Yun Ze looked grimly at the old man before him. Dozens of corpses had gathered in front of the old man, and he had no idea where so many terrifying skeletons had come from in Heaven Dou Cemetery.
The corpses had retained the cultivation they'd possessed in life. Strange Soul Rings, complete with flesh and eyes, appeared around them, one after another.
He just didn't know whether they could still release Soul Skills. If they could, then with so many of them using Soul Skills at once, the sheer fluctuations of Soul Power might shatter the entire tavern.
Yun Ze thought it over, then swung the Heaven-Surpassing Spear and struck first, smashing one of the nearby three-ring corpses to pieces.
After it was smashed apart, the corpse's ability to recover seemed to be suppressed. Yun Ze realized what was happening and immediately closed his eyes.
The colors and shapes around him seemed to have nothing to do with him. All he cared about was what he could sense.
Once he shut out his sight, Yun Mo could clearly feel that the number of skeletons around him had dwindled.
And those supposed corpses with eyes and flesh had all disappeared, too.
This confirmed Yun Ze's guess: the old man was using an incredibly lifelike illusion.
What's more, the more you believed in the illusion, the more real it became. If you didn't look at it, it would disappear on its own.
It was downright uncanny.
After closing his eyes, Yun Ze hadn't lost his vision completely. Instead, he used his spiritual power to probe his surroundings and sensed them even more clearly.
With a spear in each hand, Yun Ze spun a few times and slaughtered every corpse blocking his way without using a single Soul Skill.
The man clearly hadn't expected Lin Ze to figure out the trick so quickly. He immediately retreated, while Yun Ze raised his hand and released the Spear of Fate's Judgment.
A golden, unfathomable edge pierced through every obstacle and lodged firmly in the old man's back.
The next moment, the old man spat out a mouthful of blood. Yun Ze lifted the spear, its tip slicing through the man's body like a hot knife through butter.
The spear came free without resistance. The old man split apart like an apple cut in half.
Yun Ze panted. Those movements had clearly taken a lot out of him.
He casually pulled a Soul Guidance Communicator from the Storage Soul Tool in his clothes and took a photo, then started searching the old man's belongings.
Although the old man looked shabby and poor, he really did have a pocket-watch-shaped Storage Soul Tool on him.
Its casing was trimmed with gold, clearly making it a valuable treasure. Yun Ze just didn't know whether it had been acquired legitimately.
But whether it had been acquired legitimately or not, once it was in Yun Ze's hands, it had been acquired legitimately.
After all, Yun Ze's family had been suppressing bandits for generations. It was only natural for them to come away with a few spoils.
Yun Ze examined the pocket-watch-shaped Storage Soul Tool and pressed the button at the top.
The hand inside the watch shifted slightly. Yun Ze touched the face, and the next moment, a glow flashed where the center of the watch met his fingertip.
One item after another poured out.
They were all part of the old man's collection.
But they were mostly corpses and materials for refining them into corpse puppets. Yun Ze knew absolutely nothing about that stuff.
So he simply set everything on fire. Shrek had no use for things like that anyway.
After burning a batch of materials for making corpse puppets, Yun Ze spotted something wrapped among them that looked like parchment.
Curious, he picked it up and opened it. It turned out to be a Holy Spirit Cult promotional leaflet.
It explained that the Spirit Pagoda in Tianlin City had opened a special Spirit Life Platform exclusively for Evil Soul Masters—in other words, people carrying one of these parchment slips.
After entering that Spirit Life Platform, they would discover a space unlike the ordinary Spirit Life Platform.
The Spirit Life Platform, teeming with undead creatures, was also known as the Dark Spirit Martial Arena.
But the main point of the leaflet was something else.
The current Holy Spirit Cult leader had spearheaded a martial arts tournament in this Dark Spirit Martial Arena, one specifically for the dark Spirit Life Platform.
From the looks of the rules, anyone carrying one of the parchment slips could enter the Spirit Life Platform and compete in a battle royale-style contest.
The winner would receive a special Soul Spirit bestowed by the Demon Empress.
Yun Ze suspected that the eventual winner of this competition would be used as cannon fodder in the attack on Shrek.
After all, according to the original story, using those two level-twelve Fixed Soul Cannon Shells had cost the Holy Spirit Cult quite a few Evil Soul Masters as resources.
What interested Yun Ze most about the matter was the Dark Spirit Life Platform itself.
Though it had "dark" in its name, the Dark Spirit Life Platform was essentially no different from the ordinary Spirit Life Platform. Fighting there could still increase a Soul Spirit's age.
And since it was a special place the Spirit Pagoda had allocated to the Holy Spirit Cult, the Spirit Pagoda wouldn't be monitoring it.
It was possible that the Holy Spirit Cult would monitor him, but as long as he didn't reveal too much of his Heaven-Propping Spear Martial Soul, the risk shouldn't be too great. After all, although the Demon Empress had supposedly spearheaded the tournament, she was unlikely to concern herself with a competition at Yun Ze's level.
Yun Ze planned to visit the Dark Spirit Life Platform at his next stop. Even if he didn't enter the tournament, he could use the place later to raise his Soul Spirit's level.
He made up his mind to wait until he saw Wu Zhangkong the next day and tell him. Then he could make a quick getaway.
Early the next morning, Yun Ze went to Heaven Dou Cemetery. He was a little surprised to find that Wu Zhangkong really had stood guard there all night.
Wu Zhangkong didn't seem to have used his spiritual power to fight off his fatigue. His eyes were slightly sunken, and he clearly looked groggy from staying up all night.
"You don't need to keep watch anymore. I killed the grave robber. Here's the photo."
Yun Ze took out his Soul Guidance Communicator and told Wu Zhangkong.
Wu Zhangkong's expression shifted slightly. Then he stood up and said,
"I didn't expect you could actually do it."
Yun Ze lifted his chin, looking rather pleased with himself as he said to Wu Zhangkong,
"Have you ever heard the saying, 'Like father, like son'?"
Wu Zhangkong smiled in understanding, then said,
"The waves behind drive on those before; the ones in front die on the beach. You youngsters really do have sharper edges than we did back then."
Yun Ze patted Wu Zhangkong on the shoulder, then turned to leave.
"Well, I'm off to the next stop on my trip. Remember what I told you. You'd better go find your teacher as soon as you can. Don't let the old man keep worrying about this..."
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