Corpses and Fear

Corpses. Nothing but corpses. The cave was filled with naked female corpses. At a glance, there were at least several thousand of them, piled densely together in a sight that made one's scalp crawl.

This was the scene Gu Yuena saw upon entering the cave.

"It really is..."

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

As the Lord of Spirit Beasts, it was not as though Gu Yuena had never seen the dead. Whenever the Star Dou Forest launched a beast tide, the number of humans who died as a result was several times greater than the number of corpses in this cave.

But those deaths had been scattered and random. They were far less shocking than seeing thousands of corpses piled together so densely.

The sight reminded Gu Yuena of ten thousand years ago, when the Xuantian Sect had wreaked havoc across the continent. The Spirit Beasts in the Star Dou Forest whose entire clans had perished had also died in such dense masses.

The difference was that the Spirit Beast corpses from ten thousand years ago had worn such twisted expressions that one could tell they must have died harboring immense resentment.

Yet the female corpses in the cave all wore strange smiles. They were strange because every one of those faces bore a crazed grin, and such smiles looked all the more bizarre upon corpses.

And there were thousands of corpses, all wearing the same smile. That made it even more unnerving.

Taking a slow, deep breath, Gu Yuena withdrew from the cave. If she had merely been intrigued by the connection between the Clear Sky Sect and the Xuantian Sect before, she now genuinely wished to kill them. She only regretted not having slaughtered a few more members of the Clear Sky Sect earlier.

Qian Ningshuang outside the cave shared Gu Yuena's thoughts. She too regretted not killing a few more scum from the Clear Sky Sect.

When Qian Ningshuang had read the original novel in her previous life, she had not had a clear understanding of the Evil Soul Masters described in the later parts of Douluo. She had only known that they were a group of evil people, without deeply understanding exactly how evil they were.

After arriving on the Douluo Continent, she had also looked into them carefully. Evil Soul Masters had become little more than legends, and at most, there were now some groups that could be considered criminal Spirit Masters. She had never truly encountered one.

Now, she had.

An atrocity beyond all human endurance? Perhaps. Qian Ningshuang no longer wanted to look at the scene within the cave, nor did she need any words to make up her mind.

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

"Your enemies have already been executed. May your souls find release.

"I hope my humble prayers will allow you to rest in peace soon."

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

"Ancestor, did you get anything out of them?"

When faced with a group of Evil Soul Masters like this, Qian Ningshuang only wanted to send every last one of them to hell.

"Not yet, but one thing is certain: this so-called Clear Sky Sect is connected to the Xuantian Sect from ten thousand years ago."

Qian Chongling did not speak. Gu Yuena answered Qian Ningshuang instead.

"The Xuantian Sect? Why is that Evil Soul Master sect involved again?"

Qian Ningshuang looked at Gu Yuena in confusion. When Qian Chongling had called Gu Yuena away earlier, he had not said he was asking about the Xuantian Sect.

"We still don't know exactly how this Clear Sky Sect became involved with the Xuantian Sect, but there is definitely some connection."

"I'll go take a look as well."

Qian Ningshuang truly had not expected this. Because the Xuantian Sect and Tang San overlapped in too many ways, she had casually asked about it, thinking that this Evil Soul Master sect from ten thousand years ago would at most be connected to Tang San. She had never imagined the Clear Sky Sect would be involved too.

"Ancestor?"

Qian Ningshuang looked toward Qian Chongling, whose face remained grim.

"Let's go. Today, I truly want to see why this Xuantian Sect, which was wiped out long ago, has surfaced again ten thousand years later.

"Yin Long, take some men and move all these women out. Then put clothes on them. After we return to Spirit Hall, have someone investigate where they came from."

After giving Third Worship Yin Long his orders, Qian Chongling turned and led the two girls away from the cave.

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

They did not know what the Xuantian Sect was, nor had they ever seen Evil Soul Masters. They had only read of them in Spirit Hall's records. Yet the Clear Sky Sect, which had once fought Spirit Hall and even forced it to yield for a time, was actually an Evil Soul Master sect—Evil Soul Masters who had vanished for nearly three or four thousand years!

They could imagine how furious Qian Chongling would be after they returned to Spirit City. Qian Daoliu, who had always advocated yielding, likely would not escape blame either.

After all, records of Qian Chongling's life could also be found within Spirit Hall. From those records, one could see just how deeply this ancestor hated and despised Evil Soul Masters.

"Sigh. Let's get to work."

With a sigh, Yin Long took the lead in entering the cave again. However, after only a few steps, he stopped.

"What is it, Brother San?" Qing Yu, who had followed behind Yin Long, asked.

Yin Long did not answer. He silently stared at the faces of the women in the cave.

Seeing that Yin Long remained silent, Qing Yu stepped forward until he stood beside him. Then, he too fell silent.

The women's faces no longer bore those strange smiles. Their lips were slightly upturned, as though they had truly been freed.

"Ah, may your souls rest in peace soon."

Such a change could not frighten Super Douluo like Yin Long and Qing Yu. They understood well enough that people possessed souls.

They merely copied Qian Ningshuang and offered a prayer, hoping the women could rest in peace soon.

As for the seven Title Douluo of the Clear Sky Sect, ever since Qian Chongling had left, they had tried several times to find an opportunity to kill themselves, only to be stopped each time by Spirit Hall's Spirit Masters. As a result, not only had they failed to commit suicide, but their faces had gained several marks from being beaten.

Why did they want to kill themselves? They actually understood perfectly well what the Xuantian Sect was and what Evil Soul Masters were. They knew even better what lay within the cave behind the mountain. It was a sin they had committed with their own hands.

It would have been fine if outsiders had not discovered it, and they had been confident it never would be. After all, this was merely a batch they had not had time to dispose of. If Spirit Hall had not suddenly attacked their gates, then within a few days at most, every trace would have vanished completely.

But now, the secret the Clear Sky Sect had hidden for nearly a thousand years had been discovered—and by Spirit Hall, no less!

They knew very well why Spirit Hall had been established. In earlier ages, Spirit Hall had always regarded the extermination of Evil Soul Masters as its sacred duty.

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

Of course, that was not the most terrifying part. The most terrifying thing was that if the Clear Sky Sect had truly been an ordinary sect, then Spirit Hall's destruction of it would have ended there. They would not have spread the matter across the continent.

After all, wiping out an entire sect was not something that sounded good when spoken aloud. But the problem was that the Clear Sky Sect was not a normal sect. It was an Evil Soul Master sect.

Spirit Hall would certainly use the Clear Sky Sect's deeds to publicize the matter throughout the continent, warning Spirit Masters great and small not to become involved with Evil Soul Masters.

At that point, the Clear Sky Sect's reputation would be utterly ruined, though it had never possessed much of a reputation to begin with.

Still, after sealing their sect, they had understood the importance of reputation. They had quietly cultivated an image across the continent of enduring humiliation and bearing the burden, of standing supreme over the world, all in preparation for reopening their gates one day.

But now, all of that was gone. In the future, whenever people on the continent mentioned the Clear Sky Sect, they would only think of the Evil Soul Master sect that everyone despised—the Clear Sky Sect.

Those Spirit Masters and sects that had once maintained some connection with them would also be eager to sever all ties.

And this would turn the Clear Sky Sect's hope still active outside—Tang Hao—into someone hunted and cursed by everyone.

Yes, these Clear Sky Sect elders had always resented Tang Hao over the sealing of the sect back then. Yet they also understood that a Title Douluo possessing a hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring, valued by the former Limit Douluo Tang Chen, Tang Hao was the Clear Sky Sect's hope for future revival.

Now, forget revival. Tang Hao would only become a true rat, a genuine Evil Soul Master hiding from place to place.

Although Tang Hao had never used Evil Soul Master methods or raised his Soul Power through Evil Soul Master means, who would care?

So rather than watch the once-powerful Clear Sky Sect truly sink into ruin, it would be better to die sooner. At least then they would not have to see it, would they?

Unfortunately, Spirit Hall would not give them that chance.