Tang Hao—to become someone everyone wanted to beat up from now on.

Yes, these Haotian Sect elders had always harbored resentment toward Tang Hao for the closing of the sect back then, but they also understood in their hearts that as a Title Douluo possessing a hundred-thousand-year soul ring and someone once valued by the Limit Douluo Tang Chen, Tang Hao was the hope for the future revival of the Haotian Sect.

Now, let alone revival, Tang Hao would only become a literal rat, a true Evil Soul Master hiding here and there.

Although Tang Hao had never used the methods of an Evil Soul Master, nor had he used an Evil Soul Master's way to increase his soul power, who would care about that?

Therefore, rather than watching the once-powerful Haotian Sect truly sink into ruin, it would be better to die sooner. That way, at least they wouldn't have to see it, right?

Unfortunately, Wuhun Hall would not give them that chance.